Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

It was like being on a five star floating hotel with five star restaurants for every meal.

Our cruise was 7 days land and the 7 days on the Epic. Land tour with Gate One Travel (starting in Venice) through Norwegian was a good experience. Fantastic tour guide, hotels and itinerary. we cruise Norwegian all the time however this is my least favorite ship. I didn't care at all for the ship configuration. Everything including bars, restaurants, casino were all open and ran into each other.  The theater where the shows were smelled like you were in a smoking room. I missed regular shows as I did not at all care for the Blue Man Group. The stops on the tour especially the Italy ones were my favorite and if you go to Florence (we saw the city in the land part of our tour) try not to miss Cinque Terre. Beautiful beautiful beautiful is all I can say. What made the ship bearable was our room. It was the Haven. Again tours were wonderful, stops were fine, ship I would rate only a 3 and again that was because of our room. Hopefully they won't have a ship with that design again. 

BIG ships can deliver luxury.  I stayed in the Haven.  The butler and concierge service received rivals the smaller ships associated with luxury cruising.  In certain respects, The Haven on Norwegian is better.  While on smaller ships, everyone wants to be treated special, and they are, but just not different from anyone else.  So - when you disembark in a port or on your last day, you are just another "special" guest.  On Norwegian, in the Haven, a dedicated elevator whisks you down to the disembarkation deck. The concierge personally escorts you to any show you want to go to and reserves a seat for you so you can get to the show right before it starts - not 30 minutes or more prior.  The private restaurant, private bar, private pool and private fitness center are just a huge plus.  And - different from other big ships where the suites are scattered about the ship, on the EPIC they are located "behind the door" where only an access key allows one into this exclusive and luxury experience.  One could stay in "The Haven" the entire cruise and feel like they are on a 200 person ship.  But the beauty of the Haven is like staying in the Four Seasons in Las Vegas.  When you want what a big ship has to offer, you can venture out.  When you want the seclusion and service of a top notch resort, you have everything you need in "THE HAVEN".  The bathroom in cabin 16025 is amazing.  I have attached a picture of the bathroom.  The shower has the same view - the door to the shower is on the right in the picture.  What you are looking at is another ship docked.

Had a great time, met some fun folks at our dining table. Maybe a little too short in some ports but overall had a fantastic time on Costa. Would go again!

It was immaculately clean, our cabin was very comfortable. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The shore excursions were well organized, as well as our transfer to and from the air port. We felt well taken care of.

Sorry to say our great expectations for our cruise with Oceania were not met. By catering to an older passenger, on board activities while at sea were non-existent (Bingo and needlepoint not very entertaining). The entertainment was at best a nice college production and the shows were repetitive. Most of the ports visited required either a pricey cruise excursion or pre-arranged tours. Left to our own adventure proved to be another visit to a nice place to stroll and shop. Changing the schedule to our stop at Dover to 3 pm precluded the chance to visit London. The visit to La Coruna, Spain on a Sunday was a waste of time since virtually everything was closed. Limiting the visit to Lisbon to a 3 pm departure left little time to explore and see this wonderful city.

The activities group kept everybody pretty busy. The entertainment was great, as always.All in all a very pleasant journey except for the short stay in Split and the Sundays in port and weekdays at sea.It would be really nice if that could be switched...scheduling nightmare I am sure!

Ship was clean, silent and cabin spacious

Ship is kept in excellent shape and impeccanly clean.

This was the best cruise i have taken. I felt I was travelling with like minded people. No small children underfoot. Food was great, but what made it the best was the staff, everyone from the captain to the engine room workers. Service was exceptional, the ship was very well kept. I was proud to tell people in our ports - that is our ship! Looking forward to sailing with Windstar again

Overall, I would definitely do this exact itinerary again. In each port, there are so many things to see that it's impossible to get bored. We loved the itinerary and LOVED the Haven!

this was the third time on this fab ship, she is big but she is a beautiful ship

We went with my sister, her husband and my niece and nephew who are 5and 7, they Are now hooked and are cruising again this year

The staff are wonderful, my nephew was spoilt rotten by our waiter every night with a plate of cookies to tKe to bed with him, the entertainment was top class and the pools were brilliant.

The kids loved the kids club, went everyday sometimes all day.

Do not book any excursion with CruisingExcursions.com.  We were looking forward to this family trip that we have been planning for a year and were trusting that this company would meet our expectations that we had.  Unfortunately, our August 2014 excursion with them to Monaco, Montecarlo and Eze made for a horrible experience and ruined the whole rest of the vacation for us.  Our tour guide, who had such a thick accent that we missed most of her commentary and who failed to provide us with a local number, abandoned us in Montecarlo.  She told us at 11:30 AM, to spend time on our own and meet at a certain point at 2:30 PM and we confirmed this time with her twice because it sounded like 3 hours was a long time to spend on our own.  All three times she confirmed that she meant 2:30.  At 2:00 PM we arrived at the meeting point and over the next hour were surprised that no one was there to meet us.  We became desperate and made several attempts to find her.  We asked several other tour guides there from the cruise line whether or not they knew where this guide was and they said they did not.  We tried to get the cruise guides from our ship to take us back with them, but they refused since they weren't insured for us.  We ended up having to take a taxi back to the port in Cannes and spent 180 euros to get back to the ship since we didn't want to miss the departure time.  We later spoke to other people from the excursion and they said that she did say 2:30 but then changed her mind and gathered other people at 12:30 and left.  She did not make any accommodations to make sure we were taken care of when it was her fault that we, a family of two adults and two children, were abandoned.  We never completed the tour and my wife left her new jacket and my daughter her sunglasses on the bus since they were promised they would be safe.  We have contacted this company several times only asking for reimbursement of the tour cost and the taxi ride, but they have made excuse after excuse to not reimburse what is owed us.  Again, do not use this company.  If you already booked with them, do yourselves a favor and cancel and use the ship’s excursion company, it is safer and they are more responsible.  We learned our lesson.  Don’t make the same mistake we made just to save a few dollars.  As far as the Epic, the food was bland, the entertainment just so-so and the crew were rude and uncaring.

Not managed well from the beginning of boarding until disembarkation. Lack of communication between management & crew as well as passengers.

Too large, too many people

Overall my husband and I were very impressed with this ship, the staff and the destinations. The shore excursions were definitely worth the money as there is no way we could have seen all that we did otherwise. This was such a great way to see so many different places without the hassle of traveling around on our own.

The Liberty of the Seas Mediterranean cruise was a once in a lifetime experience. The ship is beautiful & well maintained. It was kept spotless! The stateroom was very spacious allowing for my husband to maneuver the handicap scooter we rented. There was lots of storage space! The balcony was spacious & we thoroughly enjoyed it. There were lots of entertainment options so you could pick & choose. The staff were extremely helpful & friendly! The cruise was so smooth you couldn't even tell you were moving. On previous cruises (other cruise line) we were always woke up when the ship docked at new ports. We didn't hear or feel this ship docking. We were just at a new port when we woke up the next morning.

My family and I went on NCL's Epic last week. We like cruising and I have been on 6 cruises with 3 different companies.. 

Huge ship, terrible layout with one single purpose fit as many people as possible resulting in over crowded common areas and tiny cabins. Our balcony cabin took an Epic adventure to even reach it, following endless maze-like corridors with continuous turns. The lifts are located at the AFT or Forward sections of the ship, leaving all those cabins in the center in the middle of nowhere. Once inside your cabin you are greeted with your toilette and shower covered by tempered see-through rattling plastic. Our cabin had the bed just next to the toilette separated only by a curtain, try a midnight flush of the toilette and you will scare the life out of your partner on the spot.. Not enough storage space in a tiny cabin, even with everything set aside only one person can walk sideways.

The ship was "designed" to have the casino right in the middle, even from the deck above you could overlook the activities ongoing there, the constant deafening sounds of the machines and the lingering smoke scent ruined the experience for those who wanted to just have a drink whilst listening to some music. The shopping area, is just a couple of stores nothing too special. 

The pools were too small and to few for over 5000 guests. The "adult area" was packed with kids since the "adult only" appears to be a mere suggestion. The tables and floors were always dirty. The common toilettes were dirty and messy regardless of the time. 

It seems that the crew members were permanently overwhelmed by the crowds everywhere. And we received an overall unfriendly treatment, not very helpful or welcoming. We dined every night in the Speciality Restaurants, we had nice meals every evening. Specially at Cagney's and Wasabi, where good food with great service (from only 2 crew members) made a nice enough experience. 

The musicians at bars and pool area leave a lot to be desired. The pianist at one of the bars was even replaced in two occasions by a 12-year old guest with a lot more talent, and by another guest who could actually sing. And the guitarist, although really good had a stinking attitude.

The destinations this cruise offers are really good and popular although the excursions seem a bit overpriced (cost-value). To be honest, the same destinations can be reached by other cruises, so if I would recommend something I would say the itinerary is a must as long as it is on a different line. 

NCL never again. 

A lovely ship and great ports to visit, it was rather hot on the cruise.

Have cruised every major line, ship common areas were not that clean, but was not a major concern. Food was sub par at best. While I believe cruise ship fare is pretty much the same between the lines, with some things being good and others just ok, this boats food was not really good. Most of the fare was very bland and there seamed to be less options. Should mention that our stateroom was very clean and our attendant was excellent.