The third and final day of this quick Bahamas cruise on the MSC Divina just happened to be Independence Day.
We arrived at our second port of call, Nassau in the Bahamas shortly after 8am. Once again, our arrival was signaled by strong vibrations and plenty of rattling in our stateroom. Yesterday I mentioned that because we are in an aft-facing balcony stateroom, we are right above the ship’s azipods and thrusters. When they kick in to maneuver us into the dock, it’s like someone put a quarter in the bed and turned the magic fingers on high, high, high.
Nassau is one of those ports of call that cruise lines should just drop already. Crime is rampant, you don’t feel safe walking past the dock and it’s one of the ports that cruise lines – including MSC – warn you about before arrival. In fact, in the Daily Program, MSC published the following warning:
IMPORTANT – NASSAU SECURITY INFORMATION
Please be aware that while you will find many great experiences inNassau, there has been an increase in crime ashore, including assaults and robberies involving tourists in the area. Much of the crime occurs outside tourist spots, such as in the “over-the-hill” section of Nassau (the area inland from Bay Street, to the South of Bay Street, behind the tourist district), but can occur anywhere, including in areas frequented by tourists. As in any large city, you’ll want to take some basic precautions to make the most of your time ashore.Be aware of your surroundings at all times.
Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Exercise caution when using ATM’s.
Cameras and handbags should be carried out of sight and secured to your person with a strap.
Hire services or taxis from licensed operators.
Avoid short cuts, narrow alleys or poorly lit streets and consider returning to the ship before nightfall.
Sounds like a great place to visit, right?
Jim Walker, a maritime attorney from Miami and author of the popular blog Cruise Law News, has written many articles detailing attacks on tourists in Nassau. While it used to be a semi-safe port to visit years ago, today it’s one of those places you should exercise extreme caution in when visiting, and don’t leave the port area.
For me, when in Nassau, I usually disembark to take pictures of the other ships in port and head right back onboard. I value my personal safety too much to risk being robbed or assaulted.
Anyway, enough of my rant about Nassau.
Once we were up and about, we walked two decks up to the buffet. If you recall, yesterday I wrote about our not-so-pleasant experience trying to get breakfast at the buffet. We expected to have the same experience this time, but with a good number of passengers going ashore, the lines were not long and there were tables available for us to sit down and enjoy breakfast.
We ate our bacon, eggs, and other assorted breakfast items and took a walk around the ship to grab some photos while the ship wasn’t so crowded with people.
Around the pool area, decorations were going up for the 4th of July BBQ Deck Party at 5:30pm and many were enjoying a leisurely time laying out in the sun. After our around-the-ship tour, we grabbed a table on the pool deck, ordered a couple of frozen drinks, lit up a cigar, and just enjoyed a stress-free couple of hours.
Around 2pm the self-service ice cream machines were turned on around the pool. On MSC Divina, they are only on for a few hours a day. The rest of the time if you want to cool off with an ice cream cone, you have to pay for their ship-made Gelato – which happens to be delicious.
The ice cream machines are kept very clean with an attendant nearby to mop up any spills and wipe down the remnants left by kids who should probably have had their parents get a cone for them instead of trying to do it themselves.
I will admit that I stopped by to grab a cone.
We did make a slight detour, up to Deck 15 where my fiancee took the wheel of the F1 Simulator. For a fee, you can get behind the wheel of a Formula One race car and virtually take it for a spin. Since I don’t know how to drive a manual transmission vehicle and would be highly embarrassed if I crashed, I stood by while he did the driving.
As we wasted the rest of the afternoon away either by having a few drinks by the pool or just lounging on our balcony, 5:30pm rolled around quickly marking the start of the pool-size BBQ. We made our way up two decks to see what it was like and, well… lines for hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, and other food were as long or longer than the buffet line the previous day which left me frustrated and annoyed.
I quickly realized that a great majority of the people on this cruise either starved themselves for weeks leading up to it, or feel that they will never eat again. I watched in amazement as piles of food were being loaded onto plates – amounts that a normal person would not be able to consume in one sitting.
Instead of getting caught up in the sea of humanity, we bailed from the BBQ and returned to the peace and serenity of our balcony to watch the sail away from Nassau.
Once out to sea, we freshened up for the night ahead and made our way to the Sports Bar for a cold beer. While I enjoyed an ice-cold Red Stripe and my fiancee sipped a martini, we ordered some wings as we debated where to go for dinner following the evening show.
Cocktails complete, we made our way to the Pantheon Theatre where the Michael Jackson tribute show, Starwalker, was about to start. Again, this would be my third time seeing the show and shortly after it started I knew the person playing MJ was not the same one I’d seen before. While good, he just wasn’t as good as the other one. But that didn’t take away from the show. If it were my first time seeing it I would be just as impressed and entertained.
With it being the most popular show on the MSC Divina, the theater fills up quickly and empty seats are hard to come by if you don’t get there early. So unlike other nights, we had people in all the seats around us. About ten minutes into the show, a stench that would make a skunk smell like roses, wafted through the air. Apparently, either the man (hopefully) or woman (hopefully not) was having a bout of gas and the gas won.
As we looked around with a look on our faces that said, “it wasn’t ME!” the guilty couple quickly vacated their seats – either out of embarrassment or because they couldn’t handle the stench either – and left the theater. I didn’t check to see if they ran out or not, but hopefully one of them made it to the toilet in time.
After holding our breath for a few minutes, the air around us returned to normal and it was on with the show!
When Michael Jackson took his final bow, the captain of the MSC Divina, Francesco Veniero, thanked us for spending time on board and wished us a pleasant journey home in multiple languages.
We debated what to do for dinner and since we ruled out the dining room and an earlier attempt at getting a reservation at the Galaxy Disco Restaurant and Ristorante Italia failed, we decided to go back again to Pizza Eataly for more of the pizza that is oh so good!
This time around instead of getting a meter of pizza and a meter of beer, we got two pizzas that we customized with what we wanted on them. Again, the pizza did not disappoint and it will probably be a while until we have pizza this good again, so an additional day of carbs was well worth it.
We headed back to our stateroom, packed up what we needed to, and hit the sheets with our alarm set for 6am for our arrival in Miami.
The vibrations from the ship pulling into port woke us up before the alarm did, which was fine. We opted for express debarkation which meant that we would be the first off the ship at 6:45am. We left our stateroom a little before 7am and literally walked right off the ship, right through customs, and straight to our car. The whole process took no more than 15 minutes, which was wonderful!
So, here are some notes about this, my third cruise on the MSC Divina:
Fellow passengers: a wide mix of ages and nationalities, with many different languages spoken onboard. The ship was at or near capacity making for many crowded spaces such as the buffet, BBQ, and pool area – however, the pool area had empty chairs at all times. I did note a few instances of passengers being rude to other pax and crew. I didn’t see many intoxicated passengers as I would have expected to see on a three-day holiday cruise.
Stateroom: I’ve never had a complaint about the staterooms on the Divina. There is plenty of storage space, the rooms are well laid out, the carpets and soft furnishings were clean and our room was serviced without delay or a complaint. My only issue this time around had to do with the way the two mattresses were pushed together to make a queen bed. They kept separating and I would often find myself stuck in the valley in the middle of the night!
Crew: The crew members that I became familiar with on the past two cruises, were not onboard for this one. A few crew members we spoke with said they have only been onboard the Divina for a few weeks. There were a few times when I had to clarify what I was asking for or had to have a crew member repeat what they were asking due to some language differences. The first time I was on Divina, there were many issues with language barriers. The second time that was improved vastly. This time it’s gotten even better. All staff members we had interactions with were pleasant and helpful.
Food: As I mentioned earlier, we did not get a table for two in the main dining room, so we ruled this venue out for dinner. Eataly Steakhouse was somewhat disappointing, as it was on previous cruises on MSC Divina. We were not able to get a reservation for Ristorante Italia or Galaxy Disco Restaurant. Food in the Sports Bar is your typical bar food. The pizza was beyond good in both the buffet and at Pizza Eataly. We only had breakfast and snacks at the buffet and what we did have was as good as can be expected from a buffet and there was a great variety of food items served for breakfast and lunch.
The Ship: Divina still looks great and is very well maintained. I didn’t notice any areas where maintenance was needed and she was always kept clean with crew sweeping, vacuuming, and polishing throughout the day and night.
Entertainment: While I’ve seen the shows before, the main performers are different than the folks who were on my previous two cruises (and they were the same ones on both cruises) and were not as good. But like I said earlier, if this were the first time I was seeing the show and didn’t have previous ones to compare them to, I would not know any different and would be well entertained.
Service: Service at some of the bars was hard to come by at times. If you sat at a bar chances are you would get a drink quickly. If you sat at a table, it would take a bit of flagging down a beverage server to come over and take your order. The worst service was at the tables around the pool. I found it frustrating trying to find a server to come over and take a drink order.
Like I have said in my previous Divina reviews, this is a different product than say Royal Caribbean, Holland America, Carnival or other cruise lines that have an “Americanized” experience. MSC is unique when it comes to food, entertainment and what goes on during the day as far as activities are concerned. No belly flop contests… Tarantella lessons instead. No blockbuster movies on the big screen at the pool…. maybe an opera. No Abba tribute show in the main theater… a salute to Italian music and culture takes the stage. It’s different but enjoyable and refreshing. It’s not cookie-cutter!
Cruising on the Divina is relaxing and an overall great value. This is my third time sailing on her and it won’t be my last. She’s a beautiful ship with a great crew and I can’t wait until she is joined by MSC Seaside next year in Miami!
Personal Day-By-Day MSC Divina Cruise Review:
Photo Tour of the MSC Divina:
Photography is a key aspect of preserving vacation memories, and my recent voyage aboard the MSC Divina was no exception. From the ship’s striking interior design and inviting swimming pools to my own cozy cabin, I captured numerous photos that showcase the highlights of my journey. If you’d like to take a look at my snapshots, feel free to check out the MSC Divina Photo Tour or browse the daily cruise review by clicking on the links provided above.