MSC Divina Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We have cruised with MSC numerous times over the last 3 years.  We fell in love with MSC when we first traveled on the Poesia.  We describe traveling on MSC as elegant, from the first time you step aboard you are immersed into the Mediterranean way of life.

When the MSC Poesia was replaced with the Divina, we couldn't wait to experience this royal ship and all of it's splendor.  We were not disappointed.  We loved the experience so much that we have been on the Divina 4 times and we are traveling again in September once again.

We are treated royally each time we travel and found that the personnel aboard has always gone above board to make our experience better than the last.  We have never been disappointed.

We urge you to take the time and cruise with MSC and you will be forever  grateful that you did.

We have chosen Ocean View as well as Balcony cabins and have always come home pleased and satisfied with our choice.

Our last cruise with MSC was a back to back 14 day vacation and we look forward to our next cruise in September, 2014.

Ive been on a few cruises mostly to the carribeian and mexico.  Cruised on MSC, Royal Carribian, Holland, Carnival and Princess.  MSC Cruises are by far the worst of the bunch, I went on the MSC Divina.  It started with the billing for the cruise with an advertised price of $299 each and ended up costing over $600 each for an interior stateroom.  Charges kept hitting my CC even after the trip was done.

 

Food was horrific, couldnt wait to get to shore to get something decent to eat.  Service was horrendus.  Obvious the employees didnt enjoy their jobs.  But worst of all the ship was disgustingly dirty and there where bed bugs.

 

Just because its a discount cruise ship doesnt mean it should be an utterly horrible experience.  Pay the extra and go with either Royal Carribian or Carnival.

i have been on 9 cruises with carnival,royal,princess and now msc. this was the most beautiful ship i have ever been on. i do not understand what all the negatives some people have wrote. we had our linen changed three times a day with fresh towels. the buffet was the biggest i have ever seen. the shows were awesome and the staff were always friendly and talkative, and eveyone i encountered spoke decent english. the only thing was they had no late night adult comedy, and no nightly karaoke. and when they took pictures there were way too many photographers in the way. but msc you did great will go again.

 

 

We booked a very good priced suite. Got onboard and the phony suite faced forward below the captain's station thus every night we had close the curtains because the light created a problem for the captain's area. Also no sliding glass door no Balcony, just a glass wall from top to bottom. So no outside air. People smoked in their cabins next to ours and no amount of complaining to the ship's staff made any difference. Talk about a fire hazard. So the ship's officer way of handling the smoking in the cabin was to MOVE us. We gladly did move to a small cabin with at least a balcony. So we were not in a suite and did not get any suite benefits. I should have read up on other reviews before booking MSC.

I loved this ship and truly enjoyed the shows on this ship! Excellent! The food was ok, they need more variety if you chose not to go to your assigned dinner. I wish it was a non smoking cruise, you have to walk thru the smoke to get to the afternoon ice cream. 

I have been on 15 cruises with Princess..Celebrity..Norwegian and this cruise was the best!!

The crew are European and the best in the business..there is no such thing as blank stares and wrong information when asked question. The food exceded my expectations after reading false reviews..

Great portions and excellent presentation and amazing taste and quality!!

 

Do NOT hesitate booking this ship as she is very elegant with marble..crystals and statues everywhere

Excellent shops and awesome cruise director

 

Sit back and relax and let MSC cater to all your needs!!

 

Elegant ship and staff were friendly without being pushy.

This was the most amazing cruise EVER!  I would still be on that ship if it had been possible! I am definately doing this one again. Same places!!  Jamaica, Caymen Isle.,Cozumel, and Stirrup kay, Bahamas. How beautiful this ship is and the Staff is awesome!  4200 people, not including Staff, and found only 2 rude staff people.   The Captain was wonderful ,coming to deck 14 and mingling with the people :) Taking pictures.You made a statement at the Michael Jackson Tribute that really was true. There were 53 different languages on this ship, no arguing or fighting everybody always smiling. If all of us could get along this well, why cant the rest of the world???

 The  Hotel Manager was awesome as well!!  :)   Our Cabin guy was truly amazing! Thank you so so much Kadec!! You made our stay wonderful!  Balcony room ...10071 and 10053.  He was in our room all day picking up and making sure everything was perfect!

Now as for Deck 14, OMG we were there all the time we were on the ship and not ported. The pools and hotubs and the spa no words can say what a beauitful experience this cruise was. Luis Rabarozzi You  my dear are one of the sweetest guys We all fell in love with you!! This guy busted his tail waiting on us ,which started out as 4 and wound up being about 15 everynight!  Always had a smile and he missed us when we werent all there lol Deck 14 was smoking on one side and non on the other. It's nice to know that this ship caters to smokers as well as non. Sooo relaxing and beautiful to be able to sit and just enjoy the Divina!  The buffet is awesome They have all different foods as well as a lot of American food. If u walk away hugry that would be your own fault! The dining rooms were exquisite!!  Cigar bar and the piano bar and if u can hit this ship you will be in awe of the Crystal staircase omg unbelievably beautiful! I wish i were still on this ship The people we met will be in my heart forever!! Great Ship, Great Staff, Great food and Great new friends Thank you for the beautiful experience and God willing I will see u again!!  Susan

This was my first time with Divina Ana LOVED it! Great good, beautiful ship, ppl were so nice to us. The Gelato!!!! Was getting gelato up to 4-5 a day!!!

I have been on a few cruises and all were different cruise lines, but MSC is the worst.  I really enjoyed every cruise I ever took until April, 2013, when I cruised on the Divina.  MSC has the worst customer service ever!  We booked a balcony stateroom with an ocean view.  Instead, we got a cabin with a view of the life boats.  We could not even see the water.  We asked several different people at the front desk to change our cabin and no one would help us.  We asked to be able to cancel the cruise before it departed and were not accomodated.  The only reason we booked our 2 cabins was to sit on the balcony and enjoy the view.  Instead, we saw the crew clean the life boats every day.  Originally we requested a table for dinner that seated 3 people since there were 3 of us.   The table they assigned us had 8 people.  When we asked to change tables, we were told they could not.  We filled out surveys stating our discontent with the situation and still no one helped us.  Several things in our room did not work: the soap dispenser was emptied, no life vest in the room, the door was broken, etc.  We have contacted several people since we returned home and no one responds to our calls.  We paid for an excursion and when it was overooked, my husband had to sit in the front of the bus with the driver in a pick up cabin and could not sit with us, he also could not see anything since the tour guide and the driver were on either side of him.  We did not get a refund for this even thought we asked for one.  The whole experience was awful!  Save your money and go on another reputable, reliable cruise line, but do not sail with MSC.

The overall impression of the ship itself is extremely pleasant.  The ship is huge and very accomadating.  Everywhere that we went, was just as nice as the prior space.  The only exception was the Specialty Restaurant, and the Buffet Restaurant on deck 14.  The specialty restaurant looked more like a cheap cafeteria, and the buffet restaurant, well that eventually grew on you!

 

EVERY staff member from our cabin steward to the purser and officers, exceeded our expectations when in came to service and professionalism.  They where all very helpful and courteous, the captain was without a doubt, the most pleasant individual that we had come across.  He greeted all the passangers on gala night, in twelve different languages!!

 

Our accomodations where overwhelming.  We had a handicaped access stateroom for my friend who uses a motorized scooter.  The room was huge and very nice, the balcony was amazing:)  The bathroom as nice as it was, could have been a little nicer.  The utilization of the room was out of sync with it's size, especially the television which was maybe 19" in size.  The programing on the television was fair at best, and the movie selection was expensive.  The best part, our room steward was outstanding and accomodating.

 

The dining room was very nice, and the service was courteous and professional.  There is not enough food runners and bus boys, it can become very intimidating for the waiter.  In most instances the food was very good, the appetizerts where exceptional, and yet the main dishes could be dissapointing.  The amount of time between courses, also tended to lag. The breads and dessert where without a doubt, the best that I've ever had on a cruise ship.  The food in the buffet court was overall extremly good, the Pizza bar was outstanding and so was the cold cut and cheese selection.

I see no logic in putting a hamburger with toppings inside of a box?  The ice cream bar by the pool (at an additional cost) was amazing!!!

 

The entertainment was top notch!  Every show was entertaining with the exception of the Opera show, it's just not to my taste and not to the taste of everyone that saw it.  

 

If you do not have a chaise or pool chair by nine in the morning, don't expect to get one anytime later.  They're where simply too much people on deck at one time for it to be a pleasant experience.

 

The ports where o.k.  St. Marten (I'd been there a dozen times) was fun, but routine.  Tortola?  O.M.G.!!!!  why is it even a stop, very boring and nothing to do:(  The private island was nice, if you've sailed on Norwegian, you'd be familiar with it, being it's their island.

 

Again, the ship is Italian.  They're customs are different then ours, they are making every effort to appease the American taste, and they are succeeding.  The ship itself is beautiful, clean and huge!  Once you get a hand of it?  The days go by in a blink of an eye:)  Although they are far from perfect, they're not to far from it!  Looking forward to sail on the Divina again:)

 

Ivan 

Please DO NOT book a cruise on the MSC Divina. You will be very disappointed, and I don’t want to have to say “I told you so”! Heed my advice and take your business elsewhere. The Good Let me start with the good, just in case someone reading this is already booked and can’t cancel! The ship itself is beautiful, boarding went smoothly, and….ah…there was nothing else that was good. Oh wait, the coconut shrimp and the lobster and most soups were good. The Bad, The Bad, The Bad, The Bad and The Bad FOOD The food on this cruise was atrocious! I would say that 60% was inedible and the rest was middling at best. The food quality was far below any chain restaurant in the USA. I did poll my fellow passengers and 9 of 10 were in agreement with me. We basically lived on the salad bar, pizza and fries from the buffet. Two members of our group were Vegan and the chef did modify Vegetarian selections to be Vegan for them. Some of it looked better than the “normal” menu. We basically came to sit down dinner every night, ordered food that could not be consumed (think gray steak, raw bacon, mushy chicken) and then ate at the crowded “fight to get a seat” buffet. SERVICE It is difficult to rate the dining service as there was none. Many of the waiters did not have a good grasp of the English language. All of the waiters we encountered from Indonesia (like our dinner waiter) had extremely bad breath. The courses came with no logic that I could determine. Many nights, some of our family would be done, while others were waiting for their main course. Much of the food went uneaten and the waiter never once asked if anything was wrong or if you wanted something else. He just cleared the full plates. Sometimes the table was so full of plates that we had to stack them ourselves to make room for food and another time, I picked up my coffee and the waiter cleared the saucer! Go figure!. My 88 year old Mom uses a walker. Upon arriving at the dining room she was told to leave her walker and go to a table halfway across the dining room! She refused. What did they think the walker was for? Another time, Mom ordered coffee and after it came she asked for water. The waiter poured water into the coffee! The dining staff needs to speak English and needs to be trained in what customer service is all about. In any case, the food and dining service were extremely poor and not what I would expect on a cruise ship. I had a balcony cabin and could not open the door. It took 4 calls and 2 days to get this fixed. EXTRA CHARGES We felt nickel and dimed at every turn. The “free” room service had a $3.50 service charge. The 3D virtual reality ride cost me $17 for 3 people and lasted 5 minutes. Bowling was $7 per person per game. You could not purchase a drink card unless everyone in your cabin bought one. So if I wanted a soda card, my husband would have to buy one (whether he drinks soda or not) as would my son (he would be required to buy a kids drink card). Really??? Unbelievable! If you needed shade on the private island, it was $29 for a clamshell and 2 chairs stained with bird poop. TIPS This is a sore spot with me. I think having tips added to the bill has brought about the demise of service. At MSC tips are added automatically and if you tell them to remove the tips, you are told OK, but that they cannot be removed until the last night of the cruise. This was the first cruise ever that I did not even give them my credit card as I had no trust in tips being removed! I still give cash tips based on service. ATTITUDE At MSC, Customer Service has an attitude, and it is not a good one. Seemed the customer was always wrong or being ridiculous. It appeared as if every request was a burden to the staff, instead of their job. This is a very bad way to run a business. The Ugly, The Ugly, The Very Ugly and The Very Very Ugly NO DRINKS AT THE TENDER On the day of the private island stop it was extremely hot and sunny. I was looking forward to a drink of water before boarding the tender back to the ship. In over 30 cruises I have never encountered a company that does offer a drink upon tender boarding. Well, MSC has water for employees, NOT for guests! How rude & inconsiderate. BIRD POOP AND BROKEN CHAIR As there was no shade on the private island, I paid $29 to rent 2 chairs and a clamshell sunshade. The chairs were covered in bird poop and one of them did not recline. I asked the person collecting my ticket (showing I had paid for the chairs/clamshell) to please clean the chairs and find one that functioned. I was told that there was nobody who could do this! Again, how rude & inconsiderate! FOOD SHORTAGE ON PRIVATE ISLAND The private island was open for 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Food was ONLY offered from 12:00 to 2:00. I got on line with my two small children at 1:40 PM. There was a long line in front of us and a long line formed behind us. Much of the food was already gone and was not being replaced. I managed to grab some fries and the last 2 burgers. There was no catsup or ice tea left, and water was only available in one spot and there was another long line. At 2 PM prompt, with a long line of people who had gotten on line before 2 PM, the staff began to put away all of the remaining food! Excuse me, that was just craziness. I can understand closing the line at 2 PM, but at least serve the people on line prior to 2 PM. It is not their fault that the line is so long and the food is slow to arrive, if at all. MSC should be ashamed! HANDICAPPED BULLDOZED AT ELEVATOR Coming back from port stops, there was always a crowd waiting for elevators. Those of us in my party who could, walked upstairs and across the ship to less busy elevators. My Mom was in a wheelchair and had to take the elevator. One day it was taking forever to get the elevator as people were pushing to get in and ignoring folks in wheelchairs or with babies in strollers. My daughter asked a staff member for help and was told, “It is not my fault passengers are rude. There is nothing I can do about it”. What a load of crap! I guarantee that if that staff member stood in front of the next elevator to arrive and announced that it was for handicapped passengers and those with babies, the “rude” passengers would have stepped aside. MSC should be quite embarrassed with the failure of the staff to offer help to handicapped folks. In fact, the last day of the cruise we were waiting and waiting on floor 12 to go down to floor 6 to disembark. All the elevators that stopped were completely full. I walked to floor 6 and got an empty elevator going up. At each stop, I announced that the elevator was picking up wheelchair passengers. Nobody tried to get in. I arrived on floor 12 with the empty elevator to pick up Mom in her wheelchair and the baby in the stroller. Had I not done this, we would have missed our plane. BALLOON MAN LEAVES KIDS CRYING OK, one last incident. There was a staff member making balloon animals for kids from 4 to 5 PM. At 5 PM there were three toddlers left in line. Rather than quickly making balloons for them, the staff member got up and left, leaving three small crying children and several bewildered parents in their wake. This kind of behavior is totally shameful and should not be tolerated. PLEASE DO NOT SPEND YOUR HARD EARNED DOLLARS ON MSC!

food terrible no buffet after 9.30 pm no meat on lunch sandwiches no smoking casino small smoking section pool area no smoke out side bar ship was beatuiful dont buy anything on ship cheaper on islands

Recently returned from an excellent week spent onboard MSC Divina. Some of the highlights included drinking my morning coffee on my balcony with beautiful views, live music and entertainment throughout the ship, and the quiet & relaxing Garden Pool at the aft of the ship. 

 

Also, for those of you considering purchasing a drink package, I highly recommend the Allgerissimo package as it's definitely worth it's value considering it includes cocktails, wine, soda, bottled water, gelato, and specialty coffee. 

 

Already looking forward to my next cruise with MSC - maybe MSC Divina in the MED?! 

Last month we gave MSC Divina a try. The cruise was great!!!  No problems and the cruise was beyond our expectations . We had so much fun we booked a cruise for September and another for October.It is my opinion that many of the bad reviews are an organized smear campaign against MSC Divina .Ship is beautiful, service was wonderful ,shows and entertainment was best ever, and staff was friendly everyday. Our cruise was complaint free and we enjoyed the MSC Divina so much we booked two more cruises.

This was our first time traveling on the Divina. Overall, we loved the ship. The Italian theme throughout was beautiful. The shows were great and the staff was very friendly. I felt it was more European travelers and sometimes it got a bit testy. But 99% of the travelers were great. Streak house was the best. My advise on a budget, go for the bigger balcony at the corners of the interior 12093 for instance. The larger balcony was very helpful and you can not be blown away since it is in a corner.

Food was not good at all. Not enough ports.. I learned that cruises lines make more money this way..  I guess that is why the cruise was cheap.. I had cruised on MSC in Europe and loved it.. Could understand why the food was so bad on the American side.. We did meet a really nice photographer that helped us get the perfect picture of ourselves.. I have to say the entire photo department was the best part of the cruise.. I think they should have done at least one more port of call.. Too many sea days... i would go on MSC again if the price was good and they have more ports.

 Starting with earlier than expected embarkation, the cruise went perfectly for myself and my wife. The room at the back of the ship was roomy, with a huge balcony. MSC Divina is a relatively new ship and looked it. I was born in Italy and really enjoyed the Mediterranean cuisine at mealtimes. My wife and I used the fitness facilities which were quite modern. All personnel were courteous and helpful. Most notably was the accessibility of the captain, who showed up in the evenings at the entertainment theater and was available throughout the cruise at different times. Very personable. Overall a great experience.

I have a lot to say about rude and lack luster service on this ship but I decided to focus this review on the kid stuff since I couldn't find much on it when I was researching.

 

As a cruiser that has done 3 Disney Cruises with my boys, I was concerned about the level of kid activities on this cruise.  I knew that nothing was going to compare to the Disney experience and I had very grounded expectations that it was not going to compare so I tried to research the kids club on the Divina and couldn't find much information or reviews about it.  I had all the intentions of posting videos and pictures of the kids club so those searching after me could see what I couldn't.  Now I know why I couldn't find any real information or reviews.....because it was so sucky my kids refused to even enter the room.  The Mini 3-6yr and Junior7-11yr groups are in ONE room.  The room is about 1000sq ft big.  From what  I could see from the entrance, there were no free play areas.  No real toys or video games or anything to do independently.  I asked if there were other rooms and there were not.  The kids club consists of set times that they do group activities.  All the time, group activities.  They usher the kids around the ship and make them sit if they choose not to participate in the current activity.  It is glorified pre-school.  My 8yr old and 10yr old were not interested in this.  From the description on the MSC website, I knew it wasn't going to be a huge kid club experience but I at least expected that the kids would be able to hang out, make friends, play Wii or board games and chill.  Nope.  And from what I could tell, there is no way for them to contact you if your child is having an issue.  So that also made me uncomfortable.  Their website brags about their gaming experience.  There were not gaming systems available for free play.  They had scheduled Wii tournaments and that was it.  They also brag about their fun @ sea on their website....4D movies, bowling, F-1 simulator and video games.  THIS IS ALL THEY HAVE TO DO AS A KID, and it all cost extra.  $1.50 to $3 per video game.  $5-$7 for the 4D movie which the one day I went to see what it was, it was the same Jett and Jin Jetpack Adventure they have at Chuck E Cheese for 25cents.  Bowling is $7 (not sure if that is per person or per game) and it is a duck pin pub game with the pins hanging from strings, not a true bowling lane.  Not even sure how much the F-1 simulation was but watching a kid try it and sit there not knowing how to shift gears and not being able to go anywhere, all I could see is $ signs clicking away in my head as his time ran out.  They have playing cards and board games that you can sign out.  My boys wanted to play chess.  No Chess.  SERIOUSLY?!  We winded up sitting in the empty disco playing cards.  As far as other family structured activities on the ship.  NONE.  Bingo was a joke.  They only play one cover-all game each time and most of the time it is at the noisy pool deck.  I like doing activities to get OUT of the sun for a bit, not sit in the hot sun and crowd and noise to try to play bingo.  They had a couple trivia games in the piano lounge but they were not kid oriented.  All other activiites were dance lessons and exercise classes.  THAT IS IT.  NO JOKE.  There was nothing to do.  I actually paid for video games and bought them legos to play with which i NEVER do on vacation and let them play their DS which I also normally take away because I want to do things together and have a fun experience as a family not have them lost in their DS.  It was the only thing for them to do when we wanted to be off the pool deck.

 

We peeked into the Tween/Teen room.  It was about 600-700sq feet.  Had some couches, nutella shaped coffee table stool things, a table with Risk and one Wii.  Nothing else.  Also a combined area.  I can't imagine too many teens that would enjoy that space.

 

OK so there is a water slide....the kids got stuck in it and had to paddle themselves down it.  it wasn't steep enough to actually slide down.  They did the one run, declared it awful and that was that.  I watched several kids come out of the end of the slide and not go back up for a second run so it was the agreed opinion of the slide.

 

The one saving grace is that the pool areas were very nice (minus the discruntled pool deck attendant that was yelling at all the kids for playing in the water features as designed.  The interior pool area was extremely slippery but it was a design flaw, not the fault of the children playing in the water.  The attendant was extremely rude to me).  I enjoyed their pools much more than on Disney.  Bigger pools and more pools.  They are salt water pools.  I felt that it was much safer.  On Disney, we will not go to the pool deck on "at sea" days because the Donald pool is so crowded it is dangerous.

 

Bottom line:  If you have younger kids that enjoy group activities, coloring and that kind of pre-school structured activities, then they might really enjoy the kids club.  Otherwise, I would not recommend this line if you are planning to have some alone adult time.  It isn't going to happen.    You will have your kids with you the whole time.

Absolutely do NOT be leery of taking this cruise because of bad reviews. My husband and I went on this beautiful ship last week and have absolutely NO COMPLAINTS!