Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

I've seen other reviews about the 'okay' food on board, but frankly the food we found was delicious, fresh and varied.  The service was attentive and overall experience enjoyable.  We had several teenagers in our group and they had an amazing time in the Teen Section of the ship. 

Stateroom - good.  Service - excellent, impeccable.  Food - mostly good, but several things missed the mark, not excellent.   Entertainment - very good.  Shore excursions and transfers - good, but some hurry-up-and-wait.  Complaints - 1. not enough deck chairs, guest "territory marking" made chairs unavailable even though vacant for extended intervals.  2. we expected more Greek food items on a Greek cruise. 

See my notes below.  Rarely do I leave reviews on travel but felt this was important based on my initial expectations from traveling many other times on Cruise ships and this being the first experience on Norwegian.  My wife and I don't have kids currently and won't probably try the Norwegian line again at this time.  I gave it a poor experience based on expectations and the fact we felt like this was a Disney Cruise without the "WOW".  The destinations however were wonderful and we got to experience great cultures, food and more during this trip while off the boat.

The Preziosa is the new flagship of MSC. We had a large cabin with a balcony for three persons and it was very comfortable. The ports visited give a wonderful flavor of the Mediterranean.Embarkation and disembarkation was the smoothest I have encountered on a cruise.Steward service was not as efficient as any other cruise line I have used and in this case I paid more for a balcony cabin, Our cabin was made up at odd times and minibar was seldom restocked. Dining in the Golden Lobster was a hurried experience with a get in get out feeling and constant pressure to move out. Coffee and tea were not even served with desert if you had time to eat it. I give the cruise a favorable rating because of the condition of the ship and the ports visited but MSC will not be among the companies I choose for my next cruise..  PS: Use the stairs at peak times because the elevators are packed.

Beautiful, huge, ship. Hard to even notice when the ship is underway. Excellent condition of every part of the ship. Magnificent support from the ship's staff of 1700. The food was so good, that I gained 4 pounds during the week long cruise. Excellent, very professional entertainment shows...as good as some I have seen in Las Vegas. Very well designed cabins (except the prior occupants smoked in our cabin). Don't know general pricing of Internet access on other ships, but I consider their lowest rate of $25/day for the whole cruise... to be too pricy for me. But all in all, a magnificent experience. I would have no qualms at all to take another cruise onboard the Epic. VERY well done.

The ship is beautiful! The promenade was always busy, Central Park felt like New York in the Spring, the pool decks were full of splashing fun, it was entertaining to see people on the zip line or surfing, the dinning areas were spectacular. There was such an amazing staff. The only thing I would change is the DJ at the Blaze Night Club. He is awful!

This was such an amazing experience. I have to express special thanks to the medical crew on the cruise: Dr. Rosa, Daniella, Bianca and Tonya who took exceptional care of me when I unexpectedly got ill during the commencement of my cruise. Thanks to a great medical team, I was better within a couple of days which permitted me to truly enjoy my trip. Great service and staff!  

Great food and drink! Chef's Table and Izumi were especially good. The casino was also great. The entire staff on board really impressed me. I thought the Entourage Duo was a great act, the remainder of the entertainers, not so much. The outdoor movies were a total bust because it was impossible to hear the dialogue over the noise from the hot tubs and the smoking section. The stateroom was perfect, always clean. I did not appreciate the penalty for booking shore excursions with outside sources. There should not be a need to get up early and wait in line for tender tickets. 

We were pleasantly surprised with 6200 people on board, we did not felt crowded.  RCL did a good job with organization.  The Seapass card was the only thing you need on board and off the ship, it was very convenient.  The account summary, calendar on TV helped with knowing how much you spent and where you need to be, though the in remote for the TV did not work well, we had someone take a look, but we were told that was how it was.  

Also, all the advertisements about buying extra packages, with fee dining made people think if you did not do it, you were missing out.  You can totally enjoy the cruise even if you did not buy the extra packages.  you can still get coffee, tea, lemonade, ice tea.  You can also bring 2 bottles of wine per stateroom when you board to enjoy on board without cordage fee.  the main dining room food was very good, with varieties and changes everyday, really no need to pay extra for fee dining.

Enjoyed every single second of this cruise. Each destination was absolutely gorgeous!! This was our first cruise and we were very impressed. Will be taking more cruises in our future! We loved the variety of things to do onboard and flexibility of disembarking at ports. Drink package was well used, but not explained well even though we asked at least 5 people what our package included (no one gave us the same answer twice). Great staff and entertainment! 

The cruise itself was overall good, and the staff, cleanliness of the ship, food, and excursions were very good.  However, there were just too many kids and not enough space for adults to enjoy and relax.  It would have been better, if there was a larger pool for adults only and if kids were kept out of the bars/clubs at night.

Enjoyed this cruise very much. Impressed by the onboard entertainment. Our cabin was not prober cleaned upon embarkation and this gave a minus in the overall rating.

Our first cruise and we are now spoiled.  I don't know if there could possibly be a better way to vacation. The Cunard crew was wonderful.  The Queen Victoria was a great place to say for the week while visiting such beautiful places.  We are looking forward to our next cruise with Cunard.

We were recommended by friends who have sailed on Cunard 7 times, it was as they told us Outstanding in all area's.

Queens Grill is the way to go, food, staff and service 1st class plus great promotion for the 175 year!!

Thanks,

john & Julia

Ft Lauderdale, FL.  USA.

Overall the cruise was an experience that I would remember for a very long time.

I have been on two different cruises with different carriers, and this one was the best.  The cabin stewards were excellent, (Joseph) was very helpful, very willing to assist in every way to make the experience what it was.  The sit down dinners and breakfast were superb, the waiters were excellent.

There were two experiences that were not so good: First there were some times when we got a foul smell in our cabins and the surrounding ones (as we checked).  Secondly, there were many times in the early hours of the morning, there were dragging of furniture overhead (seems as in came from the front section of Deck 12. (We were in Room 11509) 

Overall We had a wonderful experience, and we look forward to be on NCL some time in the near future.  I will certainly recommend NCL.

Frank B

My wife and I just completed our European cruise on August 20th, 2015.  We had a great time!  The Allure of the Seas is a huge ship with over 5,000 guests but it never seemed crowded.  The food was the best that we have ever experienced on a cruise.  Now, we did eat in the dining room only 1 time and it was good, but the other nights we ate at the specialty restaurants - Giovanni's, Sabor, Chops Grill, and 150 Central Park - and they were outstanding!  

The ports of call were very fun as well.  We did tours through Delta Vacations for Naples, Mallorca, and Marseille and were very pleased with them.  We did a Royal Caribbean excursion to Florence and that was wonderful as well.

This is a great way to get a taste of Europe and we will likely go and do it again.  Very highly recommend.

I chose this ship because of the itinerary.  It hit all the spots my family wanted to see.  However, aside from the excursions, the ship want nothing to brag about.  The entertainment consisted of all music and dance shows, and the magician was less than magical.  Everything else was extremely expensive to fill the time.  The ship is extremely dated (18 years old).  The recent renovations were actually just repairs, not upgrades.  Couldn't plug in a blow dryer, leaking faucets with mostly cold water (and showers!), hard beds, no iConcierge service, spotty wifi - that you pay an arm and a leg for....thank goodness we spent most of our time site seeing.  My family was so bored in the evenings, we went to beg by 9pm.  Absolutely nothing fun on the fun ship!!!

Wonderful.   No complaints. Staff were great. Magic show ok. Other shows awesome. Naples and Toulon ok but not as great as other destinations. Great bartenders by pool and in champagne bars.  Best food in steak and French restaurants 

In spite of a few mishaps, our trip went well. After cruise day 5, the drink package issue was brought to Dawn Blue's attention, which we tried to addressed. There was absolutely no type of assistance from Norwegian even after receipt of documentation we provided, which the Guest Services Manager agreed with.  Definitely no type of compensation on charges that were already incurred.  Even though, we brought this issue to their attention.  This is a first in my lifetime of traveling where spending over $24,500 for our group trip, something as simplistic as a drink package is not acknowledged.  I find it truly amazing & even more so when you do not honor charges that was incurred of $53 as well as a speciality restaurant charge of $15.  There was way too many funds spent, for something so small to become an problem.  I handled the situation  to the best of my ability without making continuous calls to just anyone which would continue to take to away the time I paid for as well as the services.  I took care of these charges and hope I can receive compensation for something so small. Disappointed with the administrationton, the guests you say you trying to take care of ... you did not!

Every port of call was excellent, and all the guides lived up to expectations. There was plenty to do on the ship without becoming overwhelmed. The entertainment was wonderful. The staff was attentive and friendly. The ship was decorated in original artwork by famous masters. The boutiques were well-stocked and overpriced, but they were on a floor that was easy to skip.