Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

This trip allowed me to visit some of the most beautiful ports in the world in a comfortable, safe, fun and exciting atmosphere.  The Norwegian Spirit provided excellent entertainment and very helpful staff all along the way.

i would highly recommend this ship and this itinerary to everyone!

The best part of this cruise were the activity on the boat (Dance Lesson, Team Activity, the dancing bar area). The port stop was excellent!!

The only improvement is too much selling drink package on the boat and they are not flexible for upgrade or pay the different.

Overall was a great Cruise!!

My favorite part of the cruise was making new friends. I was very disappointed with the amount of selling of items on the ship; not at stores but tables that were set up everywhere all time time! Morning noon and night.  I am upset that I had pre bought a cocktail package and was told that vodka tonic is not a cocktail and that I had to choose from what they consider cocktails to be!  The shore excursions were especially in Morocco very disappointing. It seemed as if we spent all day going to the shops where kickbacks were given   Shopping time and pharmacy time was to be in the excursion but we were brought to a little shop where it seemed the guide would be getting something out of it.  I heard so many good things about Msc and I would most probably not be returning. 

My favorite part was eating all those unusual meals, such a choice.   Everybody was so courteous and went out of their way to help us at all times. I was impressed with the children's programs.  The tenor singer was the best I have every heard, Fran Cobos.  

Operationally, the cruise was excellent. Always punctual, and the ship is kept very clean. Our cabin was a very nice rear facing balcony with good closet space. Food wise, pasta and appetizers were always good, but proteins were not. The only proteins we enjoyed were the extra cost burgers and the duck on gala night. Fish seemed to taste "fishy". We ate in the club restaurant one night, service was outstanding, but the filet had an off taste. It was however cooked a perfect medium rare. Salads on the buffet were very good. Piu gusto drink package was a great value. Wines were good, as were cocktails. Espresso every bit as good as on land in Italy. Entertainment staff keeps things fun. The white party was the best I've seen at sea. Shows were below average for a cruise as were lounge entertainers.  One nice touch, they had an English speaking (from England) customer service rep who always asked how things were going and genuinely seemed to care. Would I take Costa again? For the right itinerary at the right price, sure. All Cruise lines have their pros and cons--Costa's strong points are fun, pasta, and espresso in my opinion.

The room attendant was exceptional.  He kept fresh towels and our room clean throughout the day.  Dinner options were fantastic.  We enjoyed foods from each place we visited.  The waiters/waitresses could have done a better job in serving us.  We always had to ask for more water and several of them made it obvious they did not want be there.  One exception was Nengah Sudana who went out of his way to keep our glasses full and even talk to us. There was plenty of activities for us to do.  We would go again

We chose this cruise for the ports, we were sad to miss a couple of them due to the weather.  

The food was not very good in the buffets for breakfast.  There was very little selection and the same food items were served throughout the entire cruise.  Dinner was hit or miss, I wish there would have been selections for more picky eaters.  No one wants to eat a plain chicken breast every time they don't want the evening's offering.

The evening entertainment was sparse and the production value was low.  The pools and hot tubs closed early and we didn't have much chance to use them due to excursions and dinner times.  

We really struggled with our expectations during the cruise wondering if we were being nit picky, we have come to the conclusion after some discussion that there were no large problems but the small issues took away from our overall experience.  

This was my first cruise, and I had an amazing time. I knew ahead of time via guest reviews that the Norwegian Spirit ship was in need of some updating in the staterooms; that is true, but it was no surprise to me. I am vegetarian, and though dining services had vegetarian options, it could have been better planned and more diverse. The service was great - especially for the staterooms; staff took time to learn names, and they were very friendly. We appreciated the captain's safety call to change the location of our first stop; Corsica ended up being a lovely place to spend time before the rain came; it was easy to come and go on the ship, and there were plenty of activities to keep us happy on board. The rest of our vacation was perfect. The entertainment was great: "Graffiti Classics" was amazing, and the "Elementals" was so incredible - a beautiful act, very impressive. The child care was also exceptional - the staff was very creative with activities, and our 6 & 10 year old looked forward to going to the Kids Club. Overall, a fantastic time, and we would be interested in cruising with NCL again.  

[PS: a side note: the doctor on board was a quack. My mom had some strange symptoms, so she went down to see the doc, and he kept her for 1 hr and basically said she had a brain tumor. On the way out, two nurses at the front desk asked if she was wearing the seasickness patch - she was. They told her to take it off and the symptoms would subside within 72 hrs. She was just experiencing common side effects of the medication! He should have known that, and my mom even mentioned the patch during the exam and he glossed right over it. He should have known that; the doctor was clearly not qualified to treat cruise passengers. He charged $150 for his unhelpful exam.]

Favorites - it was like a floating hotel. Great, fast hot water in bathroom.  Fantastic beds and pillows! Was glad to find an TV English movie channel. Great temperature control. Ruffles open 24 hours was great. Luggage was easily found the morning of disembarkment.

Needs improvement - very disappointed that I had to pay for bottled water. Lack of written instructions in the room on how things work or what to expect. The inconsistency of servicing and furnishing 2 similar rooms. A guest told me my ice bucket would be filled ea day, it wasn't. A moved event had no sign or info posted at original event site. The washy-washy workers were obnoxious. The insolent way Norwegian employees acted toward those who booked excursions not thru the norwegian site. There were wash cloths in the bathroom only on the first day.  Couldn't  hear ship announcements. Would be helpful if the room safe was mounted higher, I can't imagine an elderly person being able to use one so low. On board internet fees were atrocious, free wifi should be included with our cruise payment. 

From check in to out, overall crew and staff are not very friendly.  Blonde haired check in lady at cruise terminal never looked at is or smiled, acted upset about our passport vis, did not tell us where to go next, when asked about giving our credit card for expenses, said to go to Guest Relations.  We went there first, Larissa was also not friendly, even rude at times, we were bothering her with our questions, so when we told her we booked the drink package online and she said eas not in their system, that we should book it again, we asked if we wouls end up paying twice, she said it was possible.  We waited, returned twice, finally, asked if we could give our credit card, she too it, but was weird she did not mention first two times we were there, I tried to ask her why, she ignored, awful service.

Bar on deck 3 service was the worse, very unfriendly bar staff, we made bets on how many mistakes they would make on our order, every single time, really makes you appreciate other cruise lines and their more friendly and smiling staff.  The lady at deck 3 bar who appears to be the head server was the worse, she would actually roll her eyes as if we could not see her, and we overheard her complain about other guests in front of us.

Our favorite, Samsara Spa, we had the best young lady give us a tour and explain the program, she was from Romania, wish I could remember her name, she was so nice, made our week special.  We booked the week spa, added facials and purchased products because of her professionalism.  .she gives the best facials, too!

Demi, our cabin steward was so nice, smiled every time we saw him, was friendly and kept our cabin clean.  We could tell that he genuinely enjoyed serving others.

Overall, seems staff are unhappy, ready to go on strike, and do not enjoy their work.  First cruise we have had this type of apathy by staff.

But, we still return to France, and we will still cruise Costa in the future.

This cruise is port intensive allowing us to visit 9 great ports (including Barcelona) in a short time. Also it is a bonus that, due to bad weather in Marseille, NCL Spirit chose to stop at Monte Carlo instead of Marseille. The weather was great every day and we had a great time in every city even though that we had been many of these cities before. For such a port intensive cruise, it did not bother us that the on board activities (not the parties) are lacking. The service on board of the ship is excellent and the crew bent over backward to accommodate passengers consisting mostly seasoned travelers. There were only a handful of kids and one hardly noticed their existence. We had no problem getting into any restaurant without reservation. The gym is small but adequate since most passengers did not use it. The complimentary steam and sauna are also a bonus. Overall, we and our friends had a wonderful time both on and off the ship. We are frequent cruisers and can only hope that every cruise is like this one.      

If you have traveled on other cruise ships, my suggestion is minimize your expectations.  Let me explain:  The itinerary itself was absolutely amazing and I could not have asked for a better itinerary, even when we had to re-route and miss Marseille, the alternative was event better - Monte Carlo. As far as the ship itself, there was much to be left desired since it was quite old.  My cabin stunk like sewage on most port days.  Even though I complained, they assured me  that it was not the cabin but me being sensitive to smells.  I have been on at least 10 cruises and I know when a room stinks! If you are used to traveling on other ships with great entertainment, you will be sorely disappointed.  There were nights were I just had to walk out because it was not worth sitting through it.  Surprisingly, the food was better than expected, although there was one or two nights when I had to send the food back.

This cruise on the new ship Viking Sea had the benefit of beautiful weather (in contrast to the immediately preceding ones which had bad problems)...so we were lucky. The cruise went to some fairly untypical ports which were all interesting. Viking had free excursions at all ports - some were good others not so much. The food was above average although we had a disappointing meal at the specialty restaurant Chef's Table. The best part of the cruise was the crew who were all extremely gracious. I would certainly recommend this trip to others.

Food and service excellent.  The best employee the have is Heather Clancy.

The ship is beautiful, clean and has a lovely group of entertainers.  Loved the full screen movies  at the pool.

we had requested table for two. We checked with head of restaurant  Instead of being polite and say don't have he went on:-   have to  build ship twice as big and on and on----. The are are many courteous ways to say no. This ship stops at different ports and several hundred embark and disembark and if they tried they could have accommodated or have three small table in the same area.We decided to eat at cafeteria , I had special diet request but it could not be met but they call me how I am doing?. How is my diet. This was funny. I learn my lesson:  stick with American Cruises: you will be better off.

Barco excelente, Personal sumamente amable. Itinerario de lujo. Camarote confortable. Organizacion insuperable. Buenas excursions. Sin duda alguna recomendaria MSC para una excelente estancia a bordo.

Excellent route and time at the ports. The ship is well, elegant decorated and very clean. My firts time experience with a full european ship, I have to said that everything is super, except when eating at the buffet, people act like the food is going to end, not Costa fault, but at the restaurant everything great. Nice cruise, I trully recommend it. 

We were very satisfied with our experience on Costa Diadema . We had 2 rooms and traveled with our adult and two teenage children. The food was excellent, especially the Fiorentino evening dining, if you love Italian food this is your cruise. Even more so If you love Nutella. The guests were overwhelmingly European (probably 30% Italian, 25% French, 25% Spanish, 10% German, and 10% Other British, American and Asian). Not many English speaking guests but no problem. Nightly entertainment shows were very good, especially the Romanian acrobat/dance couple. Only complainant was the ports of Savona, Italy and Marceilles, France, not much to see. Also a change of port, stopping at Sardinia instead of Palma De Mallarca as advertised.

Ship was beautiful with very friendly staff and lots of things to do. It was clean, small, and very easy to navigate.

We were surprised by changed of itinerary that happened at the last minute as we were about to depart Barcelona. The captain informed us we will be reversing the order of our destinations to avoid bad weather. This caused shocked and concern for many as shore excursions were dependent of the schedule. Luckily, booking through helped us as they were able to maintain the original excursions even though they were on Christmas when many others were cancelled. 

Overall, we will cruise again NCL and will use to book it! 

Diadema was a large, newer ship so rooms were comfortable and very nice condition.    Shows were limited in variety, food was okay but not a lot of variety either.   Fortunately, the weather was only rough the first night and was smooth the rest of our trip.