Kids and more - make relaxing vacation for adults not possible

Item: Norwegian Epic
Rating: 2
Author: kimbatoast2

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

kimbatoast2

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 48

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 16, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11224

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

See my notes below. Rarely do I leave reviews on travel but felt this was important based on my initial expectations from traveling many other times on Cruise ships and this being the first experience on Norwegian. My wife and I don't have kids currently and won't probably try the Norwegian line again at this time. I gave it a poor experience based on expectations and the fact we felt like this was a Disney Cruise without the "WOW". The destinations however were wonderful and we got to experience great cultures, food and more during this trip while off the boat.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

food was average and repetitive in the normal dining areas unless you chose one of the restaurants at an additional fee. Other cruise lines we've been on at least rotate food in the normal dining areas

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Decent activities as usual on the cruise ship to keep most involved

Entertainment

3 out of 5

This was very disappointing; there were so many kids under 18 in areas where they shouldn't have been and the "policing" of ages was not done even though the event said adults 18+. As an example, it felt a little unnerving when in the comedy performance meant for adults there were children and language and jokes were used that i would not want my own kids to hear; in the evenings there were "packs" of kids about in places like this without adults so again, we felt uncomfortable when we were in these types of atmospheres that had children

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

This was one of the few cruises we've been on where the staff knew what their tips would be at the end of the cruise so we felt there wasn't any extra effort provided; while they are servicing many, there wasn't the feel that anything was special, almost out of duty as it was their job; being from the US, the expectations of service staff are much higher than if we lived elsewhere in the world due to tipping customs

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

When compared to other cruise lines we've been on, this one was definitely more lackluster than others unfortunately. This was one of the few ships that didn't have a central promenade which made it a little more difficult to navigate through the ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Had an odor to it as if it was stale but overall cabin at least looked clean; a traveling couple with us had a similar cabin and theirs smelled much better for some reason