Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Everything was ok until we had an emergency situation, the vessel couldn't go to the port due to weather conditions, the ship management didn't handle the situation to avoid more damage to the passenger's airline flies. They should take care of the passengers who had early flies, instead of giving numbers to make calls and restricted Intener access. We ended spending around $1100 to fly back to hour home in Florida

Very bad impression left. Arriving in Venice port 09,12,2016 brought us a lot of nerve and a loss of 884 euros. Because of you we were late for the plane flight and we had to buy new tickets.

The service people were very nice.  Entertainment was good.  BUT, You nickle and dime us to death.  Worse than any other cruise line.  (We have been on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess) As many other passengers that spoke with me I will not cruise with you again.  You grossly charge too much for a drink.   We  take 3 to 4 cruises a year.   You are going to start loosing your past current customers.  Three different couples told me they had cruised with you many times in the past but this was the last cruise they would take with you.  I am CEO of my company and if I heard that, I would be very concerned.  

We understand that this was a trial run for Norwegian Cruises.  The routing was good, except maybe Cyprus, which seemed to be a surprise to the islanders, as only a few of the shops and no banks were open.  The big flea market was not open.

The cruise line did offer buses to a central location in town at a couple of cruise stops for $15 each, which we appreciated.

The game that plays with the OBC borders on fraud.  I'm sure they are proud they are able to swindle so many of their customers out of the OBC by using fine print in the booking.  I can see people moving more to booking directly with these games!!

We loved the ambiance!  The crew staff were wonderful,  enthusiastic and

very helpful.  The dining staff were awesome..Table 65 with Nemanja & Maribel 

and another table with Mohammed & another gentleman.  They could not have

been more accommodating and pleasant.  The food in the dining room Aquarious was delicious!  The stateroom was very nice and our housekeeper Deswin was great.    One thing  however that we feel we would have wanted more of is free time on the excursions to have a sit down Grecian meal.  Although we tasted snack foods, we wanted enough time to enjoy an authentic Greek dish.  Otherwise we  would  recommend this cruise!

Great trip overall.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

A very relaxing cruise with not the most exciting destinations but still worth while.  Venice and Athens were great but unfortunately bad weather prevented us from getting into Kotor.  Argostoli was an unexpected gem.  The service onboard was excellent and the entertainment pretty good.  The food was not quite as good as usual.

Cruise was ok....good value for price. 

We had a balcony room. Very large and bathtub was a jet tub. It also has

d plenty of. Losers and a makeup area. I think the rooms were very nice. 

Cabin service was just ok. At the beginning of the cruise we asked that an ice bucket full of ice be placed in our room every day. Only happened 3 days out of the 7. Room was kept clean. It was only my husband and myself so we didn't cause much mess. 

Food was ok. Better than NCL. Nothing fabulous though....but plenty of healthy options. 

We ate at both main dining and buffet. 

We liked that we were never bombarded by pushy waitstaff trying to up-sell. What a pleasure!

All in all a good cruise....like I said. Excellent value. 

We enjoyed all the ports of call, particularly Dubrovnik which was a real surprise - a gorgeous place, our photo's don't do it justice.

The ship was a nice size - we usually go on the larger ships but it was so much easier and quicker to get where we needed to go.

Staff were friendly and helpful as usual - we always find this with RC.

Shows were not as good as on the bigger ships but that was fine.  We particularly enjoyed the daily quizzes !

Siobhan had included private transfers which was absolutely fantastic - I would definitely ask for that option again - so much less stressful than waiting for the coach transfer.  Brilliant, thankyou.

we were blessed wiht good weather apart form the last day - grey and raining in venice.

the embarkation process was a complete shambles - 6 queues before we could get on board - much too much security. Appalling, and terrible first impressions.

i felt the ship was too big with too many people for my liking, often had queues for breakfast // lunch etc.

however food was good, but breakfast room had either bacon OR sausage, not both. scrambled egg was wondeful. always lots of fresh fruit to chose from.

comfortable cabin with small side balcony, and great service, though hardly saw the 'cabin boy'. the theatre shows were mainly average. two swimming pools. useful gym. the main restaurant we were in was noisy and service was slow - we had to complain at the time, though not the waiters fault - he had too much to do. the resorts visited were super (Olympia the least exciting and Dubrovnik the best, in my view). Resort dis-Embarkation not so chaotic. did not agree with MSC policy that any alcolhol brought in resorts could not be  drunk onboard - obviously going to affeect their sales, but creates a monopoly. it wasn't possible to drink 14 bottles of water in 7 days despite my best efforts, so not a good deal. asian fusian restaurant was great - quiet and super food, but had to pay extra for this.Luggage delivery was fine. enjoyed the cruise apart from too many others onboard, but don't think I'll travel with MSC again.

This is our fourth cruise. We have tried Disney, Royal Carribean, Princess and   Celebrity Cruises. Since we have a point of comparison, we found several thingss that needs improvement. First, lobster dinners are part of the formal

 Night menu and

at

NO additional charge. Neither is the soft served ice cream/gelato on

board for

Sale. It has always been free

or

part or what was already paid.

Second, quality of entertainment is repetitive.

First time

we

watched a show that changes the thene for the night but juggler and acrobatic acts are mainstay of entertianment.  Boring!

Lastly, please

provide a

movie theater. If. When bored to death of repetitive shows, we would have gone to

watchibg movies.

instead

One highlight of the cruise, the

Filipino

crews on board. They provided excellent service as expected

THe cabins were excellent and the tour options and arrangements were very good.WE are mostly vegeterian and that was challenging despite trying hard from very early on as many veg options has chicken stock or were sweet smoothies which we try to avoid.

The entire staff and crew of the Seven Seas Explorer were outstanding.  I think they like being on the ship as much as the guests do!!!  When you love your job -- it shows!!

Overall the cruise was good. Food was excellent. Itinerary was good. However there was a lack of entertainment in English.  The safety drill was conducted in several languages but English. 

This was my first cruise, so I have only my experience and the reports of others to go off from. 

The staff was friendly, though most assumed we spoke Spanish, and we needed to gently correct them often. Thankfully our waiter and room-keeper figured it out quickly, and spoke English to us when they interacted with us. They were kind, really all the staff seemed kind, even when struggling with English.

The food in the shared meal times was mediocre. Certainly edible most of the time, but nothing made me say "wow" or "Yum!" or "that was delicious!". There wasn't much variety day-to-day, and several dishes called by different names were actually the same as other dishes, especially the soups. Perhaps the exclusive additional-fee dinners were better, but we couldn't afford to buy them. We couldn't put our finger on why we didn't care for the food, but we think it might be that the food just didn't seem prepared fresh with fresh ingredients. 

Yes, it's true, you can't bring alcohol or some foods on board. We were allowed to bring water and crackers and fruit, but the alcohol they "confiscate" and give back to you at the end of the trip. If you manage to get wine past the x-ray machines, as we met one guest who did, the staff won't have corkscrews to open it. Lunch leftovers were apparently forbidden, they made us leave the ship to throw it away. Yes, at every stop we had to pass ourselves and our baggage through one, often two x-ray machines every time we got on board, (this is where they confiscate the alcohol and record who it belongs to). Though at the end of our trip in Athens they didn't seem to care much, just waved everyone through.

The entertainment left much to be desired. Nothing sounded interesting or good, or in some other language. The one time we did see entertainment, it was very weak, but at least we stuck through it to say we saw one.

Not surprisingly most everything was expensive, or an added price. One surprise we didn't like was the mandatory 10 euro per person per night tip automatically added every day to our account. We didn't know that was coming, and that really soured our experience. We only found out by accident, and it turned our gratitude into bitterness. There's no heart in a mandatory fee, and since we weren't aware of it, it felt like a sucker punch. We're on our honeymoon on a tight budget, and they secretly add this expensive fee? That sucked. We found out a few days in by accident, but at the end of the trip during a disembarkation meeting in English, the Staff member told us that it had been added to our accounts (only when someone asked about gratuities of course), and based upon the looks of the other English speaking guests, they didn't know it was coming either. Bad form Costa. Maybe it's common, I don't know, but it wasn't a fun way to find out.

The bed was okay, not too hard or soft nor scratchy, but as a honeymooning couple, we didn't like the fact that the twin or queen-sized bed was made up of two single mattresses. Left an uncomfortable seam right down the middle of the bed. We needed to tell the front desk when we needed sheets changed, otherwise they don't change them.

Lest I be totally negative and neglect the good that was truly there, there were good things we liked. The ship and facilities were always clean and well kept. The staff was kind. The places we visited were good. The Daily update on places, weather, sea weather, excursions were helpful. The international breakfast option was nice to have. The lounge areas looked good for those who wanted to use it, and the pianist/cover artist was pretty good. The front desk staff thankfully spoke good enough English to help us when we had questions. They were accommodating of my wife's gluten-free needs, though the bread wasn't nearly as good of course.

This cruise was not pleasant. very disappointing. See below for detail.

"Tell us more! Review text must be at least 150 characters." is too demanding.

...............................

Very well organized, friendly staff, good food,adequate cabin, entertainment poor, fantastic Captain ! definitely go on this ship again and highly recommend it.

Everything was great.

I was just " mad" at 2 issues.

1. "Crazy" prices on alcoholic drinks. ( Outrageous)

2. The involvement, of me as a passenger, in salary

Of the : water,assistent water, etc.

It's simply, not fair !!!

I would definitely recommend the cruise to all, food excellent, service good and value for money excellent.  The only thing I would caution new clients is the English speaking  clients are few, therefore not always geared to the expectations of some people. It did affect the availability of some shore excursions for English speaking clients.  Overall a good cruise!

We are not at all displeased with our cruise experience. The staff, and in particular the butler Wilfred and Sineed, were terrific. 

The food @ the restaurants was especially good and again the staff and service was impeccable. Vladimir @ ocean liners could not have been more accommodating and Elmer in the Tuscan grille was very knowledgeable and could not do enough for us.

 The condition of the ship was the only drawback that we were not pleased about.

The boards beneath the sliders was ready to fall off, there were paint chips all around the hot tub, and the counter in the bathroom had a large piece broken off it. As I understand it you're planning an upgrade for the ship, that's good. Six of us had dinner with the Captain and he was a most charming and interesting gentleman.

Thanx

George Kelly and Diane Whitten.