First of all, MSC is a European based cruise line expanding into the U.S. market so you find some differences when comparing to the mass market cruise lines here. We researched and read up on CC about MSC before booking so no great surprises for us and we came away quite happy that we tried MSC and the Divina. First and most obvious was languages. English is the language spoken first by ship employees, but we were in the minority and you find many different cultures and languages onboard. For instance, the MDR menus are printed in several different languages, and one evening the captain gave a very good welcome aboard speech before an evening show in 12 languages. But on to my review.

I cruised with 2 other co-workers for our annual get away from work and escape winter weather cruise. I have cruised NCL, HAL, and Celebrity in the past. We flew in the day before and stayed near the airport, checked out the following morning and headed to the port and arrived at 1145. Dropped the luggage, went through security, then cruise cards, then walked on board and were having lunch in the Sports Bar at 1230. By far the easiest embarkation I have ever done! After lunch, went to the casino to pick up our drink vouchers we purchased before the cruise [very good value] and then went to find our cabin. Our luggage was already outside our door so we put them inside [rooms weren't supposed to be ready until after 1400 hrs but we found our room steward and he said we were fine]. Unpacked quickly then walked the ship to get the lay of the land. The Divina is a very large ship, beautiful and clean. Went back to the cabin until the safety drill, after the drill, back to the cabin to get ready for dinner as we had the first assigned seating at 1800 hours in the Black Crab MDR.

Cabin - "fantastica" balcony 10076, small bathroom but worked out ok. Cabin was roomy, seemed slightly larger than other regular balconies I have had, and we had the bed split into 2 twins and I slept on the full size pullout sofa. Beds and pillows were comfortable, sofa was a little lumpy but found one side was ok . Balcony had 2 chairs and a small table and we used our balcony a lot. I am missing coffee and chocolate croissants on the balcony in the morning! [room service was great every morning]. We are still all good friends after sharing that space, 4 might be tight, but 3 was ok. Read more