Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

The boat was clean and nicely appointed. The buffet was disappointing in its variety and quality for all meals. The orange juice was terrible and tasted very artificial. The Black Crab was good for dinner. Our waiter, Jerry, was very accommodating. The waitstaff had trouble taking drink orders -- if it wasn't a daiquiri or Rum and coke the staff had difficult understanding the order. Language barrier. Breakfast at the Black Crab was disappointing. It took a long time to get a simple glass of water. Many times the waitstaff didn't understand what we wanted -language barrier. We could not get maple syrup at one breakfast. 

We did not like being charged for gelato when the "self-serve" ice cream was frequently unavailable/ran out and only available for a very short time during the day.

Daily newsletters said we had to carry out passports at each port. Why were we required to carry our passports when disembarking when we were never asked to produce them upon embarkation at each port?! 

Daily newsletters should be delivered BEFORE evening so we can plan earlier for the next day.

I never write reviews, but feel the need to do so this time. To keep it straight and to the point, here are the pros and cons. 

Pros- Ports of call, clean ship, big cabin with balcony 

Cons- FOOD is AWFUL, early morning announcements on loud speaker in at least 4-5 different languages, back of ship loud when coming into port, infinity pool drains heavily at times over onto balconies along back of ship where we stayed, wait staff can be RUDE, entertainment super cruise ship awful 

Would never sail with this cruise line again. 

This was a highly enjoyable cruise. We really have nothing to complain about. We took the transfers...which were great...and were pampered from being met at the airport to embarkation and to the cruise itself. The Mediterranean is one of our favorite places to visit and we had a delightful balcony cabin that was conveniently mid ship. The crew did all they could to please us. The ports of call were beautiful and the excursions were well done too. We found the food fine so we really did not eat in the specialty dining rooms.  We will have to try that next time. Princess took good care of us. All -in -all it was a fine week that went by too fast.

Our Epic cruise began July 1 in Rome and ended there on July 8. The massive ship (world's fifth largest) is operated with remarkable efficiency considering it can hold 5100 people which it came close to on our voyage. The ship embarks and disembarks in both Rome and Barcelona, which enables passengers a quick entry or exit in whichever port they choose. In other words, 5000 people are not doing the same thing at the same time. Barcelona embarks about 2/3 of the guests on average. It is a beautiful and well organized vessel. There are plenty of dining options and so as to make eating as peaceful as possible. On days at sea however, one feels the enormity of the guest list. 

The food was the most mediocre we have ever experienced on a cruise ship which is no surprise considering how many people need feeding at all different times. This was our 18th cruise by the way.The speciality restaurants weren't much better than the main dining rooms with the exception of Cagney's Steakhouse. 

The entire staff was wonderful, remembering our names and preferences and always greeting us with a smile. Considering most are on board 9 months at a time, we found this remarkable.

The pools are small, crowded and noisy. Why can't cruise ships offer decent pools? The adult pool was the size of a hot tub, and the water was not refreshing. There were plenty of lounge chairs, although most had no shade protection. As this was a summer cruise, kids were everywhere. If you are considering taking a summer trip on Epic, be prepared to spend a week with a lot of other people's families. Peace is hard to find.

Our mini suite with balcony was wonderful. A tremendous use of space with tons of storage. Brilliant design. The divided bathroom might put some people off in terms of privacy, but we have been married 17 years, so privacy is not a priority. The bed was quite short, and we are average heights, but the bedding was very comfortable.

We found little to do after dinner except gamble. Many evening adult activities are by reservation, and we didn't want to feel tied down. We wished for more adult-only nightclubs for dancing. This was our biggest complaint.

The Epic is going into dry dock in Fall for a month for upgrades and general service. It will come back even more attractive and perfect for those who can tolerate the goods and bads of a small, floating city.

Since the towns at each port were so far away there should have been free shuttles. Most of the excursions were so long that you could only participate in one per port.

Trip of a lifetime!  Great experience.

Beautiful boat with exceptional amenities.

Our only suggestions would be:

1.  H2O adult area needs to remain adult-only to later than 6pm.  Understand the need for family movie time, but movies didn't start until 7:30 for the most part.

2.  H2O area would be stripped of lounge chairs, beginning around 6pm.  Floor area surely needs this, but the upper levels should remain untouched as many passengers wanted to continue "lounging" well past 6pm.

3.  Should offer a wider selection of food options around the clock.  The Irish/Scottish bar is inadequate for late in the nights.

4.  Need more comedy acts.

Really, it's just little things mentioned in the suggestions ... but the little things can go a long way.

I have to admit that I was reluctant to cruise on Allure of the Seas as I rather prefer to cruise with smaller ship (2000 to 2800 passengers is generally what I chose)

After this cruise, I still prefer smaller ships but I have to admit that Allure is amazing and that I had a very good time. The quality of the entertainment was just impressive and all amenities were great.

The crew was very nice and the service was good.

What I found specially positive is that almost all parts of the ship are accessible to disabled persons. Such big ship do welcome complete families and it's the perfect opportunity for a real family vacation with a disabled kid, parent or grand-parent. I was impressed to see how nice and helpful the crew was in such circumstances.

I would definitely recommend this cruise.

Kind regards

The ship and ports of call were perfect.  Our only concern was that we didn't have time to explore each stop as thoroughly as we would have liked, but that is of no fault of the cruise line.  We would recommend this cruise.

My wife and I went on this cruise to celebrate our 15 year anniversary. We could not have asked for a better experience. The service was the most attentive we have seen in our 3 previous cruises. We are now Celebrity Cruises for life after this cruise. The food was exceptional and the ports were outstanding. If there were two items I would have asked for is a greater selection of draft beers and slightly better shows. There is a ton of bottled beer from a variety of locations but I am partial to draft beer. The entertainment was good but I have experienced better on other cruises, including Celebrity. Outside of those two minor items, very happy with our cruise.

Everything went so incredibly smooth on this cruise - from check in to all of the excursions and activities to beautiful dinners and finally easily checking out.  It may be the biggest cruise ship right now but they have designed it so well that you don't feel like you are overwhelmed with people.  I love that people can get on in both Rome and Barcelona which makes getting on and off so easy.  The rooms were just beautiful and much more spacious than we were expecting.  We loved our port side balcony rooms so much.  The food and the décor were just beautiful and of course the service is top notch.  The personnel go out of their way to make sure you have a fabulous experience and many knew our names throughout our stay. 

Great ship but cruise was marred by bad cooperate departure information. I felt that being a diamond member would get me better service. We are left with a bad taste  as a result. Hopefully some action  will occur.

The cruise was everything! The unlimited beverage and dining packages should definitely be purchased. The specialty restaurants were fun and different and were just enough to eat something different every night. Get up and out early once you hit the Roma port! You have to catch a train, which is about 1:10 hour long ride to get to Rome/Vatican and then make sure you make it back in time for the last ride to the ship!! We did the Pisa Tour/Tuscan wine & lunch excursion which was fantastic. The food was awesome! Didn't have enough time to get into any of the Pisa highlights, long wait lines, but walking around taking pictures was fun. The suite was nice, The Haven was nicer!! Definitely will be our next choice.

OMG!!! What a ship. What a room. Entertainment was fantastic. Dining WoW. The customer satisfaction of the people the worked there was phenominal. Can't wait till next year to do it again.

This was the worst experience far as dinner.  Twice I did not get my food ordered.  My wife asked for simple coke everybody got second round of their drinks and we had to argue for it.   We went to enjoy our vacation but this was horrible experience.

When we went on our cruise the staff was excellent.  They went above and beyond to make sure we were well taken care of.  Our housekeeper did a great job cleaning the room and making checking back to make sure we didn't need anything.  All the staff made sure our every need was met.  They worked very hard to ensure that we felt pampered on our vacation.

este crucero es mejor de lo que las criticas dicen, fuimos a ITALIA DESDE BARCELONA, IAS COMIDAS ESTAN MUY BIEN, TODO LIMPIO, , BASTANTE BUEN SERVICIO, ESPACIOSO, UN POCO CARO, LO RECOMIENDO POR QUE NO TEDA 7 DIAS PARA DISFRUTAR EL BARCO....

This cruise is must for the entire family! We enjoyed the ship, food and all ports visited. I would recommend this cruise to anyone who enjoys having fun, visiting foreign counties and trying new foods.

My extended family of 13 had the most wonderful time celebrating my parents 50th Anniversary on Norwegian Epic in the Mediterranean. The Norwegian staff is amazing, area able to see assist with every need, and help to make the trip the easiest vacation one could have. I highly recommend Norwegian Cruise Line.

I've been on much better cruise lines. We had to pay for everything (even water) and the food was subpar. Marseille France and Olbia Sardinia were the worst ports. There was absolutely nothing to do their. Limited entertainment. Average age of guest was 70. Overall, we had to make our own fun (on and off the boat).

From getting on board to the first site of our balcony suite we didn't look back . We were seated with interesting companions & the waiters + their supervisors looked after our needs with excellence .. The room sparkled & remained so throughout the trip .  The buffet & STAFF were on constant guard to keep us happy ,without clutter. The off ship encounters were very well organized & we were able to make the most of our precious time . 

WELL DONE  WITH  MANY THANKS to the team .