Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

     This was our second cruise with Royal Caribbean.  Again, the ship's food, service, shows, and atmosphere were excellent, and the day trips at every stop were wonderful.  But not everything was great and wonderful.  First, we were shocked to pay an 18% gratuity on the endless-refill soft drink cups that we bought.  Where's the service that we're paying for?!  And please don't say it includes the service at all the bars.  We never got refills there because they didn't have all the flavors that the dispensing machines had, for example, Coke Zero.  And speaking of the dispensing machines, we couldn't believe that the ship had only three locations for them -- two in the buffet and two in the main promenade.  The ship definitely should have had two more dispensers outside in the pool and hot tub areas.   But our BIGGEST disappointment on the trip was our cabin.  Not only was our cabin located directly below the main bar of the casino, from which we heard constant and loud foot stomping and chair moving, our cabin was located directly across the hallway from the Rising Tide Lift Machinery Room which, every five minutes, made a loud operation noise that lasted five minutes, and yes, we definitely heard it in our cabin – loud and clear!  We are certain that the Rising Tide Lift Machinery Room is vital to the ship’s operation – no argument there -- but why in the world would there be cabins located near it?!  Yes, why in the world would there be cabins located near it?!  Did I ask why in the world would there be cabins located near it?  In case I’m not getting my message across, let me ask it again.  WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THERE BE CABINS LOCATED NEAR THE VERY NOISEY RISING TIDE LIFT MACHINERY ROOM???!!!  Even our neighbors told us they could hear the loud noise. (See the attached pictures that I took right next to our cabin).  So between the loud casino bar noise above us, which means there was poor insulation in the ceiling, and the loud regularly recurring Rising Tide Lift Machinery Room noise across from us, we, needless to say, had a VERY BAD experience in our cabin -- for we could hardly get any sleep.  We complained to Guest Services and asked to be moved, but they didn't help us.  In closing, WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD THERE BE CABINS LOCATED NEAR THE VERY NOISEY RISING TIDE LIFT MACHINERY ROOM???!!!                

This cruise worth every penny of it. We love the services that Norwegian

cruise line provided. 5 meals a days, 2 dining restaurants, breakfast

buffets, 24 hr snacks, ect...GOOD FOOD !!!. Shore excursions are 

very good. I would recommend this cruise.

This was by far the worst cruise we have taken. Positive points: Beautiful and elegant ship, balcony cabin larger than other lines, visited some unusual ports. Negatives: Bed linen dirty and smelly even after requesting a change, very small TV with few channels and remote not working, no bar soap, inconvenient painting and washing of balcony (3 times). Food portions in restaurant were tiny, only one buffet for nearly 4000 passengers, offering almost same menu every day. Small area creates confusion and stress to get food, very difficult to find a place to sit down, not clean enough. Pool area downright dirty, with insufficient tables and chairs, staff not helpful, sometimes rude, same at some bars. Used to seeing crew cleaning and polishing all the time in other lines, but not here and officers appear to be unconcerned. Reduced number of elevators, several out of order the entire week. No advance information on decks for disembarking at ports visited, even crew gave wrong instructions. Returning is total chaos at terminals, buses or tenders, with no lines or organization. Took MSC tour to Montecarlo and was disorganized and rushed, repeatedly changing scheduled times and stops, leaving just minutes for free time. At La Spezia (Cinque Terre) there was a rail strike that day, and trains are crucial in this visit; the ship surely had to know about it but failed to let passengers know. In general it was very unfortunate that MSC did not deliver as we had expected, partly our fault for ignoring so many negative reviews seen before. They have a long way to go before they can compare favorably to the main cruise lines - Good luck! 

Excellent stops on this cruise - Monaco/Nice, Florence, Santorini and Ephesus were our favorites.  The food wasn't any better on Celebrity than it is on Princess.  Neither is the service.  I believe they're comparable.  Celebrity had bigger showers and the rooms were better appointed, but I don't think they're differentiating themselves enough from Princess and I wouldn't pay more for Celebrity.

mediocre type cruise...2 small pools...1 was only 3' for the kiddies..the other small pool only 6'..

not enough outdoor dancing/music...food in main cafeteria was just 'ok'.

dining room food was not 5 star culinary...many dishes had much to be desired.

most important...my husband suffered abuse from another celebrity cruise guest, and matters were not taken seriously by Hotel Director, security officers lacked supervision during this time.

we were told by Christophe Belaubre that he did not have 3,000 security officers to protect the 3,000 guests....but this was not the best thing to say on his part....there should have been adequate supervision during the early morning tender ticketing that caused another Celebrity guest to be upset at having to wait long period and cutting in front of line..to front of my husband who was 1st in line. pushing him to the side, and finally released his anger by punching my husband in the face causing a 2-3 inch crack opening his skin under his right eye/over his cheek, bleeding all over the floor, probably required stitches that were not given..just put together back with tape..i have photos...i have requested to preserve the surveillance video and send to me, along with all witness reports that others wanted the abuser off the ship, he was a threat at this point !

Friendly staff, well maintained ship with exceptional specialty restaurants. Tours ran from very good to poor. Oceania cancelled the Egypt itinerary because of unrest. Onboard entertainment varied from excellent to good. Onboard lectures were very good.  The only negative was the occasional noise from slamming doors and drawers. We complained and it seemed to reduce the frequency of the slamming. Never found this to be a problem on the other ships.

This our first ever cruise with Oceania > We enjoyed it tremendously. The ship is luxuriously and classily decorated with Lalique crystal in the main atrium. > > Our stateroom is spacious with both shower and bathtub. Our stateroom attendants are friendly and promptly responded to all our requests and needs > We were pleased to learn that there are self serve laundry facilities on board. There were no formal nights but people dressed up nicely and classily. > Food was excellent and abundant All the specialty dining restaurants are complimentary. The menu, the food selections, preparations ,and presentations made the restaurants and the main dining room worthy of five stars designation. My wife does think that some of the food was prepared a bit salty and i think the souffle desert should be available more than 2 times for the duration of the 15 nites . Food and food service had to be the hightlights of our voyage. > > The singers, dancers, musicians and orchestra on board are quite talented. The entertainment was classy and nice but we felt that it could be a bit more contemporary. Most of the songs and music were from the 60s and 70s !!! Probably because most of the passengers are fairly mature. The average age must be 65 plus. If you are younger than 50 you will definitely feel out of place. We are in our mid fifty. > > Our original itinerary includes Egypt and Tunisia but due to upheavals and security concerns those ports of call were replaced with greek Isles and Italy . While those are nice destinations we were still very much disappointed and mildly upset. > > Our disappointments were more than compensated for by the first class services we received from the staff. Everyone from the chefs to the waiters, waitresses, maitreD, spa and gym staff, the ship tenders staff, reception desk staff etc. were well groomed and attentive and made us feel important and welcome. > > To sum it up, our experiences with Oceania cruise was fantastic and tremendously satisfying. It was a classy voyage that we never before experienced. > The food, the staff, the crew, the service, the amenities, the facilities, the fellow passengers etc. provided us with many many pleasant memories and special moments. Throughout the voyage we felt comfortable and relaxed and were well taken cared of. Oceania gave us a classy cruise. We were not hustled for paid photos or paid drinks or paid extras or shopping like the other cruise lines. > > The downside now is that once we tasted this luxury experience it will be hard for us to go back to the Celebrity or Princess cruises. We are planning and saving for our next cruise with Oceania and are recruiting friends to join us. > Thank you Oceania and specifically the staff of Riviera

The ports visited were fantastic.  The ship was beautiful, but we were disappointed with the main courses at lunch in the WIndjammer buffet and dinner in the main dining room.

We got a family Ocean view room which provided extra room and closet space which was a great plus.

Royal Caribbean did a great job of boading the ship and handing the entry and return at all of the ports visited which included two ports in Turkey after leaving from Istanbul and four islands in Greece -- Santirini (our favorite for natural beauty), Rhodes, Mykinos, and Creete as well as Athens.

Our agent at United.Com did not get us some of the perks that other crusiers in similar Ocean View cabins were offered such as Buy One Get One Free on Beverage Package and Internet Usage.

All of the excursion tour guides were excellent.  We booked a number of excursions through United.Com that used ShoreExcursionGroup to link with local companies.  As promised, most of these tours had smaller groups (about 12 average) which provided an improved experience (and lower price) than the excursions booked through Royal Caribbean.  Our best two guides were TheoDora in Athens and Selcuk Ersan in Istanbul.

The ship and itinerary (Barcelona, Naples (Pompeii), Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (pisa/Florence), Cannes (Nice, Monte Carlo), and Palma Mallorca were fantastic. The epic is a fantastic vessel, my girlfriend and I booked an interior cabin and the room was more than sufficient. While the quarters are tight, every bit of space is taken advantage of wisely. Our service in every part of the ship was first class all the way. The food was fantastic in all of the complimentary restaurants. There is always something to do on the ship, whether you want to party the night away or just relax.

We also were able to go to all of the ports and see all of the sights on our own without booking any shore excursions. While seeing the better parts of a port like Rome in only a few hours independently is slightly stressful it IS doable if you're savvy and willing to embrace public transit and ask questions.

Great experience overall and I wouldn't hesitate to sail the NCL Epic again soon.

Our experience was top-notch.  The ship was well run, friendly and easy to get around.  We had meals in all venue's (buffet, sit down and 'pay extra').  All were good, the buffet well supplied with many choices. The 'pay extra' was exceptional - one of the best meal's we've ever had.

Poor quality, repetitive food in Garden Cafe. Like in food court in shopping mall.

Great entertainment !!!

Very highly priced drinks for being served in plastic cups.  

Good overall service.

This was such a wonderful experience to share with my daughter. The destinations were the best!! We had a great time. The rooms are small (which I expected), but our attendant was fantastic. He always greeted us with smiles and fun "towel animals". The food was hit and miss. Often times food that you had to pay for in the specialty restaurants were available in the main dining (for free). This was a little discouraging, so I really encourage you to read all the menus before choosing your dining experience. The staff on the ship was wonderful. They were always accommodating and inviting. The package of unlimited drinks was fantastic. Often these trips can really run up a bar tab (at $14.00 a drink), so it was a pleasant surprise at the end of the trip to not get stuck with a huge bill. As the trip goes on you can really feel like they are nickel and diming you to death. This was not a cheap trip, so I was really happy to save money where I could. Overall, I had a great time, very happy with my choice.

Just returned from the 7 day Western Med cruise and it was wonderful. A balcony suite is highly recommended, and worth it because it's not that much more than a regular cabin. 

I travelled with my sister and we booked nine months in advance, I checked in with my travel agent ( Vacation Outlet) throughout the planning and we managed to qualify for free upgrades with unlimited beverage plan plus the ultimate dining plan ..these proved to be invaluable! If you can acquire these plans, please do so!! We dined in the steakhouse, Italian and French Bistro every night of the week! Cagneys is the best ( steakhouse), however the slowest service.. Prepare to wait between courses . 

The unlimited beverage plan will save you significant money over a weeks time of even light alcohol beverage indulging .. Ten dollar drinks each add up! 

As far as the port excursions.. We enjoyed them and the Rome and The Vatican one was awesome along with Florence and Tuscany Castle Wine Tasing- fabulous.. Do these! 

Not as great: Pompeii Excavation ( no petrified bodies (we expected to see these due to the historical evidence of the ruins) but they were removed and sent to the Naples Pompeii museum.. We had to take a separate trip to the museum on our own only to discover they were all being restored at the time.. Kind of a bummer. Pompeii itself is fascinating but I think there should be more disclosures when something major will not be part of the tour. Also, be prepared for ALOT of walking in total sun... Bumpy rocky pavement...

Nearly an hour of our Florence tour was cut short due to an unexplained slow start leaving the dock, so very little time to shop and see Florence and have a meal ( we grabbed a very quick bite before reporting back to the bus) .. But the Tuscany countryside and castle tour wine tasting made up for it big time. 

Cons about the ship EPIC: Wifi ... It wasn't reliable, sometimes it was down.. And my opinion is that Norwegian charges way too much for even minimal contact with home via internet, emails & Facebook - thumbs down on this. 

Service was friendly to our cabin, but whenever you called the Operator or Housekeeping with a question or request, no one answered! Just a recording saying callback, they're busy.. How is there no operators manning these calls and taking a message and saying someone will get right back to us? This was frustrating a few times. 

other than that, this cruise is highly recommended: it is affordable, well staffed ( except for phones) and stocked with fun things to do! Clean rooms and pool area as well as dining areas and restrooms all say I would do this trip again! 

With lots of hustle from port to port ( every day a new 10-12 hour adventure !) , you will be exhausted, but truly satisfied. It's like getting a nice little taste of everything, you can decide which places were your favorites to consider a return to! And the ship serves as your floating hotel along the way... Take this trip, it's worth it. Just bring VERY comfortable shoes.. 😉

I appreciate the organization of all NCL they make it very easy to accommodate large groups. Tours are usually good. All food venues are outstanding. Service staff is top notch always. Thank you see you next year again!

Main issue was a lack of transparency/clear communication.  It wasn't a good start when staff told us we wouldn't be allowed off the ship until after the safety drill, meaning we were held on the ship for 5 hours for a 3 minute "presentation" which meant we lost our day in Venice because everything was closed once we were allowed off.  We weren't informed of this situation in NCL materials or prior to boarding the ship. Had we known we could have stored our luggage, and spent the day in Venice before checking in.  Also the check-in was slow, and I was the unlucky one given a yellow sticker & told I was a VIP and should go to the VIP line, which I wasted time looking for b/c it doesn't exist.  Apparently, all the yellow sticker meant was I was randomly selected to have the time it took for check-in recorded; however, since the paper was never completely filled in before taken, I'm guessing it was trashed b/c it wasn't a good reflection. It was hard to find info. about restaurant and pool times, which typically easily found at any hotel, but maybe it wasn't provided b/c it varies. Sometimes it was difficult to tell if staff was uninformed or deceptive, but it was easy to get different answers from 2 or more people.

Some of the wait staff had a concern for excellence, but as anywhere, at least as many didn't. The food was timed perfectly on the first day and seemed to get slower every day afterwards. We realized Windows served nearly the same menu as the buffet, but sometimes it was nice not to face the crowds, though eating outside near the pool was a favorite place. There was always a fish choice and the food often seemed better than what we saw on shore. At the end, the shrimp seemed a bit old, but thankfully no resulting illness. Hand sanitizer was required when returning to the ship & always offered at buffet.

Our cabin steward was a really nice kid but without attention to detail, knocking over my eye drops daily & putting our custom pillow on the opposite side from where it was left. Balcony room was nice to get fresh air and ocean sound and clean enough, but the carpet was so worn I wouldn't walk on it with bare feet.

The entertainment was very dance oriented.  After attending the attempt to cover songs, it was hard to go back.  I understand that it's people who didn't make the cut in LA, NYC, or Vegas, but wasn't something to look forward to.

I choose this cruise for the itinerary, the major ancient capitals, and that was good, but I didn't realize that Rome (and other stops) was so far from the port.  Getting to places we wanted to see from the port often cost more time than a well located hotel.  We always felt a time pressure to get back to the boat & one day took a taxi to the ship after not making the train we wanted, to then find that the ship was waiting for others until departure time (one day even later) instead of really having to be on board 30 minutes prior. Good for the late people, bad for us to spend extra money to get back at the listed time. As some fellow cruisers pointed out, cruising is more about getting a quick sample of places.

We did 2 NCL excursions, and one prior scheduled.  We much preferred the smaller one.  The first NCL excursion in Istanbul had a good guide and we weren't forced to watch a carpet demo, though the visit to the Blue Mosque could have been timed better so we didn't have to wait from the time it reopened, but the guide for Marsielle/Aix was so lame that several people left her early & she mostly pointed out the obvious such as what you could purchase at shops as we passed by.

We did make all our ports and most as scheduled. Early in the trip the boat glided, and it was mostly smooth sailing until the last day, when it got a bit nauseating. It's been too long between cruises to really compare NCL with another.

First of all thaks for give us a unforgatible vacations we liked so much

We received an excellence service from all the crew

Great shows, food, drinks, services, attention, cleanliness etc,etc, 

We were two couples from the USA booking this cruise 6 months in advance with balcony rooms.  Five countries on the Mediterranean in 12 days was truly a terrific experience with only two sea days and all the ports we were most interested in; Venice, Athens, Rome, Florence, and Barcelona.  As is usual on a cruise, there was almost always food available with frequent outdoor grilling and of course the buffet.  The two main table service dining rooms were very good with some of the wait staff extra pleasant.  The food selection off the menu varied each day and was mostly very good with the occasional just ok.  shore excursions were excellent as we booked two all day trips well in advance for Athens and Rome.  These were guided, transported, relatively small group excursions with very knowledgeable, personable, articulate guides.  Although these were long days, we were able to experience a huge amount of sites in these two cities.  Clearly it was far better than attempting these ports on our own.  For Istanbul, we hired a taxi driver right off the ship, and in Livorno, we hired a private car service in advance to take us to Florence.  Both of these turned out excellent as well.  The other ports we did on our own and had apartments in Venice preceding the cruise, and in Barcelona, on completing our cruise.  I used Trip Advisor and Airbnb respectively for these apartments that turned out fabulous and less than half the price of a hotel.  Our three week vacation from start to finish was truly an awesome experience.

    We signed on for the trip , only to discover that the cruise was going on to Venice after Istanbul.  This was not included in your advertising or your brochures, and if we had known on the front end, we would have continued on.

   As for the ccruise itself, this was our first with you, and we sere very, very pleased.  So much so that we signed on for another.

We liked practically everything about the cruise. The ports and tours were great as was the ship, pool, dining, and staff. It was 1 of the best cruises we have been on. My only complaint is that Internet access was expensive and it should be free.

Royal Carribean does excellent job. I will miss this ship. Second time we have been on it. Oldy but goody. Staff well trained and organized. Food and entertainment excellent. Love the solarium with pool, more quiet and offered more protection from sun. Spa services were top notch. I had three massage services Disappointed in cost for beverages. 9.00 for glass of wine. Beverage packages were very expensive. Hard to make worth your while if you are off ship during the day. Did not miss going to or paying for specialty restaurants as the food in dining room and in wind jammer were very good. Would have liked more time on the islands. Excellent security on ship. I appreciated emphasis on hand washing to prevent disease outbreaks. Loved the movies on outdoor screen and blankets to keep us warm! Can not comment on casino as we did not go there.