Europe - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Beautiful, clean and great service

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL SHIP. GREAT BARS AND COMMON SPACES.

My wife and I enjoyed a generally nice cruising experience with some friends.  The ship was great, food was good, wait service so-so.  We had some great excursions, and saw some amazing scenery.  The one big disappointment for us came during an excursion to Katakalon--the Mercouri Winery tour, which included a trip to Olympia.  We had a very knowledgeable guide, hired directly by the cruise line.  He knew a lot about the history of the island, and he knew the shops as well.  After a visit to Olympia, he took us to the marketplace just outside the stadium, where he encouraged us to buy souvenirs, including olive oil and saffron. The owner of the shop would take our order for olive oil, and ship it directly to our home.  We felt this was a great way to bring gifts home to our family and friends--order real, locally processed olive oil from Greece, and have it shipped home to avoid any hassles.  We paid close to $300, and filled out all the shipping information.

Two months passed, and no olive oil.  I contacted the cruise line, but they said they bore no responsibility for the actions of either the shop or their hired tour guide.  They directed me to Royal Media, owned by the parent company--but they also disavowed any responsibility for our experience.  Ultimately we had to deal with our credit card company.  The issue is still not resolved, and while we may potentially get our money back, we would still rather have had the olive oil, as we were left with no gifts for family or friends to deliver.  Needless to say this soured out overall cruising experience, and our experience with Celebrity.  It would be nice to feel we could trust the representatives and contractors of the Cruise line--but unfortunately that wasn't the case!  

Ports and excursions - Itinerary was good although most port calls were significantly too short.  The MSC Olympia and Sh

opping excursion was pretty good although you weren't left to go shopping on your own.  They took you to a souvenir mini-mall of sorts and then to a nice jewelry store.  No time for anything else.  We did not like the Best of Santorini or the Athens, Acropolis and Plaka tours.  Neither one allowed enough free time.  If you are English speaking and want to book a tour, make sure it will be an English only tour BEFORE you book it.  One of our tours was English and French and not only did it take twice as long and eat away any free time we were to have, but it was difficult to hear the guide all the time because the "other half" of the group was talking to each other when the guide wasn't speaking in their language - and she did nothing to try to control that. No trouble booking the tours the day before.  They run shuttle buses into Corfu and Dubrovnik, you have to book it at the excursions office.  Favorite port was Dubrovnik. 

Food and drinks - buffet was boring and the same every day but served a purpose nonetheless.  We really enjoyed the dining room food.  5-6 courses on offer every night, we usually ate 4.  Service in the dining room was good.  We had the early sitting at 7:00 which we liked.  We talked to a few people who had the late sitting at 9:30 and they said they didn't like eating that late.  You can go to reception to get it changed but maybe not the first day.  Service

 at bars was slow.  Buy the drinks pakage.  We are not (usually) heavy drinkers but we "spent" almost double what the Allegrissimo (Classic) package cost us.  Kids and parents alike enjoyed having the freedom to have a drink whenever we wanted.

Kids - supervised kids club for ages 3-11.  Nothing is "organized" for older kids - our kids 11 and 12 too young to go to the disco by themselves at night.  Pools were always super busy - tried to avoid them in the late afternoons.  They have a waterslide that is open certain hours.  Our kids said it was whimpy.  Ping pong and foosball inside hot atrium and difficult to find them available.   Had to collect the balls from somewhere else before playing.  Other than that we didn't seek out onboard entertainment. 

As you may have read on other reviews ship seems crowded at times particularly before early morning port calls when everybody is on the same schedule and then again just after all onboard when leaving ports.  Hardly any English speakers onboard, a few Aussies and Brits.  Continental Europeans can be very rude and pushy - quite literally!

Value for money.  I did quite a lot of looking at other itineraries and costs before booking.  I was booking 4 months prior to departure.  A lot of the US cruise companies were already sold out of their kids go free deals so US carriers would have been too much more.  We did not get kids free but MSC was still more affordable.  Our only previous cruise was on Princess.   I feel a bit that it's comparing apples to oranges.

The cruise was excellent and the staff was friendly as well as professional. The excursions offer at port side was superior . There were lots of activities for the youth as well as the adults.  I enjoyed the musical  each night as well as creating the tee-shirts in arts and crafts, the only thing that was missing for me was the coffee in the main dining room.

Ship was wonderful, crew was friendly, food was excellent activities were good, entertainment was great.

Beautiful, clean

I have been on larger Royal Caribbean ships which appeal more to my taste. This ship appeared much smaller since it did not have the large promenade of shops.

This was a gift from my wife to me for our anniversary. First, about the ship; beautiful , way beyond our expectations. Many little hideaways and small quaint areas to feel like you are alone. The specialty restaurants were fantastic and priced reasonably. The main dining room had different menu items every night unlike other cruise lines. With so many dining choices, we only made it there once. The grand buffet was great! So many items to choose from. They even had lobster! Enough about the food, let's talk about the ports of call. I highly recommend booking an excursion for every port that is tendered (at least). if you don't, then it could be 2 hours before you get off the ship and rush your time while at  port . All of the ports were well worth the time off the ship, if you can and you haven't been to Venice before, plan on staying a couple of days and just walk, its the most beautiful city in the world. Cant wait until next year to explore more of Italy and France.

We traveled on the Silhouette from July 27 to Aug 3.  We were in Awe from the moment we stepped on board, from the Mimosa's  being handed out, to the courteous staff who went out of their way every moment they saw you! The meals were 5 star whether it was the buffet or Fine dining.  We were Concierge class & the staff went above & beyond, delivering appetizers daily, as well as a bottle of champagne upon arrival.  Eden was Awesome & Metidij was also very helpful, always cleaning, polite & friendly.  The rooms were  spacious & very clean!  The entertainment was Fabulous!! The Captain was very entertaining!!!!! (also Cruise Director Damian) The waiters, Chefs & staff in the dining rooms were very professional & they always had a smile  We will definitely be cruising again with Celebrity!!!!

This is our second ever cruise and the second with MSC.  From all the reviews I have read, this is a very different experience than cruising on RCL, Carnival, Princess, etc.  There are no rock climbing walls, skating rinks or "neighborhoods," however, this really suits our family.  We have two teenage children who traveled with us and they really like the experience as well.  For this trip, we booked our room in the "Yacht Club" and will not ever travel any other way.  The "Yacht Club" only accommodates about 200 people and you are rarely, if ever, with all 200 people. The ship is beautiful and accommodates about 4000 passengers.  We cruise for the experience of visiting other countries and cultures and get off the ship at each port and don't spend time sunbathing or some of the other games that the staff was leading out by the pools.  The other big plus for us was that children 17 and under cruise at a very reduced rate.  We did try two of the specialty restaurants that are offered for an extra cost, but were not all that impressed.  The food served in our dining room was very good.  However, if you are looking for meat and potatoes every night, an Italian cruise line is probably not the way to go.  We liked the shows, although music was mostly in Italian, still very enjoyable.  Other reviewers have complained about excursions on this line, but we enjoyed each and every one we went on.  Can't wait to do this again.

I was a good cruise it was not that clean I think it could of been a bit more clean

We just returned from our 7 day MSC cruise. Overall we enjoyed our experience. The itinerary was excellent, it made the trip great. The Ship Fantasia was beautiful, and clean. Our room was larger then expected as we had an inside cabin. Cabins are well maintained cabin stewarts are always around ensuring everything is clean with new towels twice a day. Evening dinners were excellent, staff were friendly and the food was excellent.  The pool bars had the best bar servers with friendly and fast service.

The areas we found required improvement were the pool space and the buffet service and quality.  The pool was too small for the amount of guests, kids jumping over your shoulder to get into the pool.  We still enjoyed the pool just something to think of.  The buffet staff are not friendly or very interested in providing any service.  If you do find a server the drinks take very long to arrive to your table.  Food is just ok.  Same items daily as expected at a buffet.  Don't miss you evening dinners as we did not want to  have 3 meals at the buffet. 

Despite some issues we did enjoy the experience, it is an Italian cruise line so you have a lot of European travelers.  The MSC was very organised at all ports, they ensure you get on and off your boat safely and efficiently.  Look at pre booking one of the drink packages. They are well priced and worth it as single drinks can be expensive.  We choose the 24 hour drink package which includes bottled water, coffee and ice cream. On hot days we enjoyed the bottle water and ice cream a few times a day

Being an avid cruiser and a Latitudes Silver member, I will admit that my last three cruises have been with Norwegian.  Unfortunately, for them, my experiences allow me to say with clarity that the freestyle approach has resulted in very poor performance by most employees on our ships.  Don't get me wrong; I am on vacation and very little will ever ruin my rest and relaxation. However I choose to sail with popular and long standing companies because I believe that I can depend upon the staff to provide me with consistent information that is accurate, as well as a variety of activities that will provide opportunities for fun.  My recent sailing offered very little of these experiences.  Staff are less than eager to perform beyond minimal expectations. Perhaps it is because they believe that families want to be left alone or that their incentives have been eliminated with the automatic gratuity charge that most staff share from a large pool (FYI you can visit the desk and refuse the daily charge so that you can "take care" of those who do go out of their way to make your vacation memorable). Serving staff bringing hot chocolate when you ask for a glass of chocolate milk, not being able to bring your main course as you like is( sauce on the side was impossible to understand), failing to adhere to the confusing posted dress code, deciding when the no shorts rule would be followed during dinner, and then being defensive when you call them on it is unacceptable.  Excursion information was never accurate- staff were unsure of who or where were the best places to exchange currency, tender use was a nightmare because they force you to miss evening activities or wake up god early to stand on lines to get tender tickets to enjoy your day at port, and then disregard the order when announcing the tender use forcing everyone to rush the stairwell.Naturally if you booked an NCL excursion, you are taken care of but if you enjoy the port on your own, good luck being helped.

It is unfortunate that a popular line with a long history of excellence has declined in service for so long.  Our child loved the camp and the staff but as parents, they changed the location for his age group on a regular basis resulting in kids being dropped off late and missing activities. I hear that other major lines will begin to experiment with a degree of freestyle as well. There may be some benefits but I caution them to abandon the traditional cruise experience entirely.

NCL is there to cater to a distinct population of clients. In my opinion, this population is the "fly by the seat of your pants, last minute planning, who cares about the rules" type of passenger. That's fine if this is who you are. However, if you want to eat in a dining room with people who are dressed appropriately, not have to pay larger than ever fees to try food that used to be on the main dining menu but are only in the specialty restaurants now, enjoy music poolside, or count on critical information being accurate, then head my warning- NCL isnt for you.

I doubt that I will sail with them again.  What I give up for the freestyle experience is not worth it.

Check in was not the best, just ok. But after we entered the ship, everything was perfect . The Splendour of the Seas is a small ship, but perfect in every way. Even after almost 20 years , she looks gorgeous and brand new. You have everything you need  and the staff is great . Food is similar to what you can find in every Royal Caribbean ship, and so the enterteinment. The big difference was the crew. One of the best , i found so far . Itinerary was excelent , with Santorini and Dubrovnik on the top of the list. I absolutelly recomend it.

We recently sailed on Celebrity Silhouette for a 7 day cruise. It was excellent. First and foremost, the staff was very personable and professional from the wait staff, to cruise directors and captain and officers. The concierge level did offer extra amenities such as good bath products and linen and we enjoyed the room service hors doeuvres. Our room steward was friendly, helpful and did do the towel designs but was extra creative. We also enjoyed the additional dining options. Although we didnt think we would use the specialty dining, since we did we had a culinary and catering experience that was great. The entertainment was professional and very enjoyable. We particularly liked having an opportunity to interact with the performers.

I cruise average 2 times a year and this was our 10th cruise, but our opinion about this cruise is terrible, first the food was terrible, staff around the ship was not friendly at all, we used to see at in other lines when you met any crew member they always say hello, ask you if everything is ok, not in this one . At the restaurant our server never asked if everything was ok, if we needed something else, even when we ask for any recomendation about the options in the menu, nothing he was just taking order. The cabin too small (it was not surprise because this was not our first time at Costa cruise) but the cabin attendant was terrible: first the bed sheets seems like never was washed, dust everywhere,"no comment".

At the self serving restaurant if you were looking for something and you ask they said "is in the other side" and you go to the other side and ask, obviously, the answer was "is in the other side". so you have to desist because is a never-ending story. One day the lunch ( should be open until 1:30 pm ) at 1:10 the only available food was bread, and we were waitting standing there for 20 minutes (long line of people) and they said , sorry but is 1:30 pm and the lunch time is over. You can imagine what happened after.

The ports visited were ok but the time in each port was extremely short, you have no time for shopping. 3 or 4 hours is not enough at europe. Other cruises lines are 8 -10 hours, while costa 3 - 5.

Between 1:30pm  to 7:00pm  the only food available was bread and thin pizzas (inedible).

Nights life were fantastic, singers, piano, excellent.

It was a great cruise, we were expecting to have more activities but in general it was a great cruise we had a good time, the staff were super nice. Thecruise director Rico Dubreil was very nice with my kids and also he recognize my wife on her birthday.

the route is super recomended, Dubrovnik is beatiful and what to say about Venice is breathtaking.

There were 4 of us, various ages and all found ample and appropriate entertainment. One of us had been on a part of this cruise before and so was familiar with some of the ports. This made things a lot easier. The Jade is nice, and it is relaxed as well. A nice time for us to enjoy ourselves with few worries.....

deck chair policy was not inforced