Europe Cruise Reviews

The service, as always was wonderful.  I don't think I will go on any ship sponsored tours again, though.  I always request the smaller group tours and never have gotten one.  I am ready to risk booking my own.  

For some reason, on this trip, the coffee was very bitter.  First time on an Oceania ship that I have had that experience.

The ship was beautiful, unbeknownst to us the ship was in drydock 3 weeks before we boarded, all new decor was very tastefully done, our suite was gorgeous with a very large, (55inch I think), flat screen TV. The bathroom had 2 sinks, large jacuzzi tub and separate shower. The food was good, the staff wonderful. We went to Albania, Greece and Italy and did several of the tours all very interesting, guides very well informed, however several were very strenuous, the terrain is very hilly and uneven surfaces, if you see 3 people in the box for that tour it is VERY strenuous! I don't think I realized that fully. Disembarktion  was the easist i have ever done. This was our 33rd cruise and I can't wait to go back on the Westerdam.

The customer service desk hid behind "policy", half truths to get me to leave the desk, and excessive delay in assisting a passenger "in distress".

No Manager would speak to us at all.

All our cash and most credit cards were stolen as we started the cruise. It took 3.5 days to cash a check. For 7  days , charges as low as $4.00 were denied until i visited the front desk. Painful process that was 100 % avoidable with a customer focus organization. Port excursions were painful due to crowds, number of people, limited routes. My first choice for debarkation was cancelled

 We really enjoyed this trip. My cabbage place was Berlin, Tallinn, st Petersburg and Helsinki. The only think I coughs say is that we needed more time in Berlin and Stockholm. But, overall we visited a lot of places and we had a taste of each of them. The cruise was great, we had 2 mini suites with balcony, witch really enjoyed them, especially because we were there for 11 nights. The food and service was outstanding! We are a family of 5 with kids between 20 and 25 and even though there weren't too many young people (I think because of the itinerary and the cost of the trip) they still enjoyed it a lot and it was a great and very recommendable family trip. I, also, would like to thank Debra Davis (from AA) who did an excellent job in helping us to organize this trip, also she followed up before the departure to make sure we had all the documents we needed, and to wish us a great trip. She was always willing to help us when we needed before the trip. I will definitely continue working with her for our future cruises!

Every area of service during the cruise proved to be the best in what they were assigned . BEYOUND OUR EXPECTATIONS

A++ for 

FRONT DESK,  food and beverage. Entertainment Shows, on board activities, stores on board, speciality restaurants on board, room stewards, dining staff, art gallery, .    A++ for

overall cleanliness , embankment check in, disembarkment ease, 

one one negative comment would be that Shore excursion prices offered by the cruise line were not compatative with the current market price.  Buying from TJ TOURS online cost us almost half the price  than what cruise line had to offer.  Not recommended buying from the cruise line. 

our only 

There was great service.  The ship seemed quite private - there were no lines for anything.  The service was quick, and there were may places to go where you felt very private, quiet and away from it all.  This was very relaxing.  The entertainment options were somewhat limited but given the two options of a loud ship with a lot of entertainment options or a private, intimate feel, I much prefer the latter.

The Vision is a beautiful ship.   Love the color and particularly the Centrum.

There's all different kinds of live music happening there from mid after to nighttime.

The WJ needs improvement.  Food not half as good the Navigator.   The Vision deserves better!   We're very attached to her since it was our first ship and have been on her many times.    Tendering was poor in Edinburgh.   lost 4 hours!   

Seeing parts of the British Isles that we had never seen.  The Orkney Islands on the north of Scotland were amazing.  I enjoyed Weymouth and Inverness.

We spent 6 days in London then did back to back cruises with Norwegian.  I was appalled to learn there were no laundry facilities available for passengers to use.  This meant washing underwear by hand every night, which is not my idea of a fun vacation.  On the first cruise (Norwegian fjords) there was an opportunity to have one (not very large) sack of clothing washed for $20.  This was never offered on the British Isles cruise.  When we have previously been on longer cruises, with Princess, there has always been laundry facilities available, including an iron and ironing board.  For me, this was a deal breaker.  I wouldn't choose Norwegian again.

The accommodations on the cruise ship were great as we got a cabin with a balcony. We were a group of 10 and we were all on the same deck. The service was excellent and the customer service desk was very accommodating with money exchange. The food and variety was also good. Some of the excursions were full. It would have been nice if more guided tours with trolley transportation were available. The best part was in Capri as my son had his wedding there. 

We originally booked this cruise becsuse of the ports having never been on MSC becore. The guests changed at every port so it was constant caos!! We felt like no one ever settled down! You could NEVER get a place at the pool because as you were off on excursion, new people boarded and went straight to the pool. If you stood in line for and waited your turn someone would walk to to the front of the line and butt in.

We love all the ports of call. Especially the Croatian ports since that is my heritage.  We were not impressed by the food service on the Norwegian Star.  Would only recommend ship if friend was looking for these ports and there was no other ship in area to go on. But we knew this when we booked and had a great time anyway. We found one of the best servers in the Aqua dining room and then requested her for the remaining days on the ship. 

Guest relations is always top-notch with NCL! From the minute you board to the minute you disembark, the NCL staff is right there, making sure your experiences are positive. My husband and I both loved the shows! The first night was a dinner show and I had the best steak of my life - plus the show was spectacular! I don't think we had any negative experiences at all. Our room was perfectly cleaned, the food was plentiful and accessible. The excursions were good, but we really enjoyed the restful and relaxing environment on the ship.

Thanks, Norwegian Cruise Lines! We will see you again in the near future!

I have traveled using other cruise lines such as: Princess, Royal Caribbean, Big Red Boat, etc. But my experience with NCL was most disappointing. Just a few highlights: Their crew member stole my wife's jewelry and $600 cash from safe vault in our room; They were charging nickels and dimes for everything, no laundry machines or ironing facilities on ship, medical center was out to get you (gave me 6 pain killer tablets for $364), and entertainment programs were just average with ridiculous prizes meant for babies. I will have to think twice before I use them again.

Very disappointed. Very friendly crew, but food was not very good. I won't even say what was in my salad on day 1, bones in my fish filet on day 2; specialty restaurants were better than the regular dining rooms, but not great. Entertainment was good. but you needed to get tickets (no charge) in advance for the main shows. Not enough time in the ports- everything was rushed. I've been pn several cruises, and this was the most disappointing.

The tour guide on the Rome/Coliseum excursion was dreadful!  She could not speak English very well at all.  We were on Bus #9, Shore Excursion #CIVF5611.  Her name was Flavia.  in fact, we had to pick her up at the train station in Rome.  She was not very knowledgeable -and we couldn't understand her.  There will be more reviews on this from the passengers on this excursion.  We also had another lady named Daniella on the bus--but she did not do the tour.  We also had to walk through a  very long dark tunnel to catch the bus at the end of the tour. Cars were speeding through the tunnel and we had to walk through it in a single file.  It was not the safest or smartest thing to do!  

The suites are wonderful (huge walk in closet, separate living area from bedroom - very well appointed & thoughtfully laid out).  Service was exceptional (they made cheese danish for my dad everyday because he happened to mention he liked them).  They all seemed to know our names.

We purchased the cruise to go to Ephesus, but that port was dropped week after our final payment. Replacement port was Kotor 45min ride by car from Dubrovnik which took entire day to get on the ship. Instead of letting us stay later into evening like the Princess did with their guests, we left beautiful Dubrovnik at 5PM only to waste time in the middle of Adriatic See.

Price of the cruise dropped after the decision to skip Turkey, but there was no refund possible by the Royal Caribbean company.

Santorini, Dubrovnik are worth the trip.  Kotor was ok and Katakolon with Olympia Archeological site 25min by rental car away has also a value.

This was a very nice cruise all in all.  The ports were fabulous.  A mix of quiet relaxing places and more energetic places.  Just could not have been a better mix.  The ship is new, and I believe larger than Seabourn has fielded in the past.  It showed on occasion.  At times it felt crowded, especially at dinner time.  The ship does not have enough tables in its restaurants to seat the number of people aboard if the ship is full.  I suppose that makes sense as some have room service, some skip a meal, etc.  But nevertheless, it was annoying to have to wait an hour or so for dinner, and on one occasion not be seated at all.  The dining venues close at 845 pm or so, which was before dark, and that seemed early.  After spending a day ashore, who wants to rush around to try to have dinner at 630 or 700?  We finally just gave up on the dining schedule and ordered room service each evening at 9 or 930 and dined on our balcony or in our room.  That was fine and the food was good.

The staff was, in general, very good.  There were a few who could use some training in customer service.  But I suspect that is true for any cruise line. 

All in all it was a very nice cruise, and I am glad we had the experience.  But Seabourn needs to polish up its service and ship schedule if it wishes to continue to be considered a luxe operation.

Music every night that was great what was not so good was cancelled 4 excursion because we spoke English .  Food was failed. No coffee after breakfast no ice 

The end of May cruise in the Baltic was an excellent choice!  Seabourn delivered a wonderful itinerary of visits to Sweden, Estonia, Russia, Finland and Denmark.  This cruise is designed for the adult world traveler who wants to spend extended time in Russia (3 days).   We enjoyed the larger than normal veranda cabin, excellent food, and attentive staff.  The ship was almost full at 435 passengers resulting in a 1:1 traveler to staff ratio. Open dining and Thomas Keller Grille restaurant with all inclusive beverages made everyone happy. We enjoyed the Serenity room at the spa, making us very relaxed after touring.  We were two couples traveling to visit these countries mostly for the first time.  We decided to arrange independent travel and not use the ship excursion offerings.  We planned a pub crawl in Stockholm, biking tour in Tallinn, three-day with concerts in St. Petersburg, and foodie tour in Helsinki.  Luckily we had perfect weather the entire trip in the 60s and 70s with no rain.  While we visited many of the popular sites they were not overcrowded at this time of year.    One final tip:  for those considering considering this wonderful trip, my husband and I paired this experience with a series of audio interviews offered at the Rick Steves "Audio Europe" Scandinavia/Baltic website: www.ricksteves.com.  In particular, Rick Steves dives deep into the differences between these wonderful nordic countries.