Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Stopped at the leaving for airport because of account balance ( credit card was supposed to be linked)  Stateroom key card not working, it took long time and many calls to get fixed. Medical center staff behave careless once visit for kids bumping in head at pool.

This cruise was a great way to sample several sites by traveling with our "hotel and restaurant".  The King & I dining room service was most exceptional.  We enjoyed our time in Venice before and after the cruise; it's worth an extra day or two.  Ephesus was our favorite stop during the cruise.  Although the weather during this end-of-the-season trip caused us to miss our stop at Dubrovnik, overall the much-reduced crowds and cooler temperatures for walking made it all worthwhile

I can't rate this any better than a 3 because there were too many stressful moments.. We started off the first day soaking wet because they were unloading luggage at the taxi dock and you had to walk a good distance to the terminal. no assistance or even umbrella was even offered. 

After that we missed the first port because of weather delays leaving Venice.  After spending two days at sea we were ready to get off he boat in Rhoades. Lovely port just not enough time.  We had hoped since we missed the first stop we could have been at least given the whole day there. Another full day at sea high winds extremely rocky boat (bouncing off the wall rocky).  Then Turkey another lovely day just to short.  Onto Split, another day and night of horrid day and night extremely high winds. We are 4 hours late docking in Split because of the wind. they did extend the time some but  it really messed up the tours for the day.  Ours went off but was cut short and really was not worth the cost. To make things worse my husband became ill and spent the last 3 days in bed sick. 

We pre-paid all transportation, to, from port, Hotel, and to, from airport. We missed our connection in Paris, as we had expected due to security. Called Choice Air emergency #, woke the rep up. He assured us that he would let RCL know we were on a later flight to Venice, and gave him all the flight info. Caught a later flight to Venice, saw an RCL rep waiting for the plane from Germany, she did NOT have us on the list of late arrivals. We were one of several couples who missed the connection in Paris.. Showed her the transfer info, she told us our luggage would be on carousel 2 , and told us where to meet.  When we got to the meeting point, she and bus had left with the folks from Germany, and without us. We had to pay for a taxi to the port, 45 Euros, when we already pre-paid all our transportation. Got to the ship at 4:40p.m. They did, however, give us a room credit, but we DID NOT get reimbursed the original transfer fees we paid. If that wasn't bad enough, we stayed over 2 nights in Venice. We did get our transportation to the Hotel from the ship. However, after checking in, we find out that we do not have our voucher to the airport from the Hotel, which was pre-paid. After several phone calls to RCL, concierge, and the booking agent, another miscommunication occurred and we would not be picked up the morning of the flight home.. We had to make our own arrangements, which cost us an additional 110 Euros, and again, not reimbursed for the pre-paid transfers. We have little faith in RCL.

RCL did not have control of the weather, which made us leave Venice late and miss our first port of call which was one of the reasons we took the cruise. Rhodes and Split were great. Bad weather, bad vibration on the ship in the cabin in some instances making us queasy. The ship was old and cabins run down, with overhead lights broken. Would we sail again on the Splendour? NO. RCL? Not sure.

Norwegian Epic is probably one of the best choices a person can make for a cruise on the Mediterranean sea. Everything is super, service, entertainment, interior, cabin, everything is perfect. Very very large ship and this freestyle cruise is a very good concept. 

I didn't think the food was as good as the cruise I went on many years ago, but having choices was awesome, the staff was mostly attentive, appreciated the spa and relaxing especially in the hot saunas and steam rooms!  The shore excursions were excellent, had a few better guides than others but overall really good.  I don't like the 18-21% increase but realize that's what comes with it.  Enjoyed the activities, watching or participating, wish it was warmer for the pool activities but still tried it and was a blast!  ( I dont have pictures downloaded yet to send)  Thank you! 

Everyone onboard and associated with NCL was friendly and helpful. The entertainment was exceptional! We even went to some of the shows twice. We saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Burn the Floor (twice), Cirque de Dreams, Graffiti Classics (excellent), Howl at the Moon (3 nights), and several other musical groups. We found "Taste" restaurant to have best quality and service; wish we would have gone there more. O'Sheehan's food was good but service was very, very slow. We would have loved to see more dancing (professional and amateur) especially in Atrium area. 

The room was nice-size was average. Nicely quiet and the bed was comfortable. 

The excursions were exceptional! We had excellent tour guides and were thrilled with everything we did and saw. We took the excursions "Pisa and Florence on your own", "Monaco and "Monte Carlo", and "Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii". You don't get to pick your tour guide, but if you get Claudio in Naples (Napoli) you will be in for an educational and fascinating day of some of the most beautiful cities in Italy! 

Unfortunately, our trip even included a visit to the medical facilities (medical issue), but even there, we were seen quickly and appropriately, and the staff was very friendly and professional. 

Overall, when it was time to leave, we couldn't wait to talk about what our next NCL cruise would be! 

As usual it was very nice cruise with NCL. It the 5th time cruising on NCL. The only negative was that shows were repeated but other venues were offering very good entertainment.

The ship itinerary  was amazing . The ship was beautiful, clean. The staff professional ,friendly and helpful . The  food and specialty restaurants were excellent. The only negative was missing not being able to see the last port .

Having done 6 cruises in the past, one of them being with NCL (Hawaii), This was the second to last in overall experience. The ship, although reasonable new, was tacky and the food not really great. Also, the whole Freestyle cruising thing was too casual, border lining a Cancun resort, with too much salsa music going on for an European cruise destination.

I will go back to Royal Caribbean. Sorry NCL.

Overall just average. There were some good and some not so good things about this cruise. The ship is very large and overall nice. It holds 4,100 passengers. The not so good:  The elevators. The elevators do not accommodate the number of passengers and during busy times, generally two are not working. We spent a lot of time waiting for elevators and then only to find them too crowded to enter.  

The shows were wonderful, but you have to get reservations in advance and thus can't really "plan as you go", so much for freestyle cruising. If you don't have reservations, you can generally get in, but must wait in a long line.

The food was pretty good, except at the Garden Cafe Buffet. The up-charge meals were good and the general dining rooms had good food and OK service. The buffet food was not good.

Most of the service staff were good and friendly, but overall there seems to be a bit of a morale problem.

There was always a line for the Service Desk.

I don't think I would go on a ship this large again with so many people. It just didn't provide the atmosphere I enjoy on a cruise ship.

This was a very interesting cruise visiting the historic Spanish coast on an exceptionally comfortable small ship. The ports were relatively free of visitors in mid November and the weather was delightful, it even being possible to have most meals out on deck.

Windstar's crew was friendly and efficient and the cabin was quiet and pleasant, even on the Atlantic leg, from Cadiz to Lisbon when the seas were bigger.  I recommend it.

Jim Brumfitt

We booked our cruise with very short notice. was a great avenue to get fantastic savings on our cruise. Harry Kroll was EXTREMELY helpful as I have never been to Europe. He was able to provide the guidance that I needed to assure a great trip. I would certainly book again with and Harry Kroll. The cruise itself was AMAZING! We have been on a total of 4 cruises and I would put Norwegian Cruise Lines at the top of the list with Disney Cruise Lines on the lines that we have been on. Both my wife and I enjoy drinking adult beverages :) and we loved the beverage package. I automatically thought that we were going to be limited to the house offering of liquor, but no, we were able to upgrade to top shelf liquor and it was included in the package. In fact, I tried to exceed the limit in many cases, but couldn't do it. I definitely recommend , Harry Kroll and Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We loved all aspects of the cruise.  The ports were great except Palma Majorca. We love NCL and love the service and attitude of the employees.  Their shore excursion pricing is outrageous.

Terrific ports, plus we had great weather and clear seas. The ship was only OK.

Service was sincere and positive, but by no means the best we have encountered.

Issues included:

1. 4 days at sea with no bridge director

    This was huge. Every bridge player I encountered complained at this.

2. Other activities were boring and predictable

3. All but one show was music - no comedy - only dancing 3-4 times

4. Dining room was inefficient (for cruise ships). Probably issues in the kitchen and with the seating mechanism.

5. Food was very good, but not great

We have done many cruises... and our intent on this trip was to see places and things we had never seen.  The ship was a great way to briefly touch the various ports, cities and sites. The food, entertainment and quality of the ship was very good.  We were happy with the service and the quality.

Our room was very small with a balcony. This did not matter so much to us. We stay in the room only to sleep and dress for our next event. The bathrooms have little privacy ( sliding frosted glass doors).

This was very intense trip for us as we booked a tour at every port. Yes, the tours were very expensive... but we decided it was our best option.   Other people that have been to some cities had other means to get around.  One advantage of the NCL tours was that we had reservations at places like the Vatican and could almost walk right in... the general public was lined up for blocks. 

The excursions were well organized and we felt safe ... (not knowing how to find these attractions)  For many of the sites there was an hour just in 1 way travel... The quality varied depending on tour guides, their accents and our ability to hear/understand over the portable radios. 

We are very pleased with our experience and are taking some down time to recuperate from our vacation! 

My wife and I invited another couple to join us on this cruise. We are Diamond Level members and our friends are 1st time RCCL passengers. We had requested a dining room table for (4). Our Sea Pass cards all had the same table number,(214), but when we arrived at the Dining Room for dinner, we found that we were not sitting at the same table. Another couple were also given table 214 by mistake and when asked to move to a different table, they refused. My wife and I could not sit at the same table as our friends, even though it was a mistake made by RCCL. We were told there was nothing that could be done and either my wife and I or our friends would need to be seated at a table with 6 other people. I found this unacceptable and my wife and I did not eat in the Dining Room at all.

On the first night of the cruise I found that the mattress on my bed was completely useless. When I sat on the middle of it I sank completely down to the wire mattress support. I have a couple discs in my back that cause quite a bit of pain if not supported properly. I showed the room attendant, he agreed that it was in terrible condition. I asked if a newer mattress could be put in place or if an "egg crate" topper could be used, because I not only need support, but I need a cushion as well. Instead, the large sag in the middle of the bed was filled with multiple layers of firm mattress pads and fillers which leveled it out, but made it very hard and no topper was available. I had eleven days and nights of on and off leg and back pain. I was not happy.

We have always enjoyed cruising with RCCL along with Celebrity. We have never had any issues to speak of and have always recommended RCCL to all our friends and family. We were very disappointed that this had to happen when we had our friends with us. My wife and I have (4) more future cruises booked with RCCL, the next one being in January. I hope there is not a repeat of these type of issues.

William & Sharon Alex

everybody had a nice experience, great cruise we had fun nice staff, food was great, entertainment show was great, italy france spain wereallnice places

Took a group 0f 11 people, including 2 first time cruisers and with the recent upgrading of the Epic, we found ourselves spending many evenings at the Cavern, which showcased the Beatles. We saw all 4 shows with a different set the first 3 shows and the placed was packed each night. Don't believe the ship expected the crowds as the band announced that the show was moving to the Epic theater on the next cruise week. The bartender Dino was also awesome and we can't wait to return.

The cruise itinerary was above my expectations. I totally enjoyed the Ports of call.

The service onboard the ship was very good. Improvement is needed in the areas of onboard entertainment. There was not enough daily activities on board the ship compared to the other cruises I have taken  for the past 20 years.

What happen to ice sculptures etc... .  There was talk in the dining room of the company stopping the waiters from entertaining ( singing and dancing on specific nights) . That is  a big NO NO. guests totally enjoy that experience.