Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

We felt warmth and kindness from the crew. They were very polite and we were happy to be cruising with them. Thank you to all of them.

The sights we visited were wonderful - it was a great collection of ports (and places nearby) to visit.  

We were promised to have  $250.oo to expend on board, when wanted to use it was denied. The day we arrived 2 of the pillows in our room were with blood, maybe was not enough time to change them but the person who took care of our room changed them when we called. Got dinner at the Italian Restaurant and the attention is no the best, the waiters do not care about people who does not order wine or other beverage we did not have dessert, never was offered. At the buffet restaurant all the personel was very nice, friendly.

Great ship and wonderful staff. Thhe ports we visited were excellent. The tours we booked were wonderful but some of them were a little strenuous for us. Would definitely recommend this cruise.

Had an enjoyable time on board the Spirtit .  Staff were very good and ports were exciting.

Each Port had different attrractions that we enjoyed.  The cabin staff were excellent and had adorable towel art each night to surprise us.

May was a great month to cruise, not to hot, not to cold.....the Spirit was a nice size ship.   It is an older ship and not as many passengers as the newest ships out there.    Second time for this itinerary.    It is a misprint about two days in Venice.....you only have the day you board.   You leave at 1 am.....food was ok, nothing special.   Better meals at the finer restaurants on board,but not worth the extra money per person......ship excursions very expensive.    Better to go with outside agencies, much cheaper and basically the same tours.   

On the first day of our much anticipated cruse I had the pleasure to meet the Ship's Food and Beverage Director. It was a short encounter but I did get to state my expectations and that I was a retired Hotel F & B Director of 30+ yeaars. As he walked away I thought to myself that I hope the food is better on this cruse than his personality and lack social skills. This much awaited retirement cruse turned out to be a big disappointment regarding the quality of food served. I had breakfast/lunch twice in the cafeteria style restaurant and vowed never to return since the food selection never changed and was usually not served hot nor did it look appitizing. Coffee cups were small and you were not allowed to fill up on drinking water to bring to your cabin or take with you on a tour. Water and sodas were not included and only availabe to be purchased. My sister was repremanded by the staff on two occasiond while filling her water bottle in the cafeteria. As a Food and Beverage Director I did confirm my observations with many of the passangers we met over the 12 day cruse.   Many shared the same concerns.

Now lets discuse the other restaurants. Our traveling party of four dined almost every morning for breakfast in the Windows Restaurant; a very large and extremely lovely yet vacant of guests during the breakfast period.  Of course the limited printed menu never changed nor did the absence of efficient service. The staff was always friendly & cordial but always forgot one or two items when serving our table.  Other issues: slow service due to the distance servers had to walk to the kitchen, no matter how many times you requested crisp bacon it was delivered limp and fatty, juice refills and additional wanted items were difficult to get since the servers moved on to other arriving guests' for breakfast. While dining in the Garden Room Restaurant for dinner I sent my overcooked  pork tenderloin back; the maitre'd was on top of it and had another choice promptly delivered. No problem untill it happened to me again in the same restaurant a few nights later. This time our table of six completed their entrees before my substitute meal arrived. I did not enjoy eating my main couurse while everyone was waiting to be served dessert. I said I would not return to dine in the Garden Room in the future but jumped to the chance of having lobster which was a special on one evening.  Needless to say the restaurant ran out and when I asked the Maitre'd to get me one from the Japanise restaurant he said he could not. Speaking of lobster, on the first night of the cruse I ordered the lobster & filet combo offered on the menu at the upcharged cost Japanse restaurant...disappointment number one when told they did not have any lobster available at their port of embarcation. We paid more to dine on two different occasions at the Steak Restaurant which was excellent for both food  and service. Likewise we paid additional to dine at the French Restaurant on two occassions.  The first go around was great however on the second visit I left after waiting for my entree to be delivered.  My significant other han finished her rack of lamb before my main entree was delivered. It dissapeared somewhere and an attenpt was made to get a substitute quickly. Another ruined experience, we got up and left after waiting an additional 15 minutes. Yes, the management was kind enough to refund my share of the $20 surcharge to grace one of your upscale establishments. By the way, when you purchase the ultimate drink package it is difficult for staff/management to compinsate you with a complimentary drink. 

I don't think I will ever book a Norwegian Cruse Line again.  Time is so precious that every experience shoud be memerable in a positive light. As a seasoned Food and Beverage Executive employed at three major brand hotel chains over the past 30 years I can honistly state that the quality of the food on our 12 day cruse was substandard and I cannot honestly recommend your ship line to anyone.

I do however appreciate the cleanliness of the common areas of the ship which I understand just completed a major renovation. To bad it stopped there and did not include the cabin I occupied. If you wish I can forward pictues of the mold surrounding most of the shower stall floor. Unfortunately I deleated the picture of the ring around the toilet in error.

The following day after our wedding in Key West, FL, my wife and I flew out of Miami to beautiful and amazing Venice, Italy!  We stayed in Venice for two days before boarding the Norwegian Spirit for the start of our 12 day cruise around the Mediterranean.  Our first impressions of the interior were that it was nice, clean and recently upgraded.  We've been on 5 other cruises to compare and the Spirit fell in the middle; it was not amazing, but it was nice.  It was to be expected for an older boat.  This cruise is all about the amazing ports of call.  You will need to take lots of tours which can get expensive and can be exhausting at times.  Mykonos, Greece is beautiful!  Kusadasi, Turkey has the ancient town of Ephesus which is a must see!  Rome, you have to tour the historic downtown!  The Amalfi Coast in Greece is miraculous!  The list goes on and on, but Cinque Terre in Italy, the 5 small villages was my favorite!  There are 10 ports of call and only 2 sea days so there's not alot of time spent on the boat.  When on the boat, we found the dining room food rather disappointing.  The speciality dining was much better, but with an upcharge.  There's a teppanyaki japanese hibachi table that we ate at twice because we love japanese food.  The steak house and italian restaurant where o.k. and the french bistro was the best.  The entertainment onboard was above average.  The violinist was one of the best in the world, the magician was as good as David Copperfield, the acrobats where fun to watch, and the cruise staff performance at the end of the cruise was very well done.  We had an interior room which was the cheapest so it wasn't great.  The room could have used some upgrades to the furnishings.  The staff on board was very friendly and accomodating. The spa was nice.  The cruise director, Geo was a nice guy.  To offer criticism, when the staff spoke in English to everyone (English is the spoken language on board), they would then follow with what they just said but this time in Spanish.  Very annoying and I'm sure that there were only a few Spanish speaking people on board that didn't already understand what was said in English the first time it was said.   The casino was small and full of smoke, but that's to be expected I suppose.  The club behind the casino was under-utilized; there wasn't a DJ in the club many nights and when there was, he was playing Latin music.  I really have nothing else bad to report. I recommend this cruise to anyone that wan't to see some beautiful places throughout the Mediterranean!  4 out of 5 stars.

Having done two other cruises before on different cruise lines, this cruise stands out due to the ports visited. Although it was nice to try out the "Freestyle Dining", I found that I missed the consistency of having our own table every night (with a party of 8, this actually may have helped to have had the servers know what to expect from us every night instead of constantly moving from table to table with such a large group). Additionally, although the ship was nice, compared to the two others I had cruised on, this one showed some age and wear. The rooms were nice and large though, so that was a nice perk. 

Embarkation was somewhat of a "cluster" as signs were not adequate and no queue lines were set up.

We walked into Venice and enjoyed this but do NOT attempt to use the map of Venice as supplied by NCL as you cannot find your way back to the ship using this map.

The room and service was great.

The food was about what I expected and much less than my wife expected.  The buffet is decent but can get very crowded.  The food items are not marked where you can read what they are until you are all the way in front and then the crowds make browsing difficult.  We did enjoy the Windows dining room and most of our meals were there.  The speciality dining is a rip-off as a cruise is supposed to have nice dining as part of the experience.  The speciality restaurants are just a way to jack up the initial prices.

Excursions were very good but to NOT get the NCL excursions - go to and get the equivalent package for 1/2 the NCL price.

Shows were good and most were worth seeing.

The main reason we chose the Spirit was because of its itinerary.  The ship had major challenges with organization and communication.  Embarkation was a nightmare.  We had to haul all of our luggage throughout long, random lines in the parking lot until we got to drop off our checked bags.  The service in both dining rooms was extremely slow and even though we had made reservations, still had to wait in a line with folks without reservations before getting seated.  We were a group of eight and we could only get reservations very early or late - not at the times we wanted.  Food was basic and several nights had to send entrees back due to toughness.  Specialty dining was pushed big time and wondered if the lack of emphasis on "free" dining was missing in order to attract more specialty dining.  Entertainment was also a miss.  Most entertainment was a solo act and several entertainers were featured more than once.  The ship itself looked good in the main areas.  Our stateroom's balcony had been painted at some point and there was paint splattered all over the railing, chairs, door, and a big glob on the floor.  Water for the shower ran from extremely hot to extremely cold without adjusting it.  We had to jump out of the way to keep from getting burned or frozen.  This could have been dangerous to a child or an elderly person.  When we first boarded the ship, most of the crew was distant and stand offish.  However, by the end of the cruise, they were friendlier.  There was definitely room for improvement.  On a positive note, the ports were wonderful and the disembarkation process was great.

I loved the ship!  Our cabin was very comfortable.  I loved having a balcony.  The crew was very friendly and went out of their way to make everyone feel important and welcome!

The only negative was the constant extra charges for every little thing.  I feel that charging $89.00 for soda for 12 days was extreme!  I understand the charge for alcohol but not soda.  Also, the internet charge was rather excessive.  

The crew did a great job with activites!  You could be as busy or as lazy as you wanted.

The food was absolutly fantastic!  I love all of the dining options!  Windows was my favorite.  They made every night special!

Enjoyed the cruise on Norwegian Spirit mainly because of ports, but service not as good as Carnival. Also did not like Turkey ports because of being forced to attend high pressure "rug" sale, also too many steet vendors with their wares stuck in your face. Enjoyed other ports greatly! Also good service from room stewarts, Le Bistro and Windows Dining,  but poor service at Garden dining, even gave them thee chances, did not improve. Would I take it again? only if I could not get the destination I needed on another cruise line.

Embarkation in Venice was a breeze. Itinerary was fantastic. Ship was the perfect size. Main dining room service was uneven which, I believe is a function of anytime dining. Entertainment wa fair but it did not matter too much because we were usually tired after an excursion. Bebarkation was a breeze. We had no problem making a10:30 AM flight in Barcelona. Would do this cruise again in a heartbeat. Specialty dining was excellent. LaTrattoria and Cagney's were both excellent. The ship was clean. Drinks were overpriced as they are on all cruise ships.

The staff was great:  the food was not.  I could not drink the coffee, there was no seafood, and the food

varied a great deal, with desserts being the best.  I did not like being subjected to buying "opportunities" both on board and in Turkey.  I would have liked more time in the ports and less on the ship.  The tours we took were mostly too long for one day and should have been broken up with some free time to shop or explore.  I did not get much interaction with locals other than the guides.  The internet was expensive, phone service not there much of the time, and very little TV, including news or stock reports, so I felt very cut off.  This was my first cruise, and I can not compare, but I have heard other cuise lines have seafood. I even paid one night for the specialty restaurant, and did not like the entree.

Beautiful ports and overall had a great time.  Was dissapointed, though, because we were to believe that Celebrity was a cut above an average cruise but found it no better than Royal or Princess.  In completing online docs we mentioned we were celebrating our 45th anniversary.  We dined every night in the dining room with great food  and I reminded them it was our anniversary. Then had to remind them again on the last night.  They brought us a small cake with no "Happy Anniverary", then took it away and cut pieces for each and served them.  With other cruiselines they left the whole cake to share with others and had "Happy Anniversary."

Not enough port time in Malta and the port in Venice left it hard to get into town and especially when we disembarked with our luggage.  However, the views coming into Venice were beautiful!  The veranda balcony room was really nice, largest bathroom we've had so far and our guy, Victor was wonderful.  The martini bar was a hit.  But they need to fully explain the rules of the Classic Beverage Package.  We were under the impression that if we exceeded our $8 limited drinks we would just pay the difference.  No, ordered a $9 drink and had to pay for the whole thing!  Kuri & Taruq, our waiters in the dining room were wonderful and Kuri gave us tips for our next day in port.  Was unhappy that Celebrity offered excursions on the ship that were not listed online when we booked.  As it was we booked most of ours through other agencies.  Would've love to have taken the boat cruise along the Amalfi coast and was unhappy with the outside one we did book with in Naples.  We did have a wonderful time and made some great friends and will cruise Celebrity again if they offer the right ittinerary and/or price.

have had wonderful experiences with celebrity in the past. on this cruise the ports of call were a mixed bag - some good, many not very good. the food in the sit down restaurant was pretty awful. ended up eating spagetti and meatballs in the buffet restuarant way to often. the shore excursions were way over priced for what they offered. I hope celebrity has not changed its business plan to cut as many corners as possible but this cruise had that feeling. I would not refer anyone to take this cruise. We had planned, based on previous experieces, to make celebrity our cruise line of choice but we have changed our mind based on this experience.

Pluses

There's plenty to do on this cruise, the ports come fast and furious...there's a lot of walking involved

The suites are roomy, services great, pampered feel

Plenty of restaurants to chiose from, social and fun

Cons

The spa is doesn't make you feel good, it makes you feel used and fleeced avoid it

The suites complementary party is terrible, an opportunity for selling pics, unfriendly crew, no mingeling,  stingy captain, poor drink and food service. Other ships far superior.

Very, very poorly trained staff, worst for any ship I've been on for dietary concerns. I'm gluten free and buffet could not be used. Staff don't understand the word gluten except in specialty rooms, ALL staff don't understand you and hand you off up to 6 times, extremely annoying. Who ever trains the staff needs to do a huge amount of work here. I was restricted except for specialty restaurants. So, there is plenty of food, but I couldn't eat it from lack of information. Other ships are not like this.

This trip was supurb!  Extraordinary itinerary, and we thorougly enjoyed cruising on Regent.

The weather was cooler than expected, but that really was not a problem.  The tours, as previously

experienced with Regent, were excellent.  The food and drinks were of the  highest quality.  Service

was outstanding.  The entertainment was also very good.  We enjoyed our shipboard credit from

, which we mostly expended at the boutique.  Overall, we thought this was a great

cruise. 

To begin with before the cruise there was not good comunication with MSC reps., they stated things that were not provided.  The cruise check-in proceedure could have been extremely long except  for the fact my 89 yr old mother was on the trip and they put us is a quick line.  Then they let my brother and mother go through security onto the ship but made the rest of us (6) wait to board.  The ship is beautiful and the staterooms are large and beautiful with lots of storage space! The food in the dinning room was good overall with some excellent desserts and the pasta dishes were superb!  Our waiter Jose Cabrera from Honduras was fantastic. The buffet in the Inca and Maya was chaotic, 1st you had to find a table, then the service to clear & clean the table was slow, I cleaned it my self.  You went around in circles trying to find food with 3000 other people.  The food was just average. There are no other non paying places to eat on the ship, only dinning room or buffet.  All other ships I have been on have various places to eat so you don't have the conjested area in the buffet restaurant.

I was told Americans received 1 lt. of bottled water at dinner, we didn't receive them, I asked at the reception and they said it didn't matter what MSC reservations said, they don't give them. From other passengers review, they did receive coupons on there check in. MSC only serves bottled water in the dinning room. No coffee or Iced Tea! They do have water, coffee and hot water for tea in the buffet.  They only have juices until 10:00am in the buffet.  Also a pre package beer option I ordered they had no record of, when I showed them my print out, they said I wasn't charged and they would honor it.  "I had to go with what they sold on board the ship".

Our room attendant Johnny was  great, I asked him to make me towel animals and he did every night but only for my stateroom, we had 4 staterooms. I know the animals are an American ship thing but they are fun! 

The ports of call were fantastic but too short of time.  In Croatia by the time we got off the ship you had about 4 1/2 hrs. before you had to be back on the ship. 

I enjoyed the shows each night, same people but different themes.  They don't really have a lot of other fun activities to do unless you pay for it.  Also the web site on and MSC cruises is not up to date.

  I have cruised over 10 times, on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and MSC. 

We spent a lot of money on the Excursions in Turkey and were overcharged on top of this.  The tour guides (MSC approved I'm sure), rushed us through the historical sites in order to bring us to a leather jacket fashion show in Seljuk and a Turkish rug showroom in Istanbul.  Hefty $thousands were expected to be made at both vendor locations.  Real bad and dissappointing experience -for once in a lifetime port visits. Get your own touring company/guide to get the most out of your cultural visits if choosing MSC.

Reception staff aboard was rude and unhelpful and the MSC Club manager was never to be found, we were actually thinking of booking another cruise. Kuddos to the rest of the ship Services, including Entertainment, and especially the Dining Staff at L'Aberesque.  Food was wonderful on the ship.