Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

My wife and I were celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary. We had never taken a cruise before, although we talked about it for years. When I booked this cruise I wanted a balcony room, but for the little bit extra I opted to get a mini suite w/balcony. It was absolutely an awesome experience. The room was more than I expected. Everyone on the ship were amazingly accomodating. I enjoyed "all the food" and it's many venues. The shore excursions were trips of a lifetime. Each city was phenomenal. The crew on the Jade were very accomodating in getting to the excursion bus and back on board. This was our first cruise and the staff totally took away our anxioties in a very short time. We will do this again! 

I've been on several cruises with different companies and Costa is the worst experience I've ever had.

When food was available, which was extremeley limited in it's hours, it was nearly uneatable. There were times when I wandered around the ship looking for something to eat other than what they called Pizza to be available. The food in the dining area was so aweful we couldn't eat it on some evenings.

The most memorable thing about this cruise were the other passengers.  I met people from so many different nations.  I talked with people from many European nations, from several American countries, from Asian nations, Austalians, New Zelanders, and Pacific Islanders.The people were all so lovely and easy to talk to, even if we didn't share the same language.  Further more the staff was friendly, and very competent. 

I travel, mostly, to visit the world and to learn about the history and culture of the places I visit.  I find that cruising is a way to do that in a short span of time and at a reasonable price.  The places we visited took me back generations as we explored ancient ruins as well as to present times as we shopped in today's cities. 

1. Food poor

2. Communications with crew almost non exsistant

3. Tours very poor

4. Shows poor because of language problems

5. Of the 15 cruises my wife and I have taken, this was the worst

I could go on, but I think you get the idea

This was our first cruise and although the Liberty of the seas was  beautiful we found the whole experience not as expected. For gold card holders with a suite we expected a lot more than we got, there was a lack of information for first time cruisers and most of the information we obtained was from other passengers that had cruised before or our housemaid who I have to say was superb. The gratuities added on to each bill was a bit much we thought and even in the Spa where I personally had a lot of treatment, one gratuity was over $400 for a particular treatment which I thought was quite a lot as I had also tipped all the staff quite generously. Would we cruise with Royal Carribean again, probably not, a very exspensive vacation with not a lot of good times  to remember.

Good cruise, good food, friendly staff - but unfortenately, smoking is aloud in serveral restaurants, bars, on the main deck etc. This was very disturbing, since the entire ship smells of smoke!!!

The animation on the sun deck with super-intelligent games (???) is just way too loud and unnecessary. You may hardly conversate.

A cruise also is for relaxation and enjoying the beauty of the sea - and not just party alone.

It was very nice ship the Epic.

I do like insid of intrio as most place, especial the mini suite as we staid

with my two of niecs they real like it. 

I am cruises most 2 times a year of  noewegian and royal caribbiean,celebrity

most ship is very friendly but not Epic .... little  disappoint to say.

 I love EPIC,,  I hope I can see nice a smiling face next time.   KS

Having a living room meeting place for solos was so helpful. Our expert leader made dining together easy.  I also had great assistance from the service desk. A nice young lady (sorry not to have gotten her name) when above and beyong to call Delta to insure I had assistance thru the airport.  Instructions were clear and disembarking went smoothly.

Everything went smoothly.  Organized from checking in to checking out.   Super cool  crew, great food.      The only complain is there's a bar that they have somebody playing music everynight where customers can dance with the music,   unfortunately they let children on the dance floor near the bar.   It  would have been 5 star without this issue.

A typical cruise, bUt excursions were challenging.  You just can't see much with your time.  Too much time spent on the bus to get from point a to b.  They shouldn't  really book multiple city tours on one excursion.  Too much traffic and not enough bathroom to accommodate all the tourists.  The cities are flooded with thousands dog people at once with the big ships!

My husband and I just got back from the Western Carribean on the Epic. Amazing trip.first, let me say you never felt that there were almost 7,000 passengers and crew on board. The staff was professional, accomendating, and very friendly thruout the trip. The excursions were amazing thru Cruises only. They were organized and very prompt. We were always brought back to the ship in a timely fashion with no worries of missing the boat. Our balcony room 9181 was great and had so many beautiful views. From the entertainment to the socializing we never felt bored. So many things to do... The food was good but, to be honest have had better on other ships. Embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly. The crew was always very organized and visible if you had any questions. Again, had an amazing time. We sailed from Barcelona round trip and would definitely consider this trip again..

Had a wonderful time. Loved our stateroom and the ship- lots of areas to spread out. We felt like the areas you had to pay extra for were used by very few people and a waste of space (pay extra hot tub and verandas)-poor idea!  We had 12 of us and we enjoyed so much  other than at dinner we had to split up as they only had tables as large as 10. We really wanted to stay together. The shore excursions were good but not as good as booking through private excursions.The food was delicious especially breakfast and dinner choices. We came in late from shore excursions and several times found all food stations closed down. It would be nice to have alittle available (soups, salad). All in all a great trip!

As a lot of cruisers are seniors or nearly seniors, I highly recommend that you reinstate the trays in the lido.  I'm talking smaller trays that would accompany a plate and a beverage with a well for the beverage.  As people age, the tendency is to becomes less balanced and also the wrists become weaker making it more difficult to carry heavy plates.  Also, there is a severe problems with going back and forth for food, beverages and water, therefore, making the hot itmes cold.  I know your reasoning and I wholly agree about rhe food waste which is prohibitive. However, on this cruise there were many instances when the food bins were not refilled and many times when there was no bread at all.  The people serving as so busy and there are so few of them that they just don't have time to refill items in a timely fashion.  

If you consider yourselves on the luxury side of cruising, you certainly are not living up to thata reputation.   So many things have been eliminated and cut entirely that you are certainly not the once proud line you used to be.  The dining service was etremely slow in that it took over 2 hours to finish a meal.  The portions are much smaller and not as tasty as they used to be.  In one year, I've seen very dramatic changes.  I know that change is inevitable but there are some places that your cuts are way too extreme.

Please rethink some of the changes especially the tray situation in the lido.  This would make idining there more pleasurable and creating less havoc and congestion.  You have very fine vessels so please reconsider some of the cuts and make changes that would make sailing with Holland a  much more  pleasurable experience.

We were really disappointed with our recent cruise on Costa Fortuna.  The ship was fine and the staff was very nice (mostly) but the other cruisers were extremely rude.  They say Americans are rude - well next to the passengers on this cruise we are absolutely the nicest people on earth.

This was our first time to Europe so the atmostphere on the boat really put a damper on our vacation.

We were also surprised to note that at dinner time, there is only the main dining room or the resturant that you have to pay for.  The buffet was not an option.  Also the only thing available late at night was pizza NOTHING ELSE!

I guess that's all I have to say about it except that Costa should not market to Americans.

WE just got back from our 1 week cruise thru the Westerm Mediterranean. Needless to say we had a wonderful time. I have sailed many ships and this was our 3rd MSC Cruise.  The yacht club was such a unique experience that when we came home I tried to find a MSC Yacht Club to the Baltic seas. We where treated special from the time we arrived at port to the time that we dis-embarked at the end of the trip. Pir dining experience was superb. I would do it ll over again, Great value for what you recieved. If that same class of service was on another ship the cost would be 3xs as much.

We were kind of excited when we enter the cruise line as we always been looking forward to this cruise. Throughout the cruise, we were quite satisfied with the ship crew, their service, their attitude and their friendliness. All the cruises we took, we were quite satisfied with the food . However, with this particular cruise we were very disappointed with the menu on both the buffet and the dinner. I think we don't have to avail ourselves and pay more for the specialty restaurants to eat good and special dishes which were available in other cruiselines.We likewise, surmised that the entertainment you had was quite mediocre. There was only one act every night, there used to be three or more acts before plus some of the performers were boring.Overall, the only saving grace were the excursions we purchased, otherwise, we will consider this cruise a great waste of our money.

We had a great time on our Carnival Cruise. The room was great and the itinerary

was fantastic. I would recommend this trip to people with high energy and a zest for travel!

It's hard to choose a favorite spot, the entire experience was eye opening,  historical, and beautiful.  Here's a view of Barcelona, the old with the new shows how diverse this city is and it was the beginning and end of a great adventure.  

Loved the free style cruising. My wife and I had our own table next to a window most nights. We were taken care of by great people. 1st oops, we have cruised on Royal Caribbean 4 times and one night we didn't have the same waiter twice and when it came time to get dessert or a second drink no one was around to serve us. Had it been on RC we would have know who to get ahold of. Very unhappy that night. Our excursions were booked through Cruise.Com and they were great. Small manageable group with great guides. Fantastic. Airfare, what a disaster. I didn't like having to wait till so late to fine out what our schedule was. Delta was most unhelpful. In either direction from Atlanta to Rome and back did they seat my wife and I together. We were left to negotiate with other pax to get seats next to each other. I hate Delta now and if we are to do it again we will book our own seats. Delta really ruined the start and end to our vacation.

10 dollars for a glass of Meridian Chardonnay. Bad food and crowds in the free restuarants. Sky high excursion prices. Too many kids and too much noise. The food in the Cirque de Soliel show was awful. Other than those items, ship was very nice. Adult pool was nice to get away from the kids. Better food in the restuarants that you pay for. Won't go on this cruise line again. Price for the cruise was low but everything adds up fast. And the cabins are tiny.