To illustrate the differences I have prepared the following she said / he said combined review of a cruise on the European Vision last month. Both reviewers were on their first cruise. She gave it a 4 star rating, he gave it 1 star. They both cruised in December, one week after the other.

Overview
She Said: This was our first cruise and we felt that the ship was very well designed and had excellent facilities. The staff were very friendly and polite and exceedingly hardworking. The itinerary was good and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

He Said: Festival/first European are the worst cruise line we have been on (out of 10).terrible attitude towards passengers, put us through hell with flight changes then changed ship without telling us for first 4 days. Food & entertainment awful. I do not believe there was an executive chef on this ship, he never showed his face..wisely in my opinion. Would not recommend this cruise line to our worst enemy.

Public areas
She Said: All areas were nicely furnished and kept immaculately. We didn't have any favourites as everywhere was nice. There was no walk around promenade, but nowhere felt particularly crowded and we could always get sun loungers around the pools, or overlooking them.

He Said: Public areas are mainly good, it is a high density ship that just about makes 4* standard, run on a 1* budget by a company that deserves NO STARS at all. but it is run for Continentals to suit them.

Food & Service
She Said: We found the breakfast/lunchtime buffets excellent. We were upgraded to the La Pegola Restaurant as we requested a different sitting, and we found the service to be very attentive and the food fine. One slight criticism would be that the buffet was not open for alternative dining in the evening, so you could only have pizza, if you didn't want to go into the main restaurant.

He Said: One word Terrible, buffet poor choice, only a tenth of the breads & cheeses in brochure on offer.Menu changed,poor choice, particularly desserts.Portion control over top, you will lose weight !!!NO smoked salmon or prime rib beef ever seen in 10 days.Christmas eve gala dinner a shambles.Captains dinner...had to get a pizza after to quell hunger pains.

Cabins
She Said: We had an outside cabin which was very well furnished, light and airy. There were four of us sharing with four suitcases which we thought we would have to leave half packed. However, we had plenty of space to unload it all and even found a couple of cupboards that we didn't know existed, at the end of our holiday. The en-suite shower room was small but very well designed and the shower was very good. Plenty of electrical sockets also + hairdryer in bathroom. The cabin was Excellent.

He Said: Cabins are around 139 sq ft but well designed & good storage space.Showers have curtain that sticks to you but shower itself is very good.

Entertainment
She Said: The staff worked very hard, although it must have difficult for them as they had to say everything in so many languages. The quality of the shows that we saw varied from good to excellent. Some of the dancers we thought were superb and very energetic.

He Said: NO Orchestra for shows only recorded music. No headline acts, Singers & dancers under rehearsed. 2 bands in lounges play mainly continental tunes.All other lounge entertainment does not start until half past midnight.

Activities
She Said: We boarded at Guadaloupe. Unfortunately our plane was late coming in so it meant late departure of the ship, which had a bit of a knock on effect. The first port of call was St. Barts. We tendered to the harbour, which was very attractive and then walked to Shell Beach, which was pleasant for a short stay. The next port of call was Santo Domingo, which we didn't like at all. A lot of people trying to get money out of you and a scary taxi drive to the city, which was closed, so obviously didn't see it at its best. Also more passengers were picked up here and their incoming flights were delayed, thus making the ship late for its next port of call, Tortola - it was supposed to arrive lunchtime but did not get there until early evening - therefore unable to visit the beach as planned.

Next port was Christmas day in Antigua. We went on a catamaran snorkeling trip and thoroughly enjoyed it and then caught a taxi to Dickenson's Bay, which was very nice. Next port of call was Barbados on Boxing Day. We caught a taxi to Holetown and found a couple of lovely beaches, where we swam and went jet-skiing. Excellent. The next port of call was Grenada. We tendered and went on a half day tour of the island, which is very lush and enjoyed it very much. The only downside is that they stop at a rum factory and a nutmeg processing station on way back and I felt that time could have been better spent on a beach!!!

He Said: 2 pools, no depth markings (quite deep). charge for sauna. Smokers everywhere even on open decks, you cannot escape them, a large ash tray every 3 yards around pool, if you find a quiet spot a smoker will soon plonk himself down near you.

Who Goes
She Said: There were many different nationalities on board and very mixed ages. Quite a lot of families with older teenagers. Not many old people and not many really young children. We found a lot of those that had cruised with other lines were moaning and unhappy, though with the exception of some which had experienced genuine problems, we failed to see why this was.

I think the most telling comment is the proportion of smokers. You gotta have a US based clientele to escape the heavy smokers. I was told on Rembrandt that they had to a significant "airing out" of the ship when she shifted to US-based cruising.

I find it useful to read a number of review of a ship/line (the more the better), and take the 'average' opinion. You will always get somebody who hated the experience, even if everyone else loved it.

Lets remember that passengers come from different cultural and social backgrounds themselves. For example: one reviewer may have been a smoker and the other a non-smoker? Of course not all non-smokers are bothered by smoking. One reviewer may have been European, the other one may have been American?

When I cruised on the SS Norway in September 01, we took an excursion to Edinburgh. Some of the mainly American passengers on the bus, were very annoyed, that their dollars were not excepted in the local shops. I had to explain to them that my British Pounds were not accepted in American shops. One guy commented, "Yea, but that is different!"

[ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Malcolm ]

The different brands each offering a tailored experience for their following is what made them what they are.

I am seriously considering the Universe Explorer for my next cruise. From what I have read it is the Un-Carnival-Un-Regal Empress experience.

I do not need much glitz or ultra-luxry service to enjoy myself. Do not gamble and enjoy the intellectual stimulation and non-pretention of the like minded passengers she draws. Her itineraries and activities sound interesting.

Pete Party Animal would most likely hate and be bored by the formal old money Holland America-Royal Olympia cruise format.

Millicent Main Line Matron would be totally bent out of shape by having to hang out with the guzzle and puke crowd of Regal or Carnival.

The old Sea-Breeze and defunct Premier, I recall from this board and sailing on her has VERY love/hate reviews.

I think it is important to read the daily activity sheets of any given ship ahead of time and carefully research to see if the ship's style matches with yours.

HE was on his 10th cruise, not first. Whoops!

Some of them are too good to be true.

How would you stop cruise lines/travel agents sending in bogus reports ?

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Originally posted by cruisemole:
How can we trust the reader reviews?

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Cruisemole, I don't think you can trust a 'single' review!

Reviews are just one persons opinion. Even guide books, such as 'Berlitz' are just one team's opinion, led by one man!

However, if there are six reviews of a ship and five reviews are 'excellent' to 'good' and one is bad, I think we can be pretty certain that the ship is pretty good! Likewise if five reviews are bad and one is good, I'd personally be suspicious of that ship!

Thais is why it is useful for Travelpage to build up a big database of Reviews, and most ships do now have multiple reviews.

[ 01-13-2002: Message edited by: Katie O'Girl ]

[ 01-13-2002: Message edited by: Katie O'Girl ]

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Originally posted by Dolphins:
If you think cruise reviews are confusing, what about film reviews? Here in New York, one film critic called "The Majestic" his best film of the year. Another critic named it his worst film of the year? You wonder if these "experts" were watching the same movie?

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Just came back from the European Vision - January 6 - 13, 2002. Will post my review next week.

Have been on 21 cruises - Celebrity, Carnival, RCC, HAL, Costa, Princess, Norwegian, SunDream and Regent.

Picked Festival when the brochures just came out, and the ship was not built yet. Knew that it would be a more budget line than I was used to, but since I was paying for 2 outside cabins, I figured it would be equal to SunDream, or the Regent Star. There were no reviews or remarks on any cruise board that I could find.

It was not.

I agree with the review that gave 1 star. That is what my review will give. Cannot figure out how anyone can rate it 4 stars. Most people that I spoke with were unhappy.

Don't want to say too much, because it will be in the review.

But the staff are very unhappy, young and inexperienced. Very disorganized.

Food is definitely terrible. We ate in the Marco Polo restaurant. In the La Pegola Restaurant, there was an extra charge. I looked at their menu, and it didn't seem that great either.

Ashtrays were all other the place on all the tables, except the dinning room, and show room. I am a non smoker, and my husband is a quitter, we had to play musical chairs and move from table to table to get away from the smoke. It really was terrible.

Entertainment was the worst I have ever encountered. First day was particularly terrible. Thought it was me being tired from jet lag, but the others were the same calibre. Missed the last night's one, so maybe that was the excellent one the one reviewer mentioned.

Knew that there would be different languages, because on the Costa, they spoke in Italian, Spanish and English. But Bruno the cruise director was the worst I have ever encountered. He spoke one sentence in each I think of 5 languages, and English.

They claim they have satellite service in the cabins. It was down all week, and probably is still down.

So in summary, until my review, I can honestly say that it is only a 1 star.

Ship is lovely. Nice pool area, hot tub.

Cabins are good. Lots of drawers for stuff. But it was not all that bright - blond furniture, green curtains, and bedspread. Seen better.

Would I recommend this ship NO
Who should go - First Timers, and people from France, Italy and Germany.

Did I have a good time - Yes. Made the best of a bad situation and enjoyed the beautiful 80 degree weather, great ports of calls, and calm seas.

If you ever see it advertised for $400, including air, and port charges, I will go, and treat the whole family. Let me know. I can pack in a day.

I can enjoy the plane ride, nice ports of calls, and the beautiful weather, and for that price I can put up with the food, ignore the entertainment, etc., and just enjoy this island. Air to Santo Domingo surely must be more than $400.

Yes, I was on the SunDream - Airtours. Ship is old, but food, entertainment, and organization, and how it is run is much better than on the Euro.

Euro is a brand new ship, and it is a lovely ship, but it is lacking in experience and organization. Things were not running smoothly.

I got wound up reading this post, and the 4 star given.

But I read the fellow that gave 1 star mentioned that people were unfriendly.

That is also true.

Air Transat carried about 300 cruise passengers. Upon arrival we all had a meeting. We were told by our representative, that there were a lot of people from France, Germany and Italy on board. They are used to the European way - not waiting in line, and being pushy. That is the way they are used to it, and we have to ignore it.

This was evident in a lot of cases, but I did not ignore it.

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Originally posted by lillian:
DianaD

I think I read your post wrong. The $399 Euro was only for travel agents, and not the general public.

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The Euro is new and we're still confused -or at least I am - in Canada, and I'm sure the States, we're still thinking the old currencies, German Marks, French francs, UK pounds, etc. etc. In actual fact - 399.00 Canadian Dollar = 280.059 Euro
399.00 Euro (EUR) = 568.456 Canadian Dollar (CAD)

No longer can we abbreviate some ship names.

Post your review, please - it will be of interest.

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Originally posted by Green:

The Euro is new and we're still confused -or at least I am - in Canada, and I'm sure the States, we're still thinking the old currencies, German Marks, French francs, UK pounds, etc. etc.

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