Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

We enjoyed ourselves. HAL was very well run and everything went smoothly. The food and dining options were OK. Ports of call were excellent, with adequate time in port. The entertainment on board was average, although some of it was quite "over-produced," which detracted from the experience. That said, we don't cruise for the on-board entertainment, but for the on-shore experiences, and this was a fun cruise for the ports of call.

1) We could not connect to anyone in Costa, Europe to find out about ability to board ship later than a 4 hr window they gave us. Caused me lot to make it happen just to find people were boarding late night also. In US people were just reading whats on web site.

2) Make web site more flashy, it looks avg as per US std but cruise line is very good and much beter

3) Staff would not do anything to go overboard even if things are wrong. Served us meat twice in a week even when said vegetarian and even then they would not try to make it better by going overboard or asking how can we do it better.

4) Golf simulator is expensive to use even though not very accurate, so try to make a better pkg for that as lot of people will use it for right price. I ahve seen only 2 guys using it over period of 7 days.

Holland America is THE cruise line to take. I have cruised on Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Disney (great if you have kids) and by far the best is Holland America. Why? Because they have a variety of activities at no additional charge that appeal to a wide variety of tastes: bridge lessons, cooking demonstrations, digital workshops, fitness workouts, dancing lessons, mixology (drink mixing) lessons, gambling lessons as well as the usual trivia games, movies, crafts, fabulous shows, marvelous food, and presentations on the ports being visited. If you want more from your cruise than lying by the pool, this is the cruise line for you...for ANY destination. 

They have daily alcoholics anonymous meetings, meetings arranged for singles/solo travelers, meetings for GLBT folks, Catholic mass, and Jewish Sabbat.

REALMENTE ESTUVO BIEN, DE ACUERDO A LO ESPERADO, SIN EMBARGO LA PARADA EN OSLO FUE MUY TEMPRANO Y CON MUY POCO TEMPO PARA VISITAR UNA CIUDAD QUE OFRECE TANTO. MUY TENDENCIOSO A CONTRATAR LOS TOURS QUE SE OFRECEN AL INTERIOR.

LO MEJOR DE TODO FUE LA ATENCIÓN DE JESS, NUESTRO MESERO A BORDO EN EL DUQUE DE ORLEANS.

My wife and I were on 14 Nights cruise from Copenhagen to Norway from June 12th.-26th, 2015. The ship was very clean and the food in La Cuchina, the specialist Italian restaurant was most enjoyable. Food in common Market place restaurant was equally good and the variety to choose was plentiful. Fresh fruit juice and other items was equally good. The staff were extremely helpful and polite and they were always on hand to assist you, if one needed one.

The staff at the Attrium Guest reception were able to solve our problems with noise coming from above our room at night. I cannot thank enough to Fritzie Gail Rocabo, the Guest services  representative to listen to our concern and  changing our room. If I can choose one person from the guest services, she would get my vote.

Enjoyed the cruise from Copenhagen going north crossing the Arctic circle.  It would have been more enjoyable if 3 or 4 small ports were eliminated and limited to  10 days instead of 14.

Overall, a very good cruise with a very nice itinerary. Princess has been our favorite cruise line up to this point. That is probably still  the case, but it did move down a notch this time. Caribbean Princess is not as nice as the other Princess ships we have sailed on; but we chose this cruise because of the itinerary. We would do it again, although in the future I will try to select ships other than the Caribbean Princess. There was a general lack of communication between staff and passengers; for example, it was communicated ahead of time that there would be one tender port. After the cruise was in progress, we found out that there were 3 tender ports. And there were never any announcements about where the ship was and what we were passing; for example, no announcement when we sailed past the North Cape. We heard a lot of grumbling on the ship about the lack of communication. But the staff we personally encountered were all very nice and friendly, so no complaints there. We liked the ports; only complaint there was that Princess took Geiranger off the itinerary for this cruise, which almost resulted in us not taking this particular cruise. 

I'm in the 3rd level (Emerald) of Royal's loyalty program(Crown & Anchor) but I felt like Royal Caribbean was "nickle & dimming" me throughout the cruise. Very expensive alcoholic beverages--fees for soft drinks & "real" orange juice. Very expensive wifi connections vs free at McDonalds. Fee to visit ship's kitchen. $35/person to dine in specialty restaurants."Terrible" payouts on slots in casino.

I loved the trip, the ports were great, the ship excursions were led by great guides but the shortfalls are the following;

1-limited facilities to eat and especially likmited seating in the windjammer(buffet).  the dining room called reflections had limited hours and the small park café had little to choose from

.2-the entertainment was notably lacking in the main venue, the male leads were atrocious, and some of the shoes show a steady stream of people leaving. the entertainment in the centrum was vastly superior, especially the little 4 person ensemble.

3-staff was generally friendly and courteous, but there were some people particularly in the windjammer who looked like they were doing you a favor by clearing a table.

4- I would recommend most of the ports, but would not recommend the ship, and based on this experience I would not recommend royal carribbean.

I have sailed on 3 other cruise lines, and at this point I would go back to celebrity, they are a notch above.

Very nice cruise to some very interesting ports. Jennifer was a big help on an issue and solved the problem quickly. A little disappointed with the food on board. The quality of the beef just did not seem to be there. The problem could be in the preparation, but it was not what we were used to. Every other food was fine.The entertainment  was very good and the majoir production were great. The ease in and out of ports was a pleasure. Too bad we had so much rain as the ports were wonderful. Your tours were expensive compared to booking directly.All ,personnel on board were very friendly except the manager of the casino. He was harsh and blunt and very negative. He needs to be replaced.

The overall cruise experience was excellent.  The staff was wonderful, and the aft-facing penthouse had WONDERFUL views of the fjords (highly recommend this type of room for any Norway cruise).  Food was a bit disappointing, but as suite guests we had access to breakfast and lunch at Cagney's which was excellent.  Breakfast at Cagney's included french press coffee, fresh squeezed OJ, and the best eggs benedict that I've ever tasted.  The other dining locations were ok, but nothing special.  The ports in Norway were spectacular, and we were pleased with all of our shore excursions.  Be wary, as some excursions were listed as an activity level of 3/4, but were really more of a 4/5. You need to be in good shape for the more aggressive hiking tours in Geiranger, although it was well worth the sweat when you reached the top!  Copenhagen was also a wonderful experience.  Every Dane we asked a question of spoke perfect English, and went out of their way to help us navigate public transportation, etc.  Be sure to pack rain gear when traveling to Norway, as the weather can change to rain at any minute.  And eat as many pastries as you can……what a difference from US pastries!  And if you go to Bergen stop at the fish market.  It was the best seafood meal!  Overall, a wonderful experience and a great itinerary.  

Itinerary was very good.  All ports with exception of Gotenberg were very interesting and excursions were generally worthwhile.  Captain made effort to dock in city center of Stockholm rather than outside port and avoid 1 hr. bus ride to city - much appreciated.  Balcony stateroom was quite a bit smaller than previous balcony staterooms with other Princess ships.  Service on the ship was outstanding.  Dining staff, room attendant, front desk, etc., - all were extremely responsive.  Menu's and food was average however dining in the specialty restaurant (Crown Grill) was exceptional. Embarkation and disembarkation were the most efficient I have experienced with several cruise lines.  No standing in queues at all.

We took our first Oceania cruise 10 years ago for our 25th and decided to repeat the experience for our 35th.  This ship was almost double the people of the other we were on and we definitely liked the smaller one better, but this was totally fine as it was still so much smaller than the large ships.  The cabin was very roomy and the beds and pillows were VERY comfortable!  The staff is  and so kind and friendly and all needs are met right away.  The best thing thing is that Oceania is a very land intensive cruise line so even though days at sea are nice, days on shore are even better and there were plenty of those.  The specialty restaurants are delicious, although the Polo Grill was not so good.  We love the open seating for dinner and the choice of the grand dining room or the Terrace Grill.  The variety was very good.  It was not a "sit on the deck" cruise because it was often too cool on deck in this area, but we didn't miss that at all.  The Horizons Lounge was wonderful to sit in and socialize and high tea was AMAZING!  The massages at the spa were blissful as well and we never expected them to be so wonderful.  We came back, not rested, which meant it was a great trip, but happy and satisfied full of great memories. We highly recommend this cruise and this cruise line.

Great trip I had with my wife , all crew on board were very friendly and serviceable.

The ship was great and food was also excellent.

we really enjoyed been there

The Eurodam is a comfortable well maintained mid sized ship. The itinerary on this Baltic luded a 2 day stay in Stockholm  and  also in Copenhagen, The ports of call were very interesting and easy to navigate.  The staff on the ship was friendly and helpful. It was a pleasant  cruise.

Specifically chose this June 1-13, 2015 Holland America cruise itinerary because it did not go to St. Petersburg, Russia which we visited previously. We especially liked Stockhom and appreciated the overnight time in port with departure at 4:00 on the second day.  It would be nice to have had this same opportunity for Oslo port because it was difficult to cover major highlights with 8-4:30 time frame.

The Eurodam ship is top notch and well maintained.  We had a rear facing balcony room which was terrific.  It was never too windy to be on the balcony. Even when it was raining we could be outside.  Our room steward, Baong (?) was very good and quickly responded to our minimal requests.  The room size, layout, and configuration for storage was very good and larger than many other ships for the same category room.

Ship entertainment is not that important to us because following port days we often retired early or enjoyed quiet time.  For us, it's more important to have friendly attentive staff, good food and dining options, and attractive and clean rooms and public spaces.  We select cruises based on their itinerary which we consider our primary entertainment.

For one port the cruise provided complimentary shuttle service into town because we were docked 30-45 min. drive to town center.  This was much appreciated.  It would be nice to have this offering for all ports with more than a 10 minute walk to the town center.

The destination specialist, Ian, provided interesting commentary prior to cruise ports as well as when we cruised into many of the ports. He was also available for questions at each port. This is a nice perk and we appreciated it was not presented to sell tours.  His commentary truly taught us about the country, city and surroundings.

In summary. the cruise was excellent and exceeded our expectations.

This cruise seemed to be planned in desperation to fill 12 days. Stops in Kiel, Warnemunde and Kristiansand were a waste unless you are interested in a whole day of traveling to get a few hours in cities like Berlin and Hamburg. Either city needs more than several days to explore. And Kristiansand? You don't want to waste a cruise day in Kristiansand. Gothenburg is OK but not an exiting stop and the ship docks too far from the city. 

A cruise in the Baltic is only so-so if St. Petersburg is not included. And why not include Visby? Or Tallin? 

An Absolut (sorry for the pun..) negative was the ship's location in Stockholm day two. Too far away to walk to the City. Transportation should have been supplied.

The crew was the best as usual!

Entertainment was poor. Food was very average. Spent excess time trying to sell tours, merchandise and transfers. Was told at Copenhagen you could wait 2 hours for a taxi,  so should get a transfer. There had to be 30 taxis waiting. On day in Copenhagen they charged $20 for a trip to the city and back. This was way over priced as to other options. Ship and crew were excellent. As one who had been on Holland American before, I booked a Holland American cruise and got a Carnival cruise.

We really enjoyed this cruise.  No complaints about the food, the service, the staterooms, the bars, etc.  Easy access to every port.  Both excursions we chose had very friendly, knowledgeable guides and easy walking.  They were Highlights of Rostok and in Oslo, Viking ships museum.  The front desk was very helpful in changing money. 

+ old aging ship needs to retire .

+ poor entertainment that audience leave shortly after starting every single night.

+ Club HAL for kids have zero interest in kids or activities related .

+ Food quality is suboptimal from a premier cruise line .

+ great countries to visit with lots of history & wonderful cultures that's hard to absorb in 12 days .