Europe - Western Europe Cruise Reviews

We sailed on Uniworld's River Baroness from Paris to Normandy. The ship was well appointed with nice monogrammed linens. The public areas (lounge and dining room) seemed like an intimate club. We had a full house with 121 guests and this seemed like the biggest difference between this cruise and others we have been on. There were no long lines for anything. Big ships always seem like a cattle call when its time to get on or off the ship and during meal times. Not on Uniworld! I'm not sure if we will ever be happy on a big ship again after this wonderful experience! The crew spoke English very well so there was never a time when we had a language problem. The ship was very clean and the staff took pride in their work. Every meal was wonderful. The evening dinners looked as good as they tasted. The presentation of the meals was incredible; just beautiful.

very good.

Ship was OK

Overall the ship was what I expected and hoped for. I tried not to compare this ship with other trips that I have taken.

This was my first cruise, and what a ship to start on. And the stateroom was very very god even it was a oceanview

The ship was very nice, but the customer service level on this cruise wasn't up to the normal standard. The cruise director staff in charge of the activities weren't as outgoing and active as previous cruises. The cruise director was good, but several of his staff didn't seem to enjoy their job and appeared uneasy in front of a crowd. A spa employee was very pushy in trying to sell some products. When I told her I wasn't interested she replied "I'm not going to discuss it with you anymore. I am very disappointed."(this was said with an attitide). This is my fifth cruise with Royal Caribbean, and I was the one who was disappointed. When I mentioned my concerns to Guest Relations they informed me that several of the staff did not have the opportunity to be trained, as they boarded the ship in Southampton and went directly to work. Still, I don't feel that is an excuse for below average customer service. On a positive note, the food was good and most of the ports of call were interesting. The only port I wouldn't recommend is Vigo, Spain. There's not much to do...just another city. The Solarium is great for relaxing, and the midnight buffet was excellent.

Some kinks need working out since refurbishing. Staff was excellent and efficient, except security personnel, who were rude and incompetent, and ill trained. Guests were treated like criminals, putting a definite damper on shore experience upon return. Guests were told to delete pictures of leaving the ship because it was a "security area." One passenger was publicly strip-searched in line. This was after security checks on shore by shore authorities. American's weren't as outraged as the Europeans.

A nice ship but the decor seems too colorful. Too many restaurants which requires service charges and the service in the main dining areas are not that great.

The ship was well kept and clean mostly but the crew was not helpful and had an attitude..Service was poor until I complained and the air was kept so high that it felt like a sauna most of the time in and out of the cabin. Service in the dining room wasn't the best, until I complained and had the entire table moved. After the complaint, the servers were great and the crewmember that did the exercise class was terrific..Other than that. pick another ship

This was the most luxurious cruise ship we've been on with lovely entertainment every night. The ports were exciting but if we choose to stay in there was something to look forward to on the ship with organized entertainment for all. The casual dining is the only way to travel. We enjoyed it so much more than having a set schedule all day.

Well layed out.. easy to find specific locations.. elevators were very timely, the hot tubs could have been hotter. They were at 98 degrees F.. that is prettey cool.. should be at leat at 102 F.

We recently sailed on NCL Dream for the second time, and all I can say "I would not do it again". We knew the ship had been refurbished and stretched to make it larger, but we had no idea what to expect. The Freestyle dining had long lines and this is not my idea on a vacation. The Sport Grill restaurant was dirty and I even found mold on my bread. We have been on 28 cruises and never seen poor quiality food and poor entertainment. The drinks were expensive where they over charged for primium liquor. $11 to $12.00 a drink.

Room very noisy, and food was not satisfactory.

We have cruised Holland America before, it has been our favorite cruise line. While the food was excellent , the overall cleanliness of the ship and our room was not up to Holland's usual standards. The automatic tipping seemed to affect the crews attitute. While some of the crew were great, others were not so nice. It's not the money we always tip more than was taken out. You really notice the difference with the breakfast and lunch personel since they don't have any particular connection with you and some were downright rude. On the other hand the bar staff was exceptionally nice. We noticed a number of places where the carpets weren't clean, the outside deck chairs needed cleaning. Also some scheduled events didn't come off on time or didn't come off at all. I wouldn't complain as much if we weren't used to much better from Holland. Our room toilet backed up several times each day for the last 8-9 days of the trip mentioned it a couple of times to our stewardand the front desk but nothing happened. Wasn't overly impressed with the side trips, one that concerned me was our trip to Rome. On the way back I was sitting where I could observe our driver and while I wasn't real happy about his continual talking on his cell phone I was really concerned when he was dialing his cell phone and steering the bus with his elbows and knees.

We were very well cared for. We were a little disappointed that we didn't recieve more information about the ports we sailed into ie... how much to expect to pay for a taxi, public transportation, where to catch it.

The ship had a incredible renovation that could have taken a few weeks longer to totally be ready to receive paying guest.

A Return to Our Viking First Love Having disembarked the Viking Neptune just a few weeks ago, we were interested to see how our first love - the Viking Venus would compare. We love the Venus because of the special memories we have as it was the first ship we embarked upon after Covid. Coincidentally, both the Neptune and the Venus were new when we first sailed upon them. The itinerary for this short 7 night cruise was Barcelona-Cartagena-Malaga-at sea - Vigo- at sea- Portsmouth- Tilbury. The embarkation process was amongst the best we have ever had, from kerbside to boarding the ship took only a matter of minutes, disembarkation worked really well too. One of the things we love about Viking is that all of the ships are the same, so it’s easy to find your way around. What we love most about Viking, is they are cruise ships in every sense of the word, unlike some of the larger ships which we describe as floating hotel resorts, Viking ships provide the perfect opportunity to experience the true essence of cruising. From the Explorer’s Lounge on the bow, to the outside area on deck two at the stern - these ships provide plenty of uncrowded outside areas. I have to say, Viking Ships are easily our favourite shops amongst the cruiselines we have sailed upon, but then, we love smaller ships, but understand many people enjoy the larger ships. On the Neptune we had a Penthouse Junior Suite, this time on the Venus we had a penthouse Veranda, and to be honest, there wasn’t that much difference - we will probably stick with the Penthouse Veranda in the future although it means less reservations for the two speciality restaurants - The Chef’s Table and Manfredi’s. The other difference being you have to pay for your laundry, but you still get your free alcohol in your stateroom. The cabins are a classic Nordic design with plenty of storage space, though a little cluttered. We love the heated floor in the bathroom. Both the main restaurant and the world cafe buffet are spacious and never seemed crowded, though oddly we never had to queue for the main restaurant on the Neptune but had to on a few occasions on the Venus. There is also a pool bar and grill and Mamsens in the Explorers Lounge for additional dining opportunities. We were disappointed by the food - not the quality, but the lack of variety and repetition. The Lounge areas are mainly open and spacious, but we find Torshavn - one of the main entertainment venues a little cluttered and too dark for our taste. Entertainment on board consists of enrichment lectures, a guitar/vocalist, a classical duo, a pianist and of course a number of shows in the main theatre, all of which are of a standard you would expect from a premium cruise line. In over 60 cruises Paulo the guitarist/vocalist is one of the best we have ever seen - be sure to catch his late shows too. Elmer the cruise director was also top class - and their joint sing-a-longs were great fun. There is a clean,spacious and modern well-equipped gym, with additional space for floor exercising and stretching etc. I’ll say what I always say - we feel the Spa is expensive and it’s not a facility we would use. The main pool and hot tub are under a retractable roof, so you can swim whatever the weather. There is an additional hot tub and small infinity pool on the Aquavit Terrace on Deck 7. Once again we met some nice people on this cruise which always enhances your cruise experience. We had the impression that many of the staff were new and still getting used to their roles. Needless to say, we have the upmost respect for their dedication and hard work. One of the other things we really love about Viking is their brilliant internet which is so reliable and best of all, free. IN SUMMARY We have a theory that the best staff are always deployed on the new ships, which as previously stated, this ship was when we first embarked on her after Covid, and the Neptune hadn’t even been christened when we sailed on her before Christmas. I mention this because the service was exceptional on both of those occasions - sad to say we could not say the same about this cruise. Now before I end this review, there is something I want to address, which, having received feedback from a number of cruise related Facebook groups and other social media, it is abundantly clear that many people were not aware of the importance of ensuring your passport is stamped when leaving the EU/Schengan country, assuming it was stamped upon entry, as ours was when we flew into Barcelona. Two days into this cruise, we went to Guest Relations to ask what the arrangements were to ensure we had proof of our departure from spain ie a passport stamp. Non EU/Schengan citizens are only allowed to spend up to 90 days in any 180 in the member countries, They looked at us like we were crazy and it took several days before we were able to speak to a Senior Officer who finally made the arrangements to ensure that non-EU/Schengan citizens could have their passports stamped before leaving our final Spanish port. Do not assume that the cruise line will automatically take care of this. We are in no doubt that these arrangements would not have been put in place if we had not persistently raised the issue, as was confirmed to us by the lovely General Manager ( thanks to him for his persistence too) and it’s not just a Brit thing. When we raised this across several Facebook sites a helpful American friend who had previously worked in this field for the state department told us that lots of US citizens had encountered problems because they hadn’t realised. Since we raised this we have heard lots of horror stories about problems people have had when trying to re-enter an EU/Schengan country, you can be liable for a heavy fine or even denied entry. So please, to prevent any unnecessary problems, make sure your passports are stamped.

We had a very relaxing cruise, ate well and enjoyed seeing new places. Unfortunately we had two days/nights of pretty rough seas and could not stop in Portsmouth on our last day. Everything was done well and I would do this cruise again.

Very good cruise just as good as last year Christmas cruise on Iona.

Done two Christmas cruises on Iona both have been amazing