Live from MSC Divina 12/30-01/13

[Markanddonna]

13 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Someone must be 'pulling your leg'. the capacity of the Divina is 3502 passengers.

I was on a F2B on the Seaside at the very beginning of COVID in Feb 2020. The first week was quite nice with a manageable number of passengers but the second week was a nightmare. It was President's Day week and many schools had off. So, a cabin for two (which is how the industry measures capacity) often had four people since MSC has many "kids sail for free offers."  Besides, the pool being like people soup and the hot tubs filled with kids, so many young parents used those large strollers onboard the ship. I have never been on a ship where I wanted to wrap myself in bubble wrap (other passenger's poor hygiene) and get off the ship early. 

 

Based on that experience, I can see how easy it would be for a ship to go far above capacity.

[JAGR]

15 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Someone must be 'pulling your leg'. the capacity of the Divina is 3502 passengers.

Not really.  They show 4,363.

[JAGR]

13 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I just find it interesting that wiki :

MSC Divina in Istanbul, Turkey

History

NameMSC Divina

OwnerMSC Cruises

OperatorMSC Cruises

Port of registry Panama

RouteCaribbean, Mediterranean

BuilderChantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint-Nazaire  France

Cost$550 million

Yard numberU32

Launched3 September 2011

Christened19 May 2012, by Sophia Loren

Completed16 May 2012[1]

Maiden voyage

27 May 2012, to 2 June 2012

to the Mediterranean

In serviceOperational

Identification

Call sign: 3FFA5

IMO number: 9585285

MMSI number: 373178000

General characteristics

Class and typeFantasia-class cruise ship

Tonnage139,072 GT[1]

Length333.33 m (1,093.60 ft)[1]

Beam124.41 ft (37.92 m)[1]

Height219.2 ft (66.81 m)

Draft28.38 ft (8.65 m)[1]

Decks18 total, 13 passenger decks

Installed powerDiesel (40,000kW)

PropulsionTwin propellers

Speed23.7 knots (43.9 km/h; 27.3 mph)[1]

Capacity

3,502 passengers[2]

(405 inside cabins, 1,134 outside cabins)[2]

Crew1,388 crew[2]

Notes17 elevators, post-Panamax

 

 

Maybe only 3,502  "comfortably".....Brings to mind a circus and how many 'clowns' can fit in a VW.

Oh, I read it on Wiki.  It's a 100% accurate!  😄

[JT1962]

15 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Someone must be 'pulling your leg'. the capacity of the Divina is 3502 passengers.

From the MSC website: 

 

 

[morpheusofthesea]

4 minutes ago, JAGR said:

Oh, I read it on Wiki.  It's a 100% accurate!  😄

I know, I know, but their source was Travel Weekly "The Travel Industry's Trusted Voice".

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise/MSC-Cruises/MSC-Divina

[morpheusofthesea]

13 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

From the MSC website: 

Someone (MSC) is' pulling the wool over our eyes'?

Edited January 12, 2023 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

I was on a F2B on the Seaside at the very beginning of COVID in Feb 2020. The first week was quite nice with a manageable number of passengers but the second week was a nightmare. It was President's Day week and many schools had off. So, a cabin for two (which is how the industry measures capacity) often had four people since MSC has many "kids sail for free offers."  Besides, the pool being like people soup and the hot tubs filled with kids, so many young parents used those large strollers onboard the ship. I have never been on a ship where I wanted to wrap myself in bubble wrap (other passenger's poor hygiene) and get off the ship early. 

 

Based on that experience, I can see how easy it would be for a ship to go far above capacity.

I like and can appreciate Markanddonna's answer.

[phissy]

Styles27

Deb,

Thank you so much for your amazing daily posts.

Really enjoyed your pics and observations.

These are very helpful to help others manage expectations for their own cruise.

Best of 2023.

Safe travels home.

[JAGR]

39 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

I know, I know, but their source was Travel Weekly "The Travel Industry's Trusted Voice".

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise/MSC-Cruises/MSC-Divina

I'm assuming it all comes down to the capacity at mostly two per room to the limit if all passenger space is taken (4 in a cabin for 4, 3 in one for 3, etc.).

[styles27]

Thanks everyone! It’s a pleasure having you all follow us on this adventure. 
I’ve learned so much from the CC veterans over the years so if I can pay it forward to the new members with this review I’m happy to help. 

 

Despite the crowds of people our first 10 days we have had a great time. We’ve enjoyed our huge aft facing balcony so very much on this cruise. Star gazing at night has been incredible! Nothing like being out at sea with no light pollution to distort the beautiful starry sky. 

Not having to cook a meal or do laundry and housework for 14 days is a real restful vacation!
 

Divina is still our favorite ship but it’s clear that the crew really can’t handle it when she’s at or above capacity. 
Things are so much more manageable these last 4 days with around 2000 pax. 
 

Our first 2 cruises on Divina were the Mediterranean in 2019 in the YC and Caribbean Nov 2021 with just 490 pax.  

 

We now realize that neither of those cruises gave us a true read of what MSC was all about. The first we were pampered by our YC butler and the second we practically had the entire ship to ourselves because of Covid. 

 

This cruise, especially the first 10 days, was an eye opening experience.  It was much more like the cruises we have taken years ago on Carnival.
Could it be because it was the New Years Eve sailing? Maybe. But from what some of you are reporting from your experiences it doesn’t seem likely. 
 I always book our vacations and do a lot of research. A 14 day cruise on Royal and NCL during this same time period with drinks and WiFi and as nice a cabin as we had was double the price that we paid for this cruise. Not sure how long MSC can keep that up. 

Going forward if we cruise from a U.S. port again we will probably book the YC. Never thought I’d say that. lol

 

We have been blessed with 14 days of sunny weather and calm seas. So grateful for our experiences the last couple of weeks. It really is the only vacation that my husband can really disconnect from the craziness of his job and that’s everything as far as I’m concerned. 
We love ending this adventure with a day and a half on Ocean Cay…it really is a little slice of heaven! 

 

I hope our debarkation goes a lot smoother than it did this past Monday for our b2b so those of you cruising tomorrow can get on early! 🤞

This is my current view…not so hard to take! 
xoDeb

 

 

 

 

 

[styles27]

15 minutes ago, JAGR said:

I'm assuming it all comes down to the capacity at mostly two per room to the limit if all passenger space is taken (4 in a cabin for 4, 3 in one for 3, etc.).

Definitely. I questioned the 4k number and that was the manager’s response. Lots of families with 3-4 to a room 

[JT1962]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Someone (MSC) is' pulling the wool over our eyes'?

MSC is posting maximum capacity with all berths filled (sofa beds, pullmans, etc).  The other sites are posting double occupancy. There are often times more than two people in many of the cabins, especially when they are offering kids sail free. 

Edited January 12, 2023 by JT1962

[JT1962]

11 minutes ago, styles27 said:

Definitely. I questioned the 4k number and that was the manager’s response. Lots of families with 3-4 to a room 

I was on in October and they said 2,200 were onboard and it seemed packed. I can’t imagine 3,000 - 4,000.

Edited January 12, 2023 by JT1962

[RudiRatlos]

MSC Divina has 1751 cabins = 3502 beds, when sofa beds etc. are not counted...

 

[RudiRatlos]

38 minutes ago, RudiRatlos said:

MSC Divina has 1751 cabins = 3502 beds, when sofa beds etc. are not counted...

Edit: (actually CC doesn't allow editing a post after some minutes...):

Often a ships max. allowed pax capacity is more than double occupancy, but less than total number of berths.

[tkwbear]

4 hours ago, styles27 said:

Thanks everyone! It’s a pleasure having you all follow us on this adventure. 
I’ve learned so much from the CC veterans over the years so if I can pay it forward to the new members with this review I’m happy to help. 

 

Despite the crowds of people our first 10 days we have had a great time. We’ve enjoyed our huge aft facing balcony so very much on this cruise. Star gazing at night has been incredible! Nothing like being out at sea with no light pollution to distort the beautiful starry sky. 

Not having to cook a meal or do laundry and housework for 14 days is a real restful vacation!
 

Divina is still our favorite ship but it’s clear that the crew really can’t handle it when she’s at or above capacity. 
Things are so much more manageable these last 4 days with around 2000 pax. 
 

Our first 2 cruises on Divina were the Mediterranean in 2019 in the YC and Caribbean Nov 2021 with just 490 pax.  

 

We now realize that neither of those cruises gave us a true read of what MSC was all about. The first we were pampered by our YC butler and the second we practically had the entire ship to ourselves because of Covid. 

 

This cruise, especially the first 10 days, was an eye opening experience.  It was much more like the cruises we have taken years ago on Carnival.
Could it be because it was the New Years Eve sailing? Maybe. But from what some of you are reporting from your experiences it doesn’t seem likely. 
 I always book our vacations and do a lot of research. A 14 day cruise on Royal and NCL during this same time period with drinks and WiFi and as nice a cabin as we had was double the price that we paid for this cruise. Not sure how long MSC can keep that up. 

Going forward if we cruise from a U.S. port again we will probably book the YC. Never thought I’d say that. lol

 

We have been blessed with 14 days of sunny weather and calm seas. So grateful for our experiences the last couple of weeks. It really is the only vacation that my husband can really disconnect from the craziness of his job and that’s everything as far as I’m concerned. 
We love ending this adventure with a day and a half on Ocean Cay…it really is a little slice of heaven! 

 

I hope our debarkation goes a lot smoother than it did this past Monday for our b2b so those of you cruising tomorrow can get on early! 🤞

This is my current view…not so hard to take! 
xoDeb

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all the great posts. I never have any luck with cruisecritic with my iphone when aboard. I hope tomorrow goes well for you.

[styles27]

14 hours ago, tkwbear said:

Thanks for all the great posts. I never have any luck with cruisecritic with my iphone when aboard. I hope tomorrow goes well for you.

Same here. I could access all social media sites with no problem. Cruise Critic wouldn’t load for me most of the time. 

[styles27]

Good morning! We did express walk off this morning.    
Facial recognition up and running. We were off the ship before 7:30.
It’s now about 7:40 and we’re on a bus to Miami International. 
 

Looks like those boarding today will have a smooth transition 🤞

 

 

[tkwbear]

I just booked an 11 day on the Meraviglia, repositioning with Aruba, Curacao, Nassau, Jamaica, and another port or two. It starts at Port Canaveral on 4/9 and ends in NYC on 4/20. It's really cheap.

[tkwbear]

On 1/3/2023 at 9:58 AM, styles27 said:

We did the beach and Konoko Falls excursion. If we had to do it over again we would just pick the excursion that stays at the beach the whole time. It was really nice there and the included lunch buffet was great Jamaican food. 

Last night in the Pantheon they had a comedic/magician.  
We felt sorry for the poor guy as most of the audience didn’t understand him since most people on board speak very little if any English.
We enjoyed the show. It’s clear that MSC is trying to bring on some different talent but if most of the passengers don’t speak or understand English I’m afraid it won’t work. 

Today’s Daily-

It looks like if you don't book the falls you don't get lunch included. What did you not like about the falls?

 

At the beach, were umbrellas available? Was the beach/water good?

[styles27]

9 hours ago, tkwbear said:

It looks like if you don't book the falls you don't get lunch included. What did you not like about the falls?

 

At the beach, were umbrellas available? Was the beach/water good?

It’s not that we didn’t like the Falls it was more that we really were enjoying the beach and would have liked more time there. We only had about 90 min there before we had to eat and leave. 
There were plenty of umbrellas. The beach was very nice.

It’s not huge but it was pretty quiet the day we were there and the water was beautiful. 
Konoko Falls part was ok. Our tour guide walked us through a small garden area and pointed out different plants.  
They have some caged birds and iguanas. The Falls are very small. You also walk up to a lookout area. 
After that they bring you to a very over priced store that has a Diamonds International.
It seemed like the tour company gets a kick back if they bring people there. The souvenir store was very expensive. ($30 for a cheap quality t shirt)
 

That part was disappointing because the day we were in port we didn’t get the good location. There weren’t any souvenir shops near Divina and we didn’t have time to walk to the other location to shop. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by styles27

[tkwbear]

13 minutes ago, styles27 said:

It’s not that we didn’t like the Falls it was more that we really were enjoying the beach and would have liked more time there. We only had about 90 min there before we had to eat and leave. 
There were plenty of umbrellas. The beach was very nice.

It’s not huge but it was pretty quiet the day we were there and the water was beautiful. 
Konoko Falls part was ok. Our tour guide walked us through a small garden area and pointed out different plants.  
They have some caged birds and iguanas. The Falls are very small. You also walk up to a lookout area. 
After that they bring you to a very over priced store that has a Diamonds International.
It seemed like the tour company gets a kick back if they bring people there. The souvenir store was very expensive. ($30 for a cheap quality t shirt)
 

That part was disappointing because the day we were in port we didn’t get the good location. There weren’t any souvenir shops near Divina and we didn’t have time to walk to the other location to shop. 

I really appreciate the feedback! I will go ahead and book the beach only. They had a couple of beaches to choose from, but I will go with the one you liked. I suppose I can pay for the buffet if it's not too high.

 

On my 2 previous visits, where I stayed on the ship, we were also a long way from anything. In November of 2021 we got a letter from the Captain strongly advising against doing anything on your own. So this will be the first time I set foot in Jamaica. 

 

Diamonds International is an irritating bunch. I don't go on cruises to shop for diamonds, though evidently some do. Once in Alaska they offered a FREE charm bracelet with the large initials DI as one of the charms. So I took the coupon in and got the bracelet but they of course wanted me to buy some of the charms, which I declined. They were quite unhappy with me, but at the time I had a girlfriend with the initials DI. She was pleased with it.

[styles27]

1 minute ago, tkwbear said:

I really appreciate the feedback! I will go ahead and book the beach only. They had a couple of beaches to choose from, but I will go with the one you liked. I suppose I can pay for the buffet if it's not too high.

 

On my 2 previous visits, where I stayed on the ship, we were also a long way from anything. In November of 2021 we got a letter from the Captain strongly advising against doing anything on your own. So this will be the first time I set foot in Jamaica. 

 

Diamonds International is an irritating bunch. I don't go on cruises to shop for diamonds, though evidently some do. Once in Alaska they offered a FREE charm bracelet with the large initials DI as one of the charms. So I took the coupon in and got the bracelet but they of course wanted me to buy some of the charms, which I declined. They were quite unhappy with me, but at the time I had a girlfriend with the initials DI. She was pleased with it.

I love that DI story lol it worked out in your favor!

We agree that we don’t go on a cruise to shop for diamonds or anything expensive for that matter. 
We felt very safe in Ocho Rios. Our tour guide was very nice, he was a school teacher. They were on holiday when we were there.
It was clear he wanted us to love his country as much as he did. 
It was a nice day. Nice coach style bus that had ac and was comfortable. 
The beach club does sell the lunch buffet but I can’t remember the price.
The food was good.

We purchased a rum drink that was very strong. Rum always goes down easy and then it hits me lol 

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that beach day to you. It’s a nice place to relax. The facilities were clean and the employees were very friendly. 
 

We didn’t know what to expect in Jamaica. Our son was married in 2022 and they went to a couples resort in Jamaica for their honeymoon.  They told us people were smoking pot by the pool at their resort, on the beaches etc. I was surprised because they were at a very expensive Sandals resort. 
We didn’t see that at all. 

[tkwbear]

10 minutes ago, styles27 said:

I love that DI story lol it worked out in your favor!

We agree that we don’t go on a cruise to shop for diamonds or anything expensive for that matter. 
We felt very safe in Ocho Rios. Our tour guide was very nice, he was a school teacher. They were on holiday when we were there.
It was clear he wanted us to love his country as much as he did. 
It was a nice day. Nice coach style bus that had ac and was comfortable. 
The beach club does sell the lunch buffet but I can’t remember the price.
The food was good.

We purchased a rum drink that was very strong. Rum always goes down easy and then it hits me lol 

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend that beach day to you. It’s a nice place to relax. The facilities were clean and the employees were very friendly. 
 

We didn’t know what to expect in Jamaica. Our son was married in 2022 and they went to a couples resort in Jamaica for their honeymoon.  They told us people were smoking pot by the pool at their resort, on the beaches etc. I was surprised because they were at a very expensive Sandals resort. 
We didn’t see that at all. 

I wouldn't normally do that, but DI had pestered me many times in Alaska and in the Caribbean. I knew they wouldn't like it, which made it a little fun.

 

I've booked the beach tour. So since you liked the food I will probably try that. The beach only tour is 5 hours. It's $37 cheaper than the one that includes the falls.

 

The only thing I don't like about this itinerary is there is no stop at Ocean Cay. However MSC rarely visits Curacao except when repositioning. I was on the last visit of the Meraviglia, in November 2021. That's when the ship repositioned from Miami to Orlando. Curacao is one of my favorite ports.

 

Thanks again!

[styles27]

18 minutes ago, tkwbear said:

I wouldn't normally do that, but DI had pestered me many times in Alaska and in the Caribbean. I knew they wouldn't like it, which made it a little fun.

 

I've booked the beach tour. So since you liked the food I will probably try that. The beach only tour is 5 hours. It's $37 cheaper than the one that includes the falls.

 

The only thing I don't like about this itinerary is there is no stop at Ocean Cay. However MSC rarely visits Curacao except when repositioning. I was on the last visit of the Meraviglia, in November 2021. That's when the ship repositioned from Miami to Orlando. Curacao is one of my favorite ports.

 

Thanks again!

You’re welcome!  I always feel like I need a shower after walking by those DI stores/barkers lol so I’m happy to hear that you did that. 
 

I’m a glutton for punishment. After reading that you got a great price on this repositioning cruise I just priced out the itinerary you’re doing🤦🏻‍♀️ 

It’s during school vacation for our little grandson so I included him in the pricing. 11 days in a nice balcony for 3 is under $3k all in. 
 

Didn’t I say back on page 2 or 3 of this review that I wouldn’t book MSC again in anything but YC?

 

I need to step away from the internet and go grocery shopping. 🤪