MSC Divina Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is actually a really fun cruise! I had read many reviews beforehand and was nervous due to the many poor reviews. The ship is huge! When you felt like you should be at the back of the ship you realize you are only about halfway there. That being said most of the space is used for cabins. The fifth sixth seventh floors have many bars and activities. We enjoyed hanging out in the golden jazz bar or black and white lounge. The floors 14and up were the pools more bars and other activities. Most of the ship is cabins which is my biggest complaint because it can cause overcrowding. But there is still more than enough space to roam and have fun due the enormous size of the ship. Many people complained about the food beforehand and I haven't the slightest clue why. The food always tasted great. I will admit it was very much different from normal cruise food. But everything I ate I really enjoyed. Especially the fresh baked breads and desserts. There was some overcrowding of the buffet but it wasn't to much of a problem. One thing I thought was funny about the cruise was that a main decorating decision was to literally put mirrors everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I could literally watch myself getting fatter as I went through the day. The reason I gave 4 stars rather than 5 is there was just a little to much catering to the eourpeans. I'm American and I'm used to cruise ships where I'd watch stand up comedy and party the entire cruise. This cruise was much different in that the entertainment was never language based it was all dancing, performing dancing and taking dancing classes. I got a little danced out. And on sea days rather than playing fun music at the pools and partying they would do yoga in front of everybody while we were swimming. It also isn't a booze cruise like many others tend to be. I can't remember seeing even 1 person plastered during this cruise. The atmosphere is more of a cocktail and lounge setting so it never got very crazy. But I didn't mind that much especially because I'm not a drinker myself. My last thing is the announcements. Because there are people from all around the world (some nicer than others) there are very many languages spoken on the ship making announcements seem to take forever. Especially when they had to do them in 8 different languages. But other than that it was a really enjoyable cruise.

We had a blast on the cruise can't really say what my favorite thing was. We loved them all,but would say I loved my balcony the most. The only thing I think that could be improved is maybe more signs and maps leading you to the restrooms on the decks. More maps thru out the desk and just at the elevators. And yes we went ahead and book a cruise on the Seaside in June of 2018.

Just got back from the June 3 sailing and let me start by saying what a wonderful cruise! I had so much fun and truly enjoyed my first experience with MSC. The ship is gorgeous, very clean, and very elegant. The food was delicious, and the pizza in the buffet is to die for, it's delicious and I would cruise MSC just for the pizza again, and I'm super picky when it comes to food, so for me to enjoy it, it's gotta be good! Some of the things that I didn't enjoy on this cruise was that some of the crew members I encountered weren't very friendly, our waiter was kinda rude, and our room steward didn't clean our room very well. I'm an easy going guy and usually things like this don't bother me and it didn't affect my cruise or experience, just they are just things that disappointed me a little. Also, many of the international guests were very rude, so definitely be careful with them 😂The ports were visited were beautiful, just be careful with the vendors in Jamaica, they are very aggressive and pushy towards selling you things! Our cruise director Andre was hilarious, I loved him! Definitely don't let the negative reviews on here scare you away from trying an MSC cruise, it was an incredible experience and I will definitely do another MSC cruise in the future without a doubt, hopefully on either Seaside or Mergaviglia! 😁

Great value for money! Loved our aft balcony! Splendid food in the main restaurant! (Especially gala-nights!) Hot in the carebean even at night! Loved everything, even if it's a lot more to see in the europe cities! Really nice drinks and the Beringer rosewine tasted fantastic! Also good that the cider has become part of the drinkpackage!!! 🍷🍻

The Embarkation process was chaos, no direction on where to go and when we actually made it thru the line to check in, no direction on where to go. 

The disembarkation process was smooth, very easy and quick.

The Cigar Lounge on Deck 6 needs a better ventilation system.

Need a different variety of foods throughout the buffet and not the same thing every day, The pizza was amazing!

Need better friendlier staff, some staff were excellent the excursion crew was very helpful, the garden bartenders were excellent.... Other staff members acted like they didn't care. Our room was ocean view on deck 8 however the room was extremely small with 2 sets of luggage, no where to walk or get around the room.

I did like the programs that were handed out each night for the next day to let you know what was going on through-out the next day / evening.

Overall the ship is beautiful. I am not so certain we would ever do another MSC cruise.

Thank you

BB

The bad was simply a little bit of a language barrier with a few of the crew. The second day I stood in two very long but incorrect lines because I asked where I needed to be only to wait and wait and wait in line, get to the front and be told I was at the wrong desk. This happened twice. I finally found the correct line on my own. I was nearly in tears after the frustration of standing and waiting. I seriously thought my vacation was going to be ruined.

The only other things, which are really kind of minor to me, was that the buffet was really crowded and there was not enough seating during meal times (just go before or after meal times...easily solved) and my husband really hated going to the dining room because it is very, very slow. It's an Italian ship and they serve like Italians eat. It always took us more than 2 hours for dinner. I didn't mind, but it drove my husband crazy to take 30 minutes to get our appetizers and 30 minutes after we were done with our appetizers to get our entrees and then another 30 minutes after we finished them to get our dessert. He's a chef so wanted to jump into the galley to speed things up, LOL. Now not being able to get my water glass refilled, or the bread server to come to our table was a little irritating to me. We had the early seating and the pace didn't bother me until our server would start rushing us (to the point of kind of being rude) because they were getting ready for the second seating. I just thought if there wasn't a half hour of waiting for our next course every single time, there wouldn't have been a rush to get us out of there.

I did run into one really rude server on our last night on the ship. She worked at the specialty coffee shop, brought us 2 incorrect coffees and then when I (very politely) told her that wasn't our order, she said "well we don't have what you ordered" turned and walked away without even attempting to apologize, correct our order or do anything at all to make things right. If I could have taken her tip away, I would have instantly, except that would have required me standing in yet another very long line and it wasn't worth it. Obviously she knew this so didn't care how she treated her guests. 

Now for the GOOD!! Our cabin steward, Albert, was FANTASTIC!! Albert learned our names immediately. My name is very unusual and no one ever remembers it, but Albert did :-D He was just so friendly and smiley and seemed to enjoy what he was doing or at least the interactions he had with guests. If I could choose my cabin steward next time, I would for sure ask for him. Our cabin, 13049, was AMAZING. Not only was it a little bigger than I expected, but there was way more storage than I expected. The best part was the balcony!!! It was on a part of the ship that curves around so we had a huge balcony. We couldn't see forward, but we got to enjoy the water, the breeze, pulling into and out of ports and could see all the balconies behind us, LOL. We could hear deck chairs scraping the floors while the crew was cleaning the deck and moving chairs around, but it was very minor. I would definitely try to get this cabin again!

Another thing I liked, was the fact that I saw the Captain a lot...A WHOLE LOT. This was our first cruise so maybe that's normal, but I didn't expect to see him around that much. It made me feel like he really cared what was going on with his ship. He was very polite and seemed to enjoy interacting with the guests.

Speaking of the ship, oh my gosh it was BEAUTIFUL!! Sparkled everywhere. I don't think I saw one dirty spot on the entire ship. Clean, clean, clean and fancy. Can't even think of anything negative to say!!

The food...YUMMY! I saw some negative about the buffet in previous reviews but we never did run into anything bad. I realized the first day that if we got our food first and then found seating our food would get cold. So after that first lunch, we made sure we had a place to sit first and we never had cold food again. The pizza was wonderful. We had pizza every single night for a midnight snack, LOL. The food in the dining room was also very good. I'm not sure why there are so many negative reviews about the food, because what we had was wonderful. The buffet is massive. It just kept going and going and going. I walked into the next room and there was more buffet. Then I walked into the next room and guess what? Yep more buffet. There was at least 5 or 6 additional "rooms" with buffet AND it went all the way around, so double buffet in all those rooms. I've never seen anything like it!! Even my extremely, horribly picky 9 year old always found something he liked to eat. I got him to try a croissant and after that he had croissants for breakfast every morning (along with bacon and eggs)!

One of my son and grandson's favorite things onboard was the soft serve ice cream machine in the main pool area. They probably had ice cream at least 3 times a day (we were on vacation, so no food was off limits, hee hee). 

The kids cooking class was so much fun! The kids made gnocchi and we got to watch, record, take pictures and even ended up with flour on our faces!! Our kids were a little too old to stay in the kids club. They were 9 and 13 but said most of the kids were 7 and under. So they pretty much hung out at the pool, ate ice cream, explored the ship and occasionally would join us (not their choice).

The entertainment was very good, but the daily entertainment crew (which was busy day AND night) were FABULOUS!! There were several that entertained the crowd before the big shows and at the theme parties and they were really great. I just wanted to follow them around all the time to keep laughing!!

Embarkation, debarkation and shore excursions seemed to be very well organized. We signed the kids up for the dolphin and stingray swim in Georgetown. The day before we got a letter in our cabin saying one of us had to book at least an observer excursion for $70 in order for the kids to be able to go. I didn't want to pay $140 for both of us to simply observe, so I booked my photographer husband to go with them and I took a tour of "Hell" (small town on Grand Cayman). The bus tour was a lot of fun, but after the boys' swim I found out the "observer" fee included swimming with the stingrays. I wish they had told me that when I was booking my husband. I thought it only paid for the observer to travel with the swimmers and that they wouldn't be close enough to actually see much except through a long lens camera. I would have paid the $70 to join in and get to watch the boys have so much fun!! FYI: The Cayman Islands shops do NOT negotiate like Jamaica and the Bahamas do.

In Cozumel we did the Tulum Mayan Ruins and it was magnificent. I wouldn't do that excursion again because it was 7 hours and it was very fast paced. We didn't really get enough time at Tulum to see everything and take as many pictures as we wanted. We were also supposed to be able to swim there but ran out of time. It was so hot that our 9 year old got sick. If we ever get a chance, we want to take a trip to Tulum not by ship, but actually book a hotel and get to spend a couple of days there. 

We didn't have excursions booked for Jamaica or Nassau. The "harassment" of all the people trying to sell you stuff was almost scary. FYI: Both negotiate everything, so don't pay full price for anything!! In Jamaica we got to take a $10 per person glass bottom boat tour that guests on our ship paid $50 for because there was a guy negotiating to fill the boat up. He started at $25 and then dropped all the way to $10 when we said no. That was unplanned but ended up being a whole lot of fun!! In Nassau we were so exhausted from the heat and it was raining off and on, that we basically bought a couple of souvenirs and went right back on the boat. The harassment there was even worse than Jamaica and I was so exhausted from the heat and pace that I just couldn't deal with it. I wish we had taken the ferry over to Atlantis ($4 per person), but didn't find out about that until it was too late to make it back to the ship in time. 

This was our first cruise, but we had such a fantastic time! I would have liked to give it 4.5 stars but it had to be 4 or 5. I only chose 4 because of the lines I waited in and the one rude server. Other than that I would have given it a 5. I highly, highly recommend this ship. I am already planning to try out the new MSC Seaside next year!!

I was surprise with the quality of the ship, it looks brand new and our cabin was in great shape. Since day one we hit the bars around the ship, at the beginning the waiters were very polite but the following days they turn into people with long faces and slow steps. The food was delicious but sometimes it felt like the was too many people for the food station you have and the food was always the same. For example, the pizza was delicious but at day 3 we had tried all the pizza variety of the ship and want no more of it. Our dinner waiter was excellent i so the food.

Recently returned from the Divina on the June 3 sailing. Again, I had an absolute blast and I was so happy to be back with the brand. Nothing beats the elegance of MSC ships and it's superb customer service experience. The staff did an amazing job on organizing the large groups and tender experience was quick and flawless. My friends that I recommend take the cruise throughly enjoyed their experience and will be cruising with MSC again in the near future. I scheduled a gift exchange with fellow cruisers and it was fun to do and I look forward to doing this again on my September sailing. The only cons I had and I've brought to the attention of the staff onboard and through survey was the public bathrooms needed more attention and there needs to be more trash cans around the ship. Food has greatly improved since last year! Thank you MSC & see you in September!

First Cruise with MSC. I sailed on the MSC Divina on 5/27/17-6/3/17. Overall my trip was great! And yes I would definitely recommend and sail with MSC and the Divina again. Let me start with what could be worked on: -I get that the ship accommodates different passengers from all over the world (which I was aware it would do) but to actually have to sit through hearing things said 7 different times can be frustrating. -The food in the buffet was too repetitive and often lukewarm at best. They could actually have the food sitting in heating trays instead of lamps or just plain serving plates. I heard several customers complain about this and it's an easy fix. Also I get that we are sailing on an Italian brand ship, but since the ship is sailing from the USA & trying to break into our market, more Americanized food could be included than hot dogs, burgers and fries. I enjoyed trying other cuisines onboard but they could benefit from more variety at the buffet. -Some of the employees I came across did not seem excited to help. I know as an American we have different views on what "good customer service" is than others. But if someone says thank you, you should respond. On several occasions, in the "Sports Bar" specifically, their were two severs that seem irritated every time my group came in for a bite to eat. And we tried to be nice and make sure we were polite and say thanks for everything and they ignored us each time. We just said ok, we are not gonna let this ruin our time. They may just be tired, and having a bad day. -Lastly, as mentioned by others on here, the shows are like pages of the same book. (All except the finale show) There should be more variety and perhaps a storyline for some of the shows. Everything involved an acrobat, different styles of dance and singing. All of which are great acts but with more thought, the shows can be better without all having the exact same formula each night. Now for the Good: -The ship is absolutely gorgeous and kept immaculately clean at all times. -I only went to the main dining room for breakfast once, but the service was on point. Everyone was attentive and we constantly had refills of beverages and our food came out hot and fresh. -The Starwalker- the Michael Jackson tribute show was absolutely amazing. Everything about it was on point. You cannot miss it. -My room steward Isabell (I believe). She was the sweetest. Even though she did not speak fluent English she never got frustrated or defensive since their was a language barrier between us. She really took care of us. -The drink voucher plan with the Fantastica package was a highlight. I had to force myself to use all of them by the end of the trip. They really came in handy. -The cruise director was very funny and a delight. He made us feel really comfortable during the whole cruise. -Some of the employees on board were pleasant and helpful when needed. A couple people at some of the bars went above and beyond to make us feel special. -There were ample things to do on board daily. So if you were bored it's your fault. -The internet was the best I've experienced at sea, and I've been on a few cruises. And it's pretty affordable and reliable. -I did not experience any rude passengers as others have complained about on here. Everyone was there to have a good time and pretty much minded their own business. The buffet operated as all ones I've been to in my life, so I didn't experience line cutting or none of that. So just be patient and enjoy yourself and you will be good. Again, I had a great time. I am really interested in trying one of the new ships coming to Miami in the near future. I hope they listen to some of our reviews and adjust these things to fit more in line with what cruisers in the American market come to expect on a cruise. Some things can stay different, but others need to change. But overall I think they are well on their way to being one of the best cruise lines!!!

Let me say first, this is an experienced person review, I have been on so many cruises and this is an honest comparison to other cruises that I have been on. MSC is good for a first time cruisers who have never seen better... but this is what I experienced no personal view involved 

all public bathrooms smells room smells ( i paid for a balcony ) You will eat carbs ( macaroni on lunch daily and food selections are bad, doesn't mix they cater to European customers mainly no one smiles, exhausted staff small ship and not equipped to entertain 4000+ guests MSC cares about selling only,  no one cares about your enjoyment. for example ( they dont have enough seats at the main pool, yet they managed to set up a 8 tables wide display for their duty free items which could seat up to 60 customer in the shade in case they don't want to get burned by may sun teampture specially kids ) no American style food No kids pool or splash section theatre shows are cheap and made to consume time. mostly acrobat which was good but that is about it and filled with non sense music and songs entertainment team showing a man kissing a man before show as a joke and my kids were watching...and kids where every where ... promotes homosexual activities low scale staff pool is dirty ship is warm and AC was always set on high temperature horrible management...needs organization I fell victim to online critics which showing this company to be good when in fact it was not. they are way worse than carnival which I thought was the bottom line....now MSC IS THE WORST ON MY LIST!

The MSC Divina is a beautiful ship. The crew and housekeeping was always helpful. Not many activities that intrested us. The food was mediocre and Luke warm at best. The buffet was always half shut down. I found the sports bar way too late where they make fresh food.

Food sucked. Staff was not good. Announcements take 7 mins due to MULTIPLE language translations

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

This was my Dad & I's second time on Divina....last year we sailed to Bermuda, & even tho the weather sucked, we totally fell in love with her. This year, the weather was great, but we were not happy with Divina...why the heck the service changed so drastically, only MSC (and the man upstairs) know! This time it was like the crew wished you were not there...there was no rapid response to anything, & sometimes no response at all! Have been on a gazillion cruises, so am used to crew members having heavy accents...but not speaking any English? What's up with that??? Thank goodness we went to the Caribbean where those crystal blue waters, and mostly sunny skies will wash away ill feelings towards anything!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/308577302907069/ great ship for people to go on. just came back from a 7 day cruise on the ship. I love msc better than any other cruise line.

My family and I really loved this cruise ship!! The boat was very beautiful and the staff was beyond wonderful to us. This was my 8th cruise, my hubby's 2nd and my sons' 1st. They loved it! However, the MSC Divina fell short regarding some things...

1: The boat did not have an ATM on board. I , personally do not like to charge EVERYTHING to my room and I like to use cash for certain things (casino, tipping, souvenirs and other items off the ship). I have OCD, so I like to keep track of my money differently.

2: There may have been activities scheduled while on board, but they weren't engaging and interesting enough to enjoy or want to participate. There were language classes and cooking tutorials and things of that nature. Nothing fun for all. There needs to be more inclusive activities.

3: Being that there weren't more inclusive activities on board, that caused the lido decks and pool areas to ALWAYS be overcrowded beyond overcrowded! And eventhough there was space for more lounge chairs, the staff would not take down the locked up stacked up lounge chairs for people to sit.

4: If you wanted to eat dinner, you were basically forced to eat in the restaurants at a specific time or be forced to eat either pizza or cold sandwiches at the buffet. There was no dinner buffet. Not everyone wants to dress up every night to eat dinner. There should be a bigger dinner selection.

On a brighter note, the shows were PHENOMENAL!!! The actors, singers and dancers were AMAZING, even when it was a show in a different language. The best shows ever!!

I loved the international atmosphere on the ship. I met people from several different countries. All of the crew members were very friendly and the ship was clean. The food was very good for the most part. A lot of Italian/Mediterranean cuisine. The entertainment was the best out of any ship I have been on.

The ship was gorgeous with its svorski crystal staircases and fine detail throughout the ship.  It was just beautiful! The food was great as was the service from the staff  ( with the exception of 1 person in guest services but I will not even let him ruin this review it would not be fair). The shows were amazing! Especially the Michael Jackson show! They upgraded us from an interior cabin to a balcony!!! Now that's great customer service! I would highly recommend this ship and can't wait to sail it again! We were so impressed with everything! 

We enjoyed the Divina. We were on the cruise on 5-13-17. Met the captain and many officers often. Talked to the executive chef who has only been on the ship for 3 weeks. I can't speak to the food quality before, but we were not at all disappointed either in the buffet or dining room. We didn't think the portions were small but were able to order more at any time. We had more issues trying to limit what we wanted. Many times we had multiple appetizers and dinners, they were so appealing and good. They make their own pasta and breads onboard and it shows. The interior rooms we had seemed large compared to other lines. We never really felt crowded, but we don't do the pools in the sun, shade was almost always available. Ship was gorgeous, staff courteous and pleasant. We will go again only issue we noticed we're things opening after the times listed in the daily papers.

We have been on numerous cruises with Royal and with Carnival. I give you this background information to give you as a reader the proper perspective of my opinion. We have never given a bad review of any cruise. We feel the value of a cruising vacation is the best way to spend one's holiday funds. I so love the Wow we receive from RoyalCaribbean. I always have Fun when we choose Carnival Cruises. I first chose MSC from the idea of trying a different cruise line. We originally booked a balcony room. After reading reviews about the MSC Yacht Club, I chose to spend a few extra dollars to experience the "cruise within a cruise" concept. I was aware that many of the cruisers that choose MSC were not primarily using English as their primary language. I was not really aware of how MSC would handle all the diversity gathered on one boat. I am going to try to divide my thoughts into 5 parts. MSC YACHT CLUB embarkation I have to start my cruise experience evaluation from the perspective of choosing the MSC Yacht club. We found the white Yacht club tent outside by the curb. We were greeted by the outside Bulter/Representative and our passports checked with our paperwork. We then waited until a Butler escorted 10 of us past and through the waiting people in the general boarding lines. We went to the security, then to obtain our cruise cards and then to the Yacht Club reception room. We were given some Prosecco and cookies. Next, we were escorted onto the ship. The total process took about 20 minutes. Totally Awesome!!! MSC Yacht Club Experience We first gathered in the Top Sail lounge upon arrival and we greeted with an awesome forward view from the ship, a special small buffet area, open bar, butlers, and large and quiet gathering area. This was always a great place to go anytime for a quiet time. In the mornings you can get great coffe and great drinks in the evening with entertainment to boot. There is a dedicated concierge desk for all your concerns and a place to get educated ship information. The balcony suite was more than enough for us. It has a granite bathroom, a small walk-in closet, small balcony, and loaded with many amenities. I was able to choose my own type of pillow and what I wanted to be in my mini fridge. There was always fresh fruit in my room with nightly treats on our bed. We mostly ate breakfast at the top deck pool area. This area also has a dedicated pool, two hot tubs, another bar and buffet and more than enough places to sit and lounge around. Because of the exclusiveness of this area, it is never crowded and it is quiet. The butler service is always there and their goals and motives center around making your experience one to be remembered. There were successful with me. MSC Divina This ship was designed to be very ornate and decorated. I have not seen a ship that chose to place decorations and statues and paintings in each and every niche of space in all the public areas. I believe there is about 15 bar / coffee / lounge areas on the ship. The stairs in the lobby are famous in pictures because there are made from Swarovski crystals. The lighting throughout the ship is also impressive. I do not believe other cruise lines have gone this far to make a ship so beautiful. MSC Entertainment The shows were fine. I believe I went to four of them. As others have posted, there is usually some singing, some dancing, some acrobatic display at each of the shows I saw. Some were in English and some were not. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think the dancing was not specific to any language. For me, it lacked the Wow of RCI, but I wasn't sailing with RCI. Everyone was great at their particular talent. The Yacht club had mostly musical players in the Top Sail lounge. MSC Tidbits When we ventured outside of the Yacht Club area we found the ship to be very much like any other cruise line except that English was not the primary language spoken. Calumet buffet was more diverse than I have seen with other cruise lines. The crowds were mostly similar to what I have seen on the other 14 cruises we have taken. I traveled on Oasis of the Seas last year and this cruise felt less crowded in my opinion. The Casino was nice and SMOKEFREE!!! Certainly not sitting next to someone blowing cigarette smoke in your face was very welcomed. I have rebooked another cruise with MSC for next year in the Yacht Club. I would say that the Yacht Club is a great way to get the best of cruising in style at a very affordable price. I simply loved the times when we were escorted to exit the ship bypassing the lines. The extra paid in cruise fare was a great investment.