Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

The itinerary was great.    The cruise line, not so much.    Our first and probably last cruise on Celebrity.    I wouldn't recommend Celebrity at all.  

Wife trip in a doorway and broke her hip the first night. Off loaded in Kiel Germany by ambulance the next day. Surgery and a week of recuperation in order to fly back to US. Worst vacation of our lives.

11 days is a nice cruise duration. It also can be exceptionally frustrating if issues that are not good are not quickly addressed. The "Stateroom" was the size of a walk-in closet. The Bed was so short my legs were hanging over and mattress was incredibly uncomfortable. Everything on and about this cruise ship line was focused on a 100% ALA-CARTE menu. Meaning they wanted to make you spend loads of money once you got onboard. Nothing and I do mean nothing was FREE on this ship. I asked to print out my boarding pass only quick and simple right ?They refused saying you must pay $20 to buy THAT SERVICE for one day. One time I needed to write something down. So i asked the Guest Services for a pen and piece of paper. (LOL) They said they would write it down for me as they could not allow me to keep the pen. There were at least five other stories that can be mentioned all centered around the same point. The people at least in my eyes on this ship. They are trained to be task oriented and Tip conscientious. One persons perception. But if you have paid 100% for your vacation. And were never explained that the ship has an ala-carte menu. That would be an expectation not meet. Thus I did Challenge and question Royal Caribbean on all the snafus that had occurred. Their answer to me was "We" did our job. Your expectation was not meet. Really poor attitudes in their customer service department in Miami. Person I spoke with yesterday told me she would intake info. Then document, Then offer to a higher level for arbitration. Was on phone for 92 minutes. Explained every issue in detail. She was telling me oh my thats terrible. They should never have done it that way. At end of conversation she tells me that there will be no further challenges or offerings. If anyone wants to enjoy themselves. Buyer beware.

We liked going into Russia and many other countries but I think it would have been better to do less countries and spend more time in each one.  The food was ok--not the ritz but ok.  The service was good.  We had never been on a cruise before and it was disappointing on many levels.  We hated that they  were constantly trying to sell us something.  We went to have a massage and instead of giving us the opportunity to savor it, immediately there were two people trying to sell us expensive oils.  We purchased a drink card and got watered down sodas during the whole trip--now by our estimation, if you've spent good money on an expensive cruise, the Princess Cruise should give you a bottle or a can of soda (with ice if you want it)!  We don't drink watered down sodas at home, why should we drink them on a cruise ship?  Also, it was way too cold on this trip--uncomfortably cold.  Not a good idea to travel at this time. 

Being on the Baltic Sea was so calm and often we saw land.  It was much better than the ocean.  Ports were nice, St Petersburg - a MUST.  Best dinner group EVER.  Great cruise director and activity director. Smaller of the large ships so nothing fancy, no extra dinner nights or prettiness.  Some said not enough options for activities.  I was never bored though.

I would recommend to all fun loving vacationers out there to take a cruise ship for your vacation next time you want a real vacation.Its a very  fantastic way of just having a good time from busy day schedule when at home and/or office. The in house entertainment is gorgeous, the food is excellent and the service is welcoming. No worry about where to go, calling a taxi, or anything to spoil your day of excitement. Sleeping quarter or suite is clean, well taken cared out by on duty maid servant, bed is made and linen and towels are changed when you want it. Its worth the price you paid for the whole trip. Lots of activities to chose from. What you need is more than 24 hours in a given day if you want all of it between waking up and going to bed.My wife and I travels just the two of us, no children. But there are activities for children. So its for family too.

The best part of the cruise was how accommodating Seabourn was for my many dietary needs.  I was disappointed that we arrived late into Edinburgh and therefore had a very limited amount of time in port especially since we were docked in Leith and had to take a shuttle bus to Edinburgh.  The shuttle bus did not start immediately and ran every 30 minutes. In other ports we also had to use shuttle buses because the docking place was not near the city.  Unlike tenders that run more frequently, the use of shuttles decreased the time we had in the city.  The excursions from most of the ports were good although the excursion from Antwerp to Ghent didn't account for the amount of time it would take in traffic to get back to the ship and we arrived after the dining room had closed for lunch.  The in excursion in Oslo didn't take into account the time at which the shop and snack bar at the Lillehammer ski jump opened and we had to wait.  It was a waste of time and we weren't supposed to stop there.  The guide on this excursion wasted time trying to decide whether to proceed with the stop in the sculpture park because it was raining.  She ultimately decided to proceed and it was fine but the time that was wasted in both of the first two stops resulted in less time at the Viking Museum than ideal.

Our cabin was very nice, just as we requested.  I like the fact that you are not nickel and dimed.

my favorite part of this cruise was when it was over. There was nothing but long lines.All of the help did not know the correct answer to any question .We did not go to the Azores because they were unable to dock .When we got to France they put a 3 foot wide gang plank out for 4000 people to get off on after waiting for 3 hours we were finally at the gang plank they informed me they had no wheel chair i am handicapped  and had to walk down this rickety old gang plank .After getting to spend 3 hours in France back to the dredfull .ship  .Our next stop was England where we stood in line for 4 more hours waiting to get through customs. When we got back on we were informed that we were also not going to stop   Belgum because of a broken part. During the time on the ship my husband had to stand on line for 3 hours to purchase internet service he said you could have taken any high school student and they would have handled it better  why there was only one person there is far beyond me . Oh yes and did i mention that when we returned  from France we were locked out of our room for 3hours by the way 2 days later i did get a call from guest services to find out if i was still locked out.This cruise was to be a cruise of a lifetime I saved for a long time for it turned out to be a cruise from hell..............

This was the opening cruise for the 2017 season, so we expected a few bumps in the road. The Copenhagen Denmark facilities are great, but hard to get to. Airport to pier was about $70 US. Arriving the day before departure helps a lot and you can have time to actually see Copenhagen. First stop is Oslo, Norway. Lots to see on the way in and ashore. A sea day was next and allowed time to settle in. Next stop Germany. Pier is in Warnemunde with not much to see. Excursions or travel elsewhere (lots of trips to Berlin) are a must. Another sea day and then to Tallin, Estonia. Old town is very charming and a walk around tour is a must. St. Petersburg, Russia was down right ugly, except of course the museums. Very crowded!! Do not take a coat to the Hermitage. Stuff sack with down sweater worked for me and save about 30 minutes on coat check. Helsinki, Finland nice but a little stark. Nynashamn, Sweden is about 45 minutes from Stockholm. Take an excursion or its a wasted trip. Stockholm was great.

My husband and I had a very nice time on this cruise.  We booked  tours for each of the days in port, using the Princess website. We wouldn't change a thing!

We were fed like gladiators: macaroni and cheese, pasta, pasta pasta, bean soups and 500 varieties of chicken. We missed two ports (it's not my fault) continuously was announcing the captain. In one port -Brest- it took three hours to disembark and then another two to embark. We had only three hours in the city. One could not get a place in the only two good speciality restaurants. Anyway, my friends and we doubt that we'll ever set foot on a NCL vessel.

The ship was nice and the food was some of the best we have ever had on any cruise.  Stockhom was a lot of fun and what a gem the Rostock Germany was, it was very nice.

We enjoyed every aspect of the cruise.  The rooms were great.  Lots of clothes hangers and room to hang clothes.  We enjoyed the buffet, dining room and the specialty restaurants.  The Crown Grill served an excellent ribeye dinner.  Even though it is the largest ship with the most people, we have ever sailed on, we never felt crowded.  Hope to sail with Princess again.

+ food

+ accommodation, i.e., bed, linens, shower but not the sound from the stage

+ wait and housekeeping staff

+ ship's condition for its age (1997)

- onboard WiFi kills free, nearby, off-board WiFi 

- business processes; several errors/discrepancies in printed/webpage info

- lack of empathy from Ashore Department and Customer Service Desk

- inadequate preplanning for crowd control around elevators and level 1 exit to the gangplank

- uneven footing in the highest traffic area on the ship (can you spell Lido?)

- unbeknown surprise of booking a 21 day but receiving a 14 + 7  "Collective Cruise".....did not see that in my contract anywhere

- if the spa worked I could not figure it out and no one came to check

- there is more but it probably gets a little bit petty after the above

Seeing the Northern Lights, we were exstremely lucky to see this display

some people on our cruise this was their first views after their 3rd and 4th cruise.

I would not reccomend this particular cruise. As my accomodation was not what was ordered or promised by Cruise119. I had booked for a window cabin and     was allocated a cabiin with porthole and persudo window ledge. I am 6ft tall and I could not see outside the porthole, also I was heard the anchor  downed and raised, causing noise every time we berthered at port, as the cabin was very close to the equipment being used. BOW END of ship.

I found the vessel very confusing to find the different rooms, due to the layout of the ship.

Never enough seating when all passengers were on board, and a deck chair mentality with the seating.

Staff very helpful. Itinerary good and excursions efficient. The voyage was  lucky to see the Northern Lights.

The disembarkcation was very drawn out, and delayed.

 I expected better for a single paying double occupancy.

Miss C Campbell

My elderly mother and myself would certainly not recommend this cruise to anyone else. As this cruise was on my mother's bucket list, we are exceptionally disappointed. The best part of the cruise was leaving Tilbury dock on our return. The list of required improvements is indeed a long one but I will endeavour to outline them, as they will be outlined in our official complaint. Having endured a 6 hour delay, the embarkation was a complete shambles. My mother, who has issues with standing for long periods, was made to stand for 2 hours due to the vast number of people needing to be processed at the same time. The cabin was a double, not a twin as ordered. The food was plentiful, if bland. The majority of the staff were foreign with limited English language knowledge which made communication difficult, indeed impossible at times. The open decks were inaccessible at times due to no grit or sand being available-on a trip to see the Northern Lights, really??? Most passengers, including ourselves, came down with chest infections, flu etc. which signifies that something in the air conditioning was faulty. The seating areas (limited as they were, with noisy arcade machines next to them) often smelled of urine. So it goes on.............

You know when you plan things, but somehow nothing turns out right?  From the off I mis-read because I saw 2 dates for for Amsterdam I thought, oh good 2 days there (lots I wanted to see) - of course that was my mistake not MSC's.  It was nearly lunchtime before got off the ship and we sailed first thing the following morning.  Everything seemed to be against us, arriving in Hamburg late because no berth (we had to sail past and turnaround) - they also docked furthest away as they could (usually so close you can walk it the city), there was no shuttles available until the afternoon and so just couldn't be bothered in the end, shuttle very expensive to get into Bruges and only Le Havre proved to be a cheap shuttle and a more interesting place than I thought it would be.  Everything seemed geared to ship's organised excursions and thwarted if you wanted to do your own thing.  Well that is what it felt like.  Onboard there was poor organisation of the very poor selection of things to do e.g. Shuffleboard on at one time, darts half an hour later etc.  So there was no time to get from one to the other.  Food and cabin OK.  Am sorry you asked me about this trip because I regard it as my worse cruise.

All the ports we new for us and love all the excursions   Shetland islands were our favorite followed by Ireland and Iceland   Scenery was unbelievable and the people were so friendly. Lots to do in all ports 

NCL has slipped in Service, Ship cleanliness, Ship Maintentence, even the crew that sprays you hands when you renter the ship and the buffets missed over and over again. 

On on our first tour we even had the guide using the "F" bomb over and over again.