Freesailing on the big ship

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

mshines007

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 40

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 04, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9222

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

It was interesting to get to visit the off-shore ports of British Virgin Islands, U S Virgin Islands, and Nassau, Bahamas. This was our first time in this area of the Atlantic Ocean.

We were amazed at the size of the Norwegian Epic ship. It held and estimated 4,000 guests and some 1,200 crew. It looked like a large floating hotel. It functioned much like that also. Imagine that many people moving around, trying to board and disembark, and trying to eat or use the sun deck at the same time. It was an "experience".

Since the cruise was intended for "Freesailing" we were pretty much expected to plan our own activity schedule. The programming seemed oriented towards drinking and gambling on board. Those were not of interest to us, so we did a lot of sun bathing. Shore excursions were primarily beach and/or water activities. Again not our thing, so we did disembark and walk around the port areas to see the territory.

We did have a balcony room and we spent a lot of time on the balcony watching the sea and port areas and adjacent ships. We enjoyed the balcony immensely.

Our room was clean and spacious for the two of us. The Room Steward did a super job keeping our room made up. He was very friendly and helpful.

We did learn one thing during this experience - we would not take another cruise on such a large ship.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Food was excellent. We ate at the Cafe most breakfast and noon meals. Evenings we ate at the Manhattan or Taste and the food was excellent. The service was a bit slow. One evening we visited the O'Sheenan Irish Club and the food there was not so good.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Most entertainment was oriented towards the late night party crowd. Not our cup of tea. We missed what appeared to be some entertaining programs (Beetles, Abba) because they started at 9:30 pm. We did catch a couple of earlier programs and they were good. We splurged one night and went to Circue du Soleil dinner show on board. That was fantastic! You should do this at least once.

Children's Programs

N/A

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

We had a great Room Steward. He was attentive to our needs and kept our room in tip-top shape.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

The ship was clean. The plan for moving people left much to be desired. For 4,000 guests there were 8 fore and 8 aft elevators which were slow. Expect to wait for transportation. Get used to packed elevator cars.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Great room. Fairly good location - near aft elevators. Cafe (open buffet) dining was on 15th level forward - so it was a hike to get there - nearly all the way to the top on the other ends of the ship. Walking on the 15th level was "interesting" in that it was most like a wind tunnel. We eventually started walking the horizontal walk at our level (9) and then going up in the forward elevators which come out in the Cafe resturant. That avoided the wind and outside.

Ports of call

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

3 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

3 out of 5

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

1 out of 5

Great Stirrup Cay had a total power failure while we were enroute there. The ship diverted to Nassau, Bahamas. Nassau port is overrun with vendors wanting to sell you anything and everything. They are agressive and get in your face. Not pleasant.

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