Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Super good time. Best time to go I will say is end of September to 1st week of October.

the ship is ver nice not to big, the staff is very friendley ,and the food is good!it is a shame that we were not a ver long time in some of the ports

As first time cruisers we found this ship to be beautiful. The staff were excellent as were the shows and entertainment. Not many children on board and an older demographic which suited us fine!

We are a family of 4 (14 and 12 year olds) from Australia and we all enjoyed the cruise. We loved the almost daily port visits which is a contrast to the South Pacific cruises where you might go 3 days at sea. The food was good (not great). Cabin service very friendly. The passengers were generally from USA, UK and China. A good mix. Only a few kids/teenagers which was a shame for us but really you're at ports everyday so no big deal.

We had an amazing time! We missed out on 2 of our planned destinations, Due to strong winds. However, the captain made up for this by staying in Athens overnight. He also added an unexpected stop to Split, Croatia. It was a wonderful experience for my wife and I.

Beautiful ship! Beautiful suite! Absolutely wonderful crew!! We had the owner’s suite 10506. The best suite we have had so far. The ship is completely refurbished and gorgeous.

We also visited Monaco - you need to do the Hop on Hop Off bus - the ride is amazing through the tunnels! Although the tender transfers are not for the feint hearted!!

Cruise was great, no complaints, all the staff were brilliant, food and drinks excellent, loved the casino. Staff work really hard and do a great job but did realise they need more staff at peak times.

Thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. The ship is very well designed. The service was excellent. The entertainment great and the food delicious.

The ship itself is small carrying less than 2000 people the main issues we found is that there is no functional space big enough to accommodate passengers wishing to watch the shows provided by the animation team. This resulted in even if you found a seat, passenger standing in front of you obscuring your view with a result that you too had to stand to watch the show. That said the ship is very clean. The Cabins as you would expect are of a good standard we were in the new section of the ship added in the past few years so ours was not as old some of the others. On the most part I did not hear anything bad about the cabins or the service of the attendants ours seem to speak very little English and did not truly make herself known to us to provide the one on one service that you come to expect when booking a cruise. The ship has good dining rooms and facilities. We only used the buffet restaurant once choosing to have all our meals in the main restaurants this we found to be a great option with a greater array of choice. Without the greater numbers of people the noise and the pushing, barging and lack of tables that we found on our one visit to the buffet restaurants. The restaurant staff were very good always polite happy and willing to serve. The only issue that we found was that they did not seem do you want to serve tea or coffee at the end of the meal the option was never offered. That said they were in no hurry to push you out of the restaurant. The dining overall was fair but it was noted that the same menus were offered this year as were offered last year with no variance so even though we had a choice it did seem a repetition and that you had been there before. Again as with our previous trip. It was noted that the level of competent staff seem to have dropped, this again can be attributed to the launch of the new MSC mega cruise ships. Again a few staff seem to have been moved into positions that they were struggling to provide the level of service required. When spending this kind of money you expect first class service at all times. The ship seems to mainly cater for the Italians who seem to make up the vast majority after passengers. This caused many issues with some passenger who had never sailed with MSC before who thought they were treated as second rate passengers and pushed to the back of the que where service was concerned. There was a great push for you to buy the on-board packages provided this was especially true with the drinks package, a few people who had brought the drink package mentioned and it was indeed the case that the service in the bars was very slow. People that we spoke to were of the opinion that this was so you drink less and therefore could not use the drinks package to its full potential. We did observe servers in the bars ignoring passengers who had recently arrived and were waiting to be served. I myself opted to go to the bar on more than one occasion to get served as this had happened to me. I did find the bar staff in most cases to be helpful but again I did notice passengers orders were being combined by the servers to be taken out at one time instead of being taken out when you order was completed this meant that some servers carrying as many as 10 to 15 drinks on a tray at one time. This resulted in some passengers waiting up to 30 minutes to get their drinks. Where two or three trips could have to have been made to better service the passengers and reduce just waiting time that so annoyed most passengers. I know of at least 4 groups of passengers who refused to pay the service charges mainly due the level of service they received in the bar areas of the ship. This cannot be a great thing for MSC. MSC need to realise that they are judged as a brand on all their fleet. The older and smaller cruise ships with lower standards of service affect how passengers and potential customers perceive the brand. Whilst talking to passengers a number stated that they would never use MSC again based solely on the experience of this Cruise. We have another cruise booked with MSC in May next year and I am hoping that there is a vast improvement in the level of service that we receive or that to maybe the last MSC cruise we undertake. The itinerary for the cruise looked wonderful with great destinations what we did find was that on closer investigation some of the stops were only 6 hours this resulted in rushed time ashore with the constant worry and an eye on the time you had to be back on the ship. That said it did not take away from the beautiful locations that were visited

Since this is pretty hot very day. NCL will welcome you back with cold water plus cold towel. Very good services. The food at the restaurants are pretty salty and is not for most old people like me. Compare to the last NCL Gateway trip at Northern Europe, I have not even see a large shrimp on any meal which is a bit disappointed. BTW beware of pick pocket at the bus station in Venice. They work as a team, women and children and they are professional.

I would highly recommend going on this itinerary. It had the best cruise destinations we've ever been on.

We sailed from Venice to the Greek Isles. This was a wonderful trip and all the ports were amazing. Needed more room for the swimming pools. The one day we were at sea you couldn't get anywhere close to the pool. If you wanted to pay extra, you could use other pools.

I generally enjoyed our time on the MSC sinfonia for our honeymoon. The food and service were very good, and I liked the list of locations that we were going to. However, there was so little time to spend in many of the ports of call, and I would recommend letting guests know if stairs or other options are available in lieu of cable cars, as we waited an hour and a half for one, and we got in line right after our excursion ended. The food in the restaurants was great, but the lunch buffet could have used a better selection. Our waiters and room attendants, Eka, Wiguna, and Luciano, were very nice and professional, and did a great job. As part of the aurea experience, I enjoyed the free massage, unlimited drinks, and priority embarkation and disembarkation. The excursions were interesting and relatively well organized. I would cruise with msc again, they are a great value for the price paid.

Best cruise so far. Loved the suite. Excursions were incredible. NCL Star dance group is excellent. Love the smaller ship. Greek food to die for. Visit Croatia before hordes of tourists completely over-run this beautiful country.

We were very dissapointed because everything was overcrowded at breakfast and lunch. At the pool with so much loud noise of hard music and screaming entertainers. It was a shame you could not sit and enjoy the seaview without loud music. A lot of people stayed in their rooms to have some quietness. Too crowded and too loud boat. Ashame because we expected a Nice and quiet holiday. Never again on the MSC!!!! The crew were nice but information was terrible.

We love NCL and we keep booking because we like entertainment and how they treat us.

The overall cruise was ok. The problem I had and maybe I am nit picking hear. The ship went into refit earlier in the year. Even after telling my cabin steward and maintenance that my door had screws slide out there was 1 or 2 screws holding the door guts and lock to the door. Maintenance was told. Other than this. It was a ok cruise. But for the amount of money I spent I think I will go back to Princess.

Food in restaurant was excellent.Food in buffet was rarely warm enough.Bell service in buffet was not good for a drink.It was a beautiful ship but we expected more from the evening entertainment.

Ship really needs updating. The crew was great always friendly and helpful.