Istanbul Cruise Reviews

This cruise was part of a guided tour with a large international tour company. We started in Istanbul for a few days before joining the cruise when it arrived in Istanbul from Athens. As part of a larger group our on-shore excursions were organised by our tour director and we had no problems at all. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of our outside cabin with window. It was larger than I ...

I don't think a lot of people with positive feedback do the reviews, you only see the negative ones. We where a group of 8 people ages 35 to 47 from South Africa (yes we where the noisy bunch), Booked from Istanbul to Venice. Costa change itinerary from Istanbul to Venice, they booked our plane tickets and transferred us on there cost and gave each of us a $150 credit towards our on board ...

We were on Viking Rurik river cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 2013. Despite a major hiccup--a bad storm that delayed us 12+ hours--we were extremely impressed with how the Viking and its crew made up for a missed port and delayed arrival to St. Petersburg. As far as I'm concerned, they exceeded expectations. So, when I read about the ocean cruises starting, it seemed like an opportune ...

My wife, Sigita, and I had never done a cruise. We had heard good things about Viking cruises and as a result we chose Viking for our first cruise experience. Also the Empires of the Mediterranean Cruise afforded us the opportunity to visit two of the cities we were wanting to visit, Venice and Istanbul. Unfortunately due to world situations, Viking chose to limit the planned stay in the ...

We had not been on an ocean cruise for many years, although we have done 3 River Cruises with Viking. Flying to Europe from Australia is a long haul and we like to stay overnight in Asia to break the trip up into manageable "chunks". While Viking booked our flights, we had to find our own accommodation and transfers. Because of the flight schedules, we arrived in Istanbul 2 days ahead of our ...

We had some doubts after reading several reviews regarding the ship, especially the availability of good wines by the glass and the standard of service. However once on board we had no issue with the quality of wine, when asking for some other region of wine the staff were very obliging and delivered. The standard of service was exemplary apart from the shore excursion team who seemed to be ...

This was my third cruise on a big ship. Overall, I was impressed with all aspects of this cruise. Service was very good, staff was very friendly, and both the food and service in the main dining room was better than on my 2 prior NCL cruises. I found my interior cabin to be very satisfactory, and kept very clean by house services. The cruise was originally destined for 3 days in Israel, ...

We have recently returned from a cruise on Queen Victoria and have to say our cruise was disappointing. We have been on Cunard cruises before and noticed a big difference in the standards from our previous experiences. It does seem Brittania class customers are treated as 2nd class. Our biggest complaint was our dining experience. We were put on a table right outside the revolving kitchen door ...

This was our first cruise so I do not have a comparison. However it met or exceeded all my expectations. Our cabin was well appointed with adequate storage space. The bed and chairs were very comfortable. We had access to laundry equipment which we used as we were traveling after the cruise. Our attendant, Arya was very thorough in keeping our cabin clean and well stocked. In fact we were ...

Viking is new to the ocean cruise business, but is catching on fast. It's crew are enthusiastic, young, and approachable. And even they admit they will be better as they get more experience on the seas. We sailed from Istanbul to Venice, and enjoyed the experience very much. Of particular interest for those of you shopping cruise lines is that almost everything is included. No hidden fees for ...