I have been on 17 cruises and this was by far the worst I have ever been on. I purchased this cruise thru cruise builders (never again) and therefore I don’t know how much the cruise by itself cost us. We are a couple in our 50’s and we brought our two adult daughters. But Costa tries to charge for every little thing. You should not go hungry on a cruise and we did. The buffet is open only short periods of time through the day and it is the same every day. The sit down dinner was so bad. Food was terrible, the food in the buffet is better. We were at dinner for two hours and still hadn’t received our dessert. We decided to give it another try and the food was worse the second time. We didn’t return. On all other cruises we have been on pizza and ice cream are free and available a lot of the time. Burgers and fries are also available for free. And there are lots of free food options. The saying in the USA is that you will gain a pound of weight a day on a cruise and none of us gained weight. We actually brought snacks back on the ship. The food off of the ship at the ports was amazingly good. I understand that Costa pays their staff the worst of any cruise line and it shows. You have the least staff of any line we have been on. Costa is the least friendly and helpful. No one asks if you need a drink or anything else for that matter. I saw a photo lady trying to take a picture of some ladies and she was very rude to them when they expressed how they wanted to arrange themselves for their picture. She said, “This is Costa, I have to do it their way” (she said it in a super rude way). I felt bad for the ladies. I would have told her I was not interested in pictures anymore. Also, I saw a man approach some ladies and tell them they could not play cards in the buffet area. He was super rude. We are on vacation and paid a lot of money. We should not be treated like children and spoken to rudely. We are also told we can’t take food to our rooms or out of the dining area. Are you serious? We needed to stock up for the sea day because we knew that the dining room food was terrible. I was told by two other people, after I purchased the cruise, that Costa was terrible and they would never go again. We now feel the same. The ship was amazing and beautiful. The bands in the main hot tub and pool area were fantastic. I wish we could have the ship on a different cruise line. All the overhead loud announcements, in our room, each day new guests arrived was over the top. There should be a better way. The rooms were beautiful. We did not make a connection with our room steward like we normally do. We did not ever formally meet them. Getting on and off for excursions was easy and good. Why couldn’t we give a credit card on file before the cruise. We had to take time out to sign up our credit card, after we got on the ship. That has always been put in during registering for the cruise when we put in our passport info and emergency contact info. Why do we have to wait to collect our luggage until after all the luggage is set out for each color (stupid rule). If they are so concerned check the luggage tags against the tags that are torn off. I guess in Italy people don’t use washcloths, that’s okay I just used the hand towel to wash my face. We usually get shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion in the rooms and there was just hand soap and one wash in the shower for hair and body, no conditioner. And there is usually a fridge with soda, water and alcohol for purchase and there was not even a fridge. This was not a big deal to us. With our package it stated USAwater meaning that we could get tap water for free, but we were also charged for this. We had a wonderful time at all of the ports. We made great memories with our daughters. But Costa won’t see us again. Read Less

Wow.. This was a ridiculous experience. First a couple days before sailing from Rome, we received notice that our trip was postponed by a few days.. and 4 ports were removed. Well, we were supposed to board a flight to Rome on Feb. 8 with sailing on the 11th. Now we were sailing late evening on the 14th and 4 major ports were taken away. No advance notice.. NCL said we had the option to cancel but they would not pay hotel or airfare fees. Well.. hmm. No support. So we changed our flights and had to pay an additional $325 per person. We got to the ship and boarding was fine. But what the heck were they talking about??? Dry Dock... what, the ship looked like it needed to be refurbished. NOTHING worked in our room from lighting to plumbing. The only positive was the balcony. Ridiculous! Customer services was useless. The wait staff and hotel staff were amazing though. The shows were great, Food was terrible for the most part. Ended up having salads most days. Due to all the ships downfalls, NCL said they would reimburse us 25% of the cruise fare as well as give us another 25% credit towards another future cruise with NCL. To date - the reimbursement on the airfare, the cruise fare credit nor the future credit have appeared on any of my invoices. I filed a claim as soon as we hit land.. and told it would be processed but no record of such claim exists per NCL. This is my 11th cruise on NCL. Really .. I am a Platinum Member.. For God's sake customer service is the least they can offer. We were thinking of getting off the ship in Israel.. that's how bad the trip was . But I got sick with the flu (not coronavirus I promise) and wasn't able to get out of bed for 4 days. The ship needs help but what needs help more is the NCL management staff. Is this what has become of NCL. I am shocked. Another positive for the ship was the walking decks.. the pools though were a joke. The pool at the rear of the ship (adults only) was 3 ft deep. No joke. You had to get on your knees to basically cover your back. One reason my husband and I sail on NCL is because of their Thermal Suites which I was assured was updated and in working order. We join the spa and are granted access to the suite (paid service). Previously we average 2-3 hours per day there. Guess what.. shocker... are you ready???????? IT WASN'T WORKING!!!!!!!! AND NEVER OPENED UP. This was and remains my #1 luxury that I look forward to with every sailing. What a disappointment! Avoid this ship.. you know what, when the cruises open up again for service... avoid NCL until they get their damn crap together. I was reading reviews from the passengers that stayed on for the next leg of the trip.. sounds like the ship or staff didn't improve much on that journey either. One more positive note.. the Suez Canal was the most tranquil passing I've been through. Not much to see but if you focus on the tranquility of the water.. it would leave you in awe. NCL... This trip was simply disappointing.. and this is coming from one of your loyal (up until now) Platinum members! You lost me NCL... My referrals... My 120 member family that frequents your vessels.. and most of all my trust! Read Less

As several other posts describe a recent NCL Spirit cruise that was supposed to be 21 days from Rome-Dubai, leaving on Feb. 11, I would like to add my observations.The sail date  was changed because the ship was being refurbished and it was not ready. A new date Feb.14 was given, we were not notified until 5 days before sailing, after we were in route to spend a few days in Civitavecchia . Because of this delay there were 4 ports that were deleted. They offered $300 for flight changes. We have trip insurance so we are trying to recover these costs, which is ridiculous as the insurance coverage will not begin to cover the amounts.   The ship was not completely finished and should have never been allowed to sail with passengers.  Work crews continued to swarm the boat as passengers were aboard, long lines of irate customers were at the Cruise Assistance desk and this frustrated and angry line queuing went on for days after the ship was at sea. The nightmare started from the moment I arrived at the ship’s boarding process.  There were nearly 300 people standing in line at the Guest Assistant desk in an over 3 hour wait, all massively complaining about no rooms, or not the room they booked, incorrect financials that were being sent prior to boarding saying people still owed monies for the entire trip and so much more.  In fact a near-riot was being filmed on many cell phones with people screaming NO NO NO when told that we had to get out of lines we had been in for 2 to 3 hours so to learn the safety protocol.  It was the nearest I have ever come to being afraid for my safety, and I truly think this could have gone very very badly if not for one wise NCL security officer who began a number taking process for your place in the line.  Other NCL management staff were simply watching the horrible situation from the balcony above, and much more followed with poor entertainment, problems found in the rooms like closet rods not properly affixed, in room refrigerators not working, shower-stall water backing up in the pan of the shower, and key cards that should be specific to your room only-opening other suite doors. The disappointment continued with poor entertainment on board, nothing in gift shops-as we were told the vendors did not have time to stock their shops, a non-working ATM thru the entire trip so the only way we could get money was thru the casino cashier who charged fees for their service and so much more.    Personally, I was told I did not have a room when I boarded, then was sent to two other rooms which when I arrived found other occupants in those rooms and finally arriving in a room that was much less than I had booked.  Each of the rooms I was given the toilets did not work.  I received a small compensation for this disaster. While on the ship we proactively brought concerns to the ship hotel manager and the concierge.  The concierge staff member was wonderful, the ship hotel manager did nothing but send me a form note.  We never heard a word from the captain.  I wrote two very descriptive notes to the ship upper management with no reply.  When I arrived back home after a less than happy experience, I immediately sent a three-page registered letter to CEO H Sommer and NCL Guest Services manager K Bird, to date no response.  Both the ship concierge and the NCL booking agent said their hands were tied to address issues as well as they could not respond to when we would get the offered compensation back to our accounts as promised in letters from NCL.  I would like to take a moment here to recognize all the hard working NCL staff members on the ship:the room attendants, the food servers, the bartenders, the housekeeping staff,the ship cleaning staff....these people are heroes and worked tirelessly in very stressful situations.  I doubt if NCL acknowledges these front-line staff but they are the ones saving a NCL reputation which is clearly tarnished and documented in recent shared newsletters and stories.  And as to the compensation process, many were offered different amounts seemingly based on the status of the rooms booked.  In my mind we all equally suffered and should be equally compensated.  In asking many of my fellow travelers no one has received any apology from NCL, nor any acknowledgement of the issues on this cruise, nor any updates as to compensation timing or consideration for fair and equitable compensation. I enjoy cruising very much and have previously enjoyed NCL on many occasions, all with great success.  Sadly, this time is so horrible I can’t imagine how NCL could rebuild trust.  It will take a massive effort. As of now I think of NCL as "NoCustomerLove". Read Less

Just recently returned from NCL Spirit cruise that was suppose to be 21 days from Rome-Dubai, leaving on Feb. 11. This was changed because the ship was being refurbished and it was not ready. New date Feb. 14. We were not notified until 5 days before sailing, after we were in route to spend a few days in Rome. Because of this there were 4 ports that were deleted. They offered $300 for flight changes. We had already left so flights was not an issue but they would not offer the money towards hotels if not needed for flights. Which is ridiculous. It took 4 hours to board the ship because they were so unorganized. The ship should have never been able to depart. Toilets around the ship and in cabins did not work. No hot water for days. Flooding in the halls and around elevator, squishy wet carpet everywhere. Terrible smells from carpet glue and other construction. People were sick from the smell. Lights in some cabins never worked. Our cabin door did not lock and close properly. The staff was clearly not trained. No one knew what to do. Lines were huge at customer service desk with no resolve. Took three hours to debark ship at first port because they were so unorganized. We lost half a day in Jerusalem. Took almost two hours to get main entree in dinning room. Finally just ate at buffet. Jets did not work in Jacuzzi's. Games and events around the ship were very poor. They had you carry around a card they signed when you went to the games. After 10 signatures you turned it in for for a bottle opener or deck of cards. Hardly any shopping areas. The shows were very poor except for their dancers which were very good. Said they would give us 25% off cruise and another 25% towards another which I have not seen. I have reached out to them about this but no answer as yet. Read Less

Horrible staff. Horrible Rules. Horrible Ship. 1. 1. Don't expect to drink any water on board without paying. We found one, YES 1, free tap water on the entire ship. Located on deck 8 in the buffet area. But you aren't allowed to leave the buffet area with any food or drinks to any time you are thirsty plan on hiking up to deck 8, guzzling as much water as you can, and hope you aren't thirsty for another 5 hours. Anywhere else on the ship will charge you over $4 for water. And don't expect to ever see ice on this ship. 2. Bad staff. It's probably not all their fault, I would blame the management for the horrible rules they have. One day at sea we were trying to enjoy ourselves and play a little cards, we got kicked out of 5 different places on the ship before we gave up. These were open areas at bars, the gelateria, etc. that had decent tables we could sit at. The staff was rude and told us we couldn't plat cards and told us to leave but never gave us any suggestions on where we might be able to play. 3. FOOD. This ship is anti food. They say they want to conserve waste but that is just a cover up to save money. You have a 15 minute window each evening to be seated in the dining area. We should up 10 minutes late one night and were turned away. The buffet is only open for 90 minutes for dinner. If you miss these time windows, tough crap, don't expect to eat until breakfast. 4. Exercise. They have a wonderful exercise facility. Just don't expect to use it. The facility doesn't open till 8am. Most ships are 24 hours. Not this one. Most of our ports were around 7 to 8 am. So we were off the ship before they would even allow you in to exercise. HORRIBLE. 5. Entertainment. If you are American and only speak English....don't come on this ship for the entertainment. Not a single English Speaking show, and the few shows that translated to English, don't expect to understand the translations with the bad accents. 6. Finally, at the end of our Cruise our ship was quarantined for 16 hours while a passenger was checked for a virus. This is very understandable, safety precautions need to be take, however, the crew and staff were horrible to work with during this experience. No special accommodations were made to help make the 2000+ passengers that were supposed to disembark that day. We were all kicked out of our staterooms and told to sit in a bar area while things were figured out. No water was available without charge. We simply sat in a very crowded area with our luggage for 16 hours. The crew and staff did nothing to inform us of the situation. We got our information from the news cameras outside the ship. Never, Never, Never sail with Costa. Read Less

Everyone from the cabin steward the wait staff, the tour assistants the bartenders , everyone helpful and pleasant. The people the food the ship it was all amazing. the ship was decorated for the holidays and the new years eve celebration,and new years day brunch were excellent. cabin was roomy enough and laid out conveniently the dining room offered a nice variety and was relaxing ,the world cafe offered a wide selection, and always the gelato. Room service was very punctual. it was nice to have several areas to go for a breakfast. again all staff were helpful never any problem to go the additional step to please us. the ports/excursions were wonderful and the guides in Pisa, Monte Carlo and Barcelona were great. The ship was laid out so that all was convenient and the activities and entertainment was diverse. thanks for a great trip. We had sailed with Viking river in the past and loved it all. Read Less

You'll see from my ratings that many of the ship ratings are ok. However, the Captain is incompetent along with some of his team. If you read the news, there were near riots on the Spirit in October. We were on the Spirit starting November 7th. Some of the same poor decision making, lack of communication, and poor seamanship plagued our cruise as well. First, the official Italian tide forecasts for Venice called for near record flooding TWO days before we were due to go there. It clearly stated that there would be no bus service, massive flooding, etc. No way to get from the Port to town, plus they clearly didnt need waves from a cruise ship. So what did they do....nothing, sailed almost to Venice to be told you can't dock..had no back up plan. Eventually, we sailed all the way back to Ravenna. This decision was obvious 2 days before. We could have planned for it, sailed to it and perhaps circled back to one other missed port. The worst two items though were totally controllable. There was a strong, near hurricane force rain band clearly marked on my phone radar. Had 2 hours of warning. The Captain didn't bother to do anything about it. Instead of turning into it, he let it hit a 12 story ship broadside. Ship listed 15 deg to starboard, and nearly everyone's, except ours, plates, drinks, etc hit the deck. People were screaming, etc. What a mess. The last item though, was just plain unforgiveable as it was so simple to address. The cruise staff told us that the best part of the trip was to sail into Kotor between the mountains. We were due to sail in at noon. Because of the schedule changes, the Captain decide to sail in at 630 am and leave at 530 pm...all in the dark. We were scheduled for 6 hours...he gave us 12...and we missed one of the best parts of the trip...total disregard for the passengers. There were several other issues with time changes, no port talks, etc. that just show this ship is poorly managed. The overall ship condition, lower staff, dining staff, etc. were very good. Too bad their management isn't at the same level of service. I would NOT go on this ship until the captain has been replaced. On the plus side, the Cabin was clean, and up to date. No signs of wear and tear. The mattress was comfortable. Like most of the older NCL ships, IF YOU DON"T BRING a European converter/plug, you probably won't have enough outlets to charge your electronics. A simple multi converter from Amazon does the trick. The overall ship condition was also in good shape. Cannot tell it is an older ship. Though we missed the "bed animals" which NCL discontinued due to "climate change", over all room cabin service was great. Our steward was really low key and didn't bother us, but he knew when we were out of the room, and took care of things. Main dining was ok. Highly recommend the Garden Room vs. the other main dining room. Smaller, better service, BUT much less motion in rough seas which we had nearly every day. Food wise was ok. Nothing bad, but nothing great either. Next to the issues with the cruise, the biggest disappointment was the Buffet. Breakfast was ok, but lunch was poor and dinner not any better. Probably the worse buffet food that we have had on any cruise. "cardboard pizza", limited selections, and would run out of the main carving entree. Desserts though were usually excellent! Specialty dining was also not what it used to be. There was nothing worthwhile on the Italian menu. Le Bistro was ok, as was Cagneys. Used to be able to get lobster, but not any more. Steaks were ok. Had a 3 dinner package which was enough with the limited choices. Mixed bag on shore excursions and shore excursion staff. The staff did a pretty amazing job adjusting schedules, adding new tours etc. due to the screwed up port schedule. However, they had one short cruise port presentation on the first 4 ports, and though they said they would have another,they never did. We would have changed at least one tour had they had a presentation. As far as the tours went, the Island of Delos, a tour from Mykonos was by far the highlight of the trip. The ruins are amazing which warrants its rating as the top Unesco sight in Europe. Through in the 250 friendly cats as a bonus. Messina with Taormina and Mt Etna would be the second highlight,but dress for it...65 deg to start, 25 deg on Mt Etna. Kotor, Dubronik, Pompeii, and Florence would round out the rest. Not impressed at all with Santorini or Corfu. All in all, if NCL addresses the issues at the top, this would be a great cruise due to the number of stops you are supposed to get to, and the quality of those stops. It is not a relaxing cruise as many of the tours leave early in the am and can last 9 hours, but if you want to take a lot of stops off of your bucket list on one cruise, it is a great trip. Read Less

We sailed on this ship on 3 previous occasions and loved it. We liked the itinerary and price. Unfortunately, things have changed and the crew is incompetent. They kept our American passport when we got on. Made it difficult to get it back. Food is now terrible. Little info about ports. Entertainment is repetitive. No television service other than free movies of their choice. Very poor Wifi and no communication with cell phones on the divina. Our last port, San Juan Puerto Rico, they tell us that everyone must get off the ship for the immigration procedure and you cannot get back on until 4:00 pm. We are supposed to get off ship at 10 am but still not off at 12 noon. During this process, they are having a crew drill and making announcements constantly. Also, we asked for a box of tissues and were told that we don’t get them in the Fantasia experience and they just changed that policy during this cruise!!!!!Terrible procedure. Also, minimal concern for hand washing.After this trip, we will not be back on the Divina and most likely will not choose MSC! Read Less

Chose this cruise for the itinerary. Was anxious to see some of the parts and take shore excursions. Embarkation process was very uncoordinated; staff seemed confused with process. Ship was ok, cabin with balcony, very close quarters. Food and dining: very, very disappointed in quality of food served throughout ship; buffets to specialty dining. Food was never hot. A lot of wasted food because it was simply unpalatable. Customer service and shore excursion personnel were often rude and abrasive. If you had a complaint or needed help with something you were met with some not so very nice attitude. Not customer friendly. Shore excursions were horrendous. Please do not waste your money on NCL shore excursions. Do the Hop-On, Hop-Off yourself for 12 to 15 euro and save money. Excursions often departed late which cut into excursion time. Often taken to a destination and "there you go, now you are on your own". Excursions were not as depicted in online summary/description. Best thing of the whole trip was our cabin steward. He was so accommodating and pleasant. Alexander was always on hand to assist with whatever you may have asked of him. Will not travel NCL again. Read Less

Staff was unfriendly and rude across the board. Bar staff seemed put out and irritated when I ordered drinks. ON top of that they had gratuity added onto every drink. It was not an option to leave less than 15 or 18%. Beyond irritating. When I passed staff on the ship they never said hi or smiled. They were over it. Upon boarding the ship I saw a crew member near the pool in the smoking section having a cigarette. So gross. This ship needs new leadership from the top down. High end restaurants had bad service. At one dinner we paid $39 extra per person. The waiter neglected us and took no responsibility for the bad service. Another restaurant blamed the scheduling system for the poor service however they didn't greet us after 10 minutes of standing in the entry. This ship missed the ball on so many levels. I'll never sail with Princess cruise lines again. Read Less

My husband and I went on this cruise for our 25th anniversary: (Plus side note- you'd think by it being our anniversary and us telling them, that they would do something special - like maybe a bottle of wine or SOMETHING- but NO!!!!) We were Nickel and dimed for EVERYTHING!: You had to pay EXTRA for soda & Water! (are you kidding me?!), pay extra for "specialty restaurants", pay $10.00 for each Bingo card, Pay $12.00 to take an exercise class, etc... PLUS there was a surcharge on everything--food, drinks, ports, a daily surcharge,in the casino, etc... The food was mediocre at best- their daily buffet was terrible (mostly Chinese & Indian food), NOT ONE SEAFOOD buffet ever- I get better food at home! The food I ate in the other restaurants ranged from poor to good (and I am NOT picky!!) We were late to ports on a few occasions which cut our already short times even shorter, didn't get to stay in ports very long (many look like a long time but they don't tell you that your travel time to get back to port will be an hour-2 hours bus or taxi ride AND you usually have to be back a half hour earlier than the time indicates!), excursions got cancelled- and the WORST- OUR LAST PORT GOT CANCELLED! We didn't get to go to Florence or Pisa- the REASON we booked this cruise! To pacify the people, Norwegian gave $100 credit- BUT not to each person- to each CABIN which meant some people only got $25.00 credit. PLUS you could only use the credit on the boat (so they get it back again!) THEN they closed the gift shop and the casino so we couldn't spend it on that. Really the only option we had was to spend it on drinks (and with each drink being about $12.00-$15.00 you only got a couple of drinks -but don't forget to add that surcharge!!)- BUT most people already had their OUTRAGEOUSLY PRICED drink package so we got our drinks anyways!! Horrible customer service!! Music and entertainment on board was HORRIBLE. I felt like I was living 3-4 generations ago, plus I don't know who they get as singers and entertainers but they should NOT be there. No good clubs or DJ's. Not enough activities and any activities you did want to get involved in, there WAS AN EXTRA PRICE involved! We're usually up all night dancing and getting involved in activities but things were so bad we were bored to tears on this cruise and went to bed early every night. We are also not ones to complain and we "go with the flow". We usually can find fun in everything we do, but this cruise was ridiculous. I will NEVER cruise with Norwegian again and will be sure to tell everyone I know the same. We heard so many horror stories from other cruisers- how Norwegian was cheating them out of money, bad customer service, taking their internet time away that they paid for, horrible tours, etc.... The only few good things I could say about this cruise: the staff was friendly (to us), it was easy to embark on ship (a lot easier than I expected), good ports (though we didn't get enough time in them and one WAS CANCELLED!), and their nightly big shows were good (production quality) You think by missing a port they would have better customer service and do more for their passengers. Instead they did what they did (see above). INCREDIBLE!! Apparently they don't want any future business! Read Less

Chose Viking for a sophisticated luxurious experience- NOT. CONSTRUCTION (!) POWERWASHING(!) Misleading ports of call- “ Tuscany Florence” “Provence” - Yeah sure as long as you’re paying to get yourself there! When I originally booked St. Tropez was one of the ports which was abruptly switched to Sete, France. Not an exciting destination to say the least. Entertainment- AMATUER hour. They’ll tell you there’s a jazz club but no jazz to be played. Food- average at best. I lobster tail on lobster night was over cooked mush. Dont fall for the “elegant” sounding videos- check photos I included- there’s part of what you’ll get. (Photo n video could not be posted in this site w phone) After I posted a review on ConsumerAffairs.com I was contacted by Viking’s customer relations department. All they gave me was attitude, and “I’m sorry you feel that way” like I was the one with the problem. Horrendous. Read Less

We were handed beepers our first three dinners because the dining room was too full and had to wait for 45 minutes...it felt like we were at a Chili's or something... Not a good first impression The food is pretentious and portions are very small. The Lido deck is not a buffet and you are forced to ask someone to plate your food for you. This causes lines and long waits for something as simple as a Caesar salad. FIRE!! There was also a fire on our cruise that was announced over the ships intercoms. My wife was in tears after that and left a very poor taste in our mouths. Beware Vegetarians!! Usually there was only one vegetarian option. We asked to have meals just without the meat multiple times are we're told no... If you love beets and mushrooms, this is your ship though. Cilantro is on everything... Lots of people hate this stuff...beware. Portion sizes are TINY compared to a cruise lines like Princess. Where I received a full beef wellington on princess, I only received a slice on HAL. Also, it was cooked medium and the breading was a soggy mess when I got it... The entertainment is awful. They have one good band (BB King band) and the rest is shockingly bad. There was an hour long presentation on the "art of towel folding".... If thats not bad enough, Microsoft also has daily seminars on how to use Windows 10...I'm not joking, this is the entertainment on your cruise. The staff is really the only shining light on this ship. All of them were incredibly friendly, but there are just so many drawbacks about this ship. We will never come back and definitely would not recommend sailing with them unless you get a massive deal. Read Less

No one told me it would be impossible to change large Euro notes. Guest services warns against taking large notes on tour excursions yet refused to change my 200 Euro note so I could have smaller notes. The person at guest services went to plead my case to the purser. The purser opened the door, looked at me from the doorway, then went back in and the guest services person returned to say the purser had refused my request. I saw they had plenty of change, so this was unreasonable. They did say I could buy Eu200 on my credit card for 3% commission. The next concern I had was with the service charge which now appears daily on our account. No one told me it would cost US14.50 per day, per person. I have always left what I thought was a generous tip to those that gave me exceptional service but have never been forced to tip. For a family of 4, this means you need to budget US580 for tips. This has resulted in the crew not needing to try so hard with their service. For example, I drink tea instead of coffee. Every other cruise, staff have recognised me and automatically remembered this, but not on this cruise. In fact they even tried to keep topping me up with coffee. We tried to book The Dining room several times and the only time available was 5.45pm. Much too early. We tried to walk up and were told nothing was available. On our second last day another passenger said that if we walked up and said we were willing to share a table, they would give us a pager and we could wait in a bar. This should have been communicated to us on at least one of the occasions we tried to book. But when they are assured of a ‘tip’ their service standard drops. Also we did not make use of all of the facilities, so why should our service charge go to those areas when we wouldn’t normally tip them. And why do they put an additional 15% service charge on drinks and coffee? We also had a problem with IT where it could not properly print one of our stateroom cards. This was going to prevent us leaving the boat as the name would not print on the card due to its length. Three times we had to go to customer service and explain our situation all over again, despite them saying they would bring a new card to our room. They kept forgetting about us. The poor customer service really impacted on my holiday. Also I travelled with my sister and they gave us a double bed when we had asked for a twin. I asked for bottles of water on arrival and had to wait until the following day for it to arrive. Then we had a $37.50 beverage charge appear on our account by mistake. This was removed. We took a four meal dining package and the steaks in Pinnacle were nice but not as tender as the wagyu in Chops on the Ovation, but we would have had to pay a surcharge for that. Also included in the meal package was sushi but it didn’t compare to the 5 star sushi on the Ovation, where the soft shell sushi was amazing. The one on the Koningsdam was mostly rice and no shell that I could see. I was told they brought the crab in from another restaurant so it was not cooked by the sushi chef. The barramundi in red curry sauce that I ate in Tamarind was delicious. We returned to Tamarind on the last night to have rijstafel which cost US$30. I saw the menu which had about ten dishes on it and looked very traditional. After soup and salad starter, the other eight dishes were served together on one plate. Not very traditional and not the ‘rijstafel experience’ we expected. To top it off after this meal, I needed the toilet. The cleaner followed soon after and wouldn’t leave until she had serviced my toilet. She banged on the door three times in two minutes, despite me acknowledging her. The Planet earth show with an orchestra playing background music was excellent but too short (40mins). The rest of the entertainment was average. The free movies available in our cabin were recent and plentiful. The food in the complimentary areas was excellent although the msg used in the Asian Fusion area disturbed my sleep. We loved The Grand Dutch Cafe and returned several times for their coffee and croquettes. The shore tours are expensive but very good. We had a nice holiday but it will have to be a very good sale price to get us to try Holland America again. Read Less

We chose this cruise based on the recommendation of our travel agent who said it was the "best of the best" and it turns out they were very wrong on this cruise ship. Starting with finding a pair of dirty women's underwear on the floor of our cabin upon check-in, being served frozen steak in their "nice" restaurant, finding all 40 chaise lounges at the pool "reserved" while 3 people were in the pool, being ignored by bar staff and the very limited dining hours outside of the 24 hour room service which didn't offer a lot of choices. The entertainment wasn't well publicized and from what we heard from other passengers it was stale at best. We took one ship sponsored excursion that was shown as very strenuous that we ended up with 2 older couples that should have been asked to take another excursion as they held up the group considerably. The excursion guide, even though we were running an hour behind our lunch, forced us to a shop where her "friend" was working the counter where she obviously had a side deal going. Getting on and off the boat at the start and end of the cruise was very easy and the tenders at the smaller ports offered the same ease of use. The ports we stopped at P Read Less

This was our fourth cruise on princess 2nd time on the Emerald. Th is was a 14 day cruise. Starting in Rome. 10 ports ending in Barcelona. I recommend this cruise or any cruise going to th is region of the world, we previously did a family land tour of northern Italy so this would be all new territory. We were picked up at our hotel in the Spanish steps area to the Ship. I think it was about Two hours. This trip was my wife and I first time cruising just the two of us. Getting on the ship was very organized and quick dropped off our bags waited about 2 minutes to get to the check in desk received our cards and off to the ship. We had a balcony 14 deck near the front of the ship, same type size room we had when we did Alaskan cruise Two years earlier. Plenty of room for two and our four bags . One thing to know if you never cruised before we bring a heavy 6 foot extension cord with multiple plug ins. The bed was great room clean and our room Stewart was very good always seemed to know when we would leave room always kept clean . There are two dining rooms we ate Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. We ate breakfast almost every day at Da Vinci. . And Dinner at Michelangelo had the best Materdi Carlos the magnificent And our lovely waiter Franco from Mexico. We had anytime dinning but our table was always saved for us we started with just my wife and I and as we made friends we had a table for 6.the food was good some excellent some ok mostly very very good. Franco always new what we’re drinking and never waited long to receive them. I would not recommend the buffet much. We ate there two times . Excursion We did two from the ship. We did Pompeii from Salerno all I can say was the tour guide from the princess ship was horrible he made up stuff and not one time did he take us to a shady area when it was near 100 degrees. My suggestion make all your excursions before you leave home online with reputable companies. We did a excursion in Kotor Montenegro was booked before we left home. We did this from a group of 6 Aussies we met from roll call. We did a speedboat. Blue cave , submarine caves tour with swimming at the blue caves,a very fun 3 hour tour, we then did The Godfather tour booked from princess , this was a very fun day. Great tour guide if your a fan of The Godfather movies you will enjoy this. Our next paid excursion was also not from princess with family we met from roll call. We did Pompeii again from Naples. This was a fantastic tour our guide his name was Sasha was so knowledgeable his father was also a tour guide I told him what the tour guide from the princess ship told us and he said what load of garbage i showed him the pictures I took from the first tour and what the guide told us about that. He was blown away with the crap the first guide told us. Every time there was shade he took us to the shady spots and explained what was the real history, all ”other ports we did either the hop on bus or just walked the towns. We had some of the best food on land ever.seafood was more then fantastic. One thing if your going to book your excursion from princess do it before you get on the ship most of the good excursions sold out very fast. I do recommend using non princess excursion. We made a lot of new friends in this ship. After dinner we would go to crooners bar see the piano player. We did trivia one night. And we watched a few movies on the deck with greasy popcorn. If you drink much including alcohol coffee and water get the drink package we got ours free with our balcony booking so it was worth it. Drinks are not cheap if you buy your own . Bottle water $2.50. Latte $2.50 each . We had a later time to get off the ship in Barcelona our transportation was supposed to pick us up at 10 but after 3 phone calls they finally got there by11.00 there is no place to sit and almost no shade at the Barcelona terminal. Then they took us to the wrong hotel , this was not booked through princess . One thing I would recommend transfers book from princess. If you smoke they have a cigar smoke room or you can smoke on the 16 th deck ... Feel free to ask my anything you would like to know. Read Less

This cruise had a good itinerary. We stayed for 3 days in Rome, it was a disgrace, with rubbish piled up in the streets everywhere. Embarkation was very efficient. However, the entertainmemt is very poor. There is no orchestra, no big dance productions, just 6 ballet style dancers. hALmust be cost cutting. There was no library. BB Kings played the same music every night. The Lido buffet was always crowded , with lines for everything, no self service so you had to explain what you wanted. Some of the servers had difficulty understanding English. Activities consisted of bingo or trivia, no dancing classes at all. The computer classes were impossible to access as ithey. were always packed. Internet expensive. Hard sell constantly for beauty salon. The decor on the ship is dingy. The Cruise Director did very little, apart from introducing stage acts. He rarely smiled and ever made a joke!! Overall a big disappointment. We will never sail o HL again. Read Less

This was the first non-Carnival cruise my partner and I have been on, out of nine prior voyages. We were excited to try another cruise line as the destinations Carnival offers are limited, and have heard excellent feedback concerning NCL. The new ships NCL deploys each year, the itineraries, and the Free at Sea specials initially had us regretting years of exclusive loyalty to another company. However, NCL failed to live up to even our most basic of expectations and here is why. Our first negative interaction with the company was in regard to the "Free at Sea" specials. My partner and I selected an inside cabin on a lower deck as we are rarely inside of our cabin, and appreciate the lower decks as it mitigates the risk of sea sickness. We selected this voyage based on the substantial number of ports offered, and at the time felt comfortable with the cruise fare as we assumed the Free at Sea specials provided an excellent deal. However, the Free at Sea specials are not available to every cabin category, and this can only be discovered by reading through the terms and conditions. In addition, their online booking system allowed us to select the Unlimited Drinks package, which should not have populated as an option in the first place. When we called to confirm our promotion selection, we were told we would have to upgrade our cabin in order to qualify which due to the price and misrepresentation opted not to do. Embarking the vessel was one of the smoothest experiences we have ever had, and we had literally no wait at any point. I will give NCL credit for managing the embarkation process, as is the passenger's first impression of the vessel. Once on-board, I quickly realized how much the ship was in need of either of an overhaul or scrapping. The first blemish I noticed were the huge water stains on the carpet in numerous locations throughout the ship. As other reviewers mentioned, multiple buckets were positioned to catch the slow drops of water originating from pipes in the ceiling. Several faucets I used outside of my cabin in public-use restrooms supplied brown water from the sink faucets. None of the outlets in our cabin worked, and other small abnormalities stood out. Finally, I felt myself continually comparing NCL to Carnival, fully aware that both are separate entities and as such have the right to operate however they feel is best. However, if the overpriced cocktails on NCL was not enough to draw a conclusion, the "fun" and plethora of activities Carnival offers their passengers that was missing on NCL certainly made up my mind. As another reviewer mentioned, there is virtually nothing to do after the last performance which means going to sleep no later than 10:30. This voyage was the highest price point of any trip I have ever invested in, and my expectations were regrettably unmet. I realize that we all have our experiences, and what I interpret as acceptable and unacceptable is based on my opinion. However, I cannot imagine that too many of my fellow passengers on this journey felt any better about investing their hard-earned money on a vacation of this level. Read Less

This is our ninth cruise. Second Mediterranean cruise. We chose this cruise for the price and dates. It was disgusting. Our room smelled of sewage. The toilet kept bubbling up and the smell got even worse. Would not change our room . We didn’t get to get off on Santorini due to windy conditions. They said the cable cars were not running. That was a lie. Our friends had a private excursion and when they called to cancel, they said the cable cars were running as usual. No compensation for missing out on the highlight of our cruise ( Santorini). Not even an apology or discounts on drinks. We had to stay all day at sea. Entertainment was terrible. Food was okay. Only cruise where they don’t serve lobster. Customer service was not good either. It was as if they actually didn’t care. The day of embarkation they practically threw us out. We couldn’t even get breakfast. Do not recommend Read Less

I just took the 10 Days Regal Princess out of New York last November and had the best food service and selection so I gather a group of friends to do the 10 Days Euro Explorer cruise and what a disappointment! Everyday the breakfast buffet is exactly the same! Where is the smoke salmon? If is behind the station and you have to ask for it! Water down coffee and hard as a rock toast! Lunch buffet is no better unless you go down to the dinning room and catch hell from their waiter staff and yells at you when you do not sit at the right table. No flexibility when you want to eat before 8pm or else buffet is your option! The ship was supposed to be recently refurbished but the cabin still looked aged and only new TV and bed. But I must say the bed is really good and comfortable to sleep on! TV has very good movie selection but you can not check the ship's day program and only via your cellphone or mobile device... why not? Who is their IT Program Director that can't even come up with this basic function? The TV is HD but the in-house program that talked about the shore information recorded from the live sessions are not so you will see all the fizzy video the you can't even read the wording they are showing on shore info. Read Less

I recently returned from Journey to the Antiquities trip, March 23 to April 6, on the brand new Viking Jupiter boat. I was looking forward to an amazing trip with my 84 year old mother. This was probably going to be her last big trip. We expected the best from this lovely new ship. What we got, was not. Here are my Explorer suite 3000 issues, and they are significant issues. So significant that I feel that any future passenger considering booking that room should be aware of, particularly on the cruise/travel websites… For their own good, since no one prepared me for those issues. The furniture was incredibly uncomfortable. Loveseat should have been a couch, and the two arm chairs were stiff like doctor's office furniture, and so hard and had to use bed pillows to make them usable for seating. They should have club chairs or some other softer seating for the amount of time spent in the room, which most people do when choosing a suite!!! especially so you don't have to run around the boat looking for seating! Transition/threshold strip between bathroom and bedroom was almost 2 inches high. We tripped constantly on it. What made this dangerous was during the night when my mom would need to use the bathroom. Not a frustration. Dangerous! Standing water in the shower. The water never drained, because the drain is on the right hand side of a square shower, parallel to the door, not in the center of the shower. It had to be dried daily by the housekeeping staff. Dangerous for my 85 year old mother to be in standing water taking a shower. This is a design flaw and two engineers came and took pictures. I recently renovated my home so I know a shower either needs to be pitched or the drain needs to be in the center. Neither in this case. And OMG, the worst - The noise!! Incredibly loud as we were directly over an anchor and the “thrusters” (according to the first officer who told me). From an hour prior to docking each time at port, arriving or departing, the noise level was unbelievable, the room shakes and vibrates, and would wake us out of sound sleep… and spaced over a few minutes each time, for over an hour. The noise was like a JACKHAMMER right next to us. Unbelievably loud. Even the TV on highest volume, could not be heard. 7 times in the morning, with 5 being at 6am. I’ve never heard noise that direct, and that loud, so close. It was deafening. I will try to upload the video of the noise if I can. Outside the room, in the hallway, was no noise at all. I contacted guest services several times. No offer of another room was made. I assume the boat was at capacity. I was told by Geoff, guest services manager, that this would be escalated to Viking headquarters. I confirmed I would be speaking to them upon my return. I have videos and pictures/proof of everything. I have attached some. The general public should know, as should the next passenger who spends $21,000 on this room. $5,000 for an average one week vacation (x2 for a 15 day cruise), is one thing. $21,000 is another. This was supposed to be a first class trip. In speaking to your customer service department upon my return, a rep, informed me that she could offer me a gesture of $250 voucher per person on my next Viking cruise. I will respond with exactly how I responded to her. “Are you joking?” A $500 “gesture” on a trip that I paid over $27,000 for??? And you want a second chance to impress me with a $500 voucher? You did not impress me the first time, and completely misled me and my investment in this journey, and you want a second chance, when I don’t get a second chance to pick a room that had no issues/less noise??? For the amount of money I paid you, I find that disgraceful! There should be some way to inform a selective passenger of the noise volume in that room. It was the most unpleasant wake up call each time we pulled in, and for the times we were in the room upon departure. And a gesture of that amount to offset what I paid YOU/Viking for the experience and ROOM??? Even my travel agent earned more in a commission on the booking than what your rep was offering me." Subsequent calls and emails to Viking customer service. No one seems to care that I overpaid and was dissatisfied. No, our trip didn't hit a huge storm and the piano did not go flying across the floor, but for the money I paid, 6 months prior to even traveling, you should be ashamed and do something about making HIGH paying passengers happy. I could have taken a $5000 cabin and not had any of these issues. What is so frustrating, is that Viking is treating complaints this way. I've emailed the CEO and senior management team multiple times already. Read Less

Worst food and worst customer service! Poor communication! Would suggest to avoid this one. We chose the cruise line because it was the only one operating in that area during the winter time. However it was a huge mistake. The food in both causal dinning and the buffet area are horrible and I think I could cook much better food than that. There was limited choice in the buffet section and it was hard to pick anything good. There was no communication during the entire cruise. My black card status was never attached to the cruse trip and was unable to resolved it from the customer service. The customer service was incompetent in both the general and excursion. The entertainment was terrible as there was almost no live music except the atrium. I did more than 10 cruises before and by far, MSC cruise was easily the worst. I cannot believe it could exist this long. Read Less

I was really disappointed with MSC system. Most of the crew were rude, rude and rude in all area of the ship. Please pay attention to your bill. Almost everyday I need to go down the reception to clarify the charges. Even though I purchased the package for food and drink. They have too many package until the crew and myself also confuse what is what. Let take an example like I bought the premium package for my drinks. So it emphasized that any glass drink that is under euro 10 is under the package. But I was told that I need to pay for the drinks like sake and plum wine which was under Euro 10. Then when I go challenge with the crew they answered me " this is an Italian cruise and you are drinking japanese sake so you need to pay" so meaning all the whisky and beer from scotland and US I need to pay????? Becareful with the photo you purchase too. Please ask for a better package and do check whether they double charge or not. Most of the crew are really rude especially in the Buffet dining area. If you manage to have someone take good care of you then please do appreciate this person. I was ask this question when I try to order some drinks from the waiter " Why didn't you order just now". I also have argument with the waiter and the supervisor on the fresh orange juice which fall on less then euro 10 category. I could go on and on. Their are just tons of problem with their system. Even to the cleanliness of the cabin. Don't bother with Balcony. They don't clean your Balcony. Their shows is boring. So no point go paying for show at Curosell. Read Less

Fantastic ship,our cabin was a balcony could not complain the food was outstanding the staff in the pub where the best. ALL above where the best bits below for the bad bits Hair drier didn't work first day went to reception first thing she said what did i do to it practically accusing me of breaking it. when we left port the shops duty free shops opened decided to buy a watch as it was 35%discount and it stated if you could find a lower price they would match it,so i bought one,out of curiosity next day i looked on the net found same one for 40euro less on Amazon,went back to the shop and shown the guy who sold me the watch i was told the watch on amazon was a Fake, well you can imagine,wonder what amazon would think?i requested to see the manager very rudely told go find the manager inside and he walked off,that's twice that ive been rudely spoken to by MSC staff,so i went inside the woman in the shop was no better very reluctant to get the manager,in the end she rang and the reply was,the reduction was only if you find a lower price in the shops internet doesn't count,i said where does it say internet doesn't count on the printed sign,she couldn't answer me. I have made a online complaint to MSC not that im holding my breath for a response. went back to my cabin and looked at my billing 10 euro per day per person,hmm have i had great service no so why should i hand over my hard earned cash to rude,unprofessional unhelpful staff,went back to reception to get a refund of all my service charges ans this is VOLUNTARY NOT COMPULSORY i was asked why and told them straight i will give my money to someone who deserves it. Shuttle buses not part of the Cruise 13 to 16 euro a head but if you wait 2 hours after the first shuttle bus,or they think they taken as much cash from the customers,the shuttle buses become free! The other thing which i found disgusting was opposite the reception was a signed area for disabled seating this was ignored by a group of Italians another passenger pointed out it was seating for disabled he was laughed at not one member of staff moved them on discus-ting I could go on but i havnt got the time the other customer reviews speak for them selves as we thought it couldnt be that bad,but im afraid to say it was,we where glad to be home I can supply photos should the company request Read Less

We choose this cruise for our honeymoon because of the positive reviews we had seen on various websites. Prior to booking, my wife confirmed multiple times that they will be able to accommodate vegetarians and me being allergic to eggs. Unfortunately, the Viking sales representatives had not communicated our dietary restrictions with the actual cruise chef staff; thus, there were very limited food options available for us to eat, with most of the food that we could eat being very salty and bland (think canned goods variety). Honestly, our honeymoon food experience was one of the worst food experiences we have ever had to the point that we were subjugated to buying food on the Excursions to make sure we had at least one decent meal during the day. While on the ship, we ended up eating snacks we had bought from home for the entirety of the cruise as the dining onboard was atrocious. When we attempted to complain of the issue towards the end of the cruise, our concerns were heard calmly by the head chef in the cruise who did manage to ensure we had one good meal while we were onboard. However, after having one good meal, things ended up reverting back to the mean, with most of the restaurant chefs/staff making us feel very uncomfortable because we had complained about the food options. To make matters worse, some of the staff seemed to dismiss our concerns about the food chalking it up to us “being of Indian descent”, as if to imply that our palate did not appreciate the “fine European dining” they were attempting to emulate on the ship. In short, the food was abysmal for vegetarians/non-egg eating vegetarians; and when we brought up the issue, we had modest success in rectifying the issue with some of the staff insulting our ethnicity in implying that Indians are not capable of appreciating the fine dining European experience they were attempting to provide on the ship. A horrible nightmare of a cruise! Read Less