We were interested in a Mediterranean cruise over Thanksgiving holidays, and after doing some research, the MSC Divina became an obvious choice for the following reasons: 1) brand new ship, made it's maiden voyage in July 2012 2) kids cruise free when booked with two adults 3) my mother was cruising with us, and they had a reasonable price for a single room occupant 4) great port-of-calls: Barcelona (our embarkation port), Canary Islands, Casablanca, Madeira Islands, Malaga, Rome, Genoa.

We flew into Barcelona the day of embarkation, and in retrospect, we should have arrived at least a day or two earlier. There was a general strike in Barcelona, and we were fortunate to be able to arrive a day after the strike. The port was close to the airport, but since we were traveling with 5 adults and 2 kids (my wife and I, my mother, my mother-in-law and father-in-law, and my two boys ages 9 and 7), we were able to get a 1/2 day tour with Barcelona Day Tours, who picked us up from the airport, took us to all the highlights in the city (Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Las Ramblas, several Gaudi houses), and they also dropped us off at the port.

The embarkation at Barcelona was OK, no major hassles, but we were VERY tired by mid-afternoon, because of jet-lag and time differences. It would have been nice to get on-board faster, especially with young children, but we waited for about 2 hours overall (we arrive by noon), and about 1 hour in line. Read more