Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

i love the epic my favourite was the cavern nights. The soul sensation group. But the entertainment in bars was poor . Also the aircon at night made it cold and uncomfortable. 

Ship is immaculate staff friendly food fab

yes I would go on this ship again. 

Tivemos uma boa experiencia no MSC Meraviglia, o unico contra, foi o tempo de espera para entrar nos Restaurantes, caso fossemos jantar a partir das 20h. 

No unico dia que fomos mais cedo, por volta das 19h30, não apanhamos fila para entrar no Restaurante, mas o serviço foi extremamente demorado, estivemos cerca de 2horas no restaurante para jantar.

De resto tudo muito bem organizado e limpo. Staff muito atencioso.

Oceania is a healthy ship and it is meticulous. Their customer care and service, both before and during the cruise is unrivaled. The intensive port itinerary was exactly what we wanted. I will never forget this particular cruise. 

Very nice ship and excellent ports of call. Crew still uncertain as to their roles and processes and thay need to better organize crowds at embarkation, disembarkation at ports and on board ship. On line MSC site was very unfriendly and difficult to manage. Also MSC kept having me go to my on line cruise site to pre-book drinks packages, etc. I've never had to do this with any other cruise line. Very time consuming

The yatch club was heavenly...the new vessel was magnificent and a memorable experience of a lifetime...the children were immersed in the activities full on...the F1 simulator and the LED some were mesmerising...would love to have a tennis court added...also some art exhibitions...the Spa was heavenly...its a must do....

This was our first cruise on Norwegian after four previous cruises on other cruise lines. We were extremely pleased with all aspects of the cruise, with a few minor exceptions as noted below. 

Our inside stateroom was small but just right for us-  sufficient closet space and drawers.  The bathroom and shower were  sparkling clean and the service we received was outstanding.  It was very helpful to have printed materials left on our bed every evening describing details of the next day's events.

There were so many things we loved- here is a sampling:

The food in the Raffles buffet was really fantastic- with a good variety of delicious meat and fish items, seafood, a big salad bar, crepes made to order, lots of fruit and desserts. Breakfast included made to order eggs, loved the muesli- a lot of variety.  We were less impressed with the food in the complimentary restaurants, mostly because ordering from the menu lacked the variety that was available in the buffet, and partly because the food was just not quite as tasty. Nevertheless the special feeling of being served a several course meal by dedicated serving professionals made a few restaurant meals a must for us.

My husband and I love ballroom dancing, and much to our surprise we found ourselves dancing to live music every evening in the Galaxy lounge- often around sunset.  What a treat, and very romantic.

We attended the shows which were put on twice every evening.  The violinist, Bernadette, was my favorite performer- she was just amazing, and the music was awesome!  We also loved the stage performances by the magicians, the acrobats, and particularly the cruise players.  On a couple of occasions the sound system was set way too loud to really enjoy the performances. That was a bit disappointing. But all in all, the entertainment was very enjoyable.

This cruise had stops at different ports every single day- we were a bit worried that it would be too much, too tiring.  But actually we really loved the daily routine we fell into where we got to explore new vistas and cities, and then return to the ship for dinner and dancing and onboard entertainment.

We went on a full day excursion from Livorno to Florence, where we saw Michaelangelo's David and had a walking tour of the many other highlights of this amazing city.  The tour guide was excellent, and provided sufficient shady spots and bathroom breaks to make the tour a pleasure.  Norwegian Cruise Line staff were really good at organizing and informing everyone about what to expect.

Cannes was one of my favorite spots.  There was a bit of a wait to take the tender (small boat) into town, but after walking a block or so we came to the most amazing shopping area with dozens of clothing stores, shoe shops, pastry shops, etc.  I bought shoes there within the first few minutes of arriving!  

We took a tour train to the Notre Dame Basilica in Marseilles, and got on a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus in Barcelona and Malta.  We paid for these after we got into the cities.  We found this a good way to get a perspective on these places that you can't get from just walking.

Palma, Mallorca was really beautiful- we found ourselves in some lovely quiet narrow back lanes (the restaurants and pubs were still closed), which we followed for blocks before we found our way back out to the main streets.  Very enchanting.

In some of the ports, there was a charge (up to 15 Euros each) to take the shuttle bus into town- it helped us to know about this from prior reviews, because the Cruise Line didn't really tell us about these charges until the day they happened.  It really was worth it to use this service, so go prepared to pay a little extra.

We took the "Pompeii on your Own" excursion, which was essentially a short (guided) bus ride to and from the site- it seemed a bit expensive ($38 each), especially since we also had to pay $13 each to get in to see the Pompeii ruins (another fact we found out at the last minute- not sure why the excursion description did not inform us of this).  Fees can be paid with credit cards, so that helped.  We were awe-struck with the Pompeii experience, well worth every penny!  Going early in the morning allowed us to avoid the afternoon heat, (there is shade from the buildings almost everywhere, but take water- it is hot!) We were back on the ship in time for lunch!

At the end of the cruise we were dreading the prospect of hauling our luggage on the shuttle, the bus, the train, the bus or taxi, and then the hotel shuttle - and we wanted to spend our last day in Rome seeing the sights! We had booked a room at the Hilton Airport Hotel- (expensive, but convenient).  We decided to invest in a "transfer tour" which took us (and our luggage) from the Cruise Ship's landing spot in Civitavecchia into Rome- to see the Colliseum and the Vatican, and then drop us (and our luggage) off at our hotel!  This was expensive, but we have no regrets at all.  It was such a relief to not have to juggle our luggage on the last day.

All in all, we were extremely satisfied with this vacation, and we can't wait to cruise on Norwegian again.

We have sailed on Azamara three times... we obviously like it! We have never had any thing less than an excellent vacation on this cruise line. Starting with the Captain - He was always friendly and willing to stop and take a photo. He has a great sense of humor. We ran into the doctor in the library one night; he was a pleasure to speak with also. The wait staff, the bartenders, and the room stewards were always professional and appeared to remember each of us. It is so nice to be on a ship of this size even though it means you have a smaller pool and less entertainment choices. Having sailed on other larger cruise ships in the past I will always come back to the smaller midsized ships. No bands of rowdy teenagers running the halls and not a lot of small children taking over the pool. I love kids but I'm at an age where I like a little peace and quiet when I come back from shore excursions.

The food is very good but it is excellent in the specialty restaurants. The upcharge is minimal and well worth it. While at the Chef's Table dinner I had the best dessert in the whole world! It was like absorbing a lemon cloud! (I believe they called it a Limencello Souffle.)

We had a special send off because the sister ship Quest was in Barcelona at the same time. They left port together and there was a joint departure party on the decks of both ships. A fun way to start the trip!

The ports of call were fabulous. I must confess that we never book shore excursions through the cruise line because of the size of those groups. We prefer smaller groups catered to our specific desires. We were able to find wonderful private tours at all our stops. 

All in all, this was a wonderful trip. Cudos to Azamara! They do vacation right!

The WesternMed itinerary has some great destinations, especially from Naples and Livorno. The stop in Cannes was marred by bad tendering. Palma was only half a day which seemed too short to explore the better parts of the Mallorca island.

My favorite part of the cruise was seeing so many amazing places! Our cruise departed from Barcelona, Spain and went to Marseille, France; Villefranche/Nice/Monte Carlo, France; Laspezia/Cinque Terre/Vernazza, Italy; Rome, Italy; Naples, Italy; Sorrento, Italy; then, back to Barcelona for another day and night. We had incredibly beautiful weather EVERY day! 

Would highly recommend. Excellent ports, kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Done a private tour of Rome with limousinrome.com picked up at the ship by Roberto, well worth doing.

A truly pleasurable experience, 14 days of unhurried bliss, even the trip to Rome was exceptional. The Labrynth night club always had an excellent atmosphere, food available all the time, the entertainment was superb including "Grease" the Musical" The Mr & Mrs show, even the progressive quiz...

The best part of are cruise was the food and drinks but what made the holiday was the waiters​ plus bar staff trips were a bit pricey but good.Not so good was the internet price worked out about £15 a day come on you pay enough for the cruise that should be included and also getting​ ripped off by top dollar Tom on the bingo got nearly 1600 dollars in and only payed out 300 when I asked him about it he couldn't give me a proper answer and said the royal Caribbean have it to me that's scandulas no profit should be made plus the ship could modernizing it's a shame for them things it would have been a brilliant holiday weather  I go with royal Caribbean is another thing.

The weather is excellent for the last two weeks. In general, the cruise trip is really good - with friends and family. The cabin is clean and tidy. The cabin helper is helpful. The food is OK, need more variety ... 

This was our 10th cruise with Celebrity Cruise Lines.  As always, the crew and staff were attentive to our every request.  There were no interruptions to the voyage.  All our plans went without a hitch.  We purchased 6 specialty dinners (there were three of us traveling on this trip).  Each of the dinners were excellent.  Muarno was the best with respect to food and atmosphere and if we were required to choose the best staff, we would pick the staff at the Tuscan Grille.  The ports of call were good but would not necessarily return to Cartagena, Spain. 

On the other hand, the experience with was horrible.  The staff was unhelpful and gave us misinformation. For example, there were three of us traveling and one half of our travel insurance was cancelled.  While mistakes happen, they did not refund our payment.  They also cancelled our trip, then reinstated it but changed our staterooms.  We were traveling with a minor (we booked two rooms).  We asked for adjoining staterooms and were told that they had accommodated our needs.   The rooms connected by means of going out onto the balcony and climbing over the struts that supported the deck above -- this situation was never corrected.  Celebrity tried to help but could not given the lateness of our request.  In fact, to rectify other aspects of our booking, my wife and I had to spend 2 hours on the phone with a total of three people.  Advice -- keep ALL correspondence, it was our saving grace.  I would not recommend booking through

So, Celebrity gets 5 stars -- , none.  I will not downgrade Celebrity due to the Cruise.com's experience.

Great cruise, fun ports. Wish we had longer in Le Spezia and skipped Gibralter but it didn't lessen our experience. Clean and well kept ship, friendly crew and staff. Food is good. Internet and drinks are expensive. You are able to be as secluded or not as you want.

This was the first time for my husband and I to go on a cruise and it was absolutely amazing! You would never have known that there were 3000 people onboard. We never had a problem with getting drinks at the bars and they never seemed too crowded. I had read reviews that people said it took forever to get a drink. We never experienced that. We had an 11 day cruise and it was very smooth and all of the ports we stopped at were wonderful. There was always food in the cafeteria which was a plus and we thought it was great as well as the dinners. The staff were always pleasant and helpful!! I can't wait to get on the next cruise with Celebrity!!

The different ports were what made this such a wonderful trip. While it does keep you busy and you get lots of walking in, the sights are worth it out. Each one had something to offer that made it special. Surprisingly Gilbrator was probably my favorite based on just the history of it's location and importance based on location. Plus the monkeys made it very interesting visit.

First time cruising with Celebrity Cruise and I totally enjoyed everything from the ship, food, ports of call and especially the other guest on the cruise .  The entire experience was terrific and I can't wait to cruise with Celebrity again.  This cruise is for the Refined cruiser.  AWESOME!

EMBARKATION- is too confusing and crowded compare to MSC orchestra where balcony with spa category people get priority status and embarkation is pretty smooth . But it took not more than 30 min to get on board even in EPIC .you Better have food once on board and go to pool area and thermal area by the time your rooms are ready so keep your swimming clothes in your hand luggages 

DISEMBARKING- very smooth , they provide your passports ( for non European guest ) one day in advance 

Food - Indian food available for Indian travellers 

At garden cafe , manhattan and taste . Other Asians food are also appreciated by the fellow travellers 

Hygiene - the cruise line promote hand sanitisation at all the places specially at the  dining area . 

Excursions - I appreciate how They Welcome the guest coming from the excursion by providing drink , wet towel etc not so in MSC ORCHESTRA 

Pool - non salty water , more jacuzzi , sun beds 

Water slides - added advantage compare to the previous cruise with MSC orchestra where salty sea water in the pool is a big problem for Many

Rooms - big balcony , good room service but the concept of basin inside the room is funny and impractical. 

Shows -burn the floor , cirque ( paid show  ) , graffiti classics are good but most other shows are average compare to much more grand and Proffessional shows at MSC ORCHESTRA that too when possibly none of their shows are paid . 

Shopping area - average , staff reluctant in selling things compare to MSC ORCHESTRA where people found themselves interacting with the sales persons more often 

Entertainment crew - less energetic and interactive compare to msc orchestra where you literally develop a bonding with them by the end of your seven days stay on board 

Moreover there is very few pool side activity like dance classes and games etc again it's there at msc orchestra whole day long . 

Thermal area - a big plus for EPIC as it is really big and one unisex zone with a big pool ,jacuzzi , steam , sauna and sun beds . Gym is too big compare to msc orchestra  with a place for yoga and private training . 

Casino - a big enough and is always filled with players and a delight for many 

Deck 5 atrium - is a happening place for all the activities and it's the centre place for all the activities 

Internet - we keep our cruise vacation as 'phone free ' this we do not take internet package but at NCL  you can download 

NORWEGIAN i concierge app . This will help you receive all internet messages from your bank , can send and receive i message ( if you have i phones amongst you ) and facebook messages on board . It's good to checkout the location of other person in the group . Besides it tells you your balance , all activities , can book your shows etc . But it should be downloaded before hand so better do it now if going on Epic . 

Bon voyage !!

The experience on this fascinating ship is at highest level! The best part were the animators who were making the greatest show ever and were the spirit of the party, and the theater where the dancers never stopped amazing us.

I would recommend improvements when it comes to the restaurant Gatopardo. The serving is waaaaayyyyy toooooo slow!!!!!!!!!