Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

The experience was excellent. The ship kept to its itinerary. The ride was smooth.

overall great service!

It looked clean and inviting.

It was a nice ship and we would problably use this ship again, but not through unless somthing is done about the tour we booked. We have already booked another cruise this month, but not through you. We have five more in tne next two to three years.

great way for an overview tour of Europe. Were not impressed with the on-shore excursions, much more fun, efficient to do it yourself.

The Epic is big and shiny and new, and I felt like I was paying for it! Seems like everything had an associated fee, and it really bothers me that to get specialty items at least one dinner(I.e. Lobster or crab) I have to pay extra. The food was just average everywhere else, internet was extremely expensive as were movie rentals. Cabin was smaller that other Norwegian balconies, overall it was a disappointment. Hostess yelled at other staff members right in front of us at cirque dreams and dinner.

Holland American is a beautiful, tastefully decorated, well appointed ship- all of the food, services and activities were of the highest quality... we were comfortable from the first day... the excursion information was exceptionally well prepared... the ship was small enough to feel intimite- but had enough options for activities so we were never bored... the library, gym and pool areas were well designed. thank you for a wonderful trip.

Over all the ship was fine. The food was mediocre, The staff was nice enough just not very polished. The ship had areas that needed a little attention in terms of paint and repair.

It is an amazing ship with excellent and ample facilities to ensure entertainment. Extremely clean and well maintained by a very friendly, competent and hard working staff. The cruise offered a good variety of locations and environments and plenty of activities. Great experience, worth recommending and repeating.

The overall cruise was great but the smoking issues I mentioned and the steakhouse experience could have been better.

It was a great time, the buffet on the ship though is not very good. Food was bland and the same stuff everyday

The ship is beautiful filled with plenty of places to hear different types of music and to relax.

The ship was wonderful. The service was second to none. I can't wait to book another cruise.

The ship was wonderful. It was extremely clean and well maintained. Lots of onboard activities and lots of great food. The kids really enjoyed the ship and didn't want to get off to go see any of the ports. We had to convince them to leave the ship every day.

This was our first cruise: husband, my parents and myself. Chose a non-American cruise line for more European experience, which was fine. The only caveat to that choice is if you don't speak fluent Italian it is hard to meet other cruisers. But all staff spoke English and was very accomodating and pleasant. Itineray was great, the only day we did not go into port was at Tunisia - no thanks :-) Food was fine, I have heard all cruise lines have mediocre food unless you spend a lot of money and choose a true luxury line. But for the price of the cruise the food was just fine and we never went hungry. Drink prices were very reasonable - we are heavy drinkers when on vacation and spent significantly less than original estimates and never questioned whether or not we should skip an alcoholic beverage because we thought it was too pricey. The only issue as mentioned above is that all the public rooms closed at 1 AM - now there was a slightly older (average) crowd and sometimes we arrived at ports around 8 AM but my husband and I are in our 30s and if on vacation we plan on staying out some nights after 1 AM. We closed the pubs on more than one occasion so if you are like us you may find the same issue. If you like to gamble this is not the cruise ship for you (unless you just play slots). They only had 1 blackjack table, 2 roulette tables and NO POKER! We became as friendly as one can get with one of the dealers and he said if you like to gamble this was not the choice. We are not heavy gamblers but went into the casino 3-4 nights out of the 7 and didn't stay long. Again, not a big deal to us but thought it was worth noting for others. Would have like a little more time in the ports, the longest we had was 8 hours. But we knew that when we booked. As mentioned, the ports were beautiful overall and there were plenty of ship excursions available. Hubby and I chose to skip excursions but my parents took 3 and said they fully enjoyed them all. They are great because the ship waits for the excursions and leaves much less to worry about in terms of getting back in time for departure. This was our preference not to spend the money on the excursions but if you choose this route DEFINITELY research the ports in depth, including public transportation options and what sites you want to see ahead of time. Most ports had taxis - I fully recommend this even though they typically are the most expensive option because the taxi drivers mostly speak English and know where to go. Finding the correct bus routes and/or subway lines you need may be hard and time consuming if you don't speak the language and you could end up wasting time going the wrong way. Of course several of the ports you could just get off and walk around the city or the cruise line had a shuttle bus (for a fee) to the city center, which was nice because they take you right in and back easily. One thing I must mention is if you embark at Civitavecchia be very careful if taking the train from the airport and transferring at Travastere train station. We were standing all together and a group of men caught our attention by throwing some kind of liquid on us then slashed my purse strap and took off. I was told this is known to be a very dangerous train station and it happens all the time. These are professionals who probably run this routine daily so please just hold on tight to your bags and keep passports and other important things in your pockets or somewhere safe. I read many many reviews before choosing this cruise - some good and some bad, overall very mixed. My entire party fully enjoyed our cruise and would consider this line again if we wanted a European destination. Again, we were a little disappointed in the average age of the crowd but were very happy with the service and product overall. Thank you for reading my review and enjoy your next cruise!

we were very disappointed. we sailed on the norwegian dawn and so we tried this new one the epic. we think they made the ship larger to fit more stateroom the public spaces were the same as a smaller ship ..the design fo the state room was awful the steward had to go thru the bathroom to bring in a tray while i was in the shower there was no closet space and every time i went for coffee i hit my head on the cabinet this room was supposed to fit 4 people it didnt ...very disappointed

We sailed NCL Epic out of Barcelona, Spain. The ports we visited were Florence, Rome, Naples, and Palma. Overall we enjoyed our cruise mostly because we traveled with our parents and enjoyed watching them enjoy themselves! I had expected more from such a new and large ship but was a bit disappointed. The cabins were tiny and we had a Family Balcony. I cannot imagine more than two people in our cabin! The food was average, a bit above hotel food in my opinion. There are too many extra charge restaurants which seemed to make the dining rooms crowded. The best food we had was in Rome while ashore. We only saw our room steward twice in 7 days. The shows were good, we enjoyed the 3 we attended. I would not seek another NCL cruise but if the time, ports and price were perfect I would cruise NCL again; now that I know what to expect!

Wonderful service, excellent excursions on shores, beautiful sceneries, good cruise and staffes. need to improve on foods

The ship is amazing and the stops on the cruise were great. There is so much to do on the ship. The crew and staff are polite and nice as we would expect on a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Beautiful ship, great staff and easy to get around.