Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

We spent a considerable length of time reviewing various cruise line offerings including Holland Line, the River Ships and other similar offers. We found that Carnival gave us the most places at the best cost. Wee tried to take excursions in every port and found that the tour descriptions were well written and accurate. The food on board was excellent and my wife , who is gluten intolerant, was accommodated nicely. The staff was the best .

The itinerary was everything we expected, the ships accomodations were as expected, but the quality, selection and availability of food especially in the Lido buffet was disappointing.

Our trip was wonderful! Going from Barcelona to Venice with stops in France, 4 in Italy, 2 in Turkey and 2 in Greece, we got to see so much and experience so much more. The staff was wonderful, friendly, and helpful. Norwegian Cruise Line works hard to keep their guests all healthy and happy and we appreciated this. Of course, every little thing involved an additional charge, but we expected this. Our shore excursions were excellent, our cabin was comfortable, and the food was wonderful. I'm ready to go again.

nice stops (except olimpicon?); fine service on aboard and good entertainment, too crowded in upstairs dining - people were asked to vacated asap - no trays, no newsletter, no educational courses, overpriced water

Cruising on the Norwegian Epic to visit Europe was an outstanding experience. The cruise staff was diligent in providing detailed information about things to do at each country as well as port arrival and departure times. The cruise offered bus services to the train station which allowed for access into the city of destination. If touring a with an official tour group and for some reason the group has a late return due to a problem the cruise ship can be notified of the emergency. The ship is freestyle cruising which takes adjusting, because you are obligated to arrange dinner times, show times etc. Shows often filled quickly, I recommend booking prior to cruising or immediately upon boarding the ship. The Manhattan Dining room often had a line for dinner, and a wait as long as 20 minutes. I really enjoyed the Blue Man group, but other entertainment could be better. I have cruised with Capitol Jazz and spoiled by the outstanding level of entertainment offered. After ending a cruise with Capitol Jazz, I left having enjoyed the Ports toured as well as the outstanding entertainment. Some evening party events were scheduled for the H2O which is on the upper deck outside, so if cold or rainy there was no other accommodation.

This was the most spectacular cruise we have ever been on and we have been on over 20 cruises. The ports were great, the excursions, too. The food and the service were awesome and we will continue to sail on Princess - going for cruise #13 next.

It was a very very good cruise.However, transportation to and from the ship on excursions could have been better. If you had any kind of handicap it was difficult to get from where they dropped you off and returning to the ship. I would sail with them again anytime and would recommend their cruise to everyone. I thought Crete was a waste of time. I would have rather spent the night in another port

This was our third cruise although one of them was just three days which hardly counts. We were a little worried about a few problems since this is a new ship and we thought they may still be working some bugs out, but we didn't have any problems. The ship is beautiful and the crew very efficient. We saw four shows in the large theatre and enjoyed them all and on other nights we participated in some of the games and contests they had throughout the ship. We used the anytime dining plan rather than the traditional dining and ate around 7:00 - 7:30 and didn't experience any long lines. The food was nicely varied and always delicious. The first formal night we decided to eat in the buffet since we decided I wouldn't pack a suit, although I did have a tie, but the second formal night we went ahead and ate in the main dining room since we wanted the Beef Wellington and nothing was said. The ports were amazing. We were on the Barcelona to Venice direction and it seemed every port just got better and better.

This 12 day cruise the my favoirte ship food was great lot to do. Our balacony cabin was located middle deck was quite comfortable. We did enjoy returning from an excursion and relaxing out on the balacony before dinner. Storage was quite adequate. The staff throughout the ship were very friendly and helpful. Cannot wait to sail again with celebrity.

My wife and I we not really sure what to expect. The first morning as we headed into France I watched the sun rise over the Mediterranean and knew this was going to be something special. We enjoyed it so much that on the last day of our trip as we headed back to Barcelona we booked another cruise. My only issue was we had a difficult time making either the 6:15 dinned or the 8:45 dinner. Our solution was to use the buffet about 7 of the 12 nights. However, we really enjoyed the buffet and being able to sit outside on the aft deck enjoying dinner and watching the sun set was a wonderful consolation. Thank you to all the wonderful and helpful members of the ship's staff.

Dit was onze 4e cruise, eerder hebben we in het caribisch gebied gecruised. Dit keer wilden we iets anders. Het schip was zeer zeker erg mooi. Maar de service en het eten waren zeker veel minder. Je had het idee in een all-inclusieve hotel te zijn. Behalve dan dat het niet was. Drankjes waren zeer zeker erg duur. De service in de kamer waren ook gewoon minder dan andere keren. En het eten is zeer zeker op bezuinigd. Het was meestal gewoon niet lekker. Veel vet aan het vlees, en je moest opschieten van de serveerster anders werdt ze boos. Ook het personeel van de guest-balie, wilden niet echt meewerken aan een probleem die zei hadden gemaakt. Er werdt mij verzocht om als ik thuis was maar contact op te nemen met het boekingskantoor. Verder is het rookbeleid veranderd, erg jammer. Want je boekt een balkon-kamer op op je balkon te kunnen roken. Nu waren er heel veel mensen boven-onder-en naast ons die toch gingen roken en hun peuk in het water gooiden. Dit is volgens mij niet de bedoeling. Dus hef in ieder geval het rookverbod weer op. Ook bij het zwembad. Op eerdere schepen mocht je aan de ene kant niet, en aan de andere kant wel roken, geen probleem lijkt me, want we zitten ook nog eens allemaal in de buitenlucht. Als deze richtlijnen, dus minder service, minder eten, dure drankjes en het rookbeleid niet worden veranderd, zullen zeker minder cruises worden gemaakt. Ik heb natuurlijk met meerdere vakantiemensen gepraat. En ze vonden dit inderdaad allemaal het zelfde.

Overall very happy with this cruise. This was our first ever cruise. And first time to Europe. We were celebrating our honeymoon. It was a great first time in Europe as everything is taken care of by Royal Caribbean. From the second you get to the port they take care of everything. They make it very easy both on the boat and with the excursions. We opted for a room with a balcony and I highly recommend this option. It was nice to be able to get away from the crowds. The breakfast and lunch dining was usually a bit chaotic but dinners were nice and relaxed. There was always something going on on th eship if you opted out of the excursions. The excursions were expensive but again they take care of everything. No waiting in lines for anything, the transportation was all arranged, and the boat will wait for you if your excursion is late (they wont if you book trips on your own).

everything is great. The remarkable interior of the vessel. Easy clean cabin. Very tasty and varied food. Wonderful show especially the ice show. The friendly and attentive staff at all levels. Interesting excursions well organized.

First trip to Europe great cruise.. Service outstanding. Cannot say enought about our cabin.. Food better than expected. Could have done with fewer kids but.... I'll do it again...

I HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TIME,EVERYTHING WAS JUST PERFECT, I WOULD LIKE TO RECOMENDED TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT KNEW I WAS ON A CRUISE. FROM THE BEGGINING, MARY JANE DE LA CRUZ WAS THE MOST EFFICIENT AGENT, HELPING ME OUT MORE THAN THE ORDINARY AND I HAVE TO THANK HER BECAUSE SHE WAS THE ONE THAT MAKE THIS POSSIBLE WITH ALL HER EXTRAORDINARY HELP

We really enjoyed at the cruise. Staff were helpful and kind specially Jialong Chen who helped us alot beside our problems with our visa. Service was really good,our room was clean. food was nice. We will surely choose NCL in future .

Older than the rest of Norwegian's fleet, and, although lacking all the latest bells and whistles such as outdoor on-deck movies,Spirit is well cared for, and has its charms The best may very well be that it is a "happy ship" in that the crew always seemed to care about how you were enjoying the trip. Lots of smiles and no cranky staff on this ship! Dining room food is average at best; the buffet was crowded. That said, we found the specialty restaurants to be worth the premium, especially the French Bistro, which we thought was first rate, and to which we returned several times. Entertainment was average, which was not a big deal for us. Besides the wonderful crew , the other reason that this was a very enjoyable cruise was the itinerary, which provided a mix that included three capital cities (Athens, Istanbul, and Rome), a day at the beach (Mykonos), the ruins of two notable ancient sites (Pompeii and Ephesis) and site-seeing in Tuscany. It doesn't get much better than this! The only disappointment was Toulon: the tour to Aix-en-Provence was distinctly underwhelming. I would rather they had substituted a day in Palermo for Toulon.

Not the cruiselines fault but too many changes in schedule made it really hard to book excursions and other plans. Kind of a stressful experience. The ship was older needed a couple of repairs. Employees of the ship were a little grumpy.

We were very satisfied with the cruise. We chose it because of the ports and the time limits we had. We were satisfied with everything on board. As vegetarians found more things that we could eat than we had expected. The room was kept very clean. We were tired in the evenings, so didn't go to the entertainment, and don't know how that was. Staff we interacted with were very nice.

We chose this cruise primarily based on the ports it went to...which were absolutely fantastic. But the ship left something to be desired. I had recently gone on a Carnival cruise in the carribean. The boat was nearly identical, but for some reason this one fell short. First of all, the boat was completely full. It was a fight everyday in lines, for tables, and even for chairs. People were everywhere. The food was sub-par. They had less food options that I was used to, and much of the food was sub-par. For an Italian cruise line to only serve 2 flavors of pizza the entire time is crazy. The entertainment and dancing were also quite lacking. The dinner performances were cheesy, but only 1/2 as cheesy as the nightly shows (of which I only attended 1 they were so bad). Long story short...this cruise boat took me to some great places, but the boat experience left much to be desired.