Mikesa1721

How the "Project Seaside" ships will look....

How Sexy Is That!!! Sign me up for an aft stateroom please.

Thoughts?

 

I won't need pillows, tell me more about prostitutes. Will they accept my MSC club card? :)

You might need your medical card as well after the Burlesconi experience:eek:

 

It's an unlimited wine, beer and water deal at lunch and dinner only in MDR or Buffet. It is pretty restrictive but I guess it suits some.

 

Thanks Amo,,,I thought the OP was referring to the Allegissimo package. I haven't seen that package offered on my booking so I was a bit confused I guess.

My understanding is that the cheers package is only to drink during meal times. i woulg go for Alegrissimo![/quote

 

I just checked my booking and didn't see a "Cheers" package available. I see the

Allegrissimo Escape, Premium Adult, Classic Adult but no "Cheers". Is this something different than Allegrissimo or is it one of the wine packages??

We are going on divina in August. We still are trying to decide on our drink packages. We are thinking the cheers package would be best for us. Does anyone know if you can only get your drinks with this package in the mdr and the buffet areas? Are there bars in the buffet ares? Thanks for your input!

Texas,,we're sailing on August 23rd. You can get drinks anywhere on the ship. All of the lounges and bars, as well as the main dining room. Which Allegrisimo package did you purchase?

Want everything -> book Yacht Club :p

+1. We miss our butler Jonathan already!!!

Well, we were not in the Yacht Club :-( but, I did see the butlers escorting passengers to their cabins! Maybe next time for us.

 

Did you see the Elton John show in the atrium? We thought he was really good.

That was the one show I wanted to see but never got the chance to. I have heard from past cruisers that he was spectacular!! This was a very short cruise and there simply wasn't enough of time to do and see everything. We did make it to the one show that was a "Must" for us and that was the Michael Jackson Starwalker show.

The Yacht Club was fantastic Susie. For us,,this is the only way to go. We didn't purchase in the Yacht Club for the butler service or the extra amenities, we primarily purchased it for the all inclusive drinks, the other amenities were a bonus for us. I must warn you though, once you book in the Yacht Club, you'll never want to stay anywhere else on the ship again.

Mikesa1721,

 

Nice show!

 

I can see why there are so many Divina sailings in your future. :) The ship certainly appears to be a viable alternative to the behemoths of Royal / Norwegian mall line.

We sailed Carnival and had a great time on the ship, and we decided to give MSC a try. MSC seems to be a nice fit for us right now. I think it's not a matter of wether Carnival is falling behind or being innovative, I think it's more of what cruise line fits you personally. Of course you could put me on the Bimini Express right now and I'd be perfectly happy just to be out on the open water.

Here's another link to the same show that I took this past weekend. Please don't mind my drunk cousin though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyIsC3PDok0&feature=youtu.be

That would be lovely. MSC Divina sailing from Miami has been leaving people jaw dropped with their production shows. NCL and RCI both have wonderful shows and entertainment. The competition is not letting up on the gas. Let's see if Carnival is ready to spend the $$$ and bring the entertainment back.

Just off of Divina and the shows are incredible!!! Here is a sample of the Michael Jackson Starwalker show to give you an idea what the shows are like.

Thanks for the review. Can you tell me, please, what time was the early and the late seating in the MDR for dinner? I've read so many conflicting reports about this.

 

And was the MDR open for a sit down lunch on port days?

Early seating for dinner is at 7:00pm and late seating is at 9:00pm. I can't speak for the lunch on port days as we were on a 3 day cruise. I'm sure there are others who can answer that part of your question for you though.

We were on this sailing as well Susie. This short trip was our introductory cruise for our week long sailing in August. The food, service, and entertainment was spectacular! We loved the ability to lay on the pool deck without the obnoxiously loud music, and loved having drinks brought to us without even asking. The Yacht Club experience is everything it is advertised to be and then some!! I miss our butler Jonathan already:( The only mistake we made was getting off the ship in Nassau though. Midway through our shore excursion, we really started to miss being on the boat and couldn't wait to get back on.

The Divina receives the 'Best Value Cruise' from American Bear!:D

Its not even close right now with the Divina's prices and the excellent value you receive for these prices! Even our benes. from other cruise lines wouldn't have given us a better value for what we paid for the Divina!

 

We spent 14 days on the Divina, and 'never' had bad service, bad food, in fact our service was excellent, as was the food!

But if you walk through life with a dark cloud around your head, don't blame the cruise company, look in the mirror!:eek:

 

 

We found in our 14 days on the Divina that unhappy people we would occasionally run into were being totally ridiculous in their demands, and were actually quite entertaining in their childish temper tantrums! :D

Its really something to see people expecting the world to stop for them, rules should change for them, like they are so important to the world beyond the joke they really are!:eek:

 

In our several encounters with Giovanni he was kind, considerate, professional, and accommodating, so again those complaining should look in the mirror!:eek:

American,,I am simply posting an observation from this past weekends experience. Like I posted above, I am willing to give Giovanni the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was stressed trying to accommodate everyone for dinner because of the short cruise duration, I don't know, but this one minor incident doesn't detract us from cruising with MSC again, in fact we are booked for 3 more sailings and I am looking to book another to fill the gap between our August and April sailings.

When you get back onboard tell Giovanni hi from Tom and Gerry, Linda and Hil and tell him we will see him on the Christmas cruise!

 

Thanks and have a great evening,

Gerry

Gerry,,will do. Giovanni wasn't a very happy camper this past weekend though. He rubbed some people the wrong way and unfortunately a few guests left LeMuse screaming at him. It's in my nature to give people the benefit of the doubt but he rubbed our group of 4 the wrong way as well. Even though there were plenty of available tables to accommodate our party of four, he told us we had to come back 45 minutes after our scheduled dinner time of 9:00. I understand he may have been under a certain amount of stress trying to accommodate everyone for dinner, but you need to check the attitude at the door especially when you work in the hospitality business, as they say, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. We'll hesitantly try him again in August if he is still there. The food in LeMuse was superb but unfortunately Giovanni left us with a bad taste in our mouth.

Just something else to add to this thread. If you are pre-booking any packages which include wine, champagne, food items, you must let guest services or if you are in the Yacht Club, your concierge, know when you would like those items delivered to your stateroom once on board. If you call MSC to pre-book, they will enter the day and time for you. In my opinion, you should be able to select the day and time when you pre-book on-line, this would make the process a little easier I think. Also, if you would like to purchase something for a stateroom other than your own, you must wait till those who are occupying that stateroom are checked in before you can purchase those items. We wanted to buy a Romance package for our cousins who were celebrating their anniversary this past weekend and wanted to have the champagne in their stateroom before they were on board, but were told they must be checked in before we could do so,,,this kind of deflated the surprise factor so we took them to LeMuse instead.

I guess how we feel about a cruise and a ship is as subjective as food can be. Our daughter, just did the same cruise about a month ago and would, most likely not repeat. She said for the money it was great, when they start pricing the ship like other lines, they probably will not make it. I will add, she is a very successful travel agent. Her overall take: the entrees and pasta was very good and the entertainment top notch, but after that it went pretty much down hill. She did say the ship and the cabins were beautiful. The service was less than par, the food, overall was not good and the overall attitude left a lot to be desired. I guess each of us has to try something for ourselves to determine how we feel.

I agree NewMexico, at least with the first part of your response. We just got off the Divina this morning and we had a sensational experience. The food, service, and entertainment we experienced was exceptional. Not sure why there seems to be this love or hate relationship with MSC, but we enjoyed ourselves so much that we cancelled our RCCL cruise in March to sail a b2b on Divina in April.

WOW youre sailing on the Divina a LOT! Just curious what the average rate is for the Yacht Club and if its all inclusive with drinks, airport shuttle etc.. Seems like a great experience.

We just came back from a 3 day, 2 night sailing to the Bahamas. Our YC1 (16009) with taxes and pre-paid gratuities came to a little over $1400.00 for the two of us. This includes all of your drinks within the Yacht Club itself, drinks in any of the bars or lounges outside of the Yacht Club are extra unless you purchase the Allegrisimo package or vouchers, as well as dinner at the LeMuse restaurant, Yacht Club members only dining room. On deck 18 there is the One Bar as well as different buffet items throughout the day. The food here was outstanding!!!! We ate breakfast and lunch here. Just a quick plug, the bacon is phenomenal!!! A good mix for those who like their bacon crispy and not so well done.

The real value here is the service though. Oh,,and you also have your very own crystal staircase for those of us who's female counterparts like to have their picture taken of their sparkly shoes on the staircase.:eek:

YACHT CLUB! YACHT CLUB!! YACHT CLUB!!! Just off the Divina today. What can I say, from being escorted by one of the butlers, from the curb at the port, to a private Yacht Club area to check in. Once on-board, another butler escorts you to the Yacht Club where the Concierge explains all of the benefits of the Yacht Club and the included spa amenities. We were then handed off to the Maitre-De,(Giovanni) of the Yacht Club dining room, (LeMuse), to go over our dining options.

Jonathan, our butler, had items we drank from our in-room mini bar, replaced after we had left for only 10 minutes. I am not kidding you when I say this,,,it happened on multiple occasions, and we have yet to try and find out how they do it. Juliano, Naomid, and Danilo at the One Bar, what can I say,,their service is absolutely incredible. Lying by the pool, our drinks were refreshed without having to even ask for another drink,, again,,just first class service all the way.

One more thing regarding the Yacht Club which maybe not everyone may know. There are card readers in some of the elevators, once you insert your Yacht Club card and select the floor you would like to go to, the elevator will bypass any of the other floors that were selected and take you to your floor immediately. On more than one occasion I had people in the elevator with me, asking why the elevator didn't stop on their floor,,I wasn't about to tell them why.

What I found out was that the Michael Jackson tribute show(Starwalker), will be Sunday night, not sure about Saturday night though. I would think they would need to mix up the nightly shows on a 19 day itinerary.

Marc,,my girlfriend and I are on the 2 night sailing to the Bahamas this Saturday. We are in 16009, I saw that 16008 was available but couldn't justify the extra cost for just 2 nights. This will be our first cruise with MSC, kind of a trial run before our trip in August.

Hi Mikesa1721,

 

We just learned that Starwalker will be the show on Sunday night during the May 17th sailing!

 

We look forward to welcoming you aboard in just a few days!

 

Best,

Fantastic!!! We can't wait to see the show!

On the western itinerary, Starwalker was on Thursday evening at 7 and 9pm, so yes it is still on.

 

If you didn't already know, I posted the dailies from my 4-26-14 cruise. They have dropped down on the MSC board, because it's not a thread that that garners discussion to keep it toward the top. Have a great time!

Thanks Squirrel. This is only a 3 day cruise so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If not,,we'll catch the show in August. Just found out that my vacation consultant (PVC) will be onboard with us. Unfortunately he wasn't able to tell me which shows they will be doing the nights we are onboard. :(

IMHO, Divina is better in every possible category than any of my Carnival cruises. Entertainment of any type, whether production shows, poolside bands, or lounge acts top Carnival by miles. We use to be very loyal Carnival cruisers. We left Carnival when the poolside music became two guys and a synthesizer. I hear now the poolside music is just a DJ. :(

 

If they ever bring back the great live music and quit having passenger-driven evening entertainment, we would be back. I say this so you know we are not a family that thinks we're 'above' Carnival. Try Divina now while the price is right!

Squirrel, I agree 100% with you. On our last Carnival cruise, the music was so loud you couldn't even think. We booked our March 2015 cruise with RCCL but after researching Divina we quickly cancelled and rebooked with MSC for a b2b in April. Sailing on her this weekend for a quick cruise fix and we can not wait! I've cheated and watched some of the MSC Divina show productions on you-tube and hope the Michael Jackson Starwalker show will be available!

Thanks, but I can't seem to see the prices, could you try again please.

If you click on the thumbnail of the laundry pricing it will open up into a larger image or

here is a link to another thread regarding laundry on the Divina: http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1999436

Cruise, we'll be on the Divina this coming Saturday. We have a suite in the Yacht Club but the couple we are traveling with do not. Are we able to dine with them in whatever restaurant they are assigned?

JPR61, here is a link to the laundry pricing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/eroller/sets/72157643234679793/page5/

Sorry bud. I actually prefer 16008 BECAUSE it's the chocolate brown colors. Having 16007 with the red was going to be a stretch for me but...... It's all that was available.

 

One tip for either 16008 or 16007. We took a small portable fan....cause I like a breeze. With the two giant windows and being directly under the sun deck, sometimes it was just "ok" in the cabin and not cold, like I like it. I had had maintenance come out to check it 2x and it tested fine, but it just couldn't keep up with the hotness of the day. The fan made it perfect and I woke up cold.

 

Just keep your drapes closed during the day when you're not in the room.

Thanks for the tip. We're on the 17th sailing to the Bahamas and I was debating on wether or not to upgrade my YC1 to the YC3 that's available just to try it out before we sail in August in 16008. Hoping as the sail date draws closer MSC can cut me a deal on an upgrade.