Generally good

Marina Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 67

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5
Marina

14 Night Divine Tides (Barcelona To Athens)

Sail date: October 18, 2022

Ship: Marina

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Jerusalem was a huge disappointment with monster crowds at the Christian sites as well as horrible traffic throughout the excursion. Barcelona, Malta, Ephesus, Istanbul, and Athens made it a worthwhile trip.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Embarkation was simple.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
The food was pretty good, but not exceptional. A few things were off in the buffet such as the Thai noodles.

Red Ginger

4 out of 5

Good food, but I'm not all all sure that it's 'the best at sea'.

The Grand Dining

4 out of 5

This is a big room with very little use. One almost felt lonely at times. We like developing relationships with staff which was hard to do here.

Afternoon Tea

5 out of 5

The afternoon tea was quite good.

Baristas

5 out of 5

My wife was a big fan. She thought Baristas was superior to any other coffee venue.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
The enrichment speakers were very good. The fitness center had lots of endurance equipment, but could use more weight training equipment.

Excursion Office/Destination Services

3 out of 5

The trip to Jerusalem was expensive and the guide had a poor command of English which hindered his ability to impart new knowledge.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We were actually in Concierge class (cabin 10105). I don't think the upgrade was worth the money. Except for having access to the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, the Concierge Lounge was of little value. The snacks were simply crummy.

Ship tip

We sailed this cruise for the itinerary. I did not find it sufficiently superior to Celebrity Aqua class or Princess Club class to justify the price differential.

Ports of call

Valletta, Malta

5 out of 5
This was our second time here. We had a good guide and discovered excellent Maltese wine. We were unable to find any falcon based cusine, however.

Alanya, Turkey

3 out of 5
There were ruins of an old castle.

HAIFA (JERUSALEM), ISRAEL

2 out of 5
We tried to see the Baha'i Gardens, but they were closed in spite of what the tourist information claimed.

Istanbul, Turkey

5 out of 5
The key mosques were well worth the long lines.

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
We had a great wine and food crawl.

Kavala, Greece

2 out of 5
You miss little if you skip Kavala.

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5
We did all the usual historical sites (Acropolis and museums).

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

5 out of 5
This is a wonderful Roman city.

Rhodes, Greece

3 out of 5
We did the semi-submerible boat tour.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
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3 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise

AuntPinkie    2 years ago

Fascinating itinerary. Appreciate your details. Glad you mostly enjoyed your cruise, even if you thought it not quite cost effective.

javawoody    2 years ago

Wonderful itinerary, thanks for sharing