Europe - Northern Europe Cruise Reviews

Cruising the Baltic was a fantastic experience on the NCL Star. The staff was outstanding and one of the good experiences on board. They were always willing to go out of their way to help. Our room steward was always trying to help and seemed to love pleasing us. The ship, though, is old and in need of refurbishing, now. The rooms were smaller than I anticipated and that was frustrating because you don't have enough room to move around. Our balcony railing glass was not clean and difficult to look through. Another part was the auditorium seats were mostly broken. It was very hard to find a good seat. Also, I returned from an evening in St Petersburg and in the Market Café there were only hot dogs or cheese chips to eat. Everyone had hurried out of the ship for the evening adventures and returned to no food! That really made a poor impression on me about the food service. On the positive side the shows at night were great. I especially loved the final show which was spectacular. Our cruise director was outstanding also. That always helps when you can enjoy that part along with his smiles.

Room was nice and very adequate, beds comfortable. Quality of food in all dining rooms we ate in were way below average in comparison to that served on other cruise lines we have been on. Food some times serves luke warm that should have been served hot and taste and preparation of lots of food were just simply not very good. Meats (especially pork chops) often overcooked and dried out. Toilet paper and Kleenex really poor quality - so very thin - hard to wipe your rear end on or blow your nose without going completely through the tissue. Entertainment the last evening of the cruise was very good -- entertainment on other nights very amateur and did not meet up to entertainment we had experienced on other cruise lines. If cruising again, we will choose other cruise lines and would not be quick to recommend Norwegian to others.

ONCE AGAIN OCEANIA HAS EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS! WE TOOK OUR 8 AND 9 YEAR OLD KIDS WITH US ON THIS TRIP AND HAD A GREAT TIME. OCEANIA STAFF WENT ABOVE AND BEYOND TO INSURE THEY HAD A GREAT TIME. IT WILL BE VERY DIFFICULT TO EVER TRAVEL ON ANOTHER LINE.

Housekeeping,Dinner Service, Food,and Itinerary were excellent. We took 1 excursion and the guide was great. The following was poor: 1. Information for independent travelers including next to no information about the ports. 2. Inexcusably hundreds of travelers had to walk with their luggage from the entrance of the port in Copenhagen to the ship. 3. Charges for shuttle service in Helsinki and Stockholm. 4. No drinks or damp washcloths when returning to the ship. 5. Never assigned a permanent table for dinner.

The excursions were fantastic. Main compliant is that at least 4 days are needed in St. Petersburg. There is so much to see there and the people were very nice. In Germany we didn't go to Berlin as it was such a long bus drive. We just wandered around the town and went to the beach there. My granddaughter and I quickly realized that we had made the right decision; what a lovely town. My grand daughter really liked the teen club and spent most of her on board time with the teens,. A great way for the young people to meet one another. I didn't rate this as a 5 star as we didn't care for the food. There was great quantities but very little variety in vegetables especially and what there was was quite undercooked. I don't like having to use a knife to cut my cooked cauliflower, parsnips, etc. I am gluten intolerant and was told that I should tell the maiter'd this but he wasn't interested and told me to tell my wait staff, who told me that I needed to tell someone else and so on. A few times I didn't guess correctly about there being gluten in something and ended up being sick. I also would have liked to see more variety in adult activities, especially for older singles. Since I don't drink, gamble or collect art there wasn't really very much for me to do on board. Luckily, I had taken 3 books with me but I got tired of reading. The views from the ship were fantastic and the evening shows were really spectacular. I would definitely recommend this cruise, especially if you are interested in history and architecture as both are outstanding. My grand daughter is ready to go back and we haven't been home for a week.

Cruise was wonderful with most interesting ports of call. Would liked for the last day to have been at sea since the two days in St Petersburg were very busy.

This was our 2nd trip with HAL and gives us 32 days at sea with them. Holland America understands their cliental .....an older, travel oriented, conservative group, and their ships are oriented toward them. They always have a classical music group and they give them a good venue, not a noisy pass through in a bar or foyer. They include religious observations on their voyages. On the Eurodam they did away with the glitzy foyer that takes up so much space on other ships. They do not have a continuous heavy beat music going on their decks. We do prefer the Rhyndam setup for library-game space. The Eurodam space adjoins the noisy and crowded Crowsnest Bar and is not as inviting and set apart and seems to center too much action on one deck. The shops are not as inviting either because their line of goods is too much on the luxury end. All in all, we had a great time. You can easily find quiet venues for a drink and conversation, or reading. The food was great, the dining room noise level possible (although they spend too much space on specialty dining venues that cost more), the people we met were very nice.

Royal used to have great food but its gotten cheap. Several items, including lobster, were listed on the dinner menu for an additional cost. The buffet was weak with very limited items. It felt as though they wanted you to go to the specialty restaurants so they could make more money. Many others we spoke to complained about the food. The stops were great, especially Russia and Sweden. I would go just because of the stops but th efood is poor.

Great ship, staff, crew and officers. Food is excellent, entertainment program is fantastic and itinerary delightful. Embarkation and disembarkation are smooth. Cabin staff courteous and helpful. Wait staff very friendly. Passenger help disk are highly professionals.

This Princess cruise hit all the important cities in the area which is why we chose it. It should have spent more time in Stockholm (4 hrs.). The ship was mostly docked a good distance from the cities, where you had to pay a shuttle or cab or bus just to get to where you could walk. Be prepared to walk a lot and on very uneven surfaces. The onboard port presenter was outstanding (John Lawrence). The movies they offered was excellent. The ship was very clean and kept up. Our waiter (traditional dining) was a bit harried and her helper not up to par. The food good most days and 3 were outstanding. Our room was supposedly upgraded although we were put down 3 decks, not the greatest. I would recommend deck 8 and above. We didn't go to any shows so can't comment about them.

Service was Great!!! Head waiter and waiters assigned our table did a great Job his name is Elvis and his partner....Will cuise again with Princess in the near future

The food in the Horizon restaurant was very mediocre and didn't change much from day to day (especially breakfast). The service in Boticelli was slow and not very friendly. Also, the noise level in Boticelli was very high - bad accoustics.

we like all ports we spoted at the ship was beautiful the staff was great and the food was great. we wish theie were. was nore convient smoking areas for us.our private guide in st. petersberg was excellent.

As I said earlier, I cruised with Royal Carribean before and I think they provided a great service. Everyone part of the crew was very curteous,cheerful they did a great job. Debarking on Zeebrugge was not at all organized well, people were staying on long lines to debark or get back on ship, that can use some improvement. Another thing I was dissapointed in was the breakfast menu. Although there was some variety of dishes, still the same menu was available every day. No matter how good was the food you want something new on occasion. For lunch I was on shore most days so I didn't eat on the ship but I remember the days I ate in was the same menu. The other thing that was annoying was the fact you couldn't smoke in the casino, I am sure a lot of business was lost because of it. Kudos to the captain that blew the horn a lot of times when we were leaving the port, too bad we didn't have the occasion to connect with the officers except when they were on the promenade bridge. All in all I enjoyed the cruise mostly because the ittenarary but also a good service which come as expected.

We booked this cruise after much discussion with my travel agent and .with Cunard that we would have a day in Berlin. This was verified by my travel agent. We had made arrangements to have adriver and car pick us up at the pier in Warnemunde and travel to Berlin for a full day of touring.We were to return at 8PM. Unbeknownst to us,ther..ewas a change that did not permit us to do this tour.The ship left at 5PM.You have no idea how disappointed we were without even one word from the Cunard Cruise derector. In addition,the stop in Kristiansund,Norway was pathetic.A small hick town with nothing to see or do. Why not Oslo?

By many cruise critics, Eurodam is rated between 4.5 and 5 stars. Myself and my wife have been on over 20 cruises, many of them over 10 day cruises and on 8 different cruiselines (Costa, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity and Holland America). Comparing all of these cruises, I rate Eurodam 3 stars. Being one of their newer, larger and "spacious" ships, I was very disappointing at the available public and open spaces. They filled their entire ship with staterooms. We always stay in a balcony stateroom and Eurodam's was definitely the smallest room I have ever seen. Food was terrible. 98% of the food menu items are the same in the dining rooms and buffet. There was limited choices of food and most of the time tasteless. We ate at some of their specialty (with fee) restaurants and in addition to the food not being very "special", it was also in very small quantity. After eating at a specialty restaurant, we always visited the buffet to "complete" our dinner (we are both under 170 pounds :-) ) They packed much of the public space so tight that they had allocated a small section of the Lido buffet area to their Italian Specialty restaurant and their "steak house" was at the side of the center stare cases and looked like an basic open area lounge. Nothing "Special" about these restaurants. Entertainment was ok, but nothing amazing. the BB King Blues Lounge was good entertainment for couple of nights. Victor

My husband and I took the most fantastic Baltic Cruise out of Harwich, GB. Our ports included the most fantastic ports we have ever visited. The Brilliance is a beautiful ship with a wonderful and helpful staff. My husband and I are both handicapped and many of the staff went out of their way to make our cruise very comfortable and enjoyable. Our waiter and assistant waiter in the dining room were fabulous. They were excellent at predicting our wants and needs. The servers in the other eating areas were very helpful, caring our plates and getting our drinks and other needs. We would like to see the eating area "Rita's Cantina" open for lunch as well as dinner and made more accessible as well as better marketed and fully enclosed. My husband and I would love to sail on this ship again to another area.

1) Unable to purchse transfers from South Hampton to cruise, also told until 11 am I could get Transfers at Heathrow airport and pay onboard this was not true. 2) Purchased transfers from ship to Heathrow but was it was canceled by MSC. Because told not enough room. 3) Attempted to purchse and print personnel transfers from ships pirnter but it was not working as a result we we not able to verfiy purchase, also the different time change between England and ship time allowed on 40 minutes to leave ship, get a taxi, and reach couch terminal with out a ticket. The ship should have offered to call free or provide free Computer use. T4) The better starting point for use would have been Amsterdam but this option was never offered, I flight would have less expensive and the transfers to Ship cheaper. cc.Maxine_Con Yahoo.com

The Norwegan Star is an older, smallish ship without much glitz. The cabins were small but exceptionally clean with lots of storage space. The buffet was disappointing, but the specialty restaurants were well worth the up charge. Bingo was a rip off. They charged a minimum of $39 to play but the pay outs were very very small for wins. Plus they only played three games each time. The excursions were quite expensive for what you got, which was hours on a train or bus. I loved being in Germany, Russia, Estonia, Finland, and Sweden,but the tours were a tease as we only saw highlights of each place. Overall I am glad to have gone on this cruise, but I might not go Norwegan again.

This was my first cruise in about 27 years and it was outstanding in every way possible. The dining experience was excellent and the housekeeping was complete in every detail. Specifically I wish to recognize Victoria Ramos who went far beyond the call of duty in preparing our balcony stateroom each day. She was very attentive to all of our needs and request. A million dollar smile and personality to go with it. The entertainment was very good as I am a professional drummer of over 50 years and a very good judge of music and performance. The shows in the Stardust Theatre were Las Vegas material for the most part. Worth the price in every way!!!