katej14 Cruise Review on MSC Divina on May 20, 2017

MSC Divina Cruise Review

katej14

Contributor Level: Cruise Director

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 48

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Sail date: May 20, 2017

Ship: MSC Divina

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Gorgeous ship! Had a great week this week. Most of people's complaints about the ship we had no issues with. (Filled water often at dinner, dinner took about 1 hour-not 2, all the staff spoke enough English to communicate, getting on and off at ports wasn't bad, food was very good mostly, etc). My personal complaints are the buffet is a zoo- all the time. They really need to find a way to decongest it. We ended up avoiding it as much as possible. We went to the sports bar often. It is FREE and sooo good! Plus there was never many people. The garden bar was a great place to hang out. It's adults only. Wish it wasn't a smoking area though. I like the fresh sea air not second hand smoke. The other issue I had was that the service was good but it wasn't great like you expect from cruise ships. There was a few staff that were just rude. I kind of wish they'd give the option for individual tipping just to give an incentive for great service. (They DISCOURAGE tipping which is weird). Oh and I really wish they'd assign the waiters less tables or have a food runner or something. Our waiters ran around like crazy all night long. They were so nice and I would've liked to have gotten to know them like other cruises, but they were so busy. Food- the pasta was great. Steak wasn't very impressive. I was sad they didn't have any free lobster dishes all week, but they had multiple other seafood options all week. Desserts were very good. Alcohol was good. They mix them pretty well. (Make sure you take advantage of the cocktail hour on the first formal night. We got 5 free drinks each. They just keep bringing them around.) The coffee at the café was very good, but the one waiter was super rude. We got the 12 free drinks each and then we bought the 18 ticket books- one alcohol and one non alcohol. Buy these ahead of time to avoid the 15% service charge. That was plenty of drinks for the 2 of us and way cheaper than the unlimited packages. The Breakfast room service, both times they came 20 minutes early from the time we requested, so they first time we missed them cause I was in the shower and he was outside, next time we expected it. Their snack room service we only did once, but it took 45 minutes. Not 20. Activities were pretty good. Shows were ok. The Treasure Island one was awesome if you like Pirates of the Caribbean. They need just a bit more variety in their activities. Really wish they'd add some type of comedy show at least 1 night. Even just a late night stand up comedy. Room was very nice. We had a fantastica Balcony. It was cleaned twice a day. There was no towel animals or chocolate on pillows. We spent a lot of time on our balcony. I'm not trying to be whiny or picky. Just trying to be informative of our experience. We had a great time and would sail again. Even my husband- it was his first cruise and he was convinced he wasn't going to have a good time. Feel free to ask any questions. G

27 Comments

katej14 7 years ago

You login and then you can buy them. It might be too close to your cruise time to purchase them ahead of time though.

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

Yeah I booked thru expedia

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DianeQc 7 years ago

If you have booked your cruise with MSC you can call them directly and book your package. If you booked your cruise through a travel agent, your agent needs to call them.

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

I didn't see anywhere in msc website to purchase the package , we are on the MSC Divina Saturday and I can't find the package.

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prallcruiser 7 years ago

Good to hear about the drink tickets. I have the 12 and purchased an 18. Looking forward to 6/10!

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

Oh cool.. thanks

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katej14 7 years ago

Yes

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

You can bring an empty water bottle on the MSC Divina?

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harlyri11323146 7 years ago

Yes bring your own empty water bottles , the water is drinkable and fine

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harlyri11323146 7 years ago

We cruised Divina 2/11/17 , poster gave an accurate review , we too had Fantistica balcony rooms on deck 9 , the main pool and buffet are on deck 14 so we,d get a table just outside the doors on the deck and go to the buffet grab something then go to the pool,, yes there are no towel creatures on your bed but the ship is clean our room steward did an awesome job 2X a day, and our service in the Black Crab was great we had 8 seniors in our group and it took us till 730 to finish then wander slowly over to the theatre for the 8 pm show we always got seats , my wife and I don't drink alcohol, but we bought the ice cream pkg the espresso coffee pkg and soda pkg, ahead of time cheap and worth , it,

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katej14 7 years ago

We took water bottles with no issues. Just make sure they are empty.

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chedester01 7 years ago

Do you know if the Divina allows hydro flask bottles?

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aFishtale 7 years ago

Great review, very thorough. Thank you.

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leftylee47 7 years ago

Sailed Divina over Easter and totally agree with all of your comments. Beautiful ship !

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windlicht 7 years ago

Thank you for this awesome review!

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stefhani 7 years ago

thank you!!

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katej14 7 years ago

For ours most people showed up 5 minutes before and there was usually lots of seats left. We showed up 15 before and had our pick of theatre seats. We were on deck 9 Aft and were assigned the black crab lower level.

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stefhani 7 years ago

hi! to have good seats for the shows how long before should we show up? we'll be 2 adults and 3 young kids. thank you!!! also were you on deck 9? which main dining room is designated to that floor?

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DianeQc 7 years ago

Per person and apparently they are cheaper if you prepay them which is what I am doing.

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

Thank you. I appreciate your review about the ship, especially since you were just on there and pretty much covered things. Thanks for sharing!

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katej14 7 years ago

It's a coupon book so you can share the 18 drinks.

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

Thanks for the information, is that 89 per person. or for 2 people?

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DianeQc 7 years ago

This is a great review and it seems to cover all of the basis. When people give a really bad review peopke tend to not believe. I am going July 1st and really can"t wait.

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katej14 7 years ago

If you book the fantastica experience you each get 12 free drinks. (Literally anything-cocktails, shots, wine, beer, milkshakes, smoothies, pop, even gelato-except premium spirits). Online you can buy books of 18 more of these tickets. It's $89 for the ones that include alcoholic drinks and $49 for the ones that don't.

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katej14 7 years ago

Sports bar wait time wasn't bad at all. Maybe 15 minutes tops. It was never busy.

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Belinda0505 7 years ago

We are sailing out in the 3rd, can you tell me little bit more of the 12 free drink 18 ticket book? this is our first cruise with MSC.. Thanks

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LatinaNina 7 years ago

awesome review! How long was wait time for food in the sports bar typically?

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