MSC Divina Cruise Reviews - Reviews

THE FOOD AT DINNER:                            First of all, in general, there was not enough food to feed a bird.   The first night, we had lamb chops; two little pieces of chops, two tiny potatoes, and some vegetables was just not adequate.  The chops were quite good, I thought, but just not enough to make a meal out of.   My wife and I were quite disappointed in this, since one of the expectations of a cruise is good food and in adequate portions.   We ordered a bottle of wine prior to the waiter taking our food order, but the wine did not arrive to our table until we finished eating, even though I reminded the waiter two additional times during the meal.

                              On the second evening, one of the choices was Filet Mignon.  Before placing our order, the waiter announced to the table that the chef recommends the filet be cooked “well done.”   Since when has it been that a filet mignon should be cooked in that fashion?   I ordered my meat medium rare, as a steak should be.  However, it was a small piece and it was tough.  Filet Mignon is the best of cut of meat and so, why was it tough?   I would assume that it was cooked well before hand and just re-heated for dinner.  Or, maybe it was meat from a very old cow purchased very cheaply.   And the reason it was suggested that we order well done was to hide the fact that it was tough.

                              On the third evening, we ordered chicken.  We were disappointed so far, with the first two evenings, and so we thought, how can you go wrong with chicken?   Well, I guess it can be done, because the chicken breast was dry and tough. Another wasted evening, if not for the company of the guests at our table.

                              The fourth evening, we had prime rib.  For a change and to our surprise, it was rather good.  Not excellent, but far above what the previous meals were.

                              The fifth evening, we had dinner at the 1919 Restaurant at the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel in San Juan and it was excellent.  Perhaps you should try it sometime.

                              The final evening’s meal was a total disaster.  My choice from the menu was Pad Thai.  I love Pad Thai and have had this in many restaurants around the country.  When I asked about it, before ordering, the waiter’s only comment was that we should order two plates because one plate surely wouldn’t be enough.  He was right on that, but whatever he brought was not Pad Thai.  In fact, I didn’t know what it was.  The waiter thought it was a Chinese sort of Pad Thai.  If that was the case, then why wasn’t it called Pad China?  I want you to know that Pad Thai is not a spoonful of angel hair pasta, some green salad with a sprig of parsley and a very crisp strip of bacon.  There’s more to it than that.

                              May I recommend that you considering all the above.  I would also recommend to you that you replace your top chefs and the line of managers under the top chef.   I have been on Celebrity ships and the Princess Line prior to MSC, and both of the others had excellent food preparation, at all the meals.  

BREAKFAST:                  On the first three days, we tried to have a decent breakfast before starting out on our day.  In fact, by the time we collected what it was we wanted to eat and made it to our table, the eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausages were cold.  To be totally forthright, on the third day, we started eating and since the food was cold, we just left it and walked away very disappointed.  That was our last full breakfast on board.  

                              We noticed that the food was already lukewarm when it was sitting in the trays at the buffet.  One morning, I had waited for the bacon tray to be replaced in lieu of the empty one, only to find that it was just warm, rather than hot.  To me, this means that it sits around in the kitchen before someone decides to bring it out.    

                              There seems to be a problem here with the design of the eating area, I think.  The best design would be food stations of course, if that could be done.   Another would be to alter the two food lines, which currently start at the front of the kitchen and work their way towards the rear.   What if the lines started from front to rear, in that one line started in front and along one side and the other started at the rear along the other side?

STATEROOM:                 This was tight, very tight.  I guess the Company wanted to save some money.  Again, on both Celebrity and Princess, the cabins were substantially more spacious.  In our cabin aboard MSC, there wasn’t even a chair to sit on.  Watching the election on TV was from the edge of the bed . . . not very comfortable.  On both of the other lines, we had a small couch in our stateroom, where we could relax.   Storage space was adequate, but hard to get to with the way the doors opened.  And the balcony was quite small as well.   

ENTERTAINMENT:                     There was a lot of entertainment and it and should have been enough for anyone.   But, it was so loud that one soon decided to get out.   This wasn’t in only one bar, but in every, last, bar.   When we go on a cruise, rather than going to the theatre we like to go to the bar, have a beer or two, just relax and listen to the music.  We couldn’t do that here because the sound was blaring.  I would say that the average age of the passengers was about 50.  How many of these people want to listen to such loud music.  But here is where it is easy for you to determine whether the entertainment you hired works; just check the receipts for each evening.   I would venture to say that your income from this source was meager at best, barely covering the cost of the performers.  We walked through each bar several times during the cruise, and kept walking.  I noticed that most seats were empty; the bars were not filled considering the amount of passengers on board.   My recommendation to you would be to fire the teenager who looks after your entertainment because he/she is costing you money.

DESTINATIONS:            The reason we booked a cruise on your ship was because there was a two day layover in Puerto Rico.  This is what the schedule indicated.   It was not until the evening before we docked that I found out the schedule was a misprint.

Many people were confused, not only us.       

NOTE:                 On disembarkation, we were going through customs and the customs agent asked how our trip was.  I shook my hand to indicate so-so, although I really thought it was much less.   He then asked how the food was, and we told him that it left much to be desired.  He said that everybody coming off this ship was saying the same.   There you have it.  

I would definitely recommend this ship.  The best part was the entertainment.  Both the evening performances and the every day entertainment committee...they were the absolute best. My only complaint was the food in the dining room.  If it were only me with this attitude I would think I was just too fussy, however this was mentioned MANY times on the ship. I would be nice to have more clothes hangers in the rooms. Only  4 per person for 7 days just isn't enough.I felt there were a lot of rude people on the ship, (this isn't really a complaint that is directed towards the ship and it's employees)...but worth mentioning as it is a BIG complaint....again mentioned by many co cruisers

Fue una experiecia increible .Tuvimos una atencion por parte del staff inigualable.Fuimos todas las noches al teatro y asistimos a espectaculos variados y emocionantes,Estamos muy  agradecidos con MSC DIvina, 

 por aver pasado unas vacationers inolvidables!!!!!

The shows were excellent.  Duo Elegance, a classical duet was great to listen to in the lobby as were the pianists.  Truly an international clientele. Never miss a musical event.  Opera is excellent.  We believe MSC is.the only line to offer one onboard.

I had a bad experience at the special needs check in where my wife was on a wheel chair. The agent refused to check in my whole family at that desk, even with my daughter carrying two little children age 5 and 3. The three yr old child has autism and was screaming, yet she had to separately stand on the long line until her turn, going thru all that stress to control her autistic kid. It totally ruined the whole cruising excitement on the very first day. Seems like those staff lacked common sense to determine when to make an exception. 

90% of the staff did not speak good English and seem not acquainted with the American culture in order to make such decision, especially on a cruise leaving from Miami.

The two swimming pools they have for the public are very small. The depth of the pool starts at 6 ft 5 in and the shallow most end is 5 ft 7 in. on both pools. Anyone shorter than 5'7" cannot stand on either pool. And to make it worse, both pools had the entry point steps at the deep end, so those who cannot swim will not be able to enter the pool.

There were no dedicated pools for small children.

The seating restaurant was ok, but the quality of the food is average. The menu is misleading. The primary item on the menu (from what you decide your choice) comes with very small portion. The waiter was kind and courteous but the person who served drinks was not (table 600).

We took two balconies. Both came with used up sofa with exposed cushion foam because of missing zippers. 

The TV channel that shows the cruising information did not show the current position of the ship in terms of distance and time to the next port; current time at the next port etc. Instead they displayed the photos of their crew members constantly.  Does anyone care? 

The food selection at the Buffet for lunch and dinner was good, but the breakfast was pretty basic.

Finally the reception desk is under staffed especially during peak times. I had to wait for almost an hour to get service.

The only thing I liked about this cruise is the punctuality on arrivals, especially when I had a tight flight schedule to return. It docked before schedule, and the disembarkation was smooth.

This ship was beautiful, but we desired interesting activities. The pools were all too small for the number of passengers, and closed at 10pm. Most of the food and entertainment was European (the only show we went to was in French, music in the nightclub was in Spanish), we would have enjoyed more activities for a wider audience. The service was superb!! We did not enjoy the food selection for the dining room, since the lobster, steak and other items expected were at an extra cost. Overall, the value was there

Port of Miami stinks! The parking lot is too far to carry suitcases. Price is $20 a night, so for 7 days cost $140. We will never go to Miami Port again!

Ft. Lauderdale, Canaveral, Tampa are much more friendly ports.

On the ship Food, entertainment, cabin size, cabin service are GOOD. The service ( waiters) in the restaurants STINKS!!! The buffet spreads over loooong space so you need to walk in very tight passage from station to the station. Few 7' high decorative columns create the bottleneck. Buffet food is good. There is some problems with vacant tables. Samsung TVs in cabins STINK: take too long to turn on or to switch stations. For news we had ONLY few boring CNN stations. No FOX TV for the balance CNN crap. Hallways between cabins are about 3.5', too narrow but cabins size is good. All over is-GOOD rating. They must to improve the quality of their waiters or maybe their kitchen is too slow. Then they need to add FOX TV or OAN tv before my Miami friends will go back on the ship. I agree with them.

I knew this was going to be a great cruise as soon as I boarded. The dramatic entryway is breathtaking. I will post pictures of the staircase. It is amazing. Words don't mean much so I am going to attach photos.

The cruise itself was great. We went to Grand Turk instead of Bahamas because of Hurricane Matthew,  St. Maartan and Puerto Rico. All beautiful ports of call.

We had a wonderful time swimming, shopping and sampling the food.

Our cabin (9267) is an aft facing balcony which was a change for us. We usually get a regular balcony. We had an amazing steward, Roque Alexander Ortez Tome. He takes his job very seriously and goes out of  his way to make sure everything is perfect in the rooms. Hats off to him. 

The food on board was very good. The buffet is quite large and has plenty to offer. We attended the early 6:00 p.m. seating for dinner in the dining room. The food is very good but the portions seem small. European portions I assume. Overall, I give the MSC Divina a 5 star rating. We will be back to sail on the new MSC Seaside in 2018.

This was our first time cruising with MSC (Previously on Carnival, Royal Carribbean and Disney) and this was the first time I have ever been on a cruise and felt sorely disappointed.  We paid extra to be in a Suite only to find out it had no balcony.  The top room on the ship should have a balcony, period.  Knowing that we still took and unfortunately it was not woirth the cost at all.  Yes the room was bigger but paying half the suite rate for a balcony room would have been much better.  It was supposed to have a pull out couch (every other suite in our group plus the balcony rooms, 7 cabins in total) had one, but not ours.  My son ended up sleeping on the "sofa" crunched up into a little ball.  I talked with no less then 3 staff members to try and get a pull out sofa or cot brought in, but no one on board seemed to be able to get anything done.

With our group of 13 people we had called 3 times prior to departure to get all of our rooms linked for dining and everytime we were told it was all set up. Nope! As soon as we checked in we saw we were not only a different tables but entirely different dining rooms and times!  On the second night we finally got the maître D to get this corrected but over 2 tables, not one as we wwre told we would have.

The kids club on this cruise was a HUGE let down.  Although the staff was great the kids club had the most ridiculous hours I have seen.  I had to pick my son up twice during each day instead of allowing him to stay and play with his new friends.  The times were from 9-12, 2-430, and 6-11 every day. VERY incovnienent for both him and us as we could not get into anything longer then a couple hours as we always had to go back and get him.  The only days they offered all day was on port days when all of the kids were off the ship anyway!

This was a horrible experience and I would highly recommend NOT traveling with MSC at all.  It is not worth the money and certainly is not a kid friendly line.

We cruised Oct 8, following Hurricane Matthew and the Divina being in dry dock for 3 weeks.  The ship was in good condition and the staff were exceptionally friendly as before.  The itinerary was a bit poor - due to the hurricane we were rerouted from Nassau to Grand Turk (which we were happy about) but the layovers were too short, just a few hours in 2 of the 3 stops.  WiFi in our cabin 100058 was lousy - had to sit right at the cabin door to get service.  Disembarkation was 3 hours of sitting around - could be done better.

I was very disappointed in MSC. They were short staffed from day 1. It was obvious in the dining restaurants for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The wait was horrible. My husband is still waiting for his main course that was never delivered to the table during a lunch seating. 3 separate seatings I asked for ice tea. I never received and asked numerous times during each seating. MSC also knew they had a lot of new staff members on board. No direction seemed to be given. I felt sorry for the staff because they were trying to please but couldn't handle the load. I have been on 10 other cruise with 2 other cruise lines. This was my first and probably my LAST MSC cruise. MSC should have stepped up and given all cruisers some kind of discount. MSC knew that this was not their typical performance because ALL staff members continued to apologize for inconveniences throughout the cruse.

We really had a fun time on this cruise though it's much more laid back and quiet than the other cruises we've experienced.  The show productions were wonderful and featured some awesome talent, but we really missed having comedy shows / comedians on board. 

The staff was friendly and the entertainment crew was fun.  We LOVED how interactive the ship's captain was... He is a real treasure.

This was my first cruise where the passengers were as diverse as the crew.  It was a wonderful experience to interact with so many people from non U.S.A. places.  The service was top notch and the entertainment was the best I have ever seen on a cruise and altogether wonderful.  The ship was very clean and buffet food was pretty good.  The dinning room service was excellent and the food was also very good.  I had a wonderful experience and ready to book my next trip.

The ship was beautiful, but the service for me and my companion was not good.

We had to inject our self to get service from the staff at the Bars and Lounges. They would walk right by us as if we were ghost. My Cabin wasn't service two days out of the seven. At check in I was made to wait for general boarding when I had Priority Gold status and asked for it to be honored at check in.  They seem to trip over their feet to service the European guest, but ignored me and my companion at just about every station. I am a Black man with Platinum status on Carnival and have cruised more then 30 times in my life. I travel from Pennsylvania to cruise on these ships and the cost of just getting to the ship matches the of the cruise itself so to have a Bad Experience on the cruise is not what I want from a Cruise Line. 

Everything was awesome on the trip and I would definitely book another cruise with MSC. The only problem we really had is with the internet but it's understandable considering how many people were cruising on the ship.

Due to Hurricane Matthew I was unable to travel to get the cruise. The whole eastern seaboard was hit very hard by the storm. Road was close and trains and plane was not traveling. But the saddess thing was that the Cruiseline or the agent even try to help. My wife and I was told to get there the best way we know how and those was the exact words. Sad, no refund or at least say Mr. and Mrs. Johnson we can see if we can get you on a later cruise in the future. There was nothing, customer service was very bad, the Cruise Line customer service was very bad. They do not care about the customer, it is all about how much we can rip off the customer.

There were a number of issues, before and during the cruise that left us regretting our choice of MSC! The 2 for 1 pricing was very attractive but hardly worth it! The web site was aggravatingl! Trying to get questions answered on the phone only left us with confused uninformed answers! The staff on board was equally unable to answer questions or resolve issues! I stood in line on 2 separate occasions (45 minutes each time) to resolve a billing issue only to be told I had to go to the photo department to correct it! I was told the first time that a credit was issued which it was not! I found the food to be below average!

Very crowded, quality of buffet neither good nor bad... so-so. Great service in formal dining rooms. Ship very clean and well maintained. Too short of time in ports.

It was our first cruise trip,we had wonderfull 7 days in the cruise. all the crew was very nice and helpfull.Room service was excellent.We looking forward for another trip soon

My husband and I booked our cruise on the Divina because of the price.  We have cruised on Carnival 5 times and Royal once (I couldn't help but compare my experience with MSC to Carnival and Royal).  Here's what we thought about our experience:

Good -

Ship was beautiful.  We were the last cruise before a 3 week dry dock and you could tell that it was time for some minor maintenance, but overall it was clean and well maintained.

Food was very good - desserts and breads excellent.

Embarkation and Debarkation - very smooth, best we've ever experienced.

Ports and excursions - no real difference between MSC or the others.

Onboard activities - well done, but geared for the sedentary (arts and crafts, Italian lessons)

Bad -

*Let me preface by saying that "bad" means not at par with our other experiences - but by no means did it ruin our trip.

Service - this was our biggest complaint...we just didn't feel like the staff really cared.  On Carnival you feel like you are leaving your family by the time you get off the ship.  They go out of their way to make sure you know you are a valued guest.  On MSC the staff are polite, but not warm or friendly.  You feel like a customer (and sometimes like an annoyance) rather than a guest.  Here are a few, minor examples:

We had to ask for bathrobes in our stateroom - we were told that those are for a "different class of guests"; 2 days later bathrobes showed up.

I don't think we had a single day when all the towels (Beach, Bath, Hand, and Washcloth) were all clean at the same time.  Our steward would take all the dirty towels, but only replace the bath or hand towels.  He'd take both beach towels, but only brought 1 back.  This went on the full week.

The dining room service was seriously sub-par.  Bread came once - if you didn't ask for what you wanted the first go around, you wouldn't get it.  On about our 5th night (with the same wait staff, and requesting the same type of roll each night) our waiter just decided to give me what HE thought I should have, instead of what I requested (he did this on two other occasions - with the meal he wanted me to have).  It was impossible to get your drinks refilled - we were simply ordering water each night and got into the habit of asking to have both our water and wine glasses filled with water, because we knew they wouldn't be around again to top off our drinks.  I developed a sore throat, in the middle of the trip, and asked for some lemons and hot water - they were very good about having my cup with lemons each night after that, but getting the hot water was another story!

Another major disappointment had to do with the Adults Only deck; Carnival's Serenity deck is like spending the day at the spa.  The couches, lounge chairs, and loveseats are divine.  They have fresh towels for you to exchange.  The bar is right there in case you'd like a cold drink.  There are no children (not that I don't like kids, but when I leave mine home, I don't want to be bothered by someone else's).  All of this on the best deck of the ship, with the best view - for FREE.  There is an adult deck on MSC, BUT...1. you have to pay for admittance.  2.  You're paying for the same deck chairs that are free - 10 feet away.  3. There are no services in this area - no towel exchange, no bar, nothing.  We would have been willing to pay for the peace and quiet if there had been any ammenities, but there were not.

My sister-in-law, and her husband have cruised with us before.  They sailed on the Divina the week before we did (with her husband's family) and as we compared notes we all came to the same conclussion -

If the price and itinerary were the same, between Carnival and MSC, we'd always choose Carnival.

If MSC was running a killer deal - we'd be willing to sail with them again.