Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

This was our fourth cruise and our second on Royal Caribbean.  We found the ship clean and well kept.  Our room was the same.  Our room attendant, Norma, was wonderful.  The only real disappointment was the food in the Windjammer Cafe.  It was not well cooked at all.  The food in the dinning room and the specialty cafes was excellent as was the service.  We didn't understand how there could be such a difference.

We had two complete days at sea but very short stops in Stockholm and Helsinki.  Would liked to have longer shore time in both. All the port towns were amazing.

The room upkeep was excellent   The only complaint in terms of services was the my time dining  Tho we reserved a time we had to wait up to 20 or 30 minutes for the first three nights     Also we witnessed people roughly cutting in line to reboaRd the boat after excursions  In spite of  the fact people pointed this out to staff nothing was done  In my opinion these people should have been made to wait their turn  

We booked a Jr. Suite and paid $5,600.00 for this suite. There was no amenities whatsoever included. Not even water, we had to pay $7.08 per bottle of water. They nickel and dime you for every little thing. The food was just ok, but same food every day. The food served at the fine dining restaurant was the same as the food served in the casual restaurant. It was always a struggle to find a place to sit. The staff was more scared of losing their jobs than been friendly. They looked tired and overworked. We booked the shore excursions with RC and they were a rip off. I would definitely not select them for future cruises. All their activities were geared for the 70+ years old only.

Rating on a downward trend, Windjammer standards falling, difficulty in finding table for a group of six.   Best value dining experience Minstrel restaurant.

Everything about the trip was great.  The staff went out of their way to insure I had the correct food at each meal due to my several allergies.  Our room was small but comfortable, the service perfect, the lectures informative and interesting, especially, Alan Fisher.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and met some interesting people.

The overall Cruise was very good. I think you can skip the port of call in Klaipeda 

Lithuania, I don't understand why the only night that Duck was on the menu,was the same night as Lobster???? 

The Kitchen was not able to serve breakfast in a timely manner for those going on 

on shore

This cruise all in all was okay. Food was good but buffet had a lot of the same stuff everyday. Dinning room was better but took one and a half hours to finish. They need a 24 hour resturant like on NCL. There is room service but that's not the same.  Entertainment was a highlight of this cruise. Something different everynight. The cruise port in Klaipeda Lithuania was a waste of time, nothing really there to see or do. Port of Warnemunde Germany was a let down for us because our excursion operator took to long to tell us what we were looking at. Not enough stops on the tour. Berlin was rebuilt to a 1980s look not how it was. The riverboat tour was to short and the spree river had a lot of trash floating in it and looked dirty. The best port for us was Gdynia Poland. A wonderful old world town with lots to see and do. The city was hard hit from the war but they brought it back to the way it was. Got plentry of great photos and people were very friendly.  Only problem was it was the shortest time in port of all the places we went. For the price paid it could have been better.

I found many of the small things missing from this cruise..things that make it special...

No toiletries in bath, 3 not 4 course meals, windjammer not opened all day had to go to very small café with no where to sit, no chocolate on pillow, public restrooms often dirty and sometimes not functioning, no one cleaning the public areas , not wiping down handrails to keep disease down and there was a breakout of bronchitis on ship, foods usually included on dinner menu now had to be purchase separately, like lobster, and shrimp cocktail only offered one nite, and constantly pushing the other eating venue you had to pay for even coming to our dinner table soliciting them.  It just seems like the many things that were "included" where now extra and every where you turned it was an additional charge.  I truly believe people would rather pay more and have these things included... it now longer feels "all-inclusive" .  You have to pay extra to have the same experience.  Rather pay it up front...

The cruise had a wonderful itinerary.  Other than the 1 day in Fredericia Denmark which was not quite ready for cruise ship traffic, there was an appropriate amount of time in each port.  The Waramunde Germany port as a gateway to Berlin is a bit too far - spending 12 hours in a bus to get to see Berlin really doesn't make sense.

The major issue we had on the trip was the sanitation aspect.  About 30% of the people were from China. Most of them do not have the proper habits for being in a confined area.  People sneezed and coughed without covering their mouths - sometimes right over the food.  Most did not wash properly after using the toilets.  3 of the 4 people in our group came back sick and are on anti-biotics.  If a lot of the people are from around the world, I would suggest that a drill on hygiene is more important than one on life-saving.  

My wife convinced me to go to this cruise although I personally thought it would be too long with too many stops. But I have to admit, among all the more than 10 cruises that I taken in my life, this was by far the most memorable and enjoyable. All stops except Helsinki were quite interesting and better than I expected. Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen were the most fun and luckily we had two night stops there but we even wished we had more time in both cities.

If you have the ability to be away for two weeks, definitely consider this trip.

We enjoyed the cruise primarily because we wanted to visit so many Baltic cities.  All were wonderful but St. Petersburg was fabulous.  You cannot adequately describe how magnificent the palaces and cathedrals are.  The guides on all our trips were excellent.  They spoke very good English and were full of interesting information.

The staff on the ship were very friendly and anxious to accommodate any needs.  We ate in the Aqua Class restaurant and the food was very good, varied, and well prepared.

We did not see all the shows but those we did were excellent.

We are not big cruising people but if you like cruising on a big ship, then I would recommend the Silhouette.  It was a very good experience. We really have no negative comments.

This cruise was exceptional in many ways:  easy check-in, boarding and disembarking; friendly, professional, and attentive staff; exceptionally clean, orderly ship and staterooms; wide range of interesting activities and tours; variety of dining options with delicious menu choices.  Only a few suggestions may want to be considered:  provide greater detail what items (i.e. bags, water bottles, cameras) passengers are permitted to have prior to each tour; presentations providing an overview of history, customs, key sites, eating, and shopping highlights of each port-of-call (which should re-run on the ship's closed circuit TV) prior to docking; a separate line for passengers requiring special assistance on and off the ship; greater onboard shopping options (including selling reading or video material about each destination).  Regardless, of the 5 large ship cruises we have taken, this was the best!

Our cruise was on the Norwegian Star.   This ship needs to be updated or replaced. Also, this ship needs to train their staff better in providing information and most of all SERVICE.  The ship was casual, which I liked. But, management mistook people's desire for independence and casualness to "not wanting service".  I've been on many cruises and this was my least favorite.  Live and Learn.

   HOLA, MI EXPERIENCIA EN EL CRUCERO QUE TOME POR EL BALTICO CON NORWEGIAN, FUE BUENO A MEDIAS, YA QUE PASARON ALGUNOS INCONVENIENTES QUE NO ME DEJARON DEL TODO SASTISFECHO, ALGUNOS DE ESOS INCONVENIENTES, FUE QUE NO PARO EL BARCO EN ESTOCOLMO YA QUE SEGUN ESTO POR MAL TIEMPO NO DEJO EL PUERTO DE ESTOCOLMO QUE LLEGRA EL BARCO A SU PUERTO Y POR LO TANTO SE DESVIO HACIA COPENAGUE Y AHI ESTUVO 2 DIAS PUDIENDO SEGUN YO HABERLO COMPENSADO CON OTRO PUERTO A LO MEJOR OSLO Y NO UNO DE LOS MISMOS QUE YA TENIAMOS EN EL INTINERARIO, OTRO INCONVENIENTE, FUE QUE SE PUSIERO A REPARAR EL TOBOGAN DELA ALBERCA PRINCIPAL EN PLENO DIA COMPLETO QUE ESTABAMOS EN ALTAMAR SIN VISITAR PUERTOS POR LO TANTO ESTIVIMOS TODO EL DIA CON OLORES DE PINTURA MUY DESAGRADABLES AL MOMENTO DE USAR LA ALBERCA Y LOS JACUZZIS ESE DIA.

  EL CRUCERO QUE TOME ANTERIORMENTE, FUE CON CARNIVAL AL MEDITERRANEO EL CUAL FUE MAS BARATO QUE ESTE FUERON MAS NOCHES Y EL SERVICIO FUE SUPERIOR A ESTE, POR ESTE TIPO DE MOTIVOS QUE SUCEDIERON EN EL CRUCERO, NO QUEDE MUY SATISFECHO.

On the positive side, the cabin Stewards,  the front office staff and all the Star's crew were friendly  and helpful in all matters. The Versailles Dining Room meals and service excellent.

Can't comment on the specialty dining options ....refuse to pay the exorbitant per person prices quoted , which to me seemed equal to the cost of dining in a restaurant ashore. Why? when the ship  provides  the Specialty Dining areas with all the restaurant functions needed from $$ passengers paid for the overall  Cruise..

Nevertheless, our chief complaint is that there are no comfortable places to simply sit and read for pleasure i.e., no chairs or locations in which you may relax.... and/or snooze ! The ship is set up to force you to go to a café, a bar or  lounge where drinks are sold to find comfortable seating. The ship Library is a "postage stamp" with a very small selection of books as compared to all ships we have sailed on - most of which carried half the number of passengers as the Star.

Will not sail on an NCL ship again.

This was a good cruise with exciting stops.  One of the reasons you cruise is to have great food.  The food on this ship was pretty good, but I have had much better on every other cruise I have taken.

They had to cancel our stop in Stockholm which diminished our overall enjoyment.  The rooms were quite nice, the staff was all great, the evening entertainment was a mixed bag of pretty good and pretty average.

I have been on 5 other cruise lines including other "luxury" lines like Crystal and Regent.  Never have I had food this good or been treated so well.  The crew did everything they could to be sure that your every desire was met.

The itinerary was terrific.  we got to explore some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. 

If you want to live in the lap of luxury for a week, try this cruise.

This was my first time cruising with Royal Caribbean.  All my previous cruising experience was with Carnival.  I guess I expected more because RC cruises are more expensive and considered a notch above Carnival.  That was not my experience though.  Carnival is much better in the following areas:  Bathrobes in staterooms, better food variety, quality and availability of health conscious foods in all dining rooms, better entertainment overall.  The Explorer of the Seas is a beautiful ship, but was much too crowded, especially since we were confined inside most of the time due to bad weather.  We were always having to look for a place to sit in the Windjammer cafe, and all lounges.  I found myself hanging out in my cabin for a good part of the trip.

This cruise is 'just right' in that you get the cosmopolitan flavor of Rotterdam and Stavanger, and also get to see four very dfferent fjord regions of Norway. The sail-away from Southampton is interesting as you can clearly see the Spinnaker Tower of Portsmouth, and castles on the mainland and Isle of Wight. I'd recommend the excursion to The Hague & Delft Factory the next day, as you will still see lots of Rotterdam en route. If you'd like, due to the docking local, you can easily walk to Rotterdam or take the little shuttle bus. Next stop at Olden is wonderful if you take the Lake Loen cruise. Being there in late May allows you to hear the thundering of the avalanches that will cascade off of the snow capped mountains. Tons of photo ops. In the p.m., take an hour stroll to the tiny village and two cozy churches. Next stop is Flam, and of course the train to the mountain top. Early June is not too late for SNOW! Crazy cool to partake in a mini blizzard, then as the train rolls down to Voss you are back to verdant valleys. The planned luncheon is great, and the town quite walkable. The scenic bus trip back to the boat will leave you breathless at the incredibly steep switchbacks, and wonderful waterfalls. Next stop at Alesund has a very enjoyable and historic downtown, and the view atop Mt. Aksla is incredible. The Viking village which concludes one such excursion is kind of funky. You'll see lots of local families there, and see many of the old homes and sailing vessels from previous lives. Final port of Stavanger is a pretty big commercial city with the opportunity to take in a sailing to Lysefjord. The boat turns around at Pulpit Rock and you see the Billy Goats perched on the steep rock cliffs before you make the waffle stop. Don't worry about sitting inside the cabin, there's lots of roaming room outside also when the photo op appears. The usual cruise ship ups and downs on the Explorer of the Seas; crowded Windjammer café, and delightful one act 'lite' entertainment shows at night that are 50 minutes long. Above average cheer of the crew, they are always happy! Worst two things on the boat, elevators that need to be re-programmed and slot machines that are older and quite hungry. As rated, this is a 4.5 star ship that has had better days but is still quite trendy. For the price and itinerary you can't beat this cruise.

The ports of call on this cruise were both exciting and very historic and we learned alot about the history (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki). Food in the Dining Rooms were very good, on the buffet, the food required some more heat (luke warm to cold).  Staff is very friendly and respond well to requests.  Our room Stewart and our dining staff did an outstanding job looking after us and learning us in the short time we were together. They gave it a more personal touch. The last port was short to visit and we felt rushed to get back.....overall though....I would go again!!