Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

Starting with the bad which was not much:  $30 per day for Wifi?  Elevators that would pass by empty going the direction you wanted to go!  Awfully loud if you were trying to watch things going on in the atrium from above.

Ugly was smoking in the casino and the pool deck.

Good was the way everyone on the staff was friendly, helpful, and kind.  Excellent training by the company.  Food in specialty restaurants was excellent.  Food at the Windjammer buffet was good.  We are not real fussy but it appeared to me that there were enough different styles from different cultures that even the most discriminatory palates should be relatively happy.

The ship itself was nice but everything looked a little worn.  Last cruise - and my only other cruise on Royal Caribbean - either the ship was newer or better maintained than this one or I am noticing more things about cruise ships.  Not bad enough to complain about but a noticeable difference in quality.  The destination is always the important part, the other stuff is not really important if everything goes well.  And it did on this trip.   I would recommend it to anyone.  Full of surprises.  Fun surprises.  Learned a lot.  Had a lot of fun.  

it was different experience for the better, it was well organized and well cared for. staff was good, everyone was smiling, restaurants were good, food was excellent, and warm always, variety and veg. food was always available. excursions were well prepared, guides were well informed and always helpful.

Almost all our cruises have been on different cruise lines, and this was our first on Costa. Overall we were satisfied, but this line is the least desirable of all the ones we have been on.

I have read many reviews before taking this cruise and one of the biggest complaints was the food. We considered the food comparable to other cruises. There was definitely more of a leaning to Italian-type food, but there were always many selections. My wife does not care much for pasta and pizza, but found plenty of times she could choose her favorite main course, beef. Although it was not always on the dinner menu, you typically could find it at least once per day. Fish was also frequently available and there were also vegetarian options available. The desserts were very desirable and plenty to choose there too. The biggest complaint about food at our table was two-fold: apparently Costa has phased out the buffet option at dinner time. Therefore, to eat dinner you must go to the restaurant. That didn't matter to us, but I can see how it would matter to others. The second issue was that after breakfast (except for the one hour "tea-time"), the only coffee available had to be purchased from the bar as no ready-made coffee was at the buffet. In my view these are clearly cost-cutting and revenue-generating measures they have taken, and perhaps will settle well with the southern Europeans on board, but I don't see those steps flying with Americans. However, I do not know if this was a Costa-wide change or only for predominately European-attended cruises (ours was about 90% or so European).

The service was fine. Staff was courteous and helpful. We never had any problem with them.

The entertainment quality was mixed. One constant was that the volume was much too loud on all the shows.

This cruise had the least onboard activities I have ever seen on any cruise. There were things to do, but the depth of selection was low. We used the library, as we always do, but was the smallest we have seen.

We didn't do any excursions, but this itinerary was the best we have ever done. I would recommend that any cruiser who has never done this itinerary to get to it once in your lifetime, though not necessarily with Costa.

The ship was clean, but the layout design was at the weakest of the ships I have been on. First, there was no way to walk completely around the deck on any single level. We like to do this when going for a walk. Further, when moving from one end of the ship to another, you are forced to use deck 5 which forces you by the casino (maybe on purpose?) and through choke points that create traffic jams. We have been on higher capacity ships that have felt less crowded.

Embarkation and Disembarkation went smoothly, and the tender process was fine too.

Bottom line is we enjoyed our cruise, but would rather choose another cruise line for our future cruises.

As far as the ports are concerned, this cruise gives you an excellent sampling of the Baltic Jewels.  While there wasn't enough time an any of the ports (which is to be fully expected), you do have enough time to hit the highlights and decide if further exploration on another trip is worth while.  Getting off the ship at these ports was relatively easy, getting back on the ship took a little more time.  The lines were longer and slower that I would have liked.  This is not a true relaxing cruise.  This type of trip is work.  To get the full experience, your port days are long so don't be disappointed when you get home and need to relax.  The ship itself was adequate, but did not really add to our experience.  We felt more like we were on a floating hotel than on a floating luxury resort.  We have been on dozens of cruises, so this was not based on unrealistic expectations, we just expected more out of the entertainment, specialty dining and activities.  The crew performed as expected, nothing over the top, but no issues either.  It was interesting to note, that the crew typically will be extremely diverse, but in this case, the majority of crew members we met were from the Philippines. In some way, this was less interesting because we enjoy the interaction of all of the different cultures.  As mentioned above, our only area of mediocrity was the ship itself and it's programs.  We ate in specialty dining most nights, and found our experience to be average to below average relating to both service and food quality.  Our first night at Cagney's, we waiting 30 minutes for our table even with a reservation.  A similar experience happened with Moderno's except we were already seated but still waited 30 minutes to be served.  They offered a Shrimp stew that they said would take 15 minutes to prepare, we received an hour later after we were no longer hungry.  My biggest beef (no pun intended) was with the beef.  I enjoy Prime Beef.  I only cook Prime Beef and typically will not eat beef out unless it is Prime.  NCL has a notice on their menu "Norwegian Cruise Line's signature Steakhouse proudly services Certified Angus Beef brand steaks.  Uncompromising standards ensure it's a cut above USDA Prime, Choice and Select, making it the best tasting beef available"  As a Prime beef guy, I think this statement is outrageous and should be reworded or removed.  The steaks on the ship were nowhere near Prime quality.  Sorry NCL.  We did eat in the main dinner room one night and the food and service was excellent.  We made a point of sharing that we thought the main dinner room was better than the specialty dinner (save your money). The entertainment and activities was stale, average and typical.  I am not saying they were bad, but nothing to get excited about.  Over all it was a pleasant experience.  We did not have any real issues but we probably will wait a while before sailing on NCL again.   

great cruise.  excellent cities to visit.  ship in excellent  ship , shows  average,  food excellent, captain was a hoot. excursions were excellent, except the Berlin excursion which was hotter than the dickens with the non-airconditioned train. Berlin tour lasted too long.

Overall cruise was very good.  Saw lots of ports and interesting sites in a limited amount of time.  Used all Princess tours except Tallinn,  a bit expensive but overall very good.  Could have used more sea days to rest up, only 2 sea days plus the tiring effect of jet lag coming in from US 2 days early.  Very good balcony cabin space except bath a bit small.  Evening dining very good, horizon breakfeast/lunch fair/good.  Very good embarkation and disembarkation system.  Entertainment:  2 nights of Princess cast and band very good, Beattlemania very good, rest so-so. 

Luxury Only did our booking and did a great job, Oceania as always never failed to impress us, we had a wonderful trip and experience and would highly recommend both Luxury Only and Oceania

This was our first cruise on Celebrity - and it will not be our last!  We were celebrating our 50th anniversary, and chose to go first class all the way.  So we booked Suite accommodations on the Eclipse.  Boarding the ship was a breeze, and immediately after finding our stateroom, we met our Butler, Harold.  And true to his word, he handled everything we needed - from dining reservations to breakfast in our stateroom to laundry and so on.  We then discovered Luminae, a separate dining area for suite guests - spacious and never crowded with top flight service people.  The ship was elegant, yet not overstated, and immaculate.  The destinations were all excellent - especially St. Petersburg.  Take this cruise if you have the chance.

this ship is absolutely gorgeous with great services and quality.

if you want the vacation of a life time, you should try 14 day cruises on Celebrity Eclipse.

The things that stand out are the good experiences on  the excrusions - very knowledgeable guides and breathtakingly beautiful scenery.  Everyone on the excursions was super nice, helpful and knowledgeable. that made the trip worthwhile. We were very happy with the cabin - it was very comfortable for 2 people and well kept up by our care taker.  What we were not as happy with was the buffet which had limited hours, unfriendly staff, very average food, and worst of all - not enough seating on on days at sea and on top of that, the restaurants would close at 9am for breakfast - if the sit down breakfast could have stayed open until 11am that would have helped to take off some of the load on the buffet.  It was a MAD HOUSE trying to get any food or a seat....VERY bad experience.  If it weren't for the problems with the buffet, I would have given this cruise a higher rating.

Truly memorable experience. Food was excellent, entertainment was excellent, ship is an ideal size-big enough but also small enough to allow guests to meet each other and make friends. Crew recognized us from prior trips. This is a trip for people who want to learn and see, not to sit and relax. It is definitely an older group of people, with a tiny smattering of younger people.It is an English speaking cruise, but many of the passengers are not native English speakers, which is a great chance to meet new people and learn from them.

The side trips were a bit rigidly scheduled, i.e. it's 11:00 o'clock so we need to be in the cathedral, etc. Two to three hours of walking across undulating cobblestones can be a bit tiring even for people in good shape. One of the problems was when handicapped people are included on these walking tours they become very slow and difficult. If that is to be the case we suggest adding a motorized scooter or equivalent to aid these folks.

The crew on the Nautica are extremely friendly and accommodating. We got the feeling that this attitude is sincere and not just motivated by tip expectations.

This is my 2nd Baltic cruise, this time I also brought my parents. I knew what to expect, but there were few very nice changes. I liked the new décor of the hallways and other facilities. Also, the new menu gave many choices and everything was prepared  very nicely. There were few things that could be improved ( and believe me, I know how hard it is, I am also in a food business)

Breakfast on the deck was very crowded, sometimes we couldn't get a table to sit together(4 people). The menu in Italian restaurant was the same as I remembered.

The excursion to Berlin was organized poorly. I've selected the new, most expensive one and that didn't go well. I did complain and received a refund for half, but I think you should know.

Everything else was very nice and your staff is excellent!

Ship-beautiful.  Suite-luxurious. Ship's staff-wonderful. Food-terrific, I have had better but have no complaints.  Ship's staff-believable--attentive, personable, caring.  Entertainment - could use more variety, wonderful nonetheless.  Will definitely cruise on Regent again!  Out of the 20+ cruises this was the best. 

This was our 87 sailing. the last two sailings we had a issue with the dining arrangement..

My wife suffers from sever claustrophobia, she must seat by window. Provided letter from the Doctor to Head Waiter. but Head Waiter nor his boss did not do anything to accommodate. Ask Pursers office, but they were unable to do anything either, were refereed back to the dining room 

We were UNABLE  to use Dining room. We dined in cabin all the time, DUE TO Unwillingness to accommodate to needy person.

After all we travel for enjoyment NOT to be miserable.

SINCE PRINCESS IS UNWILLING TO COOPERATE, WE DECIDED TO CANCEL ALL OUR BOOKING WITH PRINCESS.

Terrible experience, not recommended FOR  ONE WITH DISABILITY!!!!

1. Substandard food. The Asian restaurant was bad. It would be a Hugh improvement if they hire any Chinese take out restaurant. 2. I forgot to pickup my camera from x-Ray machine when I got onboard. I reported the loss and Norwegian never found it. No attempt was made to compensate. 3. The pool area taken over by kids. No adult hours. 4. Very few people dressed up during a formal night.

We were pleased with all the ports of call and our sailing experience.  Sea was calm, weather was great.  The ship felt crowded and noisy in all the public areas.  Having a band playing loudly outside of the Le Bistro and La Cucina restaurants during dinner hour was not the experience we expected for a relaxing dinner.  O'Sheehans pub and the Versailles restaurant were our favorites.  Except for one rude waitress in O'Sheehan's the entire staff treated us well and were always friendly.  Our inside stateroom on level 5 was quiet and we slept well.  If you only take one city tour, I recommend St. Petersburg.  It was the highlight of our trip.  Oldtown Tallinn, Estonia was an unexpected gem.  Really enjoyed the entertainment in the showroom.  I liked that the Captain kept us informed at all times.   

The ports of call were, for the most part, quite interesting. St. Petersburg was definitely the best port and we booked a 2 day shore excursion to make the most of our time. If you have the chance, ride the subway in St. Petersburg. It's beautiful! Most people we spoke with did not go to Berlin, choosing to stay in Warnemunde or travel to Rostock for the Schwerin (?) Palace. Stockholm, Helsinki, and Tallinn are easy to do on your own with either a HOHO bus or public transportation. The Star is a beautiful ship with lots of activities, as well as quiet places. Try O'Sheehans for breakfast or a late night snack. 

It was an enjoyable cruise overall but the schedule of the shore excursions was pretty hectic especially in Saint Petersburg : there were some unnecessary shopping stops and they left one of the Hermitage Museum for the end of the day so they rushed thru the visit!

Embarkation and disembarkation handled in a smooth, timely manner. Also, staggering times for excursion groups to meet and depart was done well. Service staff....room, food, bar., central desk..all excellent, friendly, service. Ship fitness center has excellent equipment and ship overall well maintained, clean, and number of bars, open sitting areas etc. resulted in ship seldom seeming crowded. Only exception was lunch time dining and even this was handled fairly smoothly. Explorer Lounge violin and piano duo excellent.

Negatives -   steep charges for internet services and use of steam room. We were told latter expense was for entire cruise but then after signing up for this we learned we were considered to be on two cruises and the $249 my wife and I paid was only good for the first cruise of 7 days, not the full 19 days of our Baltic Cruise.

Also, we signed up and were confirmed for excursions several weeks before our cruise yet friends booking excursions later were given times we were confirmed for while times for a few of our excursions were changed. Since confirmed we expected our excursion times were guaranteed and we saw nothing to the contrary. Most excursions were  good but a few were not as described. One bike excursion had far too many riders and route we took had significant construction work in progress. 

Great Cruise. Great itinerary. Great service. Great Time. Northern Europe has a lot to offer. Great port of calls. We took all recommended Princess tours and all where fantastic. The Regal Princess is a fabulous ship. You can't go wrong with that ship. We have cruise with Regal Princess 3 times in one year. Is a new ship with a lot to offer. Great experience.