Europe Cruise Reviews

All in all, it was pretty good. Like I said, the first few days were fairly rocky, albeit with some high points, but we were by no means alone in our frustration and anger at shore excursions, food quality, and staff who seemed clueless. Many people we spoke with agreed that it felt like a shakeout cruise, and we were all guinea pigs. But by the fifth or sixth day, things improved dramatically (at least for us -- we heard some people were very upset about a botched schedule with shore excursions in Bergen). I think once Viking gets a little more experience doing ocean cruises, and has done this itinerary more than a couple of times, things will go much more smoothly for future passengers. One thing for sure -- they are willing to learn from mistakes/complaints and fix things on the fly. The assistant restaurant manager even sought us out at lunch one day to thank us for our comments on the food and to assure us that they were taking all comments seriously.

Cruise was great, but the pre-cruise excursion to Iceland was not worth the money. Viking should have planned an excursion of some sort on the day we all arrived and made arrangements for us to get into our rooms early. We sat in the hotel lobby for over 6 hours with nothing to do until we were finally allowed into our rooms. Most of us had traveled overnight and were extremely tired.

Staying in the Haven made this cruise great. Otherwise, would have been horrible fighting the lines for meals and entertainment options. Gratuity policy needs work. We prepaid the gratuities which are higher in the Haven, thinking it was done, but then there are add on gratuities for specialty restaurants, wine, and some service staff that are not included in the prepaid gratuities. This is wrong. Gratuities should not be mandatory, and when they are, there should not be more on top of it.

This was a wonderful cruise and we had a great time. Even in summer, the UK and Ireland can be cloudy, damp, and chilly--pack accordingly, and if you have a balcony realize you may not use it much.

This was a wonderful family cruise, and was everything we were hoping for. We loved all of it. Luckily we booked our specialty dining the day we embarked, otherwise, I think we would been out of luck. Everything booked up really fast for times before 8:30 pm.

Ports were great, but the ship itself was not nearly as nice as other ships we have been on. Also, the WiFi was the worst we have ever experienced on a ship. Go for the ports and realize the ship is just the means to get to great places.

Great first cruise with beautiful ports, plus we enjoyed Rome before and after the cruise. We learned a lot of little things that will make any future cruise experiences even more enjoyable.

A fine cruise and tour on an excellent cruise line. This was our second cruise on Oceania...The first, last year was to the Mediterranean where we had much better whether and could use the ship's outdoor pool and other outside facilities.

This was one of the best cruises we have taken. The staff, amenities and food were outstanding. I did not have such high expectations because I generally enjoy small cruise ships, but Celebrity knows how to make its guests feel well taken care of and special. Thank you Celebrity!!!

We really enjoyed this cruise. Stockholm and ST. Petersburg are two best cities to visit. The cruise ship was so big with so many people, it was amazing that we didn't feel crowded until we had meals at the Ocean Cafe, the buffets.

Beautiful ship, good food, and nice wait staff apart from our cabin housekeeper. Shady management, refusing to accommodate prior promises. Rip off of an art gallery. Would not go back with celebrity.

Overall a great cruise experience - the quality of food lived up its hype of Oceania. Most of the food I had were excellent, although the grand dining room is a bit disappointing. The ports we visited were interesting, and especially St. Petersburg which is absolutely beautiful.

The size of the ship is nice as you have no long lines and the service was wonderful. Food was well prepared and presented. Balconies to the rooms were very disappointing but the cabin size was good. Activities were poor and excursions excessively expensive but the ports of call were just fabulous.

I don't know if it is just this particular sailing, but this ship is not for the under 55 crowd. I knew from the passenger profile, that it wasn't for the young, but was surprised to see how elderly most people were. No interesting on-board activities or entertainment. The staff in general, did not seem too eager to please. Had better experience in other cruise ships, so it is not likely that my husband and I will return to Oceania.

We did back to back cruises to the Baltics and then the British Isles which is the one we were most excited about and we were not disappointed. It was a great cruise to some wonderful ports.

It would have been better if time at many Baltic ports were longer, ie arrive early and leave by 6 or 7 PM. Further more, aiming to make onboard internet work better would help. The basic service I first took on was very slow, you really need to get the high speed service to do most simple things. Otherwise very good experience.

Overall, we really loved our cruise and this cruise line. However, it is very pricey and not a great choice for kids under 12 or so. The experience is 1st class all the way, especially the food and service.

The cruise was ok. My favorite part was the large casino with plenty table games and the solo lounge. The entertainment was just ok. The parts I disliked the most was the lack of availability of food. There were very limited afternoon and late night offerings for food. Also, they charge for room service even when there are no alternatives. There are also no late night adult activities.

The restaurants were all great in terms of food and service. The rooms were cleaned well and the staff was generally helpful and friendly. We enjoyed the shows.  The buffet area was always extremely crowded. Maybe 2 buffets in different areas?  Unfortunately two people in our party became very sick for a couple of days despite being healthy upon arriving. 

The itinerary was good, although I probably would have preferred Lithuania over Helsinki. Tallin and St. Petersburg were outstanding. Also, instead of cruising back so slowly on the last day, maybe we could have seen some fjords or something beautiful instead.

The ship staff is helpful. There are many details in a ship that is tired although the staff tries to be prompt in responding to feedback. For example, phone was dirty in room but as soon as I mentioned it, the attendant took care of it and did a fine job cleaning it. We had an unpleasant experience with food at Giovanni's but the manager went out of his way to make sure everything was corrected. The only detail that I did not appreciate, was booking a balcony cabin, only to find out that it had an obstructed view. They need to do a better job of informing passengers what they are getting.