MSC Divina Review
Would sail again with a group of friends and family.
Rating by category
Additional details
The Divina is a beautiful ship. New, clean, nicely decorated, modern but many of the flooring and wood choices are very dark limiting the amount of lite in a many areas. Check in was rapid and painless. Overall the ship has lots of pools and hot tubs and lounges but the ability to get from forward to aft is challenging. You can't get there from here! In many instances you can travel about half way and then need to go up or down a deck, walk a ways, and then go up or down again to get to your destination. Most decks do not go thru from one end to the other. We are Diamond on RCCL and find the Promenade and deck 11 much easier to find your way around on the ship - you can travel from forward to aft without interruption - perhaps spoiled in this regard. In my view there were several other "design flaws". In the buffet area, they had some very attractive lighted towers at the ends of tables which impeded an already narrow walkway for people trying to move thru the food lines. They were cute but impractical in those locations as they kept traffic bottled up by narrowing the walkways. In the cabins, if you stand facing the closet your back is to the bathroom door (relatively standard design) BUT if you open the LEFT closet door you find the safe, shelves and drawers. However, the door will only swing 90 degrees. That blocks the passage way into the room, creates a dark cave like affect so you can't see into the drawers. You have to open the bathroom door, turn on the lite and then search for your item. Poor plan. It also means that the other person cannot access the bathroom the closet or the exterior door. Just putting a 180 degree hinge would improve the situation. Oh, did I mention, very dark, nearly black wood for the closet making the problem worse.
We were told that they were trying to attract the American market to fill the ship. I think they need to have some seasoned American cruisers focus groups. Many things missing in the traditional cruise sense. Hanging pictures of native American Indian Chiefs on the wall behind the hanging cheese and sausage and putting a Navaho print on the tables and chairs is insufficient in our view. They even need some assistance with translations in some areas. For example, we were reading that if you buy two photos you get one free - they must be of the same event. OK. We picked out three from the first formal nite and went up to pay. We were told they did not qualify because they were not of the same "event". I pointed out that we had only had the one opportunity to have photos taken, we were in the same clothes, it was formal nite so how was that not the same "event". Turns out, the very beautiful, swaroski staircase, is a separate "event". Go figure! In the shop with liquor and tobacco there was a sign, "$30 and going up pick from selection". After studying it for several minutes I determined that it mean - if you purchase an item for $30 or more (exceeds $30) you are eligible to choose an item from a "bonus" area in the shop for free. The book in the cabin indicates that you may only plug in razors and hairdryers. NO OTHER heating item is allowed. We ladies use curling irons and flat irons. I used mine but I did not go and get permission to do so. So a consult with a seasoned cruiser could help them I believe.
Cabins were nice. We had a balcony. It seemed a bit smaller than we are accustomed to but it had two chairs and a small table/ottoman and we were able to function just fine. The desk/vanity area was adequate with the hair dryer hard wired into the drawer. The "chair" was a square, upholstered cube that was difficult to move in and out and a bit too low to use as a "chair" for writing at the desk. Rooms had a mini bar and a large floor to ceiling mirror helping to make the room seem larger. Nice linens and towels. No complaints there. You have to insert your ship card in a slot just inside the door in order to obtain electricity for your cabin. I found this a pain. As this was the first time I had to do this I was always looking for my ship card thinking I had lost it until I remembered it was in the door slot to power the cabin. We were on deck 10, there were very few interior cabins across the hall from us.
Cabin Review
Cabins were nice. We had a balcony. It seemed a bit smaller than we are accustomed to but it had two chairs and a small table/ottoman and we were able to function just fine. The desk/vanity area was adequate with the hair dryer hard wired into the drawer. The "chair" was a square, upholstered cube that was difficult to move in and out and a bit too low to use as a "chair" for writing at the desk. Rooms had a mini bar and a large floor to ceiling mirror helping to make the room seem larger. Nice linens and towels. No complaints there. You have to insert your ship card in a slot just inside the door in order to obtain electricity for your cabin. I found this a pain. As this was the first time I had to do this I was always looking for my ship card thinking I had lost it until I remembered it was in the door slot to power the cabin. We were on deck 10, there were very few interior cabins across the hall from us. In the cabins, if you stand facing the closet your back is to the bathroom door (relatively standard design) BUT if you open the LEFT closet door you find the safe, shelves and drawers. However, the door will only swing 90 degrees. That blocks the passage way into the room, creates a dark cave like affect so you can't see into the drawers. You have to open the bathroom door, turn on the lite and then search for your item. Poor plan. It also means that the other person cannot access the bathroom the closet or the exterior door. Just putting a 180 degree hinge would improve the situation. Oh, did I mention, very dark, nearly black wood for the closet making the problem worse.