Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

WE SAILED OUT OF CIVITAVECCHIA GOING TO GREECE AND TURKEY. THE ROOMS ON THE SHIP WERE WELL APPOINTED. I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT AN ITALIAN CRUISE LINE WOULD HAVE FABULOUS FOOD------NOT! UNDERCOOKED PASTA, THE FOOD WAS JUST POOR AT BEST!

Costa is not a low-price cruiseline- it is a CHEAP one

The Silversea Whisper, true luxury from the very beginning to debarkation. Our suite was spacious and beautifully maintained, with a balcony, 2-sink bathroom, separate shower, separate tub Storage space was superb, and someone like Imelda Marcos could bring most of her shoes aboard! With only 380-passengers max., crowds are never a problem either at sea or in ports. The food and wines served are outstanding - only your hand over the glass inhibits the pouring of wines! Every crew member appears to be a "graduate of charm school!" Maintenance is high and very consistent! Travelers who enjoy luxury, in a non-stuffy atmosphere and who enjoy not being "herded" will totally enjoy the endless amenities of this outstanding ship. 1

Everything was wonderful on the ship. You were well taken care of and everyone was so friendly and catered to your every need. The shore excursions were carefully planned and were described very well. I had the best time of my life and was able to relax when I wanted. I really like the open seating in the dining room and you weren't with the same people every night. The 2 specialty dining rooms had excellent food and service. My friend and I had no complaints at all. If you didn't have a good time it would had to of been by your own fault not by anyone on the ship.

At some of the ports take the tours. But if you are an European traveler and feel that you can make it on your own with the public transport system then do. In athens take the Public Bus to all the places you want to go and the trains too. The bus cost you .50 euro cents. While in Santorini take a cab to the end of the island to view the town. It cost me 40 Euros for the four of us to ride in the cab. The driver waited for us and took us back to the drop off point for the cruise. Also when you have to use the tenders to get off the ship go down to the door and wait. We had a very high number in Santorini and was waiting and was able to leave the ship as soon as we got down to the tender area. The food service was good and were at times saying we need to stop eating. Buy the pre paid drinks for the ship they are a good value if you drink a lot of bottle water. The price for a coke or the bottle water is the same when you prepay but you get a liter of water and only a can of soda.

The Gem was just Beautiful, No problem dining in the two non-pay restaurants. They add new itmes nightly and they were just delicious. Did feel rushed though while dining. Never ate in the pay restaurants. We live in Fairfield County and have all these food choices here. Stayed in a balcony suite. Rooms was spacious and gorgeous. We originally booked a balcony only, but received an e-mail week before to upgrade to balcony suite for an additional $75.00 per person total. Not per day. Nighly entertainment was great!! We had many choices. Did not care for buffet area and avoided it. To crowded and not enough seating.

This was my 15th cruise, and it was the worst food service that I have ever experienced. This is not your so-called Free-Style Dining that you advertise, when we had to wait over 55 minutes to be seated when there were several tables available. We also were not allowed to eat with 8 people even thought there were 4 empty table set up for 8 people that were not occupied the entire time. This waiting and seating problems happened several times. The service in the dining area was also very slow.

WOW HOT MAMASITAS !

We as a family, we loved the cruise almost everything was perfect, the only thing was a little bit disorganized was the teenager club. My daughter has 12 years old, and there were so many kids from her same age, that they were all spread out and a little bit bored.

we were on our honey moon so we got our tours from concierge-of -istanbul.com service provider it was the best in Kusadasi and in Istanbul.

INITIAL IMPRESSION: My wife and I boarded the Costa Concordia for our honeymoon in December and embarked on a 10 day cruise of the Eastern Mediterranean. As soon as we boarded we felt unwelcome. We contacted the Costa customer service before we boarded and were told that the cruise staff would provide us with items such as bathrobes, slippers and champagne for our honeymoon. When we boarded I spoke to customer service about it and they flatly denied that they do this for couples. Right off the bat, Costa was frustrating. After this we tried to enjoy our cruise on board the Concordia but found this to be difficult. STAFF ON BOARD: The staff on board the Concordia is not helpful in the least. I am a very easy going person but found myself getting extremely frustrated with the staff. When asking the customer service desk for information about ports, they had no idea what they were talking about. They would give me a map and expect me to figure it out on my own. Even when I asked specific questions about transportation off the ship, they would guess at the answer and shrug their shoulders. The waiters were also very slow with the exception of our waiter at dinner. Most bar staff and wait staff never smiled at us or even bothered to seat us. We even observed many of bar and wait staff text messaging people on their cell phones constantly. Our cabin steward was the best staff member on the ship. He was the only one who went out of his way to help us. When smoke was billowing in our room from the adjoining cabin, customer service told us we would have to deal with it. We asked our cabin boy to tape the door shut which solved the problem. SMOKING ON BOARD: Europeans smoke everywhere. There were some sections of the ship which were deemed non-smoking, but the people on board rarely observed these restrictions. The bars were often so choked with cigarette smoke that we couldn't stand being there. The casino was especially bad. If you are sensitive to smoke, do not choose this ship. FOOD AND ITINERARY: These were the two good things about the ship. The seated dinner was very good. We ate there almost every night and were rarely disappointed. The buffet breakfast and lunch were another matter. There was rarely a variety at the buffet and it really wasn't very good. The itinerary for our trip was incredible. If you choose to this trip, do it for the sole purpose of seeing some of the most incredible places on earth. The Pyramids of Giza, The Acropolis in Athens, Old Rhodes (which is absolutely incredible), Rome, and the site of the ancient Olympics to name a few. LASTING IMPRESSION: What I came away from this trip with was a greater understanding of many world cultures and some of the best pictures I will ever take. On the other hand, my wife and I will never take another Costa cruise, nor will we ever recommend the company to anyone. The staff was awful, many of whom complained about Costa to passengers, including us. In fact, Costa no longer allows passengers to leave tips in the envelopes like on most other ships. They now take 20% directly from the price you paid for the cruise and tip according to the surveys you fill out at the end of the cruise. If a staff member gets low ratings, Costa keeps the excess amount (at least this is what we were told by a number of staff members). Also, being an American on a European cruise is nothing but a headache. The Italians especially have no respect for lines of people. The will push, shove, cut, and basically do anything to get what they want with no respect for other people. Trust me when I say that you will be frustrated by the people on this ship. DO NOT SAIL WITH COSTA FOR THE SAILING EXPERIENCE. Sail with Costa only for the itinerary.

The ship is much bigger than I thought. Much better looking and bigger than most of the Royal Caribbean ships. The captain docked the ship with such finesse that you could not even feel the slightest bump. The ship maintained stability and speed very well despite rough seas for 12 hours and got us to the next port of call right on time. Feel very secure on board of this ship.

Nice Ship. Great entertainment. (Just one stinker..a Billy Joel impersonator that sounded like he'd never heard Billy Joel sing).) Great ports (Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Athens, Olympia, Kusadasi/Ephesus), Rome

The ship is old showing wear and tear. The food was not special. The gym was inadequate for the number of passengers. The entertainment was ok except for a juggling act that was complete nonsence. The ships dancers and singers were good. The planned ports of call scheduled two on Sundays so there were no shops open. The water pressure was very poor. The art auction were extreme and over the top. The enforcement of children in the pool and hot tubs were not followed. The prices of bottled water was outrageous.

smoky, dirty lack of attention to detail!!!!

First let me say that this ship went out of Venice to Greece and Croatia. for half of the year it goes out from Fort Lauderdale and the staff and food changes. This is my 7th cruise and was horrified at many things. There was blatant discrimination against Americans the entire time we were on the ship. This is mainly an Italian ship with Italian staff and crew. We were treated poorly, they group everyone by nationality on the tender boats, excursions, etc. Guess who was always last? We were. We waited for hours to leave the ship for an excursion because the English went last and they let the entire ship off before us. We were not the only Americans that felt this way. We complained to the front desk numerous times and finally ended up getting a bottle of champagne for the way were treated. There are absolutely no rules on this ship. Hottubs were to be for no one under 18 and at all times there were 12-15 kids in each hottub. We complained non-stop and they said they had no one to enforce the rule. Kids from the age of 1 to 15 were in all the bars, clogging the dance floors, at all the shows, in the casino and running rampant in the hallways. We would go into the theater for the horrible shows and we would trip over the line of strollers that lined the rows. The worst food I have ever had in my life. The airline food we had going over and back was like a 5 star meal compared to this. Shrimp the texture of mashed potatoes, rotten fish, beef the consistency of shoe leather and virtually everything on their menu was pre-frozen. Yuck! The absolutely only redeeming factor was the itinerary and even that needed some work.

Cruised the Mediterranean Venice to Barcelona Oct 2006. We booked concierge class expecting excellent service. Stale canapes delievered each afternoon. Unable to find our room attendant and only saw her twice on the whole cruise. Ship board activites were limited, we were fortunate that we only had a few sea days. We were told at every port the pool and spas would get repaired and it never happend the whole cruise. In past cruises we really enjoyed touring the ship, swimming, hot tubbing, activities and excellent choices of food with great bufffets which this ship was deeply lacking. The tours were booked through Celebrity and they turned out to be the best part of the cruise. We talked to many other passengers on other cruises and were told Celebrity was upscale with the food and service being exceptional. With the prices being higher for a Celebrity cruise we expected more and got much less.

we took a week long cruise from Rome to the Greek Isles on Costa and had a great time. The value was incredible, the food was fine, better at times than others but for the money the cruise was well worth more than we spent. The Crew was wonderful, always very helpful. We are taking another costa cruise next month this time for three weeks

I thought the food could of been better! The desserts werent that great either! Some of the shows/entertainment wasnt that great. The Staff was amazing!! The cabins were ok... There was a good amount of room for our clothing anf stuff

Just terribly overpriced for the money. Oceania is a far better deal. This line is a cult. I may be the only curmudgeon here. If you expect to get really first class service, forget it.