Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Overall, the cruise was nice.  I particularly liked the ports we visited, and the staff were very friendly.  One complaint I had though, was that it took so long to eat our meals.  I don't typically spend 5-6 hours every day eating, so this was very frustrating to me.  If they would have had eggs and other sources of protein on the breakfast buffet in the morning, I would have gone there, but they did not.  The lunch buffet was pretty decent though.

I was not impressed with most of the entertainment either.  Most of it bordered on trashy.  The schedule was quite hectic to try and see all of the sights, and I think it could have been more relaxing if they would have included another day at sea.  My favorite port was Montenegro!  Absolutely beautiful!  I got some great pics from everywhere we went!

Also, it is well worth it to upgrade to a balcony!  My only complaint there was that the ship was very noisy!  We were on the 8th floor, and the foosball table, and pool was on the 9th floor, and it was very noisy every night!  Pick a room at least 2 floors below the pool, and away from the music.

I loved the ship and would cruise with them again but my 18 year old daughter was disappointed in the dining room food and expected more entrees based on previous cruises that we've taken. 

What a fabulous way to see the Mediterranean!  Unpack once. No hassles with passport stamping or customs and you get a taste of 5 different countries.

I had a great time on my Mediterranean cruse.  I would highly recommend Norwegian cruise lines.  My flight from the US was cancels so I had to meet the ship in the second port.  They handled it very well.  I was credited for offshore tours I had booked. 

I recommend purchasing day tours ahead of time.  They are much cheaper.  I also recommend the food add on.  It general buffet was busy and can always eat there, but this option allowed me to eat in all the restaurants with no extra cost.

Norwegian also has studios on some of their ships.  If you are traveling also I highly recommend this.  You don't have to pay extra for traveling along.  If you want to meet people they have a get together each evening at 6 or 6:30.  Nice place to meet people

With the advent of cell phones I felt the staff to often were communicating on them for personal reasons.  Even when specking with guest they would answer the cell phone. 

The overall cruise itinerary is good, covering the countries and cities that most people desire to visit. The food selection is just average, but food preparation is below average (e.g. ordered the steak as medium rare, and came out twice as medium to medium well). Without offering the captain's dinner/dinners was a big minus. Had multiple interaction with the service desk. Had good experience with the services provided, but one of the staff at the service desk was very rude, and this type of person should go back to basic training before putting on the job. Multiple restrooms (men's and women's) were often broken. The entertainment quality is also just average. I had experiences with Carnival cruise two times before this this one, and both experience were better than this one.

We loved this cruise.  Food was great, room was great, excursions were great.  But, entertainment on board was fairly lousy.  For those who wanted something other than just a place to eat, there was a jazz club, a piano bar, a comedy club, and a karaoke bar.  None of them were great.  The music in the piano bar and jazz club was mediocre at best.  The comedy talent was not very talented.  And the karaoke bar reminded us of a small town strip club (very tacky design, with actual beds in certain parts of the seating area).  These onboard activities are all great in theory but, in our opinion, were executed poorly.  Also, some of the bartenders in some of the bars were not the friendliest people.  We talked to some people on board who loved all of this stuff, but we definitely didn't.

Overall cruise is comfortable, food is ok for a cruise. Activity wise, is Royal Caribbean, so expect low key, middle age activities. Not for young or teens. Shore excursions were good and guides are knowledgable. Only exception is Rome/Vatican where there is not a planned visit to St Peter's Basilica, even though description says it was. It was never even planned. Disappointed. Be careful if you planned and or booked through agency, I was told gratuities were charged in original payment and Royal Caribbean charged me again!! 

Princess runs these as 7 day cruises with four of them back to back for a total of a 28 day cruise.  We were on the 1st leg from Athens to Istanbul and the second from Istanbul to Rome.  The first leg was not as popular as the ship was not crowded and was mainly older couples.  That changed in Istanbul and the ship was packed with kids.  We were on the trip to see history sites so we were very pleased with the itinerary and never went on the excursions that most of the ship went on.  Please be aware that doing this in late July and August is very difficult as the temp and constant sunshine really wears down on you.

The ship was wonderful (steady as a rock) and the staff took good care of us, especially the cabin steward who was a jewel. The food was excellent in both the dining room and buffet. The ports of call were O.K. Had we anticipated the heat better, we would have booked this cruise in the Spring or Fall. Our bad. What we found disconcerting was the attitude of Princess, availing itself of every opportunity to separate us from our last euro. Very grasping. Indicator: their daily shipboard newsletter focused on port sites that were available on their tours, ignoring some wonderful sites (Naples Architectural Museum, etc.) that they offered no tours too and the countless bombarding of X % off this and that. It was easy to ignore but we were surrounded by it. Tours were not worth the money. Additionally, the cruises. com agent that booked our tour, Chris H., was very professional, helpful and thorough (and always accessible for our questions)

The boat was older and due to be updated. No much to do for younger children under 3. They only spent 4-5 hours in Santorini which i took i hour to commute to the shore and they wanted us on the boat 1 hour.  I would spend more money and also stop by Greece.  The food was good especially when they had special meals. Had a special menu for baby 12 months and under. Which was nice because they did not offer much for children under 3.

 My first disappointment was the smoking on the balconies. I have asthma and had to endure smoke in my cabin several times a day & especially at night. My complaints fell on deaf ears.I was told my asthma is not a top priority the concern is fire. I was also told you do not want to be sued for false accusation..Why wasn't there more emphasis on the no smoking rules thru reminders by the Captain and in print in the daily brochures. Your extra charges for water out of the room frig-- charges for room service- charge for a can of coke-despite having purchased a premium package for drinks. Prices on wine list not consistent with charges incurred..

The general consensus among many passengers  was the ship was only about extra charges. Impression of the ship when we boarded--it looked like a mall with shops on 4th-5th floor. The high cost on additional restaurants on the ship was also an issue with many people.

We will make sure to recommend this cruise to our friends.  We loved sitting on our balcony and enjoyed seeing all of the greek isles - well worth the added price.

Fabulous itinerary, great service. Wonderful food! The staff was very accommodating and delightful. The ports were all wonderful and none were crowded. We've been on many cruises and this was a unique itinerary with lots of fabulous ports. Different than your typical Mediterranean cruise that visits Rome, Venice, etc. Those are great ports as well, but much more crowded in the summer than the ports on this cruise. It was a GREAT value. 

In all honesty, overall I had a great time on the ship.  However, my friend and I paid a premium price to go on this cruise, hence I expected a premium experience.  The entertainment crew, staff, housekeeping and restaurant servers were wonderful!  With that said, there were some major issues that I will disclose. 1. Some of the events on the ships Compass/events schedule were cancelled, or simply did not happen, i.e. trivia night in the bar or majority rules game poolside.  It's a bit disappointing to visit a venue and have no one at least let us know that that the event was cancelled. 2. The ship is very outdated, it states that the Splendour of the Seas has some fairly recent renovations.  However, furniture, cabin A/C, toilet suction, Karaoke machine, overall decor of ship were either non-functioning or falling apart.  Again, please know that had the service and actual crew members not have compensated with their positive energy and focus on customer satisfaction, this would have been easily a dismal trip!  Lastly, in comparison to other cruise lines, the food quality was subpar at best.  The best meal I had was at that specialty dining Chef's Table and it was a pretty penny for a quality meal.

We loved the 8 night Greece & Turkey cruise out of Venice, Italy.  Enjoyed the outstanding destinations and excursions. Had a lovely stateroom with ocean-view. We liked the size of the ship--not too big. 

Great ship, great organization. Truly fun for all the family. We were lucky with the accessible stateroom, otherwise the normal staterooms are quite tiny.

The ship stopped at most of the right destinations.  Some stops could have been longer.  The crew provided excellent service.  The staterooms were adequate and very well maintained and serviced.  The food from the buffet to the specialty restaurants was very good.  Made new acquaintances mostly during excursions and sitting at the same table in the main restaurant.  Excursions were very nice.  On occasions guides could have done a better job.

On the down side (that is why excellent is a goal) the Internet was very slow.  Seemed that Royal Caribbean was nickel-and-diming passengers.  The drink packages could be redone with fewer options providing additional value.

This is not the best or newest ship on the seas but it was a very nice trip for 12 days. I think where this ship stands out is the staff. The entertainment director, Mercedes, was very nice. They had good trivia and a lot to do onboard and most of the staff was very accommodating.

The negatives - my travel agent told me they had laudry facitilies on this ship. They don't. I found out none of the RC ships do now. Instead they overcharge you to have a Tshirt washed. The nickel and diming onboard as well can be a bit extreme but is pretty  normal for cruising. The wifi was $20 a day which could be worse I suppose but for 12 days for a cruise we had a $240 wifi bill.

The ship was clean but our stateroom had a strange smell to it and the stateroom attendant, while nice, wasn't really that great.

The excursions were okay with the exception of the shuttle boat to Venice. It was $28 RT per person per day - and was about 105 degrees. One guest had complained that his son was throwing up from the heat and the motion of the boat.

As a first time cruiser on MSC, with experience on Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, I was looking forward to learning about an Italian-based cruiseline. It was interesting to note that this line allows passengers to come aboard at each of its ports. That means there is a muster just about every day. Our request for extra towels and pillows (a standard request on the other lines) was met with an argument first, then a two-day delay in providing them. Dinner service was stilted, with the servers not understanding rudimentary English. Servers refused to provide plain tap water , insisting that we purchase water instead. Coffee/tea was also not offered - we were told to go to the cafe and purchase it there. At breakfast, service was poor to non-existent. Occasionally, but not always, we were offered juice and bread. Refills on coffee were available, if you could flag down a waitperson and ask for it. Except for breakfast, the food was either tasteless, or comparable to dishwater (soups) or cardboard (sauces). Only two dinners had portions that were acceptable. All the areas of the ship were invaded by unruly, unsupervised children. Despite signs saying that under-sixteens must be supervised by an adult, said adults were not in evidence. I was extremely disturbed to see toddlers in diapers (expressly forbidden in all pools) present, occasionally with parents, in all the pools. The health hazard of this seems not to disturb the management. Children were roughhousing - pulling or pushing each other into the water, running around the perimeters, generally being totally obnoxious. Needless to say, there was NO place on the ship to avoid these encounters. The crew seldom smiled or responded in a friendly manner, unlike my experiences with the other cruiselines. The ship generally docked far from the cruise terminal, then offered 'shuttles' to town or the terminal for 10 - 15 euros.