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Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 51

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Epic

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 24, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 16010

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Our suite was very nice and the service on the Haven deck was superior. The rest of the ship was very full of people, this was a bigger ship with almost 5000 cruisers. Internet service (I purchased unlimited time) was poor. At peak times, there was slow to no connection and twice I tried to use the internet café instead of my phone and had issues with their equipment. I felt there was not enough variety in the entertainment. If you didn't go to a "singing" show, there wasn't much to pick from in the evenings. Food was good, but not over the top, as I had expected. Be aware that shore excursions offered by the ship are MUCH more expensive than the same trips offered by travel agents, shop around and you can save. For example, private drivers for a day ashore were offered at $1000 per person, I was able to purchase a private driver for an entire day for about $100 per person, that is a big difference, also transfers from ship to airport are over priced compared to taxi or private transportation.

I really liked the Haven level and will do that again in the future. We had a two bedroom suite, a floorplan that isn't offered by other cruise line.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We really appreciated the great service of our butler and cabin steward.

Ship tip

I had to exchange US dollars for Euros and there is a service fee to do that at the customer service desk. At the end of the trip, I had Euros left over that I couldn't spend at home, so I traded them for US dollars at the casino (only US money can be used at the casino) and avoided the service fee.

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
Came in early to explore the city, use the hop on/off bus and don't miss the Sagrada Familia basilica.

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
Allow plenty of time if you want to see Pompeii, it was much bigger than i expected.

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5
Our private driver covered alot of ground and handled the crazy traffic. Don't over plan, the Vatican takes half day at best.

Cannes, France

3 out of 5
Did some shopping, especially at the open air market. Took a cooking class that was very interesting, but didn't allow us to do much else.

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

3 out of 5
Only had 4 hours, we took a hop on/off bus tour, but didn't even have time to get off anywhere.
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