The worst cruise we have ever had to endure in all the years of cruising, a total shambles no organisation nobody on board cared when you made a complaint or wanted to know the staff where ignorant that is when they could speak English, too many unruly children on board that were left to their own devises many more complaints with this ship however too long to list.
To give a more in depth review on this cruise and ship, I would like to start by saying that in no way was this cruise a bargain as the total cost including flights was in the region of 3000-4000 pounds, and the main reason for booking a cruise was we have enjoyed our cruises over the years on various cruise lines so much that we thought we would give MSC Cruises a try as it was for the celebration of my wife’s 60th birthday and this is what she wanted to do because of past experiences, and we have enjoyed the sailings out of Miami in the past, also everything that was being painted about the ship and its cruise destinations sounded right up our street however we have been to nearly all of the destination before, so we new what to do and expect.
O boy how wrong we were, in a nutshell, the boarding was not too bad I must admit 8 out of 10 for that, when on board we had a small tour of the amenities while it was all quiet and until our cabin was ready, we were I must admit slightly surprised by these as they looked good, after that moment unfortunately things started to go down hill, I am not normally one to moan about the least little things but when you thought that it was an oversight something else kept cropping up.
Like when we went to our cabin for the first time and found that certain things were on where what should have been, it looked as though it had been a very rush job to get the cabin ready, we asap our cabin steward once on the first week and a new steward one on the second week if we needed anything we had to phone reception to have it delivered, our mattress on inspection was quite heavily soiled which we asked on a number of occasions to be changed, it took 12 days and a visit from the housekeeping manager to get this request.
A couple of the swimming pools were dirty on occasions on various sea days children being told to urinate in the pool showers by their parents, service at the bars was horrendous, one main restaurant and buffet for over 4000 passengers not enough sun beds the list goes on and on 900 children on the first week and 800 on the second so unruly you would gasp no were to go for adults only children were allowed every were no policy or procedure regarding this by the ship a total shambles no organisation and the staff could not be bothered if you complained.
I booked a meal at one of the speciality restaurants for my wife’s birthday before the cruise as I thought it would be a nice gesture for her as .the cake was brought out with the candles and we all started to sing happy birthday the occasion was ruined by the invasion of about 8 -10 very unruly teenagers who were not allowed in the restaurant supposedly, but the staff did not want to confront them and ask them to leave so we asked instead in a kind and calm manner but all we got for it was some very loud and rude responses.
We complained about this the following day to the guest relations manager who apologised and offered us a free meal at one of the other speciality restaurants so we decided to choose the steak bar how wrong we were, we decided to try the T bone steak and pay the extra charge for this steak as it was not on the menu we were given that was free, the steak when it arrived was inedible as it was like eating rubber we complained about this and was offered an alternative which we agreed, that was no better so we complained about this again and eventually left the restaurant hungry and without paying the extra for the T bone steak.
We left and went to the bar out side the restaurant for a drink while I was away from the table using the toilet the Manager of the restaurant approached my wife and demanded that she give him her shipboard card to pay for the extra charge, she refused and he repeatedly harassed her until she broke into tears where he then left her to disappear into the restaurant before I returned, I returned to find my wife in tears and being consoled by a member of staff ( what a birthday eh ), there are many more like this but this is just an example of the type of service we were so rudly faced with on board the so called fantastic MSC Divina.
And to conclude with this fiasco we were not alone by far with the complaints by passengers on board this ship if this is their trial in the Caribbean my advise is do not bother until you sort your selves out, and to finish disembarkation was abysmal, we were all delayed on board ship due to the breakdown of an escalator in the terminal the stairs and lift were working but not the escalator, we eventually demanded to leave the ship and went through customs and immigration within 20 min what a joke.
This is why never again, and when I wrote to MSC upon our return home they had the cheek and nerve to offer us a discount on a further cruise you must be joking I sent their voucher back to them as they will probably need it more than we will thank you very much MSC but no thanks.
