Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Amazing ship, but I think they are having some growing pains. My biggest problem was all the closures, We stayed in port as long as we could to see the sights, so by the time we got back, changed for dinner and wanted to go out, everything but the bars were closed. They would have a couple hot tubs open, which was nice, but the staff did not enforce the adult only policy in the solarium area. (this was frustrating)

Food after about 10 PM was limited to the promenade restaurant, with a very limited selection. even the soft serve machine was only open in the day.

When things like the flo rider, ultimate abyss and ice rink were open, they were over crowded.

I was also a little frustrated with the constant attack on my wallet, they are constantly trying to sell you things.

Now for the positive things. Chops grill is well worth the upgraded meal package. The destinations are amazing (Mediterranean route). main dining and windjammer were solid. Room was always clean and very nice. onboard WiFi was excellent. The high diver shows had amazing divers.

over all, I think my next cruse will be on a smaller ship. I would be willing to give up some of the cutting edge attractions for less people and fewer unsupervised kids.

 This was our third cruise on Norwegian Cruise lines. This ship, the Epic was truly that, epic! It was very large and the crew was fantastic.  The officers on board were very friendly and voluntarily made contact with the passengers on the ship. This was a first type of cruise that made three stops and pick up passengers for their week and dropped off passengers from their week.  We thought we did not like this but we found just the opposite. We did like it. There were not long lines to disembark or embark on the ship, there were not long lines for excursions. What we enjoyed most were the crew members that took care of us on our week. We will travel Norwegian Cruise lines again! 

The airline lost my luggage so I had a lot of interaction with the Guest Services Team on the Harmony of the Seas.  They were all fantastic.  Great follow up with voicemails to the stateroom on the status of my luggage.  Even though they had nothing to do with the lost luggage, they gave me credits for free laundry service on the Ship, a real nice touch.

Favorite Restaurant was 150 Central Park, with the wine pairing.  Very elegant.  Jamie's Italian is more casual and more family friendly.  Chops Grill was good, but not on par with 150 Central Park.

We loved our room and all the wonderful service, activities and food! GREAT experience! A few areas I feel they can improve upon (see below), but definitely will come back! My girls and I had a fabulous time!

My family and I had the time of our lives on this beautiful floating ship.  Our mouths dropped to the floor upon boarding this ship.  It literally took us the full 7 days to see the whole ship.  So many activities on board the ship to do for the adults as well as teenager and children.  Our stateroom had a balcony looking out to the sea.  Just beautiful each morning as we sailed into each port. Pools with slides, wall climbing, and even the surfing was so much fun! Purchase all your items prior to sailing, so much cheaper than waiting til on board to purchase. Bring ziplock bags to pack some food when going off the ship. Use AAA travel credit cards to load money, atms are available on ship and AAA only charges $1.50 even though the atms states it charges $6.50 per transaction. Bring umbrellas for shade walking in the hot summer sun/heat.

We have been on 18 cruises with 7 different cruise lines.  We have experience!

The itinerary, room attendants, service, accommodations, and dining were excellent.

Unfortunately we encountered 2 negatives, which significantly decreased our rating for this cruise.  We took 6 excursions, all sponsored by the Oceania Riviera. On 3 excursions the guide was either inaudible, or even worse, not able to speak fluent English.  The other major issue for us was the timing of the daily evening show/production.  Normally, on other ships, there are 2 show times to accommodate all guests.  On this cruise, only one show time, at 9:45 PM, which is too late for us.  Maybe okay for night owls.     

First time on Oceania cruise line , very nice ports differentes from other cruise lines 

I would recommended to couples and families , very good food 7 stars rate

my favorite port was Portugal fell in love with the place and the people ❤️😍

The Ship was beautiful but the extras were a total rip off the daily service charge  per persons included our two young grandsons which most people with children were of the same opinion 

Then  they have the cheek to put tips on every thing for what ?

A lot of the people we spoke to were of the same opinion as us said they would never again cruise with Royal Caribbean again 

Renewing our vows ceremony with the Captain and crew. It was special to see how they took care of any and all details to make it a memorable trip of a lifetime.

This was our first time ever on a cruise. My wife and I enjoyed the overall experience. Best part had to be the spa deck on level 12. My wife and I would visit every night after all our outings before going back to our cabin for the night. I would have loved to give 5 stars, but the service was not what we expected.

For starters our open dinning experience was chaotic and unorganized. Some nights we would have to wait for more than an our after our check in to be seated. Once we sat down, servers seemed distraught and rushed. One night my wife and I got up and left before being offered dessert...the waiter never showed up to check up on us. In some cases our side dishes never made it the table or our drinks.  It seemed to me that the wait staff was new, or not properly trained to handle a ship with that many customers. I don't recommend paying tips ahead of time like us...as the level of service was not what we expected. 

When  at pool side, rarely did a cocktail serve come up to us for a drink order. When they did we waited a long time for our drinks. We vacationed with other individuals that assures us other cruise lines they traveled with had better service. 

Lastly, I would of loved the adult section Serenity to have had a pool. There are two hot tubs, but after a long day out off the ports, it would have been nice to jump into an adults only pool.

Summary, for out first cruise it was not bad. Food was good and some of the pay restaurants we ate in were awesome! We will travel with other cruise lines in the future just to experience the level of service provided on those cruses.  

Regards,

Jesus Martinez  

Great way to show a part of Europe to a young person who has never been their.

For them to be able to see part of history before they study it in school will give them a better understanding world.

all the locations were amazing. My family enjoyed it. The only bad experience we had was with laundry service. Laundry service lost our clothes and my daughter and wife had to cope with it.

the guest service handled it very unprofessionally 

What an awesome ship!  This is the perfect ship for families with children - so much to do.  The staff were amazing as usual.  The shows were good but not as on point as others on other ships - I think they were new and had not worked the kinks out all the way.  In saying this, we were not disappointed at all.  The food was great - I do not eat seafood and the menu was seafood heavy but I did not have any trouble finding something to eat - they always had chicken, pork or steak along with all the seafood.  Our wait staff was the best!  Our bar "master" was hands down the greatest!  Our stateroom attendant was very pleasant and always had our room made up and provided ice morning and night without being asked when my daughter injured herself.  We could not have asked for a better experience.

Each day was a funfilled and exciing cruise.  We enjoyed the beautiful places we visited, awesome experience, great food and entertainment and wonderful camaraderie among fellow cruise passengers and ship crews.  We will definitely do it again at Royal |Princess.

We were somewhat apprehensive about this cruise.  Reports of mobs not queuing at the lido, too many announcements in several languages did not come true.  Passengers were all respectful of each other.  Many italian families enjoying a muti-generational holiday.  The service by all the staff was excellent, our room steward supplying us with extras on request, and the wait staff always remembering our favorite beverages. We purchased the beverage package and were very pleased with that, had no difficulty getting drinks of any kind at any venue. We did pay for a dinner called "dining under the stars", which was not up to any cruise line standard. Our impression was that this was a new addition and was horribly disorganized, orders not placed correctly and wait staff tripping over themselves. This was the only negative of the trip. The dining room food was not to our tastes, but it appeared that most other cruisers enjoyed it.  We felt it lacked flavor.  We did purchases 2 ship excursions and were pleased with both.  One was a walking tour of Cadiz, the other bus transport to Rome.  Both were very well organized and we felt well taken care of.  Embarkment and disembarkment were a breeze.  The one thing that did catch us off guard is that they do take your passports at embarkment and returning the morning of disembarkation-we were caught unaware on this.  They did provide a copy of our passport delivered to the room-to be used when leaving the ship. We did attend some of the evening shows and they were good.  There were lots of opportunites for dancing, always classes, and big group dancing.  The Italians love to dance, young and old alike.  I had need to visit the ship doctor on two occasions and was treated professionally and received the care and prescriptions needed.  We were on board on the 4th of July, the ship gave a small party for the American citizens with cake, live music and a visit with the ship caption and all the officers.  The extra effort was appreciated. 

The above comment relates to the cruise itself. The service, stateroom, food and entertainment were all first-rate.  To have "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" sung to us on our anniversary in the restaurant was unforgettable! When we reached Rome however, we were lost. The airport was huge and after so much care on the ship we felt a bit "dumped!"  We are both disabled. After walking 1/2 a mile we managed to waylay some transport. It was such a shame after a lovely holiday.

Juices in machines are not 100% pure juice. Several times I heard senior staff berating junior members in public within dining facilities. This needs to be done behind closed doors.

Tipping is expected but yet gratuity is added daily.

Pools are entirely too small. Spa services are terribly overpriced. ATM machines didn't work at all. Fees for internet usage is too high based on data use.

Although this was my 25th cruise ( most on Disney) we REALLY enjoyed the Suites that the NCL ships offer.  The HAVEN 2 bedrooms come with a butler and lots of amenities and offer a quiet retreat from a very very busy and crowed ship. As there are so many guests and 24 regular elevators, they seem to stop on every deck.  The ONLY real negative to OUR cruise was that the HAVEN private pool got a lot of children in it every day after our share excursions (I counted 11 kids in a very small pool).  Although parents must be there to supervise , they really don't and the HAVEN staff doesn't really police the situation. There was a 5 year old and a 10 year old in the jacuzzi jumping in and out and the rules state they have to at least be 12 years old.  As a Disney PLATINUM cruiser,  I am looking for a new cruise line to patronize and this is my 3rd NCL cruise--I MAY have found a new home!

This was my first cruise with my wife and a couple of friends. We could not fault the quality of the food and service. How they keep up that high level of service for so many people must be a logistics nightmare, but they do it and do it very well indeed. The cleanliness is also exceptional, with a compulsory squirt of hand cleanser when entering any restaurant. We had an inside cabin which was very clean and tidy, a tad small as you'd expect on a ship, but they use the space well. On a ship money buys space and we're thinking of a balcony cabin on our next cruise if we can get a good deal. A nice touch was an adults only sunbathing area to exclude kids, which was great for peace and quiet. The quality of the shows we attended were better than we expected, just as good as any West End show. To conclude, this was one of the best holidays we have ever had and would recommend a cruise, especially with Norwegian, to everyone.

the 7 night western med cruise was excellent especially with the help of Denise Grasso from Spirit cruise.  The ship was excellent along with the destinations.  No problems just a great time.