We’re starting day 6 here, and as we enter our final sea day I wanted to talk about how things have been on board this trip. Our March sailing was the first time we’d sailed in a suite on any ship, and I wanted to use this cruise as a comparison to make sure that our happiness last time wasn’t clouded by that step up in service. In short, it wasn’t. We’re enjoying this cruise just as much, and in some cases more!
This time around, we’re taking a much more relaxed approach than before, skipping activities we’d normally do in favor of more quiet time, more relaxing in Top Sail or at The One Pool, and in some cases, more naps :). The service in Yacht Club has been amazing all week, and the one issue we had last time with the attitude of the concierge has been resolved with a new face at the desk who is always smiling and willing to help. All of the staff who were here on our last sailing have been great as well. How so many of them recognize us from a sailing that happened 5 months ago is beyond me, but quite a few of them have stopped us to say hello and welcome us back. Between the service, food and the overall ambiance, Yacht Club has definitely proven itself to be worth the money to us.
On the activities, we’ve enjoyed them all so far. We’ve attended and lost at multiple rounds of trivia, and even though Jaime isn’t here on this sailing, Wally has picked right up with challenging questions that don’t feel repeated and phoned in, like they did on the Oasis of the Seas in May. We did have an incident at yesterday’s round of general knowledge trivia with a gentleman who takes this all way too seriously, however. After accusing one team of cheating (which he also did to me earlier in the cruise) and loudly telling our host that one of his answers was wrong, a few of us had had enough and showed proof that the given answer was in fact correct and more or less shut the loud gentleman down. Hopefully he’ll arrive at the remaining rounds of trivia with a more relaxed attitude. There’s no need to take this so seriously, it’s all in good fun. Don’t ruin that fun for the rest of us.
While we’ve been more relaxed during the day, I think we’ve attended more of the late night activities than we have in the past. We’ve pretty much attended every night party they’ve had this trip, and enjoyed every minute of it. The one exception was the White Party, where I headed back before it was over while the girls kept on dancing. I wish I could have made it longer, I just needed sleep. Between the White Party and Cigars Under the Stars with the Captain (he was one of the last people to leave that!), the deck was packed. Our Captain this week has been awesome. Far more visible an engaged than most, with the exception of our captain from the Celebrity Summit. We’ve seen ours in multiple places, including his normal stop in Yacht Club on the second sea day for a meet and greet. During that, we learned that the private island MSC purchased in the Bahamas (for use when they launch the Seaside next year) is the largest of any cruise line, and will have a dock (no tendering!). It all sounded really cool and solidifies our desire to sail the Seaside after she arrives next year.
I’m sure I’m forgetting pieces of the last few days, and if anything comes to mind I’ll be sure to include it in my next post. The final 3 days of the cruise are pretty much sea days for us, as we only got off for about an hour yesterday in San Juan, and don’t plan to get off for more than that in Nassau tomorrow. At some point, we definitely plan to hit the waterslide and F1 simulator again, as well.
As you can probably gather from this, we really do enjoy being on this ship and like the product MSC currently has in the US. They’ve made some positive changes between our last sailing and this one that I’m going to cover in my last post, too. If you’re interested in sailing the Divina, feel free to give us a call for help with booking, contact info is at the link below. After 3 sailings on her, we can certainly help with all of your planning for it!