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MSC Divina 7-1-17/Lets Party!

MiamiChillin

By MiamiChillin,
in MSC Cruises

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MiamiChillin

MiamiChillin

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7/1/17

So after a couple beers and everyone being late (We are all on Miami time guys) we are finally on the Mercedes Sprinter Limo to the port. It was a surprise for the birthday girls in our group. Popped the champagne and a bottle of Malibu. Lets get this party started! We get to the port and walk through a couple check points. I'm thinking to myself, hey this isn't that bad. Then BAM! HUUUUUUUGE line for check in. Luckily, I booked the Aurea Experience so we skipped the line. That in itself made the package worth it. We get on board around 1pm. We all had quite a bit of carry-ons so we head to the cabin and our rooms are surprisingly ready!

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Thanks to all you CCers out there I take the tip to go to the Sports Bar. Completely empty and ready to take orders. MSC Burger, mozzarella sticks, Jamaican Paradise, and wings for me please! There is where we meet Florintin, the bartender, and Jesus, the waiter. Both spoil us with amazing service. As we ate, Jesus comes around with glasses of champagne for all of us. He said they were for the start of our cruise. The food was great and the drinks were awesome. Just when we finish here comes Jesus with another tray of glasses. This time with Yager! He points at Floritin and thats when he dips to hide behind the bar to mess with us. Then comes up with a smile and says in a Russian accent, "Its good for digestion." Thanks to Floritin and Jesus the start of our trip has been fantastic.

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We walk the ship and all I can say is wow. This thing is beautiful! Spotless. I can't imagine how much work the crew must do to keep the Divina this clean. The stateroom is just the same. Room 12033. Nice, spacious, and comfy. And hello hello what do we have waiting in the room for us? A nice bottle of champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries. Ah yes. I'll enjoy you later. The bathrooms just seem a tad bit small, but that didnt bother me too much. I'd rather have more room for the cabin. The balcony is a good size. Enough for me to have four friends hang out on.

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Back to the stateroom now! Its around 11:30pm. Had dinner at the Black Crab. Now either service has completely changed or people just like to complain about crap. The food and drink service was excellent and very quick. Had the portobello, beef loin steak, lasagna, and key lime pie. And of course a mojito to wash it all down. Donna and Sailend were our waiters and did an excellent job. Walked around after dinner. Not too much going inside. Head to the Garden Pool. A lot of lively passengers here. Join the party and order another mojito. Head back inside and check on the casiono. Small for the ship size in my opinion, but I cant wait to throw some chips on the table. Finished the night off on my balcony with an Irish coffee as I write this on a word document. Awesome day to start the cruise!

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Im a full time student and worker so I'll be checking in daily-ish to continue. Hopefully you guys enjoy! Feel free to ask me anything you'd like to know about the ship and what not.

 

 

Side note: Mirrors catch me offguard at times. So does seeing the ship move from the deck while I'm walking if that makes sense.

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MiamiChillin

MiamiChillin

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Are the mojitos nice? can't wait to try one on Saturday

 

 

 

Mojitos are good. Once you get to know your bartenders they are better. If not sometimes a lot of lime and not enough alcohol. I switched sometimes between the the classic and mango mojito. A lot of the other drinks were nice but too much sugar for me.

 

 

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Morgsmom Great Review Rare

Morgsmom

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Since you are in the Caribbean, can you please tell me if they offered the opportunity to Upgrade your Drinks package while onboard? And if so, what the cost was? (was likely printed in the daily papers) I'm getting conflicting information and I'd love to know.

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MiamiChillin

MiamiChillin

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Since you are in the Caribbean, can you please tell me if they offered the opportunity to Upgrade your Drinks package while onboard? And if so, what the cost was? (was likely printed in the daily papers) I'm getting conflicting information and I'd love to know.

 

 

 

I wish I could have a solid answer for you. I had the Aurea package with the all you could drink package. I had no plans of upgrading to premium so it wasn't something I payed attention too. They had drink package papers inside the daily programs almost every day. I also saw crew members walking around everyday selling drink packages. Couldn't tell you if they were upgrading or not. [emoji53]

 

 

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MiamiChillin

MiamiChillin

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Thoroughly enjoying your review and upbeat attitude!

 

 

 

~Brian

 

 

 

Thank you! I ended up getting home from the side job around 5am this morning. Had to be out the house at 8am to go to the day job [emoji28]. I'll keep the energy flowing though! Haha.

 

 

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MiamiChillin

MiamiChillin

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*Edit* - For some reason some of the spacing between words keep disappearing and mushing them together. Not sure if it has to do with that Im copying and pasting from my writing in Microsoft word. Doing my best to fix it but they keep going back that way.

 

7/2/17

Its a little after 12am and I'm at the point to where I'm juuuuuuust about to fall asleep, but some what still aware of my surroundings. That's when I hear my mates out in the hallway and a slight knock on my door. Ugh, I didn't just hear that. *Knock knock knock* Alright alright I'm up! Sure enough these dummies locked themselves out of their room because they rushed out to say happy birthday to my girlfriend. So we hung out for about 15 minutes until the steward came and let them in.

 

Alright so where was I. Ah yes, my sacred time of sleep. I've read quite a few complaints about the beds and pillows. My opinion? They are completely fine. You have the choices of firm or soft pillows. The bed is more on the firm side but that doesn't bother me as I have back problems. Yea, you back people are with me. Soft beds suck with that. My girl is more on the picky side and she had no issues with the bed. Neither did my mates. The a/c worked perfectly as well. Put it down to the coldest setting and got to the snuggling.

 

Up around sunrise and stayed in bed for a while. Now getting used to the movement of the boat. Its kinda a cool reminder to know that you're on this floating little city. I open my curtains to see the view and all I can do is smile. Can I wake up to this forever? I don't think I could ever sail again without a balcony. The day is beautiful, the wind feels great, and the sound of the ocean completes the feeling. Getting ready to go to the CC meet and great. 10:30am and Eately Steakhouse. One thing. I have not met the stateroom tenant yet. Not really an inconvenience to me yet. I was out of my room most of the time after 6:50pm even though they said we would meet some time around 6pm.

 

 

Back to the cabin! It's around noon and I just got back from breakfast and the CC Meet and Greet. So we headed to the M&G and it was completely empty. Looking around a little puzzled I go up to the bartender and ask where every is. He says, "Oh that doesn't start for another hour...." Ummm what? Ooooohhhhh yeaaaa thats right the time went back hour. An hour more that I could've had IN BED. It's all good. We head to breakfast. Once again, I'd like to thank my fellow CCers for another great tip about heading to the back of the buffet, scoring a table, and then getting plates of food. This worked out perfect. Got an awesome table right next window to see the sea. But wait, I can feel it. My spidey senses are tingling...Is there a...? Yes there is! A bar right in the middle of the buffet. With a big smile on my face, I order two mimosas. Excuse me? What did you say? NO MIMOSAS? Breathe. It's okay. Haha, I'm really not that mad just disappointed. Its breakfast common! No? I'm I the only one on this? Alright alright. I accept my defeat and walk back to the table when all of a sudden Sailend comes out of no where. He asks what I want to drink so I told him the situation. He says no worries! He'll go up to the pool deck and get me some. Ladies and gentlemen, not all heroes wear capes. Oh one more thing. I read a looooot of complaints about the buffet. Mainly about how the food is cold and its a madhouse with people skipping lines. So I put on my shinning armor with my best chains and mount my Valyrian steel sword ( You GOT people will understand.) I get there disappointed. Common! Wheres the battle! I wanna see blood! Alright alright all joking aside it really wasn't that bad at all. No skipping, hot food, and smiles from the passengers...I'm still keeping my guard up. Then I look down at my watch. Crap! The Meet & Greet!

 

 

Head over to the Steakhouse, which by the way, I don't know about you guys, but I thought it would be waay fancier. Anyway, I get there right when they are all about to take the picture together! Yes, I was the puffy haired, beard wearing Latino who was a little late with a friend. Remember, Miami time. Sorry guys ;p. Who can agree with me that the cake just wasn't that good at all. I hope I'm not the only one. My friend agreed. But I'll tell you what. Them drinks were good and strong. So were the cookies. Mmmmmm. I'm definitely ordering these with room service yesterday. I got to talk to the captain which was pretty cool. He gave me a speech about how to follow my dreams. That he was born by the sea and ever since he was a little boy it was his dream to Captain the seas and here he is now. His accent made the speech that much greater. Hats off to you, Captain Marco. Oh yea! Shout out to the red haired women at the M&G. I ended up seeing you like 5 more times after. Not sure if you recognized me or not, but you always gave me a, I kind of think I remember you, look and nod. Off to the pool!

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Man this is getting pretty long and its only the second day. I hope y'all don't mind. Hang in there! There's more to come! We just got back from the Aqua Deck pool and had a great time. This is where one of the darnest things happened. They had a sexy leg competition and Richard decided to join in. This was a sight to see as he is the more uptight one in the group. He did not win, but that was definitely one for the books. The singer after the competition was great. She kept singing these Latin songs that just brought the Latino out of me to sing and dance. The drinks we great. All bartenders had smiles and made some good Mojitos. This where I met Bret from Ft. Myers. He saw me racking them up and gave me a great tip. You can order your drinks as doubles. My face lit up with joy as I ordered one. Yes, this excited me :D. Above on deck 15 towards the aft there's a little Tiki Bar. Melisa was working there and had great service and awesome drinks as well.

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Alright this is getting a little long sorry guys. Gonna speed it up a bit.

 

 

Back in the cabin. Fresh out the shower and in my bathrobe on the balcony. Finally met our cab steward He was cool but it was a quick encounter so I forgot his name.Lunch was great in the buffet. Food was decent. Not out of this world but definitely filling and did the job. I let my guard down and now I see what people are were talking about. It can be a little crazy here at peak times. Group of six split up to find a table. I ended up find one at the aft next to the window again. What a great view.

 

 

So far I've met Bret from Ft. Myers, Greg from Deltona or Daytona, this one kid from Germany (seen him like 6 times already), A younger girl Sasha from Miami also. Yes, I'm a social butterfly. My girlfriend gets annoyed of this at times, but who cares! Whoops. Just kidding lol. Back to the pools!

 

 

We decided to check out the solarium deck since Juliette and I wanted a get in a hot tub but all were full. I'm just going to keep throwing names of people of our group so keep up! Went to the solarium deck. Empty and peaceful. Perfect. Had the hot tub till ourselves.Ordered a Corona. Julius from the Philippians served us and was very friendly. Captain has been doing a great job of avoiding the rain. A few times I saw the layer of rain on the starboard side far away. One thing I've noticed is the rear pool (Garden I think?) smells kinda funky. I don’t know if the breeze is carrying up the smell of the sewage but its pretty noticeable back there at times. And yes. The hot tubs aren't scorching hot, but it didn't bother me much. Especially with how hot the days could be.

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Still haven’t drank the champagne or strawberries in the room yet. Called room service and asked for ice and they told us to dial 99.Did that and no one picked up. Line went busy then dropped two times. Guess I’ll try again later.

 

Out on the balcony again. 11:30pm (Actually 10:30 on ship) The sea is definitely becoming a more rough. The movement in the ship is a lot more noticeable. Doesn’t bother me though. Makes for good laughs while we trip and sway on our way back to the cabins. Saw the first show of the cruise. The Mask. The dancing in the beginning was fun. Just entertaining. Girl in the cop outfit was hot. Sorry. Too much? I have a few drinks in me. Leave me be. As the show went on, I was more impressed. Especial the “Girl from Havana.” Oh yea my guys; If you were there,you know who I’m talking about. She did a single pair dance with a guy and it was great. They danced so fast you could miss moves if you blinked. As the show went on skills were definitely shown and growing. I had a great time and good laughs.

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Off to the dinning room. One again, Sailend took care of us. Awesome guy. Very fast service. We don’t mind taking our time so you could say it was ALMOST too fast. But awesome service. He was great with eye signals. Also, Elaine, our cocktail waitress, was awesome. I asked for black label with a lemon peel on the rocks and she brought me out a double and asked if it was ok. I said hell yea! The next two were doubles as well. Has the Risotto. Nice, hot , flavorful, and amazing. Then the Ravioli and Filet Mignon. Both awesome. The shrimp with Ravioli tasted great. Put some salt on the filet and was good as well. I bought a birthday cake for my girlfriend and it came out with perfect timing. Sailend, you da best man! Time to hit the bars!

 

 

Back from the night out! Its 2am and I'm feelin gooood. Went to the Galaxy disco around 11pm. Music was pretty, how can I say this, un-entertaining at fist. Got a table. Had another double black. Then ordered another waiting for the music to get better, but it seems like they gave me a triple cause the glass was waaaay bigger. The bartenders are getting to recognize my style haha. And yes I'm still up and standing. My tolerance is ridiculously high for someone who doesn't drink much back home. I think all the food I've been eating has something to do with it as well. Met a guy from Turkey and another guy from Arizona at the bar. They were pretty cool. After the group all finished their drinks we went to the dance floor. DJ started playing way better music. Danced the night away with our group. One of the girls rejected a guy while we were there. I felt bad for him but that was funny to see. Now to sign off. Great second day. Ocho Rios in the morning! Time to get some sleep.

Edited by MiamiChillin
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Morgsmom Great Review Rare

Morgsmom

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You're welcome!

 

 

I didn't realize how long they were getting till now. Debating on whether I should cut the next ones down a bit.

 

 

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No!! keep them long! it's more fun that way (and more informative)

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JPR61

JPR61

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You're welcome!

 

 

I didn't realize how long they were getting till now. Debating on whether I should cut the next ones down a bit.

 

Great review. Please please don't cut it short I'm loving it, it's so funny. Loved the GOT reference :):)

Great writing style

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EMc&DrS

EMc&DrS

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I was at the Meet & Greet and remember you running in for the photo. Hadn't thought about that photo since. They said they would deliver copies of the pic to everyone's stateroom, but I never got one (no big deal). Just curious--did you get a copy?

 

I thought they did a nice job with the M & G--way more than other cruise lines do! Captain was incredibly friendly, and very visible throughout the week. When I saw him later that day, he remembered me from the M & G and said, "You are a cruise critic, yes?"

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