Meraviglia or Divina

[hbe30]

We have a family  cruise booked  on the Seaside for August to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary which we are thinking of cancelling, the cruise not the anniversary, lol..  We noticed that the  summer of 2021, the Seaside will be sailing in Europe. We now have a choice of the Meraviglia or the Divina. The ports of call are not important. I would to hear comments about both ships, especially the Yacht Club. Any info will be helpful

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, hbe30 said:

We have a family  cruise booked  on the Seaside for August to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary which we are thinking of cancelling, the cruise not the anniversary, lol..  We noticed that the  summer of 2021, the Seaside will be sailing in Europe. We now have a choice of the Meraviglia or the Divina. The ports of call are not important. I would to hear comments about both ships, especially the Yacht Club. Any info will be helpful

 

Are the Divina cruises longer? If yes I would choose Divina.

 

Otherwise I should choose Meraviglia because of the location of the Yacht Club restaurant.

[hbe30]

Thank you, they are both one week. The one problem I have with the Meraviglia is  is that I like to stay in YC but it seems that only YC1 suites are located in the YC and these can only hols 2 people, the other YC suites are locates outside the YC.

[Toofarfromthesea]

4 hours ago, hbe30 said:

Thank you, they are both one week. The one problem I have with the Meraviglia is  is that I like to stay in YC but it seems that only YC1 suites are located in the YC and these can only hols 2 people, the other YC suites are locates outside the YC.

 

I've sailed in YC on both, and from my experience the only advantage Meraviglia YC has over Divina YC is the location of the YC restaurant.  In every other respect I found the food and the service far superior in Divina's YC.

[hbe30]

40 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

I've sailed in YC on both, and from my experience the only advantage Meraviglia YC has over Divina YC is the location of the YC restaurant.  In every other respect I found the food and the service far superior in Divina's YC.

Thank you 

[rkacruiser]

My experience in YC on Meraviglia had little of which to be disappointing.  I would be very reluctant to book YC on Divina because of the location of the YC Restaurant.  After a couple of pre-dinner drinks in the YC Lounge, I then need to navigate myself, safely, to dinner in the Restaurant?

 

Meraviglia is an excellent ship that provides more options for her guests than this guest were able to enjoy! 

[sverigecruiser]

10 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

I've sailed in YC on both, and from my experience the only advantage Meraviglia YC has over Divina YC is the location of the YC restaurant.  In every other respect I found the food and the service far superior in Divina's YC.

 

That may differ from cruise to cruise. I don't say that you are wrong but we thought that food and service was better on Meraviglia.

[UPNYGuy]

On 3/30/2020 at 8:28 PM, rkacruiser said:

My experience in YC on Meraviglia had little of which to be disappointing.  I would be very reluctant to book YC on Divina because of the location of the YC Restaurant.  After a couple of pre-dinner drinks in the YC Lounge, I then need to navigate myself, safely, to dinner in the Restaurant?

 

Meraviglia is an excellent ship that provides more options for her guests than this guest were able to enjoy! 

Meraviglia is also significantly more crowded when not in the yc than divina is. I have sailed on all classes except Lirica and would rate the Divina over Meraviglia (and Seaside over both)

[rkacruiser]

12 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

Meraviglia is also significantly more crowded when not in the yc than divina is. I have sailed on all classes except Lirica and would rate the Divina over Meraviglia (and Seaside over both)

 

Since Meraviglia was the first MSC ship on which I have sailed, I can't have an opinion as to crowds in general on MSC vessels.  The one area that was severely overcrowded was in the Foyer outside of the Main Showroom when the show was over.  Other areas of the ship that I visited, I saw nothing unusual as to crowds.  In fact, I was surprised that the ship seemed as spacious as I found it with so many guests aboard.

 

 

[UPNYGuy]

24 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Since Meraviglia was the first MSC ship on which I have sailed, I can't have an opinion as to crowds in general on MSC vessels.  The one area that was severely overcrowded was in the Foyer outside of the Main Showroom when the show was over.  Other areas of the ship that I visited, I saw nothing unusual as to crowds.  In fact, I was surprised that the ship seemed as spacious as I found it with so many guests aboard.

 

 

Meraviglia promenade on left, Divina atrium seating in middle, Seaside exterior promenade on right (or bottom). Not a small difference. And I have been on these ships more than a single time each. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by UPNYGuy

[rkacruiser]

What your photo shows on Meraviglia is what I saw.  I don't consider that crowded.  (Try Royal Princess' Atrium on New Year's Eve.)  On a ship with 4500-5000 guests, I expected that.

 

Does Seaside have an interior such space as the other two?  Showing an exterior view on Seaside is an apples to oranges comparison to Meraviglia and Divina.

 

A view of Divina's Atrium and Meraviglia's Promendade would need to be made at the same time of the day for each ship.  Even then, such a comparison could be unfair.

 

I do like the appearance of the Atrium on Divina.  

[UPNYGuy]

57 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

What your photo shows on Meraviglia is what I saw.  I don't consider that crowded.  (Try Royal Princess' Atrium on New Year's Eve.)  On a ship with 4500-5000 guests, I expected that.

 

Does Seaside have an interior such space as the other two?  Showing an exterior view on Seaside is an apples to oranges comparison to Meraviglia and Divina.

 

A view of Divina's Atrium and Meraviglia's Promendade would need to be made at the same time of the day for each ship.  Even then, such a comparison could be unfair.

 

I do like the appearance of the Atrium on Divina.  

It is an absolutely appropriate comparison. Seaside is outward facing, whereas Meraviglia is inward facing. Seaside has much more outdoor space.  Seaside has a smaller atrium. It is widely reported by people that cruise on both that seaside has better pax flow and feels less crowded than Meraviglia. YMMV however. 

[JP82]

I don't think its "widely reported" that Seaside has a better passenger flow?? Unless you can back that up?

 

In fact I read that out of the newer classes if ship Seaside can be a lot harder to navigate particularly on the one deck (I want to say 16, but it could be another). Where you can't even get from one end to another without having to change deck.

[UPNYGuy]

8 minutes ago, JP82 said:

I don't think its "widely reported" that Seaside has a better passenger flow?? Unless you can back that up?

 

In fact I read that out of the newer classes if ship Seaside can be a lot harder to navigate particularly on the one deck (I want to say 16, but it could be another). Where you can't even get from one end to another without having to change deck.

Yes. The galley is between the speciality restaurants and lido buffet.  It has been mentioned several times in this forum seaside has better pax flow and less crowding on the pax decks. It was mentioned when the ships were first commissioned.  I have sailed Meraviglia in the Med and enjoyed her and pool deck was empty but it wasn’t pool weather. In the Caribbean??? I’ll take Seaside. 
 

 

quick search shows complaining about crowding and bottleneck of Meraviglia here. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by UPNYGuy

[rkacruiser]

14 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

YMMV however. 

 

Thanks for the photos as well as your last sentence.  That's quite reasonable.

 

For me, the only way that I will know what I think is to sail on  Seaside and Divina.  That's not going to happen in the near future.

[UPNYGuy]

12 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Thanks for the photos as well as your last sentence.  That's quite reasonable.

 

For me, the only way that I will know what I think is to sail on  Seaside and Divina.  That's not going to happen in the near future.

I was supposed to be on Poesia next month (Out of Copenhagen). Proactively changed it to Seaside...  yup. Good idea in theory.  3 days from now I’m supposed to be leaving for RC Adventure OTS. Also obviously cancelled. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by UPNYGuy

[rkacruiser]

29 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

I was supposed to be on Poesia next month (Out of Copenhagen). Proactively changed it to Seaside...  yup. Good idea in theory.  3 days from now I’m supposed to be leaving for RC Adventure OTS. Also obviously cancelled. 

 

Disappointments abound!  

 

2020 Baseball season?  Certainly in doubt.  2020 College and NFL Football seasons?  If colleges are closed until late Summer, as some are, how will their season be possible?  The NFL Draft this Spring is expected to bring Joe Burrows to my woeful Cincinnati Bengals.  What happens to his abilities if his team and he cannot play for a season?

 

So many questions in so many areas, none of which have answers at this point in time.

 

I need another glass of wine.

[UPNYGuy]

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Disappointments abound!  

 

2020 Baseball season?  Certainly in doubt.  2020 College and NFL Football seasons?  If colleges are closed until late Summer, as some are, how will their season be possible?  The NFL Draft this Spring is expected to bring Joe Burrows to my woeful Cincinnati Bengals.  What happens to his abilities if his team and he cannot play for a season?

 

So many questions in so many areas, none of which have answers at this point in time.

 

I need another glass of wine.

I skipped the wine and poured some bourbon 😂

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 3/30/2020 at 10:26 PM, sverigecruiser said:

 

That may differ from cruise to cruise. I don't say that you are wrong but we thought that food and service was better on Meraviglia.

 

I'm sure that is a factor in food.  The Divina cruise was W. Med and the food was more Italian, while Meraviglia was in the Baltic and we didn't really care for the local influences in the menu and lack of some of our favorite dishes from Divina.  But basic execution, i.e. cooking a steak to the requested doneness, was still better on my Divina cruise than my Meraviglia cruise.

[rkacruiser]

20 hours ago, UPNYGuy said:

I skipped the wine and poured some bourbon 😂

 

I never developed the taste for bourbon or scotch.  A quality New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is my preference.  Villa Maria or Drylands are my favorite (HAL used to provide Villa Maria until their new V-P for Food/Beverage decided to "upgrade their wine list".).  Nobilo appears on both MSC's and HAL's wine list and is good, but it's not Villa Maria.

 

 

[UPNYGuy]

23 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I never developed the taste for bourbon or scotch.  A quality New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is my preference.  Villa Maria or Drylands are my favorite (HAL used to provide Villa Maria until their new V-P for Food/Beverage decided to "upgrade their wine list".).  Nobilo appears on both MSC's and HAL's wine list and is good, but it's not Villa Maria.

 

 

If I’m drinking a white, it is a barrel aged Chardonnay. I prefer it buttery, oaky and smoky. I usually drink reds. Usually Argentinean or Chilean.   

[rkacruiser]

56 minutes ago, UPNYGuy said:

If I’m drinking a white, it is a barrel aged Chardonnay. I prefer it buttery, oaky and smoky. I usually drink reds. Usually Argentinean or Chilean.   

 

Our taste buds slightly differ.  Oaked Chardonnay:  I'll pass, if I have a choice.  Argentinean and Chilean Reds?  Yes.  I have enjoyed some excellent Malbecs from these two countries.  I must be careful in my consumption of them, however.  Red wines--whatever they maybe--cause discomfort for me.