Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

we loved every moment .the staff the  food the etertiment was excelent we will recomend it to all our friends

we wish we would have more time in Stockholm 5 hours is not enough to see this beatiful city

Overall, a great cruise.  Ports were excellent.  Love the Free Style Dining.  Gave the cruise a 4, due to our "suite," which i would only have given 1 star.  We paid to upgrade to the mini-suite, which was nice enough.  However, our room was immediately below the "teen club" which made a tremendous amount of noise, both day and night.  We could hear kids screaming, jumping up and down and it sounded like they were pounding with hammers on the floor.  Prevented sleep on several nights.  I complained, and the noise level increased.   Someone should warn customers about rooms like this. 

we are cruise lovers and have had many good experiences travelling in this way. This was our first Norwegian cruise and really loved it. Besides beautiful cities visited, the ship was very entertaining, food was DELICIOUS, in all restaurants.  Totally recommendable 

The Norwegian is an absolutely beautifully decorated ship, loved the French decor in the dining room.  The staff was terrific, friendly, great speaking English and kept the entire ship spotless.  The entertainment was definitely comparable to Royal Caribbean, loved all of it.  The other activites were so much fun, educational and for any age group.  Food, desserts and drinks was fantastic!  Our devoted cabinman was Sang who was wonderful, he even surprised my husband David with a towel alligator on his 70th birthday, which everyone in our area saw and loved.  The pictures of that are the best!  Only wish debarking in Russia had been smoother, it was crushing and terrible.  Perhaps let off excursion people according to the time.  We were 1 hour late for ours, and the Russian custom people seemed slow.  Otherwise, we have recommended this vacation to everyone.  Good job!!!!

Excellent itinerary, outstanding service, very good food.  Our only criticism is that

the ship needs updating, the décor is a little tired and bland, though it is

very comfortable.

I selected this cruise because of the excellent Itinerary.  If you want to see the most Northern capitals in the least number of days, this is the cruise to be on!  The food was filling, but not special; even on formal nights steak, shrimp or lobster were not on the menu.  There were fewer ship-activity choices than expected, but with excursions every day, we were pretty tired.  My husband and I were very satisfied with this cruise, as it was the destination that was important to us.  The staff was excellent. 

The fjords are not as high and as spectacular as in Alaska because in Norway, fjords are defined as a waterways cut out by glaciers. Some of them are only a few hundred feet high. Too many ports of call. At least 3 of them can be changed to sea days because there was nothing to see in those ports. Most seasoned cruisers prefer sea days because there are more event programs and the cruising is more relaxing. In one port day, it was Sunday. Over 90% of the stores were closed. The visit was wasted.

The events scheduling at sea days have many time conflicts. They were very poorly scheduled.

The matre'd and head waiter in dining were not friendly, never introduced them to us. 

In summary, it is not worth spending the time and airfare to fly to Norway to see these fjords, except Flaam. You'll be much better to go to Alaska unless you run out of places to go, like me 

Visiting the  Norwegian fijords in a small ship was an exquisite experience.  On the other hand, the  ship experiece had a little to be desired.  The food in the buffet was fair; the dining room food was good, although we only ate there twice because there was insufficient tables for two.  The "entertainment" especially the ship singers were poor except for some of the contracted entertainer who were good.  Finally, the ship has a tired appearance and needs to be rennovated.

This was a trip of a lifetime kind of cruise. The locations were all amazing. We had great service and a really good experience overall. Our only complaint was the entertainment. It was beyond awful. Other than the swimming pools there was not a lot to do on at sea days. There was nowhere to go for a quiet drink and the musicians in the bars were either terrible or loud or both. We walked out of 6 of the shows. This was the only place RC could really improve their game.

This trip was fantastic! I travelled with my wife and we had the best time on and of the cruise. The cruise itself is just gorgeous and the destinations are awesome! I did found though that the food on the ship was not that great although there's plenty of variety. Other than that, it has been one of the best, if not the best trip i've ever taken. It is worth every penny. 

Great experience using United Cruises to book the cruise, excusrsions through United Cruises were as good and cheaper than through Princess. Ship is great.

Anytime dining in the symphony dining room was problematic. We waited almost an hour to get a table and service either felt rushed or was too slow. Once we switched to going to Concerto which didn't open til 730pm, everything was great.Service was wonderful and seating was prompt. Perhaps they should consider having Concerto open earlier than 730.

Itinerary could be tweaked a bit. Arhus not a worthwhile stop, not much to do.

St Petersburg if you do a 2 day excursion is exhausting and then to be in Helsinki early the next day with a 4pm sailing doesn't give people enough time to really explore Helsinki...Perhaps reordering the itinerary to do Warmunde,Stockholm, Helsinki,Tallin then St Petersburg would be better

Also princess docks 1 hr outside of Stockholm, then you need to take a tender to the shore then buy one of their packages to get into Stockholm. They should dock in Stockholm or else offer free service into Stockholm

This cruise itinerary is a great way to visit almost all of the Baltic capitals plus St. Petersburg. The Regal Princess is a new ship. The cruise director was entertaining in his own right plus the entertainment at night was first rate. The food was excellent. Portion control is a must unless you want to gain weight. The weather was good. It only rained once in Helsinki.

For the most part, you do not have to book shore excursions through Princess. The cruise starts in Copenhagen. I suggest going there 1 day ahead or stay afterwards. You can walk or use the hop on hop off bus very inexpensively. For Oslo, the hop on hop off bus will meet you at the dock, just pay on board. For Arrhus, you just walk into town (10 min at most). For Warnemunde, you just need to decide whether to spend money to take the 3 h train ride into and from Berlin. This is the one of the stops I recommend using the ship's tour. For Taillin, you walk into town (15 min). For St. Petersburg, you will need to get Russian visas (a hassle) unless you book a tour through a travel agent or the ship. For Helsinki, just take the hop on hop off bus. Unfortunately, it was the only day it rained. For Stockholm, they drop anchor at a small town 45 min away and you have to tender into town. Then take a train into town or pay for a bus from the ship. However, as it turns out neither was necessary because there was a hop on hop off bus waiting there which was much cheaper than the ship's alternative.

Bon voyage!

For a very large ship there was very little waiting, staff was very friendly and accommodating.Was disappointed in the quality of food even at the specialty restaurants. 

The staff was amazing. Room was nice. Room attendant always helpful. Food was hit and miss in the Main Dining room. Pinnacle was lovely. Tamarind overrated. I wish that they had a better drink package, similar to Celebrity. Those onboard should be allowed to use the steam room, and not just for people that are paying for spa treatments, as the dry sauna was quite tiny. Wifi should be more widely available, at better prices. Some ports had no wifi at all. I also always felt that they were trying to sell us something every time we turned around. Our balcony always seemed to be flooded after cleaning, so unable to use it regularly. When forced to dock far from center of town, provide free transportation. 

I had a fantastic time on this trip. This was my second time sailing with NCL (prior was a Mediterranean cruise on Jade) and I really enjoy the freestyle. I am the type of traveler that uses the cruise more as a vessel, banking on the excursions. Overall- if taking this tour, I would take it earlier in August or during the second week in August. I did the second week and at every one of the ports was told how lucky we were because typically it rains and gets cooler. The ship itself is okay; I think it's starting to show some wear and tear and needs some updating. For example, we had to call maintenance twice: 1) our room safe was broken on arrival, 2) the AC was not functioning. We had a knock on our door mistakenly, but it was maintenance asking about our shower head. 

We also were lucky to have the ultimate dining package. That allowed us to really experience the various restaurants on ship. We dined a couple of times at the French and Italian places. We HATED the Brazilian; I was so disappointed. I am a meat lover and the quality of the meat was awful. I would take one bite and set it away. The steak restaurant has the same kitchen, so I was very hesitant (but already had the reservation and did not know they shared), but it was okay. For the cover charge (unless you get it free!), it's not worth it. The teppanyaki was sub-par. Fun for a little different atmosphere, but if you've been to other places, you'll be disappointed. You don't really get the same tricks and whistles. The main dining room was lovely and worked just as well, when you could find a good opening for a table (then the service varied). 

For the ports:

Berlin- We did the Potsdam/Berlin tour. It is about a 2.5-3 hr train ride each way to get to Berlin. You do get to see the countryside and Berlin is a modern city. Much was damaged in WW2, so there isn't much to see. It's seeing various areas where remnants of the wall remain, 60-stylish buildings, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Holocaust memorial. Potsdam gave you a brief (very brief) 40 min-1 hr seeing the outside of a palace and lunch. If you read the descriptions of the visits, note that you only get brief moments outside before you're on the bus to the next stop. We didn't have opportunities to shop. A lot of people just took shorter tours and had a lot of shopping. (If that's what you're looking for). 

Estonia- We did the Medieval/Best. I would honestly say that because the port is so close to the city, skip the excursion. We wasted time (2 hrs) seeing city sights (deteriorated Olympic 1980s buildings) before seeing the medieval city. I would have rather taken a taxi or walked to the city and spent more time there. The city itself was very quaint. 

St Petersburg- our tour guide (Irene) was awful. We signed up for the Best (2-day and also the ballet night tour) and Bus #7 was AWFUL! I would hope that Irene is fired because she ruined the excursion. She was a drill sergeant and didn't care about her job. She liked art, but knew none of the history of the places. We actually hung back in our group to listen to other tour guides wherever we went to get a better tour. Many people book this tour, I would just see if you can go on another bus if you get Irene. By the way- if you want to see St Petersburg, you have to book an excursion- it's your visa and you go through customs each time you leave the ship.

Finland- Loved it! We did the Medieval/Best of tour. It took us northbound to a medieval city which was fantastic. I wish we had more time to walk around, but we did have some free time to do so. There's an excellent chocolate shop there and the guide was wonderful in directing us in what to try, what was unique. The countryside is beautiful and everyone was so incredibly friendly. 

Sweden- My favorite! But definitely way too short of a trip. We only had 6 hours there. I was so sad about that. We did the Ice Bar, Old Town, Vasa excursion. The Ice Bar was fun for the experience, but it's Vasa that makes the trip. Vasa is an old 16th c ship preserved- it's incredible to see. Old Town is also really neat- as is the rest of the city. I only wish we had more time. The ship ports in the city, so an excursion isn't necessarily needed, but I really enjoyed mine. You also save on time.... I really wish we had more time there. 

We also spent 3 days in Copenhagen before the cruise began. I would say that was enough time to really see the country. We spent one day going outside the city and visiting palaces (i.e. Hamlet, Fredricksborg), and the remaining 2 in the city walking around and seeing the many sights. I highly recommend. I LOVED Copenhagen. It's an easy walking city- much like Boston, where it has many different "parts" and all quaint in themselves. 

Overall, I thought the cruise was very good. The service really varied. I would say that you saw some incredibly hard working people, then incredibly lazy. The hard workers tried to compensate; you didn't really have any in between. The service was actually worse than what I experienced on the Jade. So, since I was using this trip as a vessel, this wasn't my primary concern (but detracts from excellent level)- but if you're a regular cruiser, this might not bode well for you.  

The locations offered by this cruise is why we book this particular cruise. The size of the ship allowed us to go to gdanse poland and cruise the KEIL canal 

We tried both main restaurants and didn't good service at either.

The first one we were served cold food every time we used. The second the food was warm and better but the service was not.

The cruise was well worth time and money spent. The ship and onboard activities exceeded our expectations. The Captain was excellent, friendly and shared a wealth of information on history and his experience with all the ports of debarkation. We were docked at St Petersburg for two days; the weather was stunning as was the city itself. The other ports were great as well but Russia was the jewel! In Sweden we utilized the hop on hop off buses to explore the city. Oh, if you arrive in Copenhagen a couple of days early, even with luggage taking the train from the airport to our hotel was easy.

TV useless - horrible programming and no way to get videos/VCR's etc with room card.  The library is the same - USELESS!  Must stay in enclosed little room to read a book - after thousands spent you'd think you could check out a book for a few days - NO. So if weather not condusive to swim or sun and you are older and just want quiet time in your room between tours you have to haul many books etc. tour specialists that help you on days of tours are especially good at what they do. Tours very organized and went well. All as described. We needed special help and it was ready before we got there. Entertainment on ship below par (one exception). Not enough time in port in Helsinki and Stockholm. I say cut out a day in Berlin, a lot of people felt that way. Good selection of food but not special enough re: all the fresh fish. No caviar, little lobster, crab etc. open dining a fiasco - so crowded, crammed in like sardines. Good thing we had unlimited dining or would have used buffet exclusively. Be sure to go to o'Sheehans - quiet with great service and have breakfast too. 

United Vacations who we booked thru was terrible, didn't get promised on board credits, we booked 3 rooms and were promised they would be together not true. They never returned calls or e-mails, made booking terrible.