Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Overall, a great cruise, lots of fantastic memories, great crew, very friendly, interactive with the kids. The ports were also really good, none of them were places I wouldn't consider going back to at some point. Second cruise with Marella, and would go back again in the future.

This was the very first cruise I've every been on. I was somewhat sceptical about Virgin Voyages, but I needn't have been. We was approached by Virgin staff as soon as we stepped foot out of our taxi. They confirmed our details and took our luggage from us, advising it would be waiting outside our cabin once we'd boarded - and it was. We were given our lovely anchor wristbands in the terminal and told where our cabins were. On boarding, there was a warm welcome (nothing over-the-top). We got a drink and then made our way to our cabins (sea view). The cabin was lovely and clean. The food on board was absolutely lovely, the drinks were not over-priced (which I expected). We didn't spend all of our on-board drinks credit (and we do like a drink or three!) There was no "in-your-face" pushy staff trying to get you to join in. Every member of staff you walked passed was smiling and friendly. Some evening entertainment was very "adult" so if offended, then just get up and leave. I found it hilarious. It was such a great, relaxed atmosphere on board. The only criticism about Virgin Voyages is.....the tv advertising! Tone it down Virgin. You make it look like one hell of a party ship with lots of bling. It's absolutely not like that. Yes, there are parties; PJ party, 80's night and Scarlett night. But these are not over-the-top drunken parties and you certainly don't have to join in. That said, I wasn't going to do the Scarlett night but go unknowingly side-lined into it and well, what can I say.....it was absolutely brilliant. On chatting to other cruisers on-board who'd done other cruise lines, all said that Virgin Voyages was the best they'd done. So well done Virgin Voyages on an absolutely great first-time, ever, cruise. Roll on May 2024 when the ship repositions back to Athens for our next 10-night cruise around the Adriatic (we've talked friends into coming this time who've never cruised before). Oh, and just on another note! Solo-sailors, (our daughter opted to go as a solo-sailor) this is a fabulous cruise for you. If you want to stay on your own, then that's great; however, Virgin arrange solo-sailor meet up's so you get to meet other solo-sailors too.

The weather was very hot and humid, dripping wet with sweat everyday but we still had an amazing time. Our cruise was very comfortable and relaxing after long hot days in port.

İn trieste when i am sleeping in my room msc workey hop on my balcony and start hammering rust on my balcony at 9:00 am at the morning i went to reseption and told them they said its normal its maintanance toilet flush sytem does not work 8:30 to 9:30 morning in 2/07/23 always crowd everyehere wait for elevators always very bad food and service no privacey on room

NCL is fine usually. Don’t like how much the charge for laundry with no self service machines, how much they charge for water, how much they charge to use the spa facilities. They are constantly trying to get more money. This cruise the service and food was worse than usual.

We were traveling with young kids and just wished that the pool was more kid friendly and that kids club was open longer. I’m guessing that they don’t want parents to go into port if their kids are in kids club, but it seems that the system could not allow parents to scan out when trying to disembark. Other than that everything was great.

Besides a couple of disappointments at the restaurants, the cruise was very relaxing and enjoyable. The employees on board were always friendly and had smiles on their faces no matter what kind of day they were having. It is because of them that our stay on board is memorable.

If we have time and resources, we'll go back to Greece for more! If we don't, we've had a great, grand look at Athens and a few of the wonderful islands!

It was the worst vocation we ever had. I have high cleaning standarts and royal caribian faild in that. And I have high moral standarts and royal caribbean faild in that allso. I had high hopes and was Really disapointed.

Royal Caribbean is organized and efficient. The crew was extremely friendly and helpful. They sent buses to pick us up from the Bologna train station when the Ravenna train station flooded. They kept us informed of every step. There was plenty to do on board. I had teenagers with me and they were quite occupied! All the ports were magnificent!

If you have a family do not book MSC Cruises!!! They will split your family. That's what they did we us. We book 2 rooms with 6 months in advance, one in front of the other. 2 weeks before the departure we learned that they changed one of the rooms to 3 decks above. We called and emailed many times before the trip, but nothing helped. They claimed they couldn't do anything and we should try to sort it out when we embark. In the ship, we got the same unsympathetic treatment: the ship was full and there was nothing they could do. After 2 days insisting they advise us to find someone that would be willing to change room with us (?!?!?!?!). Worst of all, we talked with one of the room cleaning supervisor, and he claimed that it was a lie and there were still rooms available. So this is how we spent our vacations: walking 200m and 3 stairs many times a day to see each other and the kids must sleep separately. Their Kids Club is probably one of the worst we ever seen. They bring the kids to the theater to make (paid) photos and watch series and call this an activity. They serve only junk food (fries, nuggets and spaghetti) for all meals. Their claimed Basketball basket doesn't exist. Their disinfectant dispenser doesn't work and their swimming pool is freezing cold so that half of the ship was sick in the last days (we also got sick). So, if you have a family, don't want to be split, don't want to get sick and want a healthy Kids Club: DO NOT BOOK MSC.

Overall excellent. Guest Services was appalling but everyone else fantastic . Ports were great except Rijeka and Santorini which seeemed like afterthoughts and poorly planned. The Venice miss was serious issue and really no excuse for the poor communication

Overall, the cruise is fabulous! It was the NCL personnel and their inability to keep their word. Integrity is everything, especially when customers are spending literally thousands of dollars on dream vacations! There is no excuse for bait and switch - EVER! Then when we went to Guest Services, we get stares back looking at us like "deer in headlights". After waiting 40 minutes or so in LONG lines in front of the Guest Services desk - obviously we were not the only guests confused about our on board charges. My credit card was being charged on a DAILY basis for the first two days of our cruise until I complained again. My husband and I wasted over a half day waiting in lines to straighten things out! NCL needs to stop making these 'freebie' promises they do not intend to keep!

On the last cruise with Carnival, this lying sack of sh&^ said if I ever cruised with Royal Caribbean, I would not go back to Carnival. So, made a reservation for the Greek Islands on Explorer of the sea departed on May 14th. The embarkation in Italy could not have been more poorly managed. Passengers were all soaking wet from the pouring rains prior to stepping on the ship. The balcony cabins were much smaller than Carnival's and the whole ship was quite dated. No fridges in the rooms unlike Carnival but they had these useless things they called "coolers" which 3 days later, the temperature of the water bottle in it had not changed and when I complained, they said that's how they work and that they are "coolers" not mini refrigerators. On Carnival we could buy sodas and beers for the room to have in the mini fridge. On Royal Caribbean, for your drinks, you either have to call room service or the bar at 4 times the price. The only thing they would sell you for your cabin was bottled water that tasted weird as it was made on the ship from the sea water. Buffet food was not nearly as good as Carnival's. The room attendant and the servers at the dining hall were amazing but not the food. Carnival had a laundry room to do your own laundry. On RC, they want you to send them all to the laundry service to squeeze you more. Found RC to be so cheap for nickel and diming us for everything. First and last time with RC. Due to the rains, there were water puddles every on the outer decks. While trying to keep the shoes dry, I started looking down to be able to walk around these water puddles. While looking down, I hit my head so hard against this 5" pipe sticking out, that a golf ball started to grow out of the side of my head. I rushed to the medical facility, saw the doctor and kept telling me that visit will not cost me anything when I had the right to sue them. A "safety" officer came out andconcluded that there is a CCTV camera where that happened. He said he'd review the video. Whoever hears about this, says I should had asked for compensation. These SOB's on RC, never mentioned any compensation, not even a premium dinner. So DONE with RC. Going back to Carnival.

This would have been the perfect cruise if it wasn't for "free" perks that we still ended up getting charged for in full. Our first night at dinner, our waiter told us that because we had "PRTY" on our room key, that means we get all the free drinks we want. So we ordered a glass of wine. He proceeded to tell an elderly couple near our table the same thing after he also saw on the room key "PRTY". They were as pleasantly surprised as we were. We were told by both RCI and NCL that we were allowed up to $15 per person, per day on drinks. To our shock at the end of our dinners - us and the couple nearby - the waiter came back insisting we sign a receipt that charges us IN FULL for our drinks! The elderly couple nearby went ahead and signed theirs. After what happened in the spa, I made a big stink about what the waiter did, leading us to believe that we could order any drink for free, then at the end of our dinner insisting we sign a receipt that we agree to pay for our drink in full. We refused to sign as we believed the waiter. The waiter finally reversed the charge. We never returned to that restaurant again! The cruise next desk, I only inquired on an Asia cruise and the matching $250 cruise next certificate NCL was offering while sailing. Next thing I know, I receive a message from my bank letting me know of a $1000.00 credit card charge. Then I find out the cruise next desk went ahead and booked me for the cruise, unbeknownst to me and unauthorized to charge my credit card. I had to wait in line the next day to reverse the charge and cancel the Asia cruise since my husband and I hadn't really decided on it yet. The cruise next rep told me I could gift any of the certificates if I can't use them. I. WAS. LIVID! I had the guy cancel everything out and told him I just want ONE cruise next certificate. I took our cruise week for that $1000.00 charge to clear out.

We've booked this trip to spend some quality time with the family and it was a very good decision. The ports were accessible, the weather was nice, the food and drinks were very good and quite lots of things to do on the ship. Really enjoyed my time on Norwegian Gem.

The cruise was great. The meat at the Pollo Grill could use some aging or better cuts. It was too tough. A little more variety at the regular eating places. If you are there for more than a week, you get the same menus. Entertainment was fabulous. The Italian tenor was spectacular and Samantha Ivey was so good. Enjoyed the dancers/ singers. Great talent. Comedian was very good.

We chose this cruise for the itinerary and are very glad we did because going to Greek islands and Jerusalem was amazing. And we were satisified with the room, service and food received. Perhaps there is not many activities inside the ship but we hardly had time to stay inside the ship anyway (and like I said, we booked it for the itinerary, not for ship's activities).

Booked the cruise for the ports of calls only. Our time was NOT respected through the processes. MSC needs to work on their logistics, and improve onboard food and entertainment.

Don’t get sick! – Abandoned by Azamara We are not people to post reviews, but we feel out of options, and we do not want others to experience what we are going through with Azamara. We are a very healthy couple 59 and 60. The cruise, the ship and staff were great, we were getting all that we hoped for. Halfway into our cruise on the Azamara Journey from Venice to Rome in April 2023, I became sick and was sent to shore with my wife by the ship doctor to get checked-out by the local clinic/hospital. We had to leave our two adult children on board, we were told to bring our luggage. Once ashore, we were totally abandoned even though they gave us assurances that we were to be contacted and escorted by their team to assist us. We spoke no Italian, we had no accommodations, the ambulance took me to a hospital, my wife was left to lift and haul all our luggage. While in hospital, the ambulance driver handed me a phone, an Azamara representative told me that we were not permitted back on the ship and that we had to find our own way to Rome. My wife could not visit at the hospital, she could not find out my condition as we shared a phone between us, she took it upon herself to find a hotel using her credit card concierge service, no taxis were available to take her to the hotel. It was physically and emotionally tragic on my wife, she is one of the most competent and resourceful people I know... and this broke her. We have made multiple attempts, both during our abandonment and the months after to get a response from Azamara. There has been no response at all from Azamara. So much went wrong, we want to be compensated in some way for lack of support, leaving our kids, not being able to return to the ship after getting a clear certificate of health from the local hospital the very same evening, the ship was still in the harbour for the next four hours! We were misguided, no support, huge lack of coordination from ship to shore, large extra costs were incurred on hotels, trains, taxis to make our way to Rome, not to mention losing half our cruise. We are not happy. Fortunately, I recovered by that evening. It is bad enough to get sick on a cruise, but to be abandoned by a world class cruise company is unacceptable.