Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The Splendour was very nice and just the right size, easy to find your way around and bump into people you met earlier.

Disappointed we couldn't get into Athens.  and also with the entertainment,  if you went to the 8:30 dining,  you missed the better part of what was going on.

Overall everything was great!

It's so unfortunate that me and my wife's 20th Wedding Anniversary was impacted by the Harbor Pilot's strike at Piraeus (Athens), Greece, preventing us from visiting, what I expected to be, the pinnacle of our cruise. Not the ship or crew's fault, but beware of your itinerary and any lingering tensions, ongoing negotiations, with private and/or public entities which could impact your travel. 

As for the cruise itself:  I was almost immediately unimpressed by the ports-of-call.

In my opinion, these ports were chosen by R/C to minimize costs, placate tourist bureaus while satisfying the uninitiated. Several of the ports looked exactly like the ones before. Despite being within easy sailing distance of ancient Greek ruins the ports on this trip had none. The excursions we purchased were great, in as far as, being entertaining, but still lacked 'WOW' and, despite the expense, water was not made available at any time on the 4-5 hours of our sunny exposition.

The cruise ship itself (Splendor of the Seas) was immaculately clean, well maintained, and well manned. Great efforts were taken to limit the possibility of contracting the infamous Norovirus. But still, my wife and I both contracted a respiratory infection. which hit us on the final days. So many folks with inherent afflictions just don't bother to cover their mouths when they cough. The breakfast buffet was atrocious. Trying to please everyone meant a sacrifice for many. The scrambled eggs, for example, were horrid. The disorganized buffet style meant people would rudely overtake you. No disappointments with main dining, etc., Waite staff was excellent and dynamic and the food excellent. Just expected more included alternate eatery options. The on-board entertainment was just OK. Some of the shows were too brief while others were just plain lame for the middle-aged.

Service, friendliness, great ports....what more??  Great food!  Visually appealing dinners and delicious. C & R  officer Alex Medvedev, was the best.. 

Everyone onboard the ship are wonderful people. They are always willing to help you any way they can. I have been on the Star and they also were just as friendly.  When I cruise again, I will be going on with the Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We were on back to back cruises on the Norwegian Jade. The ship itself was an average ship compared to others we have been on. The itinerary was the main reason we took this particular cruise. On this cruise, the second week of 2, there was a fair number of new staff that embarked and this was for the good. The cruise on the first week, the staff was anything but exemplary. Most looked tired of working and were not very friendly. This cruise was much better especially for the bartenders. The other issue was the ship, especially the bar, were short of staff. This caused long waits at time for drinks. One bartender in a busy bar is not enough. 

Thank you for offering such carefree and leisure free time. The staff has been extraordinary friendley and helpful again. Organisation of on and off board is perfectly managed. Food was delicious and the choice of ports was very interesting. This is is the only concern however. The small islands like Santorini or Mykonos seem to small for harboring more than one cruise ship at a time. Anyway, we are a part of the problem ourselves- understandable everyone loves cruising.

It would have been a 5 star if we wouldn't have had the bathroom issue, but once Celebrity was aware they took care of it right away.

Food was good, but the service was a little slow. We missed some of the night entertainment due to it taking 2 and half hours for dinner.

The ship was clean and the staff very friendly.

We had no issues in Istanbul, and Croatia was probably the highlight. Both ports were vey beautiful and clean.

The ship is not in the good shape. Stateroom air conditioner did not work, minibar  did not cool. Strong smell of urine in the stateroom bathroom. After multiple requests we were told that there was water under the floor tiles. Tiles were finally replaced. One of the closet doors had the broken hinge, the other hinge was loosing screws. the door almost fell down. Stateroom key/ship card stopped working, had to replace them 2 times. Aqua spa facilities sporadically stopped working for a few days, even we paid for a full cruise for using them.

1. Food is plentiful but not good quality.  Lacking in taste and creativity.

2.  Shore Excursion tour in Efesus:  POOR.  Guide was not knowledgeable, told us to look everything up on Google.  Rather than talk about ancient site, would show us pictures of his vacations on his smart phone.

3. Variety shows included an overwweight Dutch singer who had to constantly pull up her strapless gown....

4.  The main singers in the variety shows would almost shout, too loud, ending each song in a loud, shouting type falseto.... it gets boring when each song starts sounding the same.

5. On 2 occasions, the song repertiore was repeated by one solo artist one night, and the variety show singers the next night, or vice-versa.

After a brief visit to Turkey a few years back we wanted to go to Istanbul.  The October Constellation trip was a good price performer in the off season.  We even got the free tips package, which was also popular with the crew as these cannot be removed :) The embarkation was smooth and trouble free.  We took the Havatas Airport Bus (13TL) and stayed at The Point Hotel in Taksim Square which was right at the bus drop off.  We had the hotel call the cab in the morning to get to the ship.  Note- negotiate cab fares up front- meters are ignored.  This is a nice, well run ship.  We marveled at the view of Istanbul before we left and wished to stay longer.  We could find a decent beer (Leffe and an American Microbrew IPA) and the Captain was Greek and very entertaining and interesting.  I was super cranky at the posted sign when I went to try to change to Anytime Dining (full don't bother) and the MDR food was OK - they have no idea how to make soup.  The water for making tea was lukewarm as per legal requirements is a guess.  We heard a lot of grumbling it was hard to find free food later in the afternoon or very late at night. We love the MDR vs. the buffet experience and the service was flawless.   The highlight of the ship for us was the band- we like to ballroom dance.  Kathleen and The Saints were in the aft lounge every night.  The dance floor was a bit small but we made it work.  There was a fabulous Euro DJ (Inferno) who played every night in the Martini Bar.  Sadly you could not find him where there was a dance floor.  No smoke was noticed anywhere :) They would open the helicopter pad for important sightseeing spots and you could chat with the Officers (the Housekeeping Director was a great resource for questions) - this was a nice touch.  There was no piped in music in the library- yaa.  This was our first time on Celebrity.  They need a bigger variety of shore excursions at Kusadasi- we were less interested in ruins after 11 days.  The ports were excellent- Corfu was just amazing for the forts and Greek lunch.   

This was the first week of back to back cruises. The staff on this cruise was less than enthusiastic. the bars were under staffed and most bartenders could have been friendlier. They spent more time meaning the liquor in drinks than smiling. the itinerary was great especially the stop in Kusadisi - Ephesus. Amazing place, friendly people, great tour from an outside tour group.

Food was good to very good depending on where one dined. Our inside state room was tight but adequate.  One could bang their head on a poorly placed light fixture at the head of the bed especially in a rolling sea. There should be "P" & "S" and "fore" and "aft" markings at each stairwell/elevator. Entertainment varied from quite good to very mediocre. All ports except Corfu were worthwhile. It took us a week to discover certain things like where the daily weather report was located, where to find printed info on each port and other pertinent information. How to get this info should all be made available in the daily hand out. The safety/muster drill was a joke compared to those on other lines.TV service was VERY limited. The BBC station only carried weather reports for South America. There was no DVD player in the room and no DVD's to rent/borrow. Norwegian should look at what the airlines do with this media. Days at sea can get quite boring if you're not into napkin folding and things like that.

Don't do it.

We contracted a norovirus after a sea day on this trip and were confined to our cabin for 24hrs at the highlight of the trip, Ephesus.  There was nothing to do on board, no movies and expensive wifi ($40 a day) just channels telling you what expensive items you could buy on board, basically 24hrs of the shopping channel. RC offered us a small discount on another trip taken within one year, which we do not want, but have not paid for the $339 for their excursion we missed. (They physically refuse to let you off the ship until 24hrs from the time the virus starts, even if you feel better.)

We just came back from the Silver Spirit Cruise to Turkey & Greece. This was the 2nd Silver Seas Cruise we had gone on. Our travel agent was extremely helpful in obtaining hotels, transfers & tours, pre & post cruise which we really appreciated.

However, the cruise itself was a little disappointing with some of the service. This was surprising since the cruise was not fully booked. Our butler & his assistant were great as were the waiter & assistant in the dining room. George in charge of the restaurants was also excellent. The service in the Italian Restuarant as well as by the pool could have been better. Overall, the cruise was excellent & we would take Silver Seas again.

Loved the itinerary. Wonderful waking up in a new destination every day.  Wished we had a longer amount of time in each port.  Embarkation and Debarkation was smooth and efficient.  Room was clean with plenty of storage. Food was adequate, nothing special, nothing horrible.  Entertainment was mediocre.  Again, nothing special, but not horrible.  Not the cruise for you if you are expecting a lot of Americans or  English speaking people.  Although the crew speaks multiple languages and it was easy enough to communicate.    Overall a nice cruise!  I've had better, but what is not to love about being in Greece and Italy! 

We had a wonderful time on our trip!  We had the ultimate beverage and food package and would definitely recommend that for everyone.  The food at the specialty restaurants was unbelievable...we have never had steak as good as we did at Cagney's!  The staff was awesome and made our trip even more special.  We celebrated my sister's birthday and she had a wonderful time as well!

We booked 3 excursions with :  Corfu, Santorini, and Mykonos.  The only excursion we were not happy with was the one to Corfu.  While the tour guide was very knowledgeable, she talked so much (especially about Greek history and mythology) that we were on overload.  The bus trip was long, no water was provided, there was no time left to eat lunch.  We came back to the ship after 3pm, hot, thirsty, tired and hungry!  The other two excursions were absolutely wonderful 

and the tour guides were awesome!  They were so knowledgeable and made the trip fun as well.  We did not have any problems getting back to the ship in time and loved the fact that these excursions did not have a ton of people on them like the ship's excursions did!  We would certainly recommend the Santorini and Mykonos excursions through .

All in all, a wonderful trip!

We were well pleased with our cruise. We had an inside cabin and was very pleased with the room and storage capability. The bathroom was large enough so that it functioned well. Bed was very comfortable even if a little tight getting in/out on the sides of the bed. 

We primarily used the basic restaurants and although the service was quite slow especially in the main Grand Pacific.. The Alkazar seemed to have better service and they both had the same menu. The decor and atmosphere at the GP was nicer but we prefered the better service at Alkazar.. Entertainment was great. We enjoyed all the shows and had a good variey of entertainment at the bars. Swimning pool was nice and the Spa area was enjoyable. My first 7 day cruise and would definately consider going on NCL once again

I like to have some quiet, relaxing time on a cruise. There was nowhere to be quiet on this ship - it seemed like a floating theme park with endless noise and overly loud music. Also, there were a lot of smokers on board, which surprised me as it wasn't allowed on previous cruises I've taken. Just not a good match for me.  

The excursions all went to places I wanted to see, so they were worth it, but the crowding was unbelievable. A tour guide told me that they had nobody there the day before, then 4 ships all came in on the same day! Several hundred people in numbered groups all trying to squeeze into tiny places. Very uncomfortable. There were enough buses and guides, but not enough streets/pathways/parking to allow access to the sites, in many places. This may not be Norwegian's fault, but some better planning is needed somewhere, as I understand this problem of too many ships at once happens often.

I wasn't excited about some of the buffet food - hot dogs and hamburgers - but it was fine for breakfast, though. The main restaurant had some enjoyable meals available. I like something special when on holiday, not just a slight upgrade on fast food that's everywhere. 

I was happy with the service, though - pleasant, friendly and helpful, particularly the stewards and waiters.

My first cruise and not my last. I absolutely loved this cruise destinations and the ship was amazing from the dining to entertainment was superb! I would definitely recommend this cruise to all my friends and family. Be sure to get the package deals if offered which I got and it was perfect included beverages, tips, and on board credit. Staff was amazing made new friends and can't wait to see them again on my next cruise.

It's my 1st time to me to take Cruise in Europe.  Out of my expectation, both for the cruise and all beautiful cities.  Costa Deliziosa​ is very suitable for family.  And I like the ​atmosphere onboard.  The only pity is that 5 hours ​excursion is too short, better add 1-2 hours for each city,