Meraviglia vs. Divina

[JamieLogical]

We sailed MSC for the first time in April on the Meraviglia. The first sailing, we were in an Aurea Whirlpool Balcony Suite, so that was an unusual situation. The second sailing, I was in a Fantastica Balcony on Deck 8 and we are booked in the exact same room, just the opposite side of the ship for our upcoming sailing in September. While onboard one of our April sailings, we booked the Divina for next February in one of the angled balconies on the bump out (Fantastica).

 

My question for the crowd is, how does the Divina compare to the Meraviglia? I know it's an older and smaller ship. Is that likely to cause us any disappointment? Is it well maintained? Is the layout more choppy like some of the other older ships I have been on (NCL Gem and Celebrity Summit)? Is there still plenty to do? For those of you who love the Divina, what do you love about it?

[GPPhilly]

Jamie

 

We have sailed the Seashore (2 times), Meraviglia, and the Divina.  My perspective is from the view of staying in the YC each trip.  We enjoyed all of our sailings.  I would rank them in order of preference 1- Seashore  2- Meraviglia  3- Divina.  Our last trip was on the Divina and by far this was the best itinerary (Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica)   I wasn't disappointed in the Divina but I do prefer the new ships.  It was very well maintained and clean.   I felt at least in the YC the rooms were smaller and older.  I missed the One Pool grill area as there was no real grill buffet on the Divina.  I thought the flow was good on the decks.  I thought the casino was decent on the Divina but of course a bit smaller then the other ships.  I felt it was very smoky in the smoking side of the casino much more than the other 2 ships.  For me I don't know I would chose this ship over the other two given a choice.  But if the itnerary was right I would sail on her again.  

[JamieLogical]

8 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

Jamie

 

We have sailed the Seashore (2 times), Meraviglia, and the Divina.  My perspective is from the view of staying in the YC each trip.  We enjoyed all of our sailings.  I would rank them in order of preference 1- Seashore  2- Meraviglia  3- Divina.  Our last trip was on the Divina and by far this was the best itinerary (Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica)   I wasn't disappointed in the Divina but I do prefer the new ships.  It was very well maintained and clean.   I felt at least in the YC the rooms were smaller and older.  I missed the One Pool grill area as there was no real grill buffet on the Divina.  I thought the flow was good on the decks.  I thought the casino was decent on the Divina but of course a bit smaller then the other ships.  I felt it was very smoky in the smoking side of the casino much more than the other 2 ships.  For me I don't know I would chose this ship over the other two given a choice.  But if the itnerary was right I would sail on her again.  

 

The itinerary is exactly why we chose the Divina. This specific sailing is 11 Days and has stops in Aruba, Columbia, Panama, and Honduras. We love Aruba and Cartagena and have never been to Colon or Roatan, so it's a really good itinerary for us. It also stops in Ocho Rios and Cozumel, but those are not exciting ports for us.

 

Glad to hear the ship is clean and well-maintained. That was our biggest worry. Since we aren't in the YC, we might not notice as many differences as you did.

[GPPhilly]

2 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

The itinerary is exactly why we chose the Divina. This specific sailing is 11 Days and has stops in Aruba, Columbia, Panama, and Honduras. We love Aruba and Cartagena and have never been to Colon or Roatan, so it's a really good itinerary for us. It also stops in Ocho Rios and Cozumel, but those are not exciting ports for us.

 

Glad to hear the ship is clean and well-maintained. That was our biggest worry. Since we aren't in the YC, we might not notice as many differences as you did.

I would 100% sail the Divina again for this itinerary.   

[Tierun]

I am partial to the newer more technologically advanced ships. Sailing Divina wasn’t ideal for me without the app capabilities of the Meraviglia and Seaside class ships. We were in Aurea and the lack of the thermal suite was also a downer on Divina. Otherwise, the ship was great. There are fewer venues for sure, being a smaller ship, but the experience is still very nice. The layout isn’t as choppy as Summit(with the jogging trail ending at a door on deck 11) and the ship is well maintained. 

[JamieLogical]

10 minutes ago, Tierun said:

I am partial to the newer more technologically advanced ships. Sailing Divina wasn’t ideal for me without the app capabilities of the Meraviglia and Seaside class ships. We were in Aurea and the lack of the thermal suite was also a downer on Divina. Otherwise, the ship was great. There are fewer venues for sure, being a smaller ship, but the experience is still very nice. The layout isn’t as choppy as Summit(with the jogging trail ending at a door on deck 11) and the ship is well maintained. 

 

I did use the app a lot on the Meraviglia, so will miss that for sure, but I have been on lots of cruises where there was limited app functionality, so I should be okay. On the Emerald Princess in December, I would just take a photo of the daily planner every morning so I would have it on my phone throughout the day.

[GPPhilly]

Yes, if you like the Thermal Areas, the Divina's is very underwhelming.  

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, GPPhilly said:

Yes, if you like the Thermal Areas, the Divina's is very underwhelming.  

 

Ironically, I didn't use the thermal area at all when I was in my Aurea cabin, mostly because I had my own hot tub on my balcony. In my Fantastica cabin, I opted not to pay for any spa access, so that is unlikely to be something I will miss on the Divina.

[Two Wheels Only]

It's just a guess on my part but I believe that the demographic for Divina will be less rowdy than the demographic for the newer MSC ships. Plus, with the itinerary, it's likely that fewer children will be on that sailing. 

 

Since you're already familiar with MSC's.....idiosyncrasies, you should have a great cruise. 😁

[GPPhilly]

We found the crowd on the Divina to be good.  Since it is a longer cruise and where you are heading I think all is good there.  We did a 10 night on the Meraviglia out of Florida and it was a 3 night and a 7 night and the 3 night the guests were the worst some off behaved cruise guests we have ever encountered but the 7 night was back to a more laid back crowd.  We try to avoid the 3-4 nights cruises because of the extreme Party Vibe

[JT1962]

I have sailed the Meraviglia (7 Day), Seascape (7 Day) and Divina ( 7 & 12 Day B2B, 7 Day and 17 Day Transatlantic) in the past 18 months and would rank my preference as 1. Divina 2. Meraviglia 3. Seascape. I found the Divina to be easier to navigate, felt less crowded and I enjoyed the bars / music venues being closer together. The Divina is well maintained, is large enough to have everything you need and the buffet was much less crowded than the other ships. 
 

As an FYI, my 7 & 12 day B2B cruises were like being on two completely different cruise lines. The first 7 days was a typical Western Caribbean and the passenger mix was around 75% US and 25% International and very laid back. The 12 day that followed was to Jamaica, Aruba, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica & Costa Maya. There passenger mix was around 75% International and 25% US and was much more of a late night / party crowd. Both were enjoyable, but were a totally different experience onboard the same ship. 

[Mark_T]

On 7/7/2023 at 2:49 PM, JamieLogical said:

The itinerary is exactly why we chose the Divina. This specific sailing is 11 Days and has stops in Aruba, Columbia, Panama, and Honduras. We love Aruba and Cartagena and have never been to Colon or Roatan, so it's a really good itinerary for us. It also stops in Ocho Rios and Cozumel, but those are not exciting ports for us.

That sounds like our next cruise on Divina in February next year, it is a great itinerary for sure.

 

Having sailed on Divina last month we had no hesitation in making another reservation while we were onboard. 

[JamieLogical]

4 hours ago, Mark_T said:

That sounds like our next cruise on Divina in February next year, it is a great itinerary for sure.

 

Having sailed on Divina last month we had no hesitation in making another reservation while we were onboard. 

 

Great to know! Have you also sailed Meraviglia?

[Mark_T]

4 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Great to know! Have you also sailed Meraviglia?

Unfortunately not, so I'm not much help with any comparisons.

[Shippy]

The Divina has a YC2 category which I do not think the other ships have.

MUCH bigger than a YC1 yet cheaper than the RS or OS

[JamieLogical]

20 minutes ago, Shippy said:

The Divina has a YC2 category which I do not think the other ships have.

MUCH bigger than a YC1 yet cheaper than the RS or OS

 

YC is never going to be an option for us. We prefer to cruise many times a year than one super expensive (by our standards) cruise. We splurged on our one Aurea Whirlpool Balcony Suite on our first MSC sailing, but is definitely not going to happen again any time soon. We will be sticking to Fantastica for the foreseeable future.

[Mark_T]

19 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

YC is never going to be an option for us. We prefer to cruise many times a year than one super expensive (by our standards) cruise.

That makes total sense, we spent a fair amount of time in the non-YC areas of Divina and even when it was busy there was always somewhere with empty seating, and plenty of variety in the live entertainment, so no shortage of choices...

[JamieLogical]

8 hours ago, Mark_T said:

That makes total sense, we spent a fair amount of time in the non-YC areas of Divina and even when it was busy there was always somewhere with empty seating, and plenty of variety in the live entertainment, so no shortage of choices...

 

Good to hear! I watched a few ship tour videos and I am feeling much more comfortable altogether. First of all, I looked up the actual size and the ship is bigger than the Gem and much bigger than the Summit, so not really a "small" ship at all. Second, some of the videos I watched were pretty recent and the ship definitely looks to be well-maintained.