MSC Divina / Eastern Caribbean

Item: MSC Divina
Rating: 4
Author: markrousselle

MSC Divina Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

markrousselle

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 71

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 10, 2016

Ship: MSC Divina

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 10007

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

First of all the ship is beautiful. It's classicly designed and isn't flashy or gaudy like some cruise ships. You get the feel of what Italy is with the various restaurants and the decor. The desserts are amazing! Best pizza I have had in years. In fact we spoke with a couple who have cruised on the Divina three times and they told use they stopped eating pizza for 2 weeks because they were waiting to get back on board the Divina. The gelato was delicious! The shows on this ship are the best we have ever seen. They had a Michael Jackson tribute show that was just outstanding. The Witches of Paris was equally amazing. Lots of acrobats and dance routines -- and the signers actually can sing! We really enjoyed our cruise and the ship.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Wish they had more diversity in their program. Our 10 year old felt like most activities catered to the younger kids.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Our cabin was great. It was an Aurea suite at the front of the ship, so we had 2 rooms and a larger bathroom with a tub. The balcony was a bit longer and wrapped around the front of the ship. We couldn't use the balcony when we were at sea as it was much too windy. Our room steward (Nova) was amazing! Friendly, helpful and great with our kids. They loved his towel animals and were excited to get back everyday to see what he had made.

Ship tip

The Garden Bar is always busy and it's very difficult to get served. This is one of the few smoking areas so I think that's why everyone congregates there. We found a few great servers and gave them cash tips. Everytime they saw us they came right over to take our orders.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Didn't care for the pushy people on the dock trying to sell us cab rides, tours, hair braiding, etc...Once we got through that crowd we enjoyed the town very much. We really liked our tour of the island including Maho Beach. Our tour driver was quite funny and very informative.

Thumbs Up 6

San Juan, Puerto Rico Did not visit port

Other than the heat and humidity this was our favorite port. We hit the fort, the capital building, the shopping areas, and we even hit the cathedral to see where Ponce De Leon is entombed. Our daughter liked this part the best as she is doing a report in school on Ponce De Leon so she took lots of pictures to share with her classmates.

Thumbs Up 2

Nassau, Bahamas

1 out of 5

We did the Stingray encounter at Balmoral Island. The time with the stingrays was amazing and the highlight of the trip for our kids. The biggest drawback is that the prices on the island are outrageous. You are told that no outside food or drink is allowed, so we didn't bring anything with us. A hot dog (with fries) runs $10.50. A tiny bag of Lays potato chips cost $3.00. We spent $21 on 4 tiny bags of chips and 3 sodas. You can't take pictures when you are with the stingrays. If you want a souvenir photo of you holding the rays you have to buy them at the photo shop --- $75.00 for the disc. We were just disgusted at the price gauging on the island. The tour took pretty much our entire time in port so we only had about 15-20 minutes to grab souvenirs from the Straw Market in Nassau. Other than the actual 45 minutes in the water with the Stingrays this was our least favorite port.

Thumbs Up 0