tkwbear

Evidently the cruise before you did not visit Columbia. On my November cruise, and others since, Customs took over the ship and I was unable to board until after 3pm. I believe part of that is because MSC crew members have smuggled drugs, both on the cargo and cruise versions. Here's an example from Wikipedia. "On 17 November 2018, seven crew members were arrested at PortMiami after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found 7 kilograms of cocaine and a total of $100,000 in their cabins and in their possession. According to officers, the crew members were recruited by a fellow crew member to smuggle cocaine from Jamaica to the United States."

The MSC cruises out of Miami have not been that great except in 2021 when very few were aboard. The fellow passengers have been a problem. I was on Divina in November and it was similar to what you describe. However the buffet was good, though very crowded in the mornings. I skipped the dining room except for lunch on the last day. Service and food were quite good. I did 14 days (10 +4) on Meraviglia out of Port Canaveral on December 1st. I only went to the dining room once but also had the blackened raw fish along with 2 other people at my table. They took our plates and after 20 minutes the waiter had not returned so i left and went to the buffet, which i found good. I loved the crew but the last 4 days became more crowded . Still it was good until we had a woman overboard on the last morning. MSC handled the search well but getting in at 11 caused near riot conditions, which were made worse by the idiotic cruise director continuing to call disembarkation numbers even though there was no room. It was after 1 before I got off and I was in the first group after the do it yourself group. Personally I NEVER sail during the holidays, but find early December inexpensive and quiet.

Thanks for all the great posts. I never have any luck with cruisecritic with my iphone when aboard. I hope tomorrow goes well for you.

I am sorry that happened to you. However, I do believe it is because of the stop in Columbia. I didn't get on until almost 4pm on embarkation day. I don't think it's MSC's doing, but Customs. At the end of my 4 day cruise, I disembarked before 9, and got on the MSC shuttle to the airport. I was more than 4 hours early for my flight so I had to sit about an hour with my luggage before I could check in. I don't guarantee it but I think you will find getting off on Friday will be very easy.

I was mainly impacted in ports, though sometimes on the Poesia the buffet got a bit wild. Also one of my pet peeves is people storming into an elevator before people are allowed out. There was a lot of that. However, I can't wait to sail the Poesia again, and last month on the Meraviglia, the overworked crew treated me like a king. Some recognized me from previous cruises, but others were new to me. I always try to be nice to them because I know they work so hard. I'm wondering about shore excursions in Morocco and Funchal. I've never been to Morocco and will lean toward a ship excursion. I'm not sure how the locals in Morocco will react to the rude passengers. I have been to Funchal and love it. The last time I was there I traveled with 4 friends and we booked an all day private tour that was fabulous. However this time I am going alone so may do the HOHO bus or maybe an MSC excursion. Be sure to try the bananas in Funchal, they are wonderful! The wine is pretty good too.

I've made it to Ocean Cay every single cruise (about a dozen). In November on the Divina, we had to leave 6 hours early due to weather, and 30 minutes after leaving I was sure they made the right decision. In early December on the Meraviglia we arrived during a windstorm. The Captain brought us in at about a 45 degree angle from the dock, then swung the stern around. I really didn't think we would dock successfully but there wasn't even a small bump. I was very impressed!

I'm sorry to hear about that. I'm glad you weren't hurt, and that the lifeguard reacted appropriately! It was not a friendly bunch on the Divina in November for me. Also my first MSC cruise was on the Meraviglia and out of Miami. It was actually 2 back to backs. The first one had the unfriendly people, but the second left from Miami and ended in Port Canaveral. That was a much nicer crowd (and much better itinerary, including all 3 ABC islands). There were some issues on the Poesia cruise I took in September, but mainly off the ship. Many Europeans do NOT like standing in line, they bunch up at the door of the bus. Some Australians I had met were also waiting for the bus and we all decided to not sink to that level. I'm wondering what to expect for my transatlantic cruise in May. Sadly it does not stop at Ocean Cay but does do several ports in the Caribbean before heading to Funchal. MSC does some quirky things but so far it works for me.

I had similar issues on other sailings out of Miami on MSC. The passengers are much better behaved out of Port Canaveral - until you get in really late like on 12/15. That was really bad.

I see this ship a lot. I think it's a German line.

I'll ask for her if she's still on in May! I didn't get off the ship when I was in Jamaica. Did you go on your own or was it an MSC shore excursion.

T

I have 43 days on the Meraviglia in the last 14 months. It's one of my favorite ships ever. When I started sailing her in November of 2021, there were only about 1,000 passengers aboard. I kind of liked it. There was never a line for anything. When I returned in late March 2022, the first 10 days out of 14 went beautifully, with many more passengers. However, as we were returning from the mandatory customs exercise, the cruise director was making an announcement to the staff regarding the oncoming passengers. He probably didn't realize the back to back passengers had reboarded. He ended the speech with "may the odds ever be in your favor". It didn't take long to see what he was referring to. The ship was overrun by Spring Breakers. The college students were actually fairly well behaved but the mob of kids were NOT. They liked to bang on my door for some reason (actually everyone's door I think) while playing hide and seek. So instead of doing the fun things on the ship they just played hide and seek in the halls. Parents were no where to be found, but were probably in a bar. All the milk was gone by day 2, and OJ by day 3. Poor planning? Absolutely. I just finished another 14 days in December. I was pleased with how it went with the exception of the dining room. I only went one night and left in the middle of the meal after 3 of us were served nearly raw fish, and the waiter did not return after taking our plates. I actually like the buffet, there's a lot of healthy food there, so it wasn't a big deal. My room steward was outstanding and the one who did the adjacent rooms was super friendly so I talked to her daily. The specialty restaurants were excellent, even Ocean Cay (seafood) which I had not liked that much previously. The bar staff, which I only used on Ocean Cay, was amazing! I was very pleased with the cruise until the unfortunate overboard you have all heard about. I thought MSC did an excellent job with the search and handling the passengers and crew until the search ended - with the exception of the cruise director, a former NFL cheerleader who was clearly out of her safe zone. When disembarking began, the lines were long and tempers were flaring, but the CD continued to call numbers. There were fights, panic attacks, and a lot of upset and tired people, many of which were afraid of missing their flights, and I am sure many did. I didn't get off the ship until after 1, and barely made the airport transfer I had booked through MSC. However I had changed my flight with the help of the front desk from 2pm to 7pm, so I was not in a bind. That saved me any change fee, which online had been over $1K. I think MSC is a very good cruise line and I will be back many more times. Do they need to improve their handling of full ships and emergency situations? Absolutely, but my understanding is all cruise lines are having staffing problems. Princess had to delay the redeployment of one of their ships by several months due to staffing shortages, and that was last fall.

Hopefully the customs incident will be the exception not the rule. The dinner menus look great, I am glad things are going well!

This looks great! Does it go through the canal? My 4 day trip was right after a similar itinerary. Customs took over the ship when it returned to Miami, supposedly because of the stop in Columbia. I am not sure how it affected the disembarking passengers, but the back to back passengers didn't get off until 2pm (it's usually around 9-10am). I didn't get called until 3:30, then spent an hour standing in the uncooled and thus very hot boarding walkways. There was no public address system in the cruise terminal so some poor girl had to shout updates. The terminal was not set up to hold that many passenger so it was a mess, especially the bathrooms. I recognize that was not MSC's fault, but it wasn't a good beginning.

Did you stay late enough at Ocean Cay for the light show? I can understand why they wouldn't want to stay too late there as partiers would be hard to track down. It appears that overnight stays there are becoming less common, which is a shame. I love it there. Happy New Year!

Those look good! I was assuming you are a Diamond member. I get a reload of what I mentioned above each leg, even if I buy them together. Once I took a chocolate ship through Orlando's airport customs. It set off an alarm, and they asked me to open. The agent laughed when she saw it, then showed their x-ray to me. It looked like a huge dagger. I got what may be my last free chocolate ship on the Divina. It was a bit stale but still good.

I was on the Meraviglia a few weeks ago for 14 days. They stopped providing these printed schedules and told us to look online, which really wasn't as good. Also, my Diamond member gift was a kid's backpack! Did you get the usual prosecco and chocolate ship? For my last cruise no chocolate ships were given, though you could buy one. However I got 5 very nice Chococaviar candies along with the usual excellent macaroons. However, because we were delayed disembarking, I saw the chocolate the people got on the next cruise. It was the same 1.5 oz bar that I received on the Poesia last fall. Very good quality but very small quantity. I did 4 days on the Divina in November. I am hoping you have a lot of positive things to say, because I was not that pleased with the experience. However 2 of the 3 major issues (very late boarding and leaving Ocean Cay 6 hours early due to bad weather) were beyond MSC's control. The third one got fixed after many visits with the front desk (it should have required just 1 visit). I'm booked on the Divina's TA to Barcelona in May.

I talked to some passengers who were back to back from the previous cruise. According to them it was the stop in Columbia that triggered the inspection. I was not that excited about the Divina. It’s okay but not great. I much prefer Meraviglia and Poesia.

Not this time. I’ve sailed with people like that, usually suite passengers who think they are above rules.

No, that wasn’t us. The problem was an inspection. Even the back to back passengers weren’t allowed off until 1:45. I didn’t get on until 3:30 which included 30 minutes in the unventilated walkway. We sailed at 7:15.

It’s 1:30 and no one has been allowed to board yet. No one here knows why. Do any of you know why? A guess would be a Coast Guard inspection.

I sailed the Poesia in September from Copenhagen to Barcelona (13 days). I was apprehensive because I had sailed into Copenhagen on the worst ship I had ever sailed, the Island Princess. It should be scrapped. However when I was within half a mile from the Poesia I could tell it was going to be very nice. Since I really liked HAL's old ships, particularly Rotterdam and Maasdam, I decided to take a chance with older ships on other lines. The Poesia has been immaculately maintained and I look forward to sailing her again, even though she is quite different than the modern ships. No steakhouse, but there is a sushi bar. I was very pleased with my balcony room, and the staff was wonderful. Also the food was much better than what I have experienced with MSC out of Florida. I loved the itinerary, which included Germany, Belgium, Portugal and Spain. I'll be sailing the Divina on Monday so that will be my 3rd MSC ship. What I do NOT like about MSC is their poor US itineraries. The Seashore visits St Thomas, but leaves at 2pm! There is also a call at San Juan that arrives at 5pm and leaves at 1am. Those are both very nice ports, but that is not enough time to do them justice. The Seashore also doesn't doing any overnights at Ocean Cay, which I really like. Yet the Divina and Meraviglia do. Last year the itineraries were better. I sailed the Meraviglia to Curacao, which I love. As far as I can tell they have no plans to return there. So, I will have to look at other lines even though my onboard experiences with MSC have been very good.

I sailed the Poesia out of Copenhagen on 9/21/22. I did the eMed proctored test and they were happy with it. Another requirement was to have electronic proof of vax. While I did have that from my pharmacy, I showed them the old CDC card and they said they preferred it. Also, my boarding time was 2pm. I showed up at 1:15 and there were 10 people in front of me in the luggage check-in line. One old couple forgot to fill out their health questionnaire so they were told to do it a few feet away. When I got into the cruise terminal there was no line. Everyone was super nice and efficient. No, I was not in YC. I liked the Poesia a lot. It's older but beautifully maintained. The only specialty restaurant was sushi, which they failed to tell me when offering me a 2 restaurant specialty package.

How would you compare the Divina to the Meraviglia?