Just off September 19th, 7 night Divina - ask away!

[Morgsmom]

DH and I are home from the September 19th 7 night Divina.  Happy to answer any questions you might have!  

[styles27]

Great!  I hope you had a great time! 
 

We’re on Divina 11/14th and still no excursions showing. 
How close to your cruise did yours show up?

How was MDR handled was it early and late seating or anytime?

(our reservation days 6:30 early)

How was check in?

[Morgsmom]

Well I will say that a LOT has changed in cruising post Covid.

 

I wouldn't worry about booking excursions through MSC as the ports (at least ours) are easy enough to do on one's own.  In talking to the Excursions folks (because we have no excursions showing for a Med cruise in January) they said generally 30 days out as there is so much in flux right now.

 

MDR was early and late though be careful as the times changed a few days - for example early was 6:30 one day and 6:00 the next!    Anytime is only for Aurea guests.

 

Check in was EASY PEASY.  Maybe 15 minutes from drop off to paperwork to strolling onboard.  I would recommend a good organization system because several times in the process (while you are standing and possibly holding hand luggage) you will be asked to pull out various forms - the confirmation, your passport, your original Vac cards, your Covid test results, etc, so it's easy to get overwhelmed!

 

To note, there were 1075 Pax on this sailing.  There were 1200 on last week's 3 night debut. 

[waterbabyfish]

Did they have escargot on the menu? At the port when you give the porters your suite case which is a hard shell type, will the porters take a small duffel bag that has my diving stuff and misc.in it? I don't want to carry it!

[styles27]

27 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Well I will say that a LOT has changed in cruising post Covid.

 

I wouldn't worry about booking excursions through MSC as the ports (at least ours) are easy enough to do on one's own.  In talking to the Excursions folks (because we have no excursions showing for a Med cruise in January) they said generally 30 days out as there is so much in flux right now.

 

MDR was early and late though be careful as the times changed a few days - for example early was 6:30 one day and 6:00 the next!    Anytime is only for Aurea guests.

 

Check in was EASY PEASY.  Maybe 15 minutes from drop off to paperwork to strolling onboard.  I would recommend a good organization system because several times in the process (while you are standing and possibly holding hand luggage) you will be asked to pull out various forms - the confirmation, your passport, your original Vac cards, your Covid test results, etc, so it's easy to get overwhelmed!

 

To note, there were 1075 Pax on this sailing.  There were 1200 on last week's 3 night debut. 

Oh I agree we don’t plan on booking anything in Coz or Costa Maya we’ve been to both places so many times but we’d like to rent a paddle board and umbrella in Ocean Cay. 
With that few passengers on board I’m sure they’ll be enough to go around. 
 

Would also like to book a few dinners at the restaurants. 
 

So despite the changes because of Covid are you glad you went? 
 

[racephoto]

16 minutes ago, waterbabyfish said:

Did they have escargot on the menu? At the port when you give the porters your suite case which is a hard shell type, will the porters take a small duffel bag that has my diving stuff and misc.in it? I don't want to carry it!

in my experience, as long as you put a luggage tag on it, they’ll take almost anything.

[Morgsmom]

34 minutes ago, waterbabyfish said:

Did they have escargot on the menu? At the port when you give the porters your suite case which is a hard shell type, will the porters take a small duffel bag that has my diving stuff and misc.in it? I don't want to carry it!

No escargot and the food was, frankly, the Worst cruise ship food I've ever had.  

Yes, the porters WILL take a duffel, but don't be surprised if it gets squished.  Since you are checking it you might want to check your diving stuff in a duffel within a heavy BOX and check that.  It will get delivered to your room safely and then you remove contents and enjoy!

[Morgsmom]

19 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Oh I agree we don’t plan on booking anything in Coz or Costa Maya we’ve been to both places so many times but we’d like to rent a paddle board and umbrella in Ocean Cay. 
With that few passengers on board I’m sure they’ll be enough to go around. 
 

Would also like to book a few dinners at the restaurants. 
 

So despite the changes because of Covid are you glad you went? 
 

THE ONLY option is Butcher's Cut.  Eatily has been removed.  And Butcher's Cut was "meh" at best.   The quality of the beef has gone way down.  Granted they were just starting up but we went to order things and they were out of them (food/wine/etc).  By the time you sail it should be back to normal.

 

Yes, of course we are glad we went - a cruise is better than sitting at home! 

[styles27]

That’s not good to hear that it was the worst cruise ship food you’ve ever had. 
☹️

[ChattTenn]

In Cozumel, where did the ship dock downtown pier Punta Agosta?.  We like to shop at Mega store with Carnival or RCL we must take a taxi to it

just hope it would be closer so we just walk to the store.

We will be on Divina next month and it will be our first time with MSC.  At little concern on negatives about MSC but we will be glad on a cruise.

Thank you.

[Morgsmom]

46 minutes ago, ChattTenn said:

In Cozumel, where did the ship dock downtown pier Punta Agosta?.  We like to shop at Mega store with Carnival or RCL we must take a taxi to it

just hope it would be closer so we just walk to the store.

We will be on Divina next month and it will be our first time with MSC.  At little concern on negatives about MSC but we will be glad on a cruise.

Thank you.

Yes, we stopped at Punta Langosta (like Lobster!) It is yards away from the MEGA.  We went and bought a ton of fritos/doritos/snacks for the crew as they are not allowed to get off in the ports of call!

[jules815]

1 hour ago, Morgsmom said:

THE ONLY option is Butcher's Cut.  Eatily has been removed.  And Butcher's Cut was "meh" at best.   The quality of the beef has gone way down.  Granted they were just starting up but we went to order things and they were out of them (food/wine/etc).  By the time you sail it should be back to normal.

 

Yes, of course we are glad we went - a cruise is better than sitting at home! 

 

The ONLY specialty restaurant open the entire week was Butcher's Cut?  Hasn't Eatily been changed into a Taco restaurant, or am I thinking of a different ship? 

I've seen some recent photos of dinners in Butcher's Cut, and they honestly didn't look that great.

 

[Morgsmom]

7 minutes ago, jules815 said:

 

The ONLY specialty restaurant open the entire week was Butcher's Cut?  Hasn't Eatily been changed into a Taco restaurant, or am I thinking of a different ship? 

I've seen some recent photos of dinners in Butcher's Cut, and they honestly didn't look that great.

 

The Taco restaurant HOLA! is on a different class of ships.  I guess if you include the pay-for Pizza a the Cafe del Baccio that would be a second "specialty" restaurant (but since you can get equally good pizza up in the buffet we saw no need).  So, yes, the ONLY specialty restaurant.

[jules815]

1 hour ago, Morgsmom said:

The Taco restaurant HOLA! is on a different class of ships.  I guess if you include the pay-for Pizza a the Cafe del Baccio that would be a second "specialty" restaurant (but since you can get equally good pizza up in the buffet we saw no need).  So, yes, the ONLY specialty restaurant.

DOH! You were on Divina and I'm thinking Meraviglia.

 

[ChattTenn]

6 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

Yes, we stopped at Punta Langosta (like Lobster!) It is yards away from the MEGA.  We went and bought a ton of fritos/doritos/snacks for the crew as they are not allowed to get off in the ports of call!

Thanks for info.  It's great if the dock would be so close.  Can't wait to cruise again.

 

ChattTenn

[shugey]

Wow, that just goes to show you that two people can eat at the same restaurant and come away with totally different opinions. We had the file mignon, as did my four dining companions, and we thoroughly enjoyed it ... I thought it was the best filet  I have ever had. And I don't begin to think that Morgsmom had a different opinion. The restaurant may have had an off-night on the night she went, or perhaps she had something else. I was flabbergasted, however, that they had such relatively few options for speciality dining. I think there were only two. HOWEVER, with only 1,000+ people, there are just so many options available

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

9 hours ago, styles27 said:

That’s not good to hear that it was the worst cruise ship food you’ve ever had. 
☹️

Interestingly, my wife and I were on MSC Seaview in the Baltic last month and we both agreed it was the worst food selection of any cruise we've been on. And we've been on many cruises including many other MSC cruises.

[ajsdad]

Curious how was the staff? Happy to be back to work, or really short staffed and being run ragged?  

Is the sports bar food now ala carte?

Galaxy is it just sushi? any chance you have a menu?  Did they do an ala carte brunch?

Cozumel and Costa - how busy was the port?

What shows did they have?

Ed

[Morgsmom]

9 hours ago, ajsdad said:

Curious how was the staff? Happy to be back to work, or really short staffed and being run ragged?  

Is the sports bar food now ala carte?

Galaxy is it just sushi? any chance you have a menu?  Did they do an ala carte brunch?

Cozumel and Costa - how busy was the port?

What shows did they have?

Ed

The staff was HAPPY to be back to work.  Many of the crew struggled back at their home countries and had to pick up jobs like Uber'ing to get by while they were waiting for the call.  They are not short staffed by any means at these occupancy rates. They are over-staffed in my opinion. (If you have a payroll then you would be going crazy at the overstaffing and want to "cut" hours).  All crew were friendly and engaged.

 

Sports bar is a la carte.  DH was super disappointed that he could not watch "American" Football there was only ESPN international (thus, soccer) was shown. 

 

Galaxy?  NO sushi to my knowledge.  No Menu.  No a la carte brunches at any venue including Butcher's Cut.  

 

Coz - there were 3 other ships in port and the locals were happy to have cruisers in port.

Costa Maya I believe is a one ship only port (I could be wrong).  IMO it's a throw-away stop.  

 

Shows?  there was an Autumn in Paris show and another Italian song-themed show with a soprano attempting to sing AC/DC (NOT kidding!) The other night was a Crew Variety show which we did not go to.  There were no comedians, aerialists, etc.

 

 

[styles27]

37 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

The staff was HAPPY to be back to work.  Many of the crew struggled back at their home countries and had to pick up jobs like Uber'ing to get by while they were waiting for the call.  They are not short staffed by any means at these occupancy rates. They are over-staffed in my opinion. (If you have a payroll then you would be going crazy at the overstaffing and want to "cut" hours).  All crew were friendly and engaged.

 

Sports bar is a la carte.  DH was super disappointed that he could not watch "American" Football there was only ESPN international (thus, soccer) was shown. 

 

Galaxy?  NO sushi to my knowledge.  No Menu.  No a la carte brunches at any venue including Butcher's Cut.  

 

Coz - there were 3 other ships in port and the locals were happy to have cruisers in port.

Costa Maya I believe is a one ship only port (I could be wrong).  IMO it's a throw-away stop.  

 

Shows?  there was an Autumn in Paris show and another Italian song-themed show with a soprano attempting to sing AC/DC (NOT kidding!) The other night was a Crew Variety show which we did not go to.  There were no comedians, aerialists, etc.

 

 

Shoot I’m going to be upset that there’s no NFL games lol

Another reviewer posted pics of the Red Sox game on so I figured football would be shown too.

 

Did you have to wear the white wristband showing that you’re vaccinated or have they done away with that because vaccines are mandatory for 12 and over?

[Morgsmom]

They have done away with the White Wristbands

[styles27]

5 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

They have done away with the White Wristbands

Good! Didn’t want a weird tan line lol

[waterbabyfish]

Did they have the white party?

[styles27]

23 hours ago, Morgsmom said:

THE ONLY option is Butcher's Cut.  Eatily has been removed.  And Butcher's Cut was "meh" at best.   The quality of the beef has gone way down.  Granted they were just starting up but we went to order things and they were out of them (food/wine/etc).  By the time you sail it should be back to normal.

 

Yes, of course we are glad we went - a cruise is better than sitting at home! 

Maureencruiser just off Divina also and she posted this about Galaxie

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by styles27
Terrible spelling 🙈

[Morgsmom]

well I can say definitively that we were not offered any sushi dinners.  The food was somewhere between gross (ugh) and dangerous (wrong temp) and mis-represented (Grouper was not grouper.... eeek!!!)  I'm sorry if others disagree. The cuts in Butcher's Choice were no longer Prime and maybe not Choice (my guess is No=Roll)

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Morgsmom