My first cruise ever & review of the MSC Divina

JCeballos · April 2, 2015

Hi Cruise Critic! I've lurked around for a long time and finally, this is my first post and first review of my first ever cruise! It's a little lengthy but I wanted to be detailed just in case there were some first time cruisers with the same concerns I might have had. Hopefully this is the right sub-forum!

As a new family of three, including an 8 month baby girl, we were interested in taking our first family vacation together. We decided a cruise would be the best decision and ended up booking our first cruise on the MSC Divina through Affordable Tours.

Upon arriving at the Port of Miami, we were greeted by an enormous ship! It was gorgeous and proved to be gorgeous inside as well. Embarkation was quick, we dropped off our luggage as we got off the car, went through security and then the desk agent checked our passports and gave us our cruise cards. As we boarded the ship we were directed to register our daughter for an ID band (in case she needed to walk away haha). We rushed off to the buffet as we were starving and scarfed down some delicious pizza. Our room was ready and off we were.

We had a corner balcony unit, spacious, comfortable and a bigger balcony than the regular 25 foot ones. Everything was clean and up to date and our crib was set up as well. We had space to fit our 3 pieces of luggage, crib and jogging stroller and we still had space to walk around!

The room is cleaned in the morning and turndown service is down while you are at dinner, towels were replaced daily, the bathroom was cleaned and room was vacuumed. We had zero complaints! Except that we didn't get any cute towel animals or chocolates on the bed, boo!

For breakfast and lunch buffet servers were always available and courteous, willing to help in any way. The area was constantly kept clean. The buffet has a ton of different foods, but they serve the same thing on a daily basis. They dish out fresh food like it is nobody's business! You can't really go wrong with pizza, yum. The dinner servers were friendly even though they looked extremely busy. They never failed to have a smile on their face and always played with our daughter. Our nightly dinners were full of fun, including themes and some dancing. There is a wide variety of foods to try, don't overlook the broiled salmon on the healthy menu, it is delicious. The only thing we were confused by, was that there was a "dress code" every night. Italian colored, black/white night, white party...I'm not sure if people coincidentally packed the right clothes or if they had received some sort of itinerary. Oh, and free ice cream by the pool everyday? Yes, please!

There was always something going on, art auctions, games, dancing, music, shows and even a mini bowling alley, it's hard not to find something that suits your needs. The pools/jacuzzis are great, especially the indoor ones. There are splash areas/kiddie pools around the main pools and the view from the Garden Bar pool is gorgeous. There are several bars/lounges at night that are nice to hang out it, especially the Golden Bar which had live Spanish music! The Children's Club was always busy and the kids looked like they were having a lot of fun. Our daughter was too young to be a part of that but they had a small playground full of baby toys for the little ones :) The shows were also great, but most importantly the Michael Jackson show was PHENOMENAL. We didn't take part in the excursions offered by the ship but there were a ton that we looked into. Everyone that we spoke to had nothing but great things to say.

Overall, we had an amazing time. The staff was helpful and accommodating and there was never an issues, which is great considering it was a 7 day cruise!

Feel free to ask any questions, I'll do my best to answer. Ill have photos posted up later tonight when I get done sorting through. I hope you enjoyed my review! :)

paul929207 · April 2, 2015

Thanks for the review

Host Walt · April 2, 2015

This post has been copied to the MSC board so check both this board and the MSC board for replies to this post.

Here's a link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191039

JCeballos · April 2, 2015

This post has been copied to the MSC board so check both this board and the MSC board for replies to this post.

Here's a link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2191039

Cool, thanks!

JCeballos · April 2, 2015

Thanks for the review

Thanks for reading :D

Sow There · April 2, 2015

Just curious. What was the itinerary of your cruise? On days when you were in port and you did not go ashore, did MSC provide a good assortment of activities aboard the ship?

It's great that everything went so well for you, especially with an 8 month old on board. Sounds like you're very likely to do another cruise.

JCeballos · April 2, 2015

The itinerary was:

1 Miami, Florida

2 AT SEA

3 AT SEA

4 Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 San Juan, Puerto Rico

6 Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos

7 AT SEA

8 Miami, Florida

Although we did not book any excursions, we did get off the ship at all the ports so I can't comment on the onboard entertainment & activities while docked.

Yes, we were really worried about how our daughter would be able to handle it but it all worked out perfectly. After this cruise I am looking forward to many more in my future

Mikesa1721 · April 2, 2015

Thanks for the review JC!!! Good to know you and your family enjoyed your sailing aboard MSC Divina! Divina is due for a two week dry dock this coming year where we're hoping to see an expanded kids club; which will hopefully install the new Lego play land for tots, as well as the Chicco's baby's club.:)

George C · April 2, 2015

Thanks for the excellent review, we did MSC just once about 12 years ago on a much older ship, but we loved the Italian food and the service and would cruise them again.