We chose this cruise for a great deal and because the ship looked great. We were keen to find another cruise line to widen our options. Sadly, this was not to be. Firstly, there is a long list... only 5 people checking in about 300 people between 330pm and 430pm at the port of Civitavecchia - rude staff and it took forever. We were so late on board (520pm not 430pm) we had to go straight to our room for our life jackets (yes really!) and go to our muster point. Staff talked to themselves and ignored the cruisers. They were hopeless. We were there almost an hour -gasping for a drink and totally fed up after 2 long waits. Eventually we got to our cabins - highlight - cabins are lovely and very clean. Then we tried to sort out our dinner reservation having found out that MSC had changed our 830pm to 930pm - far too late to eat. We had no luck so ate at the buffet - this was ok but no better. Alot of pizza and pasta - so much for MSC aiming to broaden their appeal and market. The next day arrived in Sicily. Breakfast buffet was fine but always the same - no variety. Lunch buffet back on board was again ok at best. Limited options again if you didn't want Italian fair. There were huge pizza, pasta and salad areas. Two dessert options- both the cheap, cream filled sponge finger cake option. Common at all times.. I saw nothing else in terms of hot puddings, creme brulee/mousse type thing. Disappointing.Later on we tried to book our earlier evening meal in Black Crab - the manager could not be less bothered. Rubbed his head and said fully booked earlier - you'll have to come and queue - this is all because THEY changed our time! When we did get to the dining room it was such an anti-climax. The food choices on the menu we had in the Black Crab were poor- 4 options - I only eat fish so two were out. But the meals were unappetising and poor quality e.g lasagne night - only a lump of lasagne about 4x5 inches on the plate!! No vegetables! Nothing else. It looked dried out and unpleasant. I had risotto - it was ok but no better. When we sat down on nights 2-4 there was no bread or butter - we had to ask. Glassware had not been replaced either. Basically the wait staff were lazy and self obsessed - they were having a great social time whilst cruisers waited for drinks, orders and food!! It was shocking. We had to ask twice for drinks one night and even then the white wine was warm!! Appalling experience. We were only told about the fixed menu and the lobster/fish options in the speciality restaurant when we were honest about how we had found the dining room. Then there was the embarking after days out expereince - the queues to get back on were awful - such slow service and no greeting, no banter with cruisers. So poor. Finally, disembarkation - told we could get off in Valencia and then they kept us all on lower level 4 in a stairway for an hour!!!!! People were fuming as they had connections to make. We were also told there was a bus for luggage (?) so as we got off we prepared to use it to suddenly see taxis - were told no taxis by MSC!!!! Shocking. Customer service is non-existent. Entertainment was awful -- nothing going on during teh day and poor shows - all very Italian focused - not one of the good shows mentioned in other reviews. The Luna bar had a good double act who were lovely. The singer in the main area for entertainment at night was ok but did the same songs each night!!!! The CD - never met - never saw and never heard about!! The Master Chef at Sea - 30 minutes of a stupid quiz to find contestants - beggared belief. Hygiene - forget it. Never saw one person clean a thing except two giggling young men scraping the metal on the stairs. Never saw anyone wiping down lift buttons, stairway rails or anything. No one in the buffet checking the cleansing fluid is used. No reminders about cleaning hands. I saw people taking food with hands eg a man took a handful of almonds!!! Just shocking all round. Noro virus risk is high on board for sure. In short - go on here for poor food and to be ignored. Would never go with MSC again - the ship and cabins are lovely - what a missed opportunity MSC. Get some decent chefs and train your staff what customer service is. At every opportunity if it could go wrong by them, it did. Heartbreaking we spent hard earned money on this and it was my sister's first cruise. Wish we hadn't bothered. We read the American reviews and thought it was fussy American critics - sorry, no! Do not book this ship. You can do better with your money - even Costa was better than this, as we told them when we found our bill miscalculated - we had someone else's - we had drinks packages! Even that they got wrong. Read Less

4th cruise with MSC, first time divina. (before: music/fantasia/splendida). Always nice cruises, otherwise wouldn't have booked a 4th cruise :). Sailed from Genoa to Venice. Balcony state room fantastic (11094). Also booked the premium drank package at 39€/day. The cabin: Room was like we knew from previous cruises but this time no curtain at the shower but a shower door. Improvement! The cabin steward who normally is somewhere around, especially on the boarding day, wasn't there. And in the end, we never saw him during the whole cruise. All other cabin stewards we saw daily, but ours...??? although room was kept clean and towels were changed twice a day, but room was never prepared for the night like we were used to have on previous cruises with MSC. (curtains closed/beds opened/towels replaced/last checks/...). And then the last night...nothing at all. Even no fresh towels. It was like if for MSC on the last night you are no longer welcome... Was this a big problem? No, but you except the same level of service for your entire cruise. Dinner: 1st thing to do was to change dinner seating. Dinner booked online on msc page: 2nd seating but cruise card mentioned 1st seating so up to the Maitre D to change into 2nd. Changed with no comment. Then it was time to use the cruise card/drink package. Bars: Premium package entitles you all drinks on the menu up to 10€. So let's start with a Paulaner Hefeweizen. After the first one asked for a second. "Sorry, out of stock". De bar on the other side still had one (or more...) So far no problem. Then ordered a prosecco superiore. This is not the standard prosecco you get with the easy package. "Sorry out of stock". This went on for the entire cruise. Not everything on the menu seems available in the bar...even if you ask for a mixer with a premium brand vodka/gin/whisky/...you should stay close to the bartender to make sure he uses the ordered brand. Is this a big problem? No, but if MSC sells you a package with the promise you can order drinks up to 10€ they should deliver. Otherwise it is wiser to stay with the cheap drink package. The daily shows: 1st I would like fellow passengers to remind that they have 2 x the same show a night in order to offer everybody to join a show before (for the 2nd seating) or after (for the 1st seating) dinner. So please don't join after the show has started and if you come late don't want to grab a chair in the middle of a line so you want people to stand up and let you pass. Thank you :) The show on the first night was a tribute to tina turner. Music and singing was OK. Dancers were doing their thing. The show on the second night were Italian songs. Same dancers. Became already a little annoying. The show on the third night: singing an the same dancers. We left after the third song and didn't return the rest of the cruise since the program mentioned singing and dancing again. Shows on previous cruises were beter: some singing/some dancing/some acrobatics/some magic/some theatre/...but not only singing and dancers. Is this a big problem? No, but variety is more then welcome?!? The dinners: We knew what to expect but this time food was really flavorless. And the problem with the wine was that they give you the wine menu (premium package, remember :)) but it is hard to get the chosen wine... We had the impression that the food at the buffet restaurant was better this time than in the restaurant. But the most inconvenient was the dinner on the night we were at Palma the Mallorca. Since the schip only left at 23:30 they decided for an open seating dinner. Thus: not at your table and maybe even not in your restaurant. The waiters couldn't follow at all since at once all passengers seemed to have decided to dine at around 20:30 or so...what a disaster! My advice to MSC: keep the seatings like they are. If yo are not on board for the time of your seating -> you go to the buffet. Easy no? Is this a big problem? No, but rather inconvenient and stress for as well waiters as for the passengers. All this made it a rather strange cruise. Did we enjoy it? YES, we were on holiday but we had made better experiences with MSC. Read Less

A Med cruise seemed attractive, as seemed the price. The experience was of living in a big city. Very slow embarkation, a process repeated at every port, i.e. every day with airport-style security on leaving and returning. Despite the excellent staff, mealtimes were often a stressful time. We could never be certain that a table would be available in the only restaurant open to us but we knew for a fact that the self-service buffet would be crowded, no seats, no tables, sometimes not much choice. There was always a feeling of imminent chaos as the restaurants were not able to plan for numbers ashore, new passengers and those remaining on board. Restaurant table meals were beautifully presented and served in pleasant surroundings. The menus looked exciting but the meals turned out rather bland. Our drinks package was adequate but disappointing. Our deal gave us up to 6 Euros for drinks but anything slightly more interesting was at least 6.50, so the package was largely worthless. The Californian Cab-Sauv red was actually pretty good, however, and there was a range of budget cocktails but anything other than lager was off package. Entertainment was done by accomplished artistes but each show looked & sounded a bit like the previous one. The cabin was fine, the housekeeper was discreet and skilful, nice linen and towels, fairly quiet. A balcony is only any good if you are in the sun, which was not often, we found, but that's the itinerary, not the ship's fault. Our main gripe was the dishonest way MSC presented shore visits. They promoted their own excursions but by omission, misdirection and wilful deception managed to keep the free transfers and shuttles a well-guarded secret at each port. In Palermo we followed a line under large sign for "SHUTTLE BUS", only to find after 30 mins it was an 18 euro tour, not the free shuttle which was hidden behind a building beyond it. The same stunt was pulled in Valencia, where the free city bus took you to the bus-stop for the 1 euro 50 trip to the city, but only if you avoided the MSC staff attempting to lure passengers on to another 12 euro trip to town. 12 euros isn't a lot , but if you are a family of 4...? Overall the big downer was the vast population of passengers tied to timetables for visits, shows, eating and drinking, getting on and off, all happening at the same time for everybody. This will be our last cruise on a big ship. The central activities were over-eating and over-boozing, but that's not really what I had in mind when I booked. Gala nights were spotty as most passengers preferred to stay casual, almost as if they were on holiday..! Read Less

This cruise was our 50th wedding anniversary celebration. We sailed in the Yacht Club category. Overall, we had a good time (not a great time), but as usual the lasting impression was the last impression. We pre-booked a post-cruise excursion that would give us a drive-by tour of Rome before dropping us off at the airport. We were expecting them to handle our luggage, see the sites and experience a stress-free ride to the airport. By dinner time on the evening before disembarkation day, we had not yet received our disembarkation instructions. When we inquired, the Yacht Club concierge pulled an envelope out of a stack of envelopes and gave it to us. I looked at it and there were no instructions for the excursion so I asked about it. He informed us then and only then that the excursion had been canceled because so few people had signed up for it. OMG!! When I asked what alternative arrangements had been made for us, he dismissively said, "Oh, sir, you can just take a taxi." Cancellation of the excursion was totally unacceptable, but his attitude shook me to the core. This is the concierge for the exclusive Yacht Club telling me to go find a taxi. Really? At dinner in the exclusive Yacht Club restaurant Le Muse, I asked to see the Yacht Club Director. He earned his pay with me and my group as we explained what had happened and told him we needed an alternative. Bless his heart, he was back in just a few minutes (obviously he knew about the problem before-hand) and said they had arranged a private mini-van transfer to the airport. The problems with this solution were that it cost more than the pre-booked excursion (which of course was refunded to our account) and there was no tour of Rome. The next morning, we found our mini-van and delightful driver waiting for us. We were able to arrange a drive-by tour of major sites in Rome for an extra 100 euros per couple. All told, then, the alternate excursion cost $152 more per couple. To my way of thinking, that expense should have been covered by MSC. It was not. We are not likely to sail with MSC again, but will pend a decision on that to see if MSC responds to this review. Read Less

We had been on the Divina and enjoyed it before in the Caribbean so we decided to go on our first Transatlantic on it. The ship is beautiful, the service is great and ports are fine but we are not impressed with the entertainment or television stations, most English channels except news, have been suspended for more than a week! The shows have great performers but there are too many classical music types of performances. There have been about 5 so far and we are used to comedians and a variety of performances. Our inside cabin is large, clean and comfortable but we are not happy with the buffet chaos and lack of desserts there. There is rarely enough equipment available anytime during the day in the fitness area. The deck chairs are very uncomfortable and there is a major trip hazard on deck 15 aft where there is a steel rise that goes from plastic floor that joins wood floor. My husband trip and caught himself from going overboard! Guest Services is great! Dinner usually takes 2 hours which is sometimes too long. I would definitely cruise again on this ship, the value is great! Read Less

For the itinerary. We were not informed it was a Holistic Vegan cruise and they took over the entire ship. MSC catered to them even though there was only 1900 of them sailing. They were rude and expected everything their way and MSC treated all others as second class citizens. The food was mediocre and mostly vegan in the buffet. In the dining room we were served regular food which was not exceptional. Most staff were rude and did not care about any concerns we had. Entertainment was almost nil as they used theatres for meetings instead of shows. They were supposed to have two shows a night but mostly only one at 7:00 pm but that was our dining seating. When we did attend one show it was mediocre and not very entertaining. Our cabin was normal for a cruise ship and the chambermaid did an okay job cleaning the room. We did two excursions booked through MSC. The first was the horse and carriage ride through old Cartegena which was well worth the money. We would highly recommend this one. The second was the Panama Canal boat tour. Do not recommend this one as it was not worth the money they charged. The boat they hired was very old and seats very uncomfortable. Would not do this again. We will never sail the Divina again (this was our second time) but will give MSC another chance to satisfy us on the Meraviglia in January of 2020. Hopefully we will have a better experience or never sail again with MSC or recommend them. Compared to a Carnival cruise we took in December 2018 which was fantastic this one was totally disappointing. The only redeeming factor was the great bar tender we had. He made the cruise for us. Thank you. Read Less

This was my fourth cruise on MSC Divinia and definitely my best. Loved the itinerary and the crew was great. I especially want to compliment Ley Aguila and Oumaima Boudile of the Cruise Staff for making this a memorable cruise. They are both full enthusiasm and made the activities especially fun. I would also like to compliment Havin Pereira, Mariana Prison & Yanga Ndayi and the rest of the staff at the Atrium Bar for their friendliness and excellent service. The live music on this cruise was excellent with Olena and the Cantabile Duo both being the standout performers. I made it a point to catch as many of their performances as I could. This was an 11 night 12 day cruise in the southern and western Caribbean and my highlights were Cartagena and Panama. Aruba was also a pleasant surprise. As always the food was excellent with a more European menu than other cruise lines. The common areas are spectacular and laid out for a convenient flow. I highly recommend MSC. Read Less

This was our 32nd cruise on many different cruise lines and our 4th on the Divina. I have written positive reviews on the Divina in the past mentioning the nice ship, the interesting international diversity, the great entertainment and good food. However, I now feel compelled to write about a few issues that I hope get addressed and that other guests should know about. The first issue that guests should be prepared for is if their itinerary (or the previous ship’s itinerary) includes Columbia. Apparently, the Customs and Border Patrol found some illegal drugs in a toilet on the Divina last fall and are being very careful. The cruise before us went to Columbia and their disembarkation on Feb 21 was delayed 3 hours while every non-US citizen was fingerprinted before leaving the ship and the ship was inspected. That, in turn, caused a delay of 3 hours in our embarkation in Miami. I’m not complaining. I’m just letting you know of possible delays in case you have early flights. The second issue is the new drink packages that were changed in November. We signed up for our cruise in June. We made the reservation knowing the ship and seeing a new promotion labeled “Drinks on Us”. The package was labeled “490W19 – FREE UNLIMITED DRINKS” on the invoice. We thought this was similar to other packages on Celebrity and NCL where there are usually some limitations based on the price of the drinks. When we got on the Divina and tried get the drink of the day, we were told it was not covered by our drink package. In fact, most normal drinks like the Bahama Mama, Miami Vice, Pina Colada, Mai Tai and daily specials were not covered. They showed me the flyer about our package that stated “Savor the freedom to satisfy your thirst at any moment with a dedicated selection of house wines by the glass, one brand of draft beer (Heineken*) and/or Miller Lite bottled beer (for Caribbean itineraries only), selected spirits and cocktails, ….” It turns out that the “selected spirits” were only their “house brands” that only included Bacardi White Rum, Seagram 7, Smirnoff vodka, etc. AND only one of them per drink. Out of their menu of cocktails at the bar, only two were included in this package, and never the drink of the day. The only mixed drinks included “on their list” were “Rum & Coke, Gin & Tonic, Vodka & Lemon, Whiskey & Coke, Long Island Iced Tea, Cape Cod, Moscow Mule”. I even asked for a Rum Punch and at two bars, I was denied. The restrictions were based on the house brand, not the price of the drink. On the first day at sea, after our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet, I got an appointment with an assistant bar manager and expressed my displeasure at this overly restrictive drink package, especially compared with other cruise lines, that I was not aware of the limitations when I signed up for the cruise and the inconsistency in applying the restriction across the various bars. I also questioned why we couldn’t just pay for the difference on a drink by drink case if we needed a second spirit, like on other cruise lines. He explained that this drink package was new and they were having problems implementing it. He suggested that we buy the higher drink package, but with no discount. We declined. As a solution, we started asking for simplified drinks with only one spirit, like “Bacardi with fruit juices”. Later, some bars were serving a simplified Pina Colada even though it was not “on their list”. Related to this was the long wait times to be served at the bars. The bar staffs seemed very inefficient and unorganized. They would just make one drink at a time. There was no sharing of tasks between them (like "I'll make that drink since I'm already making one"), a lack of pre ordering one person ahead so that simple or related tasks could be combined, and poorly laid our stations requiring staff to constantly run back and forth. They also constantly added too much ice to slushy drinks before blending so that a third of the drink had to be thrown out. Combine that with their "short pouring" resulted in weak drinks compared to other ships. Also, they insisted on printing out receipts and having you sign them. What a waste of time and paper. So be prepared for long waits and weak drinks. My third issue that I raised with assistant bar manager, the Safety officer and the Environmental officer was the lack of trash receptacles and poor housekeeping in the pool deck areas, especially on sea days. No one was picking up empty drink glasses, soda cans, straws, napkins and plates. It was windy and they were tipping over, spilling out leftover ice cubes, liquids and straws with blew around on the deck, some ending up in walkways causing slippery conditions and some being blown overboard. When I discussed this issue with the MSC officers, I mentioned that Celebrity had officers stationed on the stairs looking for hazards to ensure they were cleaned up quickly and that when I complimented the Celebrity officers for their vigilance, they stated that their captain had made Safety a very high priority. I also pointed out that other ships such as Celebrity and NCL have a number of large receptacles on the pool decks for cans and trash so that guests can help in housekeeping. The MSC officers did not seen to care about these safety and environmental issues. I did not see any changes during the rest of the cruise. A final and somewhat minor issue was limited to the dining room. There were 7 of us at our table and almost every medium rare steak that we ordered was either really very rare or way overcooked. And half of them were very gristly and the plain knives were not able to cut them up. They were so bad that we ended up sending 3 of them back for replacements. Luckily, we had a great waiter and he started to pre check the steaks before bringing them up to our table. Just a heads up. Again, the ship was nice, but there needs to be improvements in these areas before I return to the Divina. It's too bad because their itineraries are very nice. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary. Unfortunately they are not offering the same one next year or we would be on it again. 1. The ship is beautiful! The cabins are spacious and clean. The ship overall is kept in top notch form. Both in repairs and cleanliness. 2. The food is very good. We did wish that MSC offered free dining in more locations like Norwegian cruise line does. Eating in the dining room every night got monotonous. 3. The entertainment was very good. Talented dancers and singers, but VERY repetitive. The opera could be eliminated, although they were very good singers. Other entertainment in the bars was very pleasant. 4. We had no issues with embarkment and disembarkment. The embarkment was slow, but apparently not a MSC issue, but customs issue... so I heard. Once they began though it happened quite quickly. Most of the luggage was in our rooms within the hour. The other suitcase was more like two to three hours. We didn't sit and wait, so I'm not sure exactly. We went to the sport bar right away because no one was there. That worked our great. 5. Lovely pools. Enjoyed the depth because they weren't packed full of standers. They were deeper pools, so you had to swim somewhat. 6. The dining staff rating is a bit lower because of this being a European ship. They don't gush over the customers as we Americans are used to on other cruise lines, tho they weren't rude either. The bar waiters and waitresses seemed quite pleasant. 7. Our room steward was very nice but due to the language barrier he didn't say much, but always smiled. No towel animals or towel persons as we have grown to expect from other cruise lines..no big deal. 8. There was a morning activity at the pool each day which I though was great. Stretching, exercise, dance lessons...etc. As I said earlier. I really wish they would have offered the exact same itinerary for 2020...disappointed. Read Less

I choose this cruise for myself (single 55 year old male), my 24 y/o son and 21 y/o daughter because it scheduled well around her college spring break and we could all handle a 10 night getaway...we flew in from three places Thursday morning February 21st (all excited and a bit apprehensive about such an immersive family experience) and flew back to our respective places Sunday March 3rd wondering where all the time went and having had an amazing trip together. Who knows when we'll all be in the same place again for that long?! It was very special and memorable. The 10 night itinerary is perfect. I love the two initial sea days and have been to the eastern and western Caribbean on multiple cruises so like that we just steamed southeast. We met great people and settled in to our new home. Two sea days on the way home is also a perfect way to unravel the prior days. We met people from around the world: straight and gay couples; large and small groups, single guys travelling together with women, other guys, family and alone; single women travelling with other women, men and family. 30somethings to 80somethings and every age in between. A pair of really fun 33 y/o Canadian couples were our pool/party buddies most afternoons and we heard no less than six languages around us at any time. There were many repeat MSC cruisers and a surprisingly high number of repeat/frequent Divina cruisers. I've been on Seaside twice (February 3, 2018 and February 2, 2019) so I've learned MSC is an international crowd (refreshingly so most of the time), the food is overall great and it is as or more professionally operated as Royal, which is the only other line I've frequented. We all found things to do and people to talk to, reconvening for dinner in the dining room eight of the 10 nights. More on that later. MSC Divina is a beautiful ship. I was forward portside oceanview room 8005. My kids were midship starboard interior room 8194. I had Wellness package and no drink package. I drank what I wanted and paid at the end. I heard many people talk about getting drink packages as free upgrades, even balconies as free upgrades so I will be asking for upgrades when I book in the future. We spent a lot of time at the Garden Pool. We choose there because it overlooks the stern and the ocean/water is so close and hypnotic. You also avoid all the social announcements, dance classes, sexy man/woman, BINGO, etc., going on midship at the big pool. Shhh...it's an amazingly quiet, secret spot. Even though all of us are repulsed by cigarette smoke there was virtually no lingering smoke from the Garden Bar smoking area, which is on Deck 15 right next to the Garden Pool. We staked out spots on the wooden decking, got buckets of Red Stripes (well I did anyway) and didn't bother fighting over a chaise lounge. BTW they were mostly gone by 8, scarce by 9 and gone by 10. And staying on Deck 15, we'd get ready for dinner and meet there for an aperitif...live music, stars/sunset and really no smoke bothering us. SMOKERS: this is your spot! There is also a very nice Cigar Lounge with decent cigars for sale onboard. There are far better cigars for sale in the Mini Mall, which you can then bring into the Cigar Lounge. BRING a lighter (safely and legally of course) as it can sometimes be very hard to find an extra flame onboard. The ship has many unique areas, which allow music, dancing, social activities, kids activities, etc. to be going on in one area without dominating the other areas. I'd spent time gazing at deck plans and getting ready for "my turn" so I'd picked the pool and staterooms we'd hang out at. I tried to make advance reservations at Eataly but was told it was sold out. I had no problem making a reservation once onboard. We ate there Sunday night and it was above expectation although with small portions of pasta. The MDR was also above expectation. We enjoyed the menus, food, flexibility, quality of service and personalities of our service staff, beverage service, decor and people watching. Be prepared and plan ahead...if you have an 8:30 dinner like we did (too late for me), see the 7PM show (not me...I won't miss sunset...we all did our own thing before dinner) because dinner lasts until 9:30/9:45ish. We didn't find any dish in the MDR or buffet we didn't eat due to flavor or poor quality. Our conclusions: too much and too good to say no. The ship shows some signs of wear and tear (carpet in hallway was worn, edging around hot tubs is worn, etc.) so you'll see some things to complain about in that regard. However, it was was sparkling clean and everything worked all the time. Everything. Both cabins were better than expected and cabin service was personalized, friendly and helpful. We carried luggage on and off so em/debarkation were non-events. Wait here, queue there, just relax. It won't leave without you. We actually had breakfast at the buffet and sat in the sun for an hour on Sunday before leaving the ship so it helped extend our vacation a bit. Hard to think of any complaints but I guess it's only fair so here we go: no comedy show. Read Less