Giving MSC second chance

[cruisingcanadian]

My first MSC cruise was in 2009 on the Splendida after having sailed with several cruiselines on several different ships. Beautiful ship,great itinerary but sporadic and somehow unpleasant service. It was my first cruise where I heard many times words "no,not possible" from employees at Guest Relations desk. First time I had a waiter in MDR who never brought meal orders for 8 people at our table right and who did not communicate with us.Where employees at the Excursion Desk had not clue about excursions they were selling....

 

I still enjoyed the cruise because I just love to be at sea on a ship...but I did not plan to return to MSC.

But I started reading MSC message boards on regular basis,and I have to admit it became my sort of entertainment.

 

After reading about MSC Divina coming to Florida,and especially after finding out the extremely low prices for some of the sailings,I decided to give her a try. I even convinced my American friend who is a Travel Agent and who never wanted to have anything to do with MSC to take a cruise on Divina with me.

 

We were on April 26th sailing in Western Caribbean. The itinerary has not been stellar but we just wanted to get away from the terrible,long winter and spend some time on the islands and a nice ship.

 

Let me tell you it was like day and night compared to my Splendida experience. It was my 17th cruise,and I have to say Divina is the most beautiful ship (maybe sharing the first place with Celebrity Solstice),and one of my best cruises.

 

I read all those new Divina reviews,and I feel to write another review would be just repeating what others had said (esp.Mrs.Squirrel who was on the same sailing...and no,we never met on the ship).

I have just praise for out cabin attendant and our waiters in MDR-all of them were very professional,provided us with great service with a touch of humour -and there was nothing intrusive or fake as some posters here try to imply.

 

The entertainment was one of the best I had seen on my cruises,and the whole atmosphere on the ship was great.

 

My only and big complain (as I put in the questionnaire at the end of the cruise) was about parents who put they babies in swim diapers not only in the pools but in the hot tubs as well:eek:.

 

The week ended up too fast,and we were sorry for not being booked on B2B as we had a such a good time.

[TxnAquarian]

That's great to hear! I am always intrigued by reading reviews of MSC, and am often curious to try these ships because they look so beautiful. The reviews are so hit or miss, so I like when a positive one like yours comes along. I think the big deterrent for me is the "kids sail free" promo they offer.

 

 

 

Michael

[sidari]

CC .... Good to hear that the cruise was a success for you, it seems that MSC have come a long way by changing a lot of things to the American way on the Divina and i guess that is why it stood out over the Splendida cruise.

 

They do however need to have an Adults only pool and enforce the no kids in the hot tubs.

 

Hopefully the rest of the fleet will remain and operate as they have done previously.

 

 

Txn .... I guess you could try booking during school term time when there may be less kids onboard.

Edited May 9, 2014 by sidari

[cruisingcanadian]

CC .... Good to hear that the cruise was a success for you, it seems that MSC have come a long way by changing a lot of things to the American way on the Divina and i guess that is why it stood out over the Splendida cruise.

 

They do however need to have an Adults only pool and enforce the no kids in the hot tubs.

 

Hopefully the rest of the fleet will remain and operate as they have done previously.

 

 

Txn .... I guess you could try booking during school term time when there may be less kids onboard.

 

Sidari,do you think it would be a bad idea to provide passengers on all MSC ships with a knowledgeable service, water during evening meals,coffee after dinner (by the way-a VERY good coffee we had on the Divina) and without sour faces and "no" answers at the Reception?

 

Regardless of my screen name I am of Central European origin, and I do not think that what I experienced on both MSC ships had anything to do with cultural differences...but with personals working there,including Italian officers...but that would be another story.

 

I appreciate your positive attitude to my "mini review" though:D.

[sidari]

CC ... I personally see no reason why water and coffee should not be available, MSC clearly decided that as they are Italian they would do Dinner the Italian way hence no water and no coffee.

 

To win friends and influence people they have clearly decided that the above will be available for the Divina sailings with other changes, on the TA to Miami last year we had no issues with customer service or staff but did encounter some issues on our Opera sailing last June.

 

The Poesia sailing prior to that was also a no issue sailing.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

My only and big complain (as I put in the questionnaire at the end of the cruise) was about parents who put they babies in swim diapers not only in the pools but in the hot tubs as well:eek:.

 

The week ended up too fast,and we were sorry for not being booked on B2B as we had a such a good time.

 

I am glad you had a great time! Yes, yes, yes on the swim diapers. 110% agree, just haven't gotten there yet in my review! :mad:

 

They do however need to have an Adults only pool and enforce the no kids in the hot tubs.

 

I agree about the adults pool. The infinity pool aft seems the logical choice on Divina. What I don't understand is why you feel children should not be allowed in hot tubs as long as they are supervised and only stay in a little while?

[MTL=CRUISEFAMILY]

I must say, it takes a lot of character to come back and express such positive spin on a cruise line you had previously not enjoyed.

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Let me ask you, since you are, like us, a Celebrity fan, would you compare MSC more to RCI or Celebrity.

 

Still working on finding our next one.

[cruisingcanadian]

MTL-let me think about it over the weekend,right now I am falling asleep,and going away for a few days to celebrate Mother's Day with my son.

Be back soon:).

[cruisingcanadian]

I must say, it takes a lot of character to come back and express such positive spin on a cruise line you had previously not enjoyed.

 

Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Let me ask you, since you are, like us, a Celebrity fan, would you compare MSC more to RCI or Celebrity.

 

Still working on finding our next one.

 

Hi MTL,I am glad I surprised you;). You are asking me about comparison to other cruise lines-hmmmmm,not easy. I would not compare them to RCI but cannot say that there is a strong difference....just different kind of ships.

Celebrity: my favorite cruise line but my 4 cruises on 4 different Celebrity ships had not all been the same. The atmosphere is-in my opinion-more lively on MSC (Divina),esp.in the evenings.

Food:I enjoyed on both;had one bad dinner on Celebrity Infinity and one on the Divina.It happens,important is to have it fixed (which had been better handled on the Divina).

Situation around the pools-hands down better on all Celebrity ships....I love their adults-only Thallasotherapy pools:D.

 

As I already mentioned in one of my posts,I consider Celebrity Solstice and MSC Divina to be the most beautiful ships I have experienced. Each different but both great.

 

I would recommend you to try one of the newest Solstice class ships; I am hoping to sail on one of them as well,maybe in 2015.

 

I realized now that you have 2 teenagers in your family,if I am not mistaken; in that case I can recommend RCI Oasis or Allure,or any of their new big ships.

 

Good luck in making your next choice!:)

[Travel mad]

We had a "just ok " experience on MSC Splendida and weren't keen to book MSC again. However we did and are very pleased. We sailed on MSC Armonia and it was a great ship. We will definitely sail on MSC again , and if it's MS Chee Urmoneeea then that will be wonderful. I think any cruise experience depends on the ports of call, the weather , fellow passengers and if they all tick the box, the ship choice is secondary.