My Caribbean Cruise on MSC Divina

So Christmas has been and gone and New Years Eve is fast approaching, I still cant believe its the end of the year and how fast 2018 has gone. It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was packing our cases for my 40th birthday Cruise to the Caribbean and yet it was back in February my family made the journey over to Florida.

We flew out to Orlando from Manchester and had 3 days in Universal Resort visiting Harry Potter World and enjoying a ride on the Hogwarts express. We had visited Orlando 3 years previously but my son was too short for some of the big rides and so we promised we would return once he had grown and so sailing out of Miami provided us with great opportunity to go back.

Leaving Orlando behind us we drove the 3 hours long straight road down to Miami for 2 nights in South Beach staying on Collins Avenue in the heart of the Art Deco area. Its a hive of activity and a great place to people watch. Here we met up with our favourite people our parents. My Children are very lucky to have wonderful Grandparents in my Mum and Inlaws. We have had many family holidays and this was to be our first Multi generation Cruise.

Our Cruise was onboard MSC Divina a 10 night sailing, the itinerary had changed since booking due to the awful damage caused from the hurricanes in 2017. We now had the first two days at sea to head down to the Southern Caribbean this was ideal to chill out and relax after the busy few days we had experienced. Our children enrolled in the children’s clubs and we discovered the Adults only area…

Divina is a stunning ship and spotlessly clean, our 4 Berth Inside Cabin was much larger than others we have stayed in.

Our 1st port of Call was St Thomas and it had been 20 years since my Mum and I had visited but we found although it had been battered by the hurricane it had hardly changed, We spent a lovely couple of hours on Magans Bay Beach .

St Kitts was a day we had been looking forward to for weeks as My mum had bought the children Swimming with Dolphins Experience as a Christmas present. It lived up to all of our expectations and great fun was had by all.

Martinique was full of surprises although I knew it was a French Island I didn’t expect it to feel so European. Every car was a Renault or Citroen they use Euros and it was such a refreshing change I loved it.

My favourite port was Barbados, its been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and it certainly didn’t disappoint we had a tour of the Island with a visit to the Singer Rhianna’s childhood home and then a trip down Sandy Lane to see how the other half live. We visited Oistins Fish Market fed the turtles and then spent the afternoon at the Beach is was perfect and a day i will never forget.

Our last Port of call before our 2 days at sea to get back to Miami was Guadeloupe again a french island but after the wealth of Barbados the day before this was a real shock as we we wandered around the streets of Ponte Pitre it felt like a third world country with pot holes in every pavement and road. We only had a couple of hours and had chosen not to do a shore excursion which I regret as I am sure we didn’t see this Island at its best.

We all had such an amazing holiday and the benefit of cruising when you holiday with a family of different ages and interests is that there is something for everyone to do. Our daughters enjoyed the teenagers activities onboard and Our Son loved the kids club so much he wanted to eat his meals with his new friends each evening and it was sometimes a struggle to get him to leave. I have mobility issues and being able to navigate around the ship at my own speed and knowing my cabin or a chair to rest in is never far away makes it a perfect way for us all to travel.

My Inlaws enjoyed all the shows in the the main theatre. We all loved the Michael Jackson Show that was a real highlight as my daughters are huge Fans.

Our final day we enjoyed a Shore Excursion to the Everglades national park, this was a great way to use the time before our overnight flight home to the UK and you take your suitcases with you and they drop you off at the airport on the way back to Miami.