Weather in northeast was far too cold to enjoy the beautiful cities of Canada and New England. Embarkation looked like a greased pig rodeo with two individuals (later three) controlling the crowds. The "herder-in-charge" was too busy chatting with guests (at the head of the line) to keep the processing running smoothly, with agents waving at him frantically to get his attention to send over another person to check in. The subordinate, on the other hand, was constantly distracted by questions, problems, and other issues so that people were jumping the line to check in. When the chatty man in charge noticed the line jumpers, he verbally attacked the other who was facing the crowds. They finally added a third person to make their system work properly. Ship was beautiful. Cabin was clean and well kept. Water was NOT softened leaving the skin and scalp very dry. Dining was good, but not great as there were not too many "simple food" options for people with dietary restrictions. Food too rich. Service was exceptional. Read Less

Due to the fact that it was a two week cruise down to my preferred destination, southern Caribbean, and that it left from New York (bused to Manhattan from Montreal/flew back from Miami) which meant I would sail by the statue of Liberty, as well as it was totted to be an interesting ship and my introduction to MSC line. Could not resist. Ship was good sized, slightly unique (French builder), easy to get around. Good food, very good entertainment. The itinerary enabled us to visit some favourites like Grenada, Curacao, Aruba, Barbados as well as be introduced to Martinique (liked). Disliked the classing (being pushed more and more by cruise lines) of people by category purchased. You don't get to eat in the same dinning room as Fantastica category guests or have a decent hour to dine. We were given 5:15! Pay more get treated better is back!! In general we have noticed this trend throughout the cruise lines and its becoming a turn-off! Cost has also been increasing so value is dropping for us. After 17 cruises we are starting to rethink cruising. Too bad. Read Less

After having been on 4 Silversea cruises, we chose the Canada and New England cruise at this time to be able to sail into NYC. It was a thrilling experience! We have sailed on the Wind, the Spirit (twice), and the Cloud. Each cruise was excellent. We loved the small-sized ship, and the crew was exceptional. The personalized service of Silversea, from the butler to the maitre d'hotel, was also superb. We were always greeted with a friendly smile and many times, greeted by name at the reception area, excursion desk and restaurants. We were disappointed with a windy day which prevented us from anchoring in Newport, but the crew and staff immediately planned activities for our unexpected day at sea. Although not a new, glitzy ship, we noticed updated decor as the ship was refurbished last year. It was understated elegance in all the public areas. We ate in all the restaurants except the grill due to weather. The food is outstanding, as we had remembered from all of our previous cruises on Silversea. The afternoon tea was a favorite time, with Trivia with the cruise director. We would have preferred the enrichment lectures be more in line with the ports we visited, giving history and landmark information. The excursions were very enjoyable. Read Less

Our class chose this destination on a majority vote for our 45th college reunion. We wanted a cruise that would take us to the East Coast and Canada for the Fall Foliage. Our travel agent suggested a Princess cruise based on previous clients' recommendations. The embarkation was smooth and all the staff were very helpful and showed us the way to our stateroom and the dining room for lunch. Our stateroom was in a quiet location, clean, had a balcony, and the space was just right for my husband and me. The bed was very comfortable and the comforter was light and warm. The Medallion made it so easy to get in and out of our room, go through lines when exiting or returning to the ship. It also made it easy to shop, pay for drinks or other items on the ship; we did not need to bring our wallets and money on board. The food, entertainment, service and staff on the Regal Princess were all first rate!! I will return to this ship for another cruise with family and friends! Read Less

What most determined our choosing this particular cruise was The Itinerary and most of all it was out of NYC which is driving distance away. We have traveled Princess before. This is a newer ship in good shape. The cleanliness of the Ship was great. Our cabin was quiet and extreemly clean. The quality of food was not as good as it was two years ago when we traveled on the same ship. Things that determined the Average Rating are as follows: 1. Cruise Line has cut back on the quality and quantity of food. An extremely small portion of lobster. Dinner featuring fried chicken had two very small pieces of dark meat. 2. Medallion does not always work - A passenger card is much better. After taking twenty-five cruises the card is a better way of cruising. Medallion tracks you everywhere - Big Brother. 3. The final bill had charges we did not make. Wasted 1/2 hour on disembarkation day getting it corrected. This has NEVER happened before on any of twenty-five cruises we have sailed on. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary, After first day I was injured and not able to return to ship, due to being hospitalized for 4 days. No one from Princess has yet to inquire what happened to us, or where we were. So much for checking in and out with the new Medalion system. They had our phone # do they not care about their passengers? It's been 2 weeks. Yet they were happy to charge my credit card.i called Princess from my hospital bed, but was put on hold and then hung up on. Port authority was able to get our belongings fedexed to the hospital, and asked them to cancel our shore excursions for St Johns, but that didn't happen either. Since we arrived home I have received several how was your cruise surveys, and here are some future cruises you can chose from. I did send them an email but have had no reply, so much for being Elite. Read Less

I wanted to see Canada during colorful Fall weather and I was NOT disappointed. Love that we have graduated to suite category now. Butler and Concierge are really nice touches. Was not as impressed with Teppanyaki chefs as I have been on other ships. Although the food was good, their flare was not impressive.. Cagney's Steakhouse was great. Moderno Brazillian Steakhouse was not great except for the filet mingion, which was delicious. The other cuts were cooked too done, even tho I told them medium. .Breakfast there was good.. Shows were good and a great variety.. I do not like the fact that very few cabins have shower stalls. Majority have tub/shower combo and this one was too deep for me to get my leg over. I wish they would take this into consideration of us older folks. . It was not a handicapped room, but there was a grab bar by the toilet, which I appreciated. Read Less

ABOUT US: My wife and I (in our 50s) wanted to find a cruise on a smaller ship without the masses of people since this was our first cruise. We have heard nightmares from the larger cruise ships and wanted to avoid the "hairy chest contest" cruise lines. In all candor, I was not looking forward to the cruise since i am not accustom to being in a confined or crowded location. We have high quality expectations when it comes to food and hotels rooms; however, we are not in the "high brow" country club crowd. SERVICE: From the moment boarding the ship all the way to departure, the service was impeccable. I asked our butler (who was a bit over attentive -- I really don't need help unpacking or packing, pouring wine or doing laundry) to keep water and beer in the room fridge and he delivered on that promise. The great thing is virtually everything is included on the ship: drinks, tips, etc. I kept waiting for a bill for something that I drank yet happily did not get it. WOW! Everyone on staff was amazing and very accommodating...way more than expected or needed for us. DINING: During dinner, we asked for a different wine selection and they were able to meet our request with something we liked and kept the glasses full, and no extra charge! wow amazing. The food was incredible and a huge selection of items for the seafood lover, vegetarian or carnivore! The informal "hot rocks" (cooking steak on a hot rock) on the pool deck is the best kept "secret" when you want to get away from the formal dinners. The buffet lunch was by far the best and we noticed the chef would visit ports to get fresh food for the cruise. WOW! PUBLIC AREAS: We did not feel crowded at all. There was plenty of public space to stretch out on the cruise without anyone around. On the "ship day", we sat in the observation deck and enjoyed watching the waves with very few folks around. Very quiet and nice. Even for the most 'popular' events, there was always a place to find a great seat and relax. The pool and deck area was never over crowded. I was impressed with the workout area...almost had the entire place to myself (they had 5 spin bikes and several treadmills, and other exercise equipment. PEOPLE: This is definitely the over 65 crowd and it was obvious we were the youngest guests on the ship (in our 50s). This was a good thing! Everyone on the ship were very cordial, friendly and polite. We actually enjoyed this since everyone was so friendly and eager to chat and were great to visit with. By the end of the cruise, we felt like most everyone on the ship was our best friend. ROOM: We expected to be in a cramped space and felt like we had enough room in our Veranda suite. We are tall people and were concerned that the bath shower would be too small...but the shower was bigger than many hotel room showers and baths. The room was clean, fresh and felt brand new. Rookie advice: Just bring tape to keep your drawers from slamming open and closed at night during rough seas (LOL). Overall, we highly recommend this cruise line and ship for the seasoned cruiser or the newbie wanting a relaxing, high end and low key cruise line. Read Less

Introduction: MSC Cruise Line is a new entrant to an American market. MSC is a registered company in Switzerland but operates from Geneva, Italy. The company was originally founded in Naples, Italy as Mediterranean Shipping Company (that gives them their current name). MSC appears to be diversifying in the cruise market from its original business of shipping. The company is privately held. However, they are expanding their presence in the cruise market by adding newer and bigger ships aimed at penetrating the American market. Altogether, we have taken nearly 50 cruises worldwide for the past 30 years with various cruise lines. This was our fourth cruise experience with the MSC Cruise Line. The breakdowns of our cruises with MSC cruise line by the ships are (2) with MSC Divina, (1) with MSC seaside and (4th- this) one with the largest ship Meraviglia. We rank Divina as number # 1 of our choice, Seaside as Number # 2 of our choice and Meraviglia as our poor selection. The name Meraviglia in an Italian-English dictionary means something remarkable, amazing, marvelous, astonishing or wonderful. Unfortunately, our experience taught us that this ship did not live up to the meaning of this word. It was inaugurated approximately one year ago, started cruising in the European market and just recently crossed Atlantic and entered into the American market for the winter season. The company has been in the cruise market for the last ten years or more. According to their web site, they have 18 cruise ships deployed covering the world cruise market and new one MSC Virtuoso will be soon operational, making their cruise liner with a fleet of 19 ships. MSC virtuoso will be even more high tech and slightly larger. The comparison of the cruise ships that we have traveled with MSC is given below. MSC Divina MSC Seaside MSC Meraviglia Comments 3502 5179 5655 Passengers 1308 1413 1536 Crew size 2.52 3.66 3.68 Ratios-passengers to crew 1093 ft 1060 ft 1034 ft Length Passenger to Crew Ratio: As a rule of thumb, when the passenger to crew ratio increases, the quality of the service to the passengers will decline. We felt excellent service with MSC Divina, little less with Seaside but considerably less with Meraviglia. As per our observations, the reasons were more than passenger to crew ratio that was unacceptably high with this ship, when compared with their own ships and ships of the other cruise liners. We observed the following factors influenced their quality of services. 1. The inexperienced and overworked crews. 2. Insufficient crew size to maintain quality of service needed for the large ship while serving over 5,000 passengers. 3. Unorganized services for embarkation, disembarkation at the port of calls, the breakfast, the lunches, and the dinners. 4. Poor leadership of the officers. Why we went with MSC- Meraviglia: We decided to take a 10-day cruise to Northern Canada, just to check off our bucket list based on our past favorable experience as a Black card member with MSC cruise line. We assumed that New York port, where a large number of ships arrive and depart; with two hours plane trip one way from home offers more conveniences and advantages. However, our cruise experience became very unpleasant with this cruise ship, so we decided to share our review and experience with other future cruisers, who can derive their own conclusions. Undoubtedly, we were impressed with some of their high tech features, which were incorporated in such newer and larger ships such as navigation devices, dockings and stability controls and other facilities that give you the feelings of resort-like lifestyle. The electronic display (that worked as a large computer tablet); placed at strategic places, for booking the onboard shows or dinner reservations, ships maps etc are a helpful and desirable feature. However, we were shocked by the total chaos and disorganization that became evident that we experienced in several service areas. This can be clearly attributed to the insufficient and inexperienced crews for servicing over 5500 customers on a timely basis. Obviously, the crew ratio to the passengers on board was one critical element but we also discovered that crew size was not present to its rated capacity as advertised. However, we felt that the ship was nearly full, if not completely full, carrying cross Atlantic passengers from Europe as well as new American passengers that were picked up from New York. We will review step by step our experience with various facilities onboard the ship, ports of calls and ancillary services. Embarkation in New York We took an early morning flight to fly to New York that required us to get up very early in the morning. The flight was smooth and we landed on time. We collected our luggage and took Super Shuttle to the port. As expected with usual busy traffic in New York downtown, it took over an hour to get to the port around 11.00 AM. At the cruise terminal, the line was already formed in the cold weather; the people wanted to have their luggage dropped off and get out of the cold to wait in the cruise terminal for the processing to start. Most of the ports and cruise lines have a quick procedure and facility for checking and dropping off the luggage to the ground crews. The ground crews collect the luggage beginning at 10.00 A.M. that will be delivered to your assigned room after embarkation. There were no luggage crews present and the luggage checking did not start until noon. The passengers waiting to embark on the ship found this delay unacceptable. Just like other cruise lines, why there were no luggage crews scheduled at 10.00 AM to receive the luggage? We were able to check our luggage around 1.00 PM due to long lines ahead. After checking in our luggage, we have to stand in long lines due to the long lines of people waiting to be processed. Nearly, the 30 to 40 percent cruise check-in people were absent judging from the empty terminals. This caused additional delays. The lines were getting very long and the people were jumping ahead of their turns. Although we had a Black card membership that allowed us the priority check-in, we were refused entry and not allowed to go into the priority area. The unmanned empty computer terminals gave us the indication that the long day is ahead of us. Some elderly people who had to stand in line for more than 3 hours and need to use the restroom facility were asked to go through luggage screening again. This again caused additional discomfort and anger among the passengers. The normal procedure used by other cruise lines is to collect boarding passes after luggage check-in, have processors take and verify your passport and credit card, take pictures if needed and assign the call tag for boarding and room key. Then you can wait for your embarkation call assigned to you and proceed to embark while going through carry-on luggage screening by the machines. You are in and at your option stand in for picture taking and skip and head towards embarkation. For reason unknown to us this process was not followed by this cruise ship during the embarkation, the process was changed as well as understaffing did not help. The terminal assigned was a small place, thereby creating overcrowding, long wait, and confusion. It took almost 5 hours of wait before most of the people were able to embark. Some Yacht club members were able to check in on a priority basis but not all Black card members. This was the most frustrating experience with most of the passengers. I tried to locate cruise officers but none was visible or available in the terminal. The contract union workers were not cooperative and were rude. One officer that I talked to after boarding the ship blamed it on the union. Market Place: The Market Place on the 15th deck area was always crowded unless you got into the service area at the time of the opening (General Buffet restaurant in the upper deck). We did notice that the seaside ship included two restaurants, another one mostly used by Yacht club members but non-Yacht passengers can also utilize it. This helped distribute the passengers and reduced overcrowding. These alleviate the overcrowding problem that we experienced almost every day at the Market place. The menus of both open restaurants at the seaside were identical. The Meraviglia only had one market place that acts as a general cafeteria, excluding regular dining rooms (no cost) and specialty restaurants (with cost). We did not find another designated place for eating as they had at the seaside. With the weather getting colder and windy, we cannot use the pool area. Some menu items vary in “hot serving” station every day, but in other areas like Pizza, ethnic and salad stations, they were unchanged. If you did not make it in time during the opening hours, good luck to find a table and a chair. Due to a shortage of crews, some of the serving stations were closed and the place was very crowded all the time. However, once you find the table, the self-service for food was reasonably quick. However, at beverage stations the chaos always prevailed due to lack of equipment to serve the passengers. The juice dispensers were often mislabeled. The most troubling aspect was that the hygienic requirement for food handling was not monitored. To avoid the Norvac Virus attack, some cruise liners are not allowing the passengers to touch the food but it is served to them in the self-service area. They also don’t allow the passengers to touch the serving spoons. Although we did notice the installation of hand wash booths (a great improvement and healthier method) at the entrance, there was no enforcement on passengers by the crews. The floor below the beverage stations required more attention for keeping them orderly and cleaned to avoid the passengers slipping or sliding. Ports in the Itinerary: Upon embarkation, we learned that our two-night stay at Quebec City will be cut to one day from two days and we will be issued $ 25.00 per passenger onboard credit. The reason cited was the whale migration of the season. Many passengers wondered that such events are repetitious annually and predictable, why was this not pre-configured in pricing and itinerary construction. The onboard credit must be spent on the ship or you lose it. Any saving on port charges must be refunded in cash that was not refunded for Quebec City; perhaps it was not refundable due to embarkation. The second issue popped up when just hours before the arrival at our first port stop at Sydney, the captain announced that due to bad weather at sea, we will be skipping the port. For that, we received an onboard credit of $ 300.00 per cabin as a refund to the cruise price along with port charges of $ 25.00. Both refunds were in cash. Next port of call was crane brook that was a small town in Nova Scotia, Canada. Sydney was close by and there were enough time and weather turned favorable. If Captain wanted to reconsider his stop that he omitted and if the dock was available, he would have an opportunity to restore the schedule. Not having that information, I cannot make a definite conclusion on the availability of docking the ship, but time and weather-wise; it was possible to make a stop after crane brook on our way to Quebec City. Dining Rooms: Although crowded, the evening service at the main dining room was slower but not bad. The menus varied but were not comparable to other cruise liners but most regarded the evening dinner as not the problem. We had to waste our time at customer service by standing in line, to correct billing errors. The wine steward forgot to take the card of the user and placed the charges on our room without any signature. We had one such incident and some of the others had similar problems. It appeared that 30 to 40 percent of crews were first-timers. Prior to crossing Atlantic, they must have relieved the old crews in Europe and took over a new consignment of crews. We talked to various people and they seem to be overworked, covering more tables and they were thinly spread out. Our lunch experience in the dining room was very poor. We had to sit there for two hours to complete our lunch menus. Generally, the dining rooms are closed after 20 to 30 minutes once they are opened, so the inside customers who are seated are promptly served and second seating if required can be opened up. Keeping the dining room open all the time allowed new people to arrive and waiters had to get them started with the menu, bread, and drinks. The same waiters would have to delay serving the second or third portion of the lunch for those who are already seated. This created a delay for all and took two hours to finish lunch. I think their lunch procedures must be reviewed and compared with other successful cruise liners of their size to ensure that they are properly staffed and have the right procedures to get the customers in and with no more than an hour. We ordered our dessert but it never arrived, after waiting for 30 minutes, we left and went to self serve market place. Customer service: There was a computer breakdown either on the ship or downloading the passenger data from the main office or perhaps both. This created huge problems in billings and there were many wrong charges applied to the room but they belonged to other rooms. Onboard credits that were included with our cruise bookings, never showed up and we had to take our booking papers and stand in line for an hour to prove that we were due that credit. All these problems had to be resolved by the customer service manned by four to five people and they were very busy all the time with long lines and they did what they can to correct billing errors, review the benefits and charges applied. With the breakdown of computer or data loss, they had to enter the data manually and they were two days behind but finally got caught up prior to the end of the cruise. This big computer glitch may have also created unnecessary delay at the time of embarkation and they had to manually reenter the data for many passengers. This may explain the reigning chaos and confusion seen on the face of the crew. I spoke to an officer who was aware of the problem but blamed the embarkation delay that delayed the departure by three hours and may have contributed to the skipping of the port due to the union rules observed by the New York Port Authority. Some passengers from the city of New York hotly disputed that statement. I requested the meeting with the captain but the captain choose to remain invisible and I never met him except at a welcome party from the distance. Future cruise consultants: We see no reason to travel again with this cruise line. Our reason to see the cruise consultant and to make her aware of the contracted package, we bought did not produce the requested result and her attitudes were disappointing and so was her remark that “it is no big deal”. There were others who had the same problems. It appeared to us that they were focused on booking future cruises until we reminded them that unless they fixed this cruise first, there will be no future cruises. During the last three days of the cruise, we started receiving our package in pieces, unlike other cruises we took with them, where the package was sitting in the cabin on the first day of embarkation. Internet: We were looking to get some internet access to check-in our flight back home when we were still sailing on the sea. They had a day package for $ 39.00 and were labeled as “24th”. When you try to sign on, they showed a 24-hour clock with start and stop time clock. The stop button did not work. We had to go back to customer service, who did not know how to fix it, so they brought their IT guy down. We talked to the IT man with the following suggestion. Rename the package as a “one-day” package, since it is unlimited and get rid of the clock. He implemented that suggestion and we were pleased about that. Shows: The shows were better organized for booking and checking. This operation was well organized. Their Cirque du Soleil at Sea - MSC Cruises was great and worth buying at the time of booking at discount. All other free shows were comparable to other cruise liners. Two performances allow all to take advantage of these entertainments. Club Member activities and Events Consistent with other cruise liners, there were welcome, Black member and Yacht club events but they were not organized in the places like sky lounge that are private and quiet, but were thrown open at Plaza Meraviglia (Promenade-Main deck) 6, where shopping gallery and franchised restaurants are located (not owned by ship). The captain was generally absent from some of the public events and service was not properly organized. Some of the passengers were not happy when one Gelato private operator ran out of cups and cones. The passenger managed to get a glass from a nearby bar to complete his purchase. Cabin: We had an outside cabin with a balcony that is always a nice and enjoyable feature. Unfortunately, the weather was colder than normal, so we could not take advantage of that. This ship has many cabins with the outside balconies and it is very useful in the warm weather. In general, the cabin accommodation was perfect. However, TV service was not useful. There were not enough channels in English for the American market and the satellite service was poor. The major free news channels like CNN, BBC and others were not available that you generally find with most of the other cruise lines operating in the American market. The TV featured the review of your onboard activities, reservation and billing details were excellent provisions and that is not generally not found with other cruise liners. Onboard movies will require payment, while other cruise liners have free service and sometimes a small movie theater featuring new releases. We have furnished enough details for the cruise line to make some amends for American markets or passengers to consider when booking future cruises. Disembarkation: Disembarkation at the end of the cruise was smooth and we encountered no problems, like we experienced with ports of calls in Canada that we stopped. Generally, at the port of call, there are two doors opened, one for disembarkation and another one for pre-embarkation upon the conclusion of the tour or the visit to the town. We found that either due to lack of security machines or lack of personnel, they did not open two doors, resulting into long lines and delays. This was unnecessary for this size of the ship. Read Less

We chose because of price and destination. Too many passengers for the staff who did their best to keep up. Rarely was I asked if I wanted coffee after lunch or dinner. Three times no creamer, waiter brought a glass or cup of cream and poured it into my warm coffee. My usual go-to alternative at dinner is salmon. It was small and overcooked. No TV reception-I missed news and sports for 10 days. Felt like steerage not being allowed in many parts of the ship. Drink package was very poor and inconsistent. No outlet near bed for C-PAP. Entertainment was well below other cruse lines. Pizza, pasta and desserts were good.Fruit selection was sparse. One day we got an orange, other days same stuff every day. Ran out of oranges 2 days out. Tissues in room only if you requested but then their supply ran out.. Approximate 3 hour delay at embarkation but no explanation provided. My wife ordered shrimp cocktail at dinner and got 3 small unpeeled shrimp. Sewer smell coming up from shower drain. Smaller entertainment venues were over crowded- could not get a seat any evening. Just too many passengers for the facilities Read Less

Very disappointing cruise. Not the agenda but the overall vibe and feel of the experience. My expectations for the price paid was first class yet from cabin cleanliness , management team to the buffet food, I would rate it very below average. Many employees especially senior staff avoided interaction by being on the ships phones as they walked by. Cabins was dirty and attendant did nothing more than make a bed. No table cleaning, no dusting, no vacuuming no scrubbing of toilet floor or tub. Caught the steward on at least 4 occasions just loafing in the room or daydreaming on the balcony. Food quality very average at best. Too much repeat ( or slight variation with different names] does anyone really like bread pudding that much to have it everyday ? Soups all tasted same, salad bar was poor choices and actually ran out of lettuce day 10. As for itinerary, great as originally planned and switching Boston from Newport was a bonus but missing the full day and overnight in New York City was a negative. Appreciate NCL taking cover from the storm overnight on Wednesday but trying to get answers why the ship didn’t sail earlier on Thursday to reach New York to arrive at least by noon on Friday. Shortly after leaving the cove north of Boston at 6 pm The Bridge report on the TV showed arrival at 10 am Friday which would have been acceptable. It also seems it would have been achievable at approximately 300 nautical miles assuming 20-22 knots speed. Ship never achieved more than 11-12 knots and actually headed towards Nantucket to hang out most of the day on Friday. My guess is they were trying to save $$$$ on docking costs instead of trying to please the paying customers. Many guests were questioning staff but very poor communication and answers as to WHY! As if NCL was afraid to be honest about it. Final complaint was the number of tender ports even though the ports had usable piers that were occupied by other cruise lines. This seems to me that NCL made the decision that it is cheaper to tender than pay dock fees. Tendering is a time waste for the paying client when there are piers available. Is this way for cruise line to improve their Gross Profit? Read Less

Just back from a 14 day cruise. I have sailed with Celebrity before so I knew what to expect. Stateroom attendant great. Blu restaurant service outstanding. Tuscany restaurant very good n- food and service. Skip Sushi on 5. Eat at Qsine at least once for experience. Buffet very good all-around. Entertainment mostly home runs; a couple of grand slams. Great cruise director. Most accessible and able captain of any cruise I have been on. He understands the business he is in and his staff/crew reflect his philosophy/worldview. Very nice ship - recently refurbished. Embarkation exceptionally good. Can't say there was anything that really stood out as exceptional, bc all was good. Maybe that the entertainment was much better than anticipated. My only complaint is they are chintzy on alcohol - and there is no good reason for that. Most drinks couldn't taste or feel any alcohol. And I know alcohol! Read Less

Room on 16th floor front of ship balcony smelled like a locker room. Food quality was very poor. Carnival cruise line has way better food. Customer service is not honest with average age group traveling. They herd you in like cattle. Very disappointed on first cruise with Princess. Dancers were very very very good. Well done. Carlos Oscar comedian was very good. Just felt like there was lack of communication from staff. Like you are on your own. If you want to be on a cruise with the average age of 70 plus, than Princess is for you. Captain Tim was not honest about the rough seas. People were tortured because of rough seas. Took us around subtropical Storm Melissa. Not a great experience, but hey, they had to get the next cruise out Saturday afternoon. It’s all about making money. I get it. Not cool though taking passengers in a storm. Our steward that cleaned our room was very sweet young lady. Read Less

We chose this cruise to hopefully catch some great fall colors and - perhaps - the Northern Lights. We got one out of two! Colors were gorgeous, especially in Canada. We took our daughter and her husband with us and had a delightful time with them! Embarkation was amazingly smooth - probably a function of not trying to get on board as early as possible, like we usually do! Really enjoyed the ports and the on board entertainment. Dining room food was a bit below Princess' normally high standards. Cruising through sub-tropical storm Melissa was probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience that the ship and captain handled amazingly well - making it actually an exciting experience, rather than scary. Although this itinerary is not one I would repeat (unlike others we have taken), I am delighted that we had the opportunity to see a part of the Northeast we had not previously experienced. Peggy's Cove and the Reversing Rapids were especially amazing! Read Less

Received as a free cruise from Hard Rock in Biloxi. I was excited about receiving the free cruise off as it was the first time I was going to be going on NCL. I had heard a lot of good remarks from previous cruisers. My experience had good and bad reviews. Not real sure I like the freestyle concept. If you do not want to wait for 30-45 mins for a table if you go anytime after 6pm, make sure you make previous dining reservations. Then after waiting for your pager to go off, you have to expect 1-1.5 hours for dinner. Service is EXTREMELY slow, wait staff is not in any rush whatsoever to clear your empty dishes nor refill your beverages. Our group (6j made reservations at La Corcina, what a DIASTER that was. This dinner took over 3 hours.....the excuse was they had just gotten a new chef and they did not know the kitchen and was having issues finding what he needed. Really are the kitchens on the ship all that different????? We were approached the next afternoon by the Guest Relations manager whom was fact finding on what we thought of ALL the service areas. I believe our concerns were given to the appropriate parties, as EVERY night after the first two nights of HORRIABLE dinner service the Restaurant manager appeared wherever it was our group was having dinner and service was impeccable. Why should it take going to measures of complaining to receive such service? Have the crew members gotten so complacent with the fact that they are guaranteed tips since you prepay your gratuities, that they feel it doesn’t matter what their attitude or service is like???? Other than the restaurant fiasco we really enjoyed our cruise. Read Less

Great cruise. We loved the Caribbean Princess ship. Enjoyed all the ports of call. Prince Edward Island was our favorite. We had an inside cabin B244. It was small but we were not in the cabin that much except to sleep and change clothes. It met our needs very well. It was in the front of the ship and it was a long walk to the rear of the ship to dine. The Medallion worked opening the stateroom door and entering or exiting the ship. It had other uses but we did not use them. The entertainment was very good. The shore excursions were excellent and we enjoyed them as well. The ship stayed in port at Quebec City for two days and that allowed time to see the city without having to go in a day early and spend time in a hotel before the cruise. Be sure and see old town Quebec City at the port it was very nice. Read Less

We traveled on the Norwegian Escape for the third time this year last week departing from NYC going to Canada and Maine. Obviously we love his ship because 1) the friendliness and service from the entire staff on the Escape, 2) the food is exceptional, 3) the entertainment, 4) the thermal SPA, 5) the Ship, there is always something to do and there are many quiet zones to go an relax. Now there is one thing everyone should remember when on a cruise sometimes but not very often things are not perfect, that being said all it takes is a nice gesture or suggestion and the staff will take care of you, remember there are thousands of people on the ship and the Escape crew goes beyond your expectations to take care of you. NCL has these cards on the ship that says tell us about your vacation hero, well that’s difficult because we would spend a day filling out these cards, so for this trip we had many hero’s, Rami the bartender in District, Erwin Cabigas bartender, Enrique Bautista bartender and K2 bartender, these guys come to mind because of their exceptional service. Alvin the cruise director keeps the entertainment going from start to finish. From this cruise and one of our previous ones our room stewards on the 15th deck Alan and Jefferson. We also received a warm welcome from Manuel Santos asst. Maître D’ every time he saw us he’s a very nice man, there were many others including Dionne asst. Maître’, Melroy Rebeiro restaurant manager and last but not least Zdravko Kojakovic food and beverage director this guy is on top of his game! Thank You Escape staff for a great vacation. Read Less

We are avid cruisers. The ship was beautiful, clean, alive with activities and the staff was AMAZING! Staff was amazing helping me with my Keto diet!! Above and beyond helpful!!! I could easily order meals without carbs, but it was sad to have no dessert. Sugar Free is different from Carb Free. So I spoke to the head chef, and he assigned an assistant maitre’d to help me. They ended up creating a special carb free dessert for me for every night! I felt so cared for!! It was amazing! That assistant maitre’d phoned me regularly in our cabin and left information for each meal. It was unbelievable!! The only downside to this sailing was that it was far too crowded. Perhaps it is the nature of the cold-weather cruise for the inside gathering areas to be crowded. People were fighting for seats in the Atrium. Groups would stake out seats in the Atrium first thing in the morning, and then take turns saving those seats throughout the day. Staff always brought in folding chairs, but we were on a cruise for comfort and relaxation. Folding chairs did not meet our needs. That’s why they put the wonderful, cozy furniture in the Atrium. Read Less

Told this USED TO BE a great cruise line. Times have changed tremendously!! Definitely a 3rd rate ship in need of professional leadership at the corporate level. The ship is run as though they going broke!! You pay for two fares for you and your partner, then are told the so called free internet can only be used by one of you at a time??? Or you can pay an additional $270 for the other person. They allow one bar of shower soap for two people to last 2 weeks. The same with the small bottles of lotion and shampoo ! Of course, you can purchase more.... Food quality has definitely declined significantly!!!! And the portions are meager as you almost beg for more. Waiters have been ordered not to ask would you like another drink, unless it is one you are buying. We would never cruise with Oceania again. Caveat emptor.. Read Less

My wife and I wanted to do a different cruise this year so we decided on the New England to Quebec cruise. After looking at several cruise lines we choose Princess because of the itinerary and the reputation. We arrived 2 days early in New York and stayed in Brooklyn not far from the cruise terminal which worked out great, as we could drop our bags in the morning and then take the NYC Ferry to NYC and back to the terminal. Embarkation was smooth and so easy with the Medallions. Our room was nice, the bathrooms are what you can expect on most ships. The bed was a bit short. Comfortable but short. Our steward was very nice and did a great job. He kept the room clean and always had ice in the fridge. Our only real room glitch was we ordered some items to be in the room on arrival to the room but they were not there. We ordered robes to be in the room and I ordered a Stanley Bear to be in the room. The robes did not show up till a full day or more later and I had to go get the Bear at the shop, which kinda killed the surprise. Oh well. We went to the Steakhouse on the first night and it was lovely. Wonderful food and attentive staff. We used the buffet for breakfast a few times, had the Ernesto Burger by the pool, went to anytime dining, went to tea in the dining room twice and had our daily coffee at the International Cafe. The buffet was your average buffet. The food was good and tasty, I would have liked to see more fruit, including bananas. Due to a gastro-intestinal issue on the previous cruise we could not handle the salt and pepper which made seasoning eggs and such a pain. We ended up buying salt/pepper shakers on an excursion as well as some hot sauce and took it to the buffet and morning dining room. The international cafe and the coffee card were perfect for us in the AM. and the egg muffin sandwich was great for early excursions or on debarkation. Loved the International Cafe. The Ernesto burger was very good indeed. Well worth the 15 minute wait. The anytime dining was good. The food was on par with other cruise lines I have been on. Service was a bit slow but not terribly so until the last 3 days and it seemed to get slower and slower. We did have a couple of mix ups at dinner. Like not having the curry sauce on a dish with curry sauce and not getting a appetizer portion of some pasta even though it was ordered. I eat too much on cruises so that last one is not a real issue. The desserts were great especially the chocolate items. I would have like to see more vegetables though. The itinerary was action packed. 9 stops in 10 days. All of them were excellent and offered something for every one. We planned our own excursions or simply walked around town. there was plenty of time a each to enjoy the port. I had a couple of disappointments with the overall experience which makes me think that maybe Princess is not for me. 1. On board activities often overlapped so I could not get to all the things I liked. for instance the photo classes and the go pro classes were at the same time or overlapped so i could not do both. I did as much of the trivia challenges as I could but many were so tight on the schedule I could not do them all. 2. I love the medallion. It made getting off and on the ship a breeze and getting into the state room easy. Paying for stuff was also easy. The Apps were not as flawless. there is a disconnect between the website the apps and the written items on the ship. Also the staff does not understand the app or what they can do so sometimes I ended up know more than the staff . I felt like a beta tester and that the apps were a little rushed to get out. Overall I really did enjoy the cruise and the ship. I just don't feel that Princess is the right line for me at this time. Read Less

This was our first Carnival cruise. My wife and I are in our late 50’s early 60s. We’ve sailed with Royal Caribbean, Princess, NCL, and for our honeymoon, Home Line. We hesitated sailing with Carnival due to its rep as a beer and pizza cruise line. After reading numerous reviews on how they’ve upped their game, we gave it a shot and were not disappointed. We sailed on the Sunrise, to Canada and New England. First, this cruise attracts an older audience. 90% of the passengers were older than us, and that was quite OK. The ship is a rehab, with Carnival adding additional passenger rooms to the detriment of common areas. They were very overcrowded, including the buffet, which was no loss, as cruise buffets in general arent stellar. It was difficult to get seating at the piano bar and the comedy club. We went to the comedy club once, 45 minutes early, and were able to get a seat. The ship was not nearly full, which gives me concern about how it would fare when full. We had an inside cabin, as we love the dark for sleeping. It was amply sized, and we didnt feel at all cramped. The food was really good. The Guy Fieri restaurants (note, theyre not really restaurant, just take out) were stellar. Some of the best BBQ anywhere and great burgers. Terrific! Make this your first meal when you wait for your room. Lucky Bowl was also exceptional. A cross between pho and ramen for lunch; delicious noodle soup. For breakfast, they serve breakfast bowls. Skip the buffet for lunch and dinner, youre best off at the taco bar (also good for breakfast), the sit down formal main restaurant or the Fieri stops. You can always grab something from the buffet if the other meals dont fill you up. The only meal that was disappointing was the for-pay Cucina del Capitan. The service was poor, and the food mediocre. If you want to splurge, order the lobster for a $10 dollar premium in the main dining room. Or the seafood tower. I’m sorry we didnt. We saw one the last night, and it was huge. At $60 for two people, it’s a bargain. Also, on the first formal night, they serve lobster for no surcharge. So, dont book the specialty restaurant for formal night. If you want more than one of anything, ask. If youre too timid to ask, ask them how big the lobster tail is and they will heap them on you. Passive aggressive ordering. Youre welcome. The activities were fun, and the shows were really good for what they were. The only total ripoff is bingo. On the first night, 8 people split the $200 jackpot. On the last night, they advertised a $5000 jackpot. This was a fill-the-card game. What they didnt tell you was that if there wasnt a winner after a certain amount of draws, they wouldnt award the $5000 jackpot. This wasnt advertised, and the winner walked away with a $1000 prize. A lot of angry people. All in all, it was a great cruise with really good service and food. Good value. Read Less

My travel agent suggested the NCL escape because I wanted a 7 day cruise not too far away from home Incase of an emergency. It was the perfect cruise for our honeymoon. My husband prefers just relaxing on a beach and I like going on excursions and learning about different places. It was both relaxing and educational. A lot of bus tours so my husband was able to nap while I took in the sights and history of New England/Canada. The thing I was expecting and loved a lot was the selection of activities I can do while my husband was sleeping. The crew was amazing!!!! They all went above and beyond and made me laugh and smile. I was worried about my husband drinking too much and asked that they water his drinks down but the bartender said no worries we have wheel chairs for these type of situations, they were not kidding I did witness someone get wheeled down early morning. The crew was speedy and professional about it. I was able to have a great time thanks to the cruise director entertainment. It’s almost as they plan for these things to happen. The salon and spa was super relaxing. The food was amazing, the entertainment was top notch, the music was on point. Only few cons were packed elevators on sea days, communication barriers (that’s my own fault, I’m hard of hearing) and food temperatures at some restaurants. But overall I had a great time and the cons are things I can deal with. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the ports that were offered. The fjords of the Saguenay river are spectacular and offer the opportunity to see whales right from the ship where the Saguenay river meets the St. Lawrence. Unfortunately the ship travelled up the river at night so we missed most of the fjords and did not see any whales, but all ports provided us with opportunities to see some beautiful scenery. We had been looking forward to the fine dining onboard and were so disappointed by the food in the dining room. We heard complaints from other passengers all week. The buffet food was fine, but we expected much better in the dining room and often felt rushed. Also caution that the dining room now offers a menu for an additional cost. I heard someone order a lobster tail and decided to have the same, and was not told that it would cost me $19. And for that I received a shrivelled up piece of lobster that was so overcooked that it curled in the tail and was dry and tough. The lobster on lobster night was much better and there was no upcharge. The desserts were also disappointing. The cheesecake used to be a delicious option, but the one that was served was dry and bland. First time I didn't gain a few pounds on a cruise! The swimming pools are not heated and so the water was too cold to swim. Not sure why they bother with water at all if the pools are not useable. I would have swam each day, even in cooler weather, if the water had been warm. Read Less

Wait staff, ship's officers and crew, security & maintenance, as usual, are all top notch. Management is just the opposite. From 6 hours on the phone over 5 weeks unsuccessfully trying to get a return call from a "supervisor" at the NCL Air Department to rectify air connections that flew us into a City 200 miles from the port on the wrong day to condescending, rude, in-your-face "service desk" managers who couldn't communicate effectively and blamed you for their errors. We overheard one loud argument that would later echo our sentiment exactly. He was yelling "This is your mistake, not mine. I shouldn't be having to work for YOU to straighten out YOUR errors on MY vacation and spend MY time trying to resolve YOUR problems." They called security on him. We smiled and thought, well, he probably could have handled that better..." Little did we know that a day or two later we would find ourselves in the same position and being goaded by these very same incompetent, argumentative "service personnel" about our credit card and saying roughly the same thing and ultimately having to "go to work" on our vacation to correct yet another error by NCL. (I guess they figured since we let them get away with taking our $200 in airfare they'd attempt to go back to the well for more.) Ours is far from the only observation on the web that over the last 5 years, while the day-to-day personnel continues to remain gregarious, friendly, courteous and competent, there has been a tectonic shift at the Helm of NCL's home office & bean counters resulting in business management that just gets more pathetic with each passing cruise. Not vessel management, "hospitality" management. As for the air department in particular, don't waste your money. Read the plethora of negative reviews about this cruise and those who've been snookered into the Montreal/YQB switcheroo. Since no one would return our calls, we finally just wrote off the $200 airfare as a loss and booked ourselves into Quebec (YQB). NCL may have taken our money, but we refused to let them steal our joy. We spent 4 fantastic days enjoying Quebec Quebec City, and wished for more to be honest. Sadly we listened to horror stories each day of people with similar experiences who had to find their own way to the port from some far away city or who sat for hours on the side of a major highway, the bus rocking from the traffic whizzing by their broken down bus. They said it was terrifying thinking about becoming a statistic. One reviewer said it took NCL 12 hours to get them from Montreal Trudeau to the ship. It's so laughable even the comedian made their misery the butt of several jokes in his act. So if you think they'll actually treat you differently than all the other thousands of guests they've hoodwinked, then the joke'll be on you. One day NCL is going to screw over the WRONG attorney who's going to file a class action suit over their "bait and switch" tactics and false repeated claims that "there aren't seats into Quebec," to which we responded, "We've got 4 windows open with 4 different airlines with flights from 4 different cities into YQB all with empty cabins, so don't sit there and lie to me. I'm looking at planes I could play ping pong in and never hit a soul with a serve." It's a shame management is slowly sinking what was once a fine cruise line. The ship's older design must have been originally for the Caribbean or Mediterranean as the only observation areas are outside. A lot of women don't like their hair being blown around after they've fixed it up. There's no area aft to sit and watch the horizon recede. The ship has mysterious humps in the floor, odd, dead-end nooks and crannies and there is no bridge viewing room like there is on Jewel-Class vessels. The curries on the buffet were, as always, excellent. Healthy choices on the buffet were plentiful. Main dining rooms were on par with other ships in the NCL fleet. Specialty dining went from totally inedible in Los Lobos (other reviewers agree) to "OMG, this is the best meal I've ever eaten!" in the Italian Restaurant (La Cucina?) The manager Vaughn, was fantastic and very observant, not to mention funny. He's a true asset to the company. All of the ports were enjoyable other than maybe Halifax and simply because it's such a big city and industrial port. I mean there's nothing WRONG with Halifax, it's just not very walkable it's so large. Bar Harbor or Portland were likely our favorite, due to Acadia and the breath-taking views from Cadillac Mountain and the views of the lighthouses from Fort Williams. Still, each port was charming in it's own way. Quebec City is worth a week. Don't let NCL entice you into cheap airfare only to find they didn't give you time to explore this fascinating world of old and new. I'm told the entertainment on board was good. I don't go on cruises for food or entertainment, but my wife and other party members enjoyed the variety of shows. The pool deck was generally lightly populated due to the chilly temperatures. The library is in an odd, but very quiet place. I liked its location. Not alot of traffic due to it being isolated at the start of a U-shaped hallway of forward cabins. It's kind of where the health club "class" workout room is often located on the Jewel-Class vessels. We did not find the Ultimate Beverage Package to be a very good deal for us because we don't drink a lot so a beer or glass of wine would wind up costing $50 when you averaged it out per diem. And forget finding a Mountain Dew when you wanted one. I mentioned earlier the attentiveness of the staff. I should clarify that I mean wait staff, room stewards, etc. If you see an officer or security personnel, they are almost always approachable, congenial and helpful. On the other hand, any "hotel staffer" in one of the dark, business-like suits - is a waste of your time. The only solution they can offer is to write an email to the home office, because they have no authority to provide any solutions for you. Your room steward on the other hand can answer 90% of your questions and solve the majority of your issues, just remember all he did for you at the end of the cruise. Same with the food services. If you ask for something politely, if it's on the ship it will magically appear at your table generally within a reasonable time. Not always, but generally. A lot of it depends on your attitude toward your server. One final tip - and it's about tips. When we wanted to acknowledge a staffer who went above and beyond, we would add an amount above what was included in our prepaid tip package to the paper receipts at the restaurant only to learn that those tips went into the general pool for all workers, thus eliminating what we were attempting to do, which was let someone know we appreciated their specific extra effort. After learning that, we always carried a little cash around and looked for opportunities to make someone's day when it was deserved. I hope I can remember that the next time I cruise with Norwegian. They may be the American Airlines of the cruise industry, but they're cheap - sadly in more ways than one. Read Less

DINING/DRINKS/SERVICE: We paid for the Meal Specialty Dining Package, Adult Ultimate Beverage Package and the Prepaid Service Charge. It was money well spent and a great value. We were able to eat at four specialty restaurants and the food in each was excellent. The Venetian Main Dining Room also had great food. Some of the desserts were better than what we had in the Specialty Restaurants. The Garden Cafe was great for breakfast and snacks, fresh fruit, soft serve ice cream, salad, breads/muffins. O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar & Grill had good food. The dinner food in the Garden Cafe served was mediocre. SERVICE: The service throughout the ship was great and the staff works hard. I saw some of the wait staff, especially bartenders put up with some rude people and they did it gracefully. Even though we prepaid Service Charges we tipped our room steward extra and also tipped extra in some of the specialty restaurants (even though 20% was included). ENTERTAINMENT: What we saw in the Stardust Theater was okay. The seating in the main area is cramped, not much leg room which made it uncomfortable. The upper side levels had more comfortable seating. Because the majority of the people were older the Stardust was packed the two times we attended a show. BAND ENTERTAINMENT We really enjoyed the Jose and Patti AND the band Sonata. SHORE EXCURSIONS: All of our excursions were booked through Norwegian and most of them were excellent. The "Fortress of Louisbourg" was good; however, our bus arrived 30 minutes late and returned us to the dock 10 minutes early. The time was 10:30 AM-2:15 PM and we note each excursion states "estimated." It was an extreme rush to try to see and enjoy the Fortress of Louisbourg which was a disappointment. This excursion should be longer because there is a lot to see and they have reenactors in the buildings which are period dressed and it is very interesting. The "Iconic Towns of Nova Scotia" tour our guide on the bus was excellent. The area the bus stopped at in Mahone Bay is across from a beautiful church and next to the water. It is a beautiful area; however, there is only shopping here. It would have been better if they eliminated Mahone Bay so more time could be spent in Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove. Regardless, it was wonderful and the prices were very reasonable. HOT TUBS/POOL: The hot tubs (6) and swimming pool were great and often empty at night Read Less