!!! DIVINA !!! Eastern Caribbean ^_^ The Ultimate Review and Complete Pictorial Guide

[gambee]

Since my uncle kept getting lost, and we always had a really hard time finding him. My aunt suggested that we get a little leash for him and just tie him to my mom. Once we did that he started acting like a dog, you guys should have seen the faces of everyone around us. It was a good thing that I was a few feet away and I was not considered part of their group :D

 

 

 

We sat there in the lounge near the theater and enjoyed the music from our favorite couple

 

 

 

Good times!

 

 

[gambee]

We ordered a few drinks and they also brought us some snacks.

 

 

The show that night was called Simply Italian, and it was FABULOUS!!!!!

 

If I recall correctly, it had two singers and a bunch of dancers. They sang well-known Italian songs, I love Italian music. Everyone in our group was captivated by this show, but I have to say that what amazed us the most about the show was the finale.

 

 

We were right next to the guy who handles the bright while lights that light up the main singers.

 

 

[riclop]

Gambee speaking of slippery floors how about the Breeze buffet area its like a staking ice rink, very slippery.

[gambee]

So, about that finale. Well he was singing an Italian song. I can’t really recall which one it was. Next thing you start hearing the USA anthem and he starts singing it. It was not so much about the anthem itself, but more about the energy that was felt in the theater! Mostly everyone stood up and the place ignited, lots of people singing and just tons and tons of energy.

 

 

Hmmm, did not notice them looking at me :D. No worries, I did not use the flash.

 

 

Once the show was over everyone stood up and clapped continuously!

 

 

It was a fantastic show! Not all the shows were good on the ship, but this one really outdid itself. I really regret that we missed the Frank Sinatra one, because I am sure we had loved that show. It would be great if they moved it to a day that did not interfere with the sail away party. Nonetheless, I am sure some people dislike it and like more the cirque style ones.

 

[gambee]

Once the show was over we headed back to the lounge for a few more drinks, both my uncle and I had our share of drinks by then. My aunt does not drink and my mom just had just a few drinks.

 

 

 

 

My uncle wanted a song and I went and requested it. The song was In the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett. I am going to tell you something, I thought my father had a lot of knowledge of music. But my uncle's knowledge in music is insane, he knows names, artists of pretty much every song they sang. IT WAS RIDICULOUS! I have never seen anything like that before.

 

Here he is recording the song, He was on fire when they started singing it. Granted, it is a slower song and a little older, so most of the crowd was like ***… Lol… :D But hey he was happy, that’s all that mattered!

 

 

[gambee]

I forgot to tell you. This cruise was actually really cool for my aunt, why you ask? Well her birthday was actually the next day!!! Who can say that they celebrated their birthday in St Maarten? So as you can imagine she was so very excited about it. She kept saying, how am I going to top this?!?!!?

 

You already know about my past, I am very fortunate that my uncles have been so supportive, and they gave me everything that father did not. I owe them being here in the USA. I think I might have things a little confusing, I was calling her my aunt. But in reality she is a close family relative. I think like a 3rd cousin of my mom, something like that. So anyway, back to the story, she would have never imagined in a million years that she would ever go St. Maarten! And now not only that, but she was also celebrating her birthday there.

 

I got a little carried away, sorry, back to the story. So yeah, family is everything!

 

Anyway, my mom had brought some room decorations, so she asked me to go up and set them up. The bad news was that she had forgotten the tape, so I just had to get creative with how I hung it on the walls. I said I needed to go use the boy’s room and took off to set it up.

 

 

 

 

[gambee]

I think I did a pretty good job considering the lack of tools.

 

 

 

I went back downstairs to get them, we headed upstairs. We went back up and my aunt was in heaven! I think this entire cruise was like a dream for all of us. Although I have to admit late at night when I was alone in the room I did get sad a few times that I never got cruise with my grandma, hopefully she was there in spirit with us.

 

So the decorations worked in theory, my uncle rushed into the room to use the room and broke some the decorations. My aunt wanted to kill him.

 

 

And if that was not enough, then they got set up for the picture to send to Colombia and he had one of the horns with him and blew it on her ear! She was not happy, but it was hilarious! Her facial expression was to die for!

 

That thing was so loud!!! We were not expecting that, I am sure he woke up half of the ship in the process, she almost smacked him with it. It was to die for!!!!! :D She could not hear out of that ear for about 10 minutes, lol. He is something else!

 

[gambee]

We relaxed there for a little while,

 

 

 

Later on, my uncle headed down to the casino, and I parted ways to my room. I made a few attempts at reviving the computer, but I failed at it. I have to admit that the loss of the Day 1 pictures really had me sad the entire day. As a blogger data is EVERYTHING to me! All I could think of was how many pictures I had lost and how could I go and get them all again. It was kind of a sad day because of that reason. I made the best of it though.

 

That was about it for that day, I turned the TV on and put TBS to watch some TV while I fell asleep.

 

 

 

 

Day 3, End.

 

[gambee]

I slipped but did not fall in the buffet area on our first cruise, which was on the HAL Zuiderdam. It's the nature of public areas to use easy-to-clean surfaces, like tile, on floors. And if it's wet, look out! I found that when I put my wet feet into my Nike flip flops, I'd slide right out of them. Add a wet, slippery floor and I could barely walk. Had to get better sandals that didn't have a smooth insole. I love those Nike ones, too!

 

Glad your mom is all right.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

That's good that you caught yourself. The thing is that finding anti-slip footwear is not that easy. The idea is to get a nice pair so this won't happen again.

[gambee]

LOL....you said it was a soap floor....so I was imagining a weirdo place to wash your feet....just my imagination.

 

I fall, slip and stub my toes too often....

 

Can you tell us specifically where this is...so I can avoid it....

 

Thanks

 

It basically covers the entire covered pool area. There are 3 types of floor there, 2 of them are very slippery. Be careful!

[gambee]

Gambee, great review and I love your pics. Thanks for sharing!

 

I'm glad to hear your mom is OK. I'm going to be cruising with my mom and aunt in November. I been worrying about my aunt cause she has issues with her legs. Now I'm thinking to buy her water shoes so she don't slip when we go to the pool and jacuzzi areas.

 

Make sure that the shoes say anti-slip, my uncle had a pair and they were horrible! On the other hand, I have of pair of Tusa brand ones that won't slip for the world.

 

Have a great cruise!

[gambee]

We were on the MSC 3 weeks and loved it. One thing we never were able to find was the infinity pool. Is it on a private deck? We went as far aft as we could go and the elevator only went to deck 15. We saw a pool there but it was being evacuated because a child had defecated in it. Was that the pool? Is the garden pool the same as the infinity pool? How do you get to the water slide and what does it land in, a pool?

 

Loved your review. You write in the style of "Celebrat" a cruiser we met on the MSC Orchestra about 5 years ago from Celebration Fl.

Marsha:D

 

The garden pool is the infinity pool, if you keep on walking around that deck is where the water slide lands. It lands on its own landing pad, I think I posted a picture already. I know I took a ton of them.

[gambee]

Gambee speaking of slippery floors how about the Breeze buffet area its like a staking ice rink, very slippery.

 

You're very right, I actually think I caught someone falling really nasty on the walking tour on the Breeze.

[riclop]

Gambee your writing style is just fantastic and you provide a great story as you are writing, I don't know what you are taking up in school but you should be in persuit of a writing career. Great job in all your reviews and thanks for taking your time.

[lady peacock]

Following along, we may be going in April - or we may not depending on how this review goes. :D

 

Our preferred cruise line is Costa looking forward to your review of another Italian cruise line ;)

[Katgoesonholiday]

Yes, my mom fell, I thus this did dent my cruise experience. She did not trip, she slipped. Was the area wet? Yes. Do I have a problem with that? No. It's a pool area, the floor is supposed to be wet. However, my issue is when a cruise line decides to put soap as the surface in the pool deck. I wish I had pictures/videos to back my statement up. But unfortunately I do not. If I sat there for 1 hour, I could have plenty of data to back me up.

I don't know about soap as a surface but I nearly slipped over several times on the same area on the Preziosa when it was wet. I don't know what it was about that area but it really was very very slippery - more so than you would expect.

[CruiseReg]

NUTELLA CREPES!?!?!?!? Sounds like heaven!

 

The NCL Epic has Nutella at the crepe stations too and it is *good*!

[PalmBeachOrBust]

I am enjoying your review. I can honestly say, this is the most beautiful ship I have seen, but one I would never sail. It seems to be missing the fun factor, the statues are not really family friendly, and the food and service seem mediocre.

 

Two suggestions got your review, some of your text does not correlate to the photo, and please don't overuse the illustration mode. I know you love it, and knew or two pictures are nice, but those photos don't really add anything yo the review.

 

I appreciate your thoughtful and indepth reviews...especially the Breakaway one, which was invaluable to me before my breakaway cruise last year.

[Zeta3]

I am enjoying your review. I can honestly say, this is the most beautiful ship I have seen, but one I would never sail. It seems to be missing the fun factor, the statues are not really family friendly, and the food and service seem mediocre.

 

 

 

Two suggestions got your review, some of your text does not correlate to the photo, and please don't overuse the illustration mode. I know you love it, and knew or two pictures are nice, but those photos don't really add anything yo the review.

 

 

 

I appreciate your thoughtful and indepth reviews...especially the Breakaway one, which was invaluable to me before my breakaway cruise last year.

 

 

I totally disagree, I love the writing style and all the pictures. Keep it coming please gambee :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[skyking]

When we got to the room, we noticed that my mom’s card was dead. I forgot to mention this before, but my card had died 2 times already. Both times the lady nicely questioned me where I put my cards, and started giving lessons on where should I put the cards. She claimed that my equipment was damaging the cards. What about my moms? I felt like telling her, I put my card in the same place that I put the card for all my other cruises and nothing ever happens. In total, we had 8 cards go bad in this cruise. Thankfully, there are two guests’ relation’s desks, and there was never a line to get a new. It was also done very quickly, eventually they stopped asking me where I put my card. We tried moving the cards around and they still went bad.

 

Mom getting her card fixed

 

 

 

 

We went to the room and relaxed for a little while, we used the Internet and they got ready to go to dinner and the show. My uncle had not yet arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gambee I love this shot, we are in cabin 11103 which is one of these cabins that faces aft, the second one out from the wall. I can't wait!!!!

[PalmBeachOrBust]

I totally disagree, I love the writing style and all the pictures. Keep it coming please gambee :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Julie. I love the writing style and all the pics too. It is just so many that look like cartoons that I am talking about

[Seago2]

I, too, am loving this in depth review! Not wild about the illustration mode but hey, it's your review.

 

How would you say the dress code was in comparison to your other cruises? The cruisers look more stylish to me. About to book Divina for January...

 

And thank you again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gambee]

Gambee your writing style is just fantastic and you provide a great story as you are writing, I don't know what you are taking up in school but you should be in persuit of a writing career. Great job in all your reviews and thanks for taking your time.

 

Thank you, that means a lot. I know you have been following me since my early days :)

[gambee]

Our preferred cruise line is Costa looking forward to your review of another Italian cruise line ;)

 

 

We will see, I am planning on heading to Europe next year. Just not sure which line we want to cruise in just yet. But I will keep Costa in mind :)

[gambee]

I don't know about soap as a surface but I nearly slipped over several times on the same area on the Preziosa when it was wet. I don't know what it was about that area but it really was very very slippery - more so than you would expect.

 

It is slippery indeed.