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MSC Cruise Review        
Divina November 14-21, 2021

So a little background about our cruise background and other information.  Husband and Wife mid-40s.  Anniversary vacation.  Have traveled with MSC, NCL, RC, Carnival.  Like them all for different reasons.  This is our second trip with MSC.  The first time was 4 years ago, and we also sailed on the Divina.

I had a business meeting in Tampa, so I was already in town, and my wife joined me.  We enjoyed Tampa and ended up renting a car 1 way from Tampa To Melbourne.  We then took a shuttle from MLB to the port.  I was planning on just using Uber or Lyft, but on Sunday morning, none were lurking around, so we ended up using the shuttle.  We were the only people on the shuttle; it took less than an hour and cost, I think, $85.00 for both of us.
On Friday before the cruise, we used an online monitored covid test.  It worked well took 20 minutes total, and we were negative.  Needless to say, we were nervous, but we passed and never looked back.
When we arrived at the port, it looked very different than any other port we had been to.  There was almost no one there. We dropped our bags off with the porter and made our way inside.  There were literally 30 people working for every 1 person checking in. 
We made our way through the check-in process and received our cards, and had our picture taken.  The first problem, I didn't receive a silver card.  No biggie, but I should get a silver card due to my status with MSC. 
I was told I could fix It when I got on board. Also was told I didn't need to register a CC when I got on board because they had one for my account. Ok, it wasn't true, and I ended up getting a phone call the day before we left, saying we needed to register a credit card.  
Regardless we were on the ship within 22 minutes of arriving via the shuttle.  And most of that time was spent walking up to the ship.  Easiest embarkation ever.  We made our way to the buffet and had a light lunch.  Nothing special about the buffet or awful.  I like MSC pizza and honestly could eat it most meals. 
I was annoyed that I was asked by every single person whether I wanted to buy the beverage package.  I can only assume there is some kind of bonus for the people who sign you up. There can be no other explanation; I am not exaggerating. Probably 40 people asked us at different times if we wanted to buy the beverage package. 
We repeatedly said, we already had it. 
And they thanked us and moved on, but after, say, person 20, I really just wanted to make a sign I could hold up, indicating our status of drinkers.  I did at lunch have the first of maybe 30 frozen Toblerones.  If you haven't had one, try it.  OMG.
We were allowed down to our cabin around 120ish.  The cabin was spotless, and we had a balcony. Room 12199.  The room was small.  No couch or other sitting area.  Just the bed and then the balcony.  We met our room housekeeper, he was terrific, always had ice on hand, never saw him, but the room was spotless.  No towel animals on any night, but he did a really nice job.  My wife had read on a board that the staff are not allowed off to purchase personal items at any port. And when they can buy stuff on the ship, the lines are really long.  We dropped about 50 bucks at dollar tree and bought deodorant, tampons, pads, black shoe polish, toothpaste, etc, and gave it to our housekeeper to divide among his friends. 
He was incredibly grateful and indicated he was just passing month 4 of his 8-month contract, and other than Ocean Cay had not been off the ship once.   Also, the crew very much wanted to know what some of the stops were like. 
Not the typical did you have a nice day in port, bs.  But honestly wanting to know what was going on in the world off the ship at the ports they weren't allowed to get off at.    
 
I am not going to do a day-by-day unless asked.  I will say this:
The expensive steakhouse was worth every penny.  Filet was perfect, food was quality of a ruth Chris or Flemings.   Everything has great.  This makes it absolutely clear MSC knows how to serve really good tasting food, it just comes at a particular price point.  Food in the main dining room was fine.  C/C+ Not inedible, but not something I was eager to go eat.  I would note that the overwhelming comments from the people we talked to is MSC is so close to having a great US product.  They are 85% of the way there.  I would note that the variety was small. Usually only about 6 things as main courses.  Again, the food tended to be dry and overcooked, and at least once my wife sent her dinner back because it was cold.  Service was great and the servers wanted to make you happy.  Can we bring you more food, you can order more than 1 appetizer if you want, etc.   The menu for breakfast and lunch in the dining room didn't change for the week and was average.

Spa.  My wife had a massage; I had a shave.  The shave was every bit as good, if not better, than the Art of Shaving type place.  It was awesome, including scalp and hand massage, as well as a very good straight razor shave.  Wife said the massage was excellent as well.   Did have a great conversation with the person who provided me my shave.  This is her first contract with MSC, but she has been on ships for 4 years. Mostly RC.  She said morale on the ship among staff is very low.  MSC doesn't provide many theme nights or activities for the staff. She doesn't know if it is because of COVID or just MSC's MO.  She works 9-9 7 days a week, and about every third week, she gets a half day.  She said that schedule is similar to other lines, but the lack of things to do as staff was making her rethink signing back up with MSC.
Ports – Ocean Cay. 
Loved every minute of the private island.  Perfect. If I was designing heaven for myself, Ocean Cay is the design plan.  We relaxed, we swam, we drank.  The weather wasn't great, but it was better than snow at home.
DO NOT PAY FOR THE BOAT TOUR DURING THE LIGHTHOUSE SHOW.  Take 60 bucks a person and light it on fire.  The warmth it provides is more valuable than the 20 minutes on the boat to watch a 5-minute light show.  Weather caused the seas to be very rocky, and I don't think a good tour company in the US would have taken anyone out.  Plus, the light show is only 5 minutes.  Watch it on the beach, then hang out with DJ, you will not miss anything, and you will have saved 100 bucks.
Oh again, about being 85 % there.  Got on board and went to get my silver card.  I felt after waiting 3 months and fighting to get the match to silver then damn it, my card would be silver. Stood in line at registration and was told they couldn't help me.  I was told to go to the voyager desk, which is just the future cruise sales desk.  Fine.  The woman looked at her computer and said, you are right; you should be silver. I fixed it. 
Ok, can I get my new card?  You need to go back to the registration desk and have them print you a new card.   Ok, why can you not print me a card? Oh I don't have the printer.  Ok, why couldn't the front desk look up my status? Oh, they don't have computer access to do so.  Look the ship wasn't full, far from it, but I still wasted 15 minutes, and I would have been really pissed if it had taken longer standing in line. 
A similar thing happened with the aforementioned boat tour.  I went to the front desk/reception, because I couldn't remember if I prebooked it or not,  was told, no, I hadn't prebooked, goto the excursion desk.  I did. Ask, hey, is the scenic boat tour and lighthouse tour booked.  I was told no, let me sign you up. She looked at the screen and said, sir, you have already prebooked the tour.  I said, ok, thanks, I am only here because the front desk said I hadn't booked it.  Oh, they explained I can see what you prebooked, the reception desk only can see what you have purchased on the boat.  Ok, that makes zero sense.
Entertainment.
Loved the staff. 
Energetic and fun.  Romeo and Juliet and Majority Rules games were awesome. 
Dance instructors were great. 
Cruise Director.  AWFUL.  By far the worst of any cruise I have ever been on.  Not sure the criteria for being a CD on MSC, but they should rewrite the job description.   Maybe it is unfair, but my wife and I still follow on IG and FB Kendall Fire from Carnival and Musicians like Randon from NCL.   She didn't participate in activities. You never saw her walking around asking how you were doing.  I really think she simply manages people but doesn't go out of her way to get to know the guests. 
Her name was Monica from Italy. 
She didn't do it for us.  
Music – Pretty mediocre. 
Enjoyed a few of Soulmate Trios sets, but there wasn't anyone that made us plan our evening around.  We love live music and felt the sets were only 30 minutes at the most, whereas other places with piano bars of other venues, they folks played most nights all night.

Shows – Umm.  Not good enough.  First, they don't do a show during the overnight at Ocean Cay.  And one of the nights they have a staff variety show. 
Staff Variety show in my opinion was the best show of the week.  The staff are so talented.  The trio of singers that performed most of the other nights, was slightly better than a high school select group.  They certainly couldn't carry the shows, the dancers did.  The last night they did a show called extreme or something like that, which was bizarre.  There was nothing extreme about the show.  However, there was a strong man act, a basketball dunk squad, a juggler and a gymnast.  Not sure why these groups don't play a stronger role.  On day 3, as part of the show, all of a sudden a guy comes out and starts tossing boomerangs around. 
Pretty cool.  But where the hell have you been for the past week?  Shows were 45 minutes in length.  They were as compared to any other ship, including the Divina 4 years ago, not as good, and below average.
Casino – Small, not smokey at all, and all and all very profitable for me.  The roulette wheel is very slow and doesn't cause much bounce out once the ball strikes.  At least two of the dealers drop the ball fairly consistently in the same place.  If you simply play a pattern, the same numbers hit more frequently than statistically appropriate. 
Again, I enjoyed the casino.
Costa Maya- We booked a private day at the spa.  Costa Maya Spa.  For less than 200 bucks, both my wife and I had 2 different massages and were treated like royalty.  It was a 7 dollar cab ride.  We returned to the port and swam at the pool in the port area.   Had a good time.
Cozumel – For us there is only one choice. Mr Sanchos. Again they hit a home run. 55 bucks a person all you can drink and eat, on an awesome beach with pool.  Cab ride was 17 bucks each way.  Which was more than I remembered for groups up to 4.  But regardless Sanchos delivered.
We used self walk off the boat. Was out of the ship at 715, and there was no customs or immigration check, we walked off, had our picture taken by MSC staff and was outside.  Maybe took 15 minutes tops, and was mostly walking time. 
We grabbed an uber and went to MCO where we rented a car and hit downtown Disney for the day.  Our flight didn't leave until 6 pm and we wanted to catch some Disney spirit and eat at the boathouse.  It worked out really well for us

This was a good vacation for my wife, and I.  500 people on a ship made you never wait for an elevator or get on or off.  I was annoyed that you had to go thru a metal detector getting back on the ship after being on their private island.  What could I have gotten on their private island that I couldn't bring back on their ship.  I keep giving MSC second chances because you can't beat the price. We paid about 1500 bucks for 7 night mid balcony, with free booze and internet for the two of us. 
And I felt like for 1500 bucks MSC provide me a great vacation. I'm not sure I would have felt that way if the vacation was 2500 or 3k.  But it wasn't.

I would also note that we only heard from the captain once, when we were told that a passenger was very sick and we were diverting to Key West to have the Coasties meet us and take the sick passenger off the ship.  That was it.  No daily update from the bridge, about direction of travel, etc.  No meet and greet with staff or Q and A with staff during the trip.
 MSC is so close.  It wouldn't take much to put a native English speaker, whether Canadian, US or UK as the cruise director.  Improve the food in the main dining room slightly.  Slightly improve options for entertainment, maybe get a piano bar and/or comedian/magician. 
If they could do these small things, I honestly believe the product would be very similar to NCL or RC.  I like the elegance of the ship, and everyone working on the ship in the dining rooms, buffet, cleaning staff, spa folks were so happy we were there, and we were so happy that we were there.  I get that MSC wants to feel elegant and European. 
And it does. I'm just not sure if the Seaside and Seashore are priced similarly to NCL or RC, why one would ever travel with MSC based on their current offering.   

25 minutes ago, Rhea98 said:

MSC has honored price drops even on fully paid cruises. There was a snag this year reported by a phone agent who resubmitted a previous agent's service request on my behalf. If your current cruise was funded in any part by FCC, the agent could not run the discount but had to submit to corporate. In my case, the SR was ignored possibly because corporate knew the cruise would be canceled. I've read that some posters had been successful with the corporate golden touch.

It turned out well.  My TA was able to get the price difference in OBC.  That is fine with me.  It would appear that I will need to rebook all of my purchases but they also refunded everything they canceled.  It does appear the Spa is closed, thus the reason it cant be rebooked. 

Arrive on a Thursday for a cruise that leaves on Sunday, Cant get the test before I leave.  Any idea where in Tampa does rapid response tests?

Ok.  I think I caused a hell of a nightmare for myself.  Called MSC directly had booked via an online TA. Was told by a nice lady at MSC.  I cant give you any OBC for the difference since you booked with your TA, but call you TA and tell them to call us.  Ok, did that. Called TA Waited  for more than 2 hrs and then was told they were closed for the night.  Called back this AM. This time I chose the we will call you back feature. Talked to a nice lady who called MSC and was told nope nothing we could do.  I said, Ok cancel the cruise than, I will take my credit for a cruise next year, and I will book a last minute deal on carnival for about 600 bucks for the 2 of us.  She called back MSC.  This time she talked to an agent who said, oh sure we will give him OBC for the difference.  Great, right?  Then I got an email from MSC saying they had cancelled all my add ons,  massage, laundry, steak house, spa package,  hmm thats odd.  Told TA, she said, thats odd.   Fine, I will just go back to MSC and repurchase what I wanted.  Sure it will be a wash when the credit hits my CC and the purchase goes thru.  Perhaps it wont be a wash in the short term since it takes MSC months to refund money.  But now, the SPA package isnt available any more.  So I cant book that.   Does anyone know is the SPA package, even being offered with COVID?  Oh and I dont see anywhere online that they actually have given me OBC.  Where would that even show up?

I am set to sail in a month.  MSC of course like all of the other cruise lines have now cut rate pricing.   It seems I can book the exact same class of room (actually the room next door) with booze, internet, etc. for $500.00 bucks less than I booked it 6 months ago.  Normally, in my experience you are just out of luck.  But now that MSC allows me to cancel up to 24 hours prior to sailing and rebook, it makes sense to cancel and just rebook.  Has anyone tried this? Or had any experience dealing with MSC?

Curious how was the staff? Happy to be back to work, or really short staffed and being run ragged?  

Is the sports bar food now ala carte?

Galaxy is it just sushi? any chance you have a menu?  Did they do an ala carte brunch?

Cozumel and Costa - how busy was the port?

What shows did they have?

Ed

Took 10 weeks, no email from MSC to confirm, just happened to check my account and saw they upgrade me to Silver based on Best Western match.   Sent in two forms, and an email.  

Where is FTTF located at on the website.  I dont see it under the manage tab, what am I missing.

Curious not in a suite, no FTTF pass, not planning on booking a carnival excursion- What is the earliest we are going to be able to get off the vista?  Would like to know if we would be able to catch the 9am water taxi to Caye Caulker.   On NCL you got up real early to goto the pool deck and you stood in line for your ticket to get off the ship, Im just curious how Carnival works it, and what time is realistic to get off.

thanks.

Anyone know a cost on lyft or uber?  Really rather not use carnivals service from the airport.   Curious on cost.  Use to be able to rent a car from budget and drop off nearby but that cost has skyrocketed.

Part II

Main Dining Room. This was by far our least favorite part of our cruise -hands down. We sat at table 558, and our server was Lusito. Our service was a D-. I think the problem was primarily that our table was out of his normal area, we were across the main walkway, and away from the rest of his tables. We usually waited 10-15 minutes from the time we were seated before anyone showed up to give us menus. All other tables were given a plate of bread products we were offered to choose a piece of bread from the bowl. Drinks were never refilled, and it took an act of Congress to get someone’s attention. The food was always hot when it came out, and generally tasted pretty decent. Probably a C+/B-. I would also note that people had commented that food portions were small, we found just the opposite. My wife received half a chicken, that was very large and could feed 2 people easily. Steaks were large. You didn't leave hungry. Dinner was at 830, and most nights we walked out a little after 10. Kids meals were brought out quickly, with their main courses being served with our appetizers. I would note, that the kids pizza appeared to be a frozen soggy pizza. Nothing like the quality pizza on the buffet or the speciality restaurant. Full disclosure, we only ate in the main dinning room 3 times. We simply found the late dining did not work with our schedule, I would note that it appeared that in our section, others must have felt the same way. Our table mates, only attended formal night, and we often saw them in the buffet, and it became a running joke between us that neither of our families would be going back to the main dinning room. Other tables seem to be very vacant towards the end of the week. We did see others receiving good service, often times getting their appetizers before we had our order taken. So I do think it was just a combination of our server and our table location. If I could have changed just one thing about our cruise it would been our experiences in the main dining room.

Interesting tidbit(s) - We watched a man get wheeled off the ship just minutes before we left Miami. I felt very badly for the elderly gentlemen and his wife, as we watched them get loaded into an ambulance. However, we left the dock prior to the ambulance departing. We also were given priority entrance into Nassau, due to a medical emergency. It was interesting to watch us pass by other cruise ships as we raced into port. We got into port two hours early. We all were allowed to disembark two hours early as well, however the times of ship excursions remained the same. And as mentioned earlier we were delayed leaving Cozumel about 2 hours as we waited for a ship excursion return that was running behind.

Some responses to questions posed: Trivia was played a number of times per day. Prizes were awarded to winners of MSC logo’d items. Classical artists played music in the main reception area- Violin and Piano. Steel Drums played every night, and we saw another person playing piano and singing Billy Joel type music. They had karaoke and karaoke with a live band playing behind you. Dancing with the stars, IE you got to dance with a dancer from the ship, and dancing with the ships officers were offered. Quest was played the last night. However, there was not a husband and wife Q/A show. Every hour they had different events at the aqua park, like belly flop, minute to win it, etc. Language programs in Italian and Chinese were offered twice, as were cooking demonstrations. There was a behind the scenes tour that was to be offered the last at sea day, however it was cancelled due to poor sign ups.

Port Experiences

Jamaica - Ocho Rios. We had booked a private excursion at Bamboo Beach Resort. We totally screwed up. We arrived at OR at 9 am. We got off the boat at 9 am, however our pick up for BBR was at 11am. I didn't realize that until we looked at our voucher/receipt as I walked off the ship. As a result, no one was there in the tent at the pier next to the sign that existed that says Bamboo beach Resort. So we were left with a choice, wander around outside the gates for two hours or leave for BBR by ourselves. I didn't really care about the extra 30 bucks to take a taxi to BBR, I thought I would rather have the two hours in OR. That was a huge mistake. When we arrived in a private taxi, the folks at the gate didn't want to let us in. We were not supposed to appear by private taxi. The taxi driver was a huge help, explaining he didn't want a kick back, he was just dropping us off. We explained that we tried to call the number on our paperwork but no one answered. We were finally allowed to drive drown the road to get to the resort, where we were met by a manager frustrated with us, that he had a person that was going to go get us and we were not going to be at the port when the transport arrived. After about 10 minutes of looking at a beach that I was uncertain we were going to be allowed to actually enter, we finally were shown the place we were allowed to sit. It was explained that we had free drinks of rum punch and beer and lemonade and water for kids. We were also given a 5 course tapas meal. The food was pretty decent, and the drinks were strong. After about 30 minutes a different waitress appeared and explained that she was supposed to be our waiter but she was waiting for us at the pier and we never appeared. It was an interesting experience. The chairs were comfortable, it was nice beach, and the water was refreshing. After we were on the beach for three hours, our waitress appeared and explained that we our package was for only 3 hours and we needed to leave. Not would you like to pay for more time, just it was time for us to go. On the way back we were given a tour about Jamaica and taken to a store that we could shop at. We were then dropped off at the pier. I would not recommend Bamboo Beach Resort. I freely admit we should have paid more attention to our voucher, and we shouldn't have traveled to the resort by ourselves, and in return we suffered the consequences of a pretty lousy day.

Coming up next, Awesome day at the Turtle Farm in Caymans, and an even better day in Cozumel, and then a truly mediocre day in Nassau.

Last week they gave away lanyards and other MSC merchandise.

I wanted to thank all of the people that have posted reviews over the past year or so about the Divina. I spent every waking free moment looking at CC, hoping someone new had posted something. We are now off the Divina, having sailed 3/10-3/17. We had a very good time. That is not to say I loved everything that happened, and I understand some of the complaints that others have had. Perhaps over the course of the review, I will bring something new to light or offer a slightly different opinion on other topics that have been discussed previously. But with all that said, We had a good time, and if the price was right we would certainly travel with MSC again.

So who are we: Me- 40 I am attorney, Wife, 41, in HR/IT, Son -12, Son 7.

More Background - MSC Divina, was our third cruise. We previously sailed on the RC Allure, NCL Jewel. We chose MSC solely based on the price. It was spring break and with kids sail free, we got a balcony, stateroom 10011, for the 4 of us for 2k. We live in rural Iowa, and the cost to fly from Des Moines to Miami was about $700 a person. There was no way I was going to pay 2800 bucks for us to get to our vacation, so with a little work and our willingness to drive a little we dropped our price to about 1100 bucks by flying from Omaha to Orlando and then renting a car and driving. We spent the night at the Sleep Inn in Omaha, using hotwire for 40 bucks, and ended up leaving our car there for $5 bucks a night. We rented a intermediate SUV from Alamo each way. I kept checking and canceling and rebooking whenever I saw a better deal. We ended up paying 64 bucks going down with all taxes and 55 bucks coming back. Alamo was cheaper that Sixt by about 10 bucks each way. Everyone else was about 90 bucks each way.

We spent the night at the Marriott in Boca Raton via Marriott points. I would not recommend the Marriott, they had an insufficient number of elevators for the number of rooms. The place smelled musty; but we only needed it for a night, and well, free is free. I wouldn't have wanted to have paid the sticker price of 250 a night though. We ended up driving into Deerfield Beach and ate at the Whales Rib. We had a nice meal, and deerfield beach in general was a fun place to walk around.

The next morning we were up, drove the rest of the way to Miami, dropped the car off at the Miami airport, and took an Uber down to the pier.

Uber to the pier in an XL was about 27 bucks.

Initial thoughts as I walked into the terminal… Blah. No live music, no - hey you are on vacation, we are glad you are here. Just a long cue. As others have mentioned, it moved fairly quickly. We were on the ship within 35 minutes of walking in the front door. Thought it was odd that they didn't take your picture and then print out your card/key. But rather they had every person’s key organized behind them on tables. I couldn't imagine the time it took for someone or someones to put every single room key in order. And then they take your photo and code the card.

Initial thoughts of the ship. Blah Blah. It wasn't awesome, it wasn't jaw dropping. Of the three ships we have been on, this was the least impression. It didn't help that we didn't enter through reception, but rather in what I think was the black and white lounge. What was immediately clear, was that it appeared that every employee on the ship was going to try to sell me a beverage package. They must have had 150 people selling beverage packages, it was akin to what it is like stepping out in Cozumel and everyone wanting you to come into their shop at the port. It made a crap impression. If you had already purchased a beverage package, like we had, you walked over to the casino and showed them your key and they had an envelope with our stateroom # on it. We had purchased 2-18 pack anything vouchers, 1 coffee package, and 1 kids ice cream shake and smoothie package. We found the packages worked well for us, and it was nice to be able to in essence prepay over a period of time our drinks over the past year, and then not worry at all what we were spending on booze. We found the drinks were tasty and a decent size. The coffee was delicious but they had no caramel the entire trip. They had 2 coffee drinks that caramel was a key component. I just thought it was odd that you would have forgotten to order caramel, and then not be able to source it while on the trip. Most of the time they wanted your room key and the voucher , but every once in a while you could just give them the voucher. We did not use all of our vouchers, so we hid some in the cruise’s magazine in our stateroom, I am uncertain if the next person who finds it will be able to use them or not. I also really don't understand why I have to carry this actual paper voucher with us. Why could their computer system not be programmed to simply know our state room has X number of drinks. It recognizes room/ship credit. To that end, each of our boys had a teen card, which meant that we had put $50.00 credit on them. Plus for every 50 bucks you pay MSC adds an additional 10 bucks. It was nice to be able to tell the boys, hey you have 60 bucks spend it how you see fit, you want to play video games, or buy cupcakes thats fine, but budget your money, and when you are out, don't come whining to me. What was odd, was that originally the keys/card they gave us were not teen charge cards, so when went down to reception to switch them out, they had to reprint/replace all of our cards. (the teen cards have a yellow smiley face on them) Again, not sure why their system doesn't allow them to turn on and off just one card. Regardless, it all worked out in the end and it was good to see my kids making decisions about what they wanted to spend and what they had left on their cards.

We went straight to the sports bar. No one else was there, and we had some basic bar food. Nothing special, but all edible. By this time it was around 2pm and our room was available. The room was nice, and it seemed more spacious than the allure. Even if the couch was made out into a bed, you could still walk past them to get to the balcony. It was kinda a bummer that our balcony did not have see thru glass on the balcony, as a result my youngest couldn't see out without standing on the footrest out there, which I am fairly certain is not the safest decision I made this week. We met our room attendant, and she was super nice, our room was always spotless, we had ice constantly, and on at least two days we tracked a ton of sand into the bathroom, and when we came back it was clean. very clean. Zero complaints of any kind about our room or the service we received. However, we were very far forward and it was a pretty decent (long) walk to the elevators.

After a stop at the room, we went upstairs to deck 14, the pool deck, at this point we realized that we were not alone on this trip. There was a group on board, a large group, 'a holistic health seminar at sea'. As a result it seemed about 2k vegans were on board. It was interesting. Some frustrating things, they took up the entire first sitting for dinner. We will spend some time discussing our main dining room experiences. But needless to say with a 12 and 7 year old, who normally eat dinner a 530, waiting until 830, which really ended up meaning you didn't get food until after 9, that didn't work for us. The vegans, also were constantly complaining about the lack of vegan food on the buffets, but all in all, I liked having them on board, it made the ship seem half as full, during sea days they were all attending classes about health and other stuff, while I drank and worked on my tan. Plus, looking at their menus, there was some days I’would have rather been able to eat off their menu rather than the main dining room menu. It did make me think though, I realize MSC is under no obligation to inform me about who is the group they are booking. But wow, it could have been a much different experience had it been a group who I had not wanted to spend time with. (****s or Furrys), I would also note that Vegans didn't seem thrilled that non-vegans were with them. I had a chance to talk with some of them in the hot tub, and they assumed they had the whole ship, as a result, they were worried that their food would be cooked on places where meat and other shell fish was prepared. There also was a day that we were in port (Cozumel) and one of the excursions got back late, the ship delayed departing cozumel by about 2 hours. I think the water taxi going to Playa de Carmen was late. The Vegans missed their dinner, and then there was no food for them to eat on the buffet. I sort of felt bad for them, but then I remembered how much I liked eating steak…. Also, they tended to really monopolize the fruit juice/smoothie bar. Which was a shame, because they were really tasty.

As for the buffet, I was waiting for a disaster of a place based on other reviews. I am uncertain if it was because half the cruise wasn't eating there, but we never had a problem getting food, the food was hot, and my family thought it was very very good. I love Pizza, and their pizza was great. By the end of the week, all of us voted to eat in the buffet over the main dinning room. I would note that in the morning we ate outside on pool deck rather than trying to find a table in the buffet area.

I loved the fact that 12 different languages being spoken on the boat. Raising your kids in Iowa, you don't get the opportunity to see folks from so many different places. The captain on the first night came out and welcomed the crowd in 12 different languages. It was impressive. I loved the fact that my kids got exposed to opera and other languages. I also read how rude people were, how they would cut in line at the buffet. And they didn't let you out before they came into the elevator. Some of that is true. But if they cut in line, it is because you let them. I found that if they didn't yield to you on the elevator as you walked out first, and you drilled them with your shoulder as they walked in. I grew up in New Jersey, and Im a fat guy, you ain’t cutting in front of be in a buffet, without picking your sorry a$$ off the ground. What is that you say, you are 70, you are Chinese, you are a woman, you don't speak english….let me help you up off the ground. With that aside, I found most people on the ship helpful and polite. I would note that we thought the ship would be filled with kids, I mean it is spring break, and kids are free. Well, it is spring break in America, and if Americans only make up 15% of the boat guess what, there is not that many kids on the ship. My 12 year old was disappointed there wasn't more kids his age on the ship to hang out with. However he did enjoy the activities, like dodge ball, and playing Ps4 video games with kids from around the world, he learned the hard way that kids from Brazil are really good at FIFA 17. My 7 year old loved the kids club, he played legos non stop, and loved that he could go to the shows with the kids club, on one night he even got to go up on stage, he also could go eat dinner with them had he wanted too. So mixed reactions on the kids club from my two kids. It was pretty cool though, seeing that even though kids don't speak the same language, they were able to play together at legos, video games, or in the pool.

Different doesn't mean better.

Over and over again you heard from the cruise director, or other staff members how MSC was different. Implying that different was better. I would say different isn't better or worse, but just different. No comedian, no magician- Rationale given is that because there are so many different languages being spoken they can’t cater to english speakers. Well I hate to tell you folks, if you don't cater to us in some way, we wont go on your boat. Im not sure why they think having concerts singing Queen songs, (in english) makes sense but a magician, who doesn't have to talk doesn’t. I enjoyed the shows, (all but the Queen show) I like opera, I like dancing, the cirque stuff is my cup of tea. The shows were 45 minutes, and for my 12 year old, some of the nights it was a great opportunity to catch a 43 minute nap. I would say, make sure you don't miss the Michael Jackson star walker night. It was our last night, the guy they having play Michael Jackson is incredible. His dancing alone is worth attending.

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet was sparsely attended. My guess is less than 15 people, but the Cruise Director Andre was there, as were some other high ranking crew. They had a cake for us, appetizers, booze, and they had us take a picture and then delivered the picture to my cabin for free the next day. But the message was, don't believe everything you have read online about us. Give us a fair shake. Fair enough, it was just very different than the NCL meet and greet I went to last year, where each person, told us what they did, and a little bit about themselves and their department. I only spent about 15 minutes there, so perhaps they did something else. Later in the week there was a meet and greet , I went to that as well, but again it was different than anything I had seen before, the was no Q&A, but rather someone from the customer relationship team came up and asked you if you were having a good time. It also appeared that when you had a complaint or suggestion, the person listened, but truly didn't give a damn what your concern was. For example, I never understood why during the day, they didn't post the main dining room menu. The Vegans had their special menu posted, but I had no idea why they wouldn't post it. One day I knocked not the door to the dining room and asked if I could see the menu, a women handed me a menu, and then asked me to leave, and that I could leave the menu on ledge, she then shut the door that lead to the dining room. (like literally closed off the entire section) I took it as a total screw you, don't bother me. Another night I knocked on the door and a man asked wha Ii needed, not can I help you, I again asked to see the menu, he sighed, walked by me and posted the menu behind glass and walked away. He posted the menu on the page in Italian. Luckily the glass screen simply opens by pushing the bottom right corner. We opened the glass, and read the page in english, and then put it back behind the glass. Also on the last night on the Cruise director tv channel, Andre made a very interesting statement. He explained that in our state room there was a form we could fill out that would result in the cruise sending us a survey. He cautioned us, and I am certain that was the word he used, to not judge a particular department down because of an isolated event. IE just because you had one bad meal, don't score the main dining room down as a whole. I understood his point, but the message was bizarre. I have never been instructed on how to fill out a survey before. It was rubbed me the wrong way. MSC is different. And by the end of 2019 they will have 3 ships here (US), I do think they will need to make changes to some things on their ships, otherwise most Americans will be one and done, and go back to Carnival, NCL, RC.

Next time, Main Dining Room Woes, and Port Reviews.

They won't let your kids leave on their own, and a person over 18 must sign them out. Im not sure how they would call you? Unless you are hanging out in your room, Im not sure how they would get a hold of you.

Does anyone know if you just use a VPN with an irish IP address can you book, or does MSC match your address on a credit card?

Curious if anyone knows. The 98 dollar package, indicates 100 photos, but it makes it appear that you purchase per adult. If I purchase this package, would photos taken of my family show up in my folder? Or would it just be photos Im in? Also online it doesn't show if you get the CD or just paper photos? Anyone purchased online in advance? Did both adults have to purchase the package?

4 of us headed out to sea in March of 17. 2 adults 2 kids. Not huge drinkers, and one of my kids doesnt drink anything but milk or water. I am trying to make sense of all the packages. I realize the ultimate doesnt make a lot of sense for us, since everyone in the cabin has to buy it. But can you combine voucher packages, ie. Buy 2, 18 vouchers, and 1 soda voucher package and split it up among all of us? Am I correct that the vouchers cant be used at the restaurants, but only at the buffets and bars? Im sure someone has explained this in detail, but I couldnt find it, so please help. Ultimately I am trying to figure out why the 18 drink package seems so reasonable. What am I missing.

I found the app to be helpful to check my bill, but pretty useless for anything else. I say that, since it is rarely complete on activities going on. I was on the Jewel last week. In the evening, the big show was listed, and the evening party, but none of the small venue/bar music was. As a result, while you were sitting down at the 715 show, wondering where X person was playing that night their second set, you couldnt figure it out. I did not use the feature to call or text another.

I am curious if anyone has flown to Caye Caulker? We are going to be on the jewel next month, and headed over to Caveman's 1/2 day tour. Since I dont know when we will get off the ship, due to tenders, etc, I was thinking we would water taxi over, and then fly back, kind of think it would be fun to fly back, increase the time we spend on CC and turn a 45 minute boat ride into a 15 minute flight. Has anyone flown either way to CC? How do you get from the dock to the airport, and how do you get to the airport in CC? Walk, Golf Carts? How much time did you need to be at teh airport before your flight?

Thanks.

Great to hear of your review of TB. We are leaving in two weeks and have a cabana booked as well. We have prepaid for transportation as well with them. Can you talk about how you got from the ship to TB. Did you walk down to her son's place to get on a boat? How long did it take, etc. What time did you get there? What time did they bring you back, etc.

Do you need reservations for any of the shows, or do you just show up. We have a few 730 specialty reservations and unsure if we would get seats for the 915 shows walking in right at 9 or so.

I also wanted to say thankyou. We leave in two weeks, and was trying to arrange dinning plans. How early in advance did you have to be in the room to get a seat? How full were the shows? Do you need any type of advance ticket or is it just first come....

Ed

My wife is planning on going stand up paddle boarding at tranquil bay for 25 bucks.

We are going in the day before so we wanted the car to go to nasa. There is a budget car place next to our hotel in webster.

We booked a car from hobby to Webster one way for 21 dollars. We come in on Friday will drop off sat morning and then grab a cab the last 12 miles. We will see if it works