We chose this cruise because it ended in New Orleans, right across the lake from our home town of Slidell. We have never been to Europe and thought it would be a good opportunity to see our roots, and loved the idea of a transatlantic crossing. We flew on our own to Copenhagen two days early, and thank goodness we did because our flights got delayed due to weather and took many more hours to get there. We really liked Copenhagen, clean, lots of history and bikes everywhere! Getting onto the ship went very smoothly, getting off the ship in New Orleans was complete chaos. Everyone getting off at the same time despite being organized by color tags on our luggage the day before. Then people getting onto the ship showing up way too soon and adding to the chaos. We took our four large suit cases and walked blocks away to catch our ride home, We loved the ship! Very large but with 3,774 passengers it did seem crowed in the common areas at times, but we expected that. Lots of outside areas to sit, walk or just hang out to watch the sun set. There are two decks to walk on which were very busy in the mornings. The ship was spotless! I saw cleaning being done at all times and lots of hand sanitizer and crew members ready to spray your hands as you walked into the Garden Cafe. First two weeks I didn't hear a cough or a sneeze, but then it started and an upper respiratory illness started to spread despite all the effort by the ship to prevent it. I caught it, but my husband didn't. I didn't need to get medical treatment for i, just over the counter meds for two weeks. I don't blame the ship company or crew for that, it just happens when you have that many people held together for a long length of time. Service for us was excellent, Our favorite place to eat was the Garden Cafe, good food, lots of variety, fresh and no waiting for service. They did run out of tea, orange juice, butter,and coffee creamer, and for some reason didn't get several of those replaced We LOVED the ice cream!!! It was real rich ice cream that you just don't get in the stores any more. We enjoyed eating at Tepanyaki the most! We enjoyed Cagery's, Le Bistro, and Moderno's specialty restaurants also. We thought it took way to long to get service and food in Taste, Savor and Tropicana, so we didn't eat at those more than once each. Shores excursions had a lot of issues. Not enough time to really see or experience a place, too long on a bus to get there. You got to see a lot of the general area from the bus which to me was a plus, but then no time to see London, Amsterdam, or Miami. Couldn't eat lunch in Miami, but back to the ship an hour early only to wait two hours to get back on the ship. Customs caused that mess, but the company didn't help easy the wait. We loved the staff!!! They were so nice, seemed to know their jobs well, worked so hard to please, serve or help and keep the ship clean! They worked hard at helping disabled passengers get on and off the ship in all the ports, even helping get their food at the Garden Cafe, all you had to do was let them know you needed help. We can't believe anyone would have complained about the crew! We didn't experience much of the entertainment, but heard a lot of good comments about it and wished we had signed up to see a show or two. Overall we enjoyed our cruise and would recommend this cruise. We will do another one to see some new sites one day! Read Less

Itinerary. Ship is too small inside to accommodate over 3500 guests. Service sucked. Food was mediocre. Wont go on Norwegian again ever. No world series showed which was not a good idea. Cruise director sucked. Halloween costumes party should of been in Theater. Bad organization with everything. Venues not enough space to accommodate guests. Lines too long. Dining room service 2 hours to eat was awful even though I had a reservation. The elderly was not taken care of and made to fend for themselves. Captain lacked communication skills. Guests services was not run properly and phone calls to guests services from state rooms was unprofessional being hung up on after several calls to front desk. Bathrooms were dirty. I believe the Getaway needs another ren0vation Not enough guiet space availability. Entertainment was not very good. Burn the Floor and the country show was the best on the ship. Slow services. Tips advanced so why give good service we got our tips what do we care. That's your staff's attitude. Sanitizing was not controlled like other ships. Read Less

We were a group of 10 people (8 adults and 2 children) celebrating my parent's 50 Anniversary and thought the cruise would be the perfect holiday for everyone to bond and spend quality time. We live in Dubai hence we approached Imagine Cruising (The authorised agent for the UAE) for our bookings. We finalized 3 Balcony rooms next to each other and were pretty excited about the arrangements. We paid approx USD 6300 for a family of four for the 9 day full board cruise. On embarking we realised that there were people who had booked directly from NCL who got great deals on beverages, alcohol, speciality restaurants which we were never made aware of by imagine cruising. One of the things that really irritated us was the fact that on arrival the cabin had two bottles of water - One still and one sparkling. Being travelers and been to our share of hotels, usually bottles kept out meant complimentary, however we were told later that sparkling bottle costed USD 6 odd and since the bottle was big and didn't fit in the mini bar it was kept out. When we argued with the guest services that there was no mention of the charges, their reply was "well, it doesn't say that it is free either" WOW!! That's when the distrust started with the cruiseliner...Imagine straight off in the first 15 mins of people embarking the cruiseliner makes approx USD 9 per cabin for the water consumed by unassuming people. Around the fifth day we became aware of a charge called gratuity fee which is USD 15 per person per day. For a family of 4 it came to USD 540 which was never communicated by Imagine cruising to us. We started freaking out coz we had budgets for our trip and this was serious curveball. We are happy to pay gratuity if we are told about these expenses and we raised it with the guest services. It took them 2 days to reverse the fees and we were stressed for 2 days as 3 families were going to get hit with approx USD 1300. We were charged for mini bar consumption which we debated and was reversed. People go on holidays to forget stress but we had it in abundance on this cruise. Everyday we didn't know if we would get a seat at any of the complimentary restaurants, wait time was 40 mins. Garden Cafe Buffet is where we ate our Breakfast/lunch and dinner for about 5 days. O'sheehan's would have a special for the day which would be served till 9pm only and then regular food would be served again with no change in the menu. We didn't understand the concept of having 3 complimentary restaurants with the same menu for 9 days! You basically are finding ways to push people to go for the speciality restaurants out of sheer boredom! A lot of the arcade games across the ship were money making machines, people playing were getting frustrated losing their money. Being travelers we understand that you are docking at lesser known countries like Poland, Estonia to increase their tourism and generating revenue but Poland as a port can be missed entirely as the scenic tour wasn't great. Estonia was a pleasant surprise and St Petersburg was bustling. For some reason when docking at St. Petersburg all gambling activities on the ship ceased leaving us very little to do in the evening time. Good things on the cruise was the food across the restaurants we ate in. The service was good and staff was friendly and helpful. Very good layout of the ship allowed people of different age groups to do their own thing. All in all we could have had a much better and relaxed experience had all the money related problems not been there. I don't think we will sail with NCL again as I don't trust them to be transparent in their dealings, charges and overall approach to customer service. Read Less

Seabourn does it right. Wonderful service, great suite, great food, embarkation was a 15 minute pleasure. disembarkation went smoothly until the coach we were on had no more room for our luggage, so a little stressful waiting on the next coach to see if our luggage made it to the airport in Copenhagen. twenty minutes later it arrived on the next bus. At our age, Mid to late 60s, jet lag from Georgia was a horror. Three or four days to fully recover. All of the restaurants on the ship were great, and the service at most was outstanding. Some of the ports were a bit lacking, the highlight of the trip for us was Northern Scotland, and most importantly, the Shetland Islands. The average age on this cruise was at least 75. Lots of folks with canes and walking assists. Did not try the pool or hot tubs, as the weather was cool. Our days were either rainy or perfect. Had great food at the Earth and Ocean, but most evenings it was too cool for us to eat in the open air. Read Less

Theis ship is horrible, the service is so bad there is no excuse for it. It takes ages for a waiter to come to you for drinks in the main buffet even tho you have a bell for colling them, one time the waiter came to the table canceled the call and just walked away without takeing our order, when we asked him why he did that he came with such a dumb excuse, and thats is all the staff have for you is excuses. When you want to go to shore there are harbors with only steps as gang walks so disabled people cant disimbark, on the ports that disabled people can disimbark you will go thru hell when you imbark, first of all they will make sure that you know that they doing the disable people a big favor if they let 1 person to acompany the disable thru security, we had 1 person with an oxigen mask on her and security made her stand in line for 10 mins for security, they made me choose betwin my disabled father and my child ( who didnt speak english) so i had no choice but to wait for my child, so my father had to wait for me and my child and they put him near a trashcan so god forbid he will interfere the other guests, when we whent to complain about it, the costomer service made me feel like I was the one to blame, he didnt wrote my complain right and ofcourse the complaint was nulled with the excuse that you cant expect them to let 3 people cut the securety line (and I remind you 1 person is disabled and one is a child) and leting the other guest wait. The dishes in the buffet was dirty we got glasses with lipstick marks on them, plates with pasta still on it. On other ships at the evenibg of your first imbarkation the person in charge of cleaning your room comes and introduce him/her self to you and tells you that every thing you needs room wise to come to him/her, on this ship we saw him only on the last night of the cruise. The one bright light on the ship is the food, it was tasty and good and you had a large choice of dishes to choose from in the buffet, and every day was diffrent dishes, too bad you couldn't had plates to put those delicious dishes. We took an excurtion in kiel and asked the woman who booked us the excurtion if it takes us to see the city itself including the city center because they had 1 tour only for the harbor and the tour we took, at the end both of the excurtions was only for the harbor and we didnt saw the city at all. Pass these ship there are other ship lines that are much better with the same prices as this one. Read Less

I chose it because I wanted something that will include St. Petersburg with it and the Baltics. I thought since the ship was carrying 4500 passengers and 2500 crew members that it will be like lining up for a blockbuster movie. Anyway, most days it was organized, the only times it was in disarray was the embarkation and disembarkation day which happens on all cruise ships. Ship really big, with most of the activity in the garden cafe on the 15th deck, the rest of the restaurants are ok. We stayed in a mini suite and it was an upgrade from our usual inside stateroom and i will probably never go back to the inside stateroom Dining in most restaurants are ok. Specialty dining is good if its offered free at sea otherwise, I wouldn't buy it. Entertainment and activities are good, although we went out to port everytime, we didn't have time to try out everything Help for someone with limited mobility like me is ok, although at 2 ports, we couldn't find wheelchairs and attendants to it because they were all under the shade whiling their time away and coudln't care less about people who actually needed their help. Crew is great always Read Less

We chose the Zuiderdam for the Baltic cruise because we wanted an itinerary that had us in St Petersburg for two days since we wanted to more fully explore that port. We also wanted a smallish ship because we don’t want to contend with the number of people on the large ships and some of the small ships get too pricey. We chose wisely. We had an amazingly experience and among our group of 6 with mixed levels of cruising experiences we all agreed we would do it again. My husband and I got off and most ports and did things on our own with the exceptions of St Petersburg and Warnemünde where we had lined up tours with TJ Travel and Harry’s Taxi respectively for our group of six. Both tours were tremendous and well worth their price which was way less than the ship. In Stockholm my husband and I got a cab so we could start at the Vasa Museum and walk back. One couple did the Hop on Hop at some ports and the Easy Excursions from the ship at other ports except Tallinn which is an easy enough walk around for them. Our remaining twosome used a combo of HOHO and just walking off the ship at the other ports. We needed a cab in Tallinn for our couple with limited walking abilities. Tallinn has a HOHO but you cannot get into old town. This same couple used wheelchairs in St Petersburg provided by TJ Travel. We were confused the first couple days by the dining but got it sorted out. The flyer we receive each evening in our cabin indicated that it was open seating (or some similar term). We thought that meant our scheduled dining time was not being honored and instead we should go anytime. Well good news is that you can go at your scheduled time OR anytime. I like this feature a lot but it was a little confusing. We did want to go at the same time and have the same servers so we figured it out on day 2 and we did that going forward. The food was always amazing and varied. The only exception was embarcation day but I bet that is a crazy day for the kitchen. Great experience had by all! Read Less

Embarked in Warnemunde, embarkation was fine. Went to the rooms, was room 10241,aft balcony. Large balcony however the engines shook so much, I couldn’t sleep half of the 10 nights. Then, the food. Half of it was inedible, the other half was disgusting. I ate salad and salad the whole cruise. There was lack of diversity in food. No prepared sandwich, no omelet station, the burgers were stale, all the food was so gross, I was popping tums and zantac the whole time. The staff, came out with a roast beef that they couldn’t even cut into with a chef knife. Everyone on the ship was complaining on how hard it was, and then i found the same meat cut up in the dining room. NO one speaks English, no one helps, the shows are laughable and the rooms are tiny. We booked a excursion for handicap and they showed up 1 hour late. One of the ports they didn't put a ramp for wheelchair and it was impossible for handicaps. I would never go on this cruise line again. I cruised on here 8 years ago on a Caribbean itinerary and it was great. I don’t know what happened but it took a turn to the worse. Heed the warnings in this review, this cruise is for EURO traveler, unless you are VERY adventurous traveler and don’t care about customer focus. I have been on over 50 cruises this one ranks number #50 on worse. No sympathy or compassion towards their customer Read Less

I chose this cruise because I have always wanted to see the Baltic region. I had read the reviews of Norwegian Cruiseline which weren’t great but it was our only choice for the dates we were available.. we decided to have a good sense of humor and consider our cruise as just transportation between the places we wanted to go. Our trip began in Copenhagen where we learned that we would be skipping our first port, Berlin. They said that they had notified us by email but no one seems to have received the notification. Those passengers that were to embark in Berlin were notified a full 2 days before that they needed to get to Copenhagen if they wanted to sail. At the cruise terminal there was 1 or 2 wheelchairs available in total to help passengers who needed assistance. People waited 2 hours for assistance onto the ship. Once on board the ship, there is no place to sit and relax. There is a very loud and crowded area dense with chairs where there is constant noise from Bingo and Trivia. The flexible dining is a euphemism for stand in line to get a pager in order to get a table, sometimes an hour wait. Food was mediocre and the staff were surly. As for transportation to the places we wanted to go, our ship skipped 3 out of 5 ports. They claimed weather but we watched local ferries go back and forth. In general, the mood on the ship was anger. The talk on the elevators was disbelief that things went so badly. There was no attempt at compensation of any kind. They didn’t even offer the good will gesture of make no the movies on the ship free ($10 each). At the Q and A session with the captain there was a full theater if angry people and the crew stopped passing the microphone trying to suppress it. What a disappointment. Read Less

the service was great. The food was very good. The shore excursions were a bit short on time to see anything. Dinning room was excellent and the waiters were very good. It was a nice look ship and I would sail on it again. Ports very nice and clean. The room had a bad smell like old smell and had to keep the door open to the balcony just to be able to breath. The bed had a mattress pad that looked like someone had peeded on it. It had big stains on both sides. Other than theses things I did enjoy the trip that went across the Atlantic for 5 days with out seeing land but there was plenty of things to do. There was also an emergency on board and it was handle quickly and very professionally. The Capitian keep us informed every step of the way which was very good. Read Less

We wanted to cruise the Baltic in August 2018 and looked for the most luxurious line. To start on a positive note, the suites were beautiful, clean and spacious. TV programming, including movies was excellent. Internet was fair, but only after purchasing the 'premium' version at some $ 150, the type of nickel-and-diming that we did not expect. Shore excursions were good, but very expensive. The cabins of most of our group members were very noisy and shaking, especially when the ship was moving. This is something we never experienced before (and we are seasoned cruise guests). This did impact our sleep negatively.. The handicapped facilities were so-so, no handrails on toilet. Food.. La Terrazza was fine, although the 'free' red wine was disappointing Spaccanapoli.. If we would come across pizza like that, we would walk away. Same for the burgers at the grill. Horrible. Indochine was fine, and so was Seishin ($ 40 per person additional) Also, frequently, restaurants were not able to seat us (we were a party of 12). At Seabourn, this never happened. Changes to menu items were usually not possible, let alone waiting staff remembering what guests liked (like, again, at Seabourn) Our cruise with Silversea was satisfactory, but not the best value for money. We will not return. Read Less

Wanted to see the Fjords. Had nothing to do with Silver Seas. Our friends had a so-so experience on an exploration type cruise so wanted to give the more conventional cruise a chance with SS. The wait staff, especially the so called head maitre d were terrible. Bepin, Norbert, and Samuel were great. In fact, we went to IndoChin the last 5 nights because the service was so bad elsewhere. E.g. I wanted two scoops of vanilla with chocolate sauce which was not on the menu. Waiter did not offer to get it for me. So, I left table, went up to the ice cream lady and got it myself, returned to the restaurant to stunned faces. On outside grill, had to go get a glass of wine downstairs because noone came by to check on us. At almost every meal, someone made me feel like I was imposing. Bepin and Norbert didn't play those games. Tours were ok. Train ride (not Flam) was a fiasco. We had fun, but who wants to feel like an imposition. Get rid of the tall short haired blond supposed maitre d...it's clear his staff was afraid of him. Never smiled and he's two faced--smile then shut it off as soon as guest left his presence. Jerk. Food was ok, but not outrageously good. Bepin did respond to my request to steak (gave me filet mignon, not sirloin) and lobster on the last night and another change up to the Indochin menu no questions asked. Wonderful. And the other thing was the language barrier for us Americans. I should say the pronunciation barrier for us America. The waitress did not understand the term blend, slush, and frozen for a margarita drink. It was repeated to her several times. No clue what we were talking about. We ran into this almost every day. And the 11th floor bar in the front of the boat had no breakfast or anything until 6PM. Coffee was only avaialble in the back of the boat. Very bad. We went the first night at 6PM or later for drinks and never again because the second night we didn't know it wasn't open at 5:00 PM for happy hour (duh!). Silly us. It takes two-three days to get the lay of the land. Again, the ship itself was ok for some things and uneven for others. I enjoyed my walks outside around the pool, but that had nothing to do with staff although Harvey, a waiter outside, was super nice and checked up on my step total. Most wheelchairs I've ever seen on a cruise. If I had trouble negotiating and/or locating my way around the ship, I can't imagine their plight. Embarkation and disembarkation were the best of our experience as cruisers. Super organized and done quickly, including even getting our pictures taken and all of that. Leaving on bus was very well done and we felt comfortable with that. Coming on board, they allowed our taxi to pull right up to the waiting group of staff members. Nice. You can't take the beauty of what we saw on the ship. SS had nothing to do with that. We did enjoy that part of it, but our experience with the staff was so uneven and weird (remember all four of us in our party felt the same thing, so it's not just the author) that we won't be back. If it wasn't for Bepin, Samuel, and Norbert, we might have settled for room service dinner. Read Less

We left on the Zuiderdam’s July 7, 2018 sailing for a two week cruise from Copenhagen, Denmark visiting Norway, Iceland, The Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands. We flew a day in advance so as to make certain we would feel refreshed for boarding. We stayed at the Clarion Airport hotel which was an easy walk with luggage from the airport. We checked in and walked half way between the hotel and the airport and took the metro to the city center our first afternoon. From there we did a boat ride through / around downtown. We left for the airport check in the next morning around 10:45 am. Boarding the bus was straightforward and we arrived at the pier around 11:30 am. The check in process was also smooth. We were on the ship within half an hour. The cabins were available by the time we got on (noonish). The weather was warm and we had specifically packed our bathing suits for the pool. Excellent check in experience. The ship is looking a little worn. The benches in the hallway by the elevators are just pure ugly and chipped. The corridor artwork is also old and outdated. As far as maintenance, there were a few issues. Some of the arrows above the elevators are burnt out. You cannot tell if the elevator is headed up or down. The reading light by my bed was also burnt out. The wooden door that covers the mini fridge had screws that had been pulled out from the frame. Also, during the voyage, maintenance staff were sanding down the metal door frames to each cabin and repainting them. The screeching from the sanding was annoying and I had to request that they stop so I could take an afternoon nap. They obliged. (It seems to me that since this ship just recently came out of dry dock, that would have been the place and time to address these issues.) In terms of entertainment, I did go to the shows featuring various headliners. In the main show lounge, there was a pianist who was rather showy. Also there was a couple who did Cirque du Soleil style entertainment including the ropes/ acrobatic style high wire movements. There was a rather showy violinist from Iceland. But, one or two songs from her were sufficient. Also, all of the instrumentalists gathered for a BBC multimedia presentation. This was the highlight in the main show lounge. Besides the main show lounge, there was ‘The Lincoln Center’ featuring two violinists, a violist, a cellist and a pianist. Unbelievable talent here. They performed at least once if not twice a day. Also, there was the B.B. King Blues Club featuring a group of talented musicians performing appropriately named style of music. Also, there was the Billboard lounge. Here, there were two pianists who did not receive enough recognition. They were incredible. In summary, the entertainment onboard was tops. The gymnasium was small, in comparison to other ships. The treadmills were often all in use, especially at opening time, 7:00 am. The resistance equipment was minimal. There was a trainer on board who did classes throughout the day. If you like to watch TV during your time on the treadmill, as do I, you need to ask for the TVs to be turned on. The sound was minimal, but you can ask to have the dialogue text option turned on. The service desk did a good job, although this part of the ship is also small so the lines can get long to speak with one of the few representatives. A plus here is that they will exchange currency for you. Right next to the service desk is a single kiosk to print out current bills throughout the voyage. (Being able to review charges is not possible from the stateroom.) The shore excursion office, the future cruise booking office and the library have been moved up to Deck 10 in the Crow’s Nest. The size of the future cruise booking office is the size of a large closet. I consider this to be a shame. These offices should be centrally located and closer to the service desk. During this sailing, there was flooding from above. Carpet dryers and shop vacs were all over deck 10 forward to dry this space. I used to enjoy listening to music up here in the past, but the room is no longer set up in this way. Speaking about the future cruise booking office, I asked for an atlas for next year, specifically one with deck plans. Apparently HAL no longer considers printing deck plans in their promotional literature important. Here, I highly disagree with this decision. In addition, I had a couple of run-ins with the shore excursion manager, Reanetse Atema. This was by far the low point of the cruise. (Don’t be surprised by what the shore excursion office won’t be willing to do / discuss). Dining in the main dining room was a bit of a letdown. We had open seating and in order to get a table within a reasonable time frame, without making reservations for a specific evening, in advance, showing up before 6:00 pm was important. That seemed to be the time when the lines began. I find having opening seating and needing to reserve for a specific time to be a bit contradictory. But HAL is not the only company who follows this type of policy. With respect to the food, I had some disappointments as well. The baked potatoes were white potatoes, not baker potatoes. That was disappointing. The Caesar salads were soggy. The dressing was not seasoned with anchovy paste, but rather a single anchovy was placed on top of the salads. The crème brulee was flavorless. The everyday sirloin steak was so so. Otherwise the food was acceptable. Dining in the ‘market place’ lido buffet was great. Breakfast and lunch choices were plentiful. As an aside about space in the lido buffet, I noticed there were no identified areas as ‘reserved for the handicapped’. There were multiple passengers in motorized scooters who would have to navigate the close tables in order to eat here. Although the ship has rooms that are handicapped accessible, more attention needs to be given to other public spaces onboard. We ate in the specialty dining area 4 times. Three times, the room was noted to be the Pinnacle Grill. The 4th time, the same space was noted to be Rudi’s sel de mer. Each night the service and the meals were excellent. The lobster bisque was one of my favorite dishes. I had lobster one night, a pork chop another night, a filet mignon a third night then had Alaskan crab another. Remarkable dining here. There was one other spot noted for specialty dining called Canaletto. This Italian dining venue was actually part of the Lido Market Place. I ate in this venue two summers ago on the Koningsdam and swore I would not return here. Only the Lido Bar and the Ocean Bar on deck 3 offered drink specials (basically 2 for 1) from 4:00-6:00 pm every night except for the first night. Space was tight here during these times especially on dress up nights. Drinks were good and reasonably priced during these hours. I was disappointed that this offer was not available across other bars on the ship. Nevertheless, thanks to Nice and Albert for your service. In summary, weather or not I sail with HAL again will depend upon a response to a letter I wrote to President Orland Ashford regarding the shore excursions office. I am a 3 star mariner with HAL and have sailed with them since 1968. Shore excursions: Our first port Bergen. We were on a bus ride to see the general area of Bergen. That trip was O.K. What was better was strolling the main road for souvenirs, including wool sweaters, and stopping for a beer. Also, there is a Star bucks here that has free WiWi. So, if you are not up to spending $20.00 a day for a WiFi connection on the ship, this is the location to head for. Port two was Alesund. We did a great boat ride through the fjord. This provided us wonderful views of the area. We highly enjoyed this experience. The third port was Seydisfjordur. We payed $70.00 for this tour. It was a walking tour through the town. We chose this tour because we did not know where the town was in relation to the pier. After all is said and done, I would recommend getting off the ship and walking the town independently. The pier is at the base of the town. No need to spend the money. Also, in hindsight, I would suggest that HAL remove this port as there is really nothing here. Or, if not, I would recommend staying onboard. Port four was Akureyri. Once off the ship we boarded a bus to Myvatn Nature baths. This location is not as popular as the geothermal baths in Reykjavik, but as enjoyable without the hype. It was part of a combo tour visiting a ‘falls’ on the way. I would recommend, for sure. This was booked directly the HAL. Port five was Isafjordur. From this location we boarded a boat to take us to the now non-existent town of Hesteyri. I would say skip this tour as well. It was an hour’s boat ride in each direction to walk in the fields with a talk about the way this town used to be. There is currently one family living in this town. They provided us with some sweet bakery delights and coffee before our return back to the ship. Port six was day one in Reykjavik. Here we boarded a bus for the ‘Golden Circle day trip’ featuring Thingvelir, Gullfoss waterfall and the viewing of a Geysir. I had some issues on this trip. The bus itself was old with broken reclining levers, no seat head rest covers and most importantly inoperable seatbelts. We were told to wear seat belts and that we could be individually fined for not wearing them. But many, including several senior citizens, could not wear them due to the condition of the bus. The tour itself was fine. The problem was with the tour operator. I sent a letter to the HAL president about this experience. Port seven was also Reykjavik – day two. Although the Blue Lagoon is a highlight from my trip – 2nd time to a geothermal bath, the operator was once again a problem. The bus was not air conditioned so the escape hatches need to be opened. One person was not on the bus at departure time, so a bus full of people needed to wait 50 minutes before returning to the ship. After pre-showing we had about an hour of time in the lagoon. We were treated to a silica mask and a drink. This was certainly a novelty. Had the tour operator returned on time and the bus had air flow, I would have rated this activity as a 5 star opportunity. This also entailed writing a letter to the HAL president about this experience. Port eight was Torshavn, Faroe Islands. From this port, we traveled by bus to Gjogv. At this site we had a midday snack of cold pancakes and instant coffee. From this restaurant, we walked down the hill to Gjaar church. It was nice but not impressive. I cannot imagine living her in the winter. Port nine was Lerwick, Scotland. This was a tender port. We boarded a bus to take us to Scalloway Castle, the Scalloway musem and to see some Shetland ponies. The castle was small and not impressive. Same can be said for the museum. Seeing the size of the Shetland ponies was impressive. PS, downtown Lerwick has some wonderful souvenir shops. Read Less

we were a group of 38pax with most in state cabins and a few in Haven suite trying to enjoy the baltic cruise starting 4th July 2018 what was good: 1. large ship with loads of activities for the entire family 2. some staff are very good with hospitality 3. food is not healthy but good what can improve: 1. very limited healthy food options, like for example they don't have seeds for breakfast 2. hygiene in bad shape every time had to point cutlery wrapped in dirty napkins 3. bliss lounge on 11th July had Filipino DJ playing Indian songs on Indian night. The DJ did not have any clue of Indian songs, the DJ had a huge ego/attitude and was not willing to entertain Indians with suggestions for improvement. All the indians had no option but to enjoy on whatever was available. 4. no rules being followed, seen children in cigar lounge with adults smoking on the day of England/Croatia match. 5. server non-cuscsain people with low priority 6. $9.99 for iconcierge is a total waste as it does not function most of the times and will keep getting automatically logged out. 7. internet package is expensive and will get consumed without your knowledge...complaint and they will just say sorry bad luck?!? 8. Water is sold at $3 in a super cheap package or $6 normal. Choked for water you will shell out the price! 9. some staff attitude is very bad they just look at you like freebeeies on a ship!?! my suggestion don't waste your money...my last cruise prior to this was Sea Princes in Alaska...although not great it was definitely better than NCL. My last vacation was Sandals in Antigua and it was best value for my money! Read Less

My health limits me, medication makes it difficult to drive. My wife has poor feet and it pains her to walk. We desired to go on a vacation and the honeymoon of a lifetime and after considering all options we decided on a cruise. Our documents arrived early, and one morning after prayer we decided to visit a travel agent and book a cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway the Baltic cruise. We thrive on cool weather, the history, and the chance of a world class tour appealed to us. Our travel agent assured us we were too late to book passage, as it was early May 2018, but checked at our urgent request. Amazingly a mini-suite on deck 14 was available. We took it immediately and had a wonderful amazing time. The food, shopping, ports, entertainment. were all fantastic. I recommend a beverage package. Food was superior everywhere we ate and we ate almost everywhere. Making sure to hit all 3 meals a day a snack as desired and room service. When I die, if heaven is like the cruise on the breakaway plus God then I am ok with that. There were lots of people, a great wonderful mix of culture. The crew was well staffed and equal to the task. A bit of overcrowding could be expected at the fantastic end of cruise sail. We enjoyed the art auction put on by Park-West and purchased a few to proudly display around our home. Not normally a person to play bingo, I did at the request of my wife and won $105. dollars. Not much of a gambler I did play some craps; after the staff explained the game patiently to me the casino was great. I quit even. The free raffle was moved after the time announced, on a you must attend to win, so much for integrity of gaming standard regarding raffles, but no big deal I left rather than hang around. Our mini-suite was comfortable, well equipped, the shower was super with an unlimited supply of hot water. The queen size bed was comfortable, the balcony wonderful, we lived there nicely. Mr. Karl Loxley was wonderful we caught two of his shows. The Cirque was extraordinary. The "off Broadway" play Rock of Ages was just putrid, no humor to speak of, we left mid show as did several others. It wasn't the vulgarity, or the adult theme it was plainly not funny, boorish and of low quality acting. John our house keeper was terrific our super crew member was a vast store of knowledge, a hard worker who as always right there for us. The spa was great, two Swedish massages and a bathing ritual, I so enjoyed working with their assistant Manager Frank. Thanks you. Port excursions were we chose to be selective and limit our spending. We did not have a visa for Russia so a crews ship tour was required to enter the country; and I would not have missed it. In Finland we used a bus tour hop on hop off saw lots got off at two stops and were able to re-board easily both times. Enjoying an outdoor market on the bay. In Sweden we took a local cab with the same type of hop on and hop off service and visited the little town by the anchorage. It was wonderful, visited a local supermarket, ate at a local breakfast establishment and shopped at the local stores. In Estonia we took a cab into Talen, were a lot of things were closed as it was Sunday, but the mall was open, a wonderful stroll and we did some shopping. Returning to the ship we bought most of our goodies from Estonia from the shops on the pier. Love it, will do it again if my health allows. Read Less

Well you have heard it before, reading all those negative reviews and then discovering that they were not even closely accurate. This will be the case with this ship. The ship is in very good to excellent condition- cannot understand at all what others are seeing in their overly negative reviews. The food is very good to excellent- the best dining room food we have ever had at sea, and I have cruised 4 other lines. I am a foodie and saw no need to go to any specialty restaurants. The entertainment is limited, but excellent- BB Kings played jazz to blues to dancing music, and the band and singers were outstanding. Billboard 100 which is a duel piano sing along type bar/ club- was by far the most attended just for good old fun. The shows were also great- the dancers all could be on dancing with the stars. Piano player/singer, opera etc. were all excellent. Crew were all genuinely attentive and friendly- and in talking to them can see they love working for Holland. The only thing people need to learn is to book their excursions privately, as the cruise lines rates are absurd. One caution- if you go to book "Landscapes and Sheepdogs"- you will pay $200 pp to be taken to a gift shop (Called "Scottish Woolen Center"- its a gift shop) that has Free, I repeat Free sheep dog demonstrations. We felt deceived and grossly overpaid for this. Other than that one negative experience- we loved Holland, loved this ship, and loved the crew from the Captain to the waiter. Book this trip with confidence that you will love it. Read Less

Purely for the ports... If you are sailing out of Denmark, beware of the extremely high costs during high season in Copenhagen prior to sailing!! Loved Scotland & Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Finland. Russia was good booking 2 HAL tours. The easy 3 hour tour day two, was wonderful. The 1 day tour with 5 hours on you own... a good way to experience the sights in your own as we were dropped near the Hermitage area. Absolute highlights: Isle of Skye - Dublin- Cobh - sailing in out of Stockholm. Holyhead Wales was missed due to high winds. On board highlights: Cast show talent - Ian (Commentator). - Dining Room staff Dislikes: the new Explorers lounge in the Crows Nest... buying a coffee in the very small space was normally a long wait. These will be a professionally edited video highlight of each cruise available late June 2018 on Bellairvideo (YouTube) Read Less

Have been on 20+cruises,although the first on NCL. The embarkation as well as the disembarkation were well organized,please bear in mind,we are two disabled people,unable to do stairs,stand or walk much distance. The review may be skewed for that reason. All was noted in the original booking. We booked our shore excursions through NCL, and chose only those that were considered "easy". Getting to the tour bus was not "easy". On all three excursions,booked through NCL, we had to go to the theater to get stickers to board our buses, except, there was no way to get down the stairs to the stage to get them,except head first. When we were finally acknowledged, it took another 20 minutes to get someone to wheel us out, delaying the entire tour,for which we were chastised. This is our first handicapped experience, but assuming it is not NCL's, believe it should be better organized. We can only attest to room service and the standard dining venues and buffet. Buffet was good and had many choices,staff was attentive.Room service was quick,but often was not what we ordered, lacking small things,salt and pepper etc. The best meal we had was at Savor, we did not eat at the specialty venues. Entertainment was outstanding. The service aboard ship in all categories was terrific. Read Less

The Cooler weather and the ports of the British isles and Copenhagen were the primary reason for booking this cruise. Also, booking had to be on a ship with an available handicap accessible room. I did complain to Princess about the width of their utility carts being a problem for someone with a scooter, however. The linen carts don't present a problem, But those utility carts are wider and unless parked perfectly, impossible to pass if you need a mobility aid as I do. Even though weather prevented our arrival in two ports, the ships staff did their best to entertain us. And the last minute addition of Manhattan, was a real plus. I was disappointed with the lecture series on true crimes. I thought the presenter was bumbling, and lacked a professional presentation style. Meals were fine. Service was always excellent. I found the ship too large, though, and I really missed easy access to the promenade deck. The lack of portholes and doors to the outside promenade deck made the ship feel claustrophobic. Walking on Deck 16 wasn't an adequate substitute...so far from the water and glassed in. Read Less

Oceania is well-known as the upper premium class cruise line with excellent gourmet food. indeed, the appearance of the buffet restaurant could compete with fine dining serviced restaurants on other vessels. The food was really extremely "dangerous" with a high extra-weight-potential. You could tell just by looking at the ingedients: lemon sole, finest filet, mussels, prawns. The passenger mix was too mono-national for me. The majority US citizens, a few Aussies, very few europeans. Since I'm in my fifties I felt way too young for this kind of ship, I estimate the average age of passengers at 73+. The service was excellent, the cabin steward knew our complicated family name in a second and always addressed us by our name when we met her on the corridor. When you put down the cutlery in the buffet or serviced restaurant it took only seconds and the dish was taken away, just amazing! I liked the type of a smaller vessel a lot. Everything seemed to be so familiar, then I found out: have been sailing on Ocean Princess, one of the other Renaissance Class ships before! The interior was very classic, just like an old fashioned country style from England. We had booked a few shore excurisons for Saint Petersburg, Russia, to avoid buying this very expensive visa. All three tours were very interesting and the local tour guides were excellent, explained everything with great enthousiasm. Overall, a high class product with fantastic cuisine, very much recommended for the elderly passenger who prefers a quieter surrounding. Since Nautica carries only 680 passengers or so and 400 crew members it has also a superduper pax-crew-ratio. Finally: the smaller the vessel the more unique are the itineraries, Nautica and her sister ships go to places bigger ships have no access to. If you expect a quiet and relaxing classic cruise with excellent food, don't expect too much of entertainment and "WOW-features", then go for it! Read Less

I travelled on the Norwegian Jade last year for my first ever cruise and loved it so decided to stick with NCL again this year. This itinerary sounded interesting and docked in cities that I had not been to before. Booking and embarkation I booked a fly cruise for a group of 10 starting from London to Copenhagen. Three guests were children aged 5, 6 and 9 and there was also one person with mobility issues. We also took a wheelchair with us. Despite several emails, phone calls and filling in the medical form the airline had not been informed of the wheelchair. Thankfully I phoned the day before travel to confirm everything and it was only then I realised that nothing had been sorted. With this type of booking it is also not possible to check in online or manage your flight booking. I think I would chose to book my own flights next time. At Copenhagen airport the transfer bus had steep steps which the person in the wheelchair could not use. Again, given that NCL knew that someone was coming in a wheelchair how did they expect that they would get into the coach? The staff finally found a suitable vehicle to transport us. The coach and our taxi arrived at the port very late and so there were no photographers to take embarkation photos. Our check in was very confused and photos for the key cards were taken several times but on trying to board the ship two people found that no photos had been saved and had to queue in the atrium onboard the ship to get it sorted. I guess it was a clue that the woman wasn't sure what she was doing when she took our British passports and asked if we had our Schegen visas! Cabins We had a lovely balcony cabin. See review in stateroom section. Activities and entertainment The ship is HUGE. There are only two sets of lifts, midship and aft which means that there is always a long walk to wherever you want to go. There are some great activities for the children/families with mini golf, a rock climbing wall (for those over 42 inches) a high ropes course (over 48 inches) a bungee trampoline (only for younger children) and a spider web slide. The swimming pools are also in different sections for different age groups and the kids pools are fantastic. The are four water slides. There were not too many children on this cruise and the weather was cold so the pools were not too crowded. However, the open smoking area is right by the children's pools although personally I didn't get smoke fumes here. However, the casino smelled of smoke although I don't believe anyone smoked there. I also found it odd that you had to walk through the casino to get to the Tropicana which is a main dining room. There are several board games available for ship days which can be taken away from the games room. Many activities such as dance classes and game shows took place in the atrium which made this area very crowded as guest services is also situated here and you also have to pass through it to get to many of the restaurants. There were several things to do but some activities for the children were late in the evening which was a bit odd. There were some areas which were adults only and others which became adults only after a certain time. There were also adults only pools and hot tubs so everyone had been catered for. The children loved the Splash academy and could be kept there even if parents were off the ship. However, if any child had special needs or were prone to wetting themselves etc. then an adult needed to stay onboard. Entertainment in my opinion was okay but not great. The farewell show was a real disappointment. The shows on the Jade seemed much more extravagant but these were nothing memorable. The dancers in Burn the Floor were nice to watch but one dance I recognised as being very much based on one that was choreographed on Strictly Come Dancing and another involving a blind folded female dancer seemed a little disturbing. I prebooked complimentary shows but this was pointless as it was on a first come first served basis. However several people "saved" seats for friends which they were not supposed to do and really disadvantaged some people who came early. Service This was a bit hit and miss. Our room steward was nice but didn't really get to know us. We went for dinner every night at the same time but he still caught us in the rooms for turn down. Also I'm not sure that towels were changed when required and towel animals were not taken away so we ended up with a load of unwanted towels in the room (maybe he thought we'd use these?) The sheets were not changed for the whole nine days of the cruise. The restaurant service in the complimentary restaurants were very slow so two hours for the meal was not enough. Some waiters were truely awful while others were great. Food The Buffett in the Garden cafe was good although some people in the group thought that it was a bit bland. I thought there was plenty and it was of good quality and most of it was tasty. However, it was very crowded and I often took food back to my room as there was nowhere to sit. Some stations such as the poached eggs or the pasta station were only found in one area which meant walking round and round to find them! Food in Tropicana, Taste and Savor was also nice. There were gluten free and sugar free options. I was very disappointed with the drinks onboard. I had a unlimited drinks package as part of my booking but I don't drink alcohol or fizzy drinks (soda) so this was pointless as it does not include water, juices or hot drinks. I thought that perhaps there would be some nice mocktails/virgin cocktails but the only one offered (and only by some bars) was a fruit punch and this was not included in the UBP. NCL are really missing a trick not serving more grown up non alcoholic beverages given the number that are available these days. Shore excursions I didn't actually participate in any provided by the ship. I booked TJ travel in St. Petersburg who were brilliant. I did all the other cities on my own either walking or using public transport. The ship was unable to dock in Stockholm so we missed that which was a great shame. Disembarkation For those of us travelling on the coach this was very easy. Luggage was picked up and taken to the airport and we travelled on later. However, we were way too early for our flight and had to wait around at the airport. Again I would probably book transfer separately next time. For the wheelchair user everything was very confused. A Medi-van had been booked and they had been told to wait in their stateroom for a pick up. Luggage was given priority labels to help with picking it up but some staff were not sure what priority disembarkation was or how/where to pick up luggage. The van driver was very helpful and sorted everything out as the NCL staff cannot leave the port. However, was not really impressed with the accessibility help available for this ship. Overall the children loved the ship and its activities. For those who had never cruised before they really enjoyed it and are ready of results the next one! For those of us who had cruised before this ship was just too large and did not have the warmth and friendliness of our previous cruise. Service was also a little lacking and entertainment was disappointing. However, I would try NCL again. Read Less

We chose this itinerary based on the ports. (Copenhagen, Berlin, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen). Family of 7 - Three generations - Grand-parent, parents and 4 adult children. The Getaway is a great ship - lots to do for all ages and abilities. If you find yourself bored, it's your own fault. The dining options are all pretty standard if you've cruised NCL before. The "extra" restaurants are generally our go-to's as we're not particularly fond of the pushing and shoving in the cafeteria, nor the deafening din in the main dining rooms. That said, they're increasing in price - and that is something that NCL should really look at. An extra $1500 or so in meal costs for us. Recommend: La Cucina, Cagney's and Teppanyaki. Never made it to Ocean. Avoid: Margaritaville - food is mediocre - overpriced and very limited selection. We had the alcohol included - definitely a must at almost US $12-15 /drink. Shows - Million Dollar Quartet was the only one we booked and it was fantastic. The service is always great - the staff almost trip over each other to make sure you are happy. Ports - Copenhagen - lovely - expensive. One of our children is currently living and studying in Copenhagen, so we spent a little extra time there. Not sure what excursions are offered before/after the cruise but if you're visiting CPH, be sure to take the little canal/harbour cruises they offer - a great price and you see much much more. Berlin: - truly, Warnemuende is too far away for Berlin - it's a 3hr transfer each way. That said, we booked a private van through SPB Tours and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Tallinn - booked an excursion through NCL - it was OK. Rakvere Castle was enjoyable - but beware of the absolute need to be good on foot. They served a nice lunch. Tallinn itself is a beautiful old walled city - again - you need to be good on foot - everything is cobbles. St. Petersburg - definitely the highlight - Hermitage, Catherine's Palace, Peterhof. Just wow. We again booked a private van for the two days through SPB. Definitely the was to go for us. We did find, though that there was just too much packed into the itinerary so that you were pretty rushed. We ended up missing the Peter/Paul fortress and forfeiting our tickets because we simply could not keep up the pace and also take in what we were looking at. The local evening folklore show is a must. Heslinki - SPB again - and again a good experience - the market is fun, Seurasaari Island was super enjoyable - and sunny - so a bonus. Stockholm - can't say - we couldn't dock - so that was a bit of a bummer. It was admittedly colder than we expected for August... but the weather is not something you can change. I would recommend the ship and the ports - but would also suggest to limit yourself to three places for the St. Petersburg stop. Each is so vast and expansive, that to see and appreciate any one, you need more time. Oh....and important note - Customs and Immigration in Russia take forever - plan to disembark early and be prepared to wait in line for an hour. Definitely not a cruise for anyone with mobility issues. Read Less

I have just returned from a 9 day Baltic cruise on the Norwegian Getaway and have enjoyed it immensely. It was my first cruise and it surprised me for good. It has modern facilities, spacious rooms, restaurants with quality food and very varied. There are entertainment almost every hour so you will never be bored. Speaking to other people who had already done more cruising, the Getaway was the most luxurious ship they have ever been to and with its Freestyle policy you have all the freedom you want to eat or dine whenever you feel like it. We carried our own luggage for disembarkation and it took us just 5 minutes to went out of the ship. It is a very tired cruise because you visit 6 countries in 9 days but we have enjoyed it a lot. If I do another cruise I will repeat with NCL without doubt.. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the Baltic region cities - Saint Petersburg, Tallinn, etc and the dates of travel. We were a family of 4, 2 adult and 2 teens. I would classify the overall experience on the ship as average. We did not signup for the specialty restaurant package so our dining was based on the complimentary restaurants. Also, we did our own/private excursions and not via NCL. Overall, the ship has the following positives: - efficient embark/disembark processes - entertainment shows on the ship - food (most times) in al a carte restaurants was a bit better than expected - room stewards were prompt and good and responsive to requests Areas for improvement: - consistency of main buffet restaurant food quality - service at times in the main al a carte restaurants (Savour, Taste) - service for individuals with wheelchairs - an example having somewhere to store wheelchairs. - having to pay for shuttle service in some towns with limited public transit options - e.g. Rostock. Read Less

Had travelled On Getaway 2 years ago ondifferent itinery. No problems then and fancied visiting the Baltic capitals this time. Two major issues for us this time: 1. Theatre perfomances not properly staffed. People entering theatre well after performances had started meaning having to continually get up to let latecomers find a seat. There were several shows where NCL said the doors would be closed once the performance had started but no evidence of this actually happening. People unable to find a seat sitting in the aisles -not good practice for a cuiseline that claims to put safety of passengers first above all else. The only crew members around seemed to disappear after the introduction of the performers and they had sold prize draw tickets. Othe passengers said that they had booked theatre seats in advance. No seats were specifically allocated nor were there cards swiped, the passengers concerned were unable to find seats nor any staff to point this out to. 2. Lack of a "joined up" service relating to getting excursion bookers from the meet up venue to the starting point of the excursions. Despite having told the excursion booking desk that a wheelchair was required this did not always arrive and had to be hastily re-arranged from the meet up venue. One one occasion this was the major contributory factor to our coach having left before we got to it. The other factor on this excursion was being asked by excursion staff to allow other passengers to go before us in the queue for our passports to be checked !(St Petersburg) as there transport was about to leave whereas we had plenty of time. Sadly it didn't and we missed the designated coach and the later one for the same excursion. Read Less