Smooth Sailing on the most beautiful ship ever

We had a very enjoyable cruise on the MSC Divina despite a very difficult embarkation. We had been told by MSC that we could board the ship at noon so we arrived at the port of Miami at 11 AM. We had requested a wheel chair and someone to assist us boarding when we booked the cruise since I had recently suffered a compression fracture of my back. Unfortunately when we asked where to get the wheel chair they told us to go to the second floor. We took the elevator up only to find the building was being evacuated and we had to go back outside. No one knew what was going on and we finally heard that there was a gas leak and we were told to walk to the next building. That building was locked and no one around to tell us what to do. It was very hot outside that day and the walk was difficult for my husband(who has a heart condition and a bad back) and for me as we still did not have a wheel chair. After one hour someone from the port appeared with a wheel chair. What a relief to sit down. It took 4 more hours before we boarded the ship. We really felt the Port of Miami should have supplied water to the waiting passengers as well as making some kind of announcement about what was happening. We never were able to get someone from MSC to help push the wheel chair aboard the ship and my husband had to rely on the help of other cruisers to push me aboard. Port of Miami really dropped the ball on this potential disaster and should have handled it better, PA announcements should have been made and a more orderly boarding occur where the people waiting the longest should have been boarding first as well as those who were handicapped or diabetic. Fire Rescue(EMS) had to be called because one of our friends blood pressure rose so high she became faint and almost missed going on the cruise.

Finally at 5PM we made our way to our balcony cabin and headed to the buffet for a long awaited lunch. We found both the cabins and the ship to be elegant. The ship was so smooth we never noticed when we left the port. We had a Meet and Greet Party for our Cruise Critic Group which I had arranged for the first sea day. We were pleased that the Captain Scala, as well as the Cruise Director Andre and the Events Coordinator R. Torres attended. It was held in the Silver Lounge which was just beautiful. We were told about what had occurred the previous day and heard the whole story which the rest of the passengers had never heard. Part of the problem was about 4000 passengers from Brazil had to disembark that morning and customs officials had decided it was necessary to finger print and photograph all 4000 of them before being allowed off the ship. Then the ship was being refueled and somehow the fumes were sucked into the Port of Miami building causing the evacuation. MSC wanted to send food and water out to the passengers waiting to board but customs officials would not allow this to occur. They needed the building evacuated for the safety of the passengers. It would have been nice if the awaiting passengers were told not to smoke during this crisis to prevent another problem. Can you believe there were passengers smoking even though there was a strong smell of gas. Also, the police and port staff who were very visible should have been enforcing a NON SMOKING situation. Read more