3/3/17 one thing you wish you would have known...

[frenchm]

What is the one thing about the MSC Divina you wish you would have known before you sailed?

[Frode]

MSC's cruise product is adapted to families with children. You will not find any pool onboard reserved for adults...

 

 

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[LMCruise]

Not what I wish I would have known, but what I wish I would have done differently...

 

I would have pre-booked specialty dining for every night of the cruise and skipped dinner in the main dining room entirely. The main dining room was fine for the price paid. The specialty restaurants were great though, and a huge improvement for about $150 per person or less (if you prebook).

 

I would book the 4 restaurant package and add an additional 2 restaurants (probably Eataly and Italia). That would give me 2 Italia, 2 Eataly, 1 Galaxy, 1 pizza night, and one night to play by ear or eat at the buffet. Once on board, I would go make my reservations ASAP.

[nikkiw60]

MSC's cruise product is adapted to families with children. You will not find any pool onboard reserved for adults...

 

 

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Not true on the Divina!

 

 

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[frenchm]

Not what I wish I would have known, but what I wish I would have done differently...

 

I would have pre-booked specialty dining for every night of the cruise and skipped dinner in the main dining room entirely. The main dining room was fine for the price paid. The specialty restaurants were great though, and a huge improvement for about $150 per person or less (if you prebook).

 

I would book the 4 restaurant package and add an additional 2 restaurants (probably Eataly and Italia). That would give me 2 Italia, 2 Eataly, 1 Galaxy, 1 pizza night, and one night to play by ear or eat at the buffet. Once on board, I would go make my reservations ASAP.

 

 

Thanks LM Cruise! This is my first cruise and I was sharing your post with my DH. This is good to keep in mind when we cruise by ourselves. Thanks for providing your dining advice!

 

 

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[jacksonx]

Not what I wish I would have known, but what I wish I would have done differently...

 

I would have pre-booked specialty dining for every night of the cruise and skipped dinner in the main dining room entirely. The main dining room was fine for the price paid. The specialty restaurants were great though, and a huge improvement for about $150 per person or less (if you prebook).

 

I would book the 4 restaurant package and add an additional 2 restaurants (probably Eataly and Italia). That would give me 2 Italia, 2 Eataly, 1 Galaxy, 1 pizza night, and one night to play by ear or eat at the buffet. Once on board, I would go make my reservations ASAP.

 

 

 

We are cruising on the Divina in May on the Yacht Club;

we understand that the Yacht Club restaurant is different than the main dining rooms.

Do you (or anyone) know if it makes sense to go to the specialty restaurants rather than eat every night at the Yacht Club restaurant? (We will be eating with small children, if that makes any difference.)

Thanks

[sooner33]

We are cruising on the Divina in May on the Yacht Club;

we understand that the Yacht Club restaurant is different than the main dining rooms.

Do you (or anyone) know if it makes sense to go to the specialty restaurants rather than eat every night at the Yacht Club restaurant? (We will be eating with small children, if that makes any difference.)

Thanks

 

I will start by saying i havnt sailed on MSC yet , but i asked the same question , i have been told by multiple people on her you dont need to pay for the speciality restaurant ( not saying its free if you want to eat there ) but that the YC restaurant will have things on the menu each night from the speciality restaurants and if there is something you really want you can ask them to make it for you , or basically pre order it for another night

[CarolnLarry]

We are cruising on the Divina in May on the Yacht Club;

we understand that the Yacht Club restaurant is different than the main dining rooms.

Do you (or anyone) know if it makes sense to go to the specialty restaurants rather than eat every night at the Yacht Club restaurant? (We will be eating with small children, if that makes any difference.)

Thanks

 

 

WE are also sailing on a BTB in May. We did the same cruise in Late August early September in the Yacht Club. We did not use a specialty dining room as we were very happy with the food in Le Muse, the yacht club dining room. Being in the Yacht Club is a completely different experience.

On our last cruise there were two young girls about 3 and 6 who ate in Le Muse each night and didn't seem to have a problem finding something to eat. The mother of the girls always had some sort of food/snack for the youngest to eat in case they needed a different food. You can ask for different things if there is nothing available on the evenings menu.

In the one bar is some food also that the youngsters seemed to enjoy anytime of the day. This is in addition to the pool bar that also serves breakfast. Among all of them you should be able to find more than enough for all of you, if not the specialty restaurants will have nothing different or better so the buffet is always available.

We ate pizza, very good and cheese burgers in the buffet. My wife went there for watermelon. Hope this helps, sign up for the roll call and maybe we will run into you on our cruise.

[frenchm]

What is the one thing about the MSC Divina you wish you would have known before you sailed?

 

 

Looking for more participation for this question since this is my first cruise and I have a tenancy to over prepare. [emoji23]

 

 

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[Dolebludger]

Book the YC!

 

We were on the Poesia in 2013 for a "Moody Blues" music cruise. In 2014 that music cruise was on the Divinia where they had a YC and we booked that. It was a whole different (and better) cruise. There is no need to go to a specialty restaurant. The YC restaurant is open seating, open time, and is not crowded. There is a separate open bar for the YC, that is very pleasant.

 

If it is not a music cruise with bands we love, we usually take our cruises on lines like Regent or Silverseas, and we found the MSC YC to be as good as these higher cost lines, except for one thing. On MSC, the room service menu is very limited, even in the YC.

 

We hate lines and crowds. With that in mind, we will be booking the MSC YC in the future, even though there is no special music involved.

[frenchm]

Thank you!

 

 

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[Dolebludger]

frenchm,

 

And thank you for your post. If you have cruised "mass market" lines and seen them descend into "nickel and diming" and herding passengers in long lines like cattle as we have, you will search for something else -- something better. In our opinion, a cruise on the MSC YC is the most economical way to get that "something better". Although we were on the YC for a music cruse featuring a band we love, we would take the MSC YC again, even though we usually take Regent, if we ever find a MSC cruise with a YC on an itinerary we like. When we do, we will enjoy almost the same experience for less than 1/2 the cost. In our opinion, the MSC YC is the greatest bargain in cruising today.

[frenchm]

As I mentioned, this is our first cruise and our son booked it for 11 of us (3 balcony rooms and 2 interior rooms). I will certainly keep your advice in the event my husband and I travel alone. The YC sounds very much like what we would like!

 

 

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[Dolebludger]

frenchm,

 

We did a cruise on MSC on one of their ships that did not have a YC. IMO, it was not bad, and was the best of the "mass market" cruises we have ever been on. MSC offers great deals on drink packages, the ships are in great shape, and (if all else fails) the buffets are very good. While it is true that I have no love for "mass market" lines without booking premium accommodations, I have to say that MSC is the best of them all. On our MSC cruise that was not in the YC we thought the food was good, the ship was clean and attractive, and we could buy a "drink package" at reasonable cost. The cabins were nice, clean and attractive too. We even found that the ship had less movement or vibration than many we had been on -- even on lux lines. So I am sure you will enjoy your cruise.

[frenchm]

Does anyone know the time zone for the June 3, 2017 MSC Divina cruise? I'm told all times will be ship time.

 

 

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[Oak Hill Cruisers]

That there are no men's urinals in public restrooms.

[Beamafar]

...........the YC restaurant will have things on the menu each night from the speciality restaurants and if there is something you really want you can ask them to make it for you , or basically pre order it for another night

 

I've noticed this being said on a number of occasions on this forum - it's not quite true. Yes, the YC restaurant will have items on the menu from the Speciality restaurant menu but NOT from the actual restaurant. They'll offer items from the Tex-Mex or Galaxy restaurant menu for example on ships where there isn't a Tex-Mex (or, alternatively for Fantasia & Splendida, a Galaxy) restaurant onboard. The items are cooked in the kitchen that services the YC and, in my experience, were never as good as the actual Specialty restaurant. You need to read the YC menu carefully - it states "from the (insert particular speciality restaurant name here) menu, not restaurant.

[frenchm]

I've noticed this being said on a number of occasions on this forum - it's not quite true. Yes, the YC restaurant will have items on the menu from the Speciality restaurant menu but NOT from the actual restaurant. They'll offer items from the Tex-Mex or Galaxy restaurant menu for example on ships where there isn't a Tex-Mex (or, alternatively for Fantasia & Splendida, a Galaxy) restaurant onboard. The items are cooked in the kitchen that services the YC and, in my experience, were never as good as the actual Specialty restaurant. You need to read the YC menu carefully - it states "from the (insert particular speciality restaurant name here) menu, not restaurant.

This is helpful to know. Thanks so much!

[Reds4life]

That there are no men's urinals in public restrooms.

Lol, what? Is that a European thing?

[frenchm]

That there are no men's urinals in public restrooms.

They are considered "gender neutral". I think the Navy is going to this too.

[Catlady1977]

The one thing I wished I'd of done was to of purchased an all inclusive drinks package rather than just buying water and pop packages. I'm not a huge drinker but I now know that the all inclusive covers proper coffees rather than the coffee from the buffet.

 

The other thing I wished I'd of done is to book my spa treatment in as soon as I'd got on the boat, I left it late to book my prepaid treatment and found that the treatment slots were limited.

 

Finally, I wish I'd of been prepared for the tiredness from being in fresh air all day and I wish I'd of been aware that it takes 2-3 weeks for your sealegs to go!!!

[frenchm]

The one thing I wished I'd of done was to of purchased an all inclusive drinks package rather than just buying water and pop packages. I'm not a huge drinker but I now know that the all inclusive covers proper coffees rather than the coffee from the buffet.

 

The other thing I wished I'd of done is to book my spa treatment in as soon as I'd got on the boat, I left it late to book my prepaid treatment and found that the treatment slots were limited.

 

Finally, I wish I'd of been prepared for the tiredness from being in fresh air all day and I wish I'd of been aware that it takes 2-3 weeks for your sealegs to go!!!

 

Wow Catlady this is some good stuff to know!

I did get the drink package. Like you I'm not a big drinker but glad I can get a drink when I want and it's already paid; including the coffees.

 

It's helpful to know about scheduling our spa time when we get on the ship, before all the slots get filled!🤔

 

I'll mentally prepare for the sealegs!

 

Thanks for helping make our cruise much easier! 😎

 

Marie

[Catlady1977]

Wow Catlady this is some good stuff to know!

I did get the drink package. Like you I'm not a big drinker but glad I can get a drink when I want and it's already paid; including the coffees.

 

It's helpful to know about scheduling our spa time when we get on the ship, before all the slots get filled!🤔

 

I'll mentally prepare for the sealegs!

 

Thanks for helping make our cruise much easier! 😎

 

Marie

 

No worries at all Marie, have a great time. Ooohhh you can pick up your drinks vouchers from the casino if you've prepaid them, also I found that when you first get on the Divina we were bombarded with staff trying to sell drinks packages, we found it a little overwhelming as literally everywhere you turned you had s staff member trying to sell you something, same with the spa staff. It just seemed a bit overwhelming as you're trying to take in the view and splendor of the staircase and boat and then you're trying to negotiate finding your way around and being bombarded. Everyone was polite but it just was a bit well overwhelming!

 

Also on embarking the Divina, cabins aren't usually ready til 2pm (that's what we were told), so although you have your cabin card, you are directed to floor 14 for the buffet. Not sure if you're a smoker but for the carribean leg, smoking was permitted on deck 15 at the back, the cigar lounge on deck 5 (I think) and there was 1 side of the boat on deck 7 that you could also smoke.... although i can't remember now which side that was!

 

I'll pop back if I have any further tips.

[frenchm]

Perfect! I'll put my armor on for the bombardment! Lol [emoji23]

Our son told us to pack our bathing suits to hang out at the pool while waiting for our room. Also, I read that a good way to get familiar with the ship is to go to the top and work our way down the decks to get an idea of the deck plans.

I'm not a smoke but my son in law is and he was wondering about the smoking areas so I'll be sure to share your post with him.

 

As before this is such valuable information and I appreciate you taking the time to share!

 

Marie

 

 

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[Beamafar]

The cigar lounge is on deck 6 just off the Piazza del Doge

 

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