Europe - Western Mediterranean Cruise Reviews

Never again in NCL epic 1st if you are trying to celebrate your birthday or anything that you need to blow a candle, you better choose another ship... Its very strange that you cannot blow candle because they are afraid of fire etc, ok fine u the  have point!! but what about those who smoke in the casino?? In the kitchen?? etc.. They even cut the candle wick   without informing us,  we got shock couz we are used to celebrate my son's birthday in a ship this time  we our sooo sooo upset!! Our main purpose for this vacation is to celebrate my son 4rt birtday but at the end we are not happy. Unlike in other ships we've been// our son have always blowed the  candle happily. During his birthday he was sad a bit, but he understood the policy but we parents we're more sad than him.. In this ship we are very very disappointed, the ship is big yes!!! But its very boring! if you just to stay inside the ship.. well Nothing is elegant inside!!! There are lot of staterooms but few public place to hang on.. Some are friendly but some of theme are inpolite. If you want to watch something something special you need to pay too! there are also free but its not really nice. 1 liter of water cost u 7dollars... We also went to restaurants where you pay your food but its also a big disappointment, the foods are not good, Service is very slow worse than a turtle, the girl who took our order is very impolite....its not worthy at all. . i suggest u guys to eat in the buffet or in the free restaurant... I promise u guys the room with balcony is too small, you dont even have a privacy when going to toilet couz u have only a curtains separating bed and shower and toilet.. Well we've been to other norwegian ship (a smaller one) before and its was all perfect, but this ship is nothing compare to other NCL, this Epic is my 9th cruise and im 28 of age and i say its the worst .. i said i will never never go to a big ship like this.!! well guys im sorry if i disppoint some of u , if u already booked and cannot cancel.. well there is no choice but only to ENJOY.

Other cruise lines have better shows and activities, but when I want great food, I choose Celebrity.  Out of my 14 cruises, 3 have been on Celebrity.  On our recent voyage to the Med, we were stunned by the drop in quality of the food and service in the Main Dining Room. I would say our first 5 nights, it was like eating at Denny's.  There were 3 nights of reasonably good food.  The service was equally sad.  We choose traditional seating so that we feel like the waiter gets to know us and we feel special.   That didn't happen on this trip.  It took until night 7 for the staff to remember that two of us don't want ice in our water.  Sounds picky perhaps, but if you don't have that special personalized feel, you might as well do a free style seating and choose your own dinner time.

 

The cabins were fine.  Short on storage space but pleasant.

 

The food in the 14th deck Oceanview Cafe (cafeteria/buffet) was great (for a cafeteria).  

 

The staff was bafflingly uninformed. The guest relations deck couldn't give me a flyer to show which drinks were part of my beverage package. The descriptions of the shore excursions were fairly inaccurate making it hard for our two elderly parents to make a good choice about how much walking would not 

The Konigsdam is a beautiful new ship in the Holland America Line with a few quirks needed to be ironed out as always with a new ship.

The staff is as always accommodating and the food very good with fast service in the Lido.

The library was non existing, but we were told books would be arriving eventually.

This was our fourth cruise on the Seabourn Quest. Just when you don't think it can get any better, it does.  The addition of the Thomas Keller menus has taken the dining to a whole new level.  

 

The food was great, before, for a cruise ship.  Now it's great for anywhere, period. 

 

 

Norwegian is very efficient in processing large number of passengers - they have to because the Epic carries over 5,000. The cabin staterooms were average size but clean and the service was exceptionally good. The highlight were the common areas for dining, entertainment. The food and beverage were average but available almost continuously. The entertainment particularly "Burn the Floor"  featured a world renouned Broadway goup of dancers who were spectacular and taught us how to dance Salsa, Meringe, Line Dance, .... The shore excursions were excellent particularly around the Grand Canary Islands. An enjoyable trip!

16th march in  a mini suit on the NCL Epic was certainly different from the many cruises experienced previously.  FREE STYLE cruising !!!  Better named QUEING STYLE !!!   If you love QUEING you will love this cruise.  Queue to book shows and restaurants, queue to get in when booked and don't be late or your place is reallocated.  Queue for the inadequate lifts (16 for 4000 people)  Queue for the shuttle busses to get out of the ports and sometimes your lucky enough to pay to escape as there is no other passenger access to leave the port.   Interestingly the toilet cubicle in the cabin has a shower cubical glass sliding door offering little privacy and the hand wash basin is actually IN the cabin itself !!!!!!  ALL cabins offer the same lack of privacy.  However the cabin cleanliness was very good and the other saving grace was the Manhattan restaurant.  The senior staff could not do enough to please and also all other staff were helpful and pleasant.  Our experience on the NCL Epic was certainly not "EPIC" and will certainly not be repeated. 

My husband and I are 60 + and this ship was not for us. Too noise, very poor lighting in the stateroom, poorly designed vanity area. Not enough quite seating areas. Felt like a party ship for young adults.

The itinerary was fantastic.

I chose this cruise because 10 other friends had already booked and my elderly mother was desperate to go on a cruise.

The initial signs were not good! The queue to board the ship at Barcelona was monstrous, and it was very difficult for my Mum (elderly and frail) to stand for over an hour waiting to be processed. There appeared to be no fast track system for elderly or disabled guests and, had we taken this cruise later in the year, I doubt my Mother would have been able to stand for an hour in hot temperatures waiting to board. This could have been better organised, with every guest given a boarding slot.

I booked a stateroom on Deck 9 for the duration, and was pleased with the quality of the room but did find it all a bit of a squash (I get more room travelling Commodore Class on a France to UK cross channel ferry!).

I'll start with the moans (which are few). I paid a hefty fee for internet access but most of the time was unable to gain wi-fi access from my cabin, and most of my precious paid minutes were taken up with logging in and off (which could take up to 10 minutes). This was a problem experienced by everyone in my party. The staff member in charge of internet access was often less than helpful, frequently unavailable and (in my opinion) could do with a crash course in providing pleasant customer service.

My only other complaint is about the DJ in the Bliss Lounge. We would turn up for the themed music nights, for example the 1980's night. Everyone was up and dancing and thoroughly enjoying themselves, when abruptly the music was changed to "adult" from 11pm. At this point the dance floor would empty of guests, leaving just the staff to dance on! The DJ seemed to have no empathy with his audience, nor any ability to suit his music to the age of those present. Music requests were simply ignored. The last night "party" in this bar was a complete disappointment & most of us left after 30 minutes, finding the Piano Bar much more agreeable.

On the plus side the voyage was exceedingly good fun, with lots of choices of places to eat and things to see and do. I cannot fault the restaurants, especially Le Bistro, for mass catering the food was of good quality and the restaurant staff were very helpful and friendly. The shows were excellent - so much so that we went to The Cirque performance twice.

We found the advertised excursions somewhat expensive so booked our own trips to Pisa, Pompei independently, at a fraction of the price.

Our own Housekeeping Manageress was outstanding  - brilliant service and always with a smile. 

All in all I would cruise on this ship again IF I were given a guarantee that internet access would not be so awful! This is a good fun cruise, with lots to see and do, and no necessity to dress up to the nines each and every evening - so very relaxing.

The words "jump ship" became a reality when we found ourselves with no other recourse but to leave the Norwegian Epic after only 7 days of an 12 day cruise.  WARNING: DO NOT BOOK ROOM 14118 UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE IF YOU WANT TO SLEEP AT NIGHT. (Unless you are hard of hearing or an extremely HEAVY SLEEPER)  I booked the February 24nd sailing from Barcelona with the itinerary of Morocco and the Canary Islands for myself and my 16 year old son. I had read the varying reviews about the ship but had cruised on NCL's Pearl to Alaska, so felt confident about the carrier and what to expect on board. Sadly I was completely mistaken.  I booked a SPA mini-suite which is an higher category stateroom that provides access to the Spa/Thermal Baths and is located on the spa's 14th floor. Booking through a 3rd party it was not made clear that my son would not be able to use the Spa facility which was part of the Spa Room Package due to his age. I found this out upon embarkation and tried to remedy the situation the first day via Guest Services. Since I had paid a higher price point for this service I inquired whether an exception could be made to allow him in, or if some other type of compensation/benefit could be offered in lieu of him not using the facility. Guest Service indicated they would contact the Miami home office. They did, and the next day I was told there was nothing they could do and I was offered nothing -- not even some type of good will gesture on their part. From this point on things continued to go from bad to worst.  We were assigned room 14118 which is the last stateroom of the hallway. We choose this room using the NCL deck plan. The room is shown to border the SPA with a small dead end hallway. I choose it specifically for its location and for QUIET and SERENITY. What we received was completely the opposite. This room is DIRECTLY NEXT TO A KITCHEN PANTRY/GALLEY. What appears to be a stairwell on the deck plan is actually a 24 hour work area. This is where dishes are washed in the middle of the night at a sink which is DIRECTLY behind the headboard of your stateroom. The first time I heard water being sprayed at 3am I thought that the outside of the ship was being washed.  The noise of a metal door slamming throughout the night, and metal carts and cabinets clanging caused me to call and report this to the guest services. It was only after an officer responded to our complaint did we find out (and see for ourselves) what was on the other side of the wall to our SERENITY SPA MINI SUITE. What I thought could possibly be a stairwell,was a full fledged metal galley kitchen.  We were assured that every action would be taken to keep the noise down and the proper managers would be notified. Yet throughout the night the clanging and banging would begin, with metal carts shifting, heavy metal doors slamming and the dishes and water works going at full speed.  Day Four I called in the middle of the night having now had three miserable sleepless evenings, and we were escorted at 4am to a room on the 11th floor to get some sleep. The next day I spoke with the Assistant Manager of Guest Services, requesting to be moved to another room of an equivalent category. I was told that there were presently no rooms available, and that I would have to wait and see if guests who were checking in at the next port showed up or not. This did not quell my upset or distress. As expected no comparable room became available -- but I was offered a lower category mini-suite floor 11 but with no assurance that I would be reimbursed for the financial difference. This was completely wrong on the part of NCL.  I will say that as a goodwill gesture the Assistant Manager of Guest Relations did offer my son and I a complimentary dinner (with wine). She did what she had the power and ability to do.  Also on evening 5 she provided us with a room to sleep in, while allowing us to keep all our belongings in our original room.  Sadly, my physical and mental state was beyond repair at this point. Sleeping 4 floors down and having to walk the Epic in the morning to return to a room where you paid top dollar but could not even sleep in was just too much. The passing the buck to "Miami" -- to make decisions was a poor excuse for on-board customer service. We truly experienced an Epic Nightmare -- with no way out but GETTING OFF.  The hope of a wonderful vacation, was dashed by day two. The ship had a great deal of fun potential (including some very amazing shows), but when you are sleep deprived and exhausted nothing is really too fun.  There are thousands of people on the ship, and if you do not like crowds it is not the type of cruise you should go on. Stick to a smaller mid size ship. The food was good, although by day four the crowd at the Garden Cafe can become overwhelming. The special lunches (complimentary) that are held in the Maderno restaurant are worth seeking out, firstly because the food was wonderful, and secondly because there are very few people who attend them.  The Teen Club was nice for my son, and the times I did attend the Spa, it was busy but a good getaway from the crowds of ship. Unfortunately 3 of the 8 heated tile beds were out of service.  The seas were quite rocky during some of the nights, and this ship although as big as a large building had quite a bit of movement -- which was very surprising. We have cruised on other ships over half a dozen times in different locations including Alaska, I have never felt such an unstable journey.  By the time our ship docked in Tenerife, and no solution had been found to our our room situation, we decided to dis-embark and salvage our vacation on land. Interestingly enough another couple was at the Guest Service Desk at the same time I was notifying the ship of my departure, and they were doing the same - leaving early - since they could no longer bear the crowds, long queue lines and lack of customer assistance to their concerns.  NCL needs to address the concerns of their on-board passengers promptly and competently and make them feel acknowledged and reassured. When you are on a ship you are a captive audience -- and you are also at the mercy of those you are asking to help you -- there is no where else to go. Unless of course once you are in port -- like some of us...you JUST GET OFF AND GO! Less    

The arrival and the embarkation had indeed a WOW factor. When the transfer bus stopped a butler was waiting for us already, he took care of our luggage and escort us to the special Yacht Club check-in area. A welcome buffet with some nibbles and Prosecco was waiting for us, the check-in formalities were quick and after that another butler escorted us straight to the ship passing all the lines and queues. We spend around 10 minutes in the Concierge area to have our credit card registered and we were escorted to the room. Our luggage was already there. From our arrival at the airport to entering the room we needed only 1h30minutes. Impressive and well done MSC!The arrival and the embarkation had indeed a WOW factor. When the transfer bus stopped a butler was waiting for us already, he took care of our luggage and escort us to the special Yacht Club check-in area. A welcome buffet with some nibbles and Prosecco was waiting for us, the check-in formalities were quick and after that another butler escorted us straight to the ship passing all the lines and queues. We spend around 10 minutes in the Concierge area to have our credit card registered and we were escorted to the room. Our luggage was already there. From our arrival at the airport to entering the room we needed only 1h30minutes. Impressive and well done MSC!

There are 20 bars, including the new Diamond Bar that's one of the quieter venues and two outside pool bars. Others include the Green Sax jazz bar, chic El Dorado piano bar and the large Safari Lounge that hosts smaller shows with a very annoying animation team and has a dance floor. Our favourite place was with no doubts Green Sax with nice deco and good music (especially the mix duo Romanian-Ukrainian); and of course an amazing Romanian bartender, Vlad, who’s cocktails very close to perfection in mixology.

BUT … MSC having a very cosmopolitan crowd on board all the announcements are done in 6 languages…even the safety ones (can you imagine if you speak Japanese you will be the last one to find that the ship is sinking…oops…sounds like Costa Concordia story). The annoying thing is that while you enjoy a lovely cocktail with some good music in the lounge the charm is destroyed by a Chinese man screaming on PA system something that’s sound like a menu in a Chinese Takeaway. Priceless moment(s)!

This is not a ship where the majority of passengers are running to bed before midnight. The main entertainment venue is the 1,600-seat two-story Platinum Theatre on Decks 6 and 7. The emphasis is on visual shows which supposed to appeal to an international audience. The theatre is, once again, like the entire ship impressive and has all the ads on to host amazing shows.

BUT… MSC definitely cut costs in the entertainment department because I never saw such a poor offer in my entire “cruiser career”. The cast, sets and costume are repetitive and the production are just a line-up of well-known songs with no concept or imagination. The dancer were quite good but looking at their performance you can realise the different background and training: ballroom, cabaret, street dance. It was a repetitive performance of how they couldn’t manage to synchronize their movements every night and lift their hands or legs in a random order, for sure not created by the choreographer. As I said the dancing was not so bad. What really made me leave the theatre before the end of the show were the two leading voices…Painful most of the time, far from being a duo when was a need for that, more interested in their stage pose than their vocal performance and managing to kill every song in a very personal and powerful way. Worse than the first pre-pre-pre-pre selection for XFactor in Margate! I wonder if MSC found that Italians invented big lavish TV entertainment on Canale5 or they host every year the high quality Festival San Remo ?

MSC Voyagers Club

Is the scheme for frequent travellers on board of MSC ships. All cruise lines offer a series of benefits depending the level that you have in the framework. MSC made a step forward, trying to encourage passengers from other lines to try MSC by offering them the equivalent status they have attained in their loyalty club in the MSC Voyagers Club. Genial marketing idea !

BUT…in reality is a little bit different. We are Diamond on Cunard and Platinum on NCL so we got an equivalent Black level on MSC. A statement from the line said: "As with the previous MSC Club, members qualify for a whole range of benefits and extras which increase as they rise up the membership tiers. Gold and Black members will now receive additional tier benefits as standard. The only benefits that you will get is a Welcome back cocktail, Complimentary basket of fresh fruit in cabin, Complimentary MSC Voyagers club photo, Complimentary speciality restaurant dinner (no beverages), MSC Voyagers Club black party, MSC Voyagers Club chocolate ship, Complimentary dancing class sounds more like budget scheme the a loyalty one. And don’t expect to get all of this without asking. In two weeks we manage to get the party invitation, the chocolate ships and the free dinners. Actually, quite sad, the person who supposed to be your Voyagers Club host and the one who can make you to book another cruise with MSC, the Cruise Consultant, was the rudest and unprofessional person on board. When we try to speak with Melanie about another booking she push her hand in our faces and shout at us to wait because she was busy! If she’s working on commission for sure she lost a lot and she needs some training in customer service. And reading the online reviews the changes in their benefits for Voyagers Club members is not very popular.

Booked this cruise for a holiday family vacation. Booked everything from the actual cruise, to flights, airport transportation, and shore excursions through Norwegian. Needless to say that this was not an inexpensive vacation. 

 

When we arrived at Barcelona the airline did not bring four of six luggages from Miami. Although, it was the airline who did not physically place the luggages on the plane, I did no business with the airline and Norwegian should have more control of making sure luggages get to the city of port. Four people boarded the cruise chip with no clothes.

 

When we went to guest services, they refused to take any responsibility and offered $200 onboard credit. $200 for four people/ 3 room reservations. We had no other choice but to purchase clothes at the gift shop. As if the fact that they carry no real variety of clothes, any decent sweaters for the cold, and no undergarments, a shirt was approx. $80 and pants no less than $120. Norwegian refused to give us anything other than $200 onboard credit for the entire cruise for four people without luggage. 

 

When I asked what the policy was for lost luggage and onboard credit, they said it was $200 per room/reservation. When I explained that we had 3 staterooms, Aminta, the guest services manager, said that she would have to get back to me. After chasing for her, she said we were not applicable because we had only made 1 bag claim (well, of course why complicate things and make 1 instead of 4). 

 

I had to cancel shore excursions because my grandfather did not receive his medication and could not walk anywhere due to heart problems. In addition, he was feeling short of breath and we had to visit the medical center on board. After explaining the situation, they still charged us with the consultation and cost of medication. 

I spent more time at the guest services desk than anywhere else on the cruise. The staff did not seem to make our serious luggage problem a priority. We had to check in regularly to make sure they would reach out to the airline/airport to check on the status of our luggages. 

 

After four days without any clothing, we received our luggages to find out one was still missing. I called Tamera De Beer, one of the guest services coordinator, to find out Norwegian had been giving the airport/airline the wrong information about the last luggage. One person did not have luggage all cruise long because of the incompetence of the Norwegian's staff. 

I should have listened to the other reviewers who gave this cruise mediocre reviews but unfortunately this was the only cruise with dates that would fit our schedule. We boarded in Barcelona for a one week cruise to Marseille, Genoa, Civitavecchia, Palermo and Malta.  We booked our own excursions through Viator which were great- electric biking in Marseille and a private tour with Domenico in Rome and explored the other ports on our own since I had read that the cruise excursion packages were not very good.  It was nice to wake up to a new port each morning.  However the entertainment on the boat was very limited as was the swimming and non existent multi-purpose/basketball court that I had read in the cruise description, plus the two lane bowling alley was a miniature of a real one.  On top of that, the food and service at the sit down dinners were horrible.  By the second night, everyone opted to do the buffet, not that the food was better but that we can just eat and be done with it.  It was not an enjoyable dining experience that you would look forward to, unlike on other cruises that we have gone on. We ended up doing three nights at the specialty restaurants, two at Galaxy and one a Italia.  The food and service were better but at a premium. The one unexpected bonus from the trip were the photo portraits that were taken.  We got many wonderful family and individual photos taken by professional photographers and the prices were beautiful and very reasonably priced.  We bought 25 and they gave you a special price of $199 for all of them which included the photos and the digital files.  Overall the cruise was fine but I would not recommend MSC if you can find another cruise line.

We took the Epic for the first time and was wowed by it.  We got a balcony room and the room steward was fantastic.  We also got the free drink package (minus the tips of course) and the 5 specialty dinner package.  I was able to try different drinks that I never knew existed.  I have been on 14 cruises, never Norwegian, and will never go back to anything but Norwegian.  The ship was beautiful, the entertainment was phenomenal and the food was great.  Met so many nice people there too.  We are from the US and this left out of Barcelona, so we were on the ship mostly with Europeans and have made some lifelong friends for sure.  Can't wait for the next cruise..  Oh, and in Rome, we got to see the Pope.  Very close to him and got some good pics.. Loved Barcelona as well and will go back there too.  

 

Is not just a metaphor is a reality.

I just come back from a 17 days “back to back” cruise on Norwegian EPIC and I realised, once again, that EPIC and in general Norwegian Cruise Line is like marmite for breakfast: you love it or you hate it! Norwegian Epic is big, brassy, bold and ballsy…and I love it!

But let’s take it step by step

 

 

 

Accommodation

If Epic stands out in one particular area, it's in its cabin design. From its funky "new wave" staterooms and its wildly popular solo Studios to the fact that every outside cabin has a balcony (an industry first), there's a lot to admire and question on the ship.

We had a Haven 2 bedroom Villa – cabin 17024. Whoever had the idea of building The Haven deserves a big hug! The Haven complex, the largest "ship-within-a-ship”, nestles atop the ship on Decks 16 and 17, the space also includes a private pool, two whirlpools, a gym, sun deck and the posh Epic Club restaurant. The 60 accommodations include 46 Family Villas, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and separate living and dining areas (up to 506 square feet); eight Deluxe Owner's Suites, with king-size beds, floor-to-ceiling windows and his-and-her powder areas (up to 852 square feet); and six Courtyard Penthouses, with queen-size beds, separate living and dining areas and a luxury bath (up to 322 square feet).

 

 

When we board the ship EPIC just got a make-over in the dry dock of Cadiz. Not a 100% successful one but you can feel it all around the ship. The Concierge area, Epic Lounge and Epic Club lost their heavy kitschy, purple velvety ambiance and now look modern and fresh with an understated elegance. Even the room had been touched by this changes and looks more elegant and modern. Of course the only slip on-board Norwegian Epic is the attention to details: a vanity mirror disconnected and left on the table with the cable hanging next to a hole in the vanity table, a smoke detector (safety please!) covered with tapes due to the loss of some screws to fix it on the ceiling, couple of doors not properly fixed and making a constant subliminal noise when the ship was moving. But at the end of the day the “little” Villa is a lovely space to spend your vacation and I love it.

The only thumb’s-down for our cabin was the location: 17 Deck just opposite the Crew Access Door. A lot of banging and noise even if we mentioned that to our concierge. But as the noise was mainly in the spare room used during the voyage only as a laptop and storage room we survived 17 day with no problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The service in Haven is exactly what you expect from a Premium Cabin; an excellent butler and steward, always there without being too much in to your face ready to assist with whatever you need: from laundry to organising a private party in your own private space. Lots of genuine smiles and polite conversation even if the guests in Haven are not all the time “Premium Guests” and the feeling of “new money-bad manners” is quite common on NCL. The Concierge, located in the heart of Haven assist us with everything we needed from bookings and cancellations of restaurants and land tours to dealing with day by day issues even if the results were not all the time the expected ones. Monica, our Concierge was great, especially when she was dealing with stupid requests from “posh guests” travelling with low-cost airlines

 

 

The space in Haven is more than generous: a private gym and spa-like area with sauna, steam room and hot tubs, an elegant modern decorated lounge, a nice partially open terrace for lunch and snacks, the lovely elegant courtyard with a not too big not too small pool, a private sun deck and of course one of my favourite spots – The Posh Beach Club. Pity that due to complaints from guests on 17 Deck the bar was closing at 7.00PM, but we were located under the Posh Club and we understand perfectly why.

 

 

Dinning

NCL pioneered the freestyle dining concept (that is, eat whenever you want with whomever you want and wherever you want), and it's taken it to a new level on Epic. The LCD touch screens around the ship display information including deck plans and which dining rooms were the most crowded.  (Far from ideal in a Norovirus situation). Whereas most mega-ships feature a massive, swanky dining hall where strangers mingle at large tables under glistening chandeliers, Epic goes another route. Booking the speciality restaurants is advisable. If there is a queue for the main dining rooms you are given a pager. These normally go off within 10-15 minutes regardless of the staff telling you there will be a half an hour wait.

We didn’t used the main dining rooms but is a choice between Taste, set in a cool space at the bottom of the ship's main atrium and the Manhattan Room, an Art-Deco space with a two-deck window overlooking the ship's wake, and a bandstand and dance floor.

 

 

I prefer to have my lunches and dinner in other venues, initially paid restaurants but unfortunately now, as an incentive for new bookings, included in dinning packages:

Le Bistro - Contrary to the name, Le Bistro is not a bistro. In France, a bistro is a low end dining venue where the patrons eat whatever the cook has decided to make that day. Le Bistro is just the opposite. It is an upscale fine dining venue where the guests select from a menu of items prepared in the French style. The rooms are done in a charming Second Empire style with copies of French Impressionist paintings on the. The food offerings are a selection of French dishes that appeal to a broad audience. Before the dinning package Le Bistro has as a main element in his the formula the intimacy. To maintain its charm, Le Bistro requires a relatively small room, not a cavernous hall. Thus, while most things on Norwegian Epic are done to a grand scale, Le Bistro remains a comparatively small room. The place used to be my favourite restaurant on Epic. After Norwegian introduced the dinning package the standards dropped dramatically. A long wait for the food to arrive, more waiters who don’t know the menu like before, a kind of rushed service to create space for the next bookings, and even the quality of the food was not the same. The duck and the lamb needed to be sent back to the kitchen being too cold, but the escargots and the bouillabaisse were charming and spot-on and manage to balance the culinary experience of that night. However after 2 quite disappointing experience I decided to limit my booking in Le Bistro for 2/week.

 

 

Cagney’s - a classic dark, woody steakhouse with an amazing menu and service. Cagney’s menu selections begin with starters such as shrimp cocktail or oysters, soups and salads including lobster bisque and Caesar salad, mains of 10oz New York Strip steaks, Salmon Oscar or vegetarian saffron casserole amongst other dishes with the option of 6oz lobster tails, sides ranging from baked potatoes to steamed asparagus and fries with white truffle oil and parmesan cheese and desserts including raspberry crème brûlée and warm espresso chocolate brownies served with macadamia ice cream. Always during those 17 days Cagney’s was the best choice for dinning.

Two words: Go hungry. The Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes appetizer was a hit at our table! The crab cakes were soft, creamy and warm. The perfect combination for crab cakes. I can confirm that Cagney’ uses ‘Premium Angus’ steak which is of a higher quality that the steak used in the ships other restaurants. Not only are the steaks amazing, the sides are spectacular as well. The signature Chagney's fries are dressed to impress in truffle oil and parmesan cheese. They won't disappoint. The creamy corn is also one of our favourites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moderno Churrascaria - South American-style steakhouse where servers keep bringing slices of grilled meats to you until you pop (or tell them to stop).Is an all-you-can-eat meat fest. Again due to the dinning package the ritual was change and now the different types of meat arrive in a quite chaotic way but the taste is unbeatable. The restaurant serves succulent skewers of barbecued meats which are carved tableside. Guests control how much they want with their green and red card, green means the carving continues and red is shown to indicate when guests are full. The signature cuts of beef, lamb, pork and chicken are served along with rice, black beans, mashed potatoes and sweet fried bananas on the side, a wide selection of salads, Brazilian cheese bread and desserts including coconut flan, papaya crème and mango rice pudding. My favourites: Ceviche from the salad Bar, Picana and Garlic Beef. A big plus for the restaurant this time was the charming Maître D’ Mihaela who control the entire venue with a massive genuine smile and made us return more than we expected in Moderno

 

 

 

 

La Cucina - is Norwegian Cruise Line's Italian specialty restaurant and on Norwegian Epic, the concept has been enhanced to become a much more substantial, located in the front of the ship overlooking the bow. There are large picture windows both to the front and to port and starboard. Since the restaurant is high on the ship's superstructure, the views from these windows are panoramic. While there has been an overall upgrade to the menu, popular favourites remain. The fried calamari was again fresh. It was lightly breaded, tender and not at all rubbery. La Cucina's entrees now include a rib eye steak prepared with garlic butter. This was perfectly prepared - - tender and flavourful. For dessert, I had chocolate ice cream with an espresso sauce. The ice cream provides refreshment while the espresso provides zest.

 

 

The Epic Club - Epic's first class dining room. Located within the precincts of the luxurious Haven section of the ship, it is open exclusively to guests staying in the suites that make up The Haven. And if you want you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Epic Club. The Epic Club is indeed a club and the guests in the Haven “all come to know one another.” Thus, the atmosphere in the Epic Club is enhanced, not only by the intimate size of the room but by familiarity with your dining companions and the 5 stars Maître D’ Diana who was always the perfect host. The cooking here also resembles a specialty restaurant. Each item is prepared ala minute. Moreover, the use of spices and the care in preparation makes this a gourmet experience. Because of the speciality restaurants on board we didn’t use Epic Club too often but one of favourites was the butternut squash soup, which contained pieces of duck to balance the flavour of the vegetables. The Black Angus strip steak on the lunch menu is a straight forward dish. It is not the best cut of beef but through the use of pepper and other spices, the Epic chefs render it quite flavourful.

 

 

 

 

We didn’t missed again the amazing The SVDEKA Ice Bar with its 8 degrees below zero temperature and features ice sculptures and furniture carved out of ice. Wearing our poncho and drinking the included s two cocktails served in an ice glass we enjoy it so much and went back couple of times. My favourite cocktails: Cobalt Blues and Nordic Apple .

 

 

 

 

Entertainment

I don't hesitate to say that Norwegian Epic offers the best entertainment at sea today. NCL has been in my top for entertainment form the beginning. With Epic, NCL sets the bar to a new height, industry-wide

Epic Theatre now hosts the double Tony Award winning (for costume design) musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Based on the flamboyant comedy movie, this colourful extravaganza features over 500 dazzling outfits, including 200 headdresses and an array of feel-good dance floor hits. I saw the show 3 times in 17 days and I will go back again and again. I didn’t have the feeling for one second that I was watching a cruise ship show…it was 100% West End or Broadway. Burn The Floor, the second main show on Epic featuring 14 dancers, a live band and two singers and brings their Ballroom Blitz show to the Epic with sizzling and steamy dance routines taken straight from their hit Broadway show.

 

 

 

 

The Cavern Club invokes the spirit of the iconic Liverpool nightspot made famous as the venue for The Beatles early shows. Moodily-lit with plenty of red brick, it makes a good stab at recreating the atmosphere of the 1960s club, though some modern decorative touches do break the spell. One of the bartender told me that the venue is designed in partnership with the owners of the real 57-year-old club.

Bliss Ultra Lounge suffered a make-over during the last dry dock and now looks a little bit less glitzy, more modern and more inspiring. Great DJs feeling the vibe and knowing the audience when they were choosing the music and good cocktails even if the service was quite slow – again a consequence of free drinking package and shortage of the crew. I miss the cages but I was happy to see the old horse at the entrance retired.

 

 

 

 

The main feature of the Pool Deck is the Aqua Park with its ‘Epic Plunge’: the only tube slide with a bowl slide and a 200-foot long tube. The Aqua Park also includes two main pools five hot tubs, a wading pool and a kid’s pool that features whimsical sculptures, water sprays and a slide.  Behind the twin funnels are two rock climbing wall. Even if the weather wasn’t great we couldn’t miss the chance to jump on the slides….AMAZING!

 

 

Even if for the general concept of entertainment Epic got a massive thumb's up for this cruise I still need to give a thumb's down for the Cruise Director and his team. A massive obsession for line dancing: anywhere, everywhere, anytime and doesn’t matter the music! Same steps and same screaming with an Assistant Cruise Director, Nacho, desperate for a promotion.  This “get involved” of animators not guests destroyed the genial idea of themed parties: White Hot, Night Out, Fabba. Instead of listen and dancing on ABBA music (great for the gay crowd on this cruise) we were locked as spectators on a boring amateur-ish dance routine of Nacho&Co. When finally the line dancing finished and we were ready to Fabba party the music change and the DJ returned to his normal playlist. Do something about that NCL: you have genial concepts but …explain the concept to cruise Director team…in details!

 

 

 

 

Another thumb's down: SHORE EXCURSION Department. I am not a big fan of excursions booked on board and normally I want to organise my private exploration sessions. This time I put everything in the hands of Epic Shore Excursion Department. BIG MISTAKE ! The only few port-talks were boring and un-professional done, the logistic of each trips chaotic and the customer service of the ShoreEx Manager was … inexistent. When trying to give some feedback after one experience the answer was: “too busy to speak with guests” and 25% discount “if they are not happy”. And once again, our amazing concierge Monica has to deal with the rudeness of the ShoreEx Manager and cover the damage. Some training is needed in this Department for sure.

In my opinion ‘freestyle’ matches the tastes of the modern passenger better than the traditional inflexible system: ‘two sittings’ for diner followed by a main show.  However ‘freestyle’ is not perfect and restaurants can become crowded at peak times and queues can form.   Ideally popular shows need to be booked and entertainment options can clash.  Some traditionalists may simply not warm to ‘Freestyle’. Especially when you meet shorts during dinner, white socks in sandals or somebody taking his tie off after 5 minutes at Captain’s Cocktail Party.

Epic has all the advantages and disadvantages of a big ship. For example the corridors are endless and the stair cases go on forever, so Epic may not be an ideal ship for those passengers with mobility problems.  Epic can feel very busy at times and the pool deck was often crowded.

 

 

So how to sum up a ship called Epic? She has her good sides, and she has her not-so-good sides and with upgrades to entertainment, activities, and the lovely haven, she'd probably have been met with near-universal praise aside from those little slips to Carnival’s style.

I am not afraid to say that I like EPIC and I like NCL. The company is, in my mind, the most mainstream of today's cruise lines. I mean that in a good way. They're centrists, offering a huge swath of people a chance for a fun, social vacation at a decent price. Accessing some of Epic's better activities will require you to plan ahead, and in a few cases will cost extra. But you won't break the bank, and you sure will get a lot of wow for your pounds.

I realised, once again, that EPIC and in general Norwegian Cruise Line is like marmite for breakfast: you love it or you hate it! Norwegian Epic is big, brassy, bold and ballsy…and I love it!

So what about another cruise on board of Norwegian Epic?! Done….and booked for February 24 2016.

EPIC here we come!

We had short 4 day trip. Loading and unloading the boat was uneventful.  Food and service was adequate as it was one of the last cruises of the year the staff they may have been a little bit on auto-pilot.  Nothing bad just not overtly enthusiastic for the majority of the employees we had contact with.  The entertainment was outstanding.

Even before I picked this cruise I was confused by conflicting ratings on same ship.  AFTER being on this ship - there is NO WAY a customer really could have taken it and one starred it, or claimed "staff was rude" so here is a REAL review and I stayed in cabin 13210 and my REAL NAME is here!  Now I never tried being drunk or rude to any hard working staff--so it is very possible they can be rude.  I never approached staff as if they were my servant and owed me total happiness.

 

I traveled the on the Norwegian Epic  for Thanksgiving 2015 which was touring the Mediterranean Barcelona to Barcelona.  I picked the Norwegian Epic  because after hours of reading reviews I saw Norwegian and Celebrity to be the best overall rated ships as well as with less kids during that time of year, and I picked a time it would not be so hot there.  I was correct to do both.  I am a bestselling author and have traveled the world-so I am doing a serious great review that ship [the Norwegian Epic] deserves. 

 

I was timid at first because I could not understand why the same ship and sail dates just returning-would have a huge disparity of reviews, ranging from one star to five star?  How is that possible to be on the same ship and port of call and one traveler be thrilled and another miserable-or just "not happy?" or even just three star it.  Well, after being on this ship I discovered one huge reason is happy people do not tend to find the time to do a review but unhappy people sure do make the time.

 

After reading a multiple of reviews most unhappiness was related to their actual room choice.  Such as they may not have understood "partial view" meant view of a lifeboat.  Buffet food seemed to come in second and I noticed those leaving multi star reviews were not using the buffet everyday--and most reviews I was reading was the early days of this new ship where even the staff was trying to adapt. 

 

So I picked a port intensive cruise JUST in case I was not happy with the ship.  But the most important thing I did was book a room that in and of itself had great reviews.  Example, not near the children's center or not right under a bar.  You really can check out reviews for the actual rooms these days.  I picked cabin 13210 Norwegian Epic that was toward the back of the ship, had great reviews each time from former occupants and was just under the wonderful spa.  I also made sure to just buy the $120 Spa pass which allowed me access during normal hours.  So I would just leave the spa in my robe and go down one elevator flight to my room.  I never had to change there.

 

So the Mandara Spa pass was another great decision because their spa is very clean and lovely.  They have waterfalls so powerful they alone can massage your neck and I assume the power comes from the sheer power of the Epic engine system.  ***They only issue 120 passes so order yours on line BEFORE YOU GO.  I hit the spa every day and they provided hair caps as not to ruin the "hair."

 

And no, I did not book a cruise with the primary goal of pigging out at some buffet.  I just lost a lover to cancer and wanted to get OUT of the house and not suffer my first holiday alone.  This trip SURE did that and I learned so much!  Now with the room issue, buffet sentiments and Spa pass out of the way-let me tell you about this trip and this boat.

 

CABIN 13210 ROOM REVIEW

 

My bed was SO comfortable it was unreal. Former reviews had me thinking I better take a blow up pool float as to avoid some hard bed.  NONE of that was true.  At least now.  And there was ZERO scent coming from bathroom - so I found none of that to be true but brought essential oils just in case.  Essential oils will float to surface and block any undesirable scents.  Save that trick for Carnival.

 

I picked Norwegian Epic Cabin 13210 because it had a bath tub.  I am not a shower person and it was amazing that few knew which cabins had a bath tub-including my travel agent. I had a mini suite and I was able to get 30% off the double occupancy as a single.  So, no singles are not quarantined to the lower cabins unless they want to be.  And EVERY single I ran into liked their rooms below! And these were lawyers, doctors and so on.

 

My Cabin was impeccably clean and my steward just so wonderful.  His name was "Roady" and he created penguins, bunnies and so on-with towels to surprise me each day.  I tipped him 50 Euros on day one because I recognized THAT would be my closest most important ally and relationship on the ship.  And I was correct.  The first day is wild so ask your fridge but UN-stocked the next day of your cruise.  Meaning items you do not want to be charged for taking up space in your fridge.  I think room service does that-any department answers their phone right away.  And they know your name.

 

I had ordered several cases of bottled water to be delivered before I even boarded the ship-four in fact, ($70) I could have gotten by with just two.  But water is the second most important thing to your health.  Thank heavens I do not drink alcohol because the beverage package can upset some.  This served me well.  I think with the beverage package people think they can drink until they drop.  

 

I also ordered an orchid flower arrangement that lasted the entire trip and was lovely to gaze upon.  They last so long I gave them to my steward as I left-as well as the extra bottled water.  The water, Spa pass, and flowers were nothing compared to the overall price of my trip.

 

The other thing I heard a lot about is the bathrooms are so thin you can hear your partners every move,  Well, you can run sink or bath water for "white noise."  Otherwise I found it very well laid out and no, I would not be sharing a room with someone I was not in love with-so maybe the great surprise comes when two people go who are NOT into "seeing" each other.  I saw enough curtains to deal with that issue-so this may have been an old issue.

 

So the room was nice in every way and I cannot find any fault with the ship in general.  There was so much to do, I could not possibly do everything.  The balcony was lovely and I spent a lot of time out there.

 

DINING

 

I only did the Garden Cafe for breakfast and that is to the front of the ship-and they offer a very nice array of poached eggs, eggs Benedict, museili, croissants, honey and my favorite-a corned beef hash that was "diced" with rosemary and not smooshy.  So breakfast is a large array at that garden cafe,  From the Garden cafe you can see the ocean-or, in this case, the Mediterranean Sea.    You do have to work your way around to get all the goods, it is a huge Cafe.

 

Tenanyuaki was my favorite and the healthiest meal I had on the entire trip.  That $20 meal would cost $40++ per person on land. And I met some great people.  Even in the "Spa" I met some great people.  I also ate at Cagney's and "Taste" and they were wonderful.  For a basic great hamburger I went to O'Sheehans pub.  I also ordered a beautiful prime rib from the pub the night before we disembarked and it was no charge.  There is a cool bowling alley right along side of O'Sheehans pub.

 

 

INTERNET PACKAGE

 

I picked 250 minutes but next time I will just pick the dining package if I get to pick a free feature.  This is because I really wanted unlimited and that was $29 a day-BUT for my work--it is a must.  Reception was not that bad and my cell phone allowed free texting and WIFI so I was more than covered there.  

 

BOARDING AND DE BOARDING 

 

Was no big deal and the staff made it fun each time.  I think it depends on how full the ship is and I am guessing my ship was half full.

 

CASINO

 

This is where I had the most fun and could secure the least information on the Internet before I went on the Norwegian Epic.  The slots are a LOT of fun and I actually left ahead by $242 even using the penny machines.  There are many, many different type of slot machines.  Black Jack I left ahead $602 because I know HOW to play Black Jack.  

 

The Norwegian Epic Casino is large and NO it is not full of smokers.  The Epic limits smokers to a certain room-so just do not try to be in that room.  I made some good friends in the Casino because we seemed to be creaming the dealer. 

 

SANITATION

 

Automatic hand sanitizers were everywhere and I never saw one person sick on the ship except myself and saw the ships Doctor.  Yes, the ship has a Doctor and they run about $149 USD plus any meds they may have that you need.  I had forgot medication at home so they were able to provide it. 

 

 

OVERALL

 

Norwegian Epic is a beautiful ship and I will aim to only cruise Norwegian from now on.  Pricing and check out was MORE than fair.  I did not have a lot of fees except fees I knew about like $10 every time I wanted cookies and milk brought to my room at midnight-which seemed to be every night.   We did go through a few stormy nights at first and the cookies and milk did the trick.  So they do not charge for the food - just the delivery of it.  And they are FAST!  One night I had pizza delivered. 

 

The Norwegian Epic has many departments and each and every department was working at optimal performance.  Never once was anyone mean or failing to TRY to accommodate me.  They bent over backwards to make people happy and I recognize they probably miss their own families also, so that your family can make great memories.   

This was our second cruise (first was to Caribbean).  After we had made our reservations, we were slightly apprehensive from reading a number of negative reviews , but as is often the case, nearly all the negatives were largely unfounded.  Prior to boarding, we stayed two nights at the Hotel Mondial (a Best Western; booked through Delta Skymiles), a great little place close to the train station and the Metro, and had a chance to tour Rome.  On the cruise, we generally had dinner in the Manhattan Room.  The meals and selection were excellent, obviating the need for paying extra to dine in (and pay extra for) the specialty restaurants.  We booked two shore excursions (Florence-Pisa and Pompeii-Almafi Coast) through the Delta Skymiles site - at a significant savings over NCL's prices - and enjoyed each excursion thoroughly.  Both were led by very knowledgeable guides with good busses and drivers.  We would highly recommend this cruise and the shore excursions to anyone wishing to sample Italy, Barcelona, and the Cote d'Azur.

We stayed in a suite in the Haven on the Epic and had an incredible time. it is well worth the extra money to stay in a Haven Suite. The excursions in the Western Mediterranean were great. We have been back a week nd wish we were going again tight now. Just do it.

the night before our cruise, our passport,cash,some credit cards,etc were stolen in Barcelona.  We could not board since we didn't have passport and couldn't get new ones until Monday. We flew from Barcelona to Naples and boarded the ship on the 3rd day. Since our money was stolen ,we went to ask if they would give us cash and charge it to our room account or since we had their credit card,if they would give us a cash advance.They refused to do anything "sorry,nothing we can do"We had to stay on the ship since we had no money for tours ,taxis,food. The day before we returned,a guest at the dinner table told us to go to the casino and they would give us cash against our room. Which they did in 2minutes-no questions-no problems.       Why couldn't the front desk do that or even just tell us about the casino- that we could get money there.??? 

The customer service on this ship is lacking, though the officers try to correct any complaints made.  There are just too many and they don't correct all.  

 

Stateroom- shower always flooded and they never fixed my clothes line so with no where to hang our wet suits, we gave up going to the pool or using the spa thermal package I paid for.  Balcony is so small hard for two people to pass each other without one of us jumping on the bed or couch.  Majority of the English TV movies were all vintage. No English TV shows, the Movie Channel showed the  same movie repeatedly.

 

Entertainment - need to make a reservation and they seem to be all at the same time.  Slept through both Burn the Floor and Priscilla shows and the others were scheduled at the same time as these.

 

Food - main dining room is a hit or miss.  Service slow and they never check if you need anything else.  Especially being Asian, heard the waiter gushing over the other patrons saying he'll take care of them, etc.  Didn't say that to me, and even though he took my order first brought, had to remind him that i still hadn't gotten my beverage when I saw him serving the table next to mine their beverage and first course.

 

Pulled out of the elevator by security to let a white man and his wife in first.  When my friends asked why they said he had a cane, so did I.  I broke my foot the week before the cruise.

 

This cruise will move me into the gold status with NCL, but for the first time ever I didn't buy a certificate to return since I'm not certain I want to.