A ‘Tulip Cruise’ With No Tulips? No Problem

While a freak cold spell diminished the Dutch’s most famous blooms this year, mad4scrapping wasn’t about to let unfortunate weather ruin her “Tulips and Windmills” cruise on Viking Odin. The now misnamed voyage was a bucket list trip for her husband, a retired chef, and both the guided tours in Holland and the food onboard [...]

Bad First Impression Quickly Melted on Reflection

A long line at embarkation put a bad taste in cats36‘s mouth, but once onboard Celebrity Reflection, Champagne quickly washed that taste away. Settled in a quiet, spacious cabin at the bow of the ship, cats36 had spectacular views when not dining on ice cream, blintzes and “the largest lobster tail I have ever had.” [...]

Meeting, Mingling and Moving the Miracle

Waves “worse than…Hurricane Sandy” and some cold New York temperatures hardly affected solo cruise veteran cv322 onboard the March repositioning of Carnival Miracle. With no shortage of compliments to the crew, cv322 noted the small touches (from replacing wrecked wine to serving special shrimp) that made it an otherwise smooth sailing. Unimpressed by tired activities [...]

Many Happy Returns to Gem

As a repeat birthday gift, “from me to me,” Rhea58, who helped organize the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet, sailed easily from New York to the Eastern Caribbean onboard Norwegian Gem in February. Doing shore excursions solo, Rhea58 found a quaint sidewalk cafe for dinner in the French district of Phillipsburg, serious shopping in St. [...]

Allure and All That Jazz

Sailing the largest cruise ship in the world through the Western Caribbean, it all boiled down to Bruce for kjf325 onboard Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. Sure, there were plenty of on-ship sports, spacious rooms, “first-class” shows, and even Starbucks, but The Bruce Gordon Quartet “transports you back to the days when music was [...]

Man Worried About Turning 50 Takes a Cruise

On the precipice of 50, member Thumbun had this to say: “While previous milestone birthdays did not bother me, for some reason this one does. Luckily, most days I feel like I am in my 20s, and I still possess the strong desire and curiosity to see as much of the world as possible. So [...]

Never Heard “No” on Celebrity Eclipse

Trialawyer offers 10 “compelling reasons” to sail onboard Celebrity Eclipse, after his two-week trip to the Southern Caribbean in a spa-outfitted AquaClass cabin. Listed last but not least is the crew, which Trialawyer describes as the ship’s “heart and soul.” Other considerations include the state of the public bathrooms, the “progressive” smoking policy and the [...]

Riviera Done Right

Small ship aficionado mikesms found large amounts of satisfaction sailing the Caribbean onboard Oceania’s Riviera in its maiden year. Comparing the comforts of ship life with a previous cruise onboard Azamara Journey, mikesms found both atmospheres accommodating but afforded Riviera plenty of attributes to set it apart. From the gamut of gourmet restaurants including personalized culinary classes [...]