MSC Divina: Yacht Club Luxury & Kusadasi Bonus

Sailing on the MSC Divina was my very first cruise, and what an introduction to the cruising world it was! We departed from Civitavecchia and visited Kusadasi, Santorini, and Naples. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions, we missed Mykonos — but our captain adjusted the itinerary and brought us earlier to Kusadasi, which meant we got to spend the night there. That ended up being a great bonus! We chose to sail in the MSC Yacht Club, and honestly, it was the best decision we made. The service, the exclusivity, and the stress-free experience were outstanding. Having guaranteed sunbeds by the pool, always available seating at the Yacht Club restaurant, and attentive service made everything feel effortless. Yes, it’s a pricey upgrade — but if you can stretch your budget, my advice is: do it! As for the ship itself, you can tell the Divina is starting to show her age, mostly through the décor style, which feels a bit dated. That said, the ship is very well maintained, and everything was spotless throughout the voyage. Entertainment was a mixed bag for me: I really enjoyed the daily parties onboard, but the theater shows didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Food and drinks were excellent overall, though I did miss having a late-night snack spot open — room service is an option, but it’s just not the same as grabbing a bite on the go. The staff across the ship were amazing — friendly, professional, and always ready to help. Our butler in the Yacht Club wasn’t as present as I expected, which was a slight letdown, but it didn’t take away from the overall great service. Saying that, I highly recommend sailing on the MSC Divina, and if you can, upgrade to the Yacht Club for an unforgettable experience. It turned my very first cruise into something truly special, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Short break from U.K. to Ocean Cay!

We hadn’t been to Bahamas before so this was an exciting trip for us and did not disappoint! We stayed a night at Heathrow before we left and two nights in Miami before we boarded the ship for the 4 night itinerary. We wondered if it would be long enough but we were pleasantly surprised that, we felt we’d had a great getaway and enjoyed every minute. The ship is clean everywhere and the staff friendly. We were very happy with the Yacht Club experience and found it good value for money. The staff were happy and helpful. It seemed very well run with everyone knowing what they were doing. Food and service was top notch. We loved Ocean Cay and especially the private beach of Yacht club there. We thought the whole island was clean and were actually quite blown away with the beauty of it all as we had never visited a private island before! We were told we were lucky we managed to dock as the wind picked up just an hour later! Also, we enjoyed the light show on the lighthouse before we sailed out. We were less impressed with Nassau and think we would try an excursion next time as the shops were just ok. An overnite at Ocean Cay would be better! We went on the behind the scenes tour and that was well run and very interesting. We had it as a perk of being blue diamond but I’m sure if people like to know more about how the ship is run, it would be well worth the cost. Staff seemed happy to show us around. We love MSC and are Blue Diamond members and this class of ship, although older and not ‘IT Smart’ yet, was just as good. Each class of ship has its own features and it’s fun to experience the differences. Well done to all on Divina! I’m sure we will return, even if for only a week again!

The Good, the Best, the Okay

Back on land for just shy of two weeks and still feeling the vacation no problem vibes and after catching up with work its time to write the review. While the Divina is a smaller ship with a few quirks overall we had a grand time and relatively no issues so I am giving it the full 5 stars (due in part to the improvements we saw since our last sailing and the excellent service we received) This was our second time in YC and booked two rooms one for myself and husband the other for our kids and grandson. Embarkation as usual was painless and I will one day get my glass of champagne while I wait but for now MSC continues to get me on the ship in usually 10 minutes or less. This time our Butler was there to greet us and escort us on, we were sent to the Top Sail where we had a welcome drink and sat back for a bit, went to our rooms and then took a tour of the ship with the family. Our room -when booking we went back and forth and decided on the deluxe suite- mostly for the additional space and closet. I will say I am very much a fan of the basic, simple room; I like clean, open easy to maneuver space and this suite more than provided that and the room was great but could of shown some improvements in the form of a couple of hooks outside the bathroom for robes/cover ups. The closet was the exact amount of space for two adults (ample drawers, hangers and small place for shoes or other) the bathroom was a little cramped both in counter space and towel space but overall it was very nice and actually had a bathtub. We spent a lot of time out on the balcony watching the sea go by, checking out flying fish. Entertainment - I will say this every cruise until it returns, I miss Cirque Du Soliel but we were happy to discover that world class entertainment is back on board, whether its the theater, or smaller venues where the piano, guitar, saxophone or the calypso duo played. All was enjoyable and really loved spending some quality evening time listening to live music in venues, it really helped to make this a great vacation. My only gripe here is they waited till the last night for the 'Circus' show and we had so much going on with the light show, dinner, packing that we did not get to see it. Food - food is a couple of steps above ok but still needs some work. We were equal opportunity eaters enjoying the foods in YC Le Muse, Top Sail, Pool Deck Buffet and the main buffet. The main buffet was a go to for desserts (nutella cake) pizza and fresh pasta. Butlers - This cruise we noticed one thing very different from our time on the seascape and that was the YC Butlers acted like a big family taking care of all the passengers not just those under their charge. As learned from other cruisers/cruises I knew to tell the butler what we wanted in our fridge and this was met that night, we received our bottle of spirits earlier on this trip and loved the nightly treats and bowl of fruit. Our room was always cleaned and bed turned down. Service - excellent hands down. every morning I got up to have my coffee and by the third day, I did not even have to ask, I would walk in and the drink would be brought to me. Never had to wait for a cocktail and we utilized room service a lot this trip which was great. Excursions - Ports of call - we did our usual book a couple of excursions through MSC and just visit a port on our own. We chose the Green Grotto Caves, Arikok National Park Hike and Caves and then mulled around Curacao and DR on our own. YC Private Cabana - would I do this again for just the two of us, no. But am I glad I did for a group of 4.25 yes. First we had a dedicated place to hang out some of us loved the sunshine while others preferred shade but also the cabana came with a bottle of champagne (replaced after we drank the first one)and plenty of water and a butler who would bring us any other drinks. Hiccups - as far as gripes go they are pretty trivial we traveled with a small child and it took a little bit of work to get the form to allow us as grandparents to have the child while Mom and Dad got some quality time, but the concierge worked their magic and got the form. Getting on/off the ship was easy and staff took good care of us. Trying to navigate the DO-RE-ME was a little odd, they were not always there and the booking had to be a literal 24 hours in advance this was a little offsetting for new parents that were not sure if the kiddo could handle the time away while also trying to plan a mom/dad 2 hour time block. Ocean Caye- too much construction - it made it hard to navigate the island properly so no lighthouse and our last visit to the caye they had a late night beach party which we didn't attend but was on my list didn't happen because the all aboard time was 6:30.