Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Cruise not bad, but its sad when you pay this much for a cruise and then once you are on it you have to pay for 80% of the available things on board, plus it seems like everything is just a big sales pitch that you are trapped in.

Favorite part of cruise - the port stops were incredible.

Things needing improvement - the ship is lacking in fun activities like tennis or rock climbing.

Most important is the deal we received and the explanation to how we received a change in balcony when a price decrease was available days after booked the cruise.  A change of $400 was the decrease.  Let your customer choose the way to receive that change.  I'm displeased with cheap cruises in not allowing us to get the right to choose what we wanted.

Freaking Awesome! Great ship with super friendly staff and great service. The itinerary was just what we were looking for. We would highly recommend Azamara.

Having taken 4 cruises before, I have to say that Azamara cruise was unquestionably the best cruise I have been on.  The service was impeccable.  Azamara's staff was helpful, but not overly aggressive.  The ship was big enough for everything I needed, but not too big. The shows were very high caliber (better than on any other cruise).  However, what stood out is there culinary abilities.  The food on the ship was on par with many of the 5-star restaurants that I have eaten at.  I will confirm what others said, this is not a cruise for kids.  There is nothing active for them to truly do.  However, for adults, this cruise is incredible.

best part was food and service; although uneven, it was apparent the crew's job was to be pleasing. Special kudos to Chef Darrin who made every encounter special (demonstration, market tour) and created a lovely presentation for our table when we asked for a special appetizer. With one exception (we were yelled at by a waiter because 'we took too long' - he said 'I have other tables!' - we noticed he had one other table), the crew in most cases makes an effort to please.  Having said that, poached eggs should not come out under cooked and then over cooked, the bathtub should not be blocked, sinks should not be leaking and air conditioning and Jacuzzi tubs should be in working order. We advised staff but the Jacuzzi was never fixed.  The cruise ports were not exceptional; some of the ports consisted of a small town (all stores were closed but they were ordinary shops, what might be found in any lower middle class area for local shopping), this might have been the Montenegro and Corfu stops.  In other words, you would never hop into a car and decide to visit these places. Windstar boasts that its small ships enable visits to interesting ports that larger ships cannot dock at but that SHOULD NOT MEAN NO OTHER SHIP WOULD WANT TO DOCK AT THE SELECTED PORTS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO SIGNIFICANCE! We did the HIGHLIGHTS OF MONTENEGRO; a complete waste of time, we were driven around for hours, there were two 5-minute stops off the side of the road (!) for the view, then a stop at a restaurant (located next to an abandoned building) where plates with a few pieces ham had already been laid out on table (who know how long?).  I can guarantee that no one asked for seconds! The only part interesting was the short walk to old town at end, where the tour guide spoke a few minutes.  The rest of the commentary by this guide, OMG terrible, uninteresting, repetitive, no interest/ability to connect with tour passengers.  We along with a few other participants made Windstar staff (Richard) aware - don't you think Windstar should have reimbursed us for this (we spent $200) disastrous waste of time? We decided not to take any other excursions based on this awful experience!  I know Windstar takes an interest in improving its service, please feel free to contact for additional details.

The staff on the ship were great, they absolutely make you feel valued and welcome as well as giving great customer service.This was ship wide, not just the few staff that are a assigned to your suite. The food was excellent as well.

The only sad part for us was because of the ports and schedule,  we did not get to use the water sports platform at all.

as a point of reference, we had cruised this ship in the haven about 4-5 years ago.  i thought it was ok.  when we returned for this cruise, i found the service and food had improved.  we did eat in specialty restaurants each night and the improvement was noticeable.  i would look forward to returning on an itinerary that met my needs

I was very unhappy with the corridors odor in deck 3 particularly by my cabin 3002, it smelled like sewage all the time.

The checkout process was handled very unprofessionally, had mistakes, and we had to do it three times, it was a nightmare.

The ship didn't accept my debit card to pay for mi expenses I had to use a card I didn't want to, 

The ports were amazing!! The service and bartenders were amazing as well!! The food was OK and the nighttime and daytime activities were not great. ..........................

Highly recommend this cruise. We were on a beautiful and clean ship, the newest in their fleet. The staff was very attentive and our balcony cabin was extremely clean. The only item I believe would need improvement would be the theater shows. The excursions were wonderful. The entire staff was exceptional. 

Second time on this fabulous ship  .Cannot find fault with anything but I do love the big ships Food excellent entertainment superb   Staff friendly and work so hard .enjoyed every single minute  .Went on the Norwegian star in October brilliant.  Can't wait for February my golden wedding and we're off on the Norwegian spirit  hope it's as good as the other ships.  Highly reccOmended x

Ports were excellent. Food was good, love Free Style Dining.

i don't like having to reserve the entertainment. Also  internet Services need to improve..

employees were excellent. 

This was my first cruise, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. There definitely wasn't a lack of things to do or places to go on the ship. There were plenty of shows, scheduled activities, clubs, restaurants (many of which were complimentary), and more. As someone who gets motion sickness, I was very happy with the size and stability and had only a few brief moments where I could tell I was on a boat and started to get a bit queasy.

I have always heard people say how amazing the food is on cruise ships. However, I must say that, other than the main complimentary dining rooms - Taste, and the Manhattan Room - which I believe have the same exact menu, I was rather unimpressed with the food. The quality of the food at the buffet (Garden Café) let me down every time I went. The dish I got at Shanghai's was pretty mediocre. And all 4 dishes we ordered between our 2 trips to O'sheehan's were awful. I'm not sure if this is their way of trying to force you into the restaurant with an extra cover charge, but I was really disappointed. I can't speak to the extra-cost restaurants as I did not feel like forking out for them, but I sure hope they step up their game if they're going to ask you to pay more.

We really chose this cruise for the ports and the price point, and my high recommendation is really only for these reasons. If these aren't terribly important to you or if you can find something similar elsewhere, I would recommend exploring other Mediterranean options.

We loved our cruise!  The food was delicious, the service was great, the excursions were amazing.  We would do it again in a heartbeat!  Our only complaint was that there is a charge for Room Service, and that sometimes we smelled sewage in the bathroom.  

I would like to rate the experience higher. We booked this because it was a family (including children) vacation. A cruise gives us flexibility for 4 different families with children traveling together. I was expecting the cabin to be better shape but it is not. See my comments below on the cabin. I saw the room staff twice. 

There is always a long line for everything. The unlimited data plan for the cruise was laughable, half of the time the signal doesn't work. And there is a long line to speak with the internet manager, which doesn't really provide much except the satellite was down. 

This is a BUDGET cruise, regardless how NCL might market it. Most hotel would ask you to rate the staffs' welcomes to guests. None exists...they are there to do the job, a job they don't seem to enjoy.

There are some good things, they have the embarking and disembarking procedure down pact....so it was very smooth to get on/off the ship. The specialty dining restaurants seem to be in a good place. 

It was a trip to remember with great memories.  Everything was fantastic.  We met great people on the cruise and the staff was very friendly.  Would highly recommend this ship and destinations for anyone.  

In general I had a nice time , had much difficulty with the internet and the Internet manager , Internet was not worth the price , and could not get any satisfaction from your customer service on this issue , the ship was not able to provide Russian menus for the dining rooms witch caused stress for my cruise partner , also bottled water should not be a item that is charged for on the ship , in the future , should I cruise , I will do without Internet or pay as I go , this matter was very frustrating , I did not get what I paid for .

Having taken prior cruises on the Norwegian Jade and Jewel, we were overall very disappointed in our experience on the Norwegian Spirit.

Until the last 2 days of our cruise, we were unable to dependably use our cabin toilet regularly.  Every morning, it would refuse to flush.  It wasn't clogged, it simply refused to work and it was not until evening that the problem was resolved, only to repeat the following day. This lead to our cabin smelling like an outhouse for much of our vacation.

Another disappointment was the quality of the food served on the voyage. It was not good, unable to compete with a Hometown Buffet in terms of appeal and proper cooking.  In the main dining rooms, the menu descriptions would lead you to believe you were ordering one thing only to be completely surprised by the result (eg. grilled beet and shallots as a side dish was pickled beets served cold, baked potato soup was pureed into a bland paste like offering) Steaks were dry and tough and fish was overcooked. One lasagna would have been rejected by Hungry Man frozen dinners. The service staff was excellent as always, but the food prep was amateurish at best. The sole exception was Cagney's Steakhouse specialty dining room which was very good.

 The entertainment was hit and miss. We've come to expect excellent entertainment offerings on Norwegian, but generally this cruise did not hold up to that standard with only a couple of exceptions.

On previous cruises, we took advantage of making a deposit for future cruises on Norwegian. This trip we decided we will forgo future Norwegian offerings following this experience.

Montenegro Croatia and Mykonos stops.

Special dining package.

Friendly and attentative staff throughout.

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Absolutely fabulous cruise.

Only two critisms that the air conditioning is way to cold and makes evenings on board in bars and restaurants uncomfortable.

The entertainment could do with being a little more mixed.  The deck party music needs to cater for a wider audience.  Too much Latin American dance music towards the end of the cruise.