Europe - Western Europe Cruise Reviews

The name of the cruise was 12 night British Isles with Kirkwall, didn't get into Kirkwall.

It was a little windy, but the passengers felt like the Captain could have stopped and waited awhile to see if the wind calmed down.

The port claimed they had no tug boats to help us.

Seriously, as big as Princess Cruise is and they don't warrant tug boats.

Thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the cruise. The crew and staff were very friendly and attentive to our needs. The ports visited were very interesting and provided great educational and well as enjoyable excursions. Our trip was in early May. The weather was surprisingly pleasant. Sunny skies at least part of every day. Temperature for day time highs ranged from the mid 50', to low 60's. I highly recommend this tour. We have enjoyed our experiences on fifteen cruises. This one ranks among the best.

This cruise has been a long time dream, and it came true. Caribbean Princess was a great ship, as all the Princess ships I've been to. A few disappointments. We were 3 seniors in a stateroom and in it had a bunk bed. We did not realize the third bed would be a bunk. Imagine us climbing the ladder... The ladder was situated where it was in the way if we needed to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Perhaps, Princess should pay attention to ages, if 3 or more, and advise and recommend passengers-to-be the type of stateroom/suite, especially for seniors. On first formal evening, which was second night on sea, brother in law was told by headwaiter (will not name him) he needed to wear a long sleeve. He is of Hawaiian descent and was wearing a "formal" Hawaiian shirt, short sleeve (how else in Hawaii?). Brother in law felt insulted and didn't join us and put a damper to our evening. The rest of us (in our table) had already entered the dining room and didn't know he wasn't joining us until my sister came in and told us; otherwise we wouldn't have gone in either. There was no mention of what type of "formal" it was to be on the Patter. It did on the second formal evening (on the Patter) that stated "for the enjoyment of others". Why would we or for anyone else in the dining room care for the enjoyment of others, we're there for our enjoyment.

Perhaps ship photos should not be charged so high. I noticed there were a lot of pictures left on the walls, and it may be because the price is high.

This was our first time on Koningsdam but the third time with HollandAmerica Cruise Line.  Food quality - as expected.  Food service - poor.  Some of the food-servers have an attitude that they do not like to serve you more food  when asked.  Most of them have no smile on their faces. Lido Market cleanliness - poor.  We observed how the tables and chairs/seats are being cleaned:  one little green towel is being used to clean more than 10 table tops; all the food residues are swept from the table tops to the chairs/seats; the same towel is used to clean more than 20+chairs and seats; the same towel is used again to clean the bottom of the tables.  There is a big white bucket underneath the dirty dishes counter but contains very little water; however, we are not seeing the little green towel is being washed in the bucket.  The floor is vacummed while the passages are still eating.  We are forced to lift our feet so that our eating area can be vacuumed.  The coffer/tea/water bars are always wet. Dining room service - good.  Stateroom - bathroom is a plus; our housekeepers are keeping our stateroom clead and orderly; they are friendly and cheerful. 

Having sailed on Princess several times now, I knew what to expect, or thought I did.  I was disappointed with the quality of the food in the main dining room and the buffet and the activities were on the skimpy side.

First the food.  There was very little opportunity for beef on the menus, mostly chicken and fish.  The only real option for dead cow was the Crown Steakhouse and it was truly wonderful with impeccable service.  Even breakfast was a disappointment, with no egg station in each of the buffet areas.  You had to hunt it down at the very back of the smokehouse place.  The beef option on the main dining room was a hamburger and fries most nights.  Most foods were of a foreign nature and others from the states had trouble finding something to eat each day, not just myself and my husband.  (Food gets a C-)

The activities did not really seem to take into account the weather of that part of Europe, outdoor movies being an example.  There was a lot of free time when there was not something planned by the cruise staff.  The additional sea day did not help that situation when we couldn't get to Paris.  The only comedian that was on board was a one show deal, should have been more. (Cruise Director staff gets a D)

Customer service by the rest of the staff was wonderful and those folks made efforts to make everyone comfortable and happy.  No complaints with the cabin steward except no towel animals.  Are they a  lost art?  Desk staff were helpful and kind and as efficient as they could be.  (Team gets an A)

We booked four tours through Princess and the visits to the locations needed to be longer as you felt that you were being rushed by tour guides to get you back to the ship on time.  The best tour was the one in Cork we booked with Paddy Wagon tours, not part of the ship offerings but he was amazing and still got us back on time relaxed.

We did see on the tours, more than just a few people returning late to the bus, very rude to those of us who followed the directions of our host.  Also,  no one has a reserved assigned seat on the bus, so stop acting like a first grader who can't sit next to their best bud for the next 20 minutes.  Two actual verbal altercations on the busses over seating assignments, very sad.

The production shows in the theatre were excellent. Our dinner waitresses were excellent. The beds were comfortable.

This is not a happy ship!! The management of the ship - starting with the Captain who we never saw in the entire trip - and the cruise management needs a serious shake-up or replacing.

The decision to abandon the visit to the port of Le Havre, due to a "planned strike" (which never happened) took no consideration whatsover to an alternative destination or the consequences to the passengers. Our travelleing friends took the decision to jump ship in order to continue their travel plans. 

In the note from the Captain stating this decision, there was no apology nor offer of compensation and the Captain could not even correctly spell the name of his own ship!

Managing the return of the passengers to the ship in Guernsey was a farce, leaving almost the entire passenger complement waiting on the quayside for a tender for about 1 hour 40 mins. No refreshments were provided - luckily it wasn't raining! A child could have organised this better.

It became clear that the immigration requirements of the ports was either not understood or not properly organised, necessitating a hurried demand for non-EU guests (which was most of them) to have their passports hurriedly copied. 

The vessel had only 110 Volt main sockets in the stateroom. I would have expected a modern vessel of this size to have 230 V European outlets as well.

Prosecco was only sold by the bottle which meant carrying the bottle around the ship from bar to bar and to and from the dining room. Not elegant!

We would not recommend this cruise to anyone unless and until there was clear evidence that the management of the ship and senior staff had significantly improved.

this is my first time cruising with Costa,the impression is not that great to compare with Norwegian Cruise( my frequent cruise liner ). It's hard to understand why they don't serve coffee or tea after dinner,and coffee is available only on certain hours.

English is not the major language on the ship, I guess they cater mostly to the EU people, food is not that great neither, but, as the old saying said,you are paying what you get,so, can't complain too much about it,because the price is really reasonable, I give it a 4 star, because I found it was a quite enjoyable trip.

The ship  at full capacity is really tough to navigate,  even though the amenities of a big ship are nice, you wait for everything. Also their customer service is corporate  polite and not really friendly.  Also they uncharge the heck out of you!  The buffet while not classy was  impeccable, clean and good food.  The rooms are a bit tired, rugs dingy bed spread drooping etc...

Just about every time I asked a question wether a food was gluten free I received a different answer for that food. Heard complains about eating from other gluten free travelers. Food had not cards letting us know what was in it.

Checked out teen club to make sure it was not just video game playing.

Was assured that this was not the case. My son went the first day and there was to be an activity, but he was told to play video games......wow. Went back to speak about this and was told no adults allowed..... They had a guy named Turtle (big drug user in tv show?) who talked to me like I was a joke. He had a big smile when I tried to speak to him at end of cruise about a few matters. Only took this company for my 13 year old son. Bad choice. Asked in beginning if my son could go to 12 and under club, he wanted to be active on the ship, they said no he had to go to teen club because he was now 13.

So me and my son kept busy playing all these games on board and got cards checked off, to find myself and my son going all around the ship, by the instructions of stafff who really had no idea where to collect my sons gift. Spend a couple hours been sent from one end of the ship to the other to get nothing but excuses. To top it off I met Turtle.......

If you are gluten free or don t want your kids playing Vedio games all cruise.

Look else where. Please pass this on to the cruise line.

I expected a very nice cruise line but was quickly disappointed, The best part of NCL is the majority of their employees, we met some wonderful people.

The food at the buffet was terrible, no flavor no variety, and every time you turned around the staff was saying you needed to pay more money, the ship was very crowded

I really did not like all the extra charges on the ship, even for decent coffee, nothing special, just a decent cup, the coffee they served to the masses was very low quality.

I wont use this cruise line again

There was not enough security to manage the teenagers at night

Some of the food was missing in the garden cafe such as smoked salmon, prunes an nuts. Had to continually ask for it. Shortage of lounge chairs on the deckNeed 

good price and went where we wanted to go.  all Holland America shore excursions were over priced and to much bus riding sight seeing.  should have more stops to take pictures, than trying to get a picture from a moving bus. not enough variety in night shows, not enough actives on sea days, food buffet was same items day after day for all three meals for short cruises would be ok but not when on 44 days 

These ports were fabulous and exceeded our expectations!  Besides the warnings we had for pick-pocketing in Lisbon, we still felt safe wherever we went.  Punta Delgada, Azores had a wonderful walking area along the marina, and it and Lisbon, Portugal had wonderful architecture and cobblestone streets to explore.  In Bilbao, Spain we did a lot of walking to see museums and the old part of the city with Basque history.  From Le Havre, France, we went on the ship's Normandy excursion, in which we saw a lot of territory in 1 day...the beaches and American Cemetery were so moving and the provided lunch at a B&B was delicious!

I have traveled many times on Princess and this is not the level of service I have come to expect from them.  There did not seem to be enough staff to cover all the passengers even though they tried very hard.  The service in the dining room was extremely slow.  They seated my husband and I at a table with 7 other people - it was only designed for 8 people and with 9 it was very crowded.  The waiter often would wait for everyone to arrive - and they were always late.  Even after we asked him to take our orders without waiting we usually ended up finishing up dinner at the same time as the whole table - which meant that there were long periods of time we were just sitting at the table waiting while the others ate.  It also meant that we missed activities we wanted to attend.

Nice way to travel to Europe. Food was good, entertainment and programs were lacking.  Very limited time in Paris with long bus ride each way.  Difficult to get tables for two in the dining rooms.

Slept great - ports were interesting but not bucket list kind ports.  Enjoyed specialty restarants - visited them on five nights.  Casino is small - just one roulette table.  Really liked the Beatles tribute band show.

The ship was very nice . We were very disappointed with the weather. We will have to check out the weather temperature more carefully next time . It was cold and hardly saw the sun. We like to travel to sunny destinations.

The Captain and Crew made us feel very safe on our cruise. Our cabin steward was excellent as was the food.

Both my wife and I have physical limitations secific to walking. We go by the ratings given on how much activity is required for a tour. Based on this information we booked tours before we departed.  Unfortunately, it appears that there was a bias for underrating the required physical effort required for tours. Whatever system that is being used needs to be reviewed and revised because it is not meeting our needs. I would guess other handicapped persons had a similar experience.

Each tour presents its own challenges that are not being captured with the current rating system. While using drawn figures to represent difficulty seems to be the industry standard, we were left physically exhausted and not pleased with what was presented.

As I see it, you have two choices: (1) Ignore this and begin to see that elderly cruisers are not taking tours or, (2) Research this matter to find out how to apply this critique so as to improve services. One way you can offer an additional services is to offer 'tours' to port inter-net cafes. As it stands,ship based satellite services are slow and unreliable. Investigating available facilities that are not on the dock would provide additional services. A bus load of passengers could quickly overload one facility so finding out the maximum available spaces would be necessary.  Multiple sites or reduced numbers of passengers on this tour would be a good start. Items such as meals, snacks and/or entertainment may be also available. Here is a time to be creative - don't disappointment us.

Favorite part: itinerary Canary and Madeira Islands.

It could be improve by getting rid of the guide, Larvi, in Casablanca who brought us to a store and they ripped me off!

I would recommend this cruise to anyone who has not been to these places.

Enjoyed the trivia games, bingo and great food. The service was impeccable. The stops were great, but I was disappointed that we didn't land in Madeira due to high waves preventing the tender from landing, but the fireworks were fantastic. Originally, this was supposed to be a docking port, but it changed before the cruise. Really good lecturers on the royal family and Cunard history.