Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

This cruise line needs some serious improvement in the customer relations department. My grandmother was left around in a wheelchair because the porter felt like leaving. The medical doctor started prescribing medications without ever taking any sort of medical history (apparently he has never heard of allergies or conflicting medications.) Getting your luggage upon disembarkation is a nightmare and completely unorganized. The excursion office is rude and inconsistent with trip scheduling notifications, so always check with them extra times to make sure they didn't cancel you. Many problems we incurred throughout the trip were happening to other Americans as well. I felt embarrassed to have brought my husband on this trip.

This was our second cruise with Holland America. The Niew Amsterdam is a magnificent example of modern technology. Of course the ship is similarly laid out to all of HAL's ships but newer, bigger and better. We ate in the Manhattan dining room 10 of the 12 nights and were never dissapointed. The food in the main dining room was much better than our previous cruise on the Zuiderdam. Of course, our one night at Pinnacle was extraodinary as was our dinner at the Tamarind (Tamarind was extra exceptional if you like Asian inspired food). If you have cruised with HAL before everything will be familiar in regards to the ship layout and the high quality of service from all of the staff. My only gripe, as with most cruises is theres not enough time to enjoy everything the ship has to offer. In the case of this Mediterranean cruise we were in a different port 10 of the 12 days. Many of the ship board activities are scheduled while in port (daytime). Your paying to see ports, not stay on the ship and play bingo. Why can't they schedule more activities in the evening? All in all, an amazing, spectactular cruise on an amazing ship. Every port of call was interesting and different.

We chose this cruise as our first cruise experience. Everything was amazing!

The ship was very nice, big of course, and a bit crowded, and the stateroom I had surprisingly large with the balcony giving it an open feeling. The normal staff contacts out side of dining were good, but dining staff to me was very professional and excellent. Unfortunately the food was atrocious. Some where between bad school cafeteria and frozen diner bad. Nearly every sauce was so salty by the third meal we tried to remember to request there be no sauce. Vegetables were cooked to the point of losing all texture and shape as well as taste. Risotto on the other hand was undercooked such that the rice still had crunchy white centers. Fish and meat were badly overdone. The only dessert worth eating was the chocolate ice cream. The baked Alaska was awful. Breakfast was satisfactory to good. The wine bar and wine selection was actually very good, although I felt kind of sorry for the people working there. The rest of the passengers only used the wine bar for sitting and rarely bought bottles of wine. Dealing with the management on board was not as good an experience, I had a problem they said the would deal with, and I should not worry, just enjoy my vacation. Well that is a good start, but until I pushed them very hard, they seemed to hope the problems would resolve themselves. After it was obvious that I would not go away, they did make sure I knew they were actively working the issue. MSC does not seem to attract a stylish hip crowd, more like older European blue collar workers. Few spoke any English, they are sooo loud when talking right next to each other, but I guess that is just a cultural thing. I cannot recommend MSC. The food was just inexcusable. If they fix that major gap, the ship and line may be acceptable.

The ship was very beautiful and brand new. I liked the design but that is only part of the experience.

So much to do and see on the ship. Stateroom was very spacious and with the balcony what more could you ask for .

Wonderful ship. NCL Jade was perfect for us. It did not have some of the gimmicks others have (rock climbing, surfing, etc.). What it did have was beautiful layout, comfortable decore, excellent dining facilities, beautiful theater. We'd definitely choose the Jade again.

Overall the ship was great. We had a stateroom with balcony on the 9th floor. It was very clean and comfortable. The halls did smell extremely musty though. We had no real complaints with the ship and would sail on it again.

the ship was beautiful and clean. the wait staff and stewards were also very good. The food was average. Unlike other cruise lines water and coffee needed to be purchased and was not readily available. One could not have coffee with dessert or with lunch. Water was never provided, always had to be bought. Many of the passengers did not believe in waiting in line. Unfortunately, the ship's personnel did not encourage it either. When we commented on this, they looked at us as though we were the ones at fault. We could not plan ahead and book massages, etc. since we were not told until the night before when our excursions would be. When we informed them that we had not received our excursion tickets for the last two legs of the trip, we were told we would get them in Rome. It was 11pm of that night and we still had no tickets. They did not answer the phone so we went to the desk and were told, 'you will get them'. We explained that we wanted to go to sleep and needed to put in for a wake up call and had no idea what time our tour was. We had to do this the subsequent night as well. A cruise is supposed to be a very relaxing experience and that has always been our personal experience when we have cruised in the past (Disney, Princess, Carnival, NCL). IT was stressful to have to be concerned about things that should not have been a concern. After all, we booked our excurisions months ago online. Overall, we do not believe that under these present conditions we would ever consider cruising with them again. We spoke to several people who were also dissatisfied. Two couples ( a young Canadian couple and an older Dutch couple) were on their first cruise and because of their poor experience stated that they would not cruise again in the future. We convinced both couples that this was not your typical cruising experience and encouraged them to give it another try with another cruise line.

The cruise was excellent. I had previous bad experiences with cruises and this Holland America Noordam cruise completely changed my opinion. I look forward to several cruises in my future now.

It was hard to believe the Noordam was launched in 2006. Our cabin looked like something from 1966. Stained carpet, blonde wood from the 60's, a couple of prints hung too high on the walls, a small and dirty verandah, and a bathroom that flooded every time we took a shower. Some of the public rooms were attractive, but windows were dirty, and overall, they looked rather chintzy. The food offered was fairly standard, but the presentations were lovely. Service was good some nights, slow others, but we adapted with a bottle of wine. We saw our stewards, whom I named Cheach and Chong, exactly 3 times. I'm sure they work hard, but sometimes the room wasn't cleaned until late afternoon, and the cleaning was surface, not depth. This was my 9th. cruise and it will be my last with any Holland American ship.

This ship was very nice, clean and well maintained

We recently sailed on the Voyager of the Seas for the first time, and all I can say is "Wow!". We really like Royal Caribbean's style and service. Our suite was very clean. The food excellent. We went to Portofino restaurant and our esperience was great. All waiters serving my table 478 were more than outstanding. Now we are planning our next cruise and it will be with Royal Caribbean again. All that I have to said is THANKS.

We chose this ship primarily because it is NOT typical of the cruise ships that are most heavily advertised and available in the contemporary cruise ship market. With a passenger capacity of about 740, it is a fraction of the size of today's average cruise ship; the Costa Marina is a stark contrast to the megaships that have just been launched. As most cruise clients know, it's not easy to find a smaller ship nowadays unless you are prepared to sign up with one of the super-deluxe lines such as Regent, Seabourn, or Silversea. Nearly all the passengers on board during our cruise were from Italy, France, Portugal and Germany. We (an American couple traveling with adult family members) did not mind being in the minority, and we enjoyed the opportunity to be immersed into European culture and languages.

Ship was fine., it's the service on board that we received was deplorable. Our luggage was lost[certainly not RCCL fault ], but they did nothing to try to make this our 50th anniversary cruise special in spite of the circumstances. No cake, no generic card, no nothing. When we arrived home, we wrote a letter to corporate. No response. Later we found out that a form letter was sent to PA. We live in NV. We are diamond members, but this seemed to mean nothing. As you can see, we have taken other RCCL cruises and have been very satisfied. This most expensive and most important cruise was a disaster because of the poor level of service and total lack of empathy and concern .

I have been reading some other not so good reviews here and in my opinion my wife, son and I were all very happy with just about everything. We took this cruise in June 2010. The breakfast buffets were very nice, so much to chose from. Of course they had the same thing everyday, but you can choose something different everyday. All the food was hot. Lunch buffet was very good too. Our balcony room (12029) was very plush. Wife said sheets were the best she has felt, bed smelled clean. Bathroom was very nice and clean, room service was very good. Water did cost you extra, about $2.00 for a large bottle. We would buy water while at port and bring it back with us. They gave you 1 bottle of water included with every dinner. The entertainment at the theater was very very good and it got over at 10:30, not too late so we can get rest for the next day. All the ports were really great. I think some of these other reviews are too picky. We are planning to go again.

We were surprised with the hospitality of the crew...it was amazing,everybody was helpful, the ports of call service was very organized and the overall of the trip was very satisfying.

We enjoyed it a lot in almost every aspect.

p msc cruises for me is the most modern cruise line .Me and my family really enjoyed this vacation all was perfect .Expecially the entertainment i meet so many friends from different countries and chilled out all together every night.There are so many thing to do so you pray to have time to do all that.....:)

I THOUGHT THIS CRUISE WAS OBSCENE, THE WAY THEY TREATED THE PEOPLE ON BOARD WAS DISPICIBLE. I HAVE NEVER BEEN IN SUCH A HORRID PLACE IN ALL MY LIFE. WOULD NOT RECCOMMEND THIS CRUISE TO ANYONE UNLESS THEY LIKE UNCOMFORTABLE BEDS, FOOD POISENING AND UNCLEAN TOILET FACILITIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(