Europe Cruise Reviews

Everything was well organized! The staff was very supportive and attentive and helpful and friendly. Food was decent!

But, I think there are several aspects to be improved.

1. when we checked in, the cruise staff sat with chairs but all guests had to stand outside. Some guests were very senior and not convenient to write when standing or bending down. Why did you put chairs for guests? The guest relationship desk was the same. Chairs for staff but no chairs for guests.

2. Sicily tours were very boring. If we could take the cable to view the volcano, it would be interesting. But, the tour did not include the cable and we were not given sufficient time to take the cable by ourselves. It was pity.

3. Santorini is good stop but why no cable ticket? it should be included.

Nothing is perfect. The cruise was good as we expected. 

The ship has too many narrow areas causing congestion, way too many people, some ports and destinations promised then failed to meet (Berlin, Estonia, Stockholm port),  I have sailed on many cruises on NCL and other ship lines for a dozen years, and this ship is by far one of the worst.

The bright spot was that St. Petersburg was awesome!! 

The staff is wonderful and very attentive to making a very large number of passengers engaged and entertained. All of the performances in the main theater were outstanding! Burn the Floor and Million Dollar Quartet were fantastic.

unfortunately the Ship personnel failed miserably in regards to port experiences. In warnemunde 3000 passengers waited over an hour to re-board the ship. The port of Tallinn was skipped entirely due to alleged bad weather but smaller cruise ships got into all the ports on the schedule. The cruise line failed to advise the 4000 passengers about the 1 hour 20 minute wait time to pass through Russian passport control. The cruise line, without explanation, changed the Stockholm port to Nydaham port, which is over 1 hour away from Stockholm by bus. The Hop On Hop Off excursion promoted by the cruise ship was a nightmare due to horrendous traffic throughout Stockholm.

The food was very good in all three main dining rooms, as well as the Garden Cafe buffet. The specialty restaurants were all outstanding, and Le Bistro, the French restaurant magnificent.

The ship, staff, and food were quite good.  First issue is the choice of ports.  Warnemunde port is so tight that a decent wind prevented us from docking, so we were not able to see Berlin or Tallinn,Estonia.  Perhaps there's an alternative Germany port with less risk?  The Sweden port was moved much further from Stockholm (for the same reason?), so we only got to spend 4 hours in Stockholm due to the drive.  I recommend that they change this to a single day in Russia... would prefer more time in Sweden or Germany.

NCL is not much for activities and entertainment compared to some other lines, but there was a good magic show on final night, and some funny dance competitions with cruisers.

The Fjords, cities and Norwegian countryside are beautiful.  This is the best of Norway on a fantastic, new ship. 

Being a new ship, the climate control in the cabin works well and the rooms are well insulated so there are few noises other than the toilet flushing.  The television could use more development.  The initial volume level is scary and the channel selection is sparse.

this is just a test review. pls ignore for now as its a test

My favorite part was being able to see and do so many things in so many countries.    Favorite excursions included light house tour in Denmark, kayaking in Norway, Hermitage Museum Impressionist art in St. Petersburg, and cycling in Estonia.   I would not recommend the Famous Helsinki Ice Bar in Helsinki.

The service on the ship was phenomenal!  It never felt like there were 900 people on board.   There is plenty of space for relaxing alone-- it never felt crowded.   Excursions were well planned.   

I would definitely recommend Viking.

Yes will recomend service was great and staff even better from waiters to room stwardest all great! Shows were fantastic and ports of call even better my third Norwegian cruise and love it

The favorite part of the cruise was the shows and I think his name was Vincent he would always say "see you when I see you".

My girlfriends and did a tour everyday except for Friday because we were out to sea.  Really enjoyed learning about the different cultures.

This was my first cruise ever and I was so happy that I had my very own cabin.

The Shore Excursions were very well done.  We had a large family group of 11 so we were able to have private tours.

Improvements could be made with the photography services.  We were not able to get any of our pictures on a CD.

With the exception of a couple things, I would have to say the Epic mostly, sometimes, occasionally lives up to it's name. 

First off, this was the easiest ship I have ever boarded, taking only a few minutes to get from the front door to the ship, well done there NCL, getting off the ship was just as easy. 

It's a simply gorgeous ship, and complemented the other two Norwegian ships I have been on (The Pearl and The Sky), however the lifeboats nearly block the entire view from the deck with the running track/ deck games. We found two small ( 8ft or so) deck area where one could watch the waves, and on the other ships I have been on, that was a favorite activity for me.

Our room was unique as we were place in one of the easy accessibility rooms for those with handicapps. (which we do not). I inquired if the room was needed for someone else as I saw many more folks in wheel chairs and scooters this cruise than any before, but was assured  they were all accommodated.  if you get the chance to get one of the easy accessibility rooms.. do it... They are much larger  than normal rooms, have very large showers. The door is a pain, because it opens / closes automatically, and if you open it, then close it manually, it will open/ close again.  Small price for the extra space however.

We did have an issue with the safe, and had to have someone come look at it, however that person said it was a bad battery and had to call a security officer to the room, only to have the security officer grill me on why he was called when it was not a battery issue.  He was probably on the later stages of his tour on the ship and ready to head home ( this seemed to be a re-occurring theme for staff that were tired and grumpy)

As with all cruises we have been on, one or two staff members stood out as extremely helpful, friendly and this cruise was no exception. 'Mark' our waiter in both the main dining rooms  across the duration of the cruise was wonderful, in addition we had a couple other staff that  remembered who were were ( and what we drink !), unfortunately I did not remember their names.  That being said, we found a lot, I mean a LOT of staffers that were unhappy. It became a running joke that the staff in O'Sheehans is where they put any of the wait staff that is grumpy. I remember our first cruise with Norwegian, Every staff member was happy, friendly and smiling, however each cruise since then we have seen fewer and fewer smiles, and this cruise was no different.  With the exception of Mark, the two other waitresses that served my wife and remembered her name, and our stewards who were terrific, and the cruise director Scott who wore what appeared to me as the same fake smile all trip, I don't recall seeing any of the actual cruise staff smiling, something we noted several times.  

The last issue I have with this cruise is a specific event that happened that really bothers me. 10Pm in one of the bards watching Howl at the Moon and the family that was sitting next to me leaves, except for the 10-12 year old they left behind sitting next to me. Don't get me wrong the kid was well behaved, and enjoying the show, and I don't have a problem with the kid being there with his parents, but leaving him in a bar by himself seems to me to be a problem waiting to happen. When I made of note of it to the bartender, I was told ( rather rudely in fact) it wasn't an issue and to go sit back down. And afterwards when I was speaking to one of the officers about it, I was told that entertainment areas are open to children, so they can go anywhere ( except  the Bliss nightclub), and even the Spice deck (adult only during the day) becomes a teen dance floor at 8:00 PM..

I believe this is all a result of what appears to be a Norwegian push to change the clientele of it's cruises. It used to be Cruise Like a Norwegian.. now it's cruise like everyone else. I had purchased the 4 deposits on additional cruises at the front end of the cruise, but by then end, I was ready to get that refunded as I am not sure NCL is the right cruise line for me anymore. 

We had a great cruise experience. Our room attendant, Ralph, was extremely pleasant and kept our room looking great. The cruise director, Mercedes, was awesome. We loved the various shows and her sense of humor. 

Our only complaint was about the food, especially in the dining room. It was well below expectations in quality and the service was poor. We gave up on the dining room after a few days, as the food was not worth the long wait each night. 

We enjoyed all aspects of the cruise. The ship was somewhat dated but clean and the service in all areas was exceptional. The food was decent but not outstanding and the coffee available in the free dining areas was not very good. One night in the main dining room the coffee was undrinkable. Over all, we were pleased with the destinations and ship and we particularly enjoyed the special membership to the spa that was limited to only 60 people. It was quiet and relaxing and free of the hub bub found in the general pool and hot tub areas. We have signed up for 2 additional cruises in 2018.

My favorite part of the cruise was probably the ship itself.  The crew and the entertainment were great.   The food was good everywhere - who could complain with sushi and crablegs on the buffet every single night.   Some of the tours were not up to expectations - especially The Hermitage in St. Petersburg.   Not sure where they took us but it was NOT the main part of the Hermitage and was extremely disappointing.   A few of the tours had no free time for shopping or exploring on your own and some were a little unorganized.  Overall the cruise was wonderful, but I would not recommend it to anyone under the age of 60.  The average age was older than I expected.

The cruise was very good overall, however there were a few disappointing experiences. The food, crew staff and rooms were great. However, the communication with the passengers was deficient.

The night before we arrived at Cannes we went to the excursion desk to get information on what to do in Cannes since we hadn't booked an excursion for this city. The response from the person attending the desk was: "Well, if you didn't book an excursion with us you are on your own". I then went to Guest Services to find our more information and on what deck to disembark and I was told we were not docking, we had to use a tenner and make a reservation. I was surprised and asked what a tenner was, since we had never used one before. They explained they were the small safety boat s and we had to make a reservation. By that time, they were by the letter S, so I asked how many tenders will be transporting passengers and how long it would take. The lady at the desk responded, we will have two going back and forth every 15 min approximately. They I said, that is going to take a long time, how come we were not informed, what happens if I don't have a reservation. The lady replied, then you will have to wait for all the reservations to disembark and then the people without reservations go. The next day we woke at 6:00 am as usual, got the three kids ready, had breakfast and sat to wait for our letter "S" to be called. We waited until 9:30 am and they were only by the letter “E”, not only that, if someone had hot showed up when their letter was called, they had a chance to skip the line and board the next tender. So, we decided to go to the back of the ship and see if there was a way to disembark quicker. Well, we found out there were two lines, one for reservations and one for non-reservations. The whole procedure was a mess, everyone complaining and getting impatient, no one was informed correctly. At the end, we were able to disembark and finally got shore around noon. I felt we lost most of that day. Since the cruise was a seven-day cruise I think we should get reimbursed for one seventh of what we paid.

Another disappointing thing was that they decided to paint the pools two of the days or our cruise. They closed one pool one day and another pool the other day. This maintenance should be done while the ship is not occupied, we paid to have all the pool areas functioning the whole cruise.

Service was very good as was food. Would have been nice to stay in Estonia overnight. Seemed because of time of year perhaps, that tour sites were very crowded.

Mykonos was splendid - absolutely everything I thought it would be. The views were stunning and the people friendly. That can be said of every port, really.

One unexpected delightful surprise was the view coming into Kotor - I didn't know about the fjords - what amazing beauty. Probably the best pictures of the entire trip. As we were pulling in, Captn Bob said we we didn't have anything to do for a couple hours he'd recommend we go out on deck to enjoy the views - best advice ever!

The disappointment (and reason for less than 5 stars) was the ship - the food was not up to past Princess standards and the spa was in too public location. The new layout of the Horizon buffet also negatively impacted the trip - it is hard to navigate. The Lotus Spa should be in a more secluded area - you have to walk through it to get to passenger services, tour desk and other places. It made for an uncomfortable visit rather than a relaxing visit - so much I didn't go as many times as I planned.

Ship staff was great - as usual.

See below..we hate surveys and am only providing this to give great credit to our dinner wait staff and register our complaint about a few of the meals.  Entertainment was mediocre.  The Piano Bar guy was good for only 1 night...his routine was 100% repeated every night and we did not enjoy him.  Other cruise lines we've sailed with the Piano Guy was the highlight of our trip...an enjoyable engaging show every night.....

The crew and staff were so mechanical , detached and plain place holders / cardboard cutouts I just felt like cattle being moved from feedlot to slaughter house . The first thing that told me me this was going to be a S--t show was the emergency drill . Now after flying halfway around the world , taxing a taxi to the port , clearing immigration customs and going to our room we need attend mandatory safety/lifeboat drill - hold onto your seats kids . everyone was to put down turn off cell phones and pay F--N attention. We went through it as a couple right at the feet of crew members continued to use phones - we had to do it all over again ??? WTF

reflection is new ship.  the dancers they did very good job for teaching dance classes.   

but i like the older ship Infinity better.  the director is very good with much more activities.