Worst cruise experience of my 20 plus cruises

MSC Divina Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Bginlv

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 11

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5

10 Night Western Caribbean & Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 27, 2023

Ship: MSC Divina

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 13088

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

I Booked an 11 day cruise nearly 1 year ago along with 5 other families. From day one, whenever any of us called customer service we were given conflicting information to various questions. IE: drink packages...does the dining room have tables to accommodate 12 in our group. Obviously their representatives do not know your product well enough too give the same answers. I searched and searched for a phone number to speak with someone at corporate but all of the numbers connect to the same customer NO SERVICE PHONE BANK! I finally obtained the phone number for Corporate in Geneva Switzerland. They told me there is nothing they can do and gave me a number different from the 10 plus I have already called. Guess what ......same customer NO SERVICE. Finally on board!!! I am diabetic. Fridge wasn't working.. took 2 days to get replaced. 3rd day many passengers on deck 13 received a notice that the ship would be performing balcony maintenance. It said to keep the balcony door locked and curtains closed to maintain security and privacy. I paid for a balcony and essentially had an interior cabin for 5 of the 10 days. One of our group was in bed when a worker opened the balcony door and walked into her room. When they finished the maintenance, the balcony chairs and floor were filthy. We had to clean it. As of the day we left the ship the wooden hand rails were not replaced. We all complained about paying for balcony cabins and not being able to utilize them. Guest services said the order came from corporate and the ship had nothing do with the maintenance. Some of us were given champagne others macarons but most of us ZERO. MSC MUST reimburse those of us that we deprived of use of the balcony & a bottle of champagne or macaroons doesn't work. After talking to literally over 100 passengers on deck 13, most have complained. Guest services gave us the same phone number that everyone calls to book.. complain or anything else. Now to the food.. The MSC staff were fantastic. The dinning room meals were so so. However, many passengers said the Buffet was better. The guests were from many different countries and for the most part extremely RUDE. Pushing into the line.. banging into one another, cutting into the line with hardly a single excuse me or apology. My cousin had someone push him and his food and coffee went flying. Once again not even an apology. The final kick in the butt. Some of us booked an everglades tour for the return day. They told us to be at the meeting point at 715 am on the day of arrival. We were given priority 1 departure tags for our luggage. When we got to the baggage area almost every other departure numbers were there as well. It took nearly 1 1/2 hours to get our luggage and clear customs. Finally we get to the bus and we are waiting there as well. I asked the driver when will we leave for the tour. He explained that due to MSC screwing up the priority departures we needed to wait for 12 more people scheduled on this tour. It is now 10 am and we need to be at the airport by 1pm and we have been sitting on the bus for over an hour. The driver further stated that they will cut the tour short because of the delayed departure. At 10:15 the 12 missing guests had not shown up. Not knowing when the bus would leave and fear of not getting back from the tour on time, our group exited the bus and took taxis to the airport. It is a good thing we did that, because the TSA lines were packed. It took over 1 hour just to get through. Collectively our group cruised over 100 times. We all agreed this was the WORST CRUISE ever. Barry Greenfield