SPECTACULARLY UNIMPRESSIVE

This was my third voyage on the MSC DIVINA , a ship I wanted desperately to love, and not just because Sophia Loren is the ship’s godmother, ( I needed to clear that up), but because I thought the introduction of “Italian” vessels in the Caribbean as ambassadors of all the wonderful things and products that Italy exports all around the world, it would have filled  a much needed void  from that cookie cutter mentality that permeates the cruise industry.

I sailed the Divina twice in the Caribbean and I must confess the first time was a huge disappointment. Starting from the check-in process, to the lack of decent service, to the inedible food, the over priced specialty restaurants, and the sense that they were trying much too hard to cater to an American crowd. Don’t we already have Carnival and Royal Caribbean for that?

The food and service in the dining room was so bad, we ended up eating at the buffet most nights, where at least we could choose our food by being able to see it before placing it on our dishes.

The second time the dining experience improved dramatically only thanks to the simple luck of having one of only two Italian waiters on the ship assigned to our table. That time, we never had to peruse the menu, rather just sit and Raffaele knew exactly what the best dish would be that night...it was as simple as that!

The ship is beautiful, the cabins spacious and well appointed, the common areas attractive embellished with vintage photos recalling “la dolce vita”, comfortable seating and mostly soothing colors and decor.

When we as travel agents are asked to inspect  a new vessel we see it empty of passengers, pristine, everything in its place, quiet....staged.

Sailing the ship on a routine cruise tests the ability of crew to provide the services, the food, the amenities that are promised in the advertisements and by the sales representatives.

In both the above sailings, that test was failed by a large margin.

So why did I decide to sail the same ship a third time? Timing and itinerary. I happened to be in Palermo at the tail end of a “Friends & Family” trip on the same day that the Divina sailed from there to Cagliari, Palma de Mallorca, Valencia, Marseilles, Genova and Civitavecchia.

A wonderful choice of ports in places I had not visited in many years.....an easy decision!

The ship had a completely different feel this time, the majority of the passengers Europeans. The noise level was increased dramatically, as well as the number of children who were obviously skipping school that week. Our cabin had an interior door separating it from the cabin next door. The insulation was non existent and we were able to hear every word of every conversation the family next door had sometimes very early in the morning and then again very late at night. Quite disquieting!

I noticed that the servers at the buffet seldom cleaned the tables, making it difficult to find a clean table to have a meal, particularly at breakfast.

Many chairs and banquettes were stained and dirty and in dire need of a good scrubbing, one of the beverage stations had a leak that was never repaired the entire duration of the cruise.

Disembarking at the various ports was disorganized and at times difficult to figure out....most times compelling passengers to go to the 5th level in order to then descend to the 4th level for disembarkation. A small inconvenience but a nuisance for those with small children or those with mobility problems.

One of the most annoying aspects of the cruise was the constant hard sell of their “beverage packages” ( very overpriced in my opinion), their spa offerings, the photographs. I know this is common on most ships, but it seemed more flagrant on the Divina.

The food offerings improved only slightly, but the service in the dining room was still spotty. Most nights the meals were quite uninspired and bland. A small example...someone in our party ordered a paella and got a dish of yellowish rice with one mussel sitting on top of it.(!!)

As I said I wanted to love this ship, I gave it three chances but unfortunately I must declare it spectacularly unimpressive.