Divina vs Meraviglia

[KennyFla]

We are debating between the Divina and Meraviglia to re-book our cancelled cruise.  Both would be in yacht club.  Concerned with differences in the ships only, not itinerary.  Any thoughts?

[sverigecruiser]

3 hours ago, KennyFla said:

We are debating between the Divina and Meraviglia to re-book our cancelled cruise.  Both would be in yacht club.  Concerned with differences in the ships only, not itinerary.  Any thoughts?

 

Personally I think that almost everything is better with Meraviglia.

 

The most important thing is that the Yacht Club restaurant has a much better location on Meraviglia inside the Yacht Club. 

[Até]

Agree with Sverige, also Meraviglia has a grill on the YC One Pool deck.  Overall on the rest of the ship MV has much more to do than Divina.  The only downside I think is that MV has 101 YC cabins and Divina has 69.

[sfaaa]

Divina prices are likely cheaper than Meraviglia.

[sverigecruiser]

12 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

Divina prices are likely cheaper than Meraviglia.

 

I think that it's worth to pay more for Meraviglia.

 

Our cruise on Divina was defenitely not bad but we will probably not choose her again if there are other options on the newer ships.

[Norwich Cruiser]

We’ve cruised on each ship and enjoyed both.

 

Only personal opinions but we would definitely choose Meraviglia over Divina every time.

[Até]

I had what I now consider good deals booked on Preziosa, YC Deluxe for two people at less than $3000/week total including taxes.  Unfortunately they got cancelled.  I would do Fantasia class YC any day for that price.

[lienf]

20 minutes ago, Até said:

I had what I now consider good deals booked on Preziosa, YC Deluxe for two people at less than $3000/week total including taxes.  Unfortunately they got cancelled.  I would do Fantasia class YC any day for that price.

We are booked on the Meraviglia in YC next November for less than $2500/pp for 1 week. A little off topic, but is that a good price?

Edited December 7, 2020 by lienf

[hamrag]

7 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Personally I think that almost everything is better with Meraviglia.

 

The most important thing is that the Yacht Club restaurant has a much better location on Meraviglia inside the Yacht Club. 

 

We haven't sailed on Divina but once on her sister ship Preziosa Yacht Club, which is identical. We have sailed Meraviglia Yacht Club on two itineraries. I agree with Sverige that the restaurant location is better on Meraviglia. On Divina and Preziosa, the restaurant is outwith the Yacht Club enclave on a lower deck at the opposite end of the ship.

 

Another difference is that the sun deck loungers on Meraviglia have comfortable plush fitted cushions....the Divina and Preziosa have no cushions and the only thing between you and the very hard loungers are the towels provided, it is not a comfortable experience!

 

Meraviglia wins, hands down! 

Edited December 7, 2020 by hamrag

[rkacruiser]

Have not sailed on Divina, but the need to "trek" aft to the YC Restaurant  for 3 meals a day is unappealing to me.  The YC Grill and Bar, being a part of the YC pool area on the top deck of Meraviglia, was enjoyed by me as well.  

[Até]

19 minutes ago, lienf said:

... is that a good price?

That is very difficult to advise.  Overall YC prices have been going up and it's now quite hard to get a Deluxe for even off peak dates on any newer ship for under $4000/week total, I'll just say your price is what MSC can ask right now.  My current strategy for Yacht Club, and the following applies only to Yacht Club, is that if I really want the sailing I book as soon as the itinerary is offered.  Conversely if I'm only somewhat interested I may wait until the last minute, but then I have to be willing to pass on the sailing - and as of their last sailings that was usually the case.

 

I haven't kept track of the November 6th MV sailing, but for others I've watched in that timeline it seems the current price looks close to what was offered when they were first listed.  Currently there's a whole lot of Deluxe cabins available so since you've already booked I'd just advise to keep a watch on pricing and inventory.  Unfortunately even if they had a lot of unsold YC cabins MSC wouldn't drop the price until well after your deposit loss date and most recently not even at all, especially if they have a lot of YC upgrade bids.  Their newest tactic was at around six to nine months out to actually begin hiding inventory and raise remaining YC cabin prices, by as much as 50%.  So even if there was a very last minute price drop it was often no better a deal than if you had booked when the sailing was first offered.

 

These tactics do help with MSC officially never discounting the YC, in fact a lot of people get caught in the increased price timeline and never realize it.  On certain slower to book sailings where YC still has good availability it also creates a substantial amount of successful last minute bid upgrades to the YC.  While I do find that irritating I have found that in most cases the upgraders are often not getting all that good of a deal if compared to the pricing when the cruise was first offered.  Many people haven't tracked the price and are making their bid based on the inflated YC prices when the bidding offers go out.  Also the bidders frequently get the less desirable locations and no YC drinks package around the ship.  The only way lately I've been able to get a slightly better deal after booking YC is by taking advantage Voyages Selection or of a different promotional rate that offered OBC or other perks at a discounted rate - or vice versa.

 

It is therefore now unusual to ever see a significantly lowered YC price after you book.  It currently seems the nature of their game is the earlier you can book the more likely you get a lower price.  At least if you later see the YC prices going up you can tell you probably got one of the better prices possible without using the bid system.

[lienf]

1 hour ago, Até said:

That is very difficult to advise.  Overall YC prices have been going up and it's now quite hard to get a Deluxe for even off peak dates on any newer ship for under $4000/week total, I'll just say your price is what MSC can ask right now.  My current strategy for Yacht Club, and the following applies only to Yacht Club, is that if I really want the sailing I book as soon as the itinerary is offered.  Conversely if I'm only somewhat interested I may wait until the last minute, but then I have to be willing to pass on the sailing - and as of their last sailings that was usually the case.

 

I haven't kept track of the November 6th MV sailing, but for others I've watched in that timeline it seems the current price looks close to what was offered when they were first listed.  Currently there's a whole lot of Deluxe cabins available so since you've already booked I'd just advise to keep a watch on pricing and inventory.  Unfortunately even if they had a lot of unsold YC cabins MSC wouldn't drop the price until well after your deposit loss date and most recently not even at all, especially if they have a lot of YC upgrade bids.  Their newest tactic was at around six to nine months out to actually begin hiding inventory and raise remaining YC cabin prices, by as much as 50%.  So even if there was a very last minute price drop it was often no better a deal than if you had booked when the sailing was first offered.

 

These tactics do help with MSC officially never discounting the YC, in fact a lot of people get caught in the increased price timeline and never realize it.  On certain slower to book sailings where YC still has good availability it also creates a substantial amount of successful last minute bid upgrades to the YC.  While I do find that irritating I have found that in most cases the upgraders are often not getting all that good of a deal if compared to the pricing when the cruise was first offered.  Many people haven't tracked the price and are making their bid based on the inflated YC prices when the bidding offers go out.  Also the bidders frequently get the less desirable locations and no YC drinks package around the ship.  The only way lately I've been able to get a slightly better deal after booking YC is by taking advantage Voyages Selection or of a different promotional rate that offered OBC or other perks at a discounted rate - or vice versa.

 

It is therefore now unusual to ever see a significantly lowered YC price after you book.  It currently seems the nature of their game is the earlier you can book the more likely you get a lower price.  At least if you later see the YC prices going up you can tell you probably got one of the better prices possible without using the bid system.

What a great reply. The price did drop a little from when we booked but we have a very low  NRD so it didn’t pay to cancel and rebook with a higher deposit. This will be our first MSC cruise so I’m always looking for a little help. Thank you for the information. 
 

Neil

[Shippy]

 Divina has a YC2 category, the Meraviglia does not.

  Gigantic suite. Not on the main YC floor but we did not mind because the cabin was so awesome.

You can youtube it

[deliver42]

I did a mock booking on the Divina for next December in the YC, and the total was only $3025.00 for a 7 night cruise, almost half of what they want for the newer ships. Deposit of $398.00 for two, non refundable.That's with a Voyagers Club discount.

[dexddd]

19 hours ago, lienf said:

We are booked on the Meraviglia in YC next November for less than $2500/pp for 1 week. A little off topic, but is that a good price?

About normal.

[Tapi]

Meraviglia wowed us. Divina not so much. Both ships are beautiful, and we had a great time on both, but Divina felt like just another ship. Nothing truly special or unique. Meraviglia on the other hand, just kept wowing us at every corner. With that said, we are currently booked on the Divina for this summer (after our cruise on the Seaside was canceled). But I booked it more out of convenience and pricing (as we get back into cruising in a post-covid world) than because I really want to sail on Divina again. 

 

About accommodations and price, we were lucky enough to snag a Duplex Suite when they were classified as Aurea (they have now been reclassified as part of the Yacht Club, even though they are not inside that area). This meant that we paid considerably less for this suite (Approximately $1,000/pp for a family of 4). At the time, it lacked YC access and amenities, but the Aurea amenities that it did come with where still very enjoyable. More than anything we absolutely LOVED the layout and spaciousness of this suite. Two decks, loft style, with a separate sitting area and dining table downstairs, two bathrooms, two closets (one walk-in), and a large forward facing balcony with our own jacuzzi tub). I've priced it out on other sailings since it became part of the YC, and prices have basically tripled. 

 

But if it's within your budget, I'd highly recommend these Duplex Suites. Even though the suite isn't inside the YC, you'll still have access to it. The layout, spaciousness and amenities more than make up  for their location. 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Tapi

[Tapi]

Double post.

Edited December 8, 2020 by Tapi

[KennyFla]

So here is my list, please let me know if I am wrong about anything:

 

Divina

1)Can use YC drink package in Cafe Italia(pro)

2) Restaurant not in YC (con)

3) Smaller ship (pro)

4) Overnight Ocean Cay (pro)

5) Port Canerval (pro for us)

6) Thermal spa not as good (con)

7) No Cirque du Soliel (con)

 

Meraviglia

1) 3rd Party chocolate shop (con)

2) Restaurant in YC (pro)

3) Large ship(neutral)

4) Day trip Ocean Cay (con)

5)Miami (con for us)

6) Better Thermal Spa (pro)

7) Cirque du Soliel (pro)

 

Assumes YC food and drinks are the same.

 

Edited December 9, 2020 by KennyFla

[Homosassa]

When you go to Ocean Cay, make sure you bring water shoes.

 

As Ocean Cay is a reclaimed island originally used by a company to strip mine the sand and coral, it has been reclaimed using fill sand. The sand is full of coral bits and pieces both on land and in the sandy water beds. 

[lienf]

On 12/8/2020 at 12:32 PM, dexddd said:

About normal.

Thanks for the reply. 

[joeyancho]

Just booked today 11/6/21 Meraviglia,  balcony room (not YC) for $1400.  The price is for 2, not pp.  Amazing deal I think.  

[CruiseIreland]

17 hours ago, joeyancho said:

Just booked today 11/6/21 Meraviglia,  balcony room (not YC) for $1400.  The price is for 2, not pp.  Amazing deal I think.  

That's an amazing price. Just checked both MSC and a travel agent and emailed in a query with a view to booking. Thanks for the pointer.

[deweytrader]

1. Seaside

2. Meraviglia

101. Divina (and I was in the Yacht Club)

[rkacruiser]

4 hours ago, deweytrader said:

101. Divina (and I was in the Yacht Club)

 

Wow!  Would you care to explain why #101?

[alyssamma]

Here is something I wrote last year...

 

Just got off a b2b with Divina and Seaside. It was my first time on Divina and second on Seaside. Definitely prefer Seaside, but both were nice.

 

Places where Divina was better...topsail. No comparison here...more food and changed more throughout the day. Many butlers...I couldn't get to a chair without a butler offering me a drink. On Seaside many times there was a single butler who was overworked. It was nicer seeing directly outside instead of seeing a deck and then outside.

 

YC restaurant. Here I mean only the look and feel. Far more elegant.

 

Non YC bars and entertainment areas. They were also laid out so you could easily walk through them instead of being off to the side.

 

Sports bar. Lots of free food.

 

Deck has wind barriers so you can actually eat there without everything blowing away.

 

In almost every other way we felt Seaside was better. Staterooms much larger, bathroom better, larger balcony. Having the wristband option was nice. Food was far superior (even though we greatly enjoyed food on both), grill was larger and way more selections.

 

Seaside is also a better designed ship. Beautiful, few if any chokepoints (walking to dinner on Divina was hard because you are funneled through the photo shop area unless you walk outside).

 

And for me personally, having dinner right above topsail was nice as I could run to the cabin, throw on pants, and then back to shorts quickly and easily.

 

Bottom line, you cant go wrong with either ship, but we preferred Seaside.

 

Some other things...no facial recognition at the terminal (we had it last year on Seaside), seeing the lighthouse light show from topsail or pool deck is easy and nice, we were able to stay on Divina until 1030 (initially we were told 930 but immigration was backed up), both ships we had to be out of our room at 730.