MSC Divina Review
MSC Divina – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Rating by category
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We cruised with 26 friends on the MSC Divina to the Panama Canal and back to Miami (November 11-21, 2015). It was the first time on Divina for all of us. As you go through my review, you’ll see that I thought the Divina has some good and some not-so-good points, thus the title of the review.
Embarkation: The large majority of passengers on this cruise were non-Americans; the language barriers presented by so many non-English speaking passengers slowed down the process of signing in and boarding the ship. The delays were not excessive and the agents did their best to move people along. MSC does not register your charge card during check-in for on-board purchases; this led to problems later, especially during the disembarkation. Rooms were ready at the promised time and the Buffet served a nice lunch while we waited for our rooms.
Ship Appearance: The Divina is a beautiful ship with Swarovski (pardon the spelling) staircases in the main lobby. It is tastefully decorated and easy to maneuver throughout. There are nice shops and lounges mid-ship. The Casino appeared to be nice; I don’t gamble so I’ll reserve any opinion on the Casino. The Buffet on Deck 14 is nicely laid out and provides plenty of space for people to sit and enjoy their meals. The Theater was large, spacious, and very nicely decorated. The Spa and Gym id the front of the ship were very nicely decorated and equipped. A shortcoming for ladies in our group was the lack of adequate areas to play Mah Jong and other board games; the Library has no card tables and there is no designated Game Room as on most other ships. The ladies had to “hunt and beg” for areas to play. The Pool area is very nice appearance-wise; it has a few MAJOR shortcomings: (i) the starboard side of the pool deck is designated a smoking area (with all the Europeans on-board, it is probably more appropriate to call it a “chimney zone”). Walk through there once or twice and your lungs were ready to explode and your clothes would stink from the smell of smoke; (ii) the ship has a policy about leaving towels and belongings on pool lounge chairs and tables by the pool; you’re not supposed to leave the unattended for more than 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the crew does not enforce the rule so people would deposit towels at 7:00am and tie up all the tables and lounge chairs for the entire day, especially on those days at sea.
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
Cabins: We had a balcony cabin (13065) on the port side of the ship, just forward of mid-ship, a nice location, one deck below the pool and buffet deck. We were originally slated for cabin 12219, a balcony cabin that is significantly smaller than the standard balcony cabin; the smaller balcony cabins do not have a sofa in the cabin and they have a smaller balcony. MSC tries to steer passengers without children to these smaller cabins so they can save the standard size cabins for families with children. They cost the same, so this didn’t please me at first. After protesting to MSC, we were given cabin 13065, the standard size balcony cabin (192 sq ft). As for the cabin, it was very nice and had a great balcony. There is an overhang from the 14th deck that extends out about 15 feet beyond the 13th deck. It provides almost constant shade for our balcony, acting like an awning above our balcony. We loved the balcony. The cabin comes with a sofa, comfortable bed (storage space for your bags under the bed), a small flat screen television (about 22 inch), and a desk; enough room to move around without tripping over each other. The main shortcoming for the cabin was the shower stall; it was like showering in a phone booth. Thank goodness that my wife and I are average size; a large person would feel really uncomfortable in that shower. Water pressure was good and there was plenty of hot water. Overall, the cabin was nice. The pillows leave a bit to be desired as they are a bit lumpy. We knew this in advance from other reviews and brought our own pillows; problem solved.