Rare Cruisergal1208 Posted December 28, 2013 #26 Share Posted December 28, 2013 From our experience I agree 100% with you.MSC will improve, they already improved from day 1 to day 11 of the cruises. We saw improvements every day. I want to thank the Cruise Director for showing up at the afternoon Meet & Greet after some confusion about the time. BTW we are palnning our next cruise on the Divina, summer of 2014 after it returns from South America. Cruise, Sorry we could not make it back to the 2nd M&G at 3PM. Had conflicts. We sure did enjoy meeting those few at the 10:15 meeting. All in all, it was an amazing cruise. Ship sparkled, staff & crew super, food good and the Yacht Club experience was more than we expected. Do want to cruise with MSC again but will be after next summer. Thanks for all you did to arrange the M&G's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hat Pinz Guy Posted December 29, 2013 #27 Share Posted December 29, 2013 just booked the May 10th sailing off the strength of this review Thanks OP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdvmd Posted December 30, 2013 #28 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Thanks so much for sharing! Can't wait to try out the beautiful Divina. A good friend of mine was on your sailing and he enjoyed himself as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big al Posted January 9, 2014 #29 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Returning from the MSC Divina Sailing December 10 sailing.We have been on numerous cruises over the years but the first time on MSC. . This cruise exceeded my expectations. . Opinions are like rear ends, everyone has one. . Much of my review is my opinion, keeping in mind that this is a European cruise line starting a year around U.S. presents. At the afternoon Meet & Greet the Cruise Director said that there were 25% Europeans on board, I think it was reversed with 25% Americans. Our first impression upon boarding the ship was WOW this ship is beautiful. We then proceeded to the buffet until our cabin was ready. This particular lunch is advertised as a light lunch, not the normal selection of food but more than enough for most people. Our cabin (outside balcony rear) was like most other cabins on other ships. Unlike some other complaints we had no trouble with wash cloths. First day we had only one but cabin steward told us that laundry was a little behind and we would be getting a second. From that time on wet has 2 wash cloths every day. Europeans do not use wash cloths so they had to make adjustments for the U.S. market, which they did. The cabin steward was great one of the nicest and efficient we have seen in a long time. In fact all the of crew were pleasant with always greeting passenger no matter where you were Let me review the food, which is important for many cruisers. We thought the food to be very good, not only in taste but in quality. On a previous cruise (ship not mentioned) the food was the lowest quality around. . Breakfast had the normal selection in the restaurants and buffet. What I found that could be improved is to have an eggs to order counter. No sunny side up or whites only. Everything was prepared in the back and brought out to the buffet. If you did not get the eggs right away it got cold. Also considering that it sails from Miami, I was surprised that they did not have smoked Salmon at the buffet. It was available in the restaurant only. They had 2 toasters at the buffet which was not enough. They were commercial toasters that take a long time to toast the bread. There appeared to always be a line waiting for toast. . At lunch they always had a different carving item each day, Roasted Turkey, Lamb, Prime Rip, roast beef, in addition to a seafood, and chicken dish. At least 3 kinds of pasta were available along with a variety of Pizza. The pasta dishes were excellent. . Diners were scheduled for 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. On the first day the early dining (6:00 pm) ran late and held up the later diners (8:30 pm). But the staff got their act together and by the end of the cruise everything ran good and on time. Food was once again very good and staff worked hard learning the American way. For example day 1 or 2 we asked for coffee during our meal. Asst waiter said that you drink coffee at end of meal (European way). Next day we had coffee with our meal and end of meal every day. Water glasses were filled without ice the first 2 days; in Europe ice is not used. The waiters made a fast adjustment and we had ice every day. My only negative was the portion sizes, they were very small. For example one night I had Duck breast, it was 3 small slices of duck. A roasted chicken came with one quarter of a small chicken like a Cornish hen, could always order more. In addition to the normal selection they always had 2 pasta dishes to add to the meal. . The nightly entertainment was excellent except for the magician comedian on the last night. One night they had a tribute to Michael Jackson who was supper, if I did not know better I would have sworn that he came back to life. I was informed ahead of time that the entertainment was geared toward a multi language audience and consisted of visuals. They did an excellent job with this. . The cabins and balconies are non-smoking but I did see my next door neighbor smoking on balcony. More obvious is how they let passenger come into the dining room more than ½ hour late and in a few cases inappropriately dressed for example shorts and t-shirt on formal night. A little confusing is the next to last night (Thursday) they had the good by show. This should have been the last night with the magician on that night. Every day from the first day to the end the crew and staff were getting better and better and it showed. The one question always asked is “would you take this ship again”, the answer is a rousing yes, yes, yes. 1985 Fairsky SITMAR 1986 Song of America ROYAL CARIBBEAN 1986 Oceanic PREMIER 1987 Oceanic PREMIER Nordic Prince ROYAL CARIBBEAN Nordic Empress ROYAL CARIBBEAN Viking Seranade ROYAL CARIBBEAN Regal Princess PRINCESS Royal Majesty MAJESTY CRUISE LINES 1992 Monarch of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN 1995 Sovereign of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN 1996 Song of America ROYAL CARIBBEAN 1999 Oceanic PREMIER 1999 Splendor of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN (Apple Vacation) OCEANIC CRUISE LINE Legend of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN Majesty of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN Grandeur of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN Enchantment of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN 2000 Voyager of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN 2000 Horizon (Alaska) CELEBRITY 2001 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Crown Princess PRINCESS 2001 Dawn Princess (Alaska) PRINCESS 2002 NCL Dreamward 2002 Carnival Legend CARNIVAL 2002 Brilliance of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN 2003 Navigator of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN Aug 2003 Horizon (Bermuda) CELEBRITY Oct 2003 Serenade of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Jul 2004 Mariner of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Dec 2004 Empress of the Sea ROYAL CARIBBEAN Sept 2005 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBAEN Oct 2005 Infinity CELEBRITY Nov 2005 Enchantment of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Feb 2006 Golden Princess PRINCESS May 2006 Zenith CELEBRITY May 2006 Freedom of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Dec 2006 Millenium CELEBRITY Jun 2007 Caribbean Princess PRINCESS Aug 2007 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Oct 2007 Vision of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Jul 2008 Explorer of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Oct 2008 Solstice CELERITY Nov 2008 Enchantment of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Nov 2009 Dream CARNIVAL Dec 2009 Solstice CELERITY Jun 2010 Emerald Princess PRINCESS Nov 2010 Enchantment of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN July 2011 Allure of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN Dec 2011 Silhouette CELEBRITY May 2012 Oasis of the Seas ROYAL CARIBBEAN July 2013 Gem NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINES Dec 2013 Divina MSC Cruise-A-hoy: Great review!! Like you, my wife & I are seasoned cruisers ( 29 cruises, Diamond on RCI)..I am also anxious to try something different...ship looks beautiful..I was wondering how you would compare this ship & cruise to Royal ,Princess, or Celebrity, as you clearly like those 3 lines a lot...we LOVED the Oasis/Allure, and Freedom/ Liberty of The Seas..I have read now 4-5x that the shows were spectacular on Divina..food was good...how were the cabins? Pool area? bars & lounges? Thanks again... Big Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judyzoo Posted January 10, 2014 #30 Share Posted January 10, 2014 .Breakfast had the normal selection in the restaurants and buffet. What I found that could be improved is to have an eggs to order counter. No sunny side up or whites only. Everything was prepared in the back and brought out to the buffet. If you did not get the eggs right away it got cold. Thanks for the review! Did they not have a omelet station for the breakfast buffet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little flower222 Posted January 11, 2014 #31 Share Posted January 11, 2014 (edited) Thank you for the review, I am seriously considering an amazing deal on this ship in May. I am a few seconds away from pressing book now :D, lol. FYI... Let me say That I was surprised when I saw people carrying cases of drinks such as soda, water and juices onto the ship. I was told when I inquired about this that it was diffidently not allowed. When we got to our first port we stocked up with some water for the rest of the cruise and had no problem bringing it on board. Edited January 11, 2014 by little flower222 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Kelownabccan Posted January 11, 2014 #32 Share Posted January 11, 2014 At the afternoon Meet & Greet the Cruise Director said that there were 25% Europeans on board, I think it was reversed with 25% Americans. How was it set up and #'s.....was it Andre???....where....time?? we had a hard time doing ours.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imani68 Posted February 14, 2014 #33 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Great review. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseGirlKS Posted February 14, 2014 #34 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Wonderful review! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy McClure Posted February 14, 2014 #35 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Thanks for the review. I have seen their billboards popup all throughout Florida and they have some very competitive pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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