MSC Divina Review

MSC Divina; Worst cruise I've ever been on is still a great cruise!

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on MSC Divina
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CruiserTB
6-10 Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Aug 2014
Traveled with children

Let me start with a little about me and my companions on this cruise to provide a bit of demographics. All adults were in our late 20s early 30s while children ranged in age from 18 months to 13 years old (Specifically 18 month old son, 7 year old boy, 10 year old girl, 13 year old daughter). I chose this cruise based on price and itinerary. Traveling on the cruise for the first time with my 18 month old son I didn’t want to pick ports I had never been to before, anticipating that I wouldn’t be able to do as much sight seeing as I’m used to. I also picked this cruise line because of the European feel previous reviewers had mentioned. I studied in different parts of Europe for undergrad and post-grad studies so I am used to the European effect of multiple conversations in different languages and other nuances. With that being said none of my issues with this cruise can be blamed on “European differences” and although we had a good time it definitely was the worst cruise I’ve ever been on. Still, if this is the worst it gets I’ll still take it! So let me begin:

Embarkation:

It took way too long and the agent directing the line at the beginning was either misinformed, incompetent, or intentionally trying to mess with us. Since I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt I’ll go with misinformed. We arrived at the port around noon. When we got to embarkation there were two lines you could go in. The agent at the front of the line directing everyone directed us to the line furthest away. When we asked what the difference in the line was because the closer line looked shorter he stated that the line furthest away doesn’t loop back around like the closer line does so that both lines essentially have the same wait time. How wrong he was. We found out about 3/4 in that the line did in fact loop around. In fact the travelers in front of us all seemed to notice this at the same time and did a collective “what the heck?!” In addition the line moved so slow, they definitely needed more agents checking people in. But in fact after a while they did add more agents and the line started moving at an acceptable rate. But it was bad and the agents knew it. When we finally made it to the front of the line the agent asked how long did our wait take and when we told her an hour and a half, she apologized and said that it was a long wait. That being said I’m used to long lines and can adapt pretty quickly so I spent most of my time in line watching Netflix. My 18 month old was in his stroller relaxing without a care in the world, my teenager was reading, the 7 year old boy (whoo) he was jumping around, and the 10 year old was looking around. All in all although the line was long, I didn’t let it affect me but sadly it was the longest embarkation I’ve ever had and I cruise the same time of year every year and show up at the ports around the same time so I can’t blame it on that.

Cabin Review

Cabin 9

We had connecting cabins 9099 and 9101. It was quite comfortable and the balcony divider can be opened as an alternative way to get back and forth between rooms.

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