Europe - Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

The ship is gorgous - unbelievable decor and the staff was all wonderful to everyone. Especially of steward Fornandose for room R423 5/17 to 5/27. Great guy.

The the size of the ship and mouths to feed the food was beyond wonderful.  

My only issue is the pay as you go internet  was difficult to access, expensive, and  very slow for the cost.  I intend to find another option if I go on another cruse.

The food was excellent and the nightly entertainment in the theatre was great!

The ship's decor was beautiful; the stateroom was up to date and clean.

The personnel/staff were all very friendly and efficient.

We loved this ship and the cruise itinerary.

I would highly recommend this cruise to everyone. The ship is beautiful. The food is good, and the staff excellent. Except the bartenders have attitude. 

My fiancé and I realized that, after this first cruise for each of us in over 20 years (our first together), we'll never be that typical Caribbean cruiser. Going from beach port to beach port isn't really our thing. So with that, this was a great cruise. A good amount of planning on our part is what made it really good. The experience on the Epic made it great. Our cabin (8219) was amazing for the price. An aft-balcony room that was handicap accessible (we're not disabled) gave us a room that felt the size of something even larger than a mini-suite. The huge balcony that easily fit two chaises, two chairs and a small table made "outdoor" time truly wonderful.

The entertainment on board was stellar. Priscilla-Queen of the Desert was phenomenal. We had seen the play on Broadway and were quite flabbergasted at the ability of this production to be put on so well on a ship. A must see. (Admittedly, a small part of the entertainment of the show was watching ignorant buffoons who were told multiple times of the show's content walk out in disgust. Apparently ignorance is not always bliss.)

The service was terrific. Everyone (with one glaring exception) was always ready with a "good morning," a "hello," and a smile on their faces. Our cabin steward Ryan was great and always helped out with our silly requests (Tony takes a lot of sugar in his coffee, I use extra pillows while sleeping, etc.).

The only "complaint' that I have to say would be the food. It wasn't horrid, but the

complimentary dining areas were okay.... nothing special. The Garden Cafe was usually a zoo and I literally avoided going there. Taste for breakfast was good, and the dinner we had in the Manhattan Room was good as well.  The specialty dining (we did all of them except for Le Bistro) were a step above the regular dining with La Cucina, Teppanyakia, Cagney's, and Moderno being preferred in that order. Embarkation and debarkation were a breeze. Barcelona and NCL have their act together with regard to this. It was a simple process even for us relative first-timers.  The ports (especially the Italian cities) were amazing. It's unfortunate we didn't get to spend enough time in each location.  Our next adventure will be on Norwegian (we were so impressed, we put deposits down on two more cruises with them). We just have to figure out where to go.  

The haven is the best part of the Epic.  I love the staff, the details, the gym, the food everything!  This was my first trip on a large ship.  I was afraid that I was not going to like it.  I loved it.   It is so well laid out and organized!  Everything was perfect.  Even the weather.

From start to finish absolutely awesome  cruise this is must cruise i gave this cruise as Mothers Day Gift to my wife and she can not stop talking about it to all her friends the views the stops the food the people the ship and crew. we are already planning next years trip

Santorini.  Mykonos.  Entertainment. Food was very good.  Family mini suite with balcony was very spacious and comfortable. Service was superb      Drink package was really a nice perk. 

The excursions were pricey (which I didn't mind paying the price), but my daughter and I were in the very last row seat on the bus with an elderly couple sitting next to us who talked on their cell phones and then yelled at the tour guide.  We spent most of the bus tour listening to this couple.  I really don't think we should have paid the same amount as everyone else when we were packed in the last seat with two other people.  They shouldn't sell those back row seats -- couldn't get any pictures and couldn't hear the tour guide. 

The food was very good with a great variety of dishes to choose from.  The waitstaff was very friendly in the restaurants however I thought the bartenders seemed stressed and never smiled.  Not sure if that was because their tips were prepaid.  ??? 

I think Royal Carribean is a better cruise line than Norwegian but we did enjoy the week and would probably go on another Norwegian cruise again.

The night entertainment was good. Food was good as well, except the service at the Manhattan room was unbearably slow. The cabin was good. The guppies program for 6-36 months old was just okay. The shore excursion was too expensive. 

The destinations were fabulous. The ship was nice but the design was not great. Could not access one end of the ship from the other without going through the casino which reeked of cigarette smoke, even when it was not open..

Rhapsody is a small ship, entertainment is not very entertaining; but the friendliness of the crew is outstanding.  DanDan is a little over the top, as is Give me Money Grace.... you can count on Royal Caribbean to provide a consistently nice clean ship.

The ports we stopped in were all beautiful.  Royal Caribbean cancelled one port and changed us from Turkey to another Greece port.  They cancelled two of our excursions due to lack of numbers.  Very disappointing since you are international with no internet so no way to book with other company.  Everyone at our dinner table had at least one excursion cancelled.  Evening entertainment -- there were not enough options.  The shows were not very good and certainly not up to the shows you see on their larger ships.  All the excursions we booked through Hilton Honors were wonderful.  Santorini - if you go be sure to book a private tour with Markos of SantoriniExperts by far our best guide of the week.  Took us to the places we should go and then to places he wanted us to see - local family farm which was amazing.  Be sure to ride the donkeys up (don't listen to what they tell you on the ship); it was a blast.  If you do this cruise -- consider staying off ship in Florence and taking train to Rome.  You will have expense of train and hotel but much more time to see Rome.  We did not do it because we thought of it too late but we talked with a couple that did it.  Pisa was a pleasant surprise -- thought you would see only leaning tower but much more in the plaza.  If you want to see a lot in a little time, the cruise was great because of the ports.  The entertainment and the nickle and diming to death on the ship really hurts Royal's reputation.  Many of the folks on our cruise were disappointed with Royal but not the service of the workers or the ports we went to.

I enjoyed all of the restaurant choices.   I was most disappointed in the excursions we took.   Most didn't allow enough free time in the town.  I think I would plan my own excursions next time.   

everything was on schedule no flaws and everything went off as planned and expected.  i compare this with our 3 cruises on the mariner. the rooms were more elegant than the mariner but that was expected and learning from the staff, clients on how to improve and this was accomplished

would recommend the explorer to anyone without exception.  we did have some remarks but that will not stop us from future cruises with reagent

We selected this cruise as a college graduation gift for my daughter.  We were interested in visiting the Mediterranean and were very happy with the ports we visited.  I was not a fan of the ship itself (Epic)  First, the bathrooms had no real doors, just a smoked glass slider that did little to insulate from sound or sight.  

Also for such a large ship, I was surprised there were not any large swimming pools, just a few tiny pools.  Not nearly enough pool space for the number of passengers.

We did enjoy the food & service in the main dining rooms.  Did the buffet most mornings for breakfast, good assortment and better than average for buffet style food.

Booked our excursions through private companies with information found on Cruise Critic.  Much cheaper than excursions booked through cruise line.

Great ship and the service on the ship was outstanding!  Loved the itinerary!  Food was very good!

A few areas for improvement:  Had to take a shuttle bus to the ship and had to load our own bags on the bus.  The entertainment overall was good, but the entertainers didn't sing/play/dance to their audience performing songs this age group never heard before.  In addition, all three male soloists sang "Bring Me Home" from Les Mis.  Great song but didn't need to hear it 3 times.  A couple of the ship singer/dance performances were just plain weird!

Had a wonderful time on Celebrity Reflection. This is our third time on this ship and they never cease to amaze us with their service and attention to details. This time we decided to book a sky suite for our Mediterranean cruise. Butler service was excellent, dining was great and the Alcove was relaxing. Enjoyed all the ports and would recommend this cruise to all.

The Epic was a good experience.  The ship is awesome, but the food could use some work.  The workers do a good job, but are not as personable as on other cruise lines.  The entertainment was good, but once again, not great.  We are used to more of a party atmosphere.

Nothing was particularly good or bad. It seemed the staff were mostly going through the motions, and that they really were tired of people and crowds.  The food was the same old mediocrity.  At the sit down dining, the finer items were removed from the menu, and what choices we had in meats seemed like they sat under the warmer too long and dried out.  Also, with the exception of communicating all of the sales and buying options, the normal communication was confusing, and on several occasions written and verbal communications conflicted with other written or verbal instructions.

Then, to add extra pain, Royal Carribean charged the highest tips of any cruise we have ever taken.  This was our first and probably last cruise with Royal Caribbean.

We really enjoyed our cruise on Freedom of the Seas.

The variety of ports gave us an opportunity to visit places in Europe we had never been.

The cruise staff was wonderful and very helpful.

The entertainment and dining were exceptional.

We were celebrating our wedding anniversary and appreciated the attention in Chops Grille to help us celebrate