More Average than Epic

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 46

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Norwegian Epic

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Rome Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 18, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11080

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

We had high hopes for our 7 day Western Med cruise.  First impression:  What is that huge stain on the sofa in the cabin and what will I catch when I sit there? For being only 6 years in service, the ship itself seemed tired and worn and in need of refurbishing.

 

Excursions were mostly good, given the prices we paid.  One bad excursion (Aix & Avignon) due to a terrible tour guide and passengers that ignored return times. Biggest issue with excursions was in-port times of this cruise. We usually had to leave the ship at 7:15 and would return before sailing to next destination by 6-7PM. That meant getting up at 6AM each day to shower, find breakfast, and meet our tour group. Not my idea of a relaxing vacation.  Would have been ecstatic if NCL would have just staggered their arrival/departure times by 2 hours.  An 8 or 9 AM start would have been much nicer for a tour. 

 

Food and shipboard entertainment was fine.  Nothing remarkable, but its a cruise and they have to prepare thousands of meals. 


On board internet systems are a joke - don't count on it. Their system kept deleting our account information almost daily, which meant a trip to stand in line (along with everyone else) for the one guy able to reset internet access for the whole ship. 

 

It was a nice trip - saw amazing sights, but didn't really live up to the "vacation of a lifetime" experience we expected. 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Too exhausted to do much with our early AM excursion schedule. Have been on other cruises with better entertainment options.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Stains on sofa in room. Door latches needed fixed - difficult to enter. Standing water in the shower never got fixed.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
Stains on sofa in room. Door latches needed fixed - difficult to enter. Standing water in the shower never got fixed.

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

3 out of 5
Provide better directions on getting to the ship from train station!

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5

Cannes, France

5 out of 5
Don't even bother with an excursion here. Great beach right next to the pier, along with good cafes and shopping.

Marseille (Provence), France

1 out of 5
Bad tour guide for Aix/Auvignon

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
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4 Comments

marianb54    8 years ago

What cabin number

lauren45    8 years ago

She was just refurbished late last year, this is the first review I've read that says the ship is "worn" 😕 I do feel your frustration with port times, that's not so great. Also, just a tip, if you don't absolutely have to have wifi in order to communicate with family, etc. don't ever waste your money getting it on ANY ship. It's always awful! Sorry you had a mediocre experience!

tromano91    8 years ago

We were on her last October. 1st sailing after her refit. She seemed fine to us. We don't do ships excursions because of extortionate prices but Agee with times being too early. I also agree with the comment above, you can't relax on a European cruise.

deboftheseas    8 years ago

no one goes to Europe to relax, lol

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