Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Menu diversity was mediocre. Each dinner in the principle dining room was repetitious. Always with an Italian slant. Not good for a ship with multiple nationalities on board and boring for a 10 night cruise.  Garden salads with main course were always the same vegs.,  with very limited salad dressing selections. Optional cheese plate was unappetizing and looked like left-overs from breakfast buffet or prior day offerings.

2. In the buffet afternoon restaurant the very same cheese selections and cold cut appeared relentlessly.

CLUE: GET A NEW COOK BOOK.

3. Upscale premium- charge restaurant had same menu as main dining room but at an extra price.

4. Premium charge - room service breakfast for premium cabins arrived cold, food was badly prepared and orders for husband and wife arrive 25 minutes apart.

5. WiFi reception throughout the ship was unreliable and often failed to work in a timely fashion.

6. Bar tenders poured soft drinks from cans or bottles (10 oz) and served them in smaller glasses (7 oz.)  so they didn't provide the full portion. I asked to have them pour my entire beverage into a larger glass and they refused. Very stingy portion control on soft drinks and worse on alcohol, despite "all-you-could-drink" high cost drink packages.

7. On board television had only 1 channel consistently in English ( sometimes MS-NBC), but 5 channels were dedicated to Costa-only channels. Many more channels were provided in French or Italian. None in German or Spanish.

8. Ship lacked any source where you could purchase  small toiletries like: mouth wash, antiperspirant, hair spray, cough drops, aspirin, antiacids, camera batteries, OTC medicine,

9. On Costa provided shuttle buses into town, drivers did not speak any English and could not tell people where they were being dropped off, so it was difficult to find the bus stop at the end of the day to return to the ship.

Everything was as we imagined it would be on the Costa Mediterranean! The food was excellent and the staff very warm, knowledgable and attentive to every detail.

Our trip was "smooth sailing" and we returned home refreshed.   I would definitely recommend this cruise to friends!

The cruise was good.   We enjoyed the shows.  The wait staff was always respectful and cheerful.  The bartenders at the bar on the 5th level were outstanding in remembering our names and what we drank and where we were going.  The food in the sit down restaurants was excellent except maybe a large vegie serving with our meals would have been desirable.  The buffet was good but not a fan of them in general.  Otherwise, all good.

Our trip to Italy aboard the Epic was not as we remember previous trips with Norwegian.

While our cabin was great we never met our cabin steward at all through out the entire trip.

There was lack of toilet papers and towels on a few days in which we had to find a steward and ask for supplies of this nature.

The coffee pot in which we used one time only because when we went back to use it a second time there was the same OLD coffee grinds from the previous use in the pot turning to mold.

Among the staff aboard the ship there was a language barrier rather often it was sometimes hard to communicate.

When entering a port we were told to be ready a certain time in which we were up early enough and we were ready to go only to find we had to wait additional time to get off the ship.

The food on the ship was very good, except for the wait time in the main dinning room as well as Cagney's Steak House.

By the time we were seated it took at least two hours or close to it to be served and at Cagney's Steak House one of our meals came out very cold.

The entertainment aboard the Breakaway was the best.

The entertainment aboard the Epic was ok.

Overall I was not as happy with my cruise aboard the Epic this time.

Thank you Mike and Cathy

This is one of the best value money can buy..

The cruise itself is simply awesome with its service and excursions and I will have to say that it is the best if not the only way to see this many places in Europe with little or no stress. I have been to Europe on train and hotels and it is not the same. It is more expensive and a lot of trouble to go from hotel to station and work out multiple logistics.

Not to mention the food in the cruise and the service - simply amazing.

The staff was friendly, helpful and the ship was easy to navigate.  NCL is our favorite cruise line with a very relaxed feel and great dining options.

absolutely middle class of cruises. except food - 5+. And please  - make your staff in restaurants and in the cabin smiling! It is necessary for the vacation!

Generally it was a good trip except the information desk service.

The service was poor and didn't guide well.

Example, I was waiting almost one hour (take too long time to wait to talk!) to get the port information I visited, however the service desk didn't give any information  and the lady didn't know anything.

the cruise, itself, was very good. We had the beverage package and also bought the 3 meal specialty restaurant package. We did not have any issues with the room, as others have complained. Lots of storage! Actually liked having the commode separate from shower and then the sink in the room!

we did have issues with their wifi! Expensive and slow! Then, if you want to text your cabin-mate, it's another $9.95/each! 

Also, bought 3 items in the Spa, but, when we asked for a Vat Form, it seemed that no one knew what to do! When, we did get it, it did not agree with the computer generated receipts that we received when purchasing the items. For that reason alone, I will not sale on NCL again! I should have gotten back $45 in Vat taxes, and all I could reclaim was $24!

Dining was the best part.  The food was good in the main dining rooms.  No need to pay to eat at a specialty restaurant.  Also, over the years the number of specialty restaurants that charge extra has grown.  I don't like this.

As for the worst part, getting aboard this ship in Barcelona was a nightmare.  Extremely poorly handled.  We too a cruise on this very ship in December out of Port Canaveral and it was an orderly process to board.  It took us in December less than half an hour from start to finish to board.  In Barcelona it took us nearly two complete hours to get to our cabin.  Very, very bad.

In general, I've been on NCL ships since 2000.  In the 16 or 17 years, the new ships have smaller and smaller cabins for each class.  Its just a way of charging more and more for the same accommodations.  I am not a fan anymore.  I am Latitudes Gold and didn't get much in the way of upgrades, etc. because of it.  NCLs loyalty program needs to reward its Gold members better.

The crew was very service oriented and attentive to our needs. 

If someone chooses not to register their card they should have the ability to use currency.

Yes, we would recommend the cruise to others.

When me and my family boarded the cruise ship on Sunday 23 April 2017 we noticed in our cabin that the toilet flushing electric switch (relay)/mechanical mechanism was defective. As the toilet would not flush on every press of the electric switch button. Sometimes it would flush sometimes it would not. The response was similar to corded battery cables on an automobile. Sometimes the car's engine would start when you turn the ignition key on and sometimes the engine would not start. I have been an automobile mechanic for over 50 years.

During the cruise I reported the malfunction of the toilet flushing mechanism for four days, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My reports were documented in the cruise ship computer. When I first reported this malfunction on Sunday night I explained to the Customer Service exactly what the problem was, corded contact points on the electric switch/relay. However, when a ship crew member came to our cabin to check he would simply go into the toilet and press the button and the toilet would flush. Well I guess he thought that we did not know how to flush the toilet. Well this exercise went on for three days until Tuesday 25 April. I stopped  the cabin steward in the hallway and had him try to flush the toilet and he noticed  after pressing the flush button several times the toilet would not flush. He understood at that time what I had been telling the customer service personnel for three days that the toilet would flush infrequently, the electric contacts were corded.

Finally on Thursday 27 April the electric switch/relay was replaced. I had asked the Customer Service Personnel to give to us a monetary credit on our bill for the inconvenience that we had to endure. Lucky for us we were less that 3 minutes away from the ship's toilet adjacent to the Theatre on the third floor.

This was our third cruise with Acosta and we enjoyed the cruise and would recommend Acosta Cruises to our friends in America.

Thank you

The Haven experience was NOT worth the money.  We only saw our butler 2 x over a 7 day period.  Save your money...book a suite and call it a day :).  The shows were good...the food just average.  We ate in most of the speciality restaurants with Le Bistro being our favorite.

This was a trip we never thought we would be doing, and we are so glad we did.  Our cabin was our greatest disappointment.  We had just been on a cruise in the same category cabin with RC and it was wonderful.  This cabin was small.  Each time we wanted to go to the balcony we had to move the chair. The ship was a nice size to move around in, and being mid ship was great.  The service was outstanding.  Our favorite part was the entertainment provided.  Something to do any time you wanted to do it. The food was good. The staff was very efficient with all of our needs. Ports were difficult due to limited outings for people with limited mobility.

We very much enjoyed all aspects of the trip.  Probably our favorite was participating the "The Voice of the Ocean".  Performing on the stage in the Princess theater was a memory we will never forget.  The ship is beautiful and it took the entire 17 days to learn where everything was.  We were specially impressed by the silence in our cabin, no sounds of our neighbors or the nearby elevators.  We also liked the anytime dining and always chose to join others, thereby meeting many interesting and enjoyable people.

We look forward to our next Princess cruise.

Wide variety of daily activities are well organized. Very good food. Crew members are very cooperative. Itinerary was pretty interesting. I would gladly recommend this cruise to my family and my friends.

The best part of this cruise were the activity on the boat (Dance Lesson, Team Activity, the dancing bar area). The port stop was excellent!!

The only improvement is too much selling drink package on the boat and they are not flexible for upgrade or pay the different.

Overall was a great Cruise!!

My favorite part of the cruise was making new friends. I was very disappointed with the amount of selling of items on the ship; not at stores but tables that were set up everywhere all time time! Morning noon and night.  I am upset that I had pre bought a cocktail package and was told that vodka tonic is not a cocktail and that I had to choose from what they consider cocktails to be!  The shore excursions were especially in Morocco very disappointing. It seemed as if we spent all day going to the shops where kickbacks were given   Shopping time and pharmacy time was to be in the excursion but we were brought to a little shop where it seemed the guide would be getting something out of it.  I heard so many good things about Msc and I would most probably not be returning. 

My favorite part was eating all those unusual meals, such a choice.   Everybody was so courteous and went out of their way to help us at all times. I was impressed with the children's programs.  The tenor singer was the best I have every heard, Fran Cobos.  

Operationally, the cruise was excellent. Always punctual, and the ship is kept very clean. Our cabin was a very nice rear facing balcony with good closet space. Food wise, pasta and appetizers were always good, but proteins were not. The only proteins we enjoyed were the extra cost burgers and the duck on gala night. Fish seemed to taste "fishy". We ate in the club restaurant one night, service was outstanding, but the filet had an off taste. It was however cooked a perfect medium rare. Salads on the buffet were very good. Piu gusto drink package was a great value. Wines were good, as were cocktails. Espresso every bit as good as on land in Italy. Entertainment staff keeps things fun. The white party was the best I've seen at sea. Shows were below average for a cruise as were lounge entertainers.  One nice touch, they had an English speaking (from England) customer service rep who always asked how things were going and genuinely seemed to care. Would I take Costa again? For the right itinerary at the right price, sure. All Cruise lines have their pros and cons--Costa's strong points are fun, pasta, and espresso in my opinion.