MSC DIVINA: Without Rose Tinted Glasses

[thraak]

I think he just watermarks various pictures that he scans and downloads. I don't know. Maybe he thinks that by watermarking it we will think that he actually took the picture. I'm still waiting to hear what relevance this picture that he posted has.

 

Edited May 26, 2014 by thraak

[alli]

Some more previews...

 

We'll be talking about choosing the cabins and balconies that are right for you on the Divina.

 

Who is the "WE"? I'm perfectly able to choose my own cabin and balcony on any ship I sail and made a great choice for our recent Divina cruise on 5/10. After hearing some of your remarks regarding this ship in your 'review', I'd be very leery of taking any of your suggestions for any travel plans I might have in the future...whether it be the ship I sail on or the balcony I choose.

[thraak]

Who is the "WE"? I'm perfectly able to choose my own cabin and balcony on any ship I sail and made a great choice for our recent Divina cruise on 5/10. After hearing some of your remarks regarding this ship in your 'review', I'd be very leery of taking any of your suggestions for any travel plans I might have in the future...whether it be the ship I sail on or the balcony I choose.

 

 

 

I think that would be him and CrusinCaren. :-)

Edited May 26, 2014 by thraak

[legion3]

I think he just watermarks various pictures that he scans and downloads. I don't know. Maybe he thinks that by watermarking it we will think that he actually took the picture. I'm still waiting to hear what relevance this picture that he posted has.

 

[ATTACH]314082[/ATTACH]

 

Good luck with that. I asked that pages ago. With no clarification I will go with my original theory that it makes him an opera expert, thus allowing him to lend weight to his opera review.

[thraak]

Toooo funny!!!

[American Bear]

American Bear Award For Best Value in the Caribbean!:D

 

Take that Carnival!

Edited May 26, 2014 by American Bear

[WhiteWineInTheSun]

Noted, you did say 24 days!

Were you in Europe at the time?

That's been our holdup from doing Med Cruises, the cost of air round trip makes the Med Cruise costs skyrocket for us, and far more expensive then a Caribbean cruise!

Here we drive to Miami/Fort Lauderdale for about $35.one way, or Port Canaveral for $20. one way since we live in Florida!

Total costs (including air) for us is still far less in the Caribbean on the Divina then even the low price you got on the Med. 24 day cruise!

That said, we are looking at 2015/2016 to a transatlantic on the Divina (when they announce their schedules), over in the spring, visit family/friends in Europe, and back in the fall! Better then flying anyday!:D

 

And the cruise fare will probably be equivalent to booking a flight from Florida! They are NOT cheap.

[WhiteWineInTheSun]

Judging by some of your other (as yet unpublished) photos, it seems like there were loungers in the aft pool area, and that the dry hot tiled area was enjoyed by many of the guests who opted to spread their towels there and soak up the sun. But it does seem that there was plenty of room and the only people who would find it inadequately small and impossibly crammed may have been those whose preferred method of enjoying a pool is to flail around like a beached whale.

 

 

 

 

I want to share one of the pictures I took during departure from Miami: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202758266171491&set=a.10202758260291344.1073741857.1045042427&type=3&theater (made the whole album public, but I'll move the images to Flicker or elsewhere to share soon).

 

The infinity pool has no lounge chairs? I use an electric scooter, and had to move quite a few of them to get to the back railing to take pictures as we departed.

 

I'd also like to know where these fences were that obstructed views, as most of deck 15 looked like this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202758266731505&set=a.10202758260291344.1073741857.1045042427&type=3&permPage=1, enclosed in glass that we could SEE through.

 

Too bad my album wasn't public before Tail posted this bogus review...

[Katgoesonholiday]

Your pictures are beautiful!

[legion3]

Your pictures are beautiful!

 

And authentic unlike other photos posted in this thread so far.

[legion3]

Actually given the different ways the op communicates, sometimes with long seemingly detached wisdom vomit.

 

An the flippant short choppy responses to some posters questions.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if this is two or more people using the same account.

 

One response shows irritation with be questioned and the other a completely detached view of what is actually going on.

[legion3]

It was sometime in the middle of the dinner time.

 

The selection is limited, but the problem is quality.

On a classy ship the buffet dinner is like a "restaurant food" in informal setting and convenience of the buffet.

On the Divina the buffet dinner is a subpar experience.

The food is like a selection you'll see in a cheap country buffet.

 

No "late night snack" time - when you can be terated with some nice light food.

After 10 pm: same pizza and sandwiches.

 

Agains despite the glaring inaccuracies readily apparent,

 

You film provides no context for this lack of quality you suggest is a problem.

 

You understand that your word is simply not good enough.

 

Therefore , I suggest you go back on the ship again and reshoot the whole dinner buffet film, with a proper camera and with proper narration as almost all other travel professionals do. Then the film will have some useful purpose.

[WhiteWineInTheSun]

Your pictures are beautiful!

 

 

Thanks!

 

I have about a dozen friends who are TAs, all were curious about the Divina. I promised them as many pictures as possible, there are probably another 75 pictures that need minor tweaking (sharpening, brightening) that will go up. Shot 2500 pictures, but the majority of that was from the performances we attended.

[cruisetrail]

My DW is a stout tea drinker, which brand of tea bags are served or used on the ship. On past cruises it is usually an assortment of Lipton or Bigelow, which is used on the Divina?

 

On sea days, is there a 'high tea'?. My DW loves this, so what's the story on this on the Divina?

 

Thanks

 

Cheers

 

Len

 

This is what is available in the buffet on MSC Divina:

 

 

 

 

For dinner: Iced Tea

 

 

Beverage station in the buffet

 

 

 

There is no High Tea (unless you book the Yacht Club cabin).

Cookies are available in the buffet between 4 and 5. That's it.

Tea, coffee, tap water are available in the buffet 24/7.

 

High Tea in the Yacht Club is proper ceremony.

They serve very good English, Scottish and Irish teas.

Real clotted cream.

However, scones were not good. Other treats weren't as good as we had on Cunard, HAL, Princess where proper Afternoon Tea is available for ALL passengers for free or on Celebrity - where it's extra chagre event offered once a cruise.

Overall, I rank our Proper Afternoon Tea experience:

1. Cunard

2. HAL

3. Princess

4. Celebrity

5. MSC Yacht Club

[legion3]

The post above is a version of the detached from reality posting style of the OP.

 

This is like the cat in the hat's Thing 1 and Thing 2.

 

Everyone raise your hands who's shocked at the proper afternoon tea rating.

 

5th out of 5th.

 

Any photos or films of you actually having tea in the YC?

[tiffygirl]

I want to share one of the pictures I took during departure from Miami: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202758266171491&set=a.10202758260291344.1073741857.1045042427&type=3&theater (made the whole album public, but I'll move the images to Flicker or elsewhere to share soon).

 

The infinity pool has no lounge chairs? I use an electric scooter, and had to move quite a few of them to get to the back railing to take pictures as we departed.

 

I'd also like to know where these fences were that obstructed views, as most of deck 15 looked like this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202758266731505&set=a.10202758260291344.1073741857.1045042427&type=3&permPage=1, enclosed in glass that we could SEE through.

 

Too bad my album wasn't public before Tail posted this bogus review...

 

thank you so much for making your pictures public!

 

i did the 2 day sailing last week and i COMPLETELY missed most deck 7!!! when i head back in October im definitely checking out that piano bar!!!

[alexkrn46]

This is what is available in the buffet on MSC Divina:

 

 

 

 

For dinner: Iced Tea

 

 

Beverage station in the buffet

 

 

 

There is no High Tea (unless you book the Yacht Club cabin).

Cookies are available in the buffet between 4 and 5. That's it.

Tea, coffee, tap water are available in the buffet 24/7.

 

High Tea in the Yacht Club is proper ceremony.

They serve very good English, Scottish and Irish teas.

Real clotted cream.

However, scones were not good. Other treats weren't as good as we had on Cunard, HAL, Princess where proper Afternoon Tea is available for ALL passengers for free or on Celebrity - where it's extra chagre event offered once a cruise.

Overall, I rank our Proper Afternoon Tea experience:

1. Cunard

2. HAL

3. Princess

4. Celebrity

5. MSC Yacht Club

 

 

who cares about high tea? RCCl does not provide it anymore, also what is the cost of high tea,

 

Cunard $$$$$$$$8

HAl $$$$$$$

Princess. $$$$$

Celebrity $$$$

 

 

Msc $$$

 

 

Being a critical. Thinker Mec has the best value.

[thraak]

This is what is available in the buffet on MSC Divina:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner: Iced Tea

 

 

 

 

 

Beverage station in the buffet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no High Tea (unless you book the Yacht Club cabin).

 

Cookies are available in the buffet between 4 and 5. That's it.

 

Tea, coffee, tap water are available in the buffet 24/7.

 

 

 

High Tea in the Yacht Club is proper ceremony.

 

They serve very good English, Scottish and Irish teas.

 

Real clotted cream.

 

However, scones were not good. Other treats weren't as good as we had on Cunard, HAL, Princess where proper Afternoon Tea is available for ALL passengers for free or on Celebrity - where it's extra chagre event offered once a cruise.

 

Overall, I rank our Proper Afternoon Tea experience:

 

1. Cunard

 

2. HAL

 

3. Princess

 

4. Celebrity

 

5. MSC Yacht Club

 

[Elmartellama]

Oh boy.

[thraak]

This is what is available in the buffet on MSC Divina:

 

 

 

 

For dinner: Iced Tea

 

 

Beverage station in the buffet

 

 

 

There is no High Tea (unless you book the Yacht Club cabin).

Cookies are available in the buffet between 4 and 5. That's it.

Tea, coffee, tap water are available in the buffet 24/7.

 

High Tea in the Yacht Club is proper ceremony.

They serve very good English, Scottish and Irish teas.

Real clotted cream.

However, scones were not good. Other treats weren't as good as we had on Cunard, HAL, Princess where proper Afternoon Tea is available for ALL passengers for free or on Celebrity - where it's extra chagre event offered once a cruise.

Overall, I rank our Proper Afternoon Tea experience:

1. Cunard

2. HAL

3. Princess

4. Celebrity

5. MSC Yacht Club

[YOUTUBE]www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlBr2fyqn9g[/YOUTUBE]

[cruisetrail]

who cares about high tea? RCCl does not provide it anymore, also what is the cost of high tea,

 

 

People are asking about it, so they DO care.

Afternoon tea is an intrinsic maritime tradition.

The way afternoon tea is arranged immediately tells you about the class of the ship.

 

Celebrity charged from $15 (prices can chage). Not to be missed.

Edited May 26, 2014 by cruisetrail

[papcx]

Afternoon tea is an intrinsic maritime tradition.

 

 

Maybe, but cruising is changing. Adapt or die, survival of the fittest etc.

[Elmartellama]

Actually it is healthier to eat 5 times a day. That of course if those meals are healthy and moderate, fatty snacks do not count and I'm afraid afternoon tea (or whatever that is) might be in that category.

 

----

 

I'm having fun reading this thread: the tragedy of the afternoon tea!!! and all the other ridiculous things that MSC does so very bad :D

[WhiteWineInTheSun]

Tiffygirl,

 

It is impossible to see it all in two days. Heck, we were aboard for five days and I know we missed a few things. At least we got the announcement that Cruise to the Edge will occur next November, and will be on the Divina again.

 

The good part of our charter is that we made quite a few friends who also enjoy Progressive rock, so we're all talking amongst ourselves on a FB group and preparing for next year's journey. Strangely, not ONE person (and we have quite to compliment of people from Europe and South America among the passengers) has mentioned afternoon tea, not even the Brits who have been raised with such a tradition.

[WhiteWineInTheSun]

I'll be honest, you're not getting my views for your 'valuable information'.

 

You haven't answered some direct questions already, so why urge others to post more that you won't answer.

 

Still wondering-

Room number in YC? (or are you still trying to figure out which room the picture you lifted came from and the Divina map is of no help?) Specifics about boarding as a YC guest that we should know as first timers?

 

Why did you post about the MDR dinner experience, then later say you stayed in the YC? MDR is not for YC guests for dinner, but you would know this if you'd been aboard-your butler and staff would have informed you.

 

Why no discussion of Le Muse meals, Mr. "I had a friend allow me access, oh wait, I actually stayed in the YC"? No mention of the service or the food specifically. That would have been useful, as DH and I are contemplating YC for next year's CTTE. What's silly is that all you have to say about Le Muse is that 'people treated the windows as mirrors'. Those of us who review the maps of the ship already knew Le Muse's location and we're not there to look outside the windows, we would be there for the food and service INSIDE the restaurant. (That 'crawl' through the unwashed masses you complain about? Not such a big deal if you use the 15th deck, FYI...)

 

Why do the majority of your digs on the Divina sound like retreads, as if you trolled every single Divina review and pulled them from about 20 other posts on these boards to cobble together a mostly negative review?

 

Why no picture of your cruise card? You can black out your name easily in your computer's photo editor, the rest of the card will be sufficient. Again, you lifted from other cruiser's complaint posts and no one helped you by posting a picture of their cruise card to 'borrow'.

 

Why no specifics about anything but the buffet and the MDR? Could that be due to the heavy posting on these boards about those two things? Kind of glad I saved all my specifics on things for elsewhere, but then, I had a mostly positive experience and you wouldn't want that kind of information to sully all the digs at the Divina.

 

You make general statements about the public areas, but nothing specific is said about them. How could you spend more than a day aboard and not talk about a single coffee bar, the casino, or lounges. Surely you passed through at least two of those in your 'crawl' to Le Muse, even if you lived in the YC areas and just took the elevator directly down to the Pantheon for the shows.

 

I read for amusement, as does anyone who has actually been aboard ship-because it is long on telling us what is wrong with Divina, and very short on information that would confirm that you actually were aboard ship.

Edited May 26, 2014 by WhiteWineInTheSun