In the 2011 Berlitz Guide, Hapag-Lloyd’s Europa was yet again only one ship to hit the heights with a five star plus rating.
Indeed, for 11 years in a row, the ship has been voted the best cruise ship in the world.
With such a reputation, we wanted to find out if the ship is worthy of the accolades and what she is really like.
Keith Allan went on board for Cruise International and sailed up the Baltic to St Petersburg for what he hoped would be the cruise of a lifetime to see for himself what makes this ship so special.
Click play below to listen to the Cruise International Podcast
Read our full review of the Europa here
About Cruise International
I read this review with great interest, being one of (very, very) few English people who have cruised on board Europa. Their marketing department has decided that – despite the fact that they fill virtually every cruise with their own people – they would like to attract some English-speaking guests too.
We went in 2009 as a three generation family: Granny, my husband and I, plus our two children, aged 11 & 6 at the time. Granny had a cabin (I’m sorry – they are NOT suites, despite the fact that they are always referred to as such!) for her sole use (at a not-unreasonable supplement) and the rest of us crammed into a Balcony cabin (but at the lowest price entry level – we were given an automatic upgrade).
When you combined the ‘fixed’ exchange rate of GBP/EUR 1.40 with the fact that the children were charged at about £40 per day, the total package (for 5) cost was about the same as travelling Peak with a mass-market operator. Please don’t put off your readers by making them think it is outrageously expensive, because we thought it compared quite well with the mass market.
There are plenty of extras chucked in that the reviewer didn’t mention: beer and soft drinks in your minibar; frequent drinks to match meals (limoncello on Italian day; chilled Vodka with caviar etc); free children’s club with – for us, at least – free bespoke excursions with the children’s club coordinators just for our children.
The children’s club deserves a special mention: the previous week to our cruise there had been 40 German kids on board and some of the elderly Germans (who virtually live on board!) were rather disgruntled. Yes- it’s P&O all over again! Our children enjoyed racing round the bay in Dubrovnik in the huge super-powered RIB with the Captain; a trip in horse and carriage round Palermo; a visit to the Bridge, with photos taken of them at the helm. They were even bought small souvenirs and ice-creams. All at no cost to us.
It was a marvellous experience – too rich and varied to cover in a short posting – but I thought it a pity not to mention at all in your review that the ship DOES welcome English families!