Ports of call where the reason I selected the ship. I didn't explore Barcelona as much as I would have liked due to jet lag. I didn't know that I could have selected the port to start my cruise. Had I known this, I would have started in Rome to have extra time there. This should be advertised better.
The epic ship was ok. Since it was November, it was too cold for the pool. Norwegian ...
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 ...
We chose this cruise for the itinerary (wanted to visit Florence, Rome, Pompeii, and Venice) and time of year (not summer busy season). Oceania turned out to be a great choice.
The ship is smaller than most. We never waited long for an elevator and could easily find seating at the pool or in the dining rooms, even though we were told it was fully booked. We enjoyed the 24-hour coffee service ...
Preamble
I’m a 40-something Scot living in Ireland, I travel with my 50-something Irish friend.
I’d always wanted to cruise but when I’d looked into cruising in the past the whole notion of set-dining and shared tables was more of a punishment than a holiday for me and I stopped thinking about cruises and took other types of holidays. Then a colleague at work was taken on the Epic and I ...
We were on the NCL Epic which sailed out of Barcelona, Spain on October 27, 2019. The ports were Rome, Naples, Florence & Pisa, Cannes, France and Palma De Mallorca, Spain. The itinerary was great. We only booked 1 excursion with the ship in Cannes, France and the rest we booked private tours which were less expensive and amazing. We were a party of 4 adults (2 couples) and we all felt the same ...
This cruise had good reviews but now I realize the reviews are from Royal Caribbean lifers. FYI if you have kids the ship attracts a majority of older people. There was only 1 main dining room aside from the buffet. I felt pressured to pay extra to eat at the specialty dining rooms because the salespeople were always standing at the entrance to the buffet. Cleaning was poor, I found false ...
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 ...
The most disappointing of all my cruises. Room design very inconvenient and strange. The steward was just a glorified maid. He made the beds up and that was it. Unavailable for the first 3 days. Calls to housekeeping gave us a recording that he was busy helping other travelers. The poor service and attitude was across the board. Like tired workers just moving through the motions. This is a ...
As I much prefer the smaller ships, this was a perfect fit. The Brilliance is in good shape overall. We were in a Grand Suite. Our room was clean and in wonderful condition. Our cabin steward, Luis, was attentive to all and any of our needs. The concierge, Amit, was very helpful in all facets especially with getting off the ship quickly at the ports of call and disembarkation.
As for the food. ...
We were on the NCL Epic leaving from Barcelona I was in a group of 20 and we all felt the ship was lackluster. This was my first time on sailing with NCL and I will be sticking to my preferred cruise line in the future. Out of all the workers I encountered only 2 seemed to be happy to be working on the ship. All the other workers were miserable, the seated dining service was horrible on one ...