Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Allure of the Seas is one BIG and Beautiful ship! I really like the Itinerary. There is only one day at sea which means more ports. My sister and I were busy the whole time with all the activities to do. The Comedy Club 1st night, water show 2nd night, Mamma Mia the 3rd.... Booking in advance is recommended.  

Efficient check in, Great accommodations, The best food on any previous ships that I have cruised with.

Entertainment was abundant and of excellent quality.

Ship staff was very attentive and welcoming!  

I thought the experience was fun, educational, and exciting. For me, the excursions made the trip. Best time: bike riding in Palma, followed closely by the excursion to the Amalfi Coast & Pompeii. The buffet was pretty good but the free specialty restaurants are much quieter and less chaotic. I did not care for the people coming into the buffet area fresh from the pool deck dressed in bathing suits with cover-ups, plus kids running around. The shows were fun and they have lots of onboard activities, especially for kids. "Howl at the Moon" dueling piano bar was the BEST! I liked the running/jogging area on the port side. Staff are all friendly and eager to help. We got a balcony room which I would highly recommend. It was beautiful at night watching the full moon on the water.

This was our first cruise with Norwegian.  We have previously gone with Princess on three other cruises and once with Royal Caribbean.  Free Style Cruising with Norwegian is not the way to go.  We felt as though we were "nickel and dimmed to death", with all the "extra charges" for the "upscale restaurants" and shows!

The corkage fees for drinking a bottle of your own wine in your state room is ridiculous.  

it was a wonderful experience, the cabin was excellent, the service on board also, the restaurants excellent, excepting the 15th floor garden which was too noisy, too crowded and too far away i

, the itinerary wonderful, only disliked two of the guides of the ship cruises

ship facilities (room,food) are very good

The entertainment was in low level. some of the show were without full translation to English.

the activities in general were not so good.

See my notes below.  Rarely do I leave reviews on travel but felt this was important based on my initial expectations from traveling many other times on Cruise ships and this being the first experience on Norwegian.  My wife and I don't have kids currently and won't probably try the Norwegian line again at this time.  I gave it a poor experience based on expectations and the fact we felt like this was a Disney Cruise without the "WOW".  The destinations however were wonderful and we got to experience great cultures, food and more during this trip while off the boat.

The Preziosa is the new flagship of MSC. We had a large cabin with a balcony for three persons and it was very comfortable. The ports visited give a wonderful flavor of the Mediterranean.Embarkation and disembarkation was the smoothest I have encountered on a cruise.Steward service was not as efficient as any other cruise line I have used and in this case I paid more for a balcony cabin, Our cabin was made up at odd times and minibar was seldom restocked. Dining in the Golden Lobster was a hurried experience with a get in get out feeling and constant pressure to move out. Coffee and tea were not even served with desert if you had time to eat it. I give the cruise a favorable rating because of the condition of the ship and the ports visited but MSC will not be among the companies I choose for my next cruise..  PS: Use the stairs at peak times because the elevators are packed.

Beautiful, huge, ship. Hard to even notice when the ship is underway. Excellent condition of every part of the ship. Magnificent support from the ship's staff of 1700. The food was so good, that I gained 4 pounds during the week long cruise. Excellent, very professional entertainment shows...as good as some I have seen in Las Vegas. Very well designed cabins (except the prior occupants smoked in our cabin). Don't know general pricing of Internet access on other ships, but I consider their lowest rate of $25/day for the whole cruise... to be too pricy for me. But all in all, a magnificent experience. I would have no qualms at all to take another cruise onboard the Epic. VERY well done.

The ship is beautiful! The promenade was always busy, Central Park felt like New York in the Spring, the pool decks were full of splashing fun, it was entertaining to see people on the zip line or surfing, the dinning areas were spectacular. There was such an amazing staff. The only thing I would change is the DJ at the Blaze Night Club. He is awful!

We were pleasantly surprised with 6200 people on board, we did not felt crowded.  RCL did a good job with organization.  The Seapass card was the only thing you need on board and off the ship, it was very convenient.  The account summary, calendar on TV helped with knowing how much you spent and where you need to be, though the in remote for the TV did not work well, we had someone take a look, but we were told that was how it was.  

Also, all the advertisements about buying extra packages, with fee dining made people think if you did not do it, you were missing out.  You can totally enjoy the cruise even if you did not buy the extra packages.  you can still get coffee, tea, lemonade, ice tea.  You can also bring 2 bottles of wine per stateroom when you board to enjoy on board without cordage fee.  the main dining room food was very good, with varieties and changes everyday, really no need to pay extra for fee dining.

My wife and I just completed our European cruise on August 20th, 2015.  We had a great time!  The Allure of the Seas is a huge ship with over 5,000 guests but it never seemed crowded.  The food was the best that we have ever experienced on a cruise.  Now, we did eat in the dining room only 1 time and it was good, but the other nights we ate at the specialty restaurants - Giovanni's, Sabor, Chops Grill, and 150 Central Park - and they were outstanding!  

The ports of call were very fun as well.  We did tours through Delta Vacations for Naples, Mallorca, and Marseille and were very pleased with them.  We did a Royal Caribbean excursion to Florence and that was wonderful as well.

This is a great way to get a taste of Europe and we will likely go and do it again.  Very highly recommend.

In spite of a few mishaps, our trip went well. After cruise day 5, the drink package issue was brought to Dawn Blue's attention, which we tried to addressed. There was absolutely no type of assistance from Norwegian even after receipt of documentation we provided, which the Guest Services Manager agreed with.  Definitely no type of compensation on charges that were already incurred.  Even though, we brought this issue to their attention.  This is a first in my lifetime of traveling where spending over $24,500 for our group trip, something as simplistic as a drink package is not acknowledged.  I find it truly amazing & even more so when you do not honor charges that was incurred of $53 as well as a speciality restaurant charge of $15.  There was way too many funds spent, for something so small to become an problem.  I handled the situation  to the best of my ability without making continuous calls to just anyone which would continue to take to away the time I paid for as well as the services.  I took care of these charges and hope I can receive compensation for something so small. Disappointed with the administrationton, the guests you say you trying to take care of ... you did not!

Some ports very short time, others very boring.

I thought Allure will surprise me more as is my fourth time in Royal Carribean but first on this ship, but not so special.

This is the cruise that puts all other cruises to shame. Not only are the port destinations amazing and much sought out for its the boat and crew that make this unforgetable. I don't think I ever encountered a rude or mean crew member, on the contrary everyone was always willing to help and smiling. The boat itself is larger than life and has so many things to do. Our room was the largest I have ever stayed in. The food is something also to take note of, every meal felt very well done and planned out. Thank you for such a wonderful experience!

Some ports very short time, others very boring.

I thought Allure will surprise me more as is my fourth time in Royal Carribean but first on this ship, but not so special.

The cabin and cruise staff were very good, the food on ship and the entertainment was very good but I was very disappointed on the fact that they changed the intinary and didn't notify me.....didn't find out until we had already set sail, the cruise was chosen specifically  for its intinary and the fact that there were a few sea days between ports, to make life easy for my mother who is in a wheelchair, the new intinary didn't include villefranche or Lisbon and it was six ports in six days.....rather tiring for my mother.. The Internet was overpriced at about $40 a day and necessary items like NyQuil were being marked up by over 300%...... 

Let me tell you this was our first cruise with Cunard and our over 27 with other lines.  By far, it was one with more bad experiences.  It is a pity that although you have a pretty and comfortable ship the service has to be so, so.  Do you train your staff? By service I mean your waiters, assistants, room Stewards, Maitre D', Purser's Desk, etc, it seems no one is even teaching them how to provide these services.  We had a terrible experience with your Purser's Desk staff, we went to ask them to make a call for us to make reservation at the seafood restaurant BotaFumeiro (since I did not have my phone, I thought I lost it in Florence, Thank God I found it three days later) and the lady told us that they didn't provide those services, when I heard that I was chocked, but she did tell me I can show you how you can make a call from your room (when she said that, I almost told her, lady do you think I am stupid, but I didn't do it), then she said that it will cost us $4.50 per minute.  These type of services we got it in other cruise lines, e.g. NCL, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.  One year we were in NCL and we were going to fly to Paris to stay there a week and that was the year that Paris had the Transportation Strike, well the Purser's Desk from NCL called us and they let us know what was happening and they helped us re-arranged our trip and they did everything for us for FREE.  My other questions to the lady at the Purser's Desk was, can you print our Boarding Passes for our flight from Venice to US and once again we got the same answer from her.  Our Concierge Travel, Mr. Brian Mitchell from Luxury Cruises, was the one to advise us to go the Concierge Desk and to request the service.  We did get an answer from the Purser's Desk, they told us that in order for us to print the boarding passes, we needed to get their Internet Package.  

Our first bad experience was the first night we went to the Britannia Restaurant, Second Seating at Table 543.  When we got to our table we didn't like it and we went and told Maitre D' Thomas to help us find another table, we understood that it was the first night and that it was going to be hard for him to do it that night, but what it made us mad was that Mr. Thomas did not take any interest in helping us. We had the same experience about three years ago in the Liberty of the Seas from Royal Caribbean, however, their Maitre D' took interest right away and helped us find another table by the second day.  That was the service we were expecting from Mr. Thomas.  Every night we got to the dining room  he always had the same answer, I am sorry I don't have one for you.  However, the third  or fourth night he brought a couple to our table to see if they liked the table and of course, they said No.  We told Thomas that the second table next to ours was empty that no one was there and he said oh no they will come, well the couple assigned to that table never showed up, but he gave the table to two Asian ladies.  But the service that we received from the Waiter of Table 543 was Excellent, his name is Ivan and his assistant waiter Jose was also excellent.  We commended very highly both of them as well as Carola the Head Waiter, she should be the Maitre D' not Mr. Thomas.  Finally, the second day of our second week, Mr. Thomas gave us another table (Table 515), the Waiter Ray was good but as not as good as Ivan, however, his assistant was not good at all, Ray had to do everything.  These are small examples because I am sure you have heard these type of story from other passengers.  We did go to one of your Pay Restaurant Verandah (I hope I have the right spelling) and the service that we received from Daniella the waitress as well as from their Maitre D' Bryan was excellent and the food was spectacular.  Why can you have staff like them working at your regular restaurants.

There were many other things wrong too.  Your in cabin TV was too small compare to other cruise lines, the shower too little, your in cabin movies system was not good, in other cruise lines, they have a list of movies that you can choose from at any time. You pride yourself of being an excellent cruise line, in a way you are, but you also nickel and dime people, many things had charges attached and these bad experiences we got, we really hope that you look into them to improve your service.  Our last bad experience we received was once again, from your Purser's Desk staff.  Two nights before of our departure in Venice, my husband went to the desk and told them that our driver that we hired was going to be waiting for us outside the terminal by 7:00 AM since our flight was leaving by 10:30 AM and we had four suitcases and two carry on, the lady told my husband that he had to carry the suitcases himself and that was when my husband got really really mad and he told her, of course, when she saw him how upset he was, then she told him that she was going to send someone to our stateroom for him to carry our suitcases until the Terminal.  But the point of this incident is that she provided the service that we requested after my husband got upset, I don't think this is right.  

I won't keep boring you, but again, it is a real shame that you don't manage this ship correctly.  It is pretty, the evening shows were excellent, your afternoon tea is great, your Spa, beauty salon are very good and it could really appeal to a lot of people if you would only take a little more time to correct these problems.

However, we will have to think about it twice before we try your line again or recommend it to our family and friends.  This was a very Expense Trip  and we were not expected to have these problems.  Overall a bad experience, especially on an 12 day cruise.

Emma & Jose Sardina, Hallandale, FL, US - (954) 454-0224

Overall Norwegian Epic is a great new ship. I did like the freestyle cruising concept, my whole family enjoyed their swimming pool, food, and their activities.  

The ship was very crowded but overall we enjoyed meeting people from different countries. Maybe it was the fact that this ship actually runs 2 cruises at once with one group departing from Rome and the other departing from Barcelona which is good and bad . Also, the food quality in their different restaurants was very good.  Regarding ship staff , they were effective and friendly. I recommend this trip to everyone even the families with small kids . nice ship, great food, fair activities, overall, I have no complaints.

This is the largest ship I have ever sailed on (19 prior cruises) and I will never go this large again. NCL is getting so that one price no longer takes care of all but your beverages. There were extra fees for everything which was available, and reservations needed for the shows which are "drop-in" on all other vessels. I had an aft balcony and the view was amazing but the distances required to get anywhere were daunting. When going into port in the early morning hours the vibration and noise from the engines was incredible even on the 13th floor deck. It was impossible to use the swimming pools because of the number of people aboard. The water park was fun for the kids but it consumes a lot of space. It was not possible to find empty deck chairs. Food was marvelous, as a plus. Embarkation and debarkation were handled very well considering the number of people. Did not care for the separate bathroom configuration.