Vasco da Gama Review
4.0 / 5.0
0 reviews
Ship was not as it was sold to us.
Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Vasco da Gama
katsjourney
10+ Cruises • Age 50s
Rating by category
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Sail Date: Apr 2019
We chose this cruise because it was a repositioning cruise and the itinerary looked amazing. I normally only give good reviews or just not review at all, if the experience was bad. However, I want people to know about this. Some things you can not make a big deal about, others are unacceptable.
We were sold a bill of goods from the Cruise and Maritime Florida office. We knew the ship was older (originally Holland America - then sold to P&O - and now in the CMV fleet). However, we were told we were boarding a completely refurbished ship. That was not the case at all.
There were plumbing issues throughout. Many toilets overflowing and hot/cold water issues. There were also HVAC issues. Some cabins and public areas were FREEZING and others were HOT. We had to complain 3x before someone even came to look at our cabin. It was meat locker cold. We covered up the A/C vents and kept our balcony door open most of the journey so I did not have to wear layers of winter clothes in my cabin. The thermostats were so ancient, you could not even turn them off.
Cabin Review
Cabin Superior Balcony
See above in the main review. The cabins desperately need updating.
Port Reviews
Phuket
We enjoyed the James Bond Island tour, but we were hoping we could go for a swim and it was not possible.
Kochi (Cochin)
We visited with friends. Kochin is lovely.
Mormugao (Goa)
See my rating above with the accompanying port photo of Goa. I have visited Goa many times and it is one of my favorite places in India. Unfortunately, CMV made the experience so bad for people choosing to go out on their own that many folks told me it was their least favorite stop. Such a shame.
Mumbai (Bombay)
Visited with friends. Mumbai is a lovely city and the port is in a good location for those who wanted to walk on their own.
Mykonos
It was nice to be there in the evening so we could finally enjoy a dinner and evening experience.
Santorini
We LOVE Santorini. However, it was ridiculous that CMV only had us there in the morning. By the time we got a tender and got up the hill, there were 5 other huge cruise ships porting also. The wait for donkeys or cable car was over an hour. And our wait for a CMV tender was over an hour. So we got up the hill, took a couple photos, bought a gyro and had to rush back. Very poor planning on the cruise line's part. We should have had an entire day there.
Athens (Piraeus)
Piraeus does not have much to offer for tourists. Best to go into Athens, but we had already been and did not want to pay to go back.
Malta (Valletta)
Our favorite port on this cruise. It was beautiful. Plus we could actually walk from the ship. One of the few places!
Naples
Naples is just an okay port. We did explore the underground tunnels and that was really cool.
Barcelona
Visited with friends. It is a nice city to walk.
Casablanca
We liked the tour of the mosque. Also one of the few ports we were there in the evening so we had time to enjoy dinner out.
Lisbon
Lisbon was another nice walking city. The port is in a good location.
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