MSC Divina Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Without question, the best cruise I’ve ever been on

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.

We recently were on the Divina for the week of New Years 2015. It was my husbands first cruise, my second (Carnival years ago). We were traveling with none of our 6 children.

The Great....

The decor...the ship was beautiful. Such a pleasure to be in gorgeous, and not gaudy surroundings. It was relatively easy to navigate the ship (if I could do it anyone can). The cleanliness...this ship was spotless...we were very impressed with the cleaning staff, hand sanitizers located everywhere, bathrooms being very clean, and our room steward was AWESOME...so friendly, and did a superb job, never intruding and cleaning our room spotless every afternoon and evening. I never saw anything on this ship that was not spotless. Most of the staff...now we did not run into ANY staff that was rude...some were not particularly "friendly" but most were very friendly and helpful. A few were stellar. Our waiters at the Black Crab...the best. We had so much fun with them. Febri...and Minguel. (sp) We didnt want to leave them! The people who worked at the Casino...my husband had to have his picture taken with several...they were a joy. The entertainment staff...so fun and friendly. 

The Good...

The food was good. Some was great...desserts were out of this world...the gelato, the baked Alaska. The buffet, was good. A good selection. I have to say the American food was probably the worst...and it was ok. Black Crab was very good. We had one night when our prime rib was overdone but they were happy to fix it. And they did. 

The Entertainment...

Some shows were great! The Michael Jackson show, the Pirate show. We didn't see all of the shows. (Sinatra and the Opera)Some shows were a bit repetitive...(some of the same acts over and over in different costumes) but overall worth watching. But they were very talented, full of energy and Andre was always entertaining.  We enjoyed very much the acoustic performances by  Leandro...and my husband even sang with him. Karaoke was ok...they cut it very short which was too bad as many wanted to do it, and many were very good. Their equipment and song selections were horrible I must say. 

The Casino...

Now this is big for us as my husband is a gambler...mostly poker. The casino only scored good as they do NOT have real poker. Only video poker at the table which he did not like at all. We were very disappointed in that. But overall the staff, and decor, the games....were all good.

Not so great...

Pools/Hot tubs/Decks....

Eh....They were beautiful....but TOO CROWDED. The entire 7 days we were never able to get close. SO many people. AND...we never saw a hot tub that was not jam packed (once, 12 at once) with children. That is likely our biggest complaint. TOO MANY kids. Now, our bad, we did not research enough to know that kids cruise free. Thats explains it...and it was school vacation week. We are teachers...so...we wanted some kid free time. Didn't happen...kids were everywhere...which I could be more ok with if there were areas that kids were NOT allowed. BUT, we never found any. Kids crying and screaming and running around in restaurants, the casino, bars, pool decks...everywhere. My biggest peeve besides every hot tub having kids (some in swim diapers no less ewwww) was kids in the dance club and bars at 11, midnight and LATER. COME On...parents??  really?  After midnight we watched 2 women strut into the dance club with a girl about 4 years old who was covering her ears and they left her on a chair while they danced. 1am...infants in strollers in the bars crying. kids playing slots!  NOT OK in my book...not sure who to blame...MSC for lax rules or parents for stupidity.

The stops/excursions....

St Maarten was our favorite. We loved it and plan to go back there asap. We had paid for an excursion that was canceled by MSC, so we were bummed about that.

San Juan...ok...we ended up going off and finding our own excursions off ship and saved money.

Stirrup Cay...Boooo....3 hours to get off the ship to tender to the island...that was a living nightmare...and the island was a letdown. It was a man made island...a pile of rocks chiseled into attractions...not natural at all...food was not good...will not go there again and wish we had skipped that one. Met some nice folks on the tender though.

Miami...great!  Booked a tour excursion as we had a late night flight on the day we left, and getting off the ship was quick, easy and everything went very smoothly. They handled our luggage well and it was very organized.

New Years Eve on MSC was an unforgettable experience. The best time for NYE we have ever had and we will always remember it.

Oh, on the day of embarkation...all went smoothly except they made mistakes with our cruise card...had to stand in long lines to fix our dining information (their mistakes) and then, our drink package was a nightmare to get going and right, but once it was fixed it was good.

Overall...we had a great time. Next time I think we will not cruise...unless it is a no kids cruise...lol...but if you have kids to travel with or don't mind that...I recommend MSC.

I absolutely loved this ship! I would sail on it again in a Miami minute. Great prices, awesome entertainment, good food, stunning decor. What's not to love??? Maybe the crowds and some rude passengers.

Excellent value, great ports and hard working staff ! More organized leadership approaches would help the staff with their efforts!

Overall the service was fantastic. Food adequate and excursions entertaining. The only real complaint I have was supplies. The last day finding bottled water,Diet Coke, and many bar items were impossible to get. Everywhere was out. Couldn’t get a strawberry daquari or a corona beer. There wasn’t a selection of American beer at all. I felt the bar was a bit limited. Even with the drink package. But top notch service. And over all great get away.

Overall we had a great time. Your vacation will be what you make of it and focus on. Are there things we didn’t like? Yes but it’s a matter of personal opinion and comparison between other ships. None the less we rested, had fun, partied and danced everyday and ate way too much.

This was our first cruise and we were completely blown away by the hospitality of the staff on the ship and the facilities on board we genuinely didn't know what to expect and I think that we would find it hard to now go back to a normal holiday when you are in the same area for a number of days

I would first start by saying my fiancee and I had a great time. The ship was beautiful. The staff was a bit over worked. They cleaned all the time. Not many English speaking staff. For it to be an Mediterranean cruise line in the States going to US territories I think that they should have people that understand English a bit better. But that didn't put too much of a damper on our vacation. We kind of liked that in a sense. The reason being was it gave us a more diverse experience. It like going to US territories and also having a European vacation at the same time. Mostly Italian and French were being spoken around the ship. We enjoyed the buffet, it had plenty to choose from for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pizza was served from lunch on. The pizza is good but they should offer more of a selection for toppings. The downfall to the buffet is that for dinner there is only water, coffee, and tea for beverages unless you buy from the concessions which are over priced for soda. No fruit juices!

So for Dinner I drank water because I don't drink tea or coffee. We had safety training the 2 day which I thought was weird. What if something happened the first night of sailing? No one would have know what to do or where to go. Well maybe veteran cruisers but no one would have known where to go. The medical center hours were 8a-12p then 4p-8p. If one had an emergency what would they do?. The staff was all helpful and very nice even though there was a language barrier but they still seemed to make what you needed happen. We had the 2nd seating for dinner. We went 2 times that week. We would have went to the formals but the clothes we brought didn't adhere to the colors for the formal. So we wasn't able to attend. I think that MSC should provide the itinerary for cruisers ahead of time so they can pack accordingly. In the restaurant it took forever to get your food due to it being over crowded and not enough staff. The food was pretty good but you had to order like 2 entrees to get enough. I guess us Americans over indulge when it comes to food. I did however, like the buffet better. The lemonade was really good!!! We didn't make it to all the shows due to trying our things on the ship. But we did make it to the Michael Jackson tribute. OMG, it is not to miss...It was a very very good show. The staff and dancers done really well. The ports were great. We had a lot of fun.  Captain Pierpaolo Scala did a nice job of keeping us up to date with weather and the course we were on. The ride was really smooth. We had a balcony stateroom. It was very nice and pretty roomy. The 4D cinema was pretty good. A tip for people trying to get there tan on. You may want to get up to the Sun deck or Aqua Park early. Lounge chairs get gone very quick. I am a light-skin black guy so I don't tan I burn! So that wasn't a big deal to me but lounging on the desk in the shade is nice. Our cabin attendant, we never knew his name but he was really nice and on point. Gave him a nice tip. Every time we left our cabin and he was in the corridor he would ask if we needed anything. I thought that was really nice. The Swarovski crystal staircases are beautiful. They complimented our formal photos very nicely. We are using one of those for our wedding invites.  I was able to use this experience to propose to my future wife on St. Maarten. She had no idea. Had a local to get some great photos of the proposal. So our vacation which was an early but late birthday gift for her 30th birthday turned in an engagement celebration. Both of our birthdays are in July like 3 days apart. But she felt it would best to do a fall cruise due to it being too hot in July. So we chose September. Other than those few issues the cruise was overall a great first time experience. I want to try some other cruise lines but we would go on the Divina again.  Oh yes, and try to Gelato It was really good. 

It was great for my first cruise I don’t have anything else to compare to, but I enjoyed it.

We didn't know what to expect going into this cruise, but for the price and itinerary we couldn't turn it down. We've cruised Princess and Royal Caribbean before and felt it compared very well with Royal Caribbean. There perhaps weren't as many activities going on during the day as on other cruise lines, but we still found ways to fill our days. The food was all great, especially the pizza which was available every time we went looking for it. The service was great, the ship was clean, and we truly enjoyed our time on this cruise.

It was my first experience on a ship and I loved it. The interior was splendid, I was blown away by such beauty. The staff, the waiters and room steward were all amazing, really friendly and always ready to adjust to every of your need. Don't miss the show available every nights, it worth your time and keep you entertained. Overall 5 stars first experiences.

Think we are just getting older and getting picker in what we are looking for just does not seem to be the same or as good as it was in the past.

Nice cruise, great staff! Pizza was awesome. Very bummed that we couldn’t go to private island

For my first solo cruise, I was nervous at first. But it was fabulous! I’m further impressed with MSC and I’ve already booked 2 more MSC cruises.

Check in and embarkation were both very easy. Ship was clean and safe. Cabin was very nice. Bar service was excellent. Buffett food was mediocre at best. Main dining room food sucked!

Our MSC cruise was only enjoyable when we weren't dealing with MSC staff and crew. We chose the cruise based on the ports of call. The ports were all fun and we had a great time on the excursions. The MSC cruise line is very disorganized and the entertainment on the ship is not as nice as other cruise lines. The disembarkation process is the most disorganized that I have ever been a part of on any cruise line. We will not be back on any MSC cruise ever again.

With the exception of Jamaica the ports were pretty fun. We were a bit dissapointed that we didnt hit the more popular ports. The ship was a relaxing low key experience. The room was too hot to sleep in.

This was one of the best  cruises ever, and My wife and In have taken around 17 cruises in the past 25 years.

Ship was spotless, with crew members cleaning and wiping day and night. Never once did we pass a crew member without them saying hello or give the greeting of the day and have a smile on their face.

Food was absolutely fabulous in the dinning room dinner time.  The choices were hard because there were so many great entree's each night.

Entertainment was in my opinion, Broadway quality.  There was even a special daytime presentation of classical opera with ballet, which I love.

The MSC Divina is absolutely a magnificent and beautiful ship.  The staff were all wonderful, friendly, outgoing and helpful.  The food was good, the atmosphere amazing.  Entertainment was outstanding! .  I have never had a more relaxing and enjoyable cruise! I can not wait to book another cruise on the Divina.  MSC is definitely the way to travel.