Summer Fun 2017

We sailed with a group of 13 including a 10 month old and we had a blast. We flew into Miami the day before just because we like to be safe travelers and never know if there could be any delays with our flights or other issues so going in the day before worked great for us. We stayed at the Embassy Suites by the Miami International Airport and it was a nice stay. They have a shuttle from the airport to the hotel that runs constantly every 20 to 30 minutes so we only had to wait for about 15 minutes after retrieving a luggage. The entire Embassy Suites hotel was undergoing a refurbishment so it was in a little disarray, but we had a nice clean room to sleep for one night.

The next morning they have a transportation company that can provide shuttle from the hotel to the Port of Miami for $10 dollars per person. This has to be scheduled with the Concierge once you arrive but the process was seem less.

We arrived at the Port around 11:45 am which apparently was the same time for all 4300 passengers to arrive because the drop off area was packed with the line going into the building being about 100 yards long, but we were ushered in fairly quickly and got out of the south Florida humidity.

The MSC Divina is one of the most beautiful ships I've been on, now I've only been on 4 different ships, but still it is a beautiful ship from the crystal inlaid staircases in the main atrium to the very nicely decorated state rooms extremely well maintained and clean ship in every area that I saw. With more than 5600 people on board that in it's self had to be a chore.

The check-in process was extremely slow, but with 4300 passengers trying to disembark the mere volume of getting that many people checked-in has to be a slow process. Once on board we went straight to the buffet which was delicious. Now after 7 days you would think eating the same things from hamburgers to pizza it would get old, but to me it tasted really good and eating the same thing everyday wasn't an issue. Of course there were different things to choose from each day but the staples (hamburgers, hotdogs, & pizza) were there 20 hours a day and were excellent. The buffet seating area is fairly large needless to say but with the floor to ceiling windows the views were spectacular. We actually chose to eat in the buffet a couple of evenings just because it was great food and it was nice to not have to be there at a set time.

Just know that as soon as you get on board they are pushing their drink packages so if you can endure the first day it eventually stops, but they are extremely efficient in making sure everyone has at least 20 opportunities to buy the drink package. 

No the drink package is a little expensive but if you like sodas and cocktails and other specialty coffee drinks then this is the way to go since on a 7 day cruise you can drink a lot of them. However, juice, water, tea & regular coffee is always available in the dining rooms and at the buffet so if you don't get the drink package there is still ample to drink. Plus there is soft serve ice cream out by the pool every day.  That's ice cream every day. It doesn't get much better than that.

Speaking of ice cream...;-) They have Italian Gelato I believe is how you spell it, but spell check disagrees with me. This is an extra cost and probably not my favorite but many in our group really enjoyed it and you can get sundaes, milk shakes, etc... These are all at an additional expense so keep that in mind.  However, the drink packages also can include the gelato, milk shakes ect...

Outside of the buffet they have several dining options. They have two included restaurants in which we were in the Black Crab restaurant for the cruise each night at 6pm. I think I would have preferred the 8:30pm seating just because we were so rushed on the days we were ashore to get back and get ready for dinner by 6pm was tough.

The food and service was excellent. Some of the best food I've had on a cruise. from the appetizers to the dessert...everything was great. Of course when dealing with an extreme multi-cultural environment, there were a few selections that we had that were a little weird for our taste buds, but overall the food was excellent e. 

Our servers were John & Ivan and they were great. We only had one evening were it took a little longer to get our entres but it seemed they were a little under staff that one evening, but every other night food was quick, drinks were refilled, and we were usually done within an hour to an hour and a half.

There is another dining room that the other half of the ship goes to, but we didn't dine there so no review about that. Also there are a couple of other additional cost restaurants that you can make a reservation to eat at, but we didn't and usually don't just because the food is good to me and it doesn't cost me anything extra, but if you like to mix it up...go for it.

After dinner each night we had the 9pm seating for the show and let me just say as a professional musician and performer, this has to be the best entertainment on a cruise line that I've ever experienced, with Disney being the only exception but who can ever compare to Disney is my point of view. Yours might be different, but the entertainment on Divina was a close second.

Each night was a different theme, different type of music, and experience. With acrobatic acts and novelty entertainers; it was amazing. It was a little bit of Broadway meets Cirque in each performance. Now that being said, we are so spoiled in our society where we are always wanting to push the envelope to be wowed with something even grander than before. Because of this mentality some of the acrobatic acts began to seem redundant yet extremely well done.

The theater that the shows are performed in is a beautiful, modern two-story venue with beautiful decor, yet the seating is a little snug for a full figured person like myself especially after eating in the buffet for several days on a cruise ship, but for an hour not too difficult to sit through an amazing show. 

The highlight of the week is the Michael Jackson night which they have a performer that does an excellent impersonation of the late great King of Pop. This was probably my favorite show since I am a huge MJ fan. The arrangements of some of the songs were a little strange but overall, my favorite performance of the week.

The only other thing I would say in regards to the shows would be the sound was a little weird just because it seemed like the sound man had just found the echo/reverb effect and used it to death. Maybe it needed it to fill up the room, but again, as a musician this was my only pet peeve. Other musicians will understand this.

The first two days of our cruise were at Sea, which all though the ship is beautiful and the common areas are great hang out spots. Two days at sea with 4300 people trying to go to the same pools was a little overwhelming. We only enjoyed the pool at one of our stops because most of the folks had already gotten off the ship and so we had the pool pretty much to ourself. We also enjoyed it one evening when it seems that if the sun goes down you can't go swimming, which I enjoy swimming at night more any way because this fair skin white boy gets burned easy.

One of the days at sea my wife and I enjoyed a couples message in the really beautiful spa on board. We had a 45 minute message and it was great. Would definitely recommend this.

After two days at sea it was finally time to start arriving at out our ports of call. Our 7 day cruise took us to St. Marteen, Puerto Rico & Nassau.

St. Marteen is a beautiful island with a very unique tourist opportunity. This is the place where the airport is right by the beach (Maho Beach) where the planes almost land on your head. Pretty surreal experience since most of our airports in America are so guarded with fences keeping you at least 200 yards away from the nearest airplane, so this was a very unique experience.

Puerto Rico had to be our favorite stop on the cruise just because we have been to Nassau several times and in St. Marteen we were kind of rushed in our time frame there to really enjoy for any length of time. 

In San Juan we were able to wander part of the grounds of the vast Castillo de San Cristo'bal Fort. This place was amazing and the views from atop the fort were spectacular. You could really experience how this fort was so crucial as a look out for not only wars and attacks in the 17th & 18th century on Puerto Rico, but was even crucial during WWI & WWII as a look out for America to the threat of sea attacks to the US.  

After the Fort we drove around the Island stopping at the capital building and touring Old & New San Juan with a final stop to shop around the town and then were able to walk back to the ship which was only about 10 minutes away. If you have the opportunity to go to Puerto Rico, you should. It was a great experience.

Our day at Nassau was nice with a jaunt down to Junkanoo Beach for a little while to swim and enjoy the day, but the vendors in Nassau from the port just about wear you out to take their tour or ride in their taxi or horse drawn carriage or come and buy their goods which they say are hand made, but if you look under the bottom or on the tag they say made in China or somewhere else. Love Nassau because the water is so beautiful there but the vendors need to tone it down a bit.

After Nassau we headed back to Miami where we were docked early. Miami is a beautiful city and the people are just as friendly as anywhere don't let the astigmatism of overrun with immigrants mentality affect you. I met a man from Cuba that drove us from our hotel to the port that loves america more than any born native I've ever come in contact with. His out pouring of appreciation to have the greatest opportunity for his family in a country where we have such amazing freedoms humbled me to respect the country that I have had the privilege to be born in. So thanks Eddie for reminding me of that. God Bless the United States of America!

Overall I would and have already recommended the MSC Divina to anyone looking for a new experience from the Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean fans, just understand that this is an Italian owned company and their appeal to European cruisers is great and they accommodate them greatly with many language interpretations of all of their communications, with most of the crew speaking multiple languages with English being the main language used throughout. I would choose MSC again. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.