Msc divinia or Ncl dawn...advice needed

[kkttc]

Hi, considering westerb carib sailing for feb 2014. The 2 options for us are msc divinia or ncl dawn. The MSC itinieary includes jamaica, grand cayman, cozumel and private stirrup cay. NCL dawn is honduras, belize, costa maya and cozumel, no private island. Wife and I have done the type of itinerary msc is, except for private island, and loved the ports of call, we know nothing about the others on ncl, except for cozumel. This cruise will be with kids ages 18,15,12. Price is 50 more on dawn but each room gets 50 obc and bottle of wine. Any advice? I have done a lot of msc research already and know it is a new ship and maybe a bit quirky. Each has 2 days at sea so want to make sure those are fun days...our kids probably wont do kids clubs. The intrigue over msc is the newness and probably will be less $$ overall since one of the four days are private island. Our kids have never sailed so frankly i dont think they will know the difference?

 

Any advice is appreciated...thanks...

[worldspan]

Your answer lies more in the "style" you prefer. Both are considered budget cruise lines but personalities could not be more different.

 

NCL is a meat and potatoes, all American kind of cruise line. MSC is a very European product and while Divina is supposedly going to be more "Americanized" than their past products here, it would be a very different experience from NCL.

 

Both lines are notorious for lousy food and less than stellar service. That said, if the choice were mine, I would go with MSC as their ships are gorgeous on the inside and the Italian management leads to an atmosphere that is quite different from being here in the States. That is if you can handle that!

 

Worldspan

132 cruises strong

[lrowe70]

I too would probably go with MSC, but that is because we prefer European style of cruising to American.

However in looking at the ports I have no interest in GC, Cozumel or Jamaica and in fact may not even get off the boat at those stops. In which case NCL would be a better choice.

 

Totally disagree that they are "budget" lines, I'd refer to them as "standard" "Popular" or "run-of-the-mill", along with Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, RC...all the big lines. I have not heard of lousy food or poor service on either line. Maybe check out each of their respective boards to get a better idea.

 

Either way you and your family will have a wonderful time. Enjoy! :)

[worldspan]

I too would probably go with MSC, but that is because we prefer European style of cruising to American.

However in looking at the ports I have no interest in GC, Cozumel or Jamaica and in fact may not even get off the boat at those stops. In which case NCL would be a better choice.

 

Totally disagree that they are "budget" lines, I'd refer to them as "standard" "Popular" or "run-of-the-mill", along with Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, RC...all the big lines. I have not heard of lousy food or poor service on either line. Maybe check out each of their respective boards to get a better idea.

 

Either way you and your family will have a wonderful time. Enjoy! :)

 

If there is any any doubt about NCL or even MSC being budget, find the thread contained on this board entitled "Most hated cruise line" and you will quickly find most mentioned line first is NCL and followed up by MSC No way in heck are they to be compared with Princess or Celebrity..

 

Worldspan

132 cruises strong

[gerif]

If there is any any doubt about NCL or even MSC being budget, find the thread contained on this board entitled "Most hated cruise line" and you will quickly find most mentioned line first is NCL and followed up by MSC No way in heck are they to be compared with Princess or Celebrity..

 

Worldspan

132 cruises strong

 

Agreed. Wouldn't sail on either regardless of where they were sailing. OP, have you considered RCIs Freedom? Lots of activities for the teens.

[travelhound]

Wow, judgmental responses! If a person is asking about two options and you say they're both crap, how is that helpful? I love Princess, have been on Celebrity and RCI too. They are all different but the same, if that makes sense. They each have a strength, but they are still all mass-market. To get beyond that you need to go to Oceania, SilverSeas, Crystal, etc. Those are NOT fun for teenagers. Back to the OP's question.

 

We have been on almost 30 cruises on just about every major mass market line except for Costa and MSC. We've stayed away from them because of what I've heard from other cruisers. Mostly it has been about the passengers themselves, not the cruiseline. Since this is all hearsay, I cannot confirm it, but we've heard it again and again. There are usually people from many different countries, so the announcements are in multiple languages. We have been on ships where that has occurred. Not a deal breaker by any means, but tedious. Customs and courtesies are not the same around the world. Most Americans on a ship will stand in line and wait (I know this is not always the case), but there is not always that same expectation in other cultures. If you are a go with the flow person, this may not be an issue. Actually go with the flow is good for ANY ship. :)

 

We have been on nine NCL ships with our next two cruises booked on NCL, so obviously I don't have a big problem with them. Are they stuffy or pretentious? No. Are they laid back with a few wild@ss people around? Yes, every ship will have crazy people. The raunchiest pool games I ever saw were on Holland America and the drunkest, rudest people were on an RCI ship, so you never know who is going to show up for your cruise. The best thing NCL has going for it is the dining options. They created and have perfected any time dining. Just about every other ship tries to offer both traditional and any time, but no one does it as well as NCL. In addition to the buffet, which is fine as far as a buffet goes, there are usually two main dining room without charge. Then there are various service fee restaurants that take reservations and have a set menu. The food in those restaurants is great and so is the service. They are limited to less than 100 people at a time though, so it's more like a traditional restaurant. Any main dining room on any mass market ship is basically serving over a thousand people at a time. It shouldn't be better than banquet food, but it is. Is it lousy - I don't think so, but I'm sure you could find something wrong if you want to. I looked at MSC's website and it seems as if they are still only doing two traditional seatings, so you'll either be early or late at a specific time. So, the big question is how does your family like to vacation? Do they need a set time to light a fire under them or would it be easier to get to the dining room when you get there (any time between 5:30 and 10:00)?

 

As far as the ships go, MSC's is newer and looks very nice. We've been on the Dawn twice and it's not one of NCL's newer ships so it's doesn't have a big waterpark if that's important. Our dd is only two so we've never used the kids club, but I know they have quite an extensive program with a teen club. There should be a lot of kids in February.

 

Port wise I prefer the Dawn. Roatan (Honduras) has our favorite snorkeling beach in the world. One of the few places you can relax on a sand beach and swim to the second largest reef in the world. If your kids have never snorkeled or already like it, it's a great place to go. Cave tubing would be really fun for them in Belize. Costa Maya is basically like a private island. Carnival built the port so there is a huge, and I mean huge, pool with shops around it just off the pier. You could just hang out there or you can do excursions. We did an ATV excursion in the jungle. Don't do that with your kids. I thought it was dangerous. Sound like you've been to Cozumel already and that's on both cruises.

 

In the end, you'll have a great time, regardless of which ship you pick. You are spending time together as a family in the Caribbean - what's not to love. Are there more upscale lines - absolutely, but that doesn't mean they are more fun. Sometime they are filled with snotty people. ;)

[lrowe70]

Wow, judgmental responses! If a person is asking about two options and you say they're both crap, how is that helpful?

 

Seriously. Thought this was the family board not the throw-your-snotty-opinions-down-everyone's-throat board. And I stand by my opinion that they are not "budget" (what does that even mean anyway, really) nor are they "most hated by EVERYONE" :rolleyes: Sheesh, everyone is entitled to an opinion. I've been on luxury lines, Carnival, and Celebrity. The only line I'd rather not sail again is Celebrity, I'd take MSC or NCL over them any day.

 

Op: go on whichever line you wish, you will enjoy either. Luckily for you all the snobs and rude people won't be there because they are apparently budget and hated, so you can enjoy yourself even more.

Have fun

[kkttc]

Thanks all for your input. We decided to move forward with MSC Divinia - we like the ports, have always wanted to show our kids these ports that we enjoyed as a couple a few years ago.

 

The lure of the new ship is also there, and the price was right with their 3 day promotion that ends today - $100 OBC per stateroom, $100 off deposits per person and $100 off per person towards a future cruise....

 

Hoping we can make it happen - have to save save save to make the final payment in December - we don't finance vacations!

[travelhound]

Congrats! You'll have a great time. Kudos for not financing it. We don't do that either. It's not fun to keep paying when the thrill is over. :)