Divina Review 11/14-11/21 - Private Island, Costa Maya, Cozumel

[ajsdad]

MSC Cruise Review        
Divina November 14-21, 2021

So a little background about our cruise background and other information.  Husband and Wife mid-40s.  Anniversary vacation.  Have traveled with MSC, NCL, RC, Carnival.  Like them all for different reasons.  This is our second trip with MSC.  The first time was 4 years ago, and we also sailed on the Divina.

I had a business meeting in Tampa, so I was already in town, and my wife joined me.  We enjoyed Tampa and ended up renting a car 1 way from Tampa To Melbourne.  We then took a shuttle from MLB to the port.  I was planning on just using Uber or Lyft, but on Sunday morning, none were lurking around, so we ended up using the shuttle.  We were the only people on the shuttle; it took less than an hour and cost, I think, $85.00 for both of us.
On Friday before the cruise, we used an online monitored covid test.  It worked well took 20 minutes total, and we were negative.  Needless to say, we were nervous, but we passed and never looked back.
When we arrived at the port, it looked very different than any other port we had been to.  There was almost no one there. We dropped our bags off with the porter and made our way inside.  There were literally 30 people working for every 1 person checking in. 
We made our way through the check-in process and received our cards, and had our picture taken.  The first problem, I didn't receive a silver card.  No biggie, but I should get a silver card due to my status with MSC. 
I was told I could fix It when I got on board. Also was told I didn't need to register a CC when I got on board because they had one for my account. Ok, it wasn't true, and I ended up getting a phone call the day before we left, saying we needed to register a credit card.  
Regardless we were on the ship within 22 minutes of arriving via the shuttle.  And most of that time was spent walking up to the ship.  Easiest embarkation ever.  We made our way to the buffet and had a light lunch.  Nothing special about the buffet or awful.  I like MSC pizza and honestly could eat it most meals. 
I was annoyed that I was asked by every single person whether I wanted to buy the beverage package.  I can only assume there is some kind of bonus for the people who sign you up. There can be no other explanation; I am not exaggerating. Probably 40 people asked us at different times if we wanted to buy the beverage package. 
We repeatedly said, we already had it. 
And they thanked us and moved on, but after, say, person 20, I really just wanted to make a sign I could hold up, indicating our status of drinkers.  I did at lunch have the first of maybe 30 frozen Toblerones.  If you haven't had one, try it.  OMG.
We were allowed down to our cabin around 120ish.  The cabin was spotless, and we had a balcony. Room 12199.  The room was small.  No couch or other sitting area.  Just the bed and then the balcony.  We met our room housekeeper, he was terrific, always had ice on hand, never saw him, but the room was spotless.  No towel animals on any night, but he did a really nice job.  My wife had read on a board that the staff are not allowed off to purchase personal items at any port. And when they can buy stuff on the ship, the lines are really long.  We dropped about 50 bucks at dollar tree and bought deodorant, tampons, pads, black shoe polish, toothpaste, etc, and gave it to our housekeeper to divide among his friends. 
He was incredibly grateful and indicated he was just passing month 4 of his 8-month contract, and other than Ocean Cay had not been off the ship once.   Also, the crew very much wanted to know what some of the stops were like. 
Not the typical did you have a nice day in port, bs.  But honestly wanting to know what was going on in the world off the ship at the ports they weren't allowed to get off at.    
 
I am not going to do a day-by-day unless asked.  I will say this:
The expensive steakhouse was worth every penny.  Filet was perfect, food was quality of a ruth Chris or Flemings.   Everything has great.  This makes it absolutely clear MSC knows how to serve really good tasting food, it just comes at a particular price point.  Food in the main dining room was fine.  C/C+ Not inedible, but not something I was eager to go eat.  I would note that the overwhelming comments from the people we talked to is MSC is so close to having a great US product.  They are 85% of the way there.  I would note that the variety was small. Usually only about 6 things as main courses.  Again, the food tended to be dry and overcooked, and at least once my wife sent her dinner back because it was cold.  Service was great and the servers wanted to make you happy.  Can we bring you more food, you can order more than 1 appetizer if you want, etc.   The menu for breakfast and lunch in the dining room didn't change for the week and was average.

Spa.  My wife had a massage; I had a shave.  The shave was every bit as good, if not better, than the Art of Shaving type place.  It was awesome, including scalp and hand massage, as well as a very good straight razor shave.  Wife said the massage was excellent as well.   Did have a great conversation with the person who provided me my shave.  This is her first contract with MSC, but she has been on ships for 4 years. Mostly RC.  She said morale on the ship among staff is very low.  MSC doesn't provide many theme nights or activities for the staff. She doesn't know if it is because of COVID or just MSC's MO.  She works 9-9 7 days a week, and about every third week, she gets a half day.  She said that schedule is similar to other lines, but the lack of things to do as staff was making her rethink signing back up with MSC.
Ports – Ocean Cay. 
Loved every minute of the private island.  Perfect. If I was designing heaven for myself, Ocean Cay is the design plan.  We relaxed, we swam, we drank.  The weather wasn't great, but it was better than snow at home.
DO NOT PAY FOR THE BOAT TOUR DURING THE LIGHTHOUSE SHOW.  Take 60 bucks a person and light it on fire.  The warmth it provides is more valuable than the 20 minutes on the boat to watch a 5-minute light show.  Weather caused the seas to be very rocky, and I don't think a good tour company in the US would have taken anyone out.  Plus, the light show is only 5 minutes.  Watch it on the beach, then hang out with DJ, you will not miss anything, and you will have saved 100 bucks.
Oh again, about being 85 % there.  Got on board and went to get my silver card.  I felt after waiting 3 months and fighting to get the match to silver then damn it, my card would be silver. Stood in line at registration and was told they couldn't help me.  I was told to go to the voyager desk, which is just the future cruise sales desk.  Fine.  The woman looked at her computer and said, you are right; you should be silver. I fixed it. 
Ok, can I get my new card?  You need to go back to the registration desk and have them print you a new card.   Ok, why can you not print me a card? Oh I don't have the printer.  Ok, why couldn't the front desk look up my status? Oh, they don't have computer access to do so.  Look the ship wasn't full, far from it, but I still wasted 15 minutes, and I would have been really pissed if it had taken longer standing in line. 
A similar thing happened with the aforementioned boat tour.  I went to the front desk/reception, because I couldn't remember if I prebooked it or not,  was told, no, I hadn't prebooked, goto the excursion desk.  I did. Ask, hey, is the scenic boat tour and lighthouse tour booked.  I was told no, let me sign you up. She looked at the screen and said, sir, you have already prebooked the tour.  I said, ok, thanks, I am only here because the front desk said I hadn't booked it.  Oh, they explained I can see what you prebooked, the reception desk only can see what you have purchased on the boat.  Ok, that makes zero sense.
Entertainment.
Loved the staff. 
Energetic and fun.  Romeo and Juliet and Majority Rules games were awesome. 
Dance instructors were great. 
Cruise Director.  AWFUL.  By far the worst of any cruise I have ever been on.  Not sure the criteria for being a CD on MSC, but they should rewrite the job description.   Maybe it is unfair, but my wife and I still follow on IG and FB Kendall Fire from Carnival and Musicians like Randon from NCL.   She didn't participate in activities. You never saw her walking around asking how you were doing.  I really think she simply manages people but doesn't go out of her way to get to know the guests. 
Her name was Monica from Italy. 
She didn't do it for us.  
Music – Pretty mediocre. 
Enjoyed a few of Soulmate Trios sets, but there wasn't anyone that made us plan our evening around.  We love live music and felt the sets were only 30 minutes at the most, whereas other places with piano bars of other venues, they folks played most nights all night.

Shows – Umm.  Not good enough.  First, they don't do a show during the overnight at Ocean Cay.  And one of the nights they have a staff variety show. 
Staff Variety show in my opinion was the best show of the week.  The staff are so talented.  The trio of singers that performed most of the other nights, was slightly better than a high school select group.  They certainly couldn't carry the shows, the dancers did.  The last night they did a show called extreme or something like that, which was bizarre.  There was nothing extreme about the show.  However, there was a strong man act, a basketball dunk squad, a juggler and a gymnast.  Not sure why these groups don't play a stronger role.  On day 3, as part of the show, all of a sudden a guy comes out and starts tossing boomerangs around. 
Pretty cool.  But where the hell have you been for the past week?  Shows were 45 minutes in length.  They were as compared to any other ship, including the Divina 4 years ago, not as good, and below average.
Casino – Small, not smokey at all, and all and all very profitable for me.  The roulette wheel is very slow and doesn't cause much bounce out once the ball strikes.  At least two of the dealers drop the ball fairly consistently in the same place.  If you simply play a pattern, the same numbers hit more frequently than statistically appropriate. 
Again, I enjoyed the casino.
Costa Maya- We booked a private day at the spa.  Costa Maya Spa.  For less than 200 bucks, both my wife and I had 2 different massages and were treated like royalty.  It was a 7 dollar cab ride.  We returned to the port and swam at the pool in the port area.   Had a good time.
Cozumel – For us there is only one choice. Mr Sanchos. Again they hit a home run. 55 bucks a person all you can drink and eat, on an awesome beach with pool.  Cab ride was 17 bucks each way.  Which was more than I remembered for groups up to 4.  But regardless Sanchos delivered.
We used self walk off the boat. Was out of the ship at 715, and there was no customs or immigration check, we walked off, had our picture taken by MSC staff and was outside.  Maybe took 15 minutes tops, and was mostly walking time. 
We grabbed an uber and went to MCO where we rented a car and hit downtown Disney for the day.  Our flight didn't leave until 6 pm and we wanted to catch some Disney spirit and eat at the boathouse.  It worked out really well for us

This was a good vacation for my wife, and I.  500 people on a ship made you never wait for an elevator or get on or off.  I was annoyed that you had to go thru a metal detector getting back on the ship after being on their private island.  What could I have gotten on their private island that I couldn't bring back on their ship.  I keep giving MSC second chances because you can't beat the price. We paid about 1500 bucks for 7 night mid balcony, with free booze and internet for the two of us. 
And I felt like for 1500 bucks MSC provide me a great vacation. I'm not sure I would have felt that way if the vacation was 2500 or 3k.  But it wasn't.

I would also note that we only heard from the captain once, when we were told that a passenger was very sick and we were diverting to Key West to have the Coasties meet us and take the sick passenger off the ship.  That was it.  No daily update from the bridge, about direction of travel, etc.  No meet and greet with staff or Q and A with staff during the trip.
 MSC is so close.  It wouldn't take much to put a native English speaker, whether Canadian, US or UK as the cruise director.  Improve the food in the main dining room slightly.  Slightly improve options for entertainment, maybe get a piano bar and/or comedian/magician. 
If they could do these small things, I honestly believe the product would be very similar to NCL or RC.  I like the elegance of the ship, and everyone working on the ship in the dining rooms, buffet, cleaning staff, spa folks were so happy we were there, and we were so happy that we were there.  I get that MSC wants to feel elegant and European. 
And it does. I'm just not sure if the Seaside and Seashore are priced similarly to NCL or RC, why one would ever travel with MSC based on their current offering.   

[styles27]

We were on the same cruise and agree about the CD. She was pretty AWOL except to introduce the theater shows and her morning and afternoon announcements. 
But we’ve noticed this about CD’s on every line we’ve been on the last 5-6 yrs. They’re more of a manager now instead of an entertainer like the “old” days. 

We had a great waiter in the MDR who each night told us what not to order. I wanted the swordfish and he said “I don’t recommend it tonight it is dry” he brought it for me anyway because I really wanted to try it but he was right it was very over cooked and dry so after that I listened to him lol 

 

We will continue to cruise with MSC because of their price point, their crew and their beautiful ships.
We’re about a decade older than you guys so we’re not looking for the magicians and comedians…heck most nights we were in bed by 10 and up by 7 🙃

This is why it’s good to have so many choices. 

[Fla Mike]

Thanks for a great, honest review.

Agree with almost everything, but we liked Monica, for us less is more in a cruise director.

 

Let's enjoy MSC , soon everyone else will discover it.

[rkacruiser]

On 11/22/2021 at 5:09 PM, ajsdad said:

I would note that the overwhelming comments from the people we talked to is MSC is so close to having a great US product.  They are 85% of the way there

 

I agree with your comment.  

 

Thanks for an interesting and unsugar coated review.  The abilities of Cruise Directors vary widely as you have found.  When I sailed on Maraviglia, the CD was a retired HAL CD, very experienced, very guest oriented, and talented.  One afternoon, he put on his own "one man show".  MSC had recruited him and convinced him to return to the sea.  So, the "good ones" are "out there, somewhere".  

 

On 11/22/2021 at 5:09 PM, ajsdad said:

The expensive steakhouse was worth every penny.  Filet was perfect, food was quality of a ruth Chris or Flemings.

 

That's high praise, indeed!  

 

On 11/22/2021 at 5:09 PM, ajsdad said:

I would also note that we only heard from the captain once

 

Some Captains are more guest oriented than others.  I have experienced this on HAL as an example.  I suspect that a Master's command of the English language may impact how much a cruise guest hears from that individual.  Do agree, though, if the Captain does not wish to do a "Voice from the Bridge" report daily, that should fall into the lap of the CD.  

 

Thanks again for your review!

[KruzingGal]

Nice review.

 

Can you tell me what theme nights they had? 

 

I'm going on the Divina in January. 

[Nunagoras]

Many thanks for the nice and well balanced review, OP and have a nice day!... That's it. MSC is good... At the right itinerary at the right price. They're right there... But they need that extra effort... Just to run that extra mile...

 

Yeah, @Fla Mikesometimes less is more, not only on a CD, but elsewhere. It is not on whether one is more exuberant than others. It is on whether one does his or her job better than others. Curiously I've had 7 MSC CDs all different from one another and curiously the best one was the less prevalent one round the ship and the most reserved of them all. He was a retired Italian diplomat whom accepted the role as a CD for a Baltic Sea season, doing the St. Petersburg sailings. All of us know the Russian special requirements to enter there that couldn't be missed. To have him remembering us all the Russian immigration control was such a delight, right like if you were at the University listening to the Professor, I will never forget it... I was lucky enough to meet him at one of the bars after lunch for a coffee. Very interesting conversation!...

 

As per the Captains, and to an extent CDs, mi take is that, the larger the ship, the less visible they become. I believe it is a safety measure from all the companies. Sad because it breaks with a wonderful tradition... But... Sadly it is needed! You never know when someone is there to do not so lovely things. Let us to accept it just as another sign of the times.