Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

This was a very nice cruise all in all.  The ports were fabulous.  A mix of quiet relaxing places and more energetic places.  Just could not have been a better mix.  The ship is new, and I believe larger than Seabourn has fielded in the past.  It showed on occasion.  At times it felt crowded, especially at dinner time.  The ship does not have enough tables in its restaurants to seat the number of people aboard if the ship is full.  I suppose that makes sense as some have room service, some skip a meal, etc.  But nevertheless, it was annoying to have to wait an hour or so for dinner, and on one occasion not be seated at all.  The dining venues close at 845 pm or so, which was before dark, and that seemed early.  After spending a day ashore, who wants to rush around to try to have dinner at 630 or 700?  We finally just gave up on the dining schedule and ordered room service each evening at 9 or 930 and dined on our balcony or in our room.  That was fine and the food was good.

The staff was, in general, very good.  There were a few who could use some training in customer service.  But I suspect that is true for any cruise line. 

All in all it was a very nice cruise, and I am glad we had the experience.  But Seabourn needs to polish up its service and ship schedule if it wishes to continue to be considered a luxe operation.

The food was mediocre at best- edible but tasteless.  The Norwegian team was clearly not well trained or experienced in their positions in the buffet area.  Dirty dishes stayed on tables on the pool and bar decks for half of the day before the tables were cleaned.  Three times I saw employees be scolded harshly and rudely in front of passengers in the buffet area.  Drink machines were broken frequently.  Desserts were least impressive and lacked any creativity or flavor.

Our room was clean and daily service in our room was prompt and adequate.  The chair in our room was so old the leather had cracked open.  The exterior Plexiglass half-wall on our deck stayed filthy the entire cruise. 

The activities on board were outdated and stale.

The Excursions team was very professional, well trained and knowledgeable.

I won't cruise with Norwegian again- my previous experiences with Royal Carribbean and Celebrity were both much better.

The only nice thing I have to say about this cruise is the staff were friendly. The room was like every other boat which was not bad. I have sailed on 12 cruises and this line is horrible. I thought the activities were blah and the food was not good. Hardly a good selection of food in Buffet. 

I found their excursions to be very expensive for what you get. 

Never again will I cruise a Norwegian Line!

The favorite part of the cruise for me definitely were the excursions. I would improve on the number of passengers on board a this ship stopped two times on a Sunday in Barcelona and on a Wednesday in Rome to embark and disembark passengers.

My fiancé and I realized that, after this first cruise for each of us in over 20 years (our first together), we'll never be that typical Caribbean cruiser. Going from beach port to beach port isn't really our thing. So with that, this was a great cruise. A good amount of planning on our part is what made it really good. The experience on the Epic made it great. Our cabin (8219) was amazing for the price. An aft-balcony room that was handicap accessible (we're not disabled) gave us a room that felt the size of something even larger than a mini-suite. The huge balcony that easily fit two chaises, two chairs and a small table made "outdoor" time truly wonderful.

The entertainment on board was stellar. Priscilla-Queen of the Desert was phenomenal. We had seen the play on Broadway and were quite flabbergasted at the ability of this production to be put on so well on a ship. A must see. (Admittedly, a small part of the entertainment of the show was watching ignorant buffoons who were told multiple times of the show's content walk out in disgust. Apparently ignorance is not always bliss.)

The service was terrific. Everyone (with one glaring exception) was always ready with a "good morning," a "hello," and a smile on their faces. Our cabin steward Ryan was great and always helped out with our silly requests (Tony takes a lot of sugar in his coffee, I use extra pillows while sleeping, etc.).

The only "complaint' that I have to say would be the food. It wasn't horrid, but the

complimentary dining areas were okay.... nothing special. The Garden Cafe was usually a zoo and I literally avoided going there. Taste for breakfast was good, and the dinner we had in the Manhattan Room was good as well.  The specialty dining (we did all of them except for Le Bistro) were a step above the regular dining with La Cucina, Teppanyakia, Cagney's, and Moderno being preferred in that order. Embarkation and debarkation were a breeze. Barcelona and NCL have their act together with regard to this. It was a simple process even for us relative first-timers.  The ports (especially the Italian cities) were amazing. It's unfortunate we didn't get to spend enough time in each location.  Our next adventure will be on Norwegian (we were so impressed, we put deposits down on two more cruises with them). We just have to figure out where to go.  

The haven is the best part of the Epic.  I love the staff, the details, the gym, the food everything!  This was my first trip on a large ship.  I was afraid that I was not going to like it.  I loved it.   It is so well laid out and organized!  Everything was perfect.  Even the weather.

From start to finish absolutely awesome  cruise this is must cruise i gave this cruise as Mothers Day Gift to my wife and she can not stop talking about it to all her friends the views the stops the food the people the ship and crew. we are already planning next years trip

The excursions were pricey (which I didn't mind paying the price), but my daughter and I were in the very last row seat on the bus with an elderly couple sitting next to us who talked on their cell phones and then yelled at the tour guide.  We spent most of the bus tour listening to this couple.  I really don't think we should have paid the same amount as everyone else when we were packed in the last seat with two other people.  They shouldn't sell those back row seats -- couldn't get any pictures and couldn't hear the tour guide. 

The food was very good with a great variety of dishes to choose from.  The waitstaff was very friendly in the restaurants however I thought the bartenders seemed stressed and never smiled.  Not sure if that was because their tips were prepaid.  ??? 

I think Royal Carribean is a better cruise line than Norwegian but we did enjoy the week and would probably go on another Norwegian cruise again.

The night entertainment was good. Food was good as well, except the service at the Manhattan room was unbearably slow. The cabin was good. The guppies program for 6-36 months old was just okay. The shore excursion was too expensive. 

The destinations were fabulous. The ship was nice but the design was not great. Could not access one end of the ship from the other without going through the casino which reeked of cigarette smoke, even when it was not open..

I enjoyed all of the restaurant choices.   I was most disappointed in the excursions we took.   Most didn't allow enough free time in the town.  I think I would plan my own excursions next time.   

We selected this cruise as a college graduation gift for my daughter.  We were interested in visiting the Mediterranean and were very happy with the ports we visited.  I was not a fan of the ship itself (Epic)  First, the bathrooms had no real doors, just a smoked glass slider that did little to insulate from sound or sight.  

Also for such a large ship, I was surprised there were not any large swimming pools, just a few tiny pools.  Not nearly enough pool space for the number of passengers.

We did enjoy the food & service in the main dining rooms.  Did the buffet most mornings for breakfast, good assortment and better than average for buffet style food.

Booked our excursions through private companies with information found on Cruise Critic.  Much cheaper than excursions booked through cruise line.

Had a wonderful time on Celebrity Reflection. This is our third time on this ship and they never cease to amaze us with their service and attention to details. This time we decided to book a sky suite for our Mediterranean cruise. Butler service was excellent, dining was great and the Alcove was relaxing. Enjoyed all the ports and would recommend this cruise to all.

The Epic was a good experience.  The ship is awesome, but the food could use some work.  The workers do a good job, but are not as personable as on other cruise lines.  The entertainment was good, but once again, not great.  We are used to more of a party atmosphere.

Beautiful ship, wonderful crew, all the tasty wine and Champagne you can drink, great shore excursions, being treated like royalty for seven days - what's not to like?! 

This was our second cruise on Silversea and we will never try anyone else ever again - once you have had perfection it's hard to go back to less.

The worse part of the cruise was the food, the so called specialty restaurants aren't worth the time or money, flavorless food, not one meal in these restaurants were exceptional in any way. I always look forward to great meals when I cruise and I was totally let down,  cruising the Mediterranean Sea, some the best known seafood in the world and we couldn't be provided a decent seafood meal, BAD BUISINESS!!

 This was our 2nd cruise on NCL, yet 1st NCL cruise in Europe. Our party of 4 adults (2 rooms) was very pleased with the NCL Epic for our sail out of Rome (Rome to Florence to Cannes to Palma Majorca to Barcelona to day at sea to Naples and back to Rome) area on 5/3-5/10/17. We arrived a few hours ahead of departure and had no problems with embarking, quickly grabbing a couple of Prosecco's in the bar for a toast.

After about an hour, our balcony rooms were ready (11175 & 11179), which was nice. My initial thought was the room was very nice and I didn't see any issue with the bathroom toilet/shower arrangement. However, I did have an issue with the very tiny sink/sink area and the limited and dim lighting, which took some time to figure out which switch controlled what. The bed was comfortable but the curvature at the foot of the bed was tolerable. I was very impressed with the significant amount of storage space (2 large closets, 3 large drawers, hidden storage behind the sofa and other areas, medicine cabinet space and large area under the bed to stow away empty luggage). HINT - the electrical outlet is hidden away under the middle mirror area beneath the counter (as is the hair dryer). Look for the hole in the counter top to fish your electrical cord.

We were told the ship was full, which I didn't believe as at no such time did it ever feel as if it was. Maybe the only time would have been during breakfast time when the buffet got very crowded. HINT - get your breakfast and head down to La Cucina. We had the UBP and UDP and we were very pleased with our cocktail and dining choices (Teppanyaki was fantastic, as was Moderno, but the best was Le Bistro where the food was outstanding and the service was even better (thank you Ronie and April Joy!). Since we had a busy day on excursions (we booked ourselves and not via the cruise line - & saved significant $) at each port. We only had 1 day at sea where we just chilled and hung out at Spice H2O for the majority of the day where food and drink were available. We really enjoyed Howl at the Moon, where we spent quite a few hours during the week. We also enjoyed Burn the Floor but were so so on Priscilla Queen of the Dessert show.  We were looking forward to dancing a bit more at the Glow party and other dance areas (Bliss) but there was too much techno beat music, which just didn't quite fit the age demographic of most travelers that I saw. Needed more 70s-present era music. 

All in all, it was a fantastic cruise, great weather, calm seas, wonderful ports (although Palma Majorca was very so so), friendly staff, great customer service, and plenty of things to do. HINT - please don't believe all of the negative reviews that many people post as we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise on the NCL Epic.

My favorite part was the staff- just terrific bunch always looking to make us

feel as if we were the only guests on board.

The menus for at the San Marco could have been planned with more choices; both we and pour friend felt it was limited . We have cruised on both the Solistice and the Equinox and both had better menus . Same applies to more varying and interesting activities on board. They were jut the same run of the mill stuff I.e. Trivia, volleyball blah, blah

overall we had a great time and look forward to our next trip.

we love our cruise agent Harry Kroll he is the best

The cruise over all was a good experience. The staff needs more training on customer service. but the over all was not bad. some ports need to be replaced with more fun ones. 

It was nice to cruise overnight each day and be in a new port in the morning.

Transportation shuttles from ship to get out of ports was not good at all.

Coordination and directions were awful.

Tender system in Cannes was more than awful. Why should someone wait over an hour for a scheduled tender?