Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

The size of the ship is nice as you have no long lines and the service was wonderful. Food was well prepared and presented. Balconies to the rooms were very disappointing but the cabin size was good. Activities were poor and excursions excessively expensive but the ports of call were just fabulous.

It would have been better if time at many Baltic ports were longer, ie arrive early and leave by 6 or 7 PM. Further more, aiming to make onboard internet work better would help. The basic service I first took on was very slow, you really need to get the high speed service to do most simple things. Otherwise very good experience.

Overall, we really loved our cruise and this cruise line. However, it is very pricey and not a great choice for kids under 12 or so. The experience is 1st class all the way, especially the food and service.

The itinerary was good, although I probably would have preferred Lithuania over Helsinki. Tallin and St. Petersburg were outstanding. Also, instead of cruising back so slowly on the last day, maybe we could have seen some fjords or something beautiful instead.

The ship staff is helpful. There are many details in a ship that is tired although the staff tries to be prompt in responding to feedback. For example, phone was dirty in room but as soon as I mentioned it, the attendant took care of it and did a fine job cleaning it. We had an unpleasant experience with food at Giovanni's but the manager went out of his way to make sure everything was corrected. The only detail that I did not appreciate, was booking a balcony cabin, only to find out that it had an obstructed view. They need to do a better job of informing passengers what they are getting. 

St. Petersburg although very crowded was fantastic. Our tour guide was great.

Food on the boat was generally very good although at times hard to find a table in the buffet restaurant. Evening buffet meals were quite satisfactory with lots of choices.

We visited six ports of call in 10 days. The organized tours helped us make the best use of time in port. Lots of activities on ship made for fun and variety. The ship itself is like a floating four star hotel. Almost any need was anticipated in advance. The regular wines included in the tour were great selections, much better than typical everyday fare. Several different eating venues with convenient times, good variety, and great service helped to round out a vacation of a lifetime. We can't waiting to cruise again.

We really like this line and the service, attention to detail and opportunities available. We often would rather just explore the port cities than do 'tours' as we find it intriguing to talk to the town folk in port ciities and find out all kinds of unique things about the region.

Overall - very good, with major reservations about the ship itself (very small public areas, limited seating available). Also, number of shows for a general public in a theater somewhat limited.

We were on the NCL Getaway, a 3-year new large ship in excellent condition. The choice of ports was excellent but I wish we could have substituted Helsinki, Finland for one of the at sea days. The food and service were generally very good but not particularly memorable except for having a better than usual selection of Asian and vegetarian options at the buffet. The standard dining options without extra fees were too similar and not varied enough.

Shore excursions were mostly overpriced, especially to Berlin and St. Petersberg, and I felt that they were too short and rushed to be enjoyed well. I would recommend looking at third party excursions in these two cities for better and cheaper excursions, e.g. SPB tours! SPB also takes care of Russian visa issues for you too. If you are young and willing to walk some, Talinn can be done by yourself with a guidebook easily. If the ship docks at Stadgarden pier (confirm with excursion desk) in Stockholm, you can also easily do a self-guided walking tour with the help of the HopOn/Off boats.

Onboard entertainment options were very good but not the best. Golf course, water slides and play areas were not nearly as well-designed as on the Carnival Vista.

Rooms were clean with excellent service attendants, and boarding and leaving the ship were much more efficient and easier than on most other cruises.

As for the Copenhagen port experience, using taxis are a must and are more ample than NCL would like you to believe. Fare to or from airport is about USD$70-80. If you have a bigger party, try the very excellent Adina Apartment Hotel fairly nearby for reasonable rates when staying before or after your cruise.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable cruise experience at a very reasonable price-thanks to the help of our always amazing and fantastic  agent, Leanne O.

I really loved this cruise and this ship. I would have preferred to not have the "at sea" day, as this just seemed to be an excuse to get you to spend money, as nothing in this area is really very far away from anything else - could have easily added another stop instead..... We also had to miss the Helsinki port and go to Poland instead - this was awesome, but I probably would have preferred the Helsinki itinerary (not sure why our cruise did this). The food was good on this ship, but the buffet gets really tiresome quickly and it is frequently very, very crowded. The dining rooms need to have some variety - same thing over and over and over in each dining room. Definitely spring for the upgraded dining package so you have some variety. The focus of this cruise is your port stops - these are really awesome and we had a great time visiting so many places!

Had no idea how beautiful the cities around the Baltic are especially St. Petersburg.  Love cruising with Oceania.   XOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOOX

Disney knows how to do it right. Kids had a blast -parents had a blast.  Time to be together and times when we could all be on our own.  Perfect family vacation

The ship could have used some refurbishing.  Service was standard, at best.  Food was not so good.  I had a prime rib with so much membrane that I couldn't cut it, let alone eat it.  No matter how your steak was ordered, rare, med rare, med, it all came out the same way...Well Done.  Princess used to be our favorite cruise line, but not based on this one.

Norway ports were beautiful took an excursion offered by Travel Agency in Stavanger was good. I booked on line the Flaam railroad it was excellent & price fantastic, walked around the ports with ease or booked a excursion at a port. (Hop on Hop off) The Crown Princess was excellent, food, entertainment, services provided by crew.

The sites were fantastic. The ship was very good. The food was very good. The service was excellent. The shore excursions left a lot to be desired. Some were cancelled and the there was little concern by the on board shore staff.

Very enjoyable cruise. Especially liked the port of Tallin which is a very clean city. We did a tour to a dairy farm outside the city which tuned out to be a great choice. We would definitely do this one again.

We had saved and planned for this cruise for several years. This cruise was well worth the wait. We can mark this off our "Bucket List" . What a Trip!

I recently went on a Holland America cruise which was fantastic, and I expected a similar quality on the NCL Jade.  Unfortunately, my expectations were severely crushed.  The service on the Jade was horrendous.  Truly awful.  Bartenders and servers did the bare minimum to get by without interacting with customers.  No "hi, how are you?" or "how was your day?"  or even a smile!  My husband and I started playing a drinking game to see how many NCL staff members we could get to smile.  Needless to say, it wasn't many.  The bartenders also did not know how to make a drink.  Or pour a beer correctly.  And the dining room staff refused (multiple times) to get me a cocktail... apparently because they don't have a full bar in the main dining room.  And they also refused to get my husband a beer that was offered in a lounge not too far from the main dining room.  So basically be prepared to only drink wine when eating!  The quality of the food was subpar when comparing it to Holland America.  Now, think of the quality of the cheapest restaurant you can eat at.  That's pretty much what the Garden Cafe is.  The main dining room is better, but the food is still hit or miss.  I would order the same dessert almost every day.  Sometimes it would turn out fine, others not so much.  Absolutely no consistency.  We scheduled all of our shore excursions through NCL.  On the first shore excursion I was told, "all of the guides in Norway are originally from a country other than Norway, so don't expect much."   If they are not confident in the quality of their guides, maybe they shouldn't hire them????  Or perhaps not charge so much????  The first guide we had in Alesund was bad--- she was very nice, but her English was poor and she basically read all of her information off of a piece of paper that was printed off.  Yes, basically like being driven around while reading Wikipedia.  The guide we had in Geiranger was surprisingly good!  He was from Germany, but was well read, able to speak English, and knew a lot about the country.  We were very pleased.  Then we went to Flam, and it all went downhill from there.  The guides were in over their head.   I don't know if they were college kids who were trying to make some quick cash and didn't know what they were doing.  But we had four buses show up to lunch, and the lunch place was only expecting one.  Huge commotion that lasted way longer than it should have.  Basically wasted a half hour of time.  When collecting us for the train, the guides had a very poor plan, and basically left someone behind.  And they didn't care.  They still had no idea what they were doing.  And the tour ended... but no one told us.  It was pathetic.  Surprisingly, the next day in Bergen was worse.  The guide told us about 5 times that she was too tired to remember names, dates, or information.  So unprofessional.  The tour was supposed to last 3- 3.5 hours, but only lasted half of that.  She took us to the top of Mount Floyen, and it was cloudy, so she said we would leave in 15 minutes.  Thinking we were leaving right away, we didn't wander off and explore.  After about 15 minutes came and went, she said that we would be up there another 20 minutes.  20 minutes came and went, and she said we would have to wait for another train.  So another 20 minutes.  All of this time we could have spent walking around and exploring, but we didn't want to go too far and be left there.  She didn't tell us that there were goats on top!  Or walking paths.  She just said, "there's a troll over there."  Maybe give us SOME information.  It was the worst tour I've ever been on.  I was embarrassed for her.  I finally decided to complain to NCL's shore excursion team and was dismissed.  They told me that she was probably just making jokes (about being tired?  and not knowing names, dates, or information?) and that I was wrong because the tour guide had been living in Bergen for 14 years.  They gave me 10% off in the end, which I thought was poor service.  If someone is giving me half a tour, shouldn't I get half off?  It ruined my entire day in Bergen.  I think the way the shore excursion team handled it was the nail in the coffin... definitely no more NCL cruises.  Ever.  Also, the cruise entertainment staff compared Michelle Obama to an ape.  And then laughed hysterically about it.  I was appalled.

There are a couple good things to say about the Jade.  The cabin was nice, although a mini suite is comparable to a regular room on Holland America.  Also, the nightly show was of decent quality.  Not a Vegas show, but that's not what people should expect on a cruise line.  

Food was poor and presentation was mediocre. This was the first cruise I've been on that the buffet food is better than the restaurants on the ship, even the paid meals.

Entertainment was poor relative to the weather. 

Cancelling the port of Tallinn Estonia due weather (which is understandable) without making up for it in any way was unacceptable 

Also the photo packages were extremely commercial. After purchasing the whole package for $249 they charge you for each additional photo if you want it a different size.

Great cruise but due to unpredictable weather in the Baltic Sea we missed stops at Berlin and Tallinn. St. Petersburg was  beautiful but President Putin delayed our departing by an hour and a half jamming the ships GPS systems while he attending a soccer match in St Petersburg.