JamieLogical's Live from the MSC Divina 2/11

[JamieLogical]

Well, I made a little progress on cruise prep last night. I had to do a bunch of tinkering with my printer to get it to work, because I was seeing terrible banding on all my printouts, but after several print nozzle tests and cleanings, several print head realignments, and changing out my black toner cartridge, I was finally able to print my eticket and luggage tags. Weirdly, the most recent version of my edocs that I downloaded yesterday did not have the health questionnaire pages. Worried about showing up without those, I went back to an earlier version of the edocs I had in my email and printed out the health questionnaire pages from those.

 

I got the latest Windows Updates downloaded and installed to my Surface, so I will be able to log in on that to post my blogs and to get some work done, if needed.

 

I got my Kindle charged up and my latest books downloaded.

 

And, I put together the instructions/schedule for our petsitter and printed those out.

 

My husband got a bunch of his laundry done and helped me out by booking our cab for our early morning trip to the airport on Saturday (I usually handle all the travel booking stuff, so that was nice of him to take care of that one).

 

Really, I don't have TOO much left to do. I still need to:

• Get cash out from the bank
• Get my hair cut (appointment Thursday)
• Paint my toenails
• Do laundry
• Pack all my loose stuff for my backpack and the big suitcase my husband and I share
• Pack my bundle
• Do last-minute cleaning around the house
• Take a final trip to the grocery store for any last-minute items, pet supplies, and a gift card for our petsitter
• Mail my niece's birthday card since we will be gone for her birthday

[not ice cream]

The Galaxy Restaurant is great as is the espresso at Cafe Italia. Adi at Cafe Italia is the best as well as one of the servers at the Luna Bar but I can’t recall his name. International karaoke was a lot of fun. We had a blast a couple of weeks ago on Divina with a similar itinerary. 

[alserrod]

On 2/2/2024 at 8:51 PM, Cruzinforpeace*** said:

So when you say “adapter”, is that just the plug?  Do you also need the converter to use U.S.A. appliances?  In other words, can you plug a USA plug directly into a European adapter plug and not have your stuff blow up?

 

On 2/2/2024 at 9:28 PM, Essiesmom said:

She means the plug adapter.  Most appliances/devices are dual voltage, they will say 110-240 v AC.  No transformer needed.  EM

 

 

 

Hello:

Do not connect a device purchased in the United States with a European charging plug!!!!! (without a suitable adapter).

There are two very important aspects to take into account. One of them is voltage. We all understand it easily. If you connect something 110V to 220V you will burn it. If you connect something from 220V to 110V it would barely work.
The other is the frequency of the electric current. Depending on which country it works at 50Hz and in others at 60Hz.

This section is very important. If the frequency isn't right it may break, it may just not work at all, or... it may work perfectly (depending on what equipment is designed for both).

For your peace of mind, the most common thing is that a charger (for a cell phone, a laptop, or an electrical device) accepts both interchangeably.

But check the rest.

And with the transformers, check that the input is suitable for 50Hz and the output is 60Hz

I give you an example of an electrical label for a charger (valid for 100 - 240 V and for 50 and 60 Hz) and for a device that only supports 220V and 50Hz.
It will put something similar on your devices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Well, I made a little progress on cruise prep last night.

 We are right there with you, if not a little ahead. 

 Ironing was done today.   DW has hair appointment tomorrow and I will be making a trip to the barber shop while she does that. 

 

Considering starting my normal live review later this week so I do not disrupt yours. 

 

[Jim_Iain]

@DaKahuna thanks for pointing me here.    Look forward to following along on @JamieLogical live.    I don't think  I would have seen it otherwise. 

 

Hope you both have  wonderful cruise.

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We are right there with you, if not a little ahead. 

 Ironing was done today.   DW has hair appointment tomorrow and I will be making a trip to the barber shop while she does that. 

 

Considering starting my normal live review later this week so I do not disrupt yours. 

 

 

Forgot to mention my husband got his hair cur on Saturday.

[JamieLogical]

Made a *tiny* bit more progress last night. I packed up all my toiletries and medications that I could (still have a prescription to pick up and a few items I need to be able to continue using until the last minute). It occurred to me to check to make sure I actually had a pair of my cruise shoes and it is a good thing that I checked because I didn't! I don't remember throwing them out at the end of my October sailing, but I do often do that. Ordered a new pair and they should be here Wednesday. I am so happy I thought to check before I just went to pack my bundle on Thursday or Friday and found them missing.

[DaKahuna]

 You are way ahead of us in packing.  I have not even finalized what shoes I'll be brining.  
 I have an idea in my head what clothes I'll bring but other than ironing a few dress shirts nothing has been put out yet.  We usually don't pack until the night before we leave the house, which in our cased will be Friday nigh.  

 

Off to get that haircut I mentioned and to get a Popeye's Ghost Pepper wing craving satisfied. 

 

 

 

[JamieLogical]

7 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 You are way ahead of us in packing.  I have not even finalized what shoes I'll be brining.  
 I have an idea in my head what clothes I'll bring but other than ironing a few dress shirts nothing has been put out yet.  We usually don't pack until the night before we leave the house, which in our cased will be Friday nigh.  

 

Off to get that haircut I mentioned and to get a Popeye's Ghost Pepper wing craving satisfied. 

 

 

 

 

Well, it's easy for me clothing/shoes-wise, because I pack the exact same stuff for every cruise. I have what I refer to as my "cruise uniform" and I only ever wear those clothes/shoes on cruises. I haven't actually packed any clothes or shoes yet, as I need to do laundry first and wait for my shoes to arrive from Amazon, but those will all get packed Thursday or Friday night.

[Mark_T]

We did start packing today, and similarly it is mostly things that we use mainly on cruises, so that helps.

 

We fly on Friday so have a little less time remaining, but it is all coming together nicely, finished our last documentation requirement for the flights today, and will check-in for the flight and the hotel on Thursday.

 

I do like the Hilton app and the Digital Key, way better than joining lines to check-in after a long flight.

[MechE31]

I'm on Divina now (charter cruise). Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

[laudergayle]

Dang, what an awesome itinerary!! So sorry I missed it!  As others have mentioned, it would be awesome if MSC offered it in ‘25.

 

Looking forward to your review.  Enjoy your cruise!!

 

BTW, what hair color are you cruising with?

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Dang, what an awesome itinerary!! So sorry I missed it!  As others have mentioned, it would be awesome if MSC offered it in ‘25.

 

Looking forward to your review.  Enjoy your cruise!!

 

BTW, what hair color are you cruising with?

 

I am cruising with my current purple hair as I wasn't able to get a long enough appointment slot to get it bleached and dyed again before the cruise. All I could squeeze in was a haircut.

[laudergayle]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I am cruising with my current purple hair as I wasn't able to get a long enough appointment slot to get it bleached and dyed again before the cruise. All I could squeeze in was a haircut.

Yeah…and being sick probably didn’t help.  Hope you have a great cruise.  Eat well to recover!!

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, MechE31 said:

I'm on Divina now (charter cruise). Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

 

 Any recommendations as to waiters in Le Muse? 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

Any recommendations as to waiters in Le Muse? 

Glenn and Ryan took great care of us during our transatlantic. They are still on Divina and I saw a few comments here and elsewhere that they are still one of the top teams in Le Muse. They told us they'd still be on board in April so you should see them next week.

 

PS: Remember that Ryan loves to have his picture taken. 🙂

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

Glenn and Ryan took great care of us during our transatlantic. They are still on Divina and I saw a few comments here and elsewhere that they are still one of the top teams in Le Muse. They told us they'd still be on board in April so you should see them next week.

 

PS: Remember that Ryan loves to have his picture taken. 🙂

 

 Thanks.  I'll try to remember to make a point to our butler and the maitre'd to be seated in their section.  

 

[jean87510]

7 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Thanks.  I'll try to remember to make a point to our butler and the maitre'd to be seated in their section.  

 

I second Glenn and Ryan!

[Mark_T]

On 2/5/2024 at 10:34 PM, DaKahuna said:

Considering starting my normal live review later this week so I do not disrupt yours. 

Time to get your thread going so we can move the YC stuff over there and let Jamie continue without the distractions 🙂

I would offer, but I think 3 live threads will be a bit too much for one cruise...

@JamieLogical soon as you've settled in and picked a preferred bar, let us know so we can meet up if you want.

Hope the rest of your preparations go to plan and we look forward to seeing you both onboard.

[MechE31]

14 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Any recommendations as to waiters in Le Muse? 

 

I'm not in YC, so unfortunately can't help with that.

Edited February 7 by MechE31

[JamieLogical]

Not many updates for today. Last night was our weekly trivia night, so no cruise prep happened. I did make it to the pet store to stock up on canned cat food for our petsitter. Today I plan to stop by the bank on lunch to get some cash out and tonight I am hoping to get some more packing done.

 

At work I am putting together some documentation for my coworker so she can take care of some of my daily tasks while I am out.

[KittyCruz]

On 2/2/2024 at 8:14 AM, JamieLogical said:

 

It's hard to believe I am only 9 days away from my next MSC sailing on the Divina. This one really snuck up on me! It doesn't help that work has been CRAZY busy for the past couple of months and I have been horribly sick for the past week and a half. Between those two things, I really haven't had much time or energy to even think about cruise planning. I just started working on my packing list about two days ago!

 

 

Have a great trip! Will be following to soak up all the tips as the Divinia is our next cruise

[Jim_Iain]

On 2/2/2024 at 6:14 AM, JamieLogical said:

We are excited about the itinerary as well. The first stop is Ocho Rios,

Did you read the just released news story -   Carnival Magic hit the pier today in high winds and did significant damage to the Pier.  

 

They were forced out to sea and had to leave passengers ashore.   They later docked at another close by pier and shuttled the passengers that wee ashore to the new pier.

 

There are a number of videos showing up on YouTube.

[JamieLogical]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Did you read the just released news story -   Carnival Magic hit the pier today in high winds and did significant damage to the Pier.  

 

They were forced out to sea and had to leave passengers ashore.   They later docked at another close by pier and shuttled the passengers that wee ashore to the new pier.

 

There are a number of videos showing up on YouTube.

 

I had no plans to get off the ship anyway there, so I won't cry myself to sleep if we have to skip Ocho Rios!

[JamieLogical]

So there is another thread about potential changes to the Fantastica dining experience. Initially, people were complaining that they were no longer able to specify their preferred seating time when booking. But now it looks as though MSC might be transitioning to My Choice dining for Fantastica? Someone pointed out that for their Fantastics booking on the Divina, the app now shows "Type: My Choice" under Dining Info. I checked my booking in the app and I am seeing the same thing. Now I can't help but hope that we really will have anytime dining for our cruise this weekend!