Rocky Start then smooth sailing

Item: MSC Divina
Rating: 4.1
Author: linmark59

MSC Divina Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

linmark59

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 29

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 29, 2022

Ship: MSC Divina

Cabin number: 8266

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

We have done many cruises but this was our first MSC cruise. We had a VERY bad start as the front desk refused to be flexible after they changed our room without telling us. We spent the entire first day fighting to get back the room we booked. The ship capacity was only at about 25% (which was wonderful!) so they had decided they wouldn't use the rooms near the cabin we booked. Turned out that was a quarantine area for new MSC employees. We finally got back our original room booked and the cruise turned around for us. The service was excellent (except for front desk), food was good, activities and entertainment were good. On day one I thought we would never book MSC again but I have to say they redeemed themselves and I would not hesitate to try another MSC cruise.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Room was changed to a smaller room without our knowledge. Front desk refused to move us and it took a whole day to resolve.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Main dining room had great service. Disappointed there was no lobster night which is usually standard on a 7 day cruise. Also charging $4.95 for shrimp cocktail is ridiculous.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Name that Tune trivia every day was good. We were only able to use one pool as the others were too deep for a 5'1" person.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Dancers/singer shows were very good. Magician was good. Comedian was not great.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Excellent service everywhere except for guest services desk.

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

Ship was very clean but the layout is terrible. There are several sets of elevators and many of them don't go to all the floors. We had to use different sets of elevators depending on where we wanted to go. Often you had to take 2 sets of elevators to get somewhere as you couldn't cross the whole length of the ship on certain floors. Ship is not great for handicapped people. There are no sliding automatic doors to go outside. There are heavy wooden doors that must be opened and held. Very difficult to do while pushing a wheelchair. Also, two of the three pools were too deep. The one I could go in was not very handicap accessible. It only had a ladder to get in/out instead of step in. It is very difficult to get/in out with the ladder for handicapped guests.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Excellent. Our cabin was very large and very clean. We had to fight for this cabin as MSC decided to not use this area of the ship at the last minute. They changed our room without telling to a room half the size (both were handicapped rooms). They eventually changed us back to our original room but not before we wasted an entire day working it out and not being able to unpack. We had a very bad first impression of MSC.

Ship tip

Choose another ship if you have mobility issues between the heavy wooden doors and elevator labyrinth.

Thumbs up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

No problems.

7 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

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GabeNSteph 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

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SRAlbritton 2 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise with us. Glad that overall you had a good time. I was pushing my 90 yr old mother-in-law's wheelchair the whole time so I know what you mean about accessibility.

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

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javawoody 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing

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Popdog 2 years ago

Thank you for your review. We have booked our 1st MSC cruise for next May. I am not the adventurous type so I am taking a big chance. Happy it all worked put for you though.

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Appreciate your feedback. Glad you enjoyed your cruise once you got the room situation settled!

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Other reviews of this sailing

Probably wouldn't cruise this ship and possibly MSC again.

Worth it