Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Some ports very short time, others very boring.

I thought Allure will surprise me more as is my fourth time in Royal Carribean but first on this ship, but not so special.

This is the cruise that puts all other cruises to shame. Not only are the port destinations amazing and much sought out for its the boat and crew that make this unforgetable. I don't think I ever encountered a rude or mean crew member, on the contrary everyone was always willing to help and smiling. The boat itself is larger than life and has so many things to do. Our room was the largest I have ever stayed in. The food is something also to take note of, every meal felt very well done and planned out. Thank you for such a wonderful experience!

excellent itinerary, average ship. Many activities had low attendance or were cancelled due to insufficient participation. Food ok, but not great. This is a cruise for seeing the ports. Service very good and staff excellent  though.

Some ports very short time, others very boring.

I thought Allure will surprise me more as is my fourth time in Royal Carribean but first on this ship, but not so special.

The good: fantastic staff and service.... The food was tastier than most... Choice of ports is great... Rooms were huge compared to other cruises. The bad: terrible itenary planning with Santorini... Entertainment was boring.... Needed more On board activities during sea days.

My family and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The staff on Royal Caribbean was very attentive as usual.  The only drawbacks were the cuts to certain services like premium entrees (I.e. Lobster) in main dining room and the single offerings of some of the Main Event shows that conflicted with scheduled dining times.  There also seemed to be a shortage of deck chairs (could be that passengers were "reserving" multiple chairs as majority were unoccupied by actual bodies).  Despite  those minor annoyances, we had a wonderful vacation.  

The cabin and cruise staff were very good, the food on ship and the entertainment was very good but I was very disappointed on the fact that they changed the intinary and didn't notify me.....didn't find out until we had already set sail, the cruise was chosen specifically  for its intinary and the fact that there were a few sea days between ports, to make life easy for my mother who is in a wheelchair, the new intinary didn't include villefranche or Lisbon and it was six ports in six days.....rather tiring for my mother.. The Internet was overpriced at about $40 a day and necessary items like NyQuil were being marked up by over 300%...... 

The cruise itinerary was good and although we have done this cruise prior there were 2 new ports for us being Kotor and Agostoli. Both these were great stops and the hosts were very good.

In general we enjoyed the cruise but the vessel seemed to be not as well kept as other ships we have been on and the food quality was average not outstanding and this was dissappointing to us!

The service level was good and in certain case WOW certainly applied!

It was wonderful.  The advantage of booking the Suite was 10-star, i.e., access to the Concierge Lounge and our personal "Concierge" was priceless - he was like a friend!

...not crazy about the Cruise Director - she had an irritating loud, voice, she should take it down just a notch!!!  (I know, this is sounds a little petty)

(FYI ... I credit Lexi Garcia with providing us with over the top knowledge of all travel info I could possible ask for - she's unbelievable and I hope I will be able to only arrange all my future travel plans with her)  

Let me tell you this was our first cruise with Cunard and our over 27 with other lines.  By far, it was one with more bad experiences.  It is a pity that although you have a pretty and comfortable ship the service has to be so, so.  Do you train your staff? By service I mean your waiters, assistants, room Stewards, Maitre D', Purser's Desk, etc, it seems no one is even teaching them how to provide these services.  We had a terrible experience with your Purser's Desk staff, we went to ask them to make a call for us to make reservation at the seafood restaurant BotaFumeiro (since I did not have my phone, I thought I lost it in Florence, Thank God I found it three days later) and the lady told us that they didn't provide those services, when I heard that I was chocked, but she did tell me I can show you how you can make a call from your room (when she said that, I almost told her, lady do you think I am stupid, but I didn't do it), then she said that it will cost us $4.50 per minute.  These type of services we got it in other cruise lines, e.g. NCL, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.  One year we were in NCL and we were going to fly to Paris to stay there a week and that was the year that Paris had the Transportation Strike, well the Purser's Desk from NCL called us and they let us know what was happening and they helped us re-arranged our trip and they did everything for us for FREE.  My other questions to the lady at the Purser's Desk was, can you print our Boarding Passes for our flight from Venice to US and once again we got the same answer from her.  Our Concierge Travel, Mr. Brian Mitchell from Luxury Cruises, was the one to advise us to go the Concierge Desk and to request the service.  We did get an answer from the Purser's Desk, they told us that in order for us to print the boarding passes, we needed to get their Internet Package.  

Our first bad experience was the first night we went to the Britannia Restaurant, Second Seating at Table 543.  When we got to our table we didn't like it and we went and told Maitre D' Thomas to help us find another table, we understood that it was the first night and that it was going to be hard for him to do it that night, but what it made us mad was that Mr. Thomas did not take any interest in helping us. We had the same experience about three years ago in the Liberty of the Seas from Royal Caribbean, however, their Maitre D' took interest right away and helped us find another table by the second day.  That was the service we were expecting from Mr. Thomas.  Every night we got to the dining room  he always had the same answer, I am sorry I don't have one for you.  However, the third  or fourth night he brought a couple to our table to see if they liked the table and of course, they said No.  We told Thomas that the second table next to ours was empty that no one was there and he said oh no they will come, well the couple assigned to that table never showed up, but he gave the table to two Asian ladies.  But the service that we received from the Waiter of Table 543 was Excellent, his name is Ivan and his assistant waiter Jose was also excellent.  We commended very highly both of them as well as Carola the Head Waiter, she should be the Maitre D' not Mr. Thomas.  Finally, the second day of our second week, Mr. Thomas gave us another table (Table 515), the Waiter Ray was good but as not as good as Ivan, however, his assistant was not good at all, Ray had to do everything.  These are small examples because I am sure you have heard these type of story from other passengers.  We did go to one of your Pay Restaurant Verandah (I hope I have the right spelling) and the service that we received from Daniella the waitress as well as from their Maitre D' Bryan was excellent and the food was spectacular.  Why can you have staff like them working at your regular restaurants.

There were many other things wrong too.  Your in cabin TV was too small compare to other cruise lines, the shower too little, your in cabin movies system was not good, in other cruise lines, they have a list of movies that you can choose from at any time. You pride yourself of being an excellent cruise line, in a way you are, but you also nickel and dime people, many things had charges attached and these bad experiences we got, we really hope that you look into them to improve your service.  Our last bad experience we received was once again, from your Purser's Desk staff.  Two nights before of our departure in Venice, my husband went to the desk and told them that our driver that we hired was going to be waiting for us outside the terminal by 7:00 AM since our flight was leaving by 10:30 AM and we had four suitcases and two carry on, the lady told my husband that he had to carry the suitcases himself and that was when my husband got really really mad and he told her, of course, when she saw him how upset he was, then she told him that she was going to send someone to our stateroom for him to carry our suitcases until the Terminal.  But the point of this incident is that she provided the service that we requested after my husband got upset, I don't think this is right.  

I won't keep boring you, but again, it is a real shame that you don't manage this ship correctly.  It is pretty, the evening shows were excellent, your afternoon tea is great, your Spa, beauty salon are very good and it could really appeal to a lot of people if you would only take a little more time to correct these problems.

However, we will have to think about it twice before we try your line again or recommend it to our family and friends.  This was a very Expense Trip  and we were not expected to have these problems.  Overall a bad experience, especially on an 12 day cruise.

Emma & Jose Sardina, Hallandale, FL, US - (954) 454-0224

Overall Norwegian Epic is a great new ship. I did like the freestyle cruising concept, my whole family enjoyed their swimming pool, food, and their activities.  

The ship was very crowded but overall we enjoyed meeting people from different countries. Maybe it was the fact that this ship actually runs 2 cruises at once with one group departing from Rome and the other departing from Barcelona which is good and bad . Also, the food quality in their different restaurants was very good.  Regarding ship staff , they were effective and friendly. I recommend this trip to everyone even the families with small kids . nice ship, great food, fair activities, overall, I have no complaints.

This is the largest ship I have ever sailed on (19 prior cruises) and I will never go this large again. NCL is getting so that one price no longer takes care of all but your beverages. There were extra fees for everything which was available, and reservations needed for the shows which are "drop-in" on all other vessels. I had an aft balcony and the view was amazing but the distances required to get anywhere were daunting. When going into port in the early morning hours the vibration and noise from the engines was incredible even on the 13th floor deck. It was impossible to use the swimming pools because of the number of people aboard. The water park was fun for the kids but it consumes a lot of space. It was not possible to find empty deck chairs. Food was marvelous, as a plus. Embarkation and debarkation were handled very well considering the number of people. Did not care for the separate bathroom configuration.

The itinerary ruled on this trip.  The ports were great.  Almost all the excursions were wonderful with good guides. The food on Princess in the dining rooms was excellent.  Anytime diners need to know that after 8 pm you will likely have to wait to be seated (up to 45 minutes)  Go earlier if you want to avoid. Balcony room on deck 11 was good. Not so good was the entertainment and the food in the Horizon court buffet, but breakfast was the best.  There were signs of plumbing issues (sewer smells at some spots, floods over carpets, etc.)  Deck lounge chairs were lacking--they need to get more.  Overall, I think the Island Princess is due for a refurbishment next year. I believe this is one of their older ships.

The cruise was wonderful. The room was spectacular. The service was prompt and friendly. The food was superb, especially in the Bordeaux dining room and Sabotini's. The Princess tours were excellent too. Just wish it was longer! The only negative was that I was unable to get a lounge chair in the pool area, each of the days that I tried. Adding more lounge chairs in the sun areas of Deck 14 would be good.

We have travelled on three different cruises; Carnival 😶, Disney 😘 and now Holland America 😃😃😃😃. This was a great trip with me and my husband and our three children; 17, 14, and 9. We did all the various shore excursions, and it was a great way to get an introduction to Southern Europe. But the cruise ship specifically I would say; great and friendly crew, excellent food, great accommodations and would travel with Holland America and Zuiderdam again.

Great Destination or stops. The staffs (windjammer & fine dining) are great. The food is okay. The room is great. The tender process is not well organize. The shows are boring

This was my first time on a cruise and I was so happy that I chose Royal Caribbean! The Rhapsody of the Seas is a small ship in comparison to some others but it offered just as much if it more! The facilities were immaculate and the staff was a always attentive and ready to help make your experience an enjoyable one. If I ever decide to take as another cruise, I will choose Royal Caribbean.

Very nice cruise itinerary and also a good ship, with a crew caring for the passengers. Drawback: Two ports required tendering, but worked well - and the very  hot weather this early August.

My boyfriend and I took our first Mediterranean cruise through RC and had a fantastic time. The entertainment staff was very interested in everyone having a good time. The staff was extremely nice, but I feel a little understaffed. I didn't feel as pampered as the previous three cruises I've taken. 

It was a great cruise! I recommend it. The ship was organized. The staff was helpful and friendly.  My husband and I really enjoyed the trip. We can't wait for our next cruise.