We like to cruise out of Baltimore for the easy access for us We leave a day early and stay at the Best western O'Donnell st great transfers and easy boarding food was very good great service as always only real complaint was the flys at Princess cay at the food area HORRIBLE need to do something about it people just tossing there food out Having platinum status sure makes life easy Carnival really takes care of you from perks to early boarding to first off the ship nice job Carnival The entertainment in the main showroom needs help need to get some jugglers or magicians some thing other then the dancers couple shows were good first two of the week stunk you could tell by how empty the venue was Comedy shows were good around the ship entertainment was good nice job from the cruise director. The band Beast from the east was very good and so was will terri guitar slolist The late night deck party's had major cut backs pretty lame and the chocolate Buffett has gone down hill Ship was supper clean Crewe was great all around a great time going back next year Read Less

Embarkation was slow, even if you go at your time. Went on this cruise to be with family. Two ports, Progresso and Cozumel. Progresso excursion was to Mexican Ruin and Merida. Time in Merida was too short. In Cozumel we did the private beach house excursion. It was great. No sandy beach though. Had to enter ocean by a ladder. Current very strong but service, food and beach chair area was good. I’d go again. Cabins were tiny. We had inside and ocean view. Three people in one cabin. Only room to walk around the bed and that was it. The cabins in these categories were two beds, a stool and a straight back hard chair. No frills for sure. The stewards asked when we’d like our service, morning or night. So only once a day housekeeping. That was a surprise to me. Crew were all very friendly and helpful. Benjamin the cruise director was funny. Photos were too expensive and no packages were offered. WiFi was soooo slow. Don’t waste your money on WiFi. Very busy spring break cruise. Read Less

This ship is large and if you like cruising with 10,000 people it’s for you. I was worried that the amount of people on board would be a severe issue, but most the time it doesn’t feel like you are with that many others, except at the buffet. There is literally fighting for space and tables since not everyone could have one. The shows were pretty poor. Grease was not family friendly as the cast thought it was funny to flip each other off throughout. Another mother looked at me and said I don’t remember this all from Grease. Totally needless. Columbus is just stupid, but tries to be funny. We did not get to see High Line as it broke down. The ports were great. The food overall very good. Royal Caribbean does nickel and dime you to death so expect another 2,000- 3,000 in bills at the end of your trip. We had the drink packages and that was nice to have. The pools are super crowded and double the recommended occupancy. The water slides are great. The boardwalk is fun and the carousel is really fun at sea. The shops are nice and the ship is really stunning. Jamie’s and Izumi have great food, but you have to pay extra for them. Overall we had fun, but I would likely not book again. Read Less

It all started at check in when the carnival app went down. It showed we didn't have a reservation, which we did but the staff was super rude. We finally get on the boat and everything is great until we get to our room. I don't think a deep clean has been done in our room for months. I can't even tell you how much dust and mold was in our room. It sparked up my ashtma and allergies, and I'm still sick from this. Even the crew said it was paid and there was nothing they could do, besides get a fan.(which helped some) The ship was very old and probably needs to retire. Considering I have been cruising with carnival for years, I did have a high expectation that it would be a great cruise like my previous ones. And to top it all off the last day our toilet broke at 8am and did not get fixed until after 3pm. Even though we asked our stateroom Stewart three times, and called guest services three times it eventually got fixed. I even found an engineer in the hall who said "that's not my job".The engineer then leaves our door wide open to the public for quite some time so we get in touch with security who is the biggest joke of them all. We had a meeting and they still refused to say it was there mistake even though we seen the key report. It was just our room that had these problems but it surely wasn't taken care of. Denzel, Rhea and Anita in the dining area definitely took care of us though. Duraio at the front desk was phenomenal. Read Less

I’ve been on two cruises before. I’ve read many reviews about MSC before I booked the 7-day west Caribbean cruise. Overall, the cruise meets my expectation. It is a great new ship for kids. Everything is new, nice and clean. The water park is a favorite place for the kids, which is bigger than other ships. Kids love it. I pay 5 bucks for a zip line experience which requires a minimum height of 140cm. I usually send kids to the LEGO kids club if I and my wife go to one of specialty restaurants. My 9-year-old elder son loves it since they will play video games but my 6-year-old thinks it’s boring since he is in the 3-6 group and they only play with LEGOs and not much video games. The highlight is the show. The ship has amazing performers and I almost go to watch the show every night. The show is mostly 40 minutes but is very intense. It is much better than those on other ships. The only thing I don’t like is food, which is pretty bad as I expected after reading many reviews. The buffet only has American(burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets) and Italian(pizza and pasta) food. There is basically no sea food in buffet. The dinner menu is only slightly better and you can expect seafood one or two nights. We also try the Asian restaurant package that costs $80 plus 15% service fee. I think it is just about average. The cabin is nice and clean. Overall, it will be a great experience if you travel with kids and spend most of your time on shore. The food is not good but everything else is awesome. Read Less

This was our first experience of any type of cruise, and I think we may have set the bar so high for the future. Even from the booking stage, the service was immaculate. There are no words that I feel will do justice to the 'Viking Team' on board the Viking Eir. My wife and I, together with our friends had the most amazing week. The tour guides were extremely knowledgeable at every port of call, and although we had visited Cologne before, we learned so much about the city. Having the Silver Spirits drinks package added to our week. We are not big alcohol drinkers but to have local wine choices, pre-dinner options and soft drinks permanently available without worry of a large bill at the end of the trip, further added to our week. We had the basic stateroom, which was more than impressive. In the whole week, we saw 2 balcony rooms used, as most movement was at night time, and the Rhine gorge really needed you to be on deck for the panoramic view. For us, there was really no need to spend more money on a room higher up. I would like to just mention a thank you to Ivan who spent his week making sure our room was perfect. The moment we stepped out, it seemed he went in and tidied up with fresh laundry. All I can really do is sent an enormous piece of gratitude to the staff of Viking and anyone that we encountered who made our river cruise one of the best weeks. Already booked for the Danube next April. Read Less

Embarkation was great, no problems there (Southampton) The ship Very confusing layout. From Aft (back) of ship to get to restaurants(5/6) you have to go to level 7 then to midships then down stairs or lift. Not good for disabled. Most ships you can go down to level you want. Lifts are a pain and slow to get waiting 4 mins asifts hours past your level contantly. Lack of toilets and broken toilets towards end of cruise. Dirty in some cases. There are not enough open spaces it all felt claustrophobic. This is by far the worst cruise ship. Food Food was below average in buffer and sometimes cold or like warm. I'm sure on Oceana there was more choice than this and was better quality. Only had 3 choices to choose from. Trying to get a seat was nigh impossible. Felt sorry for disabled and elderly who had no help from staff. Trying to get cups at breakfast was difficult. When asking staff they said you go to other buffets to get cups. That's not helpful especially for elderly or disabled having to walk between buffets and then losing your seat. Food in freedom Dining was OK. Nothing special not as good as couple of years ago. Layout if buffet was odd and always really busy Service Service in buffet was bad, never enough cups and they really couldn't be bothered to go get some either even when asked to do so. Getting asked a drink was quick but actually getting the drink was really slow and having to ask where it was after 15 mins. In main restaurant they asked us to sign for our drinks when we serving our starters, (very odd as we wanted another during main course) they normally get you to sign bill at dessert or when getting coffee.. Not when your trying to eat your starterm Entertainment Evenings were good. Nothing really to do during day though. It was a about spending money on board. On sea days they were showing films on sea screen which is not good when it's bad weather. Runaround kids were really great and illusionist Philip hitchcock was great too. Cabins We had aft cabin b750 was clean. And a suppose upgrade although we had a steel girder coming through and blocking our view. But as we didn't go outside much because of bad weather It wasn't a problem. Cabin steward was really helpful and kept cabin nice and clean. Didn't do shore excursions we just went out and did our own thing. We will be trying other cruise lines out next. Our last cruise was with celebrity eclipse which was far superior ship than this. Read Less

I was referred by one of my friends then we planned a long-weekend trip to enjoy the season, get some time to relax (away from school and work), and explore the island of Bahamas. It was a smooth check-in and check-out, we waited for some time while checking in but it was okay. As soon as we got into our cabin, our luggage arrived already which I was surprised. The view from the balcony was mesmerizing so we decided to explore the ship. We went to the pool deck and played ping-pong while having some drinks (perfect thing to do while you're waiting and want to hang around for a bit). The dining experience and activities were entertaining and fun. I participated to one of the game shows and I totally enjoyed it. The shore excursions were interesting and fun as well, we played volleyball and did some water activities.The beautiful view of the ocean made me feel like I'm in paradise. In total, it was a wonderful getaway for a short period of time and we'll definitely plan another trip soon! Read Less

The room was nice and clean, but the view described as "partially obstructed," was a huge ugly machine and a life boat, no ocean. The food was mediocre. The quality of the food seemed to decline each night. The buffet was like school food. The ice cream machine was popular. Fresh fruit was a good touch. The taco bar and the burger bar and breakfast were the best food on the ship. Dinner service was very slow. There were no live shows on board. There were two good comedians and two guitarists playing in the lobby and a band in a smoke-filled bar. The pool is tiny and overcrowded. There are not enough activities. No dance classes, movies, cooking demonstrations, or crafts, etc. The shore excursion was rushed and crowded and the snorkeling had no fish. They let us stay at the beach only one hour. The crew was nice. Read Less

Wanted to see the Hanseatic cities so this fitted the bill. Positives:- Good itinerary, but we did our own thing in ports, usually using the excellent public transport. I'm fluent in German, which helps. Food very good. Cabin nice. I can't comment on the entertainment, as we didn't bother with any of it; it's just not our thing. Nice to have Bridge lessons on sea days. Plenty of activities; unlike many cruise lines these did not just involve trying to get you to spend more money on rubbish. (Usually.) Plenty of space to sit and read quietly, even though, being April, it was too cold much of the time to sit outside when under way. Drink Prices very reasonable, unlike a certain large USA-based group. Ship fully refitted a few years ago, but it looked all very new. Carpets just fitted I think. Against: We had Junior Suite 5005. Every night there was noise from above. Quite intrusive, though I usually slept through some of it. It sounded like some large wheeled objects were being wheeled around; a rumbling like distant thunder. Hopeless if you are a light sleeper. I think it must be the galley. Our neighbours in 5003 said they didn't have a problem, which seemed odd, but there you are. We preferred dining in the cafe as it just took so long in the restaurant, though that is our preference, rather than a criticism. Almost all cruise ships have to do some maintenance as they go along and this was no exception but the smell of the paint was pretty horrible tbh. Embarkation pretty smooth and disembarkation VERY quick and efficient as we took our own stuff off and Dover Port Parking were excellent. Yes- lots of very old people on there; if you don't like us oldies then please stay away! So, happy to use Fred Olsen again. Read Less