Hi everyone. My wife and I are seasoned cruisers, 27 years cruising on over 30 various trips with nearly all the current major cruise operatives.

We have just completed a back to back cruise on MSC Divina. The ship was immaculate, all the staff we had contact with were warm and friendly with nearly all speaking and understanding a fair amount of English. The entertainment was aimed at a multi- lingual audience and was of a good standard, with the exception of one show that we did not like due to the strobe lights, but that was our choice and other cruisers said that they had enjoyed it. There are two main restaurants we were in the Villa Rosa restaurant on second sitting. The service was attentive and friendly. The menu was of a pretty good standard with several choices available. The breakfast and lunch restaurant meals were served in the Black Cat restaurant. Gripe here was it was not open long enough for breakfast closing at 0900 hrs, not late enough for us on holiday. We ate lunch and breakfast in the buffet, this had a wide and varied choice. It was however laid out very poorly with only two toasters for up to four thousand guests. The pool and deck areas were very well maintained with ample sun loungers for all. The main pool was too noisy for our taste but we could always find a quiet spot to sip our sundowners

Our main area of disappointment was the back to back system operated, this was sold as a 14 night cruise. The first weeks menu and entertainment was repeated on the second week, no variation in the slightest. The entertainment was good on the first week but certainly not worth another viewing, hence we viewed NO shows on the second week, only one show per night with no alternative. The menu across the ship was replicated, we like to have choice in our dining. This we expect without incurring extra cost in the "Themed" restaurants. We took an excursion costing 52 Dollars each. This was San Juan city tour and Bacardi factory.. After eventually leaving the ship for the excursion we were driven directly to the Bacardi factory and told we would be picked up an hour and a half after the cart left the reception area, this it did. We were then driven on exactly the same route back a shopping area opposite the ship, a stop of 50 minutes the picked up again and driven the 200 yards back to the pier, WHAT A RIP OFF!! Back on board the ship was several large groups of travellers. as many as 900 we were told. They took over areas for "private function" again depriving us of that area as an alternative during the repeated shows. The double standards operated for full fair paying passengers and the "Yacht Club" leaves us feeling inferior to the upper deck lot, something we do not want after paying a substantial sum for our holiday. On the middle port day we were looking forward to a quiet day aboard, no chance. we were instructed that we had to leave the ship by 1030 and we must go through American customs and immigration and then we would be allowed back on ship at about 1230, ridiculous when we had given in our declaration at the beginning of the cruise stating that we were on a 14 day cruise, This exercise was for MSCs benefit not ours. Read more