Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Who can complain about the selection of ports visited on this cruise?? Fabulous! We did shore excursions via NCL at each port and, while most of what we did involved a lot of walking around in tour groups with an earphone, it was an efficient way to see quite a bit of what each stop had to offer (most stops seemed to offer DIY types of experiences as well).

At the end of each day, we arrived back at our Haven suite (Deck 14) to a pleasant little pre-dinner nibble along with the cocktail that we had picked up at one of the very accessible bars on board.

One disappointment with the ship is that we couldn't find a deck that completed a circle around the ship for walking and enjoying the ocean views and clear breezes.  Even the jogging track is an odd construct of a less than half deck loop on one of the lower diesel smelling levels.

Beware of the internet service. I only could get service on my own device after 1:00am even though I was on the unlimited program.....at all other times I just got spinning and spinning and spinning circles. Other folks I talked to in the internet café were there to complain about the same kind of experience. 

Dining was fine - we tried the Manhattan dining room once and it was as expected for this kind of venue.  All of the specialty dining settings and menu selections were varied.  Hard to say which one was better. La Cucina was our least favorite, due to the odd location, bouncy feeling due to the being near the front of the ship and lackluster service. Cagneys and Tepanyaki were probably our favorites - try the unfiltered sake at Tepanyaki if you like sake - most interesting.

Shows were good - Saw the Cirque show - had great seats on the floor - a bit hard to eat and watch at the same time. From what we saw it looked like the booth tables at the back might have some limitations in the view - try to get a table on the floor so you can see it all

The Queen of the Desert show is quite long so be prepared.

Performers for all shows were athletically talented (amazing agility, endurance  and professional appearance - you really have to say kudos to folks dancing on and on or bending in the most flexible of ways as you sit and eat and drink and drink and eat).

Our favorite entertainers by far were the Dueling Piano guys and the nightly pianist at the Shakers Bar.

Soccer and rugby matches on the huge screen in the main atrium were also quite fun.

Bottom line - a great itinerary makes sailing  on a so-so ship a wonderful vacation.

We spent extra days in Barcelona and Rome which worked out great.  The ship was a nice size with nothing ever too crowded or overbooked.  I have had better food and service in the main dining room on other ships.  This one was medium with relatively slow and inattentive service, in spite of us being seated at an undesirable table right by the serving station.

Very Disappointing! The change of itinerary changed the trip to not what I wanted to do and the compensation was not adequate. Not getting Latitudes credit of benefits was puzzling. The overall experience was disappointing.  The cabin did not meet expectation because of the balcony impairment. Service from our Cabin attendant was the high point of the cruise. The food was cold when served as a rule. Lines and waiting for everything is not a vacation. The shore excursion was OK but lacked value. The staffing, organization, and systems did not seem adequate for the number of passengers.  The rude and not helpful interaction with half the staff offset the other half's great service. The whole thing was not what I expected from Norwegian. It was a great disappointment which was matched with an indifferent response on every level. Hard to understand the marketing for return business.

This was our first cruise & we were hooked. We love everything about Holland America.

Ship looked great after dry dock, food was pretty good, but spent most of my vacation fighting for a refund that I was told would be on my account the first day of sailing. Even though I had an email from ncl guest relations with amount and when I would receive it. Too many problems with ncl to ever think of cruising them again. Jonathon my butler was wonderful along with Diana epic Club . They are the only 2 workers that truly stuck out to me.

We enjoyed many aspects of the cruise. But the level of information we could get was pretty limited.  Crew seemed predominantly new. Sometimes we knew more about the ship than they did. 

Not impressed by the entertainment. Victor Cruz (acoustic guitar) was good, but seemed to play the same songs every day. Airband and the jazz group were good. But those were the only decent groups. And this is a long cruise.

The evening shows were some good/ some ok. 

The customer service group was also really spotty.  Some had no idea about the cities we were going to. They weren't sure where shuttles went. When I asked info about the material they passed out about the ports I got a lot of "I don't know" responses. 

we stayed at SkySuite. The room is big (300 square ft) and clean. The service from butler was great. The food and service at restaurant Luminae was top of line and unmatched. The daily evening shows were also at Las Vegas level. we really enjoyed the whole cruise ship.

Ship beautiful, spotless, inside cabin 8292 large and clean, great large bathroom, little short on storage space, quiet . Ocean view cafe food average  repetitive, bistro on five great food limited menu. Awful music pumped throughout the ship. Entertainment in the theatre ranged from horrendous piano player to a great magician, limited things to do through the day we were bored trying to find things to do, overall not a fun ship okay if you want a quiet boring 9 days in a lovely cruise ship.defnitly wont cruise celebrity again. When it rained it was like the ship closed down , need to up their game.royal caribbean win hands down for us.

I truly enjoyed the different ports we went to! If I had to list my favorites,  I would have to say Barcelona, Capri, and Palma De Mallorca and Aix.  Aix, because it was a shopaholic's paradise! The Allure is an amazing ship with plenty to see, do and EAT!!!!   One of my traveling companions and I went to the ship's Prohibition Event and had a ball!  We dressed for the occasion, did the Charleston, sipped "tea", listened to the band and vocalist and participated in the fashion show!  It was a blast !

The Allure of the Seas was an impressive cruise, very large, nicely decorated.  You do not even know that you are sailing at sea.  The space in the cabin was fair, considering that cruise cabins are small.  General bathrooms, restaurants, décor, atriums, gym, pool area, etc, were in excellent conditions.  My overall concern with the cruise experience was the dinning experience, the room service, the shops and the port of calls.  Food was average.  If you go to the general dinning room where the food is included, the service and the food quality is average.  My expectations were very high considering I made a few cruises several years ago.  This time considering Allure as the biggest ship, I was expecting a nice well dinning experience.  I can compare the food with TV dinner, or a fast food chain.  If you want to get the full dinning experience and quality you will have to pay around $30-$70.  The room service was average as well.  The maid did what they need to do, but I did not see them going above or beyond in order to get that extra tip.  The port of call where good, however, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca which were two of the most beautiful one, we left pretty early, compared to Naples, which we left past 8pm.  Shore excursions with the cruise were very experience, and not worth it.  We took one in La Spezia, which was average.  The tour was to Cinque Terre.  It was a full day tour, which I think with 4 or 5 hours would have been enough.  We visited three of the towns that composed Cinque Terre, and by visiting one you get the whole picture of the rest.  Overall, the experience was way better because I made this cruise with several friends, but the cruise itself was OK.  We booked the rest of the tours by ourselves.  This is a good option if you do not like what the cruise offers.  There are plenty of "shore excursions" that people may book without the cruise line that will guarantee arrival at the cruise on time, and that are cheaper, and better.  

It was a great experience. The things I dislike was the additional fees the charge per day also they will charge addition for shuttle services. I think they should built those charges inside the cruise price. So you are not surprised on the ship. Also the atm only had Dollars and cruise is a European cruise. We should have a option or a big disclosure by the atm about it. The cruise will change the dollar for you but for a additional fee. 

We always enjoy a cruise on an Oceania ship, and this one was are favorites to date.  The Marina is a lovely ship and the crew was great.  Since Oceania offered great values while onboard, we booked our next cruise on the Marina!

Wife fell first night in Barcelona; had hair line hip fracture - not serious enough to cancel cruise but very painful.  Oceania could/would not provide disabled transportation to or from the ship and provided very limited wheel chair assistance on board - a helpful crew member nearly got in trouble for violating Oceania's policy that wheel chairs would be provided for "emergencies" only.  Situation made even worse by terrible (close to non-existent) luggage handling embarking and disembarking and to/from airport - Oceania's response to the on-shore transportation problems was "It's not our problem!"

Injury issues aside, the ship was "tired" and need of updating, and our stateroom was the same and also in need of a lot of cleaning (mold in the shower, dirty furniture, debris on the floor, etc.).

On the upside, the food was better than average, and the crew members (below the reception desk/concierge personnel) were friendly and helpful.

It was fantastic trip on MSC Divina. We where lucky to upgrade our inside cabin to balcony. We are family consist of 4. This kide are 9&11 years old were very happy with this experience. The animation team added extra pleasure for the trip. The entertainment all the time on the cruise are perfect.

the cruise team was perfect to handle all these numbers of passengers. 

Concerning food , I was shocked from other comments, the food was very good the quality of ingredients are perfect. You've many choices for all kinds of food. 

By the way , I asked many of other passengers concerning food and their opinions were as ours.

Great itinerary!  The Allure is a beautiful ship with lots to do.  We stayed in Sky Loft suite which was nice (largest deck we've ever had - usually stay in Royal Suites).  Bathrooms and closet space both horrible.  So many people on the ship, there was always a long line waiting to get int the Windjammer to eat.  The Suite lounge (perk with suites) and Coastal Kitchen were excellent although concierges were extremely poor.  Food was decent anywhere on ship. Awesome new automated process with finding and viewing your pictures although it only works if you get your picture taken with backdrop as you board ship (based then on face recognition similar to FB).  RCL is testing lots of changes on different ships. Communication of what's being tested is poorly communicated in advance which is a negative if you purchase things in advance. Travel agents have no idea of what's going on although RCL encourages you to book through an agent. 

The food is not good, it was very disappointing. I have been to 7 other cruises so feel I am qualified to judge. The entertainment was laughable, basically the same routine with different costumes. The dancers were terrible.

They make it very obvious that they just want your money for everything. If you enquire what to do at a port of call all they will suggest is to book an excursion. Other cruises I have been to have a much greater variety of food choices such as Mexican bar, sushi, unlimited ice cream, etc. Armonia you have to pay for ice cream, the juices dispenser is only available in the morning afterwards it is shut off and covered, the coffee at the pool cafeteria is horrible (probably to make you go to the cafes and pay for coffee), they do not offer coffee at dinner. Trying to eat at the cafeteria is very difficult since people are everywhere and then there is no place to sit. Not many activities onboard either and most are by the pool so you have to compete for a seat with all the pool goers. The ship is way too small and you are always bumping into people, waiting in line or looking for a place to sit. My cabin was not great either and was not well serviced. The hand soap dispenser did not work and even after mentioning to room steward he only replied he had already told his supervisor (seemed it had been that way for a while), he never filled the tissue dispenser, I had to go search for toilet paper several times because he did not change it, and the list goes on. They do not post anywhere where they are and what is around. We passed several islands that I would have loved to know what they were. I asked for an itinerary to know when we would arrive and leave each port and was given the run-around until another staff member showed up with the paper.

Will not be choosing MSC again will stick with bigger ships too and newer ones.

My entire family took this cruise line Sept. 23rd out of Barcelona 2015. The ship was beautiful but that was the only part of it that was enjoyable. 90% of the staff was either rude, unfriendly, ignored you, or in 1 case, was racist. The staff acted annoyed to have to help you. The food was middle of the road. We have taken 4-5 cruises as a family over the last 15 years and always rave about the food and the servers at dinner and usually gain 10 pounds. We barely made it to half the set dinners, we did not enjoy our rude server, and some of us lost weight because the buffet was just a cooled off version of either the same stuff every night or were leftovers of dinners on the menu. And the servers in the buffet seemed annoyed to even have to take an order. We all were so disappointed in this cruise line that we will never use it again. My husband & I went to the cigar/smoking lounge the first 4 days and although not super friendly, the woman in there served us without issue and took our orders regularly. On the 5th night we went in with a friend who is an african american and she completely ignored us, giving us dirty looks. She went so far out of her way as to serve the tables on either side of us while completely ignoring us. All she would do was switch out the ashtray, multiple times in about 15 minutes which was almost to bring more attention to whatever she was trying to project on us. After that night she continued doing the same rudeness. She never helped us as she had in the beginning. It was very uncomfortable and very obvious to our friend. 

READ THE REVIEWS ON THIS CRUISE LINE BEFORE SPENDING THE MONEY!!! We did not and it was a real bummer. :( Very disappointing. 

We have cruised more than 25 times and this was one of the best cruises we have ever taken.  The crew on the ship made us very comfortable: wonderful wait staff, a dynamic and very personable cruise director, a captain that was caring, approachable and funny (you had to see him drive the zamboni as well as sing a song at the welcome back functions).

The ports were wonderful and very well selected. Wish we had more time in Malaga and Seville - but at least we got a taste of these ports.

Awesome ship! Food was good in both the specialty restaurants and dining room. Our room was in a perfect location.

The ship is gorgeous and the staff were very courteous. The itinerary is great but I would change the duration of the excursions we went on. We were gone every day all day except for the day at sea and the day we were in La Spezia. It can be very overwhelming. Used cruises only for excursions and was very pleasantly surprised as the groups were much smaller than you get with Royal Caribbean. The excursion that goes to the coliseum, downtown Rome and the Vatican is too much for one day. Overall, a fantastic trip.