Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Fabulous new ship with plenty for everyone to do.My 12year old son had the time of his life in the kids club.He has talked about it every day since we have returned.The staff were so friendly and helpful in all aspects.The gem is like a floating city in size. I would highly recomend it for couples and families alike.

The ship is very confusing and the directions are even worse. The directions tell you the floor the restaurants are located but not the part of the ship (AFT, Foward, Midship). The concept of freestyle cruising is good but NCL has missed the mark. Restaurants are always filled and close very early so when you get back from an excursion there is no real place to eat.

The ship is just beautiful, everything is new of course. Service overall on the ship is not that great, other than at Garden Cafe. Much of the staff was not too knowledgable about locations of things on the ship. Shows were great, not too many things to do during the day if you didn't leave ship on ports of call. TV had nothing to watch for the children, (when you're in the room). Everything has an upcharge. Freestyle cruising is just another way to get more money out of you, I'll take the structured cruises.

We don't cruise for the food. So we were surprised that we did not even like the food. We never met our room steward and the crew was busy talking among themselves so there were few smiles or hellos for passengers. The buffet area was like a zoo and grill out by the pools never had fresh food. They would get down to 1 burger no buns and would have nothing going to replenish the grill. This was at lunchtime. Just was not organized. Sometimes the breakfast buffet would be open at 6:00am sometimes 6:30 didn't matter what day but you could not figure out their schedules. We has reservations at Cagney's Steakhouse at 5:30 and they weren't ready until close to 6:00 . Ship was new and seemed clean.

The ship is beautiful but lacks a lot of luster. Our first 36 hours was appalling. We have cruised on Royal Caribbean several times before and should have stayed with them! The staff aboard the Gem is rude and unattentive. They will not so a thing for you unless there is a major problem and then they start to kiss your feet. There is a limit to the term 'freestyle cruising' . There are little to no planned activities during sailing times and you have to pay for every little item aboard ship other than one or two restaurants. And speaking of restaurants...the food is great in Magentas and the buffet but go outside of that and it is lackluster cafeteria food. If it's between the two stick with another cruiseline and let the Gem work out all of its 'kinks'

the best of the best

We had a great time. We loved using the spa. The only thing I was surprised about was that you had to pay for a lot of things that you normally never had to pay for.

We love the "Free style cruising" concept and had a great experience on the Gem. The itineraries, food, and tours were the best we have ever had on NCL and the employees were all pleasant and accomadating.

The ship was beautiful and our room was the best. I especially liked the bath tub and the bed was very comfortable.

Very well engineered ship, stable in rough seas,and incredibly quiet from engine noise and anchor chains. Beyond the superficial glitz found on all cruise ships, this German built ship (Meyer Werfs Papenburg) functions so well in every detail. Very impressive compared to the French and Italian built cruise ships (Alsthom and Cantineiri).

The ship is beautiful. The crew was polite and courteous, However, I didn't find anything that really stood out that made the cruise extraordinary. In fact, I would have rather have stayed on land at a hotel.

The staff was great. Everyone was very friendly and attentive. There was a good show every night and the view from our balcony as we pulled into each port was amazing. They had both and adult and kids pool and hot tubs.

Our planned cruise was totally disrupted by the unfair decision that was made by the ship authority

Freestyle cruising is a great option for people who want a flexible schedule and to operate on their own. But beware of the "free" in freestyle. We just sailed on the Norwegian Gem and racked up a significant tab in ancillary charges. We started in the main dining room which has no additional cover charges. We found the menu to be sparse, the food bland, and the service slow. As a result we decided to book reservations in one of 6 specialty dining rooms, but the cover charges alone added $150 to our daily tab. We believe that Norwegian cruise lines intentionally downgrades their main no charge services so passengers will be motivated to use the for charge restaurants. Watch those movies in your room as well. Where most cruise lines have one or two movies for free, the Gem charges $11.95 for any movie you might watch.

We sailed on the ship Voyager of the Seas and were treated like royalty!!! The ship was awesome!The Promenade area felt like we were in a fancy mall!!! The service was the best I have ever had, and this was our 4th cruise. I have to say, I will be sailing ONLY Royal Carribean cruise lines in the futher... It could not have been a better vacation!!! For those of you with kids, My 3 yr. old son Colin loved kids club so much, we had to make him spend time with us!!! Royal Carribean... we'll be back!!!!! the Benbows

We had an excellent time on our Mediterranean honeymoon aboard the Voyager of the Seas. Service, food, and staterooms were excellent as usual from Royal Caribbean. The trip was packed with a full itinerary of interesting ports, entertainment, activities, and tasty food. The cruise was not without its minor criticisms however, which will be discussed in the detail discussion below. However, overall we felt that the price was right and we felt we got tremendous value out of our cruise vacation.

The Voyager of the Sea's is a very nice ship. Being almost 10 years old, she shows some signs of being ready for a bit of a face lift, but it doesn't detract from the bit. The staff is top notch, they are clean, kind, attentive, and always smiling. The food was on par with the typical cusine I've had on other cruiselines, with the exception of their Portifino restaurant, which was top notch. For the $20/person you'd be a fool to pass this up. The bars are all very nice and with the promenade layout having most of them centered on the 4th and 5th deck is a major plus. The entertainers in the bars are good, and the on board entertainment was OK.

The ship is beautiful and very well maintained. The staff are all very courteous and always willing to help. From the check in process to disembarkation everything went very smoothly. The champagne welcome was great getting on the ship, it really set the mood. The stateroom was very well maintained and it was adequate for three adults. There is plenty of storage space and the bathroom is a decent size (better than other cruise lines). We embarked around 12:30pm and were basically able to go to our cabin by 1:00pm. The cabin staff especially Roy on 8 aft was great. He went out of his way to accommodate our needs. The amenities were good such as the fitness center, pools, hot tubs, sports area, but sometimes seemed overcrowded. We made good use of the game room in our down time and there were plenty of different board games and cards to keep us occupied. The food for me was very average The Garden caf had great variety, but was always crowded and VERY hard to find seating. There are no trays on the ship, but if you need help carrying food to your table, the staff are more than willing to do so. The Magenta served the same food as the Grand Dining room. So if you dont want to get dressed up, but want whats on the menu go to the Magenta. The average wait time to be seated was no more than 15 minutes, but we were late eaters. We liked to eat after 7.30pm. I felt like there was sufficient variety of free food not to pay for any of the specialty restaurants. The excursions can be expensive, but are a very safe way to sightsee. Do your research before you go, and if you are going to take the ship excursions, book them online before you go as they get more expensive by the day while on board. For example an excursion went from $59 on the Wednesday to $72 on Friday for a Saturday excursion. We took the Rome on your own tour and got around Rome by Subway for 4 euros. We started at the Vatican and worked our way back to the Coliseum. You can not see everything! So pick what you really want to see. Four shipmates got lost and the tour bus did wait for them, otherwise they would have missed the ship. We were mislead by one of the excursion staff about Naples, and Villa Franche Sur Mer. He had just joined the cruise on the Sunday. Be careful of the gypsies, pickpockets, and street vendors! They are everywhere tourists are in Italy. The tour guides are very good about pointing them out. An older couple was robbed in Rome. Their passports were taken. Just be sensible and be aware of your surroundings. Please note when the Captain states they will be pulling up anchor at XX time, he does!!!! The ship does not wait for anyone unless a ship tour is delayed!

not really seaworthy when it leftport

We sailed on the Costa-Concordia the week of 4/18/08. Distination ports were truly amazing the excursions were good for the most part...would not do the Palermo local one. The ship is too large and tried to service too many passengers with too little crew. Customer service agents were not very helpful and at one point, rude. The food was average at best and did not offer much of variety. The passengers were mostly European and were pushy, rude and did not follow any of the guidelines, like getting in line at the end but would walk directly in front of you and ignore the fact that you were trying to get your lunch too. Children ran around the ship constantly and were frequently on the dance floors in the evening so adult passengers were intimidated from dancing for fear of knocking them over or getting run over by them. Our room 8304 was directly below the 9th floor recreational area, (swimming pool, dining area) and chairs were constantly dragged over the floor keeping you awake at night or awakening you in the morning. The noise overall on the ship was extremely loud. The hottubs could not be used because the water was too cold or there were kids jumping in and out of them. The smoking in the lounges and in the common areas was overwhelming. We took the cruise for the ports and because it was one of the only ships sailing at that time of the year (prior to May) in that part of Europe. Not too many surprises because most other reviews were like this one but the rudness of the guests, the amount of children and inability to use the general areas like the hottubs were disappointing.