Ship Review: This is our review of the MSC Divina cruise that took place over Aug 27 through Sept 3 of 2016. I will break this review into two parts, first, what MSC did right and secondly what they did wrong (IMO)

The ship stopped at St Maartn, which is always beautiful and a great place to stop, San Juan, which is nice if you’ve not seen it before, and Nassau which is an armpit of the Caribbean. They even notify you that you should not stray off the “tourist” locations because of the rampant street crime there. I really don’t understand why the cruise lines don’t tell the Bahamas government that they will no longer stop there until they get their crimes cleaned up a bit. Seems to me that if you threaten to take away millions of tourist dollars to a country that basically survives off the tourist industry, they will do whatever it takes to get that situation under control.

Ok..so what they did right. Embarkation was a breeze. MSC had more than enough folks at the check in counter to keep the lines moving at a good pace. Plus they spaced out the time you were allowed to check in from noon until around 6 which held the massive crowd surge to a minimum. Disembarkation was also very smooth although we were a little late starting but I think that was more of a customs delay than MSC fault. Did hear a couple of very frustrated passengers cursing at the check out location, but not sure what that revolved around so I can’t say if it was something the traveler messed up on or MSC.

What they did wrong. First let me say that my wife and I are veteran cruises. We have cruised on just about every cruise line out there, and they all have advantages and disadvantages. I am having a difficult time coming up with much of anything that was positive about this cruise, once we actually got onto the ship.

It started when we entered our room on the 8th deck. We open the drapes out to the balcony and see nothing but a row of life boats. Now, like I said above, we are veterans at cruising and my wife is very good at making sure that we are in a room without obstructions. We doubled checked our boarding tickets, rechecked the website, checked everything we could think of and could not find anything that tell perspective cruisers that almost all of the balcony rooms on deck 8 have at least a partially obstructed view.

So we go down to the customer service desk to complain. While inline we hear two other guest complaining about the same thing. Now this has to be something that MSC deals with on a regular basis because they have stock answers for the complaints. First they try to blame the travel agent that booked the cruise. They then tell that you if booked online then you that you should have seen that the view is partially obstructed (which is does not say anywhere online). When we told them that we called and talked to an actual MSC agent and SPECIFICALLY told them we wanted a room with no obstructions, they then decided that our room wasn’t actually considered an obstructed view because the boats were not at eye level. I will attach a couple of photos taken from a seated position on my balcony and let the reader decide.

That gets me to the customer service person that we talked to. I am really sorry that I didn’t get her name, and we checked everyday afterwards and never saw her at the customer service desk again, which is good because she should not be allowed within 100 miles of any customer service position. She was rude, condescending, and basically implied that this was our fault because we were apparently too stupid to find the original construction plans to the ship to see where the life boats were positioned. They also told us that there were no other balcony rooms available, which we also knew was a lie but were not in a position to push back more.

At this point we decided to make the best of the situation and try to relax a little bit. We found what they referred to as the “Zen” pool area. Most ships that we have been on have an area that is adults only where you don’t have the loud dance music blaring all day long, so we figured the Zen pool would be a good place to go relax, drink a beer and try to calm down after our conversation with incredibly rude customer service person. We walk though the door to the pool are and immediately get blasted with Boom Boom Boom bass beat from some techno dance tune. Then we see multiple children running all around the pool area, so there goes our Zen moment.

The buffet restaurant is open so we now decide to get a bite to eat. I have been on a lot of ships, including the Epic which holds over 6,000 passengers, and I have never seen an eating area as crowded as this one. The food is organized like they want to make it difficult for you. For example, all I wanted was a simple salad. You have to get you plate at the wrong end of the bar, so you get your plate, then have to walk to the other end to get your lettuce. At first I thought this was just because everyone was getting on and they were all going to the restaurant at the same time, but the crowds were the same everyday, no matter what time you went. Lots of really rude people that will cut right in front of someone standing in line without as much as a simple excuse me. By the end of the cruise, I had made several non friends by calling them out on their rudeness.

So now we decide that we’ll wait until dinner and enjoy a good meal in the restaurant with great personalized service. Not so much….my table consisted of three ladies and myself. Our waiter comes over and I just assume that he’ll start taking orders from the ladies first….No….he comes straight to me. I was going to wait to see what everyone else was going to order. When I hesitated, he literally rolls his eyes at me, starts poking my wife in her arm telling her to start ordering. We had nothing special with our meal but had to ask twice for refills of ice water. The food was just flat out nasty. Worse food I’ve ever had on a cruise. I know that the cruise lines want to try and force folks into eating in their additional costs restaurants now, but they should still want to serve decent food to the regular guest that don’t want to spend that additional 40 – 50 bucks a day. The only defense that I can give our waiter is there was a large family of very demanding Asians sitting at the table next to us that consumed a lot of his attention.

Deck chairs by the pools were in rare supply because folks did exactly what they were asked not to do. They would go up first thing in the morning and lay claim to a chair and then only actually use the chair for maybe an hour or two while tying them up so no one else could use them. The ship staff appeared oblivious or just did not care that this was happening. There were a surprising number of European cruisers on this boat. I don’t mean that disparagingly, it was just odd to see this many European folks on a US based cruise. A quick hint to my fellow European cruisers. If you’re over 50 years old and 50 pounds overweight, wearing a Speedo or a tiny two piece bikini is NOT a good look for you….just saying. There are some things that just cannot be unseen.

The entertainment on the ship was pretty weak. We usually like to partake in a couple of the shows but there was nothing offered on this cruise that even remotely sounded interesting.

I could go on but I think I’ve rambled on enough. Bottom line is, I will NEVER cruise MSC again. I had wondered what the initials MSC stood for. After this cruise I think its Massively Sucky Cruises,

Ship Review: Absolutely superb ship. First time with Cunard and I did not like some of the pre-cruise admin and booking systems. However, once on board, what a dream! Superb decor, great cabin, lounges and bars just right, food and especially service, to die for. What we really liked (in comparison to our most cruised Princess line) is that in the bars and lounges in the evening the music does not drown out conversation. The music is not over-amplified at all. Quite simply my view of Cunard was completely turned around once we got to Southampton. 20 minutes from arriving to going into the cabin!

Ship Review: Our eleven cruise on a much smaller ship at 90,000 tons. The Brilliance of the Seas is not a ship with the bells and whistles but it did meet our expectations with regards to cruising with friends. With four couples trying to plan around a work schedule and limited vacation time we scheduled the 5 night cruise out of Tampa with two ports. We travel from S.C. to Wildwood, Florida for a one night stay than on too the port the next morning. We use Parking Doctors of which we were very pleased with. Drop off at the port and pick up both met our expectations with them.
Boarding the Brilliance was a breeze, arriving around the port at 11:00 AM and was on the boat within 20 minutes. Note that the Brilliance was the only ship in port at this time. Porters grab our bags as soon as we arrived at port. Than it was up the escalator to check-in to get the sea passes.
Here’s what we like and disliked about the cruise.

The likes.
Food was good in the Windjammer Café and the Minstrel Dinning Room. We ate at Rita’s Cantina for nachos that were very good one day but there is a cost $4.50 for Nacho’s, we liked much of the entertainment on board. The Quest Game on the last night of the cruise was just outrageous and funny the Spring breakers did make this game fun. The Band in the Centrum “Kronos” was one of the best I have ever heard live. I think they were a hit with everyone on board. All are very talented. The helipad was open and you could walk out to it in the very front of the ship, we took nice pictures there. The comedian was funny that told jokes in the Pacific Theater and the other that was a ventriloquist doing songs was excellent. We loved the Solarium area pool. Very quiet and relaxing area.
Dislikes
Month of March is Spring Break and there was lots of Spring Breakers onboard. Some drink to much and got out of hand, word was some were jumping from balcony to balcony and were kicked off the boat in Cozumel, which they deserved no doubt. No Banana daiquiris at all on this boat we have cruise with Carnival and NCL and they do have that flavor onboard. There was a lack of bar attendants walking around to take orders for drinks. The towel police was too aggressive, one tried to take our towels while we were in the pool swimming evening with our books and bags on the chairs. People do have to leave for bathroom breaks and such at times. The TV account in the room was always out of service so daily I had to go to the front desk to get my updated invoice. Chops Grill was a disappointment at a $70 surcharge a couple, I don’t know why Royal can’t do Ribeye Steaks, my New York Strip Steak was little over cooked and made it tough to eat. The Band in the Centrum area we watch one night from the floor above across from Next Cruise office is, I did not like the fact the young lady working in the office after it closed had a fit because we move some of the chairs out of the room to the balcony over looking the Centrum to watch the band.

In summary I thought this was a great cruise. The couples we were with made it more so. No this ship does not have the wow factor, it’s a basis cruise but you can have fun with the game shows and excursions and being with friends. I would not do Brilliance again.

Ship Review: First Carnival cruise was on the Freedom, and this what got me hooked on Carnival! The ship was huge! Loved everything about it!

Ship Review: Yes I gave the Carnival Legend 10 stars on everything, why? Because it was an amazing cruise!! The staff was friendly, the food was great, the shows were amazing, and the ship itself was just beautiful! Not a single boring minute on this cruise! Second cruise with Carnival and definitely not the last either!!

Ship Review: We had been long time Oceania customers till our May 20th 2016 cruise to Alaska. We had been booked to board in Vancouver and disembark in Victoria but 11 days before we were to leave we were told disembarking in Victoria was impossible and we would have to disembark in Seattle but not to worry we would be transported to Vancouver somehow. Due to medical issues long road trips are not recommended for me so we suggested flying from Seattle to Vancouver. This request was never acknowledged and no time-frame was provided to resolve the transportation issues, so we cancelled the trip. This was fortunate since the eventual method of transportation provided by the cruise line from Seattle to Vancouver was a 4 hour road trip. Even though we had a written and confirmed contract for our original arrangements, and the final transportation offered by Oceania could have been very risky for someone with my condition, the cruise line refused to accept our cancellation and refund our costs. Needless to say we have cancelled our 2017 Greenland cruise with Oceania and will never sail with them again. So beware that this cruise line does not stand behind their promises.

Ship Review: We did a Land and Sea cruise with Holland American (HM) our second and probably our last. Land first starting at Fairbanks then boarding Veendam a week later at Haynes. Our flight to Fairbanks arrived at 1:00 AM so we had paid $132.79 each (which we thought a rip-off ) for early check in and were charged for it knowing we would arrive very late. When we arrived at Fairbanks Airport others with early check in were given their hotel keys and bused immediately to the hotel. Not us. They had no record of our reservation even though my showed them a valid reservation number. HM said it was the hotels problem.
When we got to the hotel about 2:00 AM we stood near the back of the line of about 30 while a lone clerk checked people in. The folks in front of us got a room for $100. The clerk had no record of our reservation and blamed HM. Our room cost $160? The clerk blamed the problem on HM. We got to bed about 3:00 AM. Remodeling work in the room next door started at 8:00 AM sharp. The next morning we tried to resolve the problem with the hotel manager without success but later they decided to refund the $160 and go with the $265.58. We thought we should be charged $100 like the folks in front of us as we had not received any early check in benefits.
We have tried very hard to resolve this but HM thinks that we got what we paid for, early check in. The thing you can concluded from this is that HM has no problem screwing someone who has spent thousands with them for $165.58. An interesting fact is that the cruise line owns the hotel so the finger pointing is just a ruse to get you to go away. We rate their customer service as zero!

Ship Review: Last year I was planning to write a review about my bad experience with Norwegian Sun during my cruise to Alaska but later decided not to do it. This year I took another cruise with NCL on Norwegian Dawn to the western Caribbean. It was the last trip of Norwegian Dawn before the multimillion dollar renovation and it came as no surprise that the ship was outdated and stained. But my review isn’t going to be about that, just let me mention that we did not use the pool and jacuzzis because they were old and dirty. Hopefully these problems will be fixed during the renovation, so there is no need to mention them.

But the renovation project by itself brought up another completely different problem normally not encountered on other ships. NCL decided to save time and money and start renovation during the cruise by performing some work at sea. It was very inconvenient and annoying having piles of plywood stocked on decks, workers removing old paint and repainting, and so on. Some of the passengers reported workers entering their cabins to perform work on their balconies.
Lesson learned: do not book a trip on a ship right before it is scheduled for dry dock.

Now on to things that can’t be fixed by renovation. First of all, I could not stop comparing this ship to a Norwegian Sun. Even though the Norwegian Sun is smaller than the Norwegian Dawn (78,309 GT vs 92,250 GT) inside, the ocean view and balcony cabins on the Sun are bigger than on the Dawn. Our tiny oceanview cabin was entirely occupied by the bed, leaving us no room for any movement other than going in and out.

The cabin service was almost nonexistent. On the sixth day of our cruise we ran out of soap - both hard soap and body wash. We discovered this only when we returned from the offshore excursion, and it took three phone calls to the Help desk and a lot of waiting to get the supplies.

The entertainment was boring even compared to the Sun and the TV on board the ship was running same the movies all 10 days.

We all know Latitudes Rewards Program is not the best in the industry. For example, as a silver member on Cunard I receive one free hour of Internet, and I do not have to buy any of their Internet packages. As a silver member on NCL I receive only 30 minutes free and only if I buy the 250 minute Internet package. But when I bought the 250 minute Internet package on Norwegian Dawn I did not receive my Latitudes rewards. I tried to talk to several people: the Internet manager, Help desk, and the Hotel manager without any results. The Internet manager I talked to first was very rude and did not listen to my complaint at all.

To be objective I should mention a few good things about this cruise. First and foremost the food was not bad at all. We loved the Le Bistro and Modesto restaurants and the food in the main dining restaurant and buffet was OK.

Of course buffet could have had more variety, and some improvements could be made, like advising the waiters not to grab plates without asking permission.

The ports of calls we visited during this cruise were also good. In my opinion it was a very good combination of exciting destinations to reach in one cruise. But this brings me to another matter often discussed on various forums by fellow passengers: not enough time in port. Even when our ship was scheduled to be in most ports from 8 AM until 5 PM the real timeframe for the passengers to be offshore was from 8:30 AM until 4:30 PM. In most ports sometimes even less. This is definitely not long enough to enjoy time offshore in a new port. Sometimes the distance to the next destination dictates a short time period that the ship can stay in port. Not in our case. Four of our ports of calls where in very close proximity to each other, sometimes less than 200 miles
(the distance from Costa Maya to Cozumel) but we still did not stay in port long enough. I wish Cruise companies will reconsider their position on this matter.

Ship Review: We wanted to share our recent cruise experience to Alaska on the Crown Princess, May 6th thru 13th.
We have been on several cruises in the past and never have we experienced such disregard for the passengers. There are several things that went wrong with this Cruise: customer service was rude and condescending, the food was cold and nasty, and the ship was dirty on decks. This was Just an overall horrible experience. This cruise line started out bad and continued to go downhill.

We got to the cruise ship terminal early and went thru 2 customs lines; the entire procedure to get on board took about 5 hours. Which lead to a 4 hour delay in departure! Days and hours changed, times lost and wasted to the itinerary. Princess thought it was a good idea to come into Juneau from 2:30 to 11:30, would have worked, but changing us to come in on a Sunday (Mother’s Day) the town shut down at 7:30, wasting 4 hours in port.

Most of the food staff we’re rude! If you wanted something hot and fresh you have to fight with them to make that happen. Every food line you’re forced to use the hand sanitizer and if you didn’t they wouldn’t give you a plate. You think the food would have been fresh and hot. On most day’s we found the food to be undercooked or had been sitting out way too long. This was a reoccurring theme throughout the cruise. This is why I was extremely sick and retired to our cabin the first day.

The ship was dirty in areas; our cabin had stains on the pillow. The hot tub in the rear of the ship was not maintained, very dirty, with bottles, glass, trash, used towels, and the staff had the nets rolled into a ball were it could be tripped over. The crew painting near the food line, the smell of oil based paint was so strong and so close to the food eat made it hard to eat. We tried to enjoy the movie under the stars, but when we arrived there were no clean blankets but plenty of dirty blankets lying around. The blankets finally arrived 30 minutes into the movie.

On our way back home to Los Angeles we completed the survey received from Princess Cruise line. On the 18th Kyle from Princess called we went over the trauma we had experienced on the boat, all the memories lost and things we missed in Alaska. Kyle said there is nothing that he could do, they don’t have any control of what happens at the ports and that we signed paper work saying that we (Princess) has the right to change the itinerary and the only thing they would do for us if we travel with them again, is that they might be able to give us $100.00 each on board credit or a free meal. My husband laughed and said he would follow up with a letter and post on several travel websites about our experience. Kyle seemed a bit cavalier about it and said “that’s your right, go ahead.”

We followed up our letter to the president and customer relations department of Princess Cruise and Kyle return or call and offered us 250 pp discount on a future cruises. Which was still laughable and we haven’t heard back from there president yet.

We planned this trip months in advance. We took the time looking into things like cost, itinerary, towns, excursions, flights, hotels, rentals and of course the ship. Only to have it all change on you in a moment. Memories and experience gone. If you’re planning on taking a Cruise to Alaska, I would not recommend Princess Cruise line for TRUE Alaskan experience.

Ship Review: Ship is wonderful with a lot of new special features. North Star, the Skydive, the Bumper Cars.
One of the best places is Two70.
A lot of restaurants.
Very good for family holidays.