Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Favorite: From an informational standpoint, the Port Talks and Lectures were absolutely wonderful! It provided everything you needed to know to get the most out of each port. As far as the ports go...hard to say which was a favorite. Dubrovnik really stands out as we had a chance to walk the city walls in almost solitude. It was magnificent!!! We took an underground city tour in Naples on our own...you should include this as an option...it was fantastic!!!

Improvements: The Viking Sea was a great experience. The only area of improvement was room service. Our steward, Adonis, was great...but the in room dining was less than spectacular. Rarely was the order correct at breakfast and once our dinner was not even delivered. This was after an extremely long day in Rome and the on board restaurants were closed. Other than the in room dining...everything else was impeccable.

I was very disappointed with our cruise vacation. My wife and I have cruised several times with a variety of lines, and maybe because of that, I have come to expect certain things from a cruise that NCL did not live up to. I don't think I'm being a snob either because I am normally very pleased and have a lot of good things to say.  NCL might advertise "Freestyle Cruising", but it should be called "Nickel & Dime Cruising". Everything comes with an extra fee, a confusing answer from someone who can't communicate, and a non-stop barrage of overselling silly products, raffle tickets, trip excursions, etc. You can't even get away from it in your room because our steward told us we HAD to have our room serviced EVERY day so they could check our mini-bar. Even the dining room had items for a fee in the menu. The little tough steak was inclusive, but the rib-eye was $20. We were even charged to leave the ship at one of our ports! (A first EVER!) For our Rome stop, NCL provided a free shuttle to the opposite side of the port from the train station, in a place where there was nothing but taxis to take us back to the other side of town by the port again by the train. (A total shake-down!)  I have never actually been happy to get off a ship before this cruise but I was this time, and I hope that NCL chokes on every penny they extorted from me on the cruise... cause I'll never use them again!

The show on the Spirit was the best compared to that on the Jade or other Cruise Line like Holland America with which we cruised on April, 2016.

Improvement:

1- TV cable with multiple channels should be added.

2- The inside room size is too small. The bed size is very good. May be if the extra bed hanging on the wall is removed for cabin that have only two gusts will provide more room.

3- Round trip is necessary because of the flight cost. Many time we declined to take cruises with Norwegian because of open end itinerary. .   

Everything was ok until we had an emergency situation, the vessel couldn't go to the port due to weather conditions, the ship management didn't handle the situation to avoid more damage to the passenger's airline flies. They should take care of the passengers who had early flies, instead of giving numbers to make calls and restricted Intener access. We ended spending around $1100 to fly back to hour home in Florida

Very bad impression left. Arriving in Venice port 09,12,2016 brought us a lot of nerve and a loss of 884 euros. Because of you we were late for the plane flight and we had to buy new tickets.

The service people were very nice.  Entertainment was good.  BUT, You nickle and dime us to death.  Worse than any other cruise line.  (We have been on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Carnival, Princess) As many other passengers that spoke with me I will not cruise with you again.  You grossly charge too much for a drink.   We  take 3 to 4 cruises a year.   You are going to start loosing your past current customers.  Three different couples told me they had cruised with you many times in the past but this was the last cruise they would take with you.  I am CEO of my company and if I heard that, I would be very concerned.  

Let me first single out our Cabin Steward (Derma) and the Asst Maitre'd (Antonio).  They both went above and beyond what was expected and MSC is fortunate to have them in their employ.

The best part of the cruise was visiting Malta, the Flamenco Dance show and the finale Italian Music show.  Other than that it was ordinary and boring.  The constant pressure to sell you a "drink package" (everything from hard liquor to what they a "coffee cuddle") at every single port was annoying and intrusive.  In other words, if you did not want to drink filtered water in the buffet, make your own tea or try to stomach their horrible self serve coffee, it was going to cost you money.

In addition to the pressure to sell you a drink package, there was constant pressure throughout every public area of the ship to sell you a photo package (at lest 5-times what each picture is worth but they will give you a discount "buy 1 and get 1 free" - so you will only pay 2-1/2 times its value).

The buffet was the same almost every day (except for the "feature meat of the day at dinner").  The formal restaurant had a better selection but with extremely small potions.  And we are a part of 8 adults and 1 baby, all but 2 of us got sick from the food (bad enough to have to stay in the cabin almost a full day - lucky for me it was the day completely at sea so I did not miss anything, not so lucky for my step-daughter and her husband missing the bicycle tour of Genova).

I have traveled on other cruise lines and never was there this much pressure to upsell, or just being cheap (not even ice tea or lemonade in the buffet without a charge per serving or refill).

One more point I need to bring up, I have a disability (spinal problems).  As such I cannot stand for very long in a line.  Getting back on the ship in Barcelona, I showed my government issued photo disability ID card to the first "security guard" just before he directed you to the lines for the metal detector and xray scanners.  I told him I had a disability and asked to use the handicap entrance.  His response "no way - impossible."  After standing in the very long line, clearing the scans and having to rest 2 hours in my cabin, I went to Guest Services to file a complaint.  As of this writing 1-week later, I have still not had a response from MSC regarding the incident.

Highly doubtful I will ever cruise with MSC again anywhere in the world.

We understand that this was a trial run for Norwegian Cruises.  The routing was good, except maybe Cyprus, which seemed to be a surprise to the islanders, as only a few of the shops and no banks were open.  The big flea market was not open.

The cruise line did offer buses to a central location in town at a couple of cruise stops for $15 each, which we appreciated.

The game that plays with the OBC borders on fraud.  I'm sure they are proud they are able to swindle so many of their customers out of the OBC by using fine print in the booking.  I can see people moving more to booking directly with these games!!

Everything was perfect from the correct manner of the Restaurant waiters and stateroom  attendant to the overall cleanliness of the ship. I have to follow a strict Gluten free diet and the only gripe against Cunard was that on day 6 of a 12 day cruise all the bars on the ship had run out of Gluten free beer (St Peters) I visited the Pursers desk and complained and to Cunard`s credit they restocked the bars with a Spanish Gluten free beer on day 9.

we enjoyed the cruise a lot even though the weather conditions were not ideal many times. The shore excursions arranged were limited, but since weather conditions were bad, they continued with the programs. As the cruise was docked for the day, perhaps a later start for the excursion could have improved the sightseeing.

as it was a late cruise time (winter time) many of the follow passengers paid a great deal less than the early birds, those who booked earlier in the year. We found many had paid close to 50% less!

Spent a most enjoyable 12 nights aboard this beautiful ship.  Could not fault the cabins, service or food.  However we were very disappointed with the daytime activities offered.  Unless you like constant quizes or your body is falling apart and require costly treatment for such things as puffy legs, constipation, sore backs, wrinkles, poor indigestion, acupuncture, fluid retention and poor circulation, brittle nails or cracked heels etc there is not much else to do.  There were dance lessons which were free and fabulous, but unfortunately there were only a few.  These classes were full to bursting so were obviously really popular so more should have been organised as this is a very good way of exercising. Shops onboard expensive and not great. Photos are also extortionate.

The entire Yacht Club experience was wonderful.  The lounge and perks and overall service was better than any expectations  We appreciate everyone involved.

Great Itinerary.  Very clean ship.  Upgrading to the Yacht Club is worth the money.  

We will take a future MSC Cruise to Greece.  Not a whole of kids on this trip.  The quality of the food was fresh each day.  

The good part of this cruise was the schedule of port arrivals--always in the morning, which allowed enough time for on shore outings.

Improvements are needed for:

1. Music, base noise in cabins goes on until early hours of the morning, making sleeping very difficult.

2. Entertainment mediocre only.  The seats in the Strand theater were very uncomfortable--seats themselves leaned downward; no legroom; no support

3. Computer connections very slow and expensive

4.Food offerings generally were mediocre at best-almost everything tasted the same; salad dressings too vinegary and again it all tasted the same. Pizzas  were runny and soggy.

5.The gym had only one elliptical

6.Library hours and content very poor.

7. Hair dryer location in staterooms is stupid.

Взагалі нам сподобалось.

Гарно підібрані міста .  Ввічливий , доброзичливий персонал. Принаймні досить природньо посміхаються.

  Досить незвичне для нас явище - прихована ціна. Необхідних витрат - більш ніж 200%! То податки , то сбори,  то взагалі "сервісний збір"!

  Але найбільше обурила необхідність залишити каюту до 8:00 в останній день. 

  Хотілось би ще. Але!!!  лише з компанією, яка не буде примушувати залишити каюту до моменту висадки з лайнера.

We loved the ambiance!  The crew staff were wonderful,  enthusiastic and

very helpful.  The dining staff were awesome..Table 65 with Nemanja & Maribel 

and another table with Mohammed & another gentleman.  They could not have

been more accommodating and pleasant.  The food in the dining room Aquarious was delicious!  The stateroom was very nice and our housekeeper Deswin was great.    One thing  however that we feel we would have wanted more of is free time on the excursions to have a sit down Grecian meal.  Although we tasted snack foods, we wanted enough time to enjoy an authentic Greek dish.  Otherwise we  would  recommend this cruise!

I admit that this critique reflects the fact that I have not traveled on many cruises, but I'll say it anyways: it's unenjoyable to be nickle-and-dimed for everything. That was my big take-away for Costa Cruise. Even the crew members (who were incredibly hospitable and lovely) admitted this fact to me: if you go with Costa, you're not gonna make it off the boat without paying a couple hundred extra euros for a fairly-basic experience. This may be standard practice for all cruise lines, but that doesn't make it right or desirable. 

Great trip overall.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

I had asked for a disabled cabin what I got was a cramped inside cabin

with a chair in the shower to sit on

I was on a merry- go -round between Cruise 118 and NCL staff

The crew on board where fantastic I am partly disable and a wheel chair was always available to get me on and of the ship when needed.The food in all the eateries was very good so was the service.