MSC Divina - Long-time Cruisers Try a New Cruise Line

Miami

Ron and I found this 3-day cruise on MSC Divina while we were looking for a quick getaway for the Presidents Day holiday. Owned by an Italian family, MSC Cruises has only been in the US market for a few years. We’d never sailed with MSC before, and I was interested in seeing how it compared with other cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival. If nothing else, it would be fun to try something different, and Divina looked beautiful. I liked the itinerary too – a full day in Freeport and another at MSC’s new private island, Ocean Cay, which just opened on December 5th.

On embarkation day, we left the house at 6 AM, hoping to miss the rush hour traffic and be onboard by noon. Traffic wasn’t a problem but when we got to the port at 11:30, we were greeted with the news that there had been a delay getting the previous passengers off the ship. The line of people waiting to board stretched to the terminal doors and wasn’t moving. Ugh! Slowly we inched our way through security and check-in until we got to the last stop, a thermal scan to make sure we didn’t have a fever (a new measure put in place because of the coronavirus). We finally set foot on the ship at exactly 1:59.

By that time, I was STARVING so we headed straight to the buffet for lunch. Then we dropped off our carry-on bags in the cabin and explored the ship. Divina was as gorgeous as it looked in the pictures. I think it was the second prettiest ship we’ve been on, after Celebrity’s Equinox. While Equinox had warm wood, Divina’s decor was silver and black and sparkly, with many Italian touches. One of my favorite parts of the ship was the Piazza del Doge, a Venetian-themed square with a coffee shop that served gelato and pastries. The starry “sky” over the piazza reminded me of The Venetian in Las Vegas. On Deck 14, there were two separate pool areas – the large mid-ship Aqua Park and the Le Sirene pool which had mermaid mosaics and a retractable roof. One deck up and at the back of the ship was the Garden Pool, an infinity pool with great views of the ship’s wake. I’d never seen an infinity pool on a ship before. Very cool!

our balcony cabin

the Atrium

staircase embedded with Swarovski crystals

Black and White Lounge

Piazza del Doge

Le Sirene Pool

Garden Pool

At 4:30, it was time for the muster drill. This was where we noticed a few things that MSC did differently than other cruise lines. For one thing, we had to take our life jackets to the drill. Most cruise lines stopped requiring that several years ago. Another difference was that the ship had a large proportion of international guests, so the instructions were given in five different languages. Of course, that made the drill take longer and before it was even over, about half the passengers at our muster station decided they’d heard enough and just walked off! Ron and I stood there for a bit, not sure what to do. Finally, Ron asked one of the crew members, “Aren’t we supposed to wait until we hear the emergency signal?” He answered, “Yes, but I gave up trying to stop people a long time ago because they just run over you.” Good grief, the poor crew.

When the ship’s horn finally signaled that the drill was over, Ron and I picked up drinks from the piazza bar and took them back to our cabin to watch the sail away from our balcony. We were supposed to set sail at 5 o’clock, but the ship didn’t leave. Instead, Ron and I watched the activity out in the channel. Ron: “Look at that huge yacht!” Me: “Ooo, there’s a dolphin!” :-) 

Port of Miami

Dinner was at 6 o’clock. MSC doesn’t have flexible dining in the main dining rooms except for people in certain classes of cabins, so we’d had to choose between early or late seating and had chosen the early seating. But at 10 minutes till 6, we were still in our travel clothes because our luggage hadn’t been delivered. I stuck my head out the cabin door to see what was going on with the bags. Several other people up and down the hallway were doing the same. Well, at least that meant we wouldn’t be the only ones looking grubby at dinner. I decided to take a walkabout to see if I could locate the luggage staging area. Halfway down the hall, I spotted a crew member pulling three suitcases and one of them was Ron’s. Yay!  I took it back to the cabin to unpack and a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door as our second suitcase arrived.

We quickly threw on fresh clothes and headed down to the Black Crab Restaurant where we were seated at a table for six in a cozy cubby. The other four people never showed up to dinner, which was fine with me. I really hadn’t been looking forward to sharing a table and making small talk the whole meal. Unfortunately, the food was just not good. My lamb chops were overcooked and grainy. Ron’s blackened fish wasn’t blackened and the coconut rice that came with it smelled like it had been seasoned with apple pie seasoning. It was so weird! Good thing we’d had lunch at 2 o’clock so we weren’t very hungry. We decided to forgo dessert in the dining room and have a cappuccino and gelato at the Piazza del Doge instead.

Black Crab Restaurant

Miami at night

At 8 o’clock, the ship still hadn’t left port. We wandered up to the pool deck where we overheard some passengers saying that the channel was blocked because a car had fallen off the Fisher Island ferry.  Divers were in the water searching for it. I didn’t realize until we went back to the cabin and searched the internet that there were people in the car. Later there was an announcement that the divers had to call off the search until 11 o’clock because of strong currents. Just before I went to bed, I learned that the car had been found with two women inside. It was so awful and sad. I said a prayer for the families of the women before I fell asleep.

Freeport

I woke up at 3:30 and looked out the balcony curtains. The ship had finally left Miami and was moving fast. When I woke up again, we were already approaching Grand Bahama Island. The captain must have been flying to make up that much time!  We ended up docking in Freeport just an hour later than scheduled, but the ship’s shore excursions had already been cancelled by that time. Fortunately, we had made our own plans for the day.

Before the trip, we’d had a hard time figuring out what to do in Freeport. Grand Bahama Island (especially the east end) was devastated by Hurricane Dorian a few months ago and many places hadn’t reopened yet. About the only options were the Port Lucaya Marketplace and the beaches on the west end. I knew a lot of people would stay on the ship, but Ron and I wanted to support the local businesses. They needed money coming in so they could recover.  We decided on a day pass at Lighthouse Pointe at Grand Lucayan Resort.

After breakfast at the buffet, we walked off the ship and caught a shuttle to Port Lucaya. It was about a 20-minute ride to the marketplace and from there, a short walk to Lighthouse Pointe. We checked in and then made ourselves at home on a couple of lounge chairs by the pool. Only part of the hotel was open but there were quite a few people around the pool and on the beach. I could recognize the cruise ship day-passers by their beach towels – orange for MSC, blue and white stripes for Royal Caribbean. We hadn’t been lounging long when the activity staff started recruiting people for a hula hoop competition. I might be terrible at dance lessons and bean bag tosses, but I can hula! :-)  I joined five others for the contest. After we’d warmed up for a bit, the activities director made things more challenging by telling us to put our hands over our heads. I kept my hula hoop going until he had us clap in time with the music, and then I lost it. Oh well.  When I looked around, only one contestant was left – a 71-year-old woman. She was impressive!

Ron and I spent the rest of the morning relaxing by the pool and taking a walk on the beach. We walked past Memories Grand Bahama, where we’d purchased day passes on our last trip to Freeport. The hotel was closed now, and the pool with the waterfalls was drained and empty. The beach bar on the public section of the beach was gone too, but the water was as blue as I remembered. Everyone on the beach seemed to be having a good time.

Lighthouse Pointe at Grand Lucayan

 

When we were ready to eat, we packed up our beach bag and walked back to Port Lucaya Marketplace where we had lunch at Zorba’s Greek Restaurant. Zorba’s served Bahamian food as well as Greek dishes. We shared a bowl of conch chowder and the snapper special, a whole fish with peas and rice and fried plantains. Everything was delicious. I think the conch chowder was one of the best bowls of soup I’ve ever had. We had a really nice day, and I was glad that we’d been able to make it to Freeport. They have a lot of recovering to do but they are on their way.

That night, we decided to skip dinner in the Black Crab Restaurant so that we could watch the sail away and the sunset. As we pushed away from the dock, “Time to Say Goodbye” by Andrea Bocelli played over the ship’s speakers. Perfect sail away music. We didn’t get to see much of the sunset though because we were heading west and most of the forward part of the ship was taken up by the Yacht Club, an exclusive area for higher paying guests. That was one thing I didn’t like about the ship’s layout. I don’t have a problem with cruise lines charging a premium for special amenities, but it would have been nice if at least part of the bow had been open to us “regular” passengers.
 
After dinner at the buffet, we watched the Acrobatic Cocktail Demonstration going on in the atrium. Three of the ship’s bartenders took turns showing off their bottle juggling skills and then prepared drinks to hand out to people in the audience. It was more “Tom Cruise in Cocktail” than instructional, but it was fun to see. We spent a little time in the casino too but the dealer kept getting Black Jacks so we soon gave it up for the night and went to bed.

Ocean Cay

I slept until 8 o’clock and missed our arrival at Ocean Cay. That was ok – it had been a long time since I’d had a good night’s sleep and I needed it!

Ocean Cay was originally an industrial site for sand excavation, but MSC had leased the island and spent the last three years transforming it into a beautiful oasis with a focus on conservation and sustainability. 75,000 native trees and shrubs had been planted, solar power and LED lighting were used, and a 64 square mile area around the island had been turned into a marine reserve with a protected coral nursery.

view from our balcony

Ocean Cay

We had a leisurely breakfast at the buffet and then headed ashore. There were eight beaches on Ocean Cay and we choose Lighthouse Bay Beach as our home base, where we managed to nab an umbrella and two poofy bean bag chairs. Besides having the advantage of being close to the ship and a couple of bars, Lighthouse Bay had a great view of the lighthouse. I was signed up to climb the lighthouse later that day and was really looking forward to it.

We checked out some of the other beaches, walking past Sunset Beach and the watersports area on South Beach where a few people were padding around the lagoon on kayaks. At the northern tip of the island there was a pretty wedding gazebo.  With all the different beaches to choose from, there was plenty of room for everyone to spread out. The only crowded area was the lunch buffet. I read that MSC would be building a second buffet station to ease the congestion. With the island being so new, there was still some work to be done, but it was a beautiful place. Ron and I couldn’t believe the color of the water – bright, electric blue. It almost didn’t look real.

Lighthouse Bay Beach

South Beach

Wedding Pavilion

After lunch, we hung out on our bean bag chairs until it was time for my lighthouse climb at 2:50. The tour met at the Lighthouse Bar at the base of the lighthouse. Ron, who doesn’t like heights, elected to wait for me at the bar. :-)  The tour description said that we would make stops along the way to the top while our guide gave us facts about Ocean Cay. I don’t know if it was because we were the last tour of the day or because a lot of the group didn’t speak English, but that didn’t happen. Instead we were allowed to climb the 165 steps at our own pace. Once at the top, our tour guide Justin gave us about half an hour to take pictures or ask questions. Justin told us that 120 people lived on the island full time during their 5-week contracts and then they had a week off to go back to their home islands. The view from the top of the lighthouse was spectacular! To the north, was Cat Cay then North and South Bimini Islands, 20 miles away. To the south, we could see a dive boat anchored next to a small cay. Justin said that was where divers were working on replanting and restoring the coral.

Do you see the snorkeler?

When I found Ron after the tour, we went back to the ship for a shower and a snack before heading out to the beach again to watch the sunset. One great thing about Ocean Cay is that it is only 65 miles from Miami so the ship could stay in port much later than the other cruise lines' ships. We didn’t have to leave until 11 o’clock. We got to the beach just in time to catch the sun rays shining through the top of the lighthouse. So cool! It was a beautiful sunset, and I even saw the flash of green as the sun finally sank beneath the waves.

Later that night, there was a Bahamian Junkanoo Parade led by a horn band and dancers in traditional Junkanoo costumes. The parade started in the shopping village and wound down to the beach where there was a light show and a dance party. We watched the light show but didn’t stay for the party because we still needed to pack and get some sleep before our early arrival in Miami the next day.

All in all, I found more similarities than differences between MSC and other cruise lines, and the differences were mostly minor. Would I sail with MSC again? I would if they improved the food and added a flexible dining option. I don’t like having a set meal time or sharing a table, and our 6 o’clock seating coincided with too many things we didn’t want to miss. We ended up eating two out of three dinners at the buffet. But I had a great time and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. There was a lot to love about Divina - the coffee shop in the piazza, the beauty of the ship, climbing the lighthouse, and the evening at Ocean Cay. Ocean Cay was a highlight and will only get better as the island develops.