We chose this cruise because we had been on a Viking River Cruise the previous year and really enjoyed it. Viking had the best ratings. Almost everything about the trip was wonderful. The ship was beautiful, staff was super friendly and helpful. The stateroom was exceptionally comfortable and well designed so that there was plenty of closet and drawer space. The ship was also very clean and well maintained. The food at all the restaurants was also excellent. With the Chef's Table being the best. Even the buffet restaurant was the best we tasted anywhere, compared to other ships on which we have sailed. What was lacking was good entertainment. The cruise director, Brensley, did one excellent show. She had a beautiful voice. There were four other singers who did shows, and they were very amateurish. The resident historian was very knowledgeable, informative and interesting. The tours were interesting also, but we would have liked a little more time on our own in each port. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip. Read Less

I like the organization of exterior public spaces. Most outward facing railing is composed of evenly spaced vertically oriented glass panels. Panels range in height from four to eight feet. All panels are about a foot wide and every gap between those panes is about 3 inches. It serves perfectly it’s intended perfectly in three ways. First, you can see everything. They may get a bit obscured with sea spray, but that just means that the spray is not on you. Second, they foil wind. Though forty knot wind was making the rigging howl, behind this screen I felt only a breeze. Finally the gaps between the panels are just the right size for a camera. Most of the topside around the midship swimming pool is chaise lounge sized tiers. It’s easy to navigate with a plate full of food and there is plenty of space for everybody. I like the complimentary restaurant meals. They were consistently well prepared. The portions were consistently well prepared and small, which is as it should be. If you need a larger meal, you simply order more courses. For example, I ordered five scallop appetizer courses, and skipped the entree. A major shortcoming that I found for the Star is that it lacks a public quiet interior space with a view of the sea. All those seeking an interior space to pull threads or read or play card are banished to artificially lit cave like places. On the Star, all the interior, sunny comfortable places serve the purpose of dining, drinking and watching sports. This shortcoming could be easily remedied by eliminating one of the upper mid-ship specialty restaurants or eliminate the interior portion of the “owners suite” or eliminating a half dozen cabins fwd of the library on deck 12. I did not like the access to the main dining room, Versaille, located at the rear of the ship. The room can seat probably 500 and is beautifully decorated. It’s well lit in the evenings. The problem is the entrance. The Access is gained by descending a stair from deck 7 down to the dining room floor on Deck 6. Midway down the flight is a landing that serves as the entrance to the room, and is where the maitre-de sorts party sizes and assigns tables. The stairs from the Maitre-de to the floor are ornate and inside the room. It makes for a very dramatic entrance, however for those guests who cannot take stairs very easily the only way in is via a single elevator shaft. What I mean is that on deck seven, directly adjacent to the dining room entry stairwell, is a bank of four elevator shafts serving Deck seven thru thirteen. Only one of those four shafts goes down to the floor level of the Versaille. To add to the insult, those shafts do not serve stateroom decks five or four either. For residents on those decks, travel to the Versaille dining room always requires a trip to deck seven. From the floor of the restaurant, decks five and four cannot be accessed directly by stairwell either. I did not like the Stardust Theatre. I’ve sat in stadiums with more comfortable seating than the orchestra seats. Many are broken. All are uncomfortable. In the current configuration all stalls seating must be accessed via two central aisles. Seating on the extreme right and left of the theatre extend straight to the walls. As human nature dictates aisle seating is taken first and the theatre filles progressively outward toward the walls. Because there is no aisle access at the extremes, much standing and jockeying is forced upon those seated at the aisle. If three or so dozen seats were removed from next to the walls to create additional aisles, human traffic would flow much more smoothly. The upper “box” seating is more comfortable. The “box” seating is a set of two heavily cushioned benches where the railings are composed of a series of glass panels. From the outermost, front, box bench the view of the stage is adequate. The second row view is not. In order to view the stage one must stand, which I was compelled to do because the ships steady dance troupe put on was wonderful. The live musical entertainment was too loud. Music for a sober mid-day crowd should not be louder than normal conversation. Mid day and sunny afternoons before an audience of middle aged and older adults is not a setting where entertainment should make itself the center of attention. Nor inside the atrium during dinner hours. At these times, in these places, musicians purpose is simply to set a mood. “Loud” is for the “not so sober” crowds later in the evening. For those of us that take care to wear ear protection when working with power tools, being exposed to the Star’s musical entertainment is (was) counterproductive. Read Less

In order to give you perspective, we chose this ship based on the fact we had sailed on the Regal on five different occasions and were excited to sail on the Sky during her inaugural season, we have also sailed on Princess’ Grand and Crown class ships but prefer the Royal class ships, having said that, we have enjoyed every cruise with Princess. Embarkation: We embarked in Barcelona, although we have priority embarkation, there was no line up and we embarked within minutes of arriving at the port even though we had to pick up our medallion as we are Canadian and not entitled to have the medallion shipped to our residence. First impression: the ship is beautiful, modern decor, everything we loved about the Regal with many improvements such as the layout in Princess Live and Take 5. The public spaces seemed bigger and more open. The Piazza is beautiful and spacious. Alfredo’s and Le Mer both have outdoor seating which we enjoyed on a nice day. The center pool area on the Lido deck is great with 2 large pools and 4 overall on the ship. We were blown away by how great the ship looked. Service: we found the service to be as good as any on any other Princess ship. Yes the ship is new and there might be a few growing pains but that is to be expected. The crew were friendly and went out of there way to help, is the service perfect, of course not, worth complaining about, absolutely not. Overall it was very good. Our room steward was very pleasant and professional as was the dinning staff at our 7:45pm traditional dinning. Entertainment: we found the entertainment to be top notch, the comedians, singers were all great including the gentleman who appeared in multiple theatrical shows in London. Rock Opera was amazing then only to be outdone by 5 Skies. The two best production shows that we have seen on any ship. The cruise director and assistant cruise directors were also excellent in particular Rachel and Stephany, who in spite of a few rude guests and a physical altercation over chairs during trivia kept the fun and enjoyment going. Food: overall quality of the food at the buffet and main dinning room was very good. I can saw that of all the meals that I had on board that I was only disappointed once. The service was very good. The Crown Grill was good as ever. We read a few complaints about the elevators, not enough, too long a wait, etc., when exciting a theatre with a capacity of 900 is it realistic to think that you won’t have to wait for an elevator, probably not. Overall impression: our overall impression was very good to excellent, are there a few minor issues which no doubt will be ironed out, were we disappointed that the escape room was not operational, yes, did it ruin our trip, no. We enjoyed the Sky Princess so much that we are booking a Caribbean Cruise on her this winter. Read Less

Friends invited us to join them on this cruise. We had cruised before, but never on Viking. It was by far the best, but also the most expensive. There was value for the price. The cruise manager and the entire crew were superior. The destinations were great. We made good use of the public spaces for playing games on sea days. The service was beyond expectations. The atrium concerts added to the experience. The sound level in concerts was NOT ear-splitting as on other cruises. We were glad there was no casino. We enjoyed the opportunity for alternative dining. But the Restaurant was our favorite. What was not to like? The two days to Iguazu Falls were wonderful, but the preparation for this excursion was by far the worst. Nothing was really entirely correct or adequate about this most memorable aspect of the cruise. The other excursions were shorter and guidance before far more adequate. All were good. Some guides were better than others. Read Less

3-day cruise from Barcelona to Marseille and Genoa and back again. We choose this short cruise so we could relax and really enjoyed the ship as we have already visited these ports. Way more of a party vibe on the ship than Divina with the long mall I liked this a lot but I also loved how the bars intertwined into one on the Divina. I felt the casino in Divina was a bit more classy? Staff on Divina slightly more friendlier but everybody we encountered on Bellissima was lovely. Great food second portions in the MDR no problem at all. Good cocktails and cabin was really comfortable. Chocolate cafe had the most divine chocolates ever. Anyone know where you can buy a 5 litre of the msc soap addicted to the smell of it!!! F1 simulators were such good fun shame they were only open in the evening time. Read Less

Ports of Call were excellent! Ship was amazing! State rooms second to none! Food was mouthwatering! People were friendly! Excursions were fun and informative! On board entertainment was fun! The spa was wonderful, going from the snow room to the steam room and back and forth, followed by the hot tub and the cold water bucket challenge was refreshing and soothing! The guides on the excursions were excellent and the places we went were wonderful. Montserrat was beautiful and inspirational. Loved Barcelona, great walking city and so much to see. Florence was delightful as well. Weather cut short our Monaco stop but we still got to go into Monte Carlo and up to the Royal Castle. Even though we had to leave Monaco early, it gave us a chance to actually sail during the day as every other sailing was at night. The staff of the Viking Sun were extremely friendly and we enjoyed every minute on board! Read Less

This trip was a 50th birthday present to myself and a first on Viking. They are very organized, from arrival to departure. We were amazed at the attention to detail. They definitely go above and beyond. The cabin was nice size, plenty of closet space. Loved the heated bathroom floor. We ate at all the restaurants. The food was excellent. I looked forward to gelato every evening. The winter garden was a wonderful place to unwind, have afternoon tea with scones and finger sandwiches. The extra drink package was worth the price. The excursions were also well organized and the headsets, which are provided, allowed everyone to hear the background in history of the areas we toured. The tour guides were from the area and well versed in local history/customs. I would have liked more free time in our destinations, but I do realize that they need to adhere to a schedule. The tours gave us just a taste of the local culture and left me wanting to come back to experience more. We had a great experience and can't wait to go on another Viking cruise. Read Less

We were very impressed with this smaller ship. Although full there were no lines, no queues, no crowds, easy tendering and embarkation and so on. Easy to get around. Lots of outside space. with various bars with decks. Always a seat or lounger when wanted. Coffee Bar and snacks service was free. All restaurants had noticeably great and varied food without being 'poncy' ( yes we are English). The weekly BBQ is an experience not to be missed. Even lunches were well thought out. The buffet lunch also had waiter service if wanted with nice dishes. No formal nights which was great. The Breakfast and lunch outside seating was the best I have experienced -lots of seating and lots of shade or sun as you prefer. Guests all dressed well but smart casual. All seating is open so no crowds and mainly we ate from 7- 9.30 ish while talking to the various interesting fellow cruisers on our tables. Service throughout was first class, attentive and professional but not stuffy. Crew were well motivated and friendly in a noticeably genuine manner. Our names were remembered quickly. We were invited to dine with an Officer on one night. The ship is a good size with some 6 decks to wander about. Our Cabin on deck 2 was well furnished and had excellent storage. A very good and attentive cleaner. All suitcases went under the bed. This was a 7 night destination cruise with ship only moving at night. I prefer some sea days but my wife doesn't! All ports were fine for us. I liked the new smaller ones. Mainly Americans and Canadians on this particular cruise which was great, interesting people and no problem at all for us well travelled British folks but it might be for some who wanted to talk about Brexit, Boris and football! Many people had sailed with Windstar before. We will also book other Windstar cruises. This is not a ship with lavish entertainment -we knew this and it was fine with the long Dinners and chatting. The Music performers were terrific and suited us with the informality of the Ship. The small bar came into its own in the evening with music. Both music groups were very good. The music and dancing on the BBQ night and the Crew show were worth the trip in itself. ( I might have wanted the occasional 'Enrichment talk' but no big deal on a one week cruise). Perhaps the library could be bigger. Read Less

Available dates for the cruise met our needs. We preferred to embark and disembark from the same port. Our room had a great location. Dining options were excellent. We had an excellent housekeeper who made sure our room was always clean and she always checked to make sure we had all we need during our stay. The ship was huge, lots of places to checkout, plenty of room to roam. Plenty of activities and entertainment to keep us occupied. Ports were great choices. Excursions we took were convenient to book. Tour guides were very knowledgeable and helpful. It was great to have the convenience of a shuttle from the airport. Embarkation process was simple and very efficient. Disembarkation went without a hitch. Taxis were available as soon as we left the ship. Our luggage was already waiting for us as we left the ship. We will definitely cruise on NCL again. Read Less

I'm 65 years old and have never been to Europe. What better way to see it than on a cruise? This cruise is all about the ports, there is only one sea day and most of the port days are long. This was my first cruise on a mega ship, but it didn't really feel much different than the smaller ships. There are lines for some things, but never long. Embarkation went quickly and smoothly. We did have Latitudes priority boarding, which helped. This cruise is either round trip from Barcelona, or from Rome. Probably 20% of the passengers embark in Rome, so they're not all embarking at the same time in Barcelona. We had the specialty dining package as a free perk. Our first specialty restaurant was Tepannyaki, the Japanese restaurant where the food preparation is a show. Six seats are around the cook top, and it's very entertaining. If you can't decide what entrée to get, just pick one. The cook makes extra, and will share. Second was the Cirque Dreams dinner show. This show was the highlight of the cruise, and worth the extra price. The entrée at dinner was a steak in peppercorn sauce. My wife didn't like the sauce, I thought it was great. The steak was very tender. The third was Cagney's steakhouse. Very elegant, great food and service. The specialty of the house for dessert was the raspberry crème brulet. You won't be disappointed. As good as the specialty restaurants were, I wouldn't go to them without the dining package, especially as a free perk. The bill at Cagney's, dinner alone without drinks, was $190, but covered by the dining package. The main dining rooms are very good, and if you don't do any of the specialty dining, you'll still have a great time. Breakfast was served at O'Sheehan's, Taste, and the buffet. O'Sheehan's was good, the selection was more limited, Taste is one of the main dining rooms, and the best place for breakfast if you're not pressed for time. Don't miss the pound cake French toast. The buffet was quite good, good variety and quality. We did the buffet breakfast only when we had an early shore excursion, not because there was anything wrong with it, but because we could be served at other places. Orange juice at the buffet is out of a machine, if you want fresh squeezed, you pay for it, but can get it free at Taste. The two main dining rooms are Taste and Manhattan Room. I think they're the same menu, but Manhattan Room is a nicer room, and has live music, sometimes a show. the food was great. Always great service. I already mentioned the Cirque Dreams show, it's mostly covered by the dining package, and is a do not miss. We missed Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Burn the Floor was very entertaining. The casino was good to me. Blackjack can be had for $10 minimum with poor rules, but can be had with good rules for $15. Craps is $10 minimum, 3-4-5x odds. Roulette is $2 chips, I don't recall the minimum bet. Let it Ride, Three Card Poker, and Ultimate Texas Hold 'em are offered with $5 minimums. Judging by the pay tables on the video poker, the slots are probably pretty tight. This is the fourth Norwegian cruise I've been on, and service has always been consistently good. When in port, be sure to have some Euros with you, even if you're paying with credit cards. Restrooms charge half to one Euro, and they don't accept American dollars. If you buy something in a restaurant, bar, or other business with a restroom, you can use their restroom for free. Barcelona-We spent four nights after the cruise, beautiful city. The two main attractions are La Sagrada Familia and the Picasso Museum. For either of them, buy tickets ahead of time, they are timed, and they will be less crowded in the morning. A good and inexpensive meal can be had at the tapas bars that are all over, about 15-20 euros for a couple. Naples-We took an excursion to Amalfi Coast and Pompeii, not an NCL excursion. Amalfi Coast was stunningly beautiful. I've been fascinated by Pompeii since learning about it in fourth grade, so this excursion was quite memorable. Rome-Don't let the long time in port fool you. If you have an excursion, it will probably leave an hour after arriving in port. Then it's an hour and a half into Rome, maybe more depending on traffic, an hour and a half back, and you have to be back on board half an hour before sailing. That takes four and a half hours out of the day. We did the Rome on Your Own shore excursion. When we got our shore excursion tickets, there was a note saying to not book anything in Rome for before 11:00 am. A little late for that warning. We had tickets to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. Made it there just in time. This cruise gets to Rome on Wednesday, which is the day the Pope gives a public address. This may be the reason Rome was so crowded, maybe it's always like that, just be prepared for crowds. The Vatican Museum was amazing, and Sistine Chapel was jaw dropping. After that, we had lunch, went to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps (right next to each other) and then it was time to return. Florence-If you didn't read what I wrote about Rome, go back and read the first part of it. The same applies to Florence. We took the Hop on-Hop Off bus tour in Florence. A bus takes you into Florence, then you catch the HO-HO bus. We had tickets for the Uffizi Gallery, and arrived half an hour after the assigned time (again, don't book anything before 11:00 am!) but they let us in without any trouble. Florence was the center of the Renaissance, and I'm sure the Uffizi is the largest and best collection of Renaissance art in the world. Well worth seeing. Again, we had lunch, saw the Duomo, then back to the ship without ever stepping on the HO-HO bus that we'd paid for. But it did get us into Florence, so it was worth it. My wife and I both agreed that Florence was the best part of the cruise. Cannes-Nice city, very upscale, many stores I can't afford to shop in, it's like Beverly Hills was moved to the beach. There is a tour called the Little Bus that loads near the dock, as I recall it was 12 Euros each. It took us up to a beautiful cathedral, which had great views of the city. Cannes is a beautiful city, but other than the cathedral, there wasn't much that caught my attention. Palma-By the time you get to Palma, you're probably still worn out from the Italian stops, but the ship doesn't dock until 1:00 pm, so you can sleep in. We took a hop on-hop off bus that took us up to a castle. Like Cannes, it's a beautiful city, but other than the castle, and maybe the cathedral which we didn't have time to go to, not much there. To sum it up, this cruise is all about the ports, and it is tiring. Well worth it, fun, interesting, beautiful, but tiring. It was worth it, I'm not complaining, just know what you're getting. Read Less

I chose this cruise because I wanted to have a Barcelona land and a Mediterranean cruise vacation. We arrived in Barcelona four days prior to cruise which began Sunday, October 20, 2019. We also stayed on in Barcelona an additional two days after the cruise to do more sightseeing. Barcelona has wonderful sights to fill several days of sightseeing. Prior to the cruise we took a Viator guided small group tour to Montserrat Monastery with hike and cable car and saw the boys choir (mini-van central pickup location), a Headout (Amigo Tour) guided tour of Sagrada Familia (meeting point a little hard to find across from Sagrada Familia), a full day Viator tour by minivan (inoutbarcelonatour) with guide Arnau to Girona and the Dali Museum. We loved all these tours. Every guide was very knowledgeable about the places we were at. We learned so much about Gaudi at the Sagrada Familia Tour and all about Dali driving to Girona and Figures, Dali Museum. Arnau pointed out very interesting details at the Dali Museum. I was surprised how much my husband even liked this art museum. One thing I learned on this vacation is tour guides are a must to appreciate fully what you are viewing. As long as you are all the way there pay the extra money!! We did do Gaudi's Park Guell, LaPedrera and Casa Batllo after the cruise. All are a must see! Our cruise was truly enjoyable. This was my third Norwegian cruise and Epic is twice the size of the smaller 2,500 passenger ships I was on previously, most recently February 2019 on the Norwegian Sky to Cuba (before they stopped cruising there). The main difference I noticed is the larger Epic ship has far better and more entertainment options in the evening-Cirque (Soleil) Dreams, Priscilla Queen of the Desert Musical, Comedy and Magic, Stand up Comedy, Motown Group, Epic Beatles (great Beatles cover band) with Beatles costumes, Burn the Floor (fabulous dance) and more that I did not have time to see--Bruno Mars cover, etc. When you are getting up at 6:30 a.m. to get breakfast before meeting your 8:00 a.m. excursions you don't necessarily want to stay up to midnight every night to catch every show available. However on the night prior to a sea day and a late arrival to Palma de Mallorca we certainly did!! Some shows accept reservations so I recommend making them. The shows that did not take them you had no problem just walking in. One night we did 3 shows walking in. I never ate at the specialty restaurants. The food was great at the complimentary ones with the exception of the biscuits and gravy my husband ordered one day for breakfast in Taste. It was three link pork sausages sitting on a biscuit with a few tablespoons of gravy. Otherwise everything was top service and fantastic food. Better service than most restaurants I have been in. My main complaint of this cruise is most restaurants are located on floor six by the casino where you can smoke. I did not appreciate walking through the casino and smoke to reach the restaurants! My excursions I did were (NAPLES) Viator full day Sorrento, Amalfi Coast and Pompeii (small bus of maybe 20 people, easy pick up at port) guide gave us lots of info on bus ride and throughout Great tour. Not as much time to shop in Sorrento as I would have liked but no fault of tour, we had a lot ground to cover. (ROME) Best of Rome and Vatican (www.ItalyTours.EU) Eight person minivan with six of us and the guide/driver. This was the best bargain of the trip, two guides included, one for Rome driving and one for Vatican Museum. Something similar by NCL was 3 times the money. Met at port with a sign with our last names. Travel on the narrow streets of Rome in a minivan is the way to go. We were able to park right across the street from Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and given some time there on our own. Believe me, if you were in a bus you would be walking a long distance to see the sights because a bus would not get anywhere near them. Going in the Colosseum was optional on this tour and of the 6 in van just my husband and I were doing it. Our guide walked right up to the ticket taker and got us in (I pre-bought pick up at window tickets, shortest line there is). The Vatican Museum as mentioned was a different guide- again no line time, followed the guide in, learned a tremendous amount from her. My favorite tour of this vacation. The remaining port tours I booked through NCL. They included (FLORENCE) NCL Pisa and Florence on Your Own (great guide to cities only but very long walk from bus parking lot in both Pisa and Florence the one day in 2 weeks it rained), CANNES (first off ship with tenders because NCL excursion!) Eze and Monaco. Eze was absolutely gorgeous medieval city. Monaco-- loved seeing beautiful Church Grace Kelly was married and buried in, changing of guard at castle. (PALMA de MALLORCA) NCL Palma in Depth (large bus) some walk to get from bus parking again. Great guide, but not as much to see as at other ports other than inside and out of Cathedral and town. Overall I loved this cruise. Disembarkation was a breeze, 5 minutes each port at most. Play shuffleboard-- it was fun and nobody was there. I will also post a picture on my cabin because it is an enclosed cabin and I was really curious what it would look like so I am guessing others would too. My only complaint is with telephone booking of Epic cruise. I declined travel insurance and after I paid in full saw they had it on invoice. My own fault for not noticing. Three months prior to cruise I called and told them of error. They said they see I initially declined insurance but I had other calls (questions about excursions) and had no proof I did not add insurance later so NCL refused to take the $198 travel insurance total ($99 a person off) in July 2019 for a October 20th cruise. Considering I brought 4 family members, (3 cabins booked) to join my husband and me on a February 2019 NCL Norwegian Sky cruise I was quite insulted. Read Less

We chose this cruise as our 30th anniversary celebration. We had never been to Europe & this was a great opportunity to see a few countries at once. Everything was very organized. Every staff member was very helpful, knowledgable & friendly. Food was delicious. We took advantage of the specialty restaurants, which was great to have a bit more quiet, romantic time. We particularly enjoyed The Bistro restaurant. My husband was very impressed with his steak dinners! Cooked with perfection. Drinks were made perfectly. Excursions were amazing! Even the weather co operated! only one rainy day which was fine for exploring the boat as there was so much to see & do on it! Enjoyed the Beatles tribute. Loved the musical Priscilla of the desert! Costumes were incredible! The excursions had a wide variety of options of places to see & things to do. Truly a trip of a lifetime! We definitely will consider another cruise in the near future! Highly recommend this ship & this company! Read Less

Been on dozens of cruises on NCL, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Crystal, Regent, Celebrity, And Windstar but this was our first Viking. We had heard about river cruises with them but recently learned of their entry into the ocean voyage market and heard great things. Ours was a Mediterranean trip from Barcelona to Venice - many ports we had previously visited but there were several new options if we were willing to travel a bit which we were. I’ll cover excursions later, but first the Viking Jupiter. This ship is brand new this year. It is beautiful. And they’ve worked out the kinks described in prior reviews. First, the crew is fabulous. Extremely hard working, pleasant and professional. They strike the right balance, not too aloof and not too obsequious. Friendly and attentive but mostly invisible until you need them. The Norwegian style is casual and luxurious with a living room environment rather than grandeur. We loved the cozy nooks with many gaming tables, puzzles, libraries, theme areas around opera, symphony, science ( we went to all 3 shows in the 3-d planetarium and a lecture by the resident astronomer astrophysicist). The cruise director is also a professional opera singer and WOW! There is no casino, included excursions at every port, included good wine and beer at lunch and dinner, no children programs, in fact no children, no formal nights. This isn’t for everyone. But it suited my husband and me. We are in our 50s and were definitely of the younger cruisers. The name that tune games that were hosted by the super talented 4 singers/dancers were tons of fun although a bit before our time(50s and 60s music). Buffet was top notch. tea time was not to be missed with live music in the beautiful winter garden next to the pool area every day at 4. The dining room is more intimate than the usual giant rooms on other lines. The 2 specialty restaurants are included. We liked the Italian but weren’t huge fans of French night at the Chefs Table. We aren’t big on fixed menus. We like to choose. The dining room we found to always have plenty of excellent options. Our favorite shore excursions were to Cassis France, Split Croatia, and Lucca Italy. Read Less

The ship itself was outstanding, with great amenities. The Gym/ Spa area was outstanding, especially the "Thermal Spa" area. The restaurants were all outstanding and catered to different needs and tastes. An unexpected surprise was the planetarium theatre where we saw a couple of shows about the universe and the aurora. The "common" areas provided space for quiet relaxation and opportunities for your choice of musical interludes. The entertainment selection was excellent, with many different types of music... classical (piano and strings), acoustic guitar, musical themed concerts, rock band. The individual cabins were just right in terms of space and amenities... and the heated floor in the bathroom was a nice touch. Being a smaller ocean cruise ship, all cabins had outside windows and balconies, which made the travelling more interesting. The Viking staff were all excellent! From the Captain to the cabin stewards, everyone had a smile on their face, catered to your every need and made you feel welcome. Awesome photo opportunities! We have already booked the next Viking Cruise. Read Less

We chose this cruises based on the ports, presuming low season and fewer crowds, and duration (13 days) seemed good. We arrived early and spent four nights in Barcelona prior to embarkation. All the dining choices were excellent. Our stateroom on Deck 8 was a good choice allowing easy access to the Explorer Lounge and walks on the open Deck 8 and sports activities on Deck 9. We spoiled ourselves forever by selecting the Penthouse Junior Suite (PS1). Embarkation and disembarkation were smooth with no complaints. Our PS1 gave us stateroom access early and it was ready with no waiting. The stateroom was outstanding; spacious yet a cozy space, welcoming us after a day busy with excursions. The live music in the Atrium, both piano and strings was always soothing, while choosing a dining option after returning from a shore excursion. The service was outstanding. The attentiveness of all staff and crew never left us wanting or waiting. We enjoyed all our shore excursions, those included and those that were additional. The local guides I would rate as good to great. The only disappointment was bypassing Monaco due to high winds and seas, so we arrived at the next port (Livorno) around noon that day. We loved being able to dock at each port with no tendering (don’t know if that is normal with Viking). I was impressed with the Captain’s skill at unassisted docking at each port. My first ocean cruise and I can say my wife’s and my best ever ocean cruise. We are planning another Viking for 2021, with a river cruise in 2020. Read Less

We chose to travel with Viking because of a positive experience we had on a previous River Cruise. We chose this particular itinerary because of the destination in the Mediterranean. The experience was positive from the time the Viking representatives met us at the Barcelona airport and they dropped us off at the Venice airport. Totally enjoyed everything about the ship, the Captain (got to meet him), the crew, the staff, the accommodations, the service, the food, Viking's attention to detail, the organization/coordination of events, the Spa (my wife), on-board events, the Port-talks, the evening shows, the views from our Veranda, and just EVERYTHING ON BOARD THE SHIP. It felt like we were traveling with Viking family and it was reflected in their faces. It was also very nice not to have adolescents nor a casino on board. A couple of the ground tours may need to be reviewed and tweaked, but these were outside vendors that Viking works with and depends on the particular land tour guide for your group. Would we do this tour again?...YES! Would we travel with Viking to another destination?...YES! We traveled with two friends, who were Viking 1st timers and they are now Viking fans. Continue upholding the Viking principles and keep up the excellent work, Aloha. Read Less

Our experience was disappointing from the beginning. We booked through a Norwegian agent, flights included. We were told If we book the flights with Norwegian they won’t leave you but if for some reason something goes wrong and you are really late they will pay to get you to the next port. So it seemed reasonable to book it all through them. Early on we saw that we had a connecting flight in London so I called our agent and asked if we could stay a few days in London. Her response was that flights are subject to change up until 50 days out. At 50 days out I called back and told her it still says we are connecting in London can we arrange for a few days there? Then she tells me no, we can only book extra days in your port of call. Ok, well let’s book a few extra days in Barcelona. Oh, sorry you waited too late and your flights are already booked so we can no longer change them, you would have needed to make changes before 50 days out. ??!! Very disappointing. So finally our cruise of a lifetime arrives and we get to the airport and our first flight is late, which makes us get to our next connecting flight late, which made us miss our connecting flight. We called Norwegian to let them know and they were no help and not reassuring at all. They told us that they are unable to help with flights. We had four in our group and we were put on standby for the next flight out. Only two of us got on that flight, which was also late. Our friends were put on the next flight out, which put them landing in Barcelona at about 5:00PM an hour past the time they want you to be checked in. When we landed in Barcelona we took the Norwegian transport directly to the port and had no time to see Barcelona. Our friends did not make it to the ship until about 6:00pm. At no point did any Norwegian employee try to reassure us that everything would work out, no customer service at all. We made it though, finally on our cruise! The Epic. Our state room was nice we had a balcony, view was amazing. We had the drink package, which I highly recommend. We also had three nights of specialty dinning. Truthfully those were the only nights that I was impressed with the food. We loved Cagney’s and Moderno, which we ate at twice. The main dining rooms were ok. O’Sheehans was pretty good. The wings were great. The Beatles were amazing! Motown was also very good. Clarissa, our assistant cruise director was very sweet and informative. Freddie, the bar tender at Maltings Whiskey bar was great! Best place to go for drinks! As far as cleanliness goes the ship was clean. We all had an amazing time at all the ports. We did our own excursions and had a blast. Our favorite was the Amalfi coast. The views were breathtaking and the food was incredible. If I could change anything about the ports I would not have done tours. They were too long and there is not enough time in the day to see it all if you take guided tours. Our disembarkation time was at 6:15AM and our flights were scheduled to leave at 10:15AM so again we didn’t get to see Barcelona. Flights home were much smoother and timely. As a side note British Airways was much cleaner than Lufthansa. We had a great time on our cruise but I don’t know if I will sail with Norwegian again. The lack of customer service will have me looking at other cruises in the future. Read Less

MSC BELLISSIMIA it’s been amazing . I posted three days into cruise so just to add, and maybe to put some minds at rest Cabin :13205-Stewart-Francisco , the cabin was beautiful with plenty of space and a balcony .Room was made up three times a day towels refreshed as required .we got breakfast to room most mornings (€4.00) delivery charge ....well worth it Shower was powerful and never a problem with hot water Main dinning room- OMG how people say the food is bad is beyond my comprehension , there is something for every taste . We stayed away from the typical English /Irish type of food and had everything else .... loved the wellness station and the ethnic station was to die for, the standard if the food was amazing ...the staff kept everywhere so clean and the food was refreshed continuously The pizzas ....seriously you need to eat them ...only gorgeous The buzzer for drinks was great never had to wait for a drink ... Allocated dinning Le Creisier- deck 6-table 813 I said it already in a previous post ...It was delicious and our waiters Ray and William were just amazing ... Deck 15 -Out door pool and entertainment Guys to many to mention . They were brilliant ....it is loud but so much fun totally entertained all day long Deck 18 - Horizon Bar My favourite place . This area was quieter lovely pool and lots of sun beds The staff up here are also brilliant nothing was a problem and they really interacted with the guests Casino -Deck 7 Great crack on the slots People have said on some posts that sea day can be maniac . Our last day was a sea day and it was the most chilled of the whole week , got up about 11 strolled down to deck 18 got two sun beds no struggle at all ...cocktails were the tipple of the day for me ...pure bliss Bit of a panick around d 14:00 when the news of the disturbances in Barcelona hit the ship ...most of us with pre booked transfers recieved messages to say they were cancelled but MSC got it sorted ...they put on a fleet of busses to collect us at port and transfer us to the airport ...€19 each very good price (in airport now speaking to a man who for some unknown reason to me decided that he wasn’t giving MSC another penny ...he got a taxi €87..)MSC are not a ripoff They did everything they could to help us all today The shows in the London Theatre put on by entertainment staff are as good as any you would see on stage in Ireland ...Sorry but people who have dissed these shows are not fair ...The team put their heart and soul Into each performance .... Cirque De Soleil -Amazing (Maybe give the cocktail a miss though Read Less

The itinerary and timing met our needs, so we chose the Mediterranean as the destination for our honeymoon. Our knowledgeable travel agent suggested NCL.. The ship was in overall very good condition. Service ranged from fair to excellent. We were fortunate to have a superb Room Steward, and encountered others who were very good. Food was good but nothing special, even the specialty restaurants. Our favorite part of the cruise was the shows, particularly Burn the Floor that we attended twice! Shore excursions were numerous and varied, but over-priced... The ports were very good, and we enjoyed visiting all of them. Fortunately only one port required the use of a tender...and that process was quite cumbersome and slow. But the disembarkation process was even worse!!! It took more than more than an hour to leave the ship, feeling like we were being herded like cattle at the end of an otherwise pleasant experience. Read Less

We chose the haven spa suite category because we wanted to have memorable 17th year anniversary and since this would have been our 3rd time cruising this same itinerary, we wanted just to relax & use the spa. Instead our room flooded each time we showered because the ship would tilt towards our side of the ship when it is docked or when it is sailing. The shower's design has the drainage in a higher slope than the shower's door. The concierge's immediate recommendation is to put towels on the floor each time we showered.until their crew engineers are available to analyze the problem. After a day of no resolution, we brought this up to the cruise general manager. He schedule 3 crews members to come & looked inside our suite and determine a quick fix. He ensured the room would be sanitized & cleaned from the leftover scum from the shower. Also on the 2 days we wanted to sleep in, our butler would knock on our door & will call repeatedly til we answered - the 1st time he inadvertently read the do not disturb sign as make our room to be ready (similar color code) and the second time was he had misread delivering breakfast time. Finally, on the 5th day of the cruise, as we suggested (I am a civil engineer), they installed a higher barrier on the shower door so water would not drain out onto the floors . So we were finally able to enjoy our room with privacy for the remaining one and 1/2 days of our cruise - so we thought! They inadvertently did not inform everyone that they were going to shut down the water in the room & you cannot flush the toilet since work will be done between midnight & 6 am throughout the ship. We only found out about it because we called after getting back from the casino at 2 am. Yup, we flew in from California (14 hour flight) to spent thousands of dollars on the cruise to only enjoy our suite for 1 day. The reason we book suites or haven on our previous cruises was to enjoy the amenities - on this cruise we did not get what we paid for. The positive part of this cruise is we enjoyed the great service of the waitress & waiter (they work 7 days a week for 12 to 13 hours daily) and despite not having the usage of our suite, we enjoyed each others company. Hopefully our cruise to Singapore next month would be better. Read Less

We chose Viking after talking with friends who have done Mediterranean cruises and recommended a smaller ship experience, as well as doing some research on the best cruise line rankings. We were not disappointed!! The ship is amazing and comfortable. It is so easy to relax, or find things to do. What really makes the Viking experience stand out is the incredible staff! Everyone, and do mean everyone, is very friendly and helpful. Many of the waiters and bartenders knew our names after the first day and we had some amazing conversations with them about their home cities, working on the ship, ports of call, and our families. Amazing people! And the food was 5-Star! The chefs are incredible! This was our first time to Europe so we wanted to experience as much as we could in as many places as possible. That was why we chose to go on a ship, and chose this particular cruise with 10 ports of call. It was the trip of a lifetime! We did several of the included tours which gave a very good introduction to the cities, and then went off on our own exploration. Viking makes it very easy to get to and from the ship so you can explore as much as you like. We also upgraded our excursions in several ports and they were well worth it! Rome, Pompei, and Venice were some of the ones I would recommend looking into. The guides were all local and very good. The other great thing was that Viking had onboard historians that gave talks before each port of call. They were very entertaining and informative. It was also great to get the daily newsletter in our room with information on the next days activities on board and ashore, specific on excursions and times, and any specific details that we needed to be aware of in the next port. The overall experience exceeded my expectations on nearly every level! We are already looking into our next Viking cruise and have recommended them to all of our friends. It truly was the trip of a lifetime! Read Less

Greetings! I am a former luxury cruise TA and had sailed on Serenity 3 times in a PH, about 12-14 years ago. This is the my first time back as a 'civilian' and first time on Crystal for my husband. Our last 4 cruises have been NCL, NCL, Cunard, Cunard. Much has changed with Crystal since my last voyages and I had been warned that it 'isn't what you remember' but my expectations were exceeded in almost every way, We had a standard Oceanview on deck 7. Sure we missed a balcony but otherwise the cabin was great. The most outstanding & memorable aspect was the dining. Every single day, no matter where we ate, every meal was great. I don't know how many times one of us would taste something & say "mmm..wow, that's so good" And we're foodies...not easily pleased. I am a pescatarian but I never felt there weren't enough non-meat options for me. All the fish & seafood dishes were wonderful, fresh and creative. My husband did have beef a few time and this in the only time he felt a bit let down. Having had very dismal desserts, pastries etc on our previous cruises, the outstanding desserts on the Serenity were a welcome relief. Kudo's to the Exec Pastry Chef! We dined at every venue for dinner & in order of most liked to least, we would rate them: Prego, Waterside, Umi Uma, Silk, Churrasqueira. We would gladly do all again but pass on the last...not quite up the standards of the others. Prego is wonderful, best menu, best service, a real highlight. The other 'bests' for us were the production shows - top notch singers & dancers, very professional & entertaining. And the guest/space ratio. My husband was so impressed with how much public space vs guests there is on the Serenity. We were never crowded, virtually no lines, always a lovely, calm atmosphere. My 3 top observations: - relaxed dress codes were noticeable since my last Crystal voyages, but I was pleasantly surprised that about 80% of the guests still dress up for dinner...women in cocktail dresses, men in casual office or suits/sport jackets. We dressed up every night but 1 (after a very long day in Florence/Pisa) I love this aspect of cruising and so did most of my fellow pax from the look of things - the service was great, especially the bar & wine stewards... far more attentive than any cruise we've done where alcohol is a revenue maker. At dinner I had to start saying 'no, thanks' with my hand over my wine glass! Too much of a good thing and all that! - I did find that the friendliness of the crew overall may have been a wee bit less than I remember but it was still excellent and I wish I had written down some names to include in the survey sent by Crystal. Definitely some outstanding service by some individuals. Read Less

We chose Seabourn again, because we had tried other lines - Silversea and Regent. On those other lines the excursions were great, but we were not impressed with the food or service. Seabourn had recently hired a new chef for the pool deck evening dining venue - called Earth and Sea. Phenomenal food. Better than any restaurant we have in Seattle or anywhere else. After trying the other dining choices, all of which were good, we ended up eating at Earth and Sea every night. By the end of the cruise word had spread, and it was hard to get a table there. We weren’t impressed with the Thomas Keller dining room…oddly pretentious and mediocre food. They do offer exceptional wines by the glass and wine pairings at Keller, which is a nice addition. We had a much better steak at Earth and Sea. The cruise director was very entertaining and engaging. The staff was warm and attentive. The ship is beautiful - with staterooms larger than the ones on their former smaller ships. Most, but not all, of the land excursions were very good. Seabourn didn't offer an opportunity to rate the land excursions that the other cruise lines do. I think that's a missed opportunity to get valuable feedback, particularly where passenger safety is concerned. In addition to a pool and hot tubs, there are many activities offered throughout the day. The spa management seemed a bit disorganized, but the services were good. We have already decided to a Seabourn cruise for 2020 and 2021. Highly recommend. Read Less

We wanted to cruise the Mediterranean to visit countries we have never been to, leaving from Barcelona where we have friends. We enjoyed everything, particularly the services on the ship and the professionalism of the crew. Each day gave us an opportunity to do new things on the ship: walking around the top deck at night, swimming in one of the pools between sunning during the day, taking in shows and enjoying top quality food at the many on board restaurants. We participated in shore excursions that we organized ahead of time. They gave us a taste of Italy and the French Riviera, making us want to visit some cities again for a longer time. The choice of activities onboard is extensive with something for everyone. We particularly appreciated our first two days at sea so that we explore the ship, as well as the afternoon arrival in Palma that allowed us to take our time to prepare to leave the next day. Dt Read Less

This is the 2nd cruise we sailed with Celebrity, we were impressed with Eclipse last year and decide to join another cruise with Celebrity. This is a slightly smaller and older ship than the Eclipse, but we still had a lot of fun in this 9 nights cruise trip. First of all, we love the shows at night, the performances, singer and dancers did a fantastic jobs, we caught the show every evenings and make sure we don't miss it. The onboard activities were Okay, a lot of them are the same as what we played last year, so it is a bit lack of surprise for us, but the games are still fun to watch. We still had a great time. We did not go to the specialty dinning, so we stayed at St-Marco Dinning room for your dinner. They updated the menu everyday with plenty of choices. We tried a lot of different food everyday and they had Lobster Tail and Scallops which are my favorite! We also had our breakfast and sometimes lunch and snacks at OceanCafe, honestly the food are getting a bit boring. They did change their Chef Specials everyday, but other than that, the other food in the buffet was very similar everyday. With a cruise of 9 nights, you may get bored. My wife went to their morning sketch a couple of times early in the morning, but other dance or yoga class has to pay, so we skipped that. The gym was clean and the machines were fairly new. They have a basketball court, which is often forgotten by a lot of guests. I spent a good 45 minutes there while at the sea. The basketball are a bit old and some of time are not pumped. Service was great, there were officers teaching us to use the new App on Board, which is very useful to see the daily activities and communicate with your cruise mates and family on board. Most of the staff are very friendly and had smile with them at all time. However, my steward's job was really bad. First, she never come greet us or come talk to us during the 9 nights of the cruise. Second, she always forgot stuff in our room. For example, we had no agenda for a couple day, toiletries not refilled, no clean towels. Dirty cups are not taking away, etc. It was horrible, and we decide to talk to the guest relation after 1 week. They sent a steward supervisor to talk to us and apologized, and they gave us a follow call the days after to make sure our room and supplies are Okay. I would say that it could be just a bad individual who didn't properly do her job and not Celebrity's standard. Overall, the ship is clean and easy to navigate. We like Celebrity and have great experience at the ship, but we like to see Celebrity creating more new activities, providing more and different foods in OceanCafe daily, so it keep their guest impressed with this Premium Cruiseline. Read Less