"Epic" Vacation

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 45

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Epic

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 12, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 10019

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

This was my first cruise, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. There definitely wasn't a lack of things to do or places to go on the ship. There were plenty of shows, scheduled activities, clubs, restaurants (many of which were complimentary), and more. As someone who gets motion sickness, I was very happy with the size and stability and had only a few brief moments where I could tell I was on a boat and started to get a bit queasy.

 

I have always heard people say how amazing the food is on cruise ships. However, I must say that, other than the main complimentary dining rooms - Taste, and the Manhattan Room - which I believe have the same exact menu, I was rather unimpressed with the food. The quality of the food at the buffet (Garden Café) let me down every time I went. The dish I got at Shanghai's was pretty mediocre. And all 4 dishes we ordered between our 2 trips to O'sheehan's were awful. I'm not sure if this is their way of trying to force you into the restaurant with an extra cover charge, but I was really disappointed. I can't speak to the extra-cost restaurants as I did not feel like forking out for them, but I sure hope they step up their game if they're going to ask you to pay more.

 

We really chose this cruise for the ports and the price point, and my high recommendation is really only for these reasons. If these aren't terribly important to you or if you can find something similar elsewhere, I would recommend exploring other Mediterranean options.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
See review.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Inside rooms on cruises aren't exciting. It would have been nice to have a private place where we could get some fresh air. But the room itself was as advertised, and the cleaning staff was friendly and kept the room looking great (thanks Victor!).

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5

Cannes, France

3 out of 5
The main drag is right off the port and easy to walk to. Unless you want a tour to explore the surrounding areas, there is no need to book any sort of transfer or tour in Cannes.

Marseille (Provence), France

5 out of 5
We took the bus from the port to the center of town and walked up the street to the main harbor area. They have a fantastic boat tour of the Parc National des Calanques that I highly recommend. The $15 round trip price point for the bus is outrageous given the short trip, but without it, the walk to town would be very far.
Was this review helpful? 45

1 Comment

landshark68    8 years ago

I have to agree. Our first cruise experience was on Epic and we were left feeling underwhelmed. While the entertainment was excellent the food was mediocre at best (I think this was our biggest disappointment as we too had heard wonderful things about cruise ship fare) and the ship layout was terrible (don't get me started on the cabin bathrooms).

Other reviews of this sailing