MSC Divina Yacht Club 2/11 - 2/22 Live Review

[JamieLogical]

9 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

@JamieLogical Did you replace the deck of cards or were the ones you mentioned getting doused still usable? 
 

If you don’t mind I’d like to try and catch up tomorrow and hear more about your excursions.  
 

 

The cards that I spilled coffee on were part of our 7 Wonders set. Our regular playing cards are unscathed. As for hanging out today, since it's a sea day, you know you can probably find us at Caffe Italia from breakfast time on. 😋

 

We do have a reservation at Galaxy for dinner, since it's our anniversary.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

since it's our anniversary.

Happy Anniversary!

[brucevr6]

Hi @Fogfog. Since we now live in Panama I agree that it’s sad that the shops at the cruise terminal in Colon aren’t opened yet. The new Amador cruise terminal is still not completely finished, but it was delayed almost two years during covid. Cruises from here, sadly , only operate December through March when I last looked , although they are expecting a longer season eventually. We are hoping for that too since there are many great destinations in range of Panama!! Guess it will depend on demand as time goes by. Our last cruise from here was December 2023 on Rhapsody. Before that on Norwegian Jewel in March 2023. 

[Fogfog]

Happy Anniversary🥰

[brucevr6]

Another thing worth noting is that even for Panamanians, Colon is known as a kinda sketchy place. It happens to be at the Atlantic entrance to the canal, and there are some nice things to see around there, but it certainly isn’t a “destination”. Much different from Amador. The duty free zone in Colon has great deals on stuff, but not really worth going to that area, so without more cruise ships stopping, hard to operate shops in the terminal I imagine. 

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

We do have a reservation at Galaxy for dinner, since it's our anniversary

A very happy anniversary!  
 

[DaKahuna]

We woke up around our normal times and just took our time getting ready for breakfast.

 

Nothing special was ordered aside from both of us choosing to have English Breakfast Tea with lemon and honey instead of our usual coffee.  Our server made the pots of tea and placed the lemon slice in the pot.  We added honey when we poured it into our cups.  Delicious.

 

After breakfast we stopped in an empty Casino and made minor sacrifices to our casino overlords.  
 

We are now relaxing in the Top Sail Lounge listening to two different telephone conversations, neither of which is english, and a group of 5 French children playing a board game. 
 

Breakfast photo’s 

 

Ham, cheese, and onion omelette

 

Two eggs over easy, ham, and pork sausage with toasted english muffin.

 

 

Top Sail Lounge snacks

 

 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

So glad to see that you are enjoying yourself!

 

It is interesting to see the images of your food. I'm gluten free so none of the food I eat is usually right off the menu; it's all altered, usually with key components (like sauce) omitted. Have you tried any risotto yet? Risotto is GF and our favorite is the truffle preparation.

 

I see that you have Glenn taking care of you. Is Ryan still his assistant?

 

Please tell Hubert in TSL that Sir John and Miss Andrea send their very best regards and are looking forward to seeing him in April.

 

PS: I always told Hubert that the garnish for the sidecar looked like something dead floating in my drink. LOL

[pirate4me2]

Thanks for doing this live review! I’m jealous, your itinerary is great! 

[DaKahuna]

15 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

So glad to see that you are enjoying yourself!

 

It is interesting to see the images of your food. I'm gluten free so none of the food I eat is usually right off the menu; it's all altered, usually with key components (like sauce) omitted. Have you tried any risotto yet? Risotto is GF and our favorite is the truffle preparation.

 

My DW had a risotto dish last night.  I have not had any.  I have been eating long grain rice that they keep surprising me with after having asked for rice.
 

15 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

 

I see that you have Glenn taking care of you. Is Ryan still his assistant?

 

Glenn has been our waiter a couple of time during breakfast and lunch but is not our waiter in the evenings.  He is @Mark_T waiter in the evenings.

 

Ryan works the One Pool during breakfast and lunch and is no longer Glenn’s assistant. 
 

15 hours ago, Best Cat Mom said:

 

Please tell Hubert in TSL that Sir John and Miss Andrea send their very best regards and are looking forward to seeing him in April.

 

PS: I always told Hubert that the garnish for the sidecar looked like something dead floating in my drink. LOL

 

I will pass along your regards to Hubert.  He is as fantastic as you said and has kept me well hydrated or should I say lubricated. 
 

[DaKahuna]

We decided to take advantage of yesterday’s sea day to relax and not do very much.  After our breakfast  and snack in the lounge we decided to try the room service pizza for our lunch.  We ordered 1/2 MSC and 1/2 supreme.

 

 

I also met up with @JamieLogical and her husband for a couple of drinks in Cafe al Italia.  They are both wonderful and it was fun talking with them.  I also bumped into the after dinner in the casino.

 

Last night was ‘formal night’ and we had a wonderful meal in Le Muse.

 

They brought my DW her French Onion Soup which I believe Mahmed has made it his goal to deliver each night.  She is not yhe only one getting it now.

 

For her starter she had the scallops

 

 

and I had the clam chowder

 

 

For our mains, she had the risotto with shrimp

 

 

while I had the filet. 
 

Once again it was amazingly tender and flavorful.

 

Since I was not sure if the risotto would be enough for her and I wanted to try it, I ordered us the duck breast to share.

 

 

It also was very good. 
 

We both had ice cream for our dessert. 
 

[DaKahuna]

@Mark_T and his wonderful wife had invited us to attend the evening production show. 
 

After dinner my DW was feeling tired as she had woken up early and only had a 15 minute nap so decided not to go to the production show but I met us with @Mark_T and his wife in the lounge and after a quick drink went to the 9:30 pm show. 
 

The entertainers was very energetic and performed a medley if Aerosmith, Guns & Roses., Queen and other “Legends of Rock” songs.

 

I took some short video’s of a few of the songs but they take forever to upload so maybe once I get home I’ll add them.

 

 

[Stem to Stern]

How did you both like the pizza, John?

Really enjoying your report.

[DaKahuna]

@Best Cat Mom Hubert sends his regards and says he will start collecting wires soon. 

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

How did you both like the pizza, John?

Really enjoying your report.

We both liked it.  
we have not had a bad slice of pizza yet. 

[DaKahuna]

Good afternoon from the Roatan, Honduras. 
 

The shipped docked around 0800 this morning and once again being the boring couple that we are, we had no plans so while we were awake early we took our time getting ready and had a leisurely breakfast on the One Pool Deck.  
 

Afterwards we went down to the lounge and relaxed for a bit before walking off the ship and walking around the port area.  It was a lovely day as it was cooler than the last two days, winds were lighter and the sky was overcast. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our way back to the ship we met by @Mark_T and his wife who were retuning from their excursion.  We walked aboard together and said we’d meet up in the lounge before lunch. 
 

My DW was not feeling well, I think the lack of sleep and a mild cold caught up with her so she did not make the lounge.  Mark & his wife finished their drink and left for lunch.  I finished mine a little while later and collected my wife and after giving her a DayQuill took her to lunch. 

 

We both had the black angus burger for lunch. And we skipped dessert.

 

After lunch we stopped off in Cafe al Italia for a coffee and Bailey’s and then I took my wife to the room and put her to bed.

 

She’s now taking a nap and I sm relaxing in the lounge with another Americano and Bailey’s.

 

 

[Best Cat Mom]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

Hubert sends his regards and says he will start collecting wires soon.

Too funny!

 

I hope that Hubert gets an opportunity to sing for you in TSL one evening. He did that the last night of our transatlantic. He was quite nervous, but should not have been. Hubert has a wonderful voice.

[Gocruise_fromMiami]

Thank you for your detailed review.
I am a little surprised that on your cruise, Divina docked at Mahogany Bay, not at Coxan Hole, in Roatan Island. I believed that only Carnival families could dock at Mahogany Bay. We will be on Divina at the end of March and will visit Roatan. I am confused where Divina will dock in Roatan in March.

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 2/16/2024 at 8:11 AM, DaKahuna said:

Very glad to have you join us.  
 

I did not want to side track Jamie’s excellent review with things related to our YC experience so started my own focusing on our first MSC/Yacht Club cruise. 
 

I am pretty sure you can relate when I say the lounge is like having an E-class Retreat Lounge but with a Michael’s Club ambiance and three times the number of wait staff.  Throw in some live entertainment each evening and that pretty much sums up the Top Sail Lounge. 

It has been too windy for us up on the One Pool Deck but there have been heartier souls than us that have been soaking up all the rays they can get.  It reminds me of the Sun Deck on Edge. 
 

Enjoying the review and the food pix.    I was wondering about the shrimp but once I read your description it made sense.   I was also thinking deep fried escargot at first.

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, Gocruise_fromMiami said:

Thank you for your detailed review.
I am a little surprised that on your cruise, Divina docked at Mahogany Bay, not at Coxan Hole, in Roatan Island. I believed that only Carnival families could dock at Mahogany Bay. We will be on Divina at the end of March and will visit Roatan. I am confused where Divina will dock in Roatan in March.

 

 

I think that Carnival gets priority at Mahogany Bay, but if there are no Carnival ships in port, others can dock there.

[TrinaLC]

We have so many fond memories of Divina YC’s fine staff but Patrick has a special place in our hearts. 
 

if you have not met him yet, you will enjoy making his acquaintance. He works TopSail and One Deck and is a lovely, caring gentleman. 
 

For some reason I cannot upload his photo … do look for him!  
 

 

 

Edited February 20 by TrinaLC

[Mark_T]

14 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

Glenn has been our waiter a couple of time during breakfast and lunch but is not our waiter in the evenings.  He is @Mark_T waiter in the evenings.

 

Ryan works the One Pool during breakfast and lunch and is no longer Glenn’s assistant.

Glenn has indeed been our waiter throughout the cruise, and has been assisted by Susmita who has been excellent as his partner…

 

She will be onboard until April I believe and been a wonderful asset to MSC, unremittingly cheerful, and very attentive to the small details that make all the difference to the service.
 

Ryan up is still around in the evenings, or can be found at the One Pool buffet, but he still remains dedicated to doing whatever it takes to earn a gold tie eventually. 

 

Edited February 20 by Mark_T

[Best Cat Mom]

Susmita was partnered with Kumar, I believe, in December. They were the "extra" team without a dedicated dinner section in Le Muse at that time. She was so wonderful to us at breakfast and lunch. John gave her one of the last F1 cars on departure day as a thank you for always remembering to bring him a big glass of ice. Great service!

Edited February 20 by Best Cat Mom

[DaKahuna]

Question - what is the typical Voyagers Club gift onboard?  We’ve not seen anything in the way of meet ups, gifts, or anything special related to voyages club and tomorrow is our last day of this 11 day cruise. 
 

[Best Cat Mom]

VC gifts can be drawstring bags, pens, hats, Vencchi chocolate,  etc. Check with the concierge desk or ask your butler if they have given them out yet.