We were looking for a cruise that fit our schedule in mid July as we would be in Geneva. We chose MSC cruise out of Marseille as it seemed like a good way to introduce my husband to the cruise experience, with a new city each day. We stayed in Marseille for a couple of days prior to embarkation. City is “gritty” and “edgy” as the reviewers have said, but it also made us a little anxious. We did however, visit some museums which were excellent, and also spent a day in Aix en Provence which was brilliant. The trip from Marseille (downtown) to the cruise port was about 25 minutes in taxi and no trouble getting there. The MSC staff was helpful and there were very few people, so boarding was very fast. We boarded and were able to access our room immediately. Let’s start with all the good things we found about this particular MSC cruise: 1. The food was excellent. Wherever we ate - the cafeterias, the dining room, the other eateries on the ship- the food was all top quality. We had absolutely no complaints about the quality of the food. We had bought a drinks package prior to boarding, and this I found reduced the annoyance of having to pay for each drink, or the service charges. You should know that NO beverages other than coffee,tea and plain water (not bottled) are included in the all-inclusive so you should get some sort of package if you want to enjoy your cruise. Our drinks package allowed for glasses of wine almost anywhere except our room, all alcoholic beverages, juice (except freshly squeezed we learned on the first day), and canned drinks and mineral or bottled water. It also included specialty coffees and gelato. For us this was great. 2. The cabin was large, clean, and comfortable. No complaints about the cabin itself. Good choice for us but the aft is noisy with the wake of the ship so if you don’t like that noise than it won’t be for you. 3. Itinerary. This cruise has a great itinerary and is interesting for those who like history. It goes to Genoa, Rome, Palermo, Cagliari, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia. We left from Marseille but you can choose other cities for departure. People seemed to get on and off at different sites. Mostly you are sailing at night - you get wonderful views of the ports as you sail off in the early evenings, and again views when you arrive in the mornings. Quite lovely. We did not book excursions with the cruise line because all of them left too early in the mornings for our taste (9 am or so). We did a little homework and for those cities where the ports were close we just disembarked and made our own arrangements. 4. Entertainment. It was all very good including the shows at night. The piano bar had some wonderful singers and a piano player. Very enjoyable. Some other considerations you might find helpful from our experience. 1. Check with the reception desk at the very beginning of the cruise to determine what is included with your card and to make sure that if you pre-ordered anything, it is included on your card. You need the card for everything, including getting off the ship so keep it safe We found the staff to be relatively nice but not particularly helpful or forthcoming with information. We did a lot of “asking questions” at the reception desk because we just didn’t know about certain things - like at the beginning of the cruise “how does the drinks package work? What is included”? We weren’t provided with much information - we eventually found someone who offered us a map of the ship - on day 5, which would have been most helpful on day 1! 2. The “steward” definition on this cruise seems different from my experience on Carnival, where the Steward helped you figure things out and was there to help. In our case we barely saw the Steward, he didn’t introduce himself and when we did ask questions he was unable to answer them. This could be a cultural thing so I wouldn’t put too much into it as it didn’t ruin the cruise or anything - it would just have been nice. 3. There was no concept of line-ups, for lunch, for disembarkation, for waiting for the elevators. This could be a little annoying when we were trying to get back to our room after an excursion, or when the restaurants were busy, but again, we just assumed it was different customs so we did our best. 4. The night prior to arrival in two of the ports - Valencia and Mallorca - we received a notification in our room that if we wanted to go into the city on our own we had to pay a 12 Euro fee for a shuttle. There was no option. We didn’t know this. Had we known, we might have booked an excursion where we wouldn’t have to pay the 12 Euros (each). This information should have been given to us earlier. 5. This is a big ship. It is complicated to get around and there is not always staff to help you figure things out. A little exploring should help, but it is definitely a challenge! This isn’t good or bad - just something I wanted to share. 6. The seated dining experience was not something I enjoyed. The tables were packed together as close as possible - and I mean just barely enough room between some of them to squeeze by. We were a couple, and were assigned to a table of six. I don’t know if you can ask for your own table but I would have preferred this. Even so, the fact that we were so many people packed in together was not a good experience. The service was not especially great either, and people did not seem to dress up for the occasion. We subsequently chose to only use seated dining three times out of the seven nights. It was also very disagreeable that staff were coming around to your table to “sell” you drink packages, or dinner packages. This is something that should not be done. 7. A few last thoughts - the cabins have both North American and European outlets. There aren’t that many though so an extension or extra outlet comes in handy. The shower has a cord for hanging wet clothes. There is a hair dryer that works well. There is a mini bar/fridge you can use with space for a few things. In the mornings I would go for my coffee (a quick trip with no fighting for elevators) and bring it to the room to sit on the balcony. Very lovely to watch the ship arriving. The decoration of this ship is themed on the Italian movie times of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Interesting posters everywhere to see. Read Less

Our first MSC cruise and won't be our last. Chosen for the itinerary. Would have given it a 4 but for the disappointing dining experience. Ship is immaculate and although the ship was full it was kept spotless at all times. Was a real cosmopolitan mix on board dominated by Spanish and not many English on board which wasn't a problem for us. We booked a balcony cabin and were allocared a corner berth at the back of the ship on deck 11, which was fabulous with lots of space and the biggest balcony we have ever had (this was our 10th cruise). The service levels were good overall but did vary on a bar by bar basis. The only let down for us was the evening meal, which is a big part of our cruising experience. The restaurants were rammed with lots of young family groups and hence very noisy even on the late sitting, which surprised us given this was at 9.45pm. The menu was ok if a little plain as was the food. The best meal we had was in the Sushi restaurant which was fabulous. The wine choices were also a little limited even with the premium drinks package. That said we would still book another MSC cruise based on the overall experience Read Less

I'll begin by listing the cruise ships I've sailed on so far: Celebrity Equinox P&O Ventura Carnival Vista Royal Princess and now... MSC Divina. Overview: This cruise line is quite different from most others in that it's very European, with a minority English-speaking clientele. Approx 10% of our fellow passengers were English, around the same again were American. The majority were Spanish, Italian and various others, making for a unique ambience. To cope with the many languages, the entire cruise is designed around multilingualism. Everything from the menus in the main dining rooms to the Cruise Director's opening speech every night before the show involved five or more languages. It's the only way they can offer a cruise to so many nationalities but for me it absolutely doesn't work. Having to wait for your language and listen to many you can't understand is just a waste of time, and it happened again and again, from ship announcements to even excursions. Oh, and get ready to leave your room at 7am on the last day (more about that later). Staff: Anther big difference for me was the staff. Firstly, for a ship of this size, there just didn't seem to be enough crew to cope. Bar queues took over five minutes on a regular basis, and drinks orders would be delivered in 10-20 mins. Customer Service queues regularly exceeded 15 people, queues for the ice cream took as long as ten minutes. These don't sound like catastrophic waits, but when you add this up each day, it somewhat spoils the cruise. And perhaps because they were overworked, they just can across rude in general. We had some exceptions (some friendly, jokey evening waiters made a much better impressions), but in general, staff rarely smiled and quite often made you move out of the way for them. Several times in fact we were told by staff in buffet when we ordered hot drinks that we could make them ourselves. And the cruise director was the worst I've ever seen. He was barely present, merely an announcer at evening shows, rattling off five or six language spiels and promoting the latest drinks offer etc. They should take a leaf from Carnival here, where the cruise directors are bright and omnipresent characters, welding the cruise experience together into a complete package. The Ship: The ship was a nice vessel in all fairness. It's large but not overwhelmingly so, and has some very attractive spaces including the Art Deco bar, the indoor pool area and a rather lovely Swarovski-enhanced atrium. But for the size of the vessel there just wasn't enough leisure space. Compared to the Carnival Vista and the Royal Princess (both almost equal in length and passenger numbers) the ship felt crowded. There wasn't much to do on days at rest, with all deck games requiring you to ask for equipment. The sunbeds went fast, and you'd regularly see crowds traipsing around, looking in vain for a sunbed or two. The pools suffered most, with fifty-five people counted in the rear pool area at one time. It just felt like there wasn't enough space to stretch out. The Carnival Vista made great use of the level 7 Promenade Decks, with loungers and bars - something this ship could dearly do with. I also felt there could have been more going on - there wasn't much live music, and we rarely saw pool activities except for a morning fitness class. Dining: Everyone's biggest worry turned out to be a non-event. Food was fine. It wasn't excellent, and at time was just plain average, but it certainly wasn't bad. The buffet was hue and had fair choice, although later diners would have to face a fifty-person queue to get in. The MDR offered a three-course evening meal, with smallish portions but some nice variation (eg Mediterranean night). We had an All-Inclusive drinks package included and I will say it was pretty good - we could enjoy cocktails, spirits, coffees, ice cream, beer, sparkling wine and much more. Excursions: Excursions were noticeably cheaper than other cruise lines, and generally were quite good. We did have a few small issues such as non-English excursions staff but in general trips flowed well. The Cabin Our balcony room was actually very nice. The nicest cabin I've yet experienced at sea in all honesty. It was modern and felt spacious, with a seating area and a bathroom with a plastic shower door rather than a flimsy curtain. Charging ports were few and far between though and the TV rather small. Summary: 5/10 In all, it was a decent cruise. If I hadn't experienced other cruise lines, I'd probably be giving it an 8/10. But seeing how things are done elsewhere, it just makes me realise that MSC cuts corners and just isn't the same polished product I'm used to. It wasn't bad by a long stretch, but I don't think I would sail with MSC again. The end of our cruise was a good summary of the experience. After an evening in Palma (ship departed at 12 midnight from the port) we discovered that we had to vacate our cabin at 7am - information that was only given to us that evening, hence we returned to find the info sheet on our beds and couldn't believe what we saw. After speaking to customer services, we were told by one staff member that the rooms took three hours to clean - a complete and utter lie. There was no budging, so the alarms were set for 6:30 on our final day. Not the best way to end a cruise! Read Less

We choose this cruise because of its length (7 nights), the itinerary Civitavecchia, Palermo, Caglari, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Marseille, Genoa, Civitavecchia, and the cost. Overall, we found it excellent value for money. Before getting into the cruise itself, I found the MSC website quite poorly designed - it was not smooth to use and required multiple visits. It also failed to answer some of the issues I address below. MSC needs to get some smart software developers to rework the site. Now, ......., on to the cruise itself. While this was our first ever cruise, I think we are reasonably discerning travelers. The MSC Divina is lovely modern ship that had very good facilities. We were in cabin 11115 which completely met our needs. It was sufficiently spacious and well presented. Our steward, Roberto, was great. A really nice, helpful person (and, no, he didn't pay me to say this!!). Incidentally, while there were plenty of children on the ship, we didn't have any noise problems. We used the gymnasium regularly and found it quite well appointed. I have a comprehensive gymnasium membership in New Zealand and found this facility more than adequate for what I wanted, albeit a little crowded at certain times. Its location on an upper deck, forward in the ship gives a great view as you approach port. I think our three negatives, all of which are rather minor, would be firstly, the WiFi - we paid for the comprehensive package and found it expensive but poor. I'm sure MSC could do much better. Our smart phone (European) SIM card helped when we were in or near to port. Secondly, before we embarked we really had no idea if the water package would be necessary - after all, everyone at least provides water (gratis) with a meal, don't they! No they don't. Fortunately, we had decided to take the package for daytime use. This was a good decision - water is not provided at restaurant meals, it needs to purchased. The administrative hassle in doing this seemed needless, why not up the price a few $/person and save everyone time and effort. Having said this, MSC is a European cruise line and purchasing water in Europe is the norm not the exception. It was these little things that left us with the sense that MSC cuts their front-end price, but tries to recover from this by their rather expensive on-board packages. [Note: Free water is available, as is coffee and tea, in the buffet area]. Our third minor irritation was the buffet - it is typically something of a zoo. However, we had read earlier reviews before embarking and were not surprised. That said, apart from one very average restaurant meal (the Mediterranean night from memory), the food was just fine, at least as we experienced it. In general, we didn't book shore excursions but rather chose our own on shore itinerary. A smart phone helped with navigation problems in some of the cities! The one excursion we did take was the Segway tour of Genoa. For us non-experienced Segway riders it was fun! No problems at all for us 60+ year-olds in learning how to ride and then do the tour. What a blast! Great tour guide. My wife (the speeding menace) now says we need a Segway at home! We chose Marseilles as the place to rest rather than go for a formal shore excursion. However, I went for a 6 km run into the suburbs to get some exercise. I noticed that while MSC was charging 15 Euros to get a bus from the ship into the city there seemed to be a free bus about 500 metres away down the wharf. Embarkation and disembarkation procedures were smooth and straightforward. Indeed, the staff were very helpful in allowing us priority disembarkation to catch a 9:32 am train out of Civitavecchia. We left the ship about 7:50 am, picked up our luggage, caught the bus to the railway station and were on the platform by 8:30 am. Plenty of time! One other out of the ordinary thing to report. We needed to make use of the hospital facility - my wife had taken a fall at Rome Airport on our way to embark and had done some damage to her hand. The question was, "How much damage? The doctor and staff were great. Good, basic, first principles (correct) medical diagnosis and treatment. I think, all up, it cost us about 120 Euros. One interesting thing we noted was the predominance of European travelers on the cruise. We certainly didn't hear many people speaking in English as their native tongue. Certainly not a problem - just an observation. Incidentally, all the staff we met not only spoke English but were multilingual. In reality, we were the ones who lacked language skills. Pulling everything together, we were pleased with our choice of cruise ship and with the itinerary. We had a lovely time and would regard any hassles as being very minor in the broad scheme of things. Read Less

We chose this cruise because the price was good and we needed a break. After reading reviews on MSC because we have a cruise booked for September on the Musica for a group of 20 people we thought it would give us an opportunity to see how bad it could possibly be. This was our 29th cruise with various cruise lines including Celebrity, RCL, Thomson, NCL Etc. And we should have known that everybody’s opinions and views do vary. So this is our thoughts on MSC and in particular the Divina. Yes the portions in the main dining room were on the small size but you only have to ask for more and if there was nothing you fancied, like on other cruise lines you could pick from the standard menu that was available every night. We had a drinks package and I have to say that there was no holding back on topping up our glasses. As far as the comment that the staff are not trained properly, we certainly found our waiters very efficient and pleasant, as of the rest of the crew thru out the ship. The language comments about everything being repeated 5 times could be a problem if you let it, cruise director before the evening show and safety drill were the only times we noticed it. The animation team were the best we have ever come across they worked really well as a team. The Divina is in a class of her own, the little bars with wonderful staff and nibbles if you were feeling peckish to the various musical performers. The layout is truly so well planned It’s a shame we are not on her in September. MSc have introduced a great system in the buffet (which other lines should look at) we really don’t use the buffets because of the amount of people and of course the pushing and shoving, unless we have missed the MDR times but we did use them occasionally this trip because the MSC system is that at busy times the head waiters are at the door and do not let people in until there colleagues tell them there is a table available. All in all very enjoyable trip, make up your own minds, your on holiday enjoy. Ports of call access, the port authority bus in Marseille was much further to walk to than previously so we took the ship transfer 16 € return, which is actually better because it takes you right into Centre. Genoa easy to walk off. Civitavecchia free port authority to drop off point which has moved back to where it used to be so not so far to walk to the station. Palermo and Cagliari easy to walk off. Palma they say they dock at further port but wait and see, normal dock which they are expanding you can walk off and get public transport number 1 into the city, if they do dock at the further pier then you can use the ticket that is left in your cabin,hand it in as you get on MSC transfer bus and it will be charged to your account. Read Less

I booked this cruise to spend time with my two daughters, the youngest just graduated from college, and my sister-in-law. This was the first time we all cruised together, and was looking for a fun "girls' trip". We really wanted to do a Mediterranean trip, and the price, dates, ports fit our bill. We booked a "suite", cabin 9001 Aurea experience, because it was more cost effective if we all stayed in the same cabin. After confirming our trip, I started to read reviews here about this ship, and started doubting my choice. This was my 17th cruise, but first on MSC. I started dreading my decision from all the negative reviews, but decided to suck it up, and since my family is pretty easy-going (I'm the spoiled one), and it was too late to back out. My husband and I cruise usually twice a year, and a lot of my decision-making is on this site and other reviews. But, I'm going to say, for now on, I'm going to be taking future reviews with a grain of salt. I've never written a review, but here it goes... Embarkation and Disembarkation- Rome (Civitavecchia)- We came in a day earlier and stayed at a charming B&B. We arrived at the port at around 11:30am, and it was a breeze to get on the ship. Took no more than 20 minutes. Disembarkation- we left our bags out the night before, and left the ship about 8:30am. I'd say it was about 30-40 min from the time we left the ship, grabbed our bags, and hailed a taxi. Totally painless experience. I will recommend arriving to the ship around 11ish am, because it seemed more chaotic around 2-3pm, but we were already sipping on wine at that point. Cabin- we were in cabin 9001, at the very front of the ship. No balcony, but a panoramic window. It's categorized as a "suite", but it was more of an oversized cabin. My sil and I slept in the two twin beds, and my girls slept in the pullout couch. The twin beds were comfortable; the pullout couch is what it is- a pullout couch, but the girls were fine with it. There was plenty of space for the four of us. The bathroom was surprisingly big, and included a bathtub! I've never had a bathtub in any of my other cruises. There are plenty of outlets, including 2 US standard plugins, and a USB port. Our room steward was on top of every need, and was very discreet. My only complaint about the room is, being in the very front, it is VERY noisy when coming into port. From about 4am (if we ported around 7am), every groaning of the ship, dropping of anchors,etc, was heard in our room. But I just put a pillow over my head and went back to sleep. The girls, because their pullout wasn't as sturdy as our beds, tended to rock more with the ship. Dining- The dining was fine here. Did it knock my socks off? No, and I'm super picky. But I could find something on every menu, whether at the buffet or MDR. And I don't understand everyone's gripe about finding seating at the buffet. We never had a problem. Before we even perused the offerings for food, we found a table, threw one of bags on it, then filled our plates. The MDR offerings were decent. I agree with other reviewers that portions are smaller, but who cares? It was enough food, and if we wanted more, we'd just ask. We had a lovely woman waiting on us, Francelly, and she did everything to make our dining experience wonderful. We did have one night with another waiter, didn't catch his name, and he was dreadful compared to Francelly. So, if reviewers got him, I'd understand their bitter review. Entertainment- went to three shows and enjoyed them. Service- Another thing I disagree with other reviewers. The service was awesome. Everyone was willing to help, even guest services was very accommodating. Ports- LOVED THEM ALL! Bottom line- I think the reviews I've read about this ship did not reflect my experience. Were there snafus? Absolutely, but I've had them on ALL cruises I've been on. Would def cruise MSC Divina again, and look forwardto experience her other ships! Read Less

We sailed on the MSC Divina in September 2017. Our cruise was interrupted by Hurricane Irma so we decided to take the generous discount MSC gave us and try our first European cruise. Prior to having to leave the ship in September we loved our cruise. We were in the the Yacht Club so we booked the Yacht Club again. We embarked in Rome and everything was going well until later that evening when we went into the topside lounge for a pre dinner drink: the lounge was full of smoke. We were never told that in Europe you can smoke in almost the whole ship. When we asked about it we were told that they were only smoking in part of the lounge and they had a right to smoke - Unfortunately smoke doesn't stay in one spot. There were several times on the cruise we could not go into the lounge as the smoke and smoke smell was very strong. As we went to dinner we found out that smoking is allowed in all of the bars. Being that I am allergic to smoke that left out most of the evening activities except for the main theater. Other that that we loved our cruise. The dining room for the Yacht club we wonderful and the food and service outstanding. The hostess was still on the ship and remember us from September. We loved breakfast and lunch at the one pool. Everyone we encountered from MSC was warm and friendly. The only issue we had was a excursion left without us; they couldn't fix it but tried to make us comfortable with a bottle of wine. All of our excursions were with MSC and we loved them. Other that the smoking issued (which was a big issue for us) we will sail with MSC again, but be sure to ask about the smoking policy prior to booking. Read Less

We were looking to do something different. Family & friends kept on about cruising, then we saw a cruise TV programme with Jane Macdonald raving about MSC. It looked amazing and as it embarks at valencia just 50 minutes from us, we thought great. We booked a wellness package for 1 week. Cabin with balcony not far from lifts,as my husband has dementia so less likely to get lost. Day we thought was smooth until we saw the state of our shower with mildew, soap and dispenser not working, hairs in basin, filthy carpet, stains on sofa and bed linen...stained with sweat marks! It took 3 visits to reception to get this matter resolved. They offered us complimentary shuttle bus tickets to Marseilles, which we didn't want to visit. Pizza soggy and inedible in Eatily and,as explained, 3 different coloured peppers does not constitute a vegetable pizza! Buffet always overcrowded, more like,a rugby scrum. Never once managed to get I to black crab for breakfast. Food lukewarm. Lifts overcrowded. Our room was on cupid deck, 13. The floor above is the buffet and terrace which we're not aware of at booking. Furniture being dragged and moved overhead at night, then the disco would start at midnight until 2/2.30am. Relax or rest? How??? I was surviving on little sleep. Excursion always early start and chaotic in deck 6 or 7 where you assemble. Portofino the best trip but not long enough to appreciate it. Stuff too busy chatting. Customer service poor. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was a back to back cruise with the Poesia. We were with a group of 6. We were transferred by coach from Venice to Genoa which took about 5 hours. Only about 12 people on the coach. Good trip. Because we arrived at Genoa at about 15.30 embarkation was easy and fast - straight through, baggage arrived at cabin the same time as we did. Balcony cabin was big and neat and tidy.Much bigger than Poesia. The tiles in the Shower recess floor were loose and water leaked onto floor outside shower. Dining was below average. Wait Staff in dining room were good but it was obvious they were under pressure 'from up above'. Servings in the dining room were small and the menu was exactly the same as the ship which we just came off. No variation at all - very disappointing. Breakfast and lunch in the buffet was total chaos. Too many people pushing and shoving and the noise level was very loud. Menu's were not very appealing at all. Service in the dining room for breakfast was slow. One morning I waited 20 minutes before being served. Most Bar staff were very slow and it appeared that it was a chore to serve you. Prices on drinks menu did not include a service charge of 15%. So when you ordered a beer for EUR4.95 the bill come in at EUR5.69. Some times we would order a drink from the list and after about 20 minutes the waiter returned to say they didn't have it or they ran out. The drinks included red wine Cabernet Sauv, Cognac, Cocktail of the Day, Strongbow Cider etc. You had to keep an eye on your onboard account as I was charged twice for items I did not purchase. The onboard account on the TV screen listed your transactions but did not include the total of the bill - you had to work that out yourself. Entertainment was good but it was mainly performed by the onboard production crew, mainly dancing and singing. The Cruise Director did not appear to get too involved in day to day activities. the only time we saw him was at the evening show where he introduced the show in about five different languages. Imagine if they featured a comedy act, the comedian would have to tell the joke several times in different. How good would that be?? We did not do any Shore excursions from the ship because we thought the cost was excessive. They provided paid shuttles into town, which were also expensive, then we done our own thing. Disembarkation was good and well organised, bit different than the chaotic Poesia. The ship was beautiful, very Italian with plenty of marble and glass, plenty seating in the lounges, but the standard of service and dining experiences really let it down. Read Less

It was a good deal in Australian newspapers. But, you get what you pay for... Ports were all fine, ship was clean, but food was so very disappointing. Not inviting at all, either in dining room or buffet. In fact, I felt quite ill, to try and select food in buffet. So very noisy and full of people. Announcements all made in many languages, and sometimes this came into your cabin. Including daily safety drill, due to oncoming passengers. The ship appears to be a bus, picking up and dropping off passengers at every port. Being sick onboard, due to "change of diet", it was 80 euros to see Dr to get medical certificate, in order for us to cancel an excursion due to illness ( I am not criticising the Dr, here..he was superb.)..staff made it very difficult to do this. One Shore Excursion was cancelled by cruise ship "due to not enough people"..over 3,000 passengers?? Verandah cabin had no sofa, and very small. Then, the settling of final account was very unusual. Due to them cancelling a tour, and us cancelling another, we had a credit..this credit HAD to be taken as Euros in cash on settling of account..if you did not go and get this, you lost it! A bit odd? As we paid in Australian dollars, we did not want Euros in cash at the end of a holiday! Not a good policy..all other cruise ships we have travelled with, have completed transactions on credit card automatically. Anyway, we will never cruise with MSC Cruises again, and would not recommend them to anyone. Read Less