Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East) Cruise Reviews

The ship was the smallest we have ever used for a cruise. We couldn't help but wonder how well the small ship could meet our needs. The ship was awesome, with almost a one to one crew to passenger ratio. The cabins were a nice size, and the layout was functional. The ship was very clean and offered all the amenities we wanted. Perhaps the most surprising and impressive factor was the quality and variety of food. Every dinner had a selection of five quality entrees.

Viking is a great cruise line and that is why we chose their cruise/land tour. They have a wonderful program coordinator named Ehab (Ihab) that is the best tour guide we have ever had. It is important to know that the ships that Viking uses in Egypt are not their own, so the quality is not what you would expect from Viking. Still, it is the best trip we have ever taken.

The ship was excellent.The foos was good. The crew was the best. The shore excursions were good.

The ship itself is being replaced but the facilities, guides, information, ship excursions etc are fabulous. Everyone is knowledgeable and that's what is most impotant on a trip to China. For anyone who wants to go to China, this most definately is the way to go, and Viking River Cruises knows how to do it best.

I took this cruse to give NCL a 2nd chance after a bad first cruise on the NCL Star.   What a world of difference.   The Pearl is Clean and has a good lay out.  The service on the Pearl is good in MDR and the specialty restaurants.  We had great service at the Champagne bar and cabin steward.  

This ship has events going most of the time,  you will find something to do.  The Cruise Director staff kept things lively and going on.  Such a difference from the Star.

The Re positioning Cruise stopped in San Francisco CA, Astoria Organ, Victoria B.C.,  Ninimo B.C. and ended in Vancouver B.C.  Astoria is a quaint little town on the River,  nice place to get off the ship and walk around to get lunch and coffee.  We had some frineds drive down form Seattle to visit with us in Astoria.  

The 24 hour restaurant is grate on this ship,  not the huge buffet but a small cafe with windows to see the water,   They have a good menu for Breakfast, snacks and lunch. 

We Traveled during the Ash cloud, customer services were well aware that people were being told not to go to airports but were telling us to go, just to get us off the ship, 2 elderly people were told to leave, they had run out of medication and had no mobile and no where to go. After being thown off, the ship sat in port for days, they did not care about their customers. during the whole cruise i found the customer services rude and unhelpful, the food was poor.

Excellent ship and cruise, our only problem happened with teh Delta reservation staff who are liars, and plain unkind people, never use Delta for cruise reservations if your are wise, the 3000 miles they offer are NOT worth it

The Ocean Princess is an older ship that has been nicely refurbished with a capacity of 680 passengers. Since it is not one of the mega-ships, it can get into ports of a smaller size. While onboard, all venues are easily accessible.

The Brillance of the Seas cruise provided the relaxing environment and optional adventures that we needed for this holiday.

This was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean on the Brilliance of the Seas. It was definitely a step up from previous cruises we have taken. It was only the third cruise with the Middle East itinerary, so there are still a few kinks to be worked out. The food on board was marvelous. However, the timings were difficult to keep up with. Once you found the food, it was great. RCI offers an unlimited soft drinks package, and we definitely got our money's worth out of that. However, when we preferred cocktails, we had to flag down the servers or go to the bar ourself. I suppose they saw the refillable mug, and thought we didn't need anything else. This cruise itinerary lets people know that the Middle East does offer some interesting places to visit for reasonable prices. Dubai & Abu Dhabi are large, vibrant cities with a variety of activities to offer. Muscat & Bahrain are much smaller and more quaint. Of course, there was shopping EVERYWHERE! If I was planning it, I think I would've rather seen Doha, Qatar instead of Fujairah, UAE. The season for this cruise is limited to the winter months. Most of the cruisers were from the UK and definitely enjoyed escaping the harsh winter they were experiencing. For the most part, the Middle East offers a mild climate from January through March/April. You can relax in the sun by day and party in the variety of venues offered at night. The few days that it was overcast and cool, we sat out in the solarium where it was warm and tropical. Others used those days to get pampered in the spa. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely check out RCI's cruises in this area.

the whole staff is trying hard to please

No special remarks.

I was a recent passenger on the Azamara Quest sailing out of Hong Kong on January 9th. I have cruised Celebrity, RCL and other cruiselines and was looking forward to Azamara. My opinion at this point is that the cruise would be rated a 4.5 star. If I were to summarize the deficiencies (and they are not large but enough to cost a 1/2 star), it would be the "attention to details". The following are suggestions: Butler- Putting a cabin steward in a tuxedo and calling him a butler is a joke. I fault not the individual but the training he did or did not receive. We had to request slippers, travel bag and at the end of the cruise some additional soap. All of that should have been available without having us request it. Casino -My wife loves to play the slots and while we don't expect to win, we do expect to play for awhile. The slots were not updated and the payout was abysmal. Laundry- How can a luxury cruiseline nickel and dime its passengers with washers and dryers that have to take quarters. Also, my wife spent a lot of time waiting in the laundry due to shortage of machines. Time better spent enjoying the cruise. Itinerary- This was the absolute best part of the cruise experience. The opportunity to enjoy the ports without rushing. One suggestion, perhaps instead of DaNang, the cruise could stop in Hanoi. Excursions-We took two excursions, one we would rate 4.5 stars and the other 1.5 stars. The positive excursion was in Cambodia (Cambodia and Environs). It allowed us to see the culture of the country. The poorest excursion was to Imperial Hue. I am a Vietnam veteran and heard much about the battle for Hue and wanted to see for myself. It was a 2,5 hour bus trip each way, one hour for lunch and 45 minutes at Hue. Hue was disappointing since much of the city was being restored and no indication of the battle and the guide didn't have a clue as to how it was fought. All in all it was a poor excursion. Miscellaneous- There was a feeling of being nickeled and dimed. I exchanged money on the ship and the exchange rate was outrageous. When I complained, the response was that was what Bank America charged. Ironically there was an exchange service that came on board in Thailand that had a better rate than the ship. Charging for special coffee during meals, laundry costs, all these gave the feeling of getting the last penny out tof the passenger.

I look forward to another Azamara cruise. From the captain to the cruise director to the wait staff and cabin crew, everyone made us so comfortable; and since this was an Asian cruise, they made it very easy with money exchanges, explaining local customs, and assisting with everything and anything. Even if you just wanted to explore a port on your own, there was someone there to give you travel advice, often a local resident. There were hand rub stations everywhere with an attendant to make sure that hygienic conditions were maximized for everyone.

LIed to us about visa by ship

If what you are looking for is a great itinerary then this is the cruise for you. The housekeeping and wait staff were very gracious. The ship itself is passed its prime but is low key and the public rooms are simply yet pleasantly appointed. Overall, a pleasant experience.

The Legends of the Sea was great. I'm really glad we had a balcony room as you can not smoke in any other type of room. The room was bigger than I had expected. The food in the dining room was fantastic and the waiters were really friendly. The bar on the swimming pool deck has the best mixed drinks. The only thing I had a problem with was the shore excursion to Malaysia. We took the light and easy tour. Just about every stop we took our guide told us to be back at the pick-up point at a certain time. It seems like some passengers just did not care, while the majority of us were on time we had to stand and wait for up to 45 minutes for the straggling passengers. Very Rude. Then the last stop we were dropped off at a high end shopping mall for 3 hours. The cost to purchase anything in the stores would have been about the same as my whole cruise. So we walked around and window shopped for hours. I wish we would have stayed on the ship and relaxed. For a nice and easy tour I felt worn out when it was over.

The stateroom was neat and efficient, but a little dated. The ship's food and entertainment were awesome, and we really liked working out at the gym. The heat of the sauna and hot tubs were too low, which was unfortunate. The theater was beautiful, and our service top notch.

We just sailed on the Vision of the Seas. It is not one of the newer ships but it was still a nice ship. It is starting to show its age a little, though. The staff/service was excellent but you could see where the cruise line is cutting back to make ends meet from all the price cutting especially in the food category. We just sailed on the Serenade of the Seas in June and there was so much more variety in food and quality in food as well as more wait staff and entertainment staff. So, it apperas that all the price cutting is affecting the ships in some ways. The Compass (daily newsletter) had wrong information including the wrong destination on some days. The one midnight buffet held was lacking in selection and was nothing like midnight buffets in the past. Now, those buffets were probably a major waste of food, but this one was very disappointing in what it offered. The piano bar was not as enjoyable as the piano player didn't seem to get people involved and singing as much. I never saw one person sitting at the piano itself whereas on Serenade of the Seas the piano seats were at a premium and the singing went on until late at night. The piano player also seemed to take very long breaks (45 minutes or more).

'this was our 6th cruise, 3rd with Celebrity. This is an above average line, our favourite, and the solstice class ship(we were on Equinox) is excellent. ship is spotless. (It is new- we were on the 5th sailing. Only deterent was some of the shore excursions left things to be desired. Need caution in Bethlehem. We were rushed through the Church of the Nativity which people came to see(15 minutes allotted) but they had 40 minutes to go the "junk" souvenir shop. People overall were very upset. This is a new destination for celebrity and I am sure these are the growing pains. That said, since Jerusulum is the high light of the tour, a poorly organized tour here was a major loss. Other tours were good to excellent(Haifa/Acre), Ephesus(Kudasi, Turkey), rhodes were the excellent ones. Cairo other than the Sphinx and the Pyramids was disappointing. Not cruise ship fault. City is just very dirty. (It is afterall a desert). Otherwise, this is a superb cruise with a superb itinerary (13 day from rome to Athens, rhodes,Kudasi, Haifa, Ashdod, Cairo and Alexandra, and finally Naples.