Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Overall the trip was great.  The food while good, was not great.  The activities were a bit on the boring side and not greatly varied.  The ports of call were wonderful!  However the shore excursions were not really worth the money. 

As experience cruisers, we were overall satisfied with the entertainment and food selections.  Cabin was very comfortable.  Bathroom was very spacious.  Love the fact that the shower had doors. Service people were lovely. Unfortunately we experience several problems during our stay on the Jade.  We had Cabin noise that was due to workers on the 12th deck placing lounge chairs down in the mornings.  Plumbing noise all night long along the outer wall of the cabin (11078) not typical bathroom noise.  Travel agent signed us up for dinning an soda package but we wanted the bar instead of the dinning package.  It told NCL until Wednesday to rectify the problem. Bar service at the pool side was lacking.  We had to get our drinks several times.  Especially on deck 13.  The need for Reinforcing underage at the spinnaker or any 18 and over lounge should be done by someone standing at the entrance checking ID.  

Overall, the cruise was nice.  I particularly liked the ports we visited, and the staff were very friendly.  One complaint I had though, was that it took so long to eat our meals.  I don't typically spend 5-6 hours every day eating, so this was very frustrating to me.  If they would have had eggs and other sources of protein on the breakfast buffet in the morning, I would have gone there, but they did not.  The lunch buffet was pretty decent though.

I was not impressed with most of the entertainment either.  Most of it bordered on trashy.  The schedule was quite hectic to try and see all of the sights, and I think it could have been more relaxing if they would have included another day at sea.  My favorite port was Montenegro!  Absolutely beautiful!  I got some great pics from everywhere we went!

Also, it is well worth it to upgrade to a balcony!  My only complaint there was that the ship was very noisy!  We were on the 8th floor, and the foosball table, and pool was on the 9th floor, and it was very noisy every night!  Pick a room at least 2 floors below the pool, and away from the music.

Princess runs these as 7 day cruises with four of them back to back for a total of a 28 day cruise.  We were on the 1st leg from Athens to Istanbul and the second from Istanbul to Rome.  The first leg was not as popular as the ship was not crowded and was mainly older couples.  That changed in Istanbul and the ship was packed with kids.  We were on the trip to see history sites so we were very pleased with the itinerary and never went on the excursions that most of the ship went on.  Please be aware that doing this in late July and August is very difficult as the temp and constant sunshine really wears down on you.

The ship was wonderful (steady as a rock) and the staff took good care of us, especially the cabin steward who was a jewel. The food was excellent in both the dining room and buffet. The ports of call were O.K. Had we anticipated the heat better, we would have booked this cruise in the Spring or Fall. Our bad. What we found disconcerting was the attitude of Princess, availing itself of every opportunity to separate us from our last euro. Very grasping. Indicator: their daily shipboard newsletter focused on port sites that were available on their tours, ignoring some wonderful sites (Naples Architectural Museum, etc.) that they offered no tours too and the countless bombarding of X % off this and that. It was easy to ignore but we were surrounded by it. Tours were not worth the money. Additionally, the cruises. com agent that booked our tour, Chris H., was very professional, helpful and thorough (and always accessible for our questions)

The boat was older and due to be updated. No much to do for younger children under 3. They only spent 4-5 hours in Santorini which i took i hour to commute to the shore and they wanted us on the boat 1 hour.  I would spend more money and also stop by Greece.  The food was good especially when they had special meals. Had a special menu for baby 12 months and under. Which was nice because they did not offer much for children under 3.

We will make sure to recommend this cruise to our friends.  We loved sitting on our balcony and enjoyed seeing all of the greek isles - well worth the added price.

In all honesty, overall I had a great time on the ship.  However, my friend and I paid a premium price to go on this cruise, hence I expected a premium experience.  The entertainment crew, staff, housekeeping and restaurant servers were wonderful!  With that said, there were some major issues that I will disclose. 1. Some of the events on the ships Compass/events schedule were cancelled, or simply did not happen, i.e. trivia night in the bar or majority rules game poolside.  It's a bit disappointing to visit a venue and have no one at least let us know that that the event was cancelled. 2. The ship is very outdated, it states that the Splendour of the Seas has some fairly recent renovations.  However, furniture, cabin A/C, toilet suction, Karaoke machine, overall decor of ship were either non-functioning or falling apart.  Again, please know that had the service and actual crew members not have compensated with their positive energy and focus on customer satisfaction, this would have been easily a dismal trip!  Lastly, in comparison to other cruise lines, the food quality was subpar at best.  The best meal I had was at that specialty dining Chef's Table and it was a pretty penny for a quality meal.

We loved the 8 night Greece & Turkey cruise out of Venice, Italy.  Enjoyed the outstanding destinations and excursions. Had a lovely stateroom with ocean-view. We liked the size of the ship--not too big. 

Hoped to have lots of fun.  The 2 small pools were not enough for this large ship.

Celebrity Constellation has too many people on it for the size of swimming pools.

Nice work out room. Buffet dinning was average. Night time seated dinning was     

excellent.  Wrong time of year to visit Venice, TOO HOT & SWEATY ! 

Entertainment was poor or average. Other than that Greek Islands were nice.

Had a wonderful time as first timers, staff were excellent courteous and helpful. The dinning was superb and the shows first class. Very impressed with the Equinox. It sailed extremely smoothly.

The cruise was wonderful, the food exceptional and the service provided by your staff was better than outstanding.  We were especially overly pleased with the outstanding service provided by our waiter, Pariman and his assistant, Valanki, and Sommeliers Milovan and Marco.

Highly recommend the Celebrity line, the Constellation ship and this cruise. Awesome destinations. Working with Eddie from United Cuises was the BEST experience and his helpful suggestions and expertise ensured a fabulous cruise for all of us in the group. Thank you Eddie! Thank you United Cruises!

Loved the ports of call!  Never a cloud in the sky.  The Splendour of the Seas was an older ship.  Apparently they added more staterooms which made my time dining nearly impossible.  We had to make reservations, the first available was 9:30 pm, which in my opinion is not my time dining.  We opted for the buffet but I felt cheated.  We did manage 3 nights in the dining room with reservations made way ahead of time.  Also breakfast, we were asked to leave our tables as soon as we were finished eating due to lack of space.  On the last sea day the waiter asked my kids (kids, 25 and 21) to leave a handicapped table.  Five vacant handicapped tables.  No other seats available.  They ate by the pool.  By the time my husband and I got to looking for a table all five handicap tables were occupied by unhandicapped people.  One table for two that hubby and I sat at.  Really?   We had met the waiter and chatted with him everyday at that table.  Never mentioned we shouldn't be sitting there. 

Overall we enjoyed our cruise, but the eating situation was definitely and issue! 

My wife and I celebrated our 15th anniversary aboard the Rhapsody of the Seas and had an incredible time.

The good:

- The staff is absolutely amazing.  Fabio in guest services, Karen in the Shore Excursions team, and even Bennett our stateroom attendant, were all excellent and went way above and beyond to answer any question and fulfill any request we had.

- The shore excursions were awesome.  A bit pricey but you'll get that on any cruise you go on, but there was a wide variety of unique opportunities (like kayaking around Santorini) to choose from to fit every taste and physical ability.  Would recommend booking early like we did however, as many of the ones we went on were sold out before the cruise even started.

- The specialty restaurants (Giovanni's, Chops Grille and Izumi) were spectacular with amazing food and waitstaff to match.

- Though older, the ship was very well maintained and extremely clean.

- The headliner shows offered on board were awesome and catered to many different age groups.

The bad:

- It is one of the smaller ships in the RC fleet so don't anticipate many of the amenities that other, newer ships have to offer.  That said, there are only two pools, each of which are not very big.  One of them was adult-only, but inside in a solarium.  If you wanted to be outside, there is only one pool area and on days at sea you better reserve your deck chair well before 9am or you'll be waiting a looong time for one to open up.

- The RC singers for their evening shows were awful.  Most of their "lead" vocalists were often off-tune or very pitchy such that we only attended the first of three shows featuring the RC singers and dancers.  Many audience members left during the first performance of the cruise.

In summary, though Rhapsody isn't the newest ship in the fleet, it was a teriffic host for an amazing cruise.  The destinations combined with the incredible staff of this ship made for an unforgettable experience!

JH

The ports of call that we docked at were great. Only 2 ports we had to be tendered at meaning you have to wait for hours to get off the ship. As soon as you board they are trying to get even more money from you. It becomes quite tiresome. After our cruise we saw that they had charged us twice for everything. I will not take a cruise with them again.

The Itinerary was near perfect. The locations visited were quite picturesque, especially Mekonos. If Santorini was also on the itinerary it would have been perfect. We booked excursions mostly on our own, so that we could limit the group size. This way, we saw the islands in a more private way, rather than with a bus load of people.  The rooms were a little small, but extremely clean. The housekeeping staff was wonderful. I was impressed with ship sanitation. They had hand sanitizing stations everywhere on the ship, and as you entered a public space staff suggested that you sanitize your hands. The main dining room  food and staff were marvelous. They took care of myself and family very well, quickly learning our names and knew what each of us wanted to drink upon arrival in the dining room.  I was a little disappointed in the main Windjammer buffet. Food was too often repeated and the scrambled eggs were dreadful. But, you could easily ask the omelet  chef to scramble eggs and they were perfect. Also, I thought it closed too early, 9:30pm. It should have stayed open until midnight.  We got the deluxe  drink package and was very pleased.   Drinks and Wine for example cost $9 to $14.  So,  If you had one or two drinks in the afternoon around the pool and two more at dinner and two later in the evening the package quickly paid for itself. Overall, I highly recommend Royal Caribbean. 

The 7-day cruise to the Greek Islands was outstanding.  We had a wonderful time and our 9 year son loved it (his second cruise).  Even though the Jade is an older ship then the Epic (our last ship), the rooms were nicer and the bathrooms much larger.  Santorini and Myknos were our two favorite islands (easy to explore on your own, don't buy the NCL tour packages).  Highly recommend the specialty dining and beverage package. 

First cruise, good trip - cruise package - speciality dining, ultimate beverage and onboard credit. Staff was good overall - polite and courteous.  Unfamiliar with how baggage is handled during embarkment and disembarkment.

We really enjoyed the cruise and our Penthouse stateroom but the destination of Greece is probably not at its best at the current economic climate. Difficult to obtain euros when you are at port and everything was a bit tired. People were lovely but a little on the desperate side, understandably, for your patronage.