Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Cunard's Queen Victoria  ship is beautiful, lots of activities but some require extra charge, staff was not as friendly or service oriented as expected. More like Carnival service. Shore Excursions all reasonably priced and we're all worthwhile, tour Guides were extremely knowledgable about tour areas. Food was very good. Veranda Restaurant was exceptional for both food and service. Theater shows were good to ok. Cunard dancers and singers put a lot of effort and work into productions that could have been better.

We thoroughly enjoyed our week aboard Cunard's Queen Victoria.   The customer service was excellent -our bags were waiting for us at our stateroom when we boarded.  The tours we purchased from the ship were excellent and we feel the best way to see Istanbul.  The two days in Istanbul were perfect; we had plenty of time in Volos to charter a sailboat for the day; a few extra hours in Mykonos would have been nice - but I'm not sure anyone ever wants to leave Mykonos.  Good options for food, excellent food in specialty restaurant, the four star rating is due to entertainment.   We really like the comedian; however, overall the entertainment offered did not compare with NCL's Epic - Blue Man Group.  The balcony cabin was as expected -no complaints.   We will definitely consider sailing with Cunard again.  

I enjoyed the cruise. Crews are Customer oriented. Service is efficient.

I suggest to review their internet package (too expensive like 149$ US for one week)

I suggest they emphasize on single travelers and offer better cruise fees.

Did not appreciate Athen Greece. Loved Dubronvik and Split in Croatia and had fun in Turkey shopping.

We choose the free style dinning package, since just the two of we were traveling.

We also had the ultimate dinning package. Everything was just great. the service , food, atmosphere. Dinning with sunsets and sunrises everyday was such a treat.

The  ports of call where perfect.

Yes I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone.  Especially anyone with

Croatian heritage. 

We booked back to back 14 days of the cruises.   We are so blessed that we did this because not only we tour around the sea the land , as well as the culture and the myth !!

All of my friends are interested on going now !!

Talk about a fabulous vacation!!!

The Jade was beautiful, the staff was incredible, the entertainment and food were top notch! Everything was simply wonderful!

The islands, one more beautiful than the next!

My room attendant, Jill (cabin 9057) was truly amazing-and deserves HUGE KUDOS!

Towards the end of the trip, my moms sciatica acted up, and the staff went out of their way to ensure she was comfortable at all times. All very warm, and sincere. 

Again, KUDOS to a wonderful team, and thank you for making such a great vacation, even more amazing!

I thought the experience was fun, educational, and exciting. For me, the excursions made the trip. Best time: bike riding in Palma, followed closely by the excursion to the Amalfi Coast & Pompeii. The buffet was pretty good but the free specialty restaurants are much quieter and less chaotic. I did not care for the people coming into the buffet area fresh from the pool deck dressed in bathing suits with cover-ups, plus kids running around. The shows were fun and they have lots of onboard activities, especially for kids. "Howl at the Moon" dueling piano bar was the BEST! I liked the running/jogging area on the port side. Staff are all friendly and eager to help. We got a balcony room which I would highly recommend. It was beautiful at night watching the full moon on the water.

This was our first cruise with Norwegian.  We have previously gone with Princess on three other cruises and once with Royal Caribbean.  Free Style Cruising with Norwegian is not the way to go.  We felt as though we were "nickel and dimmed to death", with all the "extra charges" for the "upscale restaurants" and shows!

The corkage fees for drinking a bottle of your own wine in your state room is ridiculous.  

My husband and I love to cruise and this was the perfect way to start our married life together! This cruise is definitely not about the ship but about the ports of call. This is the only cruise I found that had so many amazing stops on one cruise! The ship and staff are very nice as well, but we booked this for the ports!

Some ports are too far to walk to towns. Celebrity's shuttle buses cost  are ridiculously high. For example Dubrovnik,  Celebrity shuttle bus $12. Taxi $13, if you are just a party of 2 the cost is about the same ($12+$12 round trip Celebrity) ($13x2 taxi round trip) If you are a party of 4 you save $22 plus you don't have to wait for the shuttle bus to show up and wait for it to fill up!  Another example Marseille, $19 celebrity shuttle, Taxi $20. At some ports, the ports offer their own shuttles, Corfu free port offered shuttle, Mykonos free, Livorno $5. If the ports can offer free or $5 shuttles, it looks like this is a big money maker for Celebrity.

We were warned by a couple that are 4 star mariners that we would see a marked downgrade in the Holland offering.  They were sure correct!!!

From the dinning menu to the ship's appearance it is clear that this is not what we have historically experience on our prior curses.  Specifically the dinner menu offering were far fewer.  In effect, down to one page vs. historically a broader selection of two full pages.   My question on ship appearance was when will Zuiderdam  be going in for refurbishment?  The answer was it just came out.  You draw your own conclusions. 

We took 5 shore excursions; 1 from Holland and 4 through United Cruses (out sources to local operators).  We are sure glad that we only booked one through the ship.  We were taken by the Holland offering via bus with 35 to 40 of our fellow ship mates to a small  sea side town on a Sunday; dropped offer for a hour with no direction at this location where most of the businesses were closed.  The second half was booked as visiting a local winery.  In reality, it was a small store front where you had an opportunity to purchase a very limited selection of local over priced wines. The only plus you were allowed to bring back on board one bottle per person w/out corkage fee.  As a contrast, United Cruse offering was 4 to 5 couples with a local tour guide on a mini bus providing significantly broader highlights and a far more rewarding experience.

Cabin accommodations: we were assigned a handicapped veranda room with no tub and lack of closet space.  My wife and I do not need nor want this type of state room at this point in our lives. The only veranda offered on board by the front office was a mid ship accommodation directly outside the passenger stairway and elevators.  This was unacceptable and we finally settled on a suite upgrade at a higher additional price to us. 

To be balanced the ship's crew was attentive, helpful and all-around great and I would rate them 5 star out of 5. 

My wife and I expected much more based on our historical experiences and contributed to the reason for the 3 star rating.  If I could of rank the cruse 2.5 it would have been more accurate. 

I would not recommend Holland unless they reverse course and add back quality and breath to their offering.

We loved our Med Cruise. The ship was outstanding. The service and shows we first class. The food was great. The itinerary had us enjoying some of the neatest cities in Europe. Sign us up again!

The ship was clean, the crew was friendly and attentive, food was very good. The itinerary was quite good... a better choice might be a ten day cruise with the additions of a couple more Greek islands and Athens (Piraeus).    Entertainment was a bit cheezy, mostly because of poor choreography, some very strange costumes and some questionable musical selections.  Shuttle service to the old town in Corfu was disjointed... requiring a walk to the port buses, disembark to walk through the customs building and then board the shuttle.  It seemed as though not all ships in port were doing this particular little dance. All in all though, enjoyable and good value.

The cruise was great. I enjoyed all the stops that we have made. The wait staff was not very attentive in the pool area. Always had to chase them down, and finally just gave in an just went to the bar to get our own drinks. Disappointed in that, and about half of them seemed to be pained in waiting on people to get their drink order.

it was a wonderful experience, the cabin was excellent, the service on board also, the restaurants excellent, excepting the 15th floor garden which was too noisy, too crowded and too far away i

, the itinerary wonderful, only disliked two of the guides of the ship cruises

ship facilities (room,food) are very good

The entertainment was in low level. some of the show were without full translation to English.

the activities in general were not so good.

This trip was amazing! For me,cruising is all about the shore excursions. Norwegian had super options and included small group tours to Olympia and Delos. Well worth the extra price. 4X4 in Santorini was a blast and lunch was delicious. Right by the sea in a small town. Norwegian also caters to solo travelers. Never felt awkward.

Great cruise.  We are frequent cruisers.  We had a family veranda on the ship.  It was a little bit loud in the mornings with docking, but that was a small detail.  No other complaints here.  Food was incredible.  Entertainment was average.  The ports were amazing. Great vacation for a family of 5.  We had 3 boys ages 12, 12, and 10 and they had a blast on the ship.

Very enjoyable in all aspects;

food drinks excursions etc.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

we enjoyed are cruise greatly. We missed our flight,thanks to delta inability to leave on time and having the connecting flight leaving early. We caught up to the cruise at its first port. Hal was very accommodating. Our room was wonderful and the food was great. We ate at all three specialty restaurants and was very impressed. We were disappointed that we had to skip a port because off rough water. But all in all it was fantastic.