We Booked the Costa Fortuna, as we had had such a good cruise on the Costa Pacifica. We had a Large cabin with broken shower, broken heating system and a Leaking tap on sink, Damaged shower curtain, hence water on the floor and the Tv control did not function. Not a good start. We found the food was of poor quality and was always served warm or cold, never a hot meal in a week. Poor selection on salad bar never any tomatoes, bruised and soft fruit, cold toast which was hard, luke warm coffee and tea, not enough staff to clear the tables and we had the same selection of desserts all week. The bar service was a little slow,but only because there were not enough staff. Hospitality was more like Hostility, Refusal to except criticism, refused to give me a Complaint forms and said that they did not have them. They charged us 10 euros each for a shuttle service although we found that the official port shuttles are only 4 euro, when I enquired about shuttles and transfers they never volunteered other methods only their own. The constant harassing for photos, upgrading,selling of different PAY restaurants when in the dining halls or bars even walking the decks. The ship was like a bus, passengers on and off at every port, hence every day when the safety drills were being done all the bars were closed and the tannoy was blasting out for ages. In one hour there were 40 plus announcements. I would say having had 25 plus cruises, this has to be the poorest of them all. I will Never choose Costa again. Read Less

chose because of ship, and price, but i have to say the service and attitude of staff spoiled it for us.cabin spacious and very clean. food in general ok, but nothing stood out. shows were soso. the rip off costs of shuttles into certain ports is ridiculous. the price of photos onboard and having to beg for my pic even although i am a black member. having to wait in long lines at guest services, but the lovely buse turk took care of me in the end. some of the coffee drinks i had onboard were awful, often made completely wrong and unfriendly barstaff. all in all gorgeous ship but could be so much better. also not much in the way of arts and crafts, something i like on other lines. pool area was nice and comfy beds if you can get one. alot of towles on beds that never got used, very annoying. Read Less

We booked this cruise because friends of ours were taking this cruise and suggested it might be fun if we joined them - so our group of 4 consisted of 2 couples age 65+ and no children. Our port of embarkation was Valencia, Spain and that was the beginning of a wonderful week aboard MSC Divina. Embarkation went smoothly, but disembarkation at the end of our week was a bit confusing. Due to an early flight out of Valencia, it was necessary for us to leave the ship earlier than our assigned disembarkation group, and we had some trouble finding the correct location to exit the ship. This ship is the largest we have ever cruised on, and it is beautiful. Considering that there are several thousand passengers aboard at all times, we also found it to be amazingly clean. We chose a balcony cabin on deck 11 at the aft of the ship, which turned out to be the ideal location to enjoy the views at several ports on our itinerary. Our cabin was tastefully decorated, not too small, storage was adequate, bed and pillows were comfortable (an option was available to switch to more comfortable pillows, but the ones in the room suited us just fine), the bathroom was well-designed and efficient, and - best of all - our cabin attendant GERRY took great care of our room, and always greeted us with a smile. When we found out we would not be dining until the second seating at 9:45 we were a bit concerned that would just be too late. The time turned out to be just fine. We were able to enjoy all of the early shows in the theater (and they were all GREAT!) and have leisurely dinners in the dining room. Our waiters, KIKIT and JAMES, were fabulous - always smiling, polite, friendly, and professional. They were just the BEST! Our meals in the dining room were always good - often great - and items were always served at-or near-the appropriate temperature (We NEVER had a warm dish served cold!). We did not eat at any specialty restaurants. During breakfast, lunch, and late afternoon "snack" time, the buffet areas were usually busy, but we were always able to find something good to eat, and there were usually places to sit near the back of the ship. In the dining room, we had breakfast twice and lunch once, and each time we were able to meet passengers from other countries. Knowing minimal Spanish, German, French, etc. attempting to communicate was sometimes challenging, but the people we shared tables with did their best to speak to us in English - and in one case our conversation with a family from Madrid went fairly smoothly thanks to Google Translate. It was fun and educational for us! Prior to leaving home, we booked only one excursion - a day in Rome. After we boarded the ship, we were informed that excursion had been canceled due to lack of participation. We then booked a different Rome excursion through the ship excursion desk. The bookkeeping was handled properly. Prior to disembarkation, our on-board account (viewable on the TV in our room) showed the correct charges and credits for our excursion - and we enjoyed our day in Rome very much. Waldo, our tour guide in Rome, was great! The other days, we chose to explore the ports on our own schedule. Our friends booked several excursions through the ship, and each evening we got to hear about their day trips. They seemed to enjoy all of their excursions. As a group or individually, we did not really use the casino, pools, fitness, or spa services. We usually met at a bar each evening to discuss the activities of the day. Unfortunately, we found that after about 7:00 p.m. each evening, nearly every public place on the ship became extremely LOUD. We enjoyed listening to the music in several bars on board - but it was always loud. The buffet areas were always loud. The dining rooms were loud. The only quiet place that we found in the evenings was sitting in the theater waiting for the shows to begin. It would have been nice to find a public space with some QUIET background music. Maybe there was a more quiet area - we just never found it. We did experience a bit of confusion a couple of times regarding when and where we could use our drink vouchers, but it wasn't a big problem. Our itinerary included only Mediterranean ports. Because the passengers aboard the ship came from many different countries, most announcements were made in several different languages. As far as we could tell, the information was presented as quickly and efficiently as possible, and we didn't find it to be a problem at all. We were amazed at how many crew members greeted us in English - almost always with a smile. It's highly likely that they also had some knowledge of Spanish, Italian, French, German, etc. - very impressive. This was our 5th cruise, our first with MSC, and our best one so far. Unfortunately, we did have one experience that was very disappointing. On our final night, the dining room schedule was changed from designated seating times to "open" seating. We arrived at the dining room about 8:00 p.m. and hoped that we would be able to have our usual wait staff - KIKIT and JAMES - for our final night. Although we requested our usual table - 860 - we were informed by the gentleman who seated us that the night was open seating, and he made no attempt to honor our request. As we passed our usual table, we noted that it was open, and there seemed to be no good reason for us to sit at a different table than we had become accustomed to. Luckily, we were seated near KIKIT and JAMES, and they were able to stop by and briefly say hello and goodbye to us. Perhaps someone in our group should have demanded - rather than requested - that we be able to sit at our usual table. Unfortunately, the situation left all 4 of us feeling a little sad on our last night on the ship. All things considered - with the exception of our dining room experience on our last night - we were extremely happy with our cruise, and we would be happy to cruise again with MSC. Read Less

The dining room experience was amazing Alejandro Jefferson Blando and his companion were so helpful and nothing was too much trouble. We loved the shows which were so professional. We will definitely be sailing with MSC again The embarkation procedure was slick and stress free The food portions and quality was amvic The reception staff were efficient and professional We were booked on the second sitting for dinner which was 9.30pm which was a little to late but we still enjoyed it. The buffet was too crowded and the staff were not very efficient so we choose to dine at lunch times in the Black Crab restaurant and have the a la carte which was superd and beyond our expectations as last year we cruised with Princess cruises and there was no such option to do this MSC go all out to make you trip a great 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 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

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 choice this cruise because it departed from Valencia and we could easily drive there from our home in Alicante province. As first time cruisers we were a little apprehensive about everything. There was no need to be!! Everything was so simple. The parking was easy to find. We handed our luggage in, showed all our documents and we where away. A bus took us through the port and the first sight of MSC Davina was WOW!! She looked amazing. We boarded the ship and got a very warm welcome from the crew. We went to deck 14, the buffet deck, had a spot of lunch (had to try the amazing pizza). After lunch we had a wander round the ship, and found our cabin. It was a balcony cabin, which was an adequate size, with good storage and was spotlessly clean. Our luggage arrived quite quickly at our cabin, we unpacked and our first cruise began. We found our way to The Black Crab Restaurant for our evening meal. The food was lovely and the waiters very friendly and helpful. We would definitely recommend MSC to first time cruisers, it gives you a chance to sample cruising at a lower price than other cruise lines. But don't let the fact that it is cheap put you off, there is nothing cheap about the ship or the standards. Read Less

I'll try to keep this as simple as I can. The ship is clean and beautiful. Great Mediterranean itinerary. We liked our balcony room and very nice steward. It was noisy and not a lot of sound proofing, but I expected that. Food was not great, usual crowded cattle buffet, usual cruise ship food that never really knocks it out of the park unless you pay extra for a specialty restaurant. Not sure what all the complaints of "rude Europeans" and different language announcements are about. That was not an issue for us, and I enjoyed being around passengers from different places. What's the point of traveling!?That is where the positives stop. I gotta say, should have heeded the reviews. I thought everyone giving negative reviews of Divina were just hard to please and too picky since we had a great time on other negatively-reviewed ships. Well, this time they are right. This cruise line advertises the Divina as a large ship with an endless amount of activities, lounges/venues, and dining options. That's all well and good, but they DO NOT have the staffing or QUALITY of staff to pull it off, aside from entertainment. Everyone seemed to only sort-of know what they were doing and were unable to answer or solve passenger questions, even simple ones like, "Hi, can I use my drink coupon here?" Yes, we researched where we could use our coupons and what was included, but once on the ship a lot of things were ambiguous. And no it was not a language barrier. All the spaces were too busy and obviously overwhelmed the staff. And why have visible bar/server spaces if you don't want people to walk up there for a drink? Sorry, but no one came to us after 30 minutes so we thought we were supposed to go up to you! In the end, I felt bad for THEM, not for me. It must feel awful to want to do your job, but not be provided with the resources to do so. I think this is what leads to less smiles and poor service, not that they are "European" as some reviewers theorize. Excursions: We received tickets for excursions each evening with ambiguous instructions. You had to read your ticket AND refer to the daily program to get the info, and then get even more information at your meeting place. Even then some important details we only overheard. Just put all the info with the ticket and where to show up outside the ship like Royal Caribbean. No crowds or groups herded out all at once. This is one of MANY counter-intuitive processes on this ship. Another sour note was watching an elderly couple asking to go just a minute ahead of our disembarkation group because she had mobility issues. Nope, wouldn't accommodate (or the employee wasn't practical/knowledgeable enough to make that call) and they were herded out in the huge crowd. Just let them go! When staff know what they are doing and are confident in the processes, they know when to make exceptions. The website is a whole other issue. I canceled a couple of excursions and internet packages well before the cruise for both of us and only got reimbursed for one person. It's been 2 months and 4 phone calls and they still haven't refunded as promised. Compared to other big-ship cruise lines, MSC has a LONG way to go to sort out their processes and staff quality. Staff deserve good training, and paying passengers deserve well-trained staff. Come on MSC, step it up. If you can't, then put a disclaimer in the booking that states you can't promise the services advertised. Read Less

I have just finished a cruise with your company on MSC Splendida from the 1 June-8 June sailing round the Med. I must say you have some excellent staff onboard. A special mention must be made of Francis Dilip and Michael Santos, two members of staff at Aperitivo Bar. They were both courteous and conscientious even when the bar got really busy. Nothing was too much trouble for these two guys. The ship was excellent and immaculately clean throughout our stay. The only drawback for me is as the ship is very large there were a lot of people cruising on there and certain areas of the ship were very busy, which wasn't always comfortable. The entertainment could have been better. The showings at the cinema were not to my individual taste. The area round the swimming pools got really busy too as can be expected with the amount of passengers onboard. Read Less

this cruise looked great from the adverts, not impressed at all. Dining in self service was atrocious, food everywhere people clammering for attention staff so so Restaurants at lunch and breakfast also so so. Dining evening very good service impeccable. Embarkation was quite good although quite rushed. disembarkation similar. Cabin superb as was cabin staff Ship was luxurious but unless you had all inclusive prices horrendous. First time we have been on a cruise that you had to pay for tea and coffee, we were excluded from paying but still other passengers were charged. Entertainment so so, port and shore excursions far too expensive and rushed from the time of disembarkation to getting coaches. Would not choose this ship again as far too big and impersonal, in fact have been put off cruising so not a good experience. Staff overall were excellent in bars etc and were very smart and corteous Read Less

We decided to book a cruise because our friends recommended and they also told us about the yacht club. The service in yacht club was excellent and even our diets (gluten free and lactose free) were professionally taken care. We experienced interesting excursions. Specially we would like to mentioned the excursion to Portofino when we were in the port of Genoa. The ship looks massive outside but as soon as you are inside you forget it. The design is subtly done and you can move from one beautifully decorated space to another. In my opinion the cabin's interior was rather dark, otherwise everything was fine. There was enough space for your clothes. Because of your diets we decided to dine in the yacht club restaurant every night. They could take care that our meals were specially prepared for us. Additional spice to the dining brought the play with the dress codes. Read Less

We spent a good week because the family company we had was great, but the service on the cruise is better. I have been to other shipping companies and this was the first time with MSC and I think some services are better. To start the tour service, I think they should take care of the explanations of the excursions to the clients, they do not give enough information. The dinners are very monotonous, there is no animation of any kind, for example, dinner of the captain and the captain? He does not come to dinner, you go to take a picture with him .. it should be him who comes to see his customers. Dinner in white ... And ...? if .. people wear white And ...? I do not see animation or support on the part of the waiters and so all the nights ... The animation for the day a little loose ... the daytime entertainers do not look for customers, they do not encourage them to go out and participate ... they are not animations that encourage them to participate. We took a person with a wheelchair, we received in the cabin a letter so that any help we needed to call a number and ask for a person and after three days calling and complaining at the reception, we are still waiting for us to be called and we were asked to apologize at least, because no one picked up the phone and the time we got it they answered us in English (we are Spanish) and they told us that there was nobody that could attend to us and they hung up the phone. We complained at the reception and until today ... without solution, thanks to which between us we could find solution, but not thanks to the supposedly special attention that had that person on board by the circumstance of going in wheelchair. Cruise in size, visually huge and where they take care of the boat a lot, but not the customers, appearance of luxury and seriousness that you need to make the customer feel comfortable. The cabin very nice, size and cleanliness, the life that gives the balcony is amazing. I will return and continue to cruise, but with other companies as before, with companies that take care of their customers. Read Less

I had a fantastic time, the ship was immaculate everywhere, our cabin was lovely and spacious with excellent facilities and storage. It was cleaned twice daily and always immaculate when we returned from days and evenings out. There was plenty to do on the ship and plenty of places to visit on the ship. The food was of superb quality, both in the buffet and the main restaurant. We ate in the buffet at breakfast and lunch, the choice was incredible, so much to choose from and different everyday, at nite we ate formally in the restaurant again the choice and quality of the food was excellent, as was the service. We were all inclusive and found the choice of drinks available excellent, the cocktails were fabulous and such a choice. I would not hesitate to recommend this ship, I have just booked another cruise with msc and cant wait to set sail. Read Less

We picked this cruise because we could pick it up in Valencia. Getting on the ship was ok. The cabin was excellent. I didn't like that at every port people left the ship and new people got on. The cafeteria we gave up on because it was completely impossible to find a seat and walking around with my breakfast on a tray for 10 minutes before giving up was not fun. Having said that the restaurant breakfast was great. The food was lovely in the restaurant at evening meal. The staff in the restaurant were very helpful and efficient. The evening entertainment was good and was related to a different country every night. The main lounge was too small and it was impossible to find a seat unless you bagged one at 17.30. Also the noise level was so great with all the different languages being screamed at the top of everyone's voice French Spanish Italian Vietnamese German to name a few. The people who had children seemed to be deaf from the moment they arrived on board because their children had to scream at them to get any attention at all. Unfortunately for those of us without children. Next time I'll look for a cruise for adults only and only one pick up and drop off. Read Less

Ideal booked through David's coaches here in Spain. Picked up from home and taken by bus to Valencia. Ship was fantastic and we had a wonderful balcony cabin with 24 hour room service. The ship was spotless and very modern. Cabins were spacious never felt cramped. We hE a sitting area and we also had the opportunity of having breakfast in our cabin which was very handy especially on the days we had decided to go on a trip ashore. The opportunity of not having to rush to get for buffet breakfast. Overall all staff on board were excellent. Shore excursions were very reasonable. Entertainment was very good. Ambience on board was also very good. Thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience aboard the ship. We had the choice of a buffet lunch or a more sedate lunch being waited on in one of the restaurants on board. Dining staff were excellent and very attentive to our needs Read Less