Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Quite nice  I think the majority of folk would love this ship and the destinations.  I am trying to make 150 characters  because no one wants this review if I don't.

Sometimes being accommodating is not enough.   this should be enough

This was my 13th cruise.  We've done one with Norwegian and the rest with Holland America.  Royal Caribbean knocked it out of the park.

was great to deal with.  Prices were comparable to other sites.  The mileage bonus was comparable to other incentives.  The miles didn't kick in right away, so don't think you're gonna get your free flight in time to use it for your cruise.

The Harmony of the Seas was a bit intimidating as we drove into the port, but once aboard, it was amazingly easy to get around.  We saw the whole ship on a 5 day cruise.  Great food, great entertainment.  Nice pools.  Great accommodations for kids.  Specialty restaurants were great, but the regular dining was great too.

Disembarkation was a worry of ours - with that many people, how in the heck do you get them all off in time for shore excursions?  Somehow they did it flawlessly.  I truly didn't notice that there were three times as many people on this ship as we're used to.

We didn't get off at the Rome stop - the bus ride was way too far for little kids.

We will sail with Royal again.  We will probably sail the Harmony of the Seas again.  And I'd probably book through United again.

 I love the layout of the ship. It is set up perfectly. I love that they out of the spa and the location of the thermal room and steam rooms. I love the atrium, I think it's beautiful. However the whole ship needs a complete overhaul. The carpeting needs replaced all the banisters are worn, and The bathrooms on the entire ship me to be redone. They all have a horrible smell. I felt the food was adequate but not superior. They don't offer lobster anymore as part of their menu, you must now pay extra for it. I thought the food quality has gone downhill from when I've taken this Cruise before. I thought the itinerary was perfect and the way they scheduled it was perfect. I thought the staff was quite friendly and unhelpful. No one went out of their way to make us feel welcome or comfortable or like we were even on vacation. I may have to look into taking a different cruise line in the future, Which is too bad because royal Caribbean used to be my favorite 

Overall, our experience in the cruise was fantastic, the vast majority of the crew were very friendly and courteous. The person in charge of making our room was always available, friendly and always in an excellent mood, and helped us out with questions during the cruise, and the room was neatly done two times a day. The only unfavorable experience we had was when we looked for help from the cruise concierge regarding a questions we had about a tour. I don´t remember her name, only that she was from Italy. Although she answered our question, she was not friendly and seemed to be in a bad mood, and redirected us elsewhere. 

Everything was supper. We did have a great time.

The only thing you have to inspect or to review is the MARKETS AND RUINS OF ANCIENT ATHENS TOUR FROM DOWNTOWN ATHENS TOUR. If we have to pay to get a taxi that its cost abut $20.00 Euros one way to the place were the tour stater, it don,t worth to go. And that is what we did, we din,t go Kotzia 

Square, we loose our money, because we don,t think that if we pay for the tour, we have to pay another $20.00 Euros to pay for the Taxi.

We did not went to this Tour.

Everything else was fine.  

After talking about a Mediterranean cruise for years, we finally made it happen and it could not have been better.  Loved the itinerary, the ship was more than impressive with great food, great entertainment and wonderful ambience.  We are now looking ahead to a possible second cruise with Celebrity.

Thanks Cheap Tickets for your easy booking an offers of optional port excursions.

The ship - Reflection - was, as expected, top quality for this range of cruising. From easy boarding at Civitevechia to disembarking at each stop, everything went smoothly.

The on board facilities were excellent and the choice of food was superb.

The highlight for me was the trip, in Turkey, to  Ephesus  where the excavations and detailed finds were mindblowing.

First cruise with Celebrity. The Reflection is a beautiful ship, well thought through design, very clean, beautiful public areas and wonderful staff.

We had a room 1074 mid-ship with a baloney. The room was a good size with a great bathroom and shower. Although it is a large ship holding 3000 + passengers it never felt crowed. Always a place to sit in the public areas including the pools. Our room attendants, Brian and Lincoln were fantastic. Never went to the specialty restaurants because the food and service in the main dinning areas were very good, especially in the "Opus Restaurant" where everyone made you feel so special.

One downside for my husband and I, is that we dress up for work and on vacation want to relax. We were surprised how dressy everyone was when the clock struck 6 pm. it was like a fashion show. Even if you were not going to a specialty restaurant, just walking around the ship after 6 pm made you feel like you had to be wearing your Sunday best.

We also felt celebrity had limited shore excursions, a few times we used outside tour companies at the ports.

Overall, this is a great ship and we definitely plan to cruise with Celebrity again.

The cruise was great, the boat is really nice, the entertainment was excellent, the food at the buffet was very good, the food during the sit down dinner was not as good but we decided to just go to the buffet every night instead and that worked out well with the show schedules. I recommended!

This is a great cruise and a good way to see several stops. Norwegian does a great job of setting up excursions for you or helping you go on your own.

I have been other cruise lines and Norwegian was a great experience. The food options were amazing. Rome and Cannes were my favorite stops.

If what you want is a whirlwind tour of cities on the western Mediterranean, this is the cruise for you.  If you're looking for leisurely cruising at sea and enjoying the boat and downtime, then you should probably look elsewhere.  It's not a criticism, just a suggestion because after the first day, you're in port every day and many of the ports are industrial.

The cabins were relatively spacious and very clean.  The staff were consistently very polite and conscientious, but not excessively in your face with happiness.  The crew is obsessive, however, about preventing any outbreaks with crew and stations for hand sanitizer throughout.  Much appreciated.

The food was universally very good. We're not "foodies" per se, but enjoyed the food very much.  Moderna was especially good and fun.  

The excursions were expensive, but well-worth it.  Pompeii, in particular was marvelous.  You can do Rome on your own, but be careful not to be too aggressive about seeing everything.  You can't.  The Rome tour is very expensive, but helps to see more of the city.  On your own, be focused or you'll spend your day rushing from point to point and seeing less.

Those on the ship included a wide array of family types, but the cruise seemed less appropriate for families with young children.  My teenagers had a great time.  Didn't seem much like a couples cruise.

The range of nationalities on board was amazing.  Americans and Canadians, of course,but also many Germans, some East Europeans,and many Asians.  ..

Focus on your intentions -- to visit many cities in a short period while travelling delightfully by boat, or  cruising leisurely at sea.  if the former, then this is a great cruise.

The freestyle cruising was nice. The staff were friendly and accommodating. Make sure to sign up for the shows because you need reservations even if they are free. The food was very good in all locations we tried. The room setup was terrible, but you just have to get use to it. For the price, I would highly recommend this cruise. We got a really good deal of about $100 per night per person for a balcony. The locations you visit in Italy are not very appealing so I suggest doing tours in these places. If you like the beach then Cannes is the perfect place. For both France ports, I would suggest to ride the little train. However, we did not realize we had to sign up for the tender at Cannes. The ship cannot dock so you have to take a lifeboat to shore. If you do not sign up the day before, you will wait several hours to get off (like we did). Embarkation in Barcelona was fast. However disembarkation was slower. We waited an hour for our luggage and then found out it was separated because they said there were no tags. When we found them, the tags were on all of the bags still!!! Someone was blind I guess. The line for the taxi was over 1 hour. 

My 9 year old son has mobility limitations due to a medical condition which requires an oversized stroller for longer distances. From just the front to back of the ship would be a distance challenge for him. The elevators are small and the stroller barely fits in. During peak elevator times, seemed horrific trying to wait for an empty or near empty elevator to make the trip. There are not enough elevators (4 in the aft unlike 12 for most Royal Caribbean ships) and the 4 are in a spread out row instead of bundled, causing you sometimes to sprint with the stroller to the far end. The aft elevators only go down to the 6th floor, and there you can merely access the rear dining area. To go forward in the ship you need to go to 7. Actually, other than 16, it is the only floor with front to back access. we could not use floors with cabins, as the room steward carts made it nearly impossible to pass through with the stroller. So to go to our dining on 5, we had to take an elevator in the rear (only 4 there) from 10 to 7, we then had to go to midship, and catch another elevator down to 5. All in all, maneuvering around the ship was very very difficult. The theater has no cup holders, so you had to hold your drink the entire show. You should also know that anytime dining is NOT really anytime dining, unless you are willing to stand in a long line during peak times, and they will not take reservations during peak times. Lastly, the talent on the ship was terrible. The good: staff was very friendly, food was better than most ships, especially in the buffet and the poolside pizza.

Our cruise experience was memorable from the boarding to the stateroom's cleanliness to the friendly,professional staff in every department to the entertainment onboard to the land excursion, all met and surpassed our expectation.  To Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas staff and crew members, on belf of myself, my sister and my daughter....THANK YOU!! for a most rewarding and memorable European vacation!

Sailing from the UK for 66 hours before reaching land is simply too much particularly through the Bay of Biscay with inclement weather and no cover over the swimming pools.

The premium restaurants were very poor, especially the steaks served in Chops Grill.

The choice of entertainment was limited with movies being rerun a number of times in various locations.

This cruise has put me off a) Royal Caribbean and b) cruising.  Such a pit y as our previous experience aboard Independence and in the Baltic was very good.  Simply no comparison between the two.

The Independence of the Seas was a very clean, organized, and very staff friendly.  We have had a little bit better food on other cruise lines, but, never-the-less, the food was very good.  Our cabin attendant, waiter, and busboy were excellent, as were all the staff.  The excursion were well-organized.  The destinations were very good.  Some extra time in ports would have been appreciated since there is so much to see which is very incredible.  We would recommend this ship and its itinerary(ies) to all.

this cruise was fantastic for people who are not all about the ship. The ports of call were beautiful and amazing!!! The ship itself was very nice and clean (!) everywhere - even the gelato machines (that's right, ice cream was gelato 😱😍).  Embarkation/disembarkation were extremely smooth, not a long wait at all. All in all a fantastic vacation. Would definitely recommend two thumbs up 👍🏼👍🏼

The fact there was plenty for single people and had a meeting place for them 

to meet great entertainment pleasant crew and cabin staff .I have been looking for another cruise but I'm afraid there so aspen civet think I was lucky to have called at the right time .So I feel this something that could be looked at don't think it's fare to charge double for lone travellers .I must also congratulate the lady who handled my booking she was very efficient and pleasant.

This was the worst vacation of our lives. so much so that we are considering making up compliant forum website to give other a  people a voice and share there cruise nightmare experienced . The crew was not knowledgeable and was extremely rude. The food at the buffets was terrible. The shows were like a high school talent show.

It was both of our 50th birthdays and it was our 27th wedding anniversary. Our trip was ruined by both booking mistakes and the crew did not help us resolve anything and the non caring of  of the ship’s crew for almost anyone's concerns was terrible, We also discovered an internet scam the ship is doing by not have internet yet charging everyone for it. We think the entire cruise industry must be exposed for this scam. We videotaped person after person complain and nothing was done. We took video of both the people and how the crew dealt with this situation.

These were not just our observations we had asked other people on board if they were experiencing the same things and many of them said yes and had other stories. Like a $2,000 charge for seeing the ships doctor after experiencing food poising from the ships buffet.

We have a travel blog that gets over a million hits per month and we do not have a cruise section but we are considering putting one in. This was our first cruse and last cruise but this trip is our 49th trip to Europe and we extremely experienced travelers.  

When these concerns were brought up to the managers they did nothing but get us a reservation at one of the pay restaurants.

 We feel that you should all feel ashamed about this. The only redeeming quality was hat the locations were nice and the ship was clean.

The fact there was plenty for single people and had a meeting place for them 

to meet great entertainment pleasant crew and cabin staff .I have been looking for another cruise but I'm afraid there so aspen civet think I was lucky to have called at the right time .So I feel this something that could be looked at don't think it's fare to charge double for lone travellers .I must also congratulate the lady who handled my booking she was very efficient and pleasant.