Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

The cruise itinerary was phenomenal.  The ship itself was very well maintained, clean, etc.  The food was so-so.  This is our first time with free-style and it will be our last.  The food in the restaurants was much better but I don't think we should have to pay for it.  Charges have a way of adding up quickly.  The main dining room only rotated one thing on the menu, so  it as kind of boring.  The excursion prices seemed expensive and we were shocked that we had to pay 22% tax in the shops. 

The evening shows were very good as were the parties in the Spinnaker club.  Staff was very friendly.  Joan, our washy, washy, happy, happy girl, was fantastic.  We didn't see much of our cabin steward. 

The Norwegian Jade was apparently designed for cruises to Hawaii. The crazed multi-colored decor looks llike it was designed by a drunken person who doesn't have much of a grip on reality and is stuck in the '70s. If we were wearing leisure suits, it woul dhave been fine. Our stateroom alone had wave-patterened multicolored blue carpet, one purple panel and the rest orange and green. The rest of the ship equally lacked tatse, including the massive glass flower design over the atruium that made me worry it would fall on my head. Most of the carpets I would call drunk carpets, meaning that isf someone up=chucked on them, no one wouild notice.

 

The food was lackluster, even in the specialty restaurants, (with the exception of Moderna, which was excellent). The menu was the same every night in the main dining room, with a couple of specials.  Steaks were overcooked and I actually rejected the "pork loin" one wngith which was one of those processed rolls. I've never done that before. Actually the greate4st variety was in the Garden Cafe, the buffet, including nightly Indian offerings. Alas, the buffet had absolutely no atmosphere.

 

Then there was the entertainment or lack thereof: The first night's teaser left us scrambling for the exit. The only bright spot was Elements, the dance, acrobatic act which was excellent. We walked out on the "American Idol" night, which was downright embarrasingly poor. I've heard better singins at high school musicals. Another bright spot was the guitarist who played several evenings in the Atrium bar.

 

Oh, and the pool: This is a ship that ccarries 2,400 passengers. There is one adult pool that is not much bigger than your average residential pool. This is totally inadequate. I can only guess they used the extra space for more specialty restaurants where they can make more money.

 

That's pretty much the bad stuff.

 

Here's the good stuff: The ship was exceptionally clean, staff attentive and service was far above average. The poor folks who were required to do the annoying "Happy Happy Wasshee Washee" hand sanitizing gig did so with good humor to the point where I felt real affection for them by the end of the cruise.

 

We've traveled on Holland America, where the food was far better, but the clientel much older. That;'s why we chose Norwegiian, thinking we'd get a little more stimulation. I dont' think we'll sign on for another cruise with Norwegiian.

 

 

 

 

The service was great and the staff all so helpful and fun to be with.  

The cruise was very comfortable with no rocking of the ship.  We felt we were in a hotel room!  

The ports were we stopped at were historical and so interesting!  This trip was a trip of a lile time!

Very crowdy and loud experience in restaurants and Deck with poor and very unfriendly services. Good quality of food and beverages. You have to pay a lot of tax add by Account during cash procedur in shops. Not to recommend spend your vacation abboard this ship.

Celebrity Reflection is the newest ship of their fleet (Oct. 2012) .It is well decorated, illuminated and very well maintained. The ship offers two different pools, several bars, a huge casino and theater, and different restaurant options .I suggest to stick to the assigned restaurant (The Opus Restaurant). Food is great ,  it has a new menu every day and   great service,  except for the so called sommelier, who is just a waiter that serves you the wine and who does not even know how to serve wine properly. I strongly recommend the verandas with ocean view whithout obstruction, the room service is outstanding. This Eastearn Mediterranean tour is well designed as you visit large metropolis (Istanbul, Athens and Rome)  , cute  Greek Islands (Santorini and Mikonos),  and amazing archeological sites such as Ephesus, Delos, the Acropolis and the Roman Forum!. I find  shore excursions a bit expensive, so I recommend planning independent shore excursion (there are plenty of options in the internet) 

We had a fabulous trip. We traveled with another couple and we all loved everything about it. The destinations were beautiful. The Greek islands were no doubt our favorite. The excursions were well planned and the tour guides were friendly and informative. Karen who helped us with our excursions was right on with all the advise she gave us. The cruise director and activities director were a lot of fun. Our room attendant was always cheerful. He seemed to love what he was doing. He made us smile everyday! The ship was well mantained and the food (OMG so much of it) was delicious. Our dinning room staff was so nice and helped us make yummy decisions. And when we couldn't decide they gave us two entrees or appitizers. Really it was a great trip. We have traveled by land to Europe before and we will never again! This is by far the best way to travel; no packing and unpacking. If we had any complaint it would be to modify the schedule to stay in Greece overnight and not in Turkey. But we loved it anyway!   We met many people from other countries and although we are not home very long have already commnicated with them. Cool that we made some new international friends!!

It was mainly the food the problem, they were limiting a lot the schedule for eating and many things like the icecream machines didn't work and then we have to make a súper long line  to Get some icecream and besides they closed the bufet restaurant very often and then they only had food for sale, even the water was súper restricted and I think like this mostrar of the charm Of cruising was lost, besides the time for visiting places was so badly distributed as for example more than 15 hours in Palma de Mallorca, we left the port until 1AM and next day in Barcelona we only had 5 hours with debarkation and everything and it has much moré to see than Palma it causes a lot Of stress to try to Reach the ship and we did everything in half. In comparison to other cruises I've done I didn't feel the sensation to be pampered.

My impression is that this ship was built to offer/include great entertainment & food, but not so when planning the cabins.  They are extremely small compared to the size of the ship, and should definitely not be offered for 3 people in the cab in.  I've been on many cruises before, and if I go again, it will certainly be in a smaller ship with more comfortable cabins.

My impression is that this ship was built to offer/include great entertainment & food, but not so when planning the cabins.  They are extremely small compared to the size of the ship, and should definitely not be offered for 3 people in the cab in.  I've been on many cruises before, and if I go again, it will certainly be in a smaller ship with more comfortable cabins.

Carrying over 4000 passengers at full capacity, the Norweigian Epic is one of the largest ships at sea.  While that may sound impressive,  it presents a number of problems for both NCL and ALL THOSE PASSENGERS.  The ship boasts an impressive array of over 20 restaurants,  but most choose not to use them.  Instead,  passengers crowd the ship's two main dining rooms, leading to long lines and wait times.   Waiting to eat dinner night after night was not on my list of "musts" for a great vacation!   Nor was making a "reservation" to see one of the ship's "free" performances,  such as Blue Man Group.   Spaces fill quickly, and at every turn you will find yourself jockeying for a position on this ship.  We even had to reserve space on a tender to get to shore in Cannes.  And because we didn't get our name in the pot soon enough,  we wasted hours trying to get off the boat.

 

To NCL, I would simply say this:  If you are going to serve 4000 people, then SERVE them.   Don't make your guests scramble for a spot at every table and every show.  The entire experience was the absolute antithesis of what an enjoyable vacation should be! 

This was my 1st cruse ever, and i'd like to repeat again with them, simply Disney Cruise Line make my vacation Magical. Every thing in the cruse is fantastic (food, activity, entertainments, dining, service). The only thing interrupted my vacation is the arrangement and the bad service and information i get from . (I booked stateroom for two separate beds while its not even available in the cruse) and when i contact them they never help or support or even apologize for this big mistake.

 

 

 

The ship was smaller and average. Our balcony cabin had a host of problems. Safe didn't work, ac was inefficient, there was a constant sewage smell in our bathroom and the shower stall was mildewed and a real eyesore. Our room attendant was very caring and helped us get thru the list of issues as did guest services. I ended up with a room credit as they agreed our room problems were above average. We eneded up agreeing to allow them to do some maintenance on the shower which meant we were unable to use our shower for 24 hours but they gave us access to one in a different cabin. The foo was aerage, buffets crowded at times. Specialty restaurants were terrific. Lots of great ports to see! It is misleading that you are in Venice for 2 days, simply untrue..if you really want to see Venice its best to fly in the extra day early to be able to have enough time. All in all it was a great price and super intinerary

We were very please with the service, overall facilities and food during this cruise, we had a memorable time.

The only thing that should be better control is the show seating there were too many people going in early and reserving many seats for people that were coming in as the show was ready to start, besides that we had the perfect cruise. 

Being able to visit five countries and ten ports in 12 days was remarkable.  The food was good but menus were very similar.  Staff was polite and service was good.  Our stateroom was disappointingly small for a balcony room.  Our cabin location was fine but part of the reason I picked the cruise was because of the water feature in the back of the ship which I found out was only for children 12 and under.  Most of the entertainment were things that did not interest us and did not seem suitable for family participation.  Embarking and disembarking were the ships weakest points.  The itinerary said Venice in the first two days but we realized the second was actually at sea.  We had to miss one of our excursions and barely made it to the other one.  Directions to get the water taxi were very unclear.  We almost missed it and our excursion.  At Mykonos we waited in line following what the signs said which were unclear they didn't specify where to go and when we got to the end of the line the guy said we were in the wrong line.  We had too go to the front desk because we had a limited time to get to our excursion and they were calling out only number 3 and we were assigned #6.  She changed our number to 3 and told us to go to the front of the line.  The people waiting seemed upset that we were getting in front of them but if we hadn't we would have missed our excursion.  It seemed if you didn't do your excursions with NCL you got ignored.  It was very hectic and unorganized.  The final disembarkation was just as confusing.  They did not let us know that the taxis were on strike.  We did not even know where to go and that we needed to take a bus outside the port.  It was nice that they came around with water and orange juice while we waited for the bus.  Everyone we spoke to seemed confused as to how too get from the port to the hotel.  No bus schedule was provided we got dropped off with our luggage and had no clue where to go.  We did enjoy the cruise but NCL could have made it alot easier.   

Excelente crucero la atención de toda la tripulación durante todo el viaje fue muy buena siempre con una sonrisa, la comida la limpieza , los espectáculos los lugares que visitamos y el servicio durante todo el viaje también excelentes!!! 100% recomendable

Loved how we were somewhere new everyday!

 

The ship seemed clean. We went with another couple whose room was literally right next door. My room never had pool towels, my bedside light was out and I mean completely hanging out of the wall -out, and other little things we didn't have/get that our friends did.  Rooms had plenty of space for clothes and toiletres.

 

Food was good and offered a great variety! We never had an issues with long lines except in the buffet areas but that's expected.  CON: Room service is terrible and so is the "free" water. I am a water drinker but it was horrible and found myself buying water off shore.

 

We watched the Circ(?) Show. It was the dinner show with circus type acts. Very entertaining but the food was no impressive. I'd expect better being a DINNER show.  Blue man group was good but we had seen the same show in Las Vegas four years ago.

 

 Excursions were ok, very touristy and very overpriced but they scare you into buying through them so you wont get left. Worst and most expensive day was Florence/Pisa. TERRIBLE guide, tour, and food!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We traveled from Barcelona and ended the cruise in Palma Mallorca.  All ports were great.  Going on board was very efficient as well as exiting with our luggage.  Well organized.

 Staff were very good, always pleasant and helpful.

Suites are way to small.  Rooms are Poorly designed.  Beds too short!  We are 5'8" and 6'2"

Too many people on board.  Buffet meals too crowded.  Band at poolside way too loud when you are trying to take in sun and relax.

Will not do another cruise on board this ship again (Norwegian Epic).

 

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Boarding the ship took us a very long time. We had to go through three huge lines. The safety briefing was conducted slowly and in five languages​​, just to explain how to wear a vest.  After an hour of standing my back was in pain. We got an offer for drinks "all inclusive" and didn't regret taking it, because even mineral water on board was not free. The food on the ship and in the restaurant and the buffet was poor, especially the fish dishes were very average. Four times out of seven days, our toilet did not work in the morning and it was an inconvenience. Staff service often was not on the desired level. The evening shows were boring, except for a couple of performances. We were on cruises three times befor and always on American cruiselines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean). We expected the same level of service here. But now we see a huge difference and we will not choose again Costa Magica. However, there were employees who we would like to thank for their work: Inacio Fernandes (main waiter, (at dinners), India), I Wayan Sumadi Adi (assistant waiter, Indonesia), Katerina Zakharova (bar waitress), Eka Ayu Dewi (cocktail waitress, Indonesia), Nha Nguyen Thanh (bar waiter, Vietnam). These people were really kind, helpful, polite and in our opinion did their best at the cruise, which made a difference for us. 

  Посадка на корабль производилась очень долго, для этого нужно пройти три очереди. Инструктаж проводился медленно и на шести языках, всего лишь поясняя, как надеть жилет - после часа стояния разболелась спина. Мы воспользовались предложением для напитков "Все включено" и не пожалели, потому что даже минеральная вода на борту была платной. Еда на корабле и в ресторане и в буфете была ну очень скромной. Особенно рыбные блюда оставляли желать лучшего. Четыре раза из семи дней наш туалет не работал и это доставляло определенные неудобства. Работа обслуживающего персонала не на  должной высоте. Вечерние шоу были скучными, за исключением пары выступлений. До этого мы были в круизах три раза и всегда на американских линиях (Carnival, Royal Caribbean), потому и здесь ожидали такого же уровня. Но теперь мы видим огромную разницу и не выберем еще раз Коста Маджика. Но были сотрудники, которых хочется отдельно поблагодарить за их работу: Inacio Fernandes (main waiter, India), I Wayan Sumadi Adi (assistant waiter, Indonesia), Katerina Zakharova, Eka Ayu Dewi (cocktail waitress, Indonesia), Nha Nguyen Thanh (bar waiter, Vietnam). Эти люди были очень вежливы, позитивны и профессиональны. 

The Reflection is a massive ship but rarely feels crowded.  This trip pulls into a new port, early in the morning and pulls-out around supper time, every day except 2.  Having the entire day to take tours and explore for hours is what we wanted to do in the Greek Islands.  The pace can be exhausting, but it is a good exhaustion.  The ship was clean, well organized, with an accommodating staff.  There were very few children on board.  Average age of passenger around 55-60.  Don't miss Rhodes....a formal tour is not necessary as the walled-in town is just a short walk off the ship. The Pompeii Archilogical site is huge!  Try to take the longest tour available to see the most. Spring temperatures were warm; expect summer months to be HOT!  Carry your umbrella, sunscreen and water everywhere. The ships house band was awesome, we danced almost every evening.

I recommend this trip to everyone. A beautiful ship, fabulous food, great activities, the Mediterranean, and the cities of Europe make a lifetime of memories. I have no complaints, except I wish the bathroom, shower, and sink were not divided.