Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East) Cruise Reviews

I loved the ports we went to and at almost every port the people came out to give us a warm send off. This was the ships first time in a couple ports and they seemed to go out of their way to make us feel welcome! In Iwakuni they even had fireworks as we left. In Toba we were anchored off shore and when left, the town people came out in a ferry and played music and waved as we left and two Japanese coast guard ships shot water into the air. It was amazing!

cabin and dining was excellent. staff were very accomodating but was disappointed with drink management as our complaint was never answered.

We have cruised on HAL, MSC, Princess, RCL, Celebrity, Costa, Oceana, and Azamara. This was our second Viking Ocean Cruise. The first Viking Ocean cruise was in the Mediterranean and North Africa and it was great. This cruise was 14 days from Hong Kong to Beijing. The ship, like her sister ships, is great. We were unhappily surprised by the lack of entertainment on a number of the evenings, including days at sea. This is a real issue when you have multiple days at sea and you are on a ship for 14 days. But the biggest issue was the very poor planning and quality of the included excursions. Overall, these were the worst excursions we have experienced on the 35 cruises we have taken, and inferior to what we have experienced on Viking Ocean and Viking River in the past. Viking claims that part of the problem was the lack of qualified tour agencies in China. We doubt that is the only issue. We have cruised in Asia before, including Viet Nam, and have experience in arranging our own tours with tourist agencies that were recommended on Trip Advisor. We were picked up promptly at our distant ports by drivers and tour guides that had to travel 2 hours or more to meet us. But a good tour agency sends qualified guides even when they have to be bussed in from far away cities, This is not how Viking and its agency did it in China. Local young people who barely knew English and knew even less about travel and history were the "guides" that were provided. On our last day of this Viking cruise, we arranged to be picked up at the port for Beijing by a private tour agency that was recommended on Trip Advisor. The guide and driver made a 2 hour plus trip to pick us up and drive us to Beijing. The guide was proficient in English and took care of us professionally. So we can only conclude that Viking either did not do their homework to contract with quality tour companies or that they'd not care about their passengers, or that they were trying to cut corners and save money on their self described luxury 5 star cruise. At the price point that Viking charges, these included excursions were miserable and reflect poorly on the organization. They need to make major improvements in their excursion departments. Given this experience, we would have been better off to have cruised with a Cruise line that did not provide excursions as part of the pricing and to then have arranged our own tours with fellow passengers with reputable local agencies as described on Trip Advisor. The ship is beautiful as are its sister ships. What a shame that Viking ruins the experience by providing mediocre entertainment at night and a miserable experience.

Disappointed with ship, there’s just “something missing” which lots of other fellow guests have also said.

This our second cruise, which we were very excited to do but unfortunatly it did not meet upto our expectatons. If this was my first cruise i'm not sure i would be back. I am still living of my first cruise with The Jewel of the seas. After the first week of not feeling special we spoke to Diana in customer service who went out of her way to give us a better experience. I am also thankful to Jamaila and Sri, who also served us brilliantly. We will be travelling with Royal Caribbean next year and hope that it is better.

Ship was amazing plenty to do, staff friendly and helpful. Food lovely and plenty of it. Places we visited were very interesting, glad we took the tours though the ship as we got plenty of history & information about our surroundings from the local tour guides. We would have liked a little more free time in these places to explore but some ports were industrial as the ship was so big, so you had to get a bus to nearby villages.

I want to commend Celebrity Cruise Line and the crew of the Millennium for dealing with the two (2) typhoons which played havoc with our scheduled ports of call. We did not make it to Hiroshima, Hakodate or Aomori but we did go to Nagasaki (which was not one of the scheduled ports of call. Capt. Alex is very professional and personable and has a good sense of humor.

The cruise was fantastic. The staff were caring and ensured all of our needs were met or surpassed, the food was delicious and provided a lot of variety. The entertainment was first rate. The amenities were excellent. The cabin was well decorated and very comfortable.

I only cruised for 14 nights...from Vancouver to Yokohama. Overall it was an excellent Premium category experience and the Westerdam's refurbishment was excellently executed. Service was good, though I didn't feel it was particularly personalized (though many learned my name, particularly after I made a $200 gift to the Crew Welfare Fund). The Signature Suite was excellent, large and everything worked well. That said, the extra cost wi fi was so slow (much slower than I've experienced on Celebrity on the same itinerary) that it was extremely frustrating and - wi fi being important to me - would prevent me from again booking the Westerdam (or other HAL vessels, assuming the wi fi is not up to competitive standards).

The ship, staff, food and service were wonderful as always. An experience but we would not go back to Arabia. The temp was in the 100's which meant we tried to stay out of it as much as possible. Going down the Red Sea is a bit scary as they have 'pirate watch' and safe havens on ship if we should encounter any. All in all a wonderful cruise as we always have with Fred Olsen.

We knew this would be a Chinese Cultural Experience but with over 2000 British and Australian passengers onboard the dining was geared to the Chinese passengers. The service and quality of food was terrible and we had to pay to dine in the Speciality restaurants, only Chops Grill was any good

This was our first cruise with Princess and we loved it. For us this is on the same level as Celebrity, and we will surely book with them again. The service is excellent, the food very good and we had no remarkt or complaints on the organization.

NICE CRUISE ITINERARY, WITH BEAUTIFUL ASIAN CITIES. UNFORTUNATELY, DESPITE YEARS OF CRUISING, THIS WAS OUR WORST EXPERIENCE EVER AS WE CALLED IN ADVANCE TO CHECK ON THE VISAS NEEDED, AND WHAT THEY TOLD US WAS NOT ACCURATE AND HAD TO DISEMBARK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRIP FOR LACKING ONE VISA...

Great cruise spoilt only by incoming Typoon Jebi. Ports all good, supported by a great crew.

Being on the transition cruise from China to Australia it was a disappointing experience but I am sure Princess will sort out the bugs and cater well for the Australian market. Without the magnificent staff and wonderful new friends we made it would have been a cruise I’d forget quite quickly.

Apart from the debarkle at the embarkation the rest of the cruise was great. We visited good ports and had plenty of sea time to kick back and relax. The Majestic is a great addition to the Princess fleet.

A total nightmare for us from the embarkment, the very expensive extended mini suite where we couldn't get a drop of sun, couldn't take good photos because of the too high partition between balconies, canopy around our deck, and support beam on the right side. Very mediocre food in dining room and Market Place (ex Horizon court). And nothing fancy. Best was the bakery. Reduced menu in the Room Service compare to all the other Princesses.

Not for the young or young at heart unless you are happy to do nothing for long periods. THIS TRIP WAS 22 DAYS. Although it is rumoured to change for the Australian market this should have happened on this trip as the majority were Australians travelling back to Australia and expected so much more for a new ship 1st time to Australia, certainly has made an impression for all the wrong reasons. Respectfully, suited to the older cruiser ( average age on this trip 67 yrs, a number of very young kids brought the average down ) May be better with shorter trips. We will not travel on this ship again and maybe not with Princess again.

Perhaps the lack of communication with passengers embarking at Shanghai Re lenghthy delays could have been better managed by the crew. There were many stories that were told of who was at fault but in the end the welfare of the passengers was of utmost importance under the extreme weather conditions that we experienced

Majestic Princess is made for the Asian Market, the seats in the main theatre is really narrow and no leg room so if a person in the middle needs to get out every body has to get out to let one person out and nowhere to place drinks. Some lounges had no bar and the casino has no bar. There is not much entertainment on board. For a new ship its really bad design and the alcohol beverage package is really over priced and has a cap of 15 drinks a day.