AntjeG

No, I like different cruise lines. Depends on whom I am travelling with, what itinerary and so on. I also like being served at the table but not always. So best thing would be - as we do here on CC - to give information and everybody can choose what they like best.

Yes, it tends to be chaotic if

- everybody wants to eat exactly at 6 P.M.

- everybody wants to eat at the same restaurant

- everybody wants to sit right behind the entrance

- 2 or 4 people want to sit at a table with 6-8 seats alone

- people fill their plate first and then walk around in search for a seat

- at the lobster station the last evening in the first 30 minutes or so

People sometimes sit in the restaurant for a longer time. So what? On other companies I cruised with I was served at the table and all the meals took 90-120 min. With AIDA you blame people for enjoying their meals for 90 minutes instead 45 minutes? Plus, there is one restaurant that closes after 90 minutes and re-opens after a 30 minutes break for another 90 minutes. No chance to sit there all evening.

Families with kids have the right to go to the restaurant 30 minutes prior to normal opening only during school holidays and only in one restaurant. If your family wants to try another restaurant you have to go within the normal opening time.

If you show up 10-15 min after the restaurant has opened the doors, have a seat at the back window, relax with a glass of wine and then - when all the people who have been queuing there for half an hour sit at their tables eating - go to the buffet you are fine.

And don´t tell me that on other cruise lines buffet areas are never crowded and never have some passengers who don´t know how to behave.

Everbody has different wishes for their holidays. I prefer not to have to show up at a fixed time at a fixed table. If you don´t like buffet AIDA should not be your company of choice, I agree with that.

I´ve never been on MSC but some reviews in the forum I did the AIDA reviews for give mixed experiences. Reading the reviews I get the impression that MSC is sometimes crowded (that happens on AIDA, too) and you only get good service if you book the expensive Yacht Club cabins. A review of a short cruise on MSC Lirica with no service at all and rude crew seemed to be the top of desaster. But as I said that´s only what I know out of reviews. Have never been on MSC.

Some people complain about cut backs in food quality on AIDA, too. As food is always linked to personal taste, opinions are different here. I think that AIDA has very good food quality. And the buffets are the best I ever had (on land and sea) not only for the variety but also for the decoration and the style of the restaurants. Don´t think buffet means no table clothes and the atmosphere of your lunch at work. On some cruise lines buffets are like that but not on AIDA as their main dining experience is buffet.

What I like with AIDA, too, is how they make every sail away from every port special. They have a special music they play on that occasion. Whereever you are on board: if you hear that music you know it´s sail away time. TUI has that, too. Don´t know of any other cruise line besides these 2 who do that.

Plus, I am always impressed with the laser shows they run the first and last night. Really great!

great itinerary - this one is on my wishlist for the years to come. I did 2 10 nights cruises (Montréal to N.Y. and Canary Islands with Spain). The others were either 3-5 day or exactly one week. If you mix some of my itineraries you get most of your ports.

Hamburg:

great start - be sure to arrive 1-2 days pre-cruise to do city sightseeing. Hamburg has 2 cruise terminals. Sail away from Hamburg down Elbe river is a great thing you should not miss. Even more if you start at Hafencity instead of Altona.

Dover:

approaching Dover in the morning light with a view on the white cliffs was one of the highlights of my 1 week itinerary in the North Sea! In my opinion it is better not to go to London from Dover for shore excursion (you spend too much time in a bus). We went to Canterbury by public bus which was great!

Le Havre:

Don´t go to Paris (even more time in a bus). We did the tour to Monet´s garden and the city of Rouen which was perfect. Normandy has many more great options to choose from.

Haven´t been to Santander and Ferrol.

Lisbon is a great city, have been there twice. Easy to do sightseeing on your own.

Cadiz is very beautiful, too. No need to book guided tours there, all major sights within walking distance.

Tanger:

In my opinion the city of Tanger is ugly but they offer some nice itineraries for guided tours to the area from there.

Barcelona is a highlight again. Easy to do on your own.

I did some AIDA cruise reviews for a German cruise website. If you google my screen name together with "Reisebericht AIDA" and the name of one of the ports you are interested in you may find them. The reviews are in German. Have been on AIDAsol 2 times in 2013 (Canary Islands and Norway). Great ship with a very very good crew. Google ports such as Bergen, Eidfjord or Lanzarote, Madeira, Tenerife for the German review.

All great points.

 

The route is defnitely very attractive, timing perfect and the price is great. On the other hand, we are concerned about the type of people that this line might attract and would not look forward to spending two weeks with a crowd similar to what one might find in places such as Arenal.

People like in Arenal you can sometimes find on their 3-5 day cruises in the Med but I never experienced rude and/or drunken people on my many cruises with AIDA. In the German school holidays some 500+ kids and their families are on the ships so the low prices attract families with kids and also young people as they do offer a youth discount up to 24 years. Of course (as in every other cruise line or hotel) there are always some people who don´t know how to behave at a buffet. Plus, people tend to go to the restaurants exactly at the beginning of the restaurant´s opening time. DON´T queue at the restaurant´s door 15 min prior to opening and then battle at the buffet! Go 10-15 min after opening and you will have a relaxed meal most of the time. And don´t try to find a table right at the entrance. I never understand why people would want to sit right at the restaurant´s door instead of the very (mostly empty) back with a window...

As AIDA serves so many interests (great for kids, party lovers, wellness fans....) you often find whole families from kids up to grandparents on the ship.

Another thing:

I know people who spent an amount of money for their AIDA cruise which I would consider spending on a brand-new car. AIDA is not only cheap and mass-market. Their suites and Wellness-cabins are very very expensive.

I agree on the Mein Schiff 3. Looks fantastic and very stylish. Unfortunately, Tui Cruises are very expensive. They are all inclusive, but we don't drink enough to get our money's worth.

 

I am reading that they are looking to expand to the English speaking market.

Mein Schiff/TUI Cruises is great and I am looking forward to the new ship. But, Alex, I think it will be a while until they really expand to the English market. They are fully booked from the German market most of the time at quite high prices so in the moment I think they don´t have a reason to look for new customers.

All great points.

 

I wonder whether those who cruise with Aida do that because they only want to be with other German speakers (which would indicate that they are probably not well travelled, did not enjoy the best education and grew up in a time when less emphasis was placed on learning other languages) or whether they book it becaus it has been the default line for many, that is booked without too much thought. The latter would definitely be more tolerable.

I did many cruises with AIDA. I did NOT choose AIDA because I only want to be with Germans (most crew members are non-Germans, btw). My reasons were different each time I booked AIDA. A few examples:

- travelling with my 85+ y.o. grandmother who doesn´t speak foreign languages and I also felt safer to have German speaking doc just in case

- travelling with my little niece/nephew/goddaughter who I want to clearly understand the crew members in the kids area for safety reasons

- with their many ships they have a great variety of itineraries to choose from

- living in Northern Germany gives me 3 opportunities to start an AIDA cruise with only 1 hour train ride instead of having to take a flight (saves money and time)

- great deals if you travel with kids or 4 people in a cabin so I can afford to do more cruises

- short cruises 3-5 days for a quick getaway between "real" holidays

- I LOVE their buffets, they are great in quality and variety. But for a small surcharge you can also dine in special restaurants with service at the table

- I LOVE their wellness area which is very different in style and also the rules you have to follow from international ships

- I like the design of the ships. The kissing mouth has become quite a popular label in art galleries even apart from the ships

- AIDA is a sponsor to many scientific and cultural projects in Northern Germany and if I can help them to continue with that by having fun on a cruise I do so

- doing lots of travelling to other countries I sometimes just need a break from foreign languages which doesn´t mean that I don´t speak English with any crew member who might feel better with English instead of German

- to everybody who expects only German passengers: NO. 80-95% are Germans/Austrians/Swiss but there are lots of people from other countries on board. Last time I was on one of their ships the entertainment manager welcomed people from more than 12 countries. (As a passenger you should unterstand some German as only the safety anouncements are in Engish, too.)

I do not cruise on AIDA only but AIDA is always a company I look at when booking a new cruise.

some cruise lines do that. I have no experiences wih Celebrity but I know that Costa and AIDA have done so recently. If you had booked under German law you would have the right to cancel without charge. Don´t know how other countries do this. At least Celebrity should have to pay your extra costs as for the flight from another airport and offer maybe a price reduction or OBC as a compensation.

Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Madeira (Funchal),

I can only give advice for the ports listed above: you don´t need shuttle busses.

In Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) the port is right in the City centre (10 min walking distance to downtown and Las Canteras beach) and a HoHo-Bus stops at the pier. Also there is a shopping centre located directly at the pier.

Santa Cruz (Tenerife) if you dock at Muelle Santa Catalina it´s a 15 min walk into the City centre. The way is marked on the pavement. A HoHo Bus stop is within 5 min Walking distance.

Funchal (Madeira) also has a HoHo bus stopping near the pier which serves Funchal and the village of Camera de Lobos. The HoHo Bus stop No 5 is at the cable car.

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. Nothing really worked so I called Celebrity´s German Callcenter this morning. The lady there also doesn´t know why this happens to me. She was able to do the online Check-In for me but told me that when I look at it the website will still consider the birth date as invalid. I hope that when I go on board Celebrity really has the correct data as I´m not able to check this and must trust that she told me the truth.

thanks - will try that

some more details which are neutral to me and it depends on your personal attitude if you like it:

It´s Freestyle cruising. No formal nights, no captain´s dinner or things like that. No Dress code except no beach wear in the restaurants and men are asked to wear long pants for dinner.

All included restaurants are buffet except "Brauhaus" (beer garden style) on some of the larger ships (meals are included but beverages have to be paid).

Ships with a "Brauhaus" produce their own beer and you can do a brewery tour on board.

Cabin service once a day. Towels for use on the pool deck or a beach are provided for a deposit. You get your money back upon return of the towel.

As with all cruise lines, Internet access is quite expensive. But on the larger ships you get your own email account and can send/receive emails for 0,50 €. You get the email address with your travel documents and can arrange your mails being forwarded from your home account to the ship.

On the larger ships they provide a bath robe for use on the ship.

Every time the ship leaves a port this event is celebrated with their own port leaving music.

The ships are decorated with a large kissing mouth on their front as if the ship is kissing the sea.

Crew are allowed to mix with passengers on the public areas while not on duty.

They produce their own TV Show on board.

They offer diving and gulf for shore excursions.

For active People they offer lots of sports activities on board such as volleyball.

no: I gave the day in the box they wanted the day, the month in the box they wanted the month and the year in the box they wanted the year. There is no Chance to do it the other way as they offer a list 1-31 for the day, a list Jan-Dec for he month and a list 1900-2014 for the year.

Did lots of cruises on AIDA´s ships, so here is my opinion:

:)

very good buffet meals with an awsome variety of very good quality food

buffet restaurants have complementary beverages including alcohol

I like the style of the cabins

great wellness area

part of the entertainment is very good quality

on board language is German (good if you know German well)

lots of different on board entertainment either included or for rather small extra fees

lots of different "motto parties"

tips are included in the price also for drinks at the bars

prices at the bars are not too high

with many ships they cover lots of different routes

they offer bike tours in almost every port and segway tours in some ports

they have their own diving lessons on board

very often they have special price offers; you sometimes get a cruise for less than 100 € per day (tips and beverages in restaurants included)

discounts for youngsters up to 24 years

reasonably priced drinks passes available

kids travel free or for a very low charge in their parent´s cabin and don´t even have to pay for extra tips

discount for pre-booked shore excursions and some on board extras

:(

it sometimes feels crowded especially on sea days with bad weather as there is less space per passenger as on other cruise lines

cabins are quite small (14 qm most cabins)

part of the entertainment is not good quality

their bigger ships don´t have a real theater, from most seats at the so-called Theatrium you don´t have good view to the stage

no real pool on the bigger ships

on board language and all information is German (not good if you don´t know German well); only safety anouncements are also in English

you can avoid some of the :( items by:

booking a balcony cabin or Suite

dine in specialty restaurants

Show up early for Theatrium entertainment and grab a seat on deck 9 in the front rows

if you are not in a balcony cabin or Suite: pay for the "Wellnes Oase" on sea days (20-25 € per day and only 60 passengers per day are allowed in)

Does anybody have the same problem:

When trying to do the online check-in I got the message "invalid birth date". I checked my reservation confirmation and the birth date is given correct. So it can´t be a problem of my TA providing wrong personal data to Celebrity. Sent an email to Celebrity weeks ago and never even received an answer. Doesn´t seem to be a problem of only one day or so on their website as I have been trying to do the online check-in once a week for 2 months or so now.

Any ideas?

Thank you for this really great travel review and the many additional facts! You make me looking forward to my similar cruise in Jan 2015 even more.

Bar Harbor:

as often said here: Oli´s Trolley is great and then if the weather is fine sit at the Pier to try some lobster.

Quebec:

just walking around the city on your own is what I´d suggest for the first day. Be sure to take the elevator (funiculaire) to the upper part of the city. The ships usually dock in walking distance from the city centre.

For the second day I would recommend the Montmorency Falls tour.

And, if your cruise starts in Quebec I would also suggest you spend some days in Montreal pre-cruise.

Halifax:

Peggy´s Cove is an excellent choice if your tour goes there as early in the morning as possible. Later the small village is just packed with tourists.

Halifax city tour is also a good choice as the city has some interesting places to see. If you are interested in museums or the weather is not so nice you find 2 nice museums (Maritime Museum with a section on Titanic) and Pier 21 (Immigration Museum) near the cruise pier.