Norwegian Epic ISN'T

Cagney's Steakhouse

Nice ambiance. Steaks were a little under-cooked, and dessert choices weren't impressive, but the steaks were much better than the normal cruise options. Shrimp cocktail was covered in some sauce that made it not nearly as good as we expected.

Ice Bar

There was an ice bar onboard sponsored by Skyy Vodka, and we were interested in going and enjoying a cocktail one night and seeing what an ice bar is like. Then we discovered there was a $25 cover charge. On a ship we had already paid to be on! Each! Never mind.

O'Sheehans Neighborhood Bar and Grill

Terrible service. Here’s a story that perfectly illustrates food service aboard the Epic: My daughter is not a fan of breakfast food, so one day we slept late and decided to get an early lunch. There is one restaurant onboard that is supposed to serve lunch at 11:00 AM – O’Sheehan’s. We went down at about 10:55 AM, stood in line, and put our name in for lunch. We were seated and given breakfast menus, and our waiter came to ask for our drink order. We then told him the drinks we wanted and asked for lunch menus. He looked at us liked we’d grown two heads. (There’s a lot of that judgmental attitude from the crew on this ship!) The waiter told us they were still switching from breakfast to lunch and that it would be a few minutes. We told him that was fine. We noticed other diners around us ordering lunch food, but they were also ordering alcohol. The waiter had to get their alcohol, and that meant he could also get a tip from them when they cashed out. We continued to wait. Finally at 11:25, we ordered lunch from the restaurant that, according to their own materials, had been serving lunch since 11 AM. Our food did not arrive until 11:45! Again, other diners received more attention because their meal included alcohol. My daughter had ordered a burger and wanted mayonnaise on it, but the waiter dropped it off and disappeared. After waiting another 10 minutes, I went to the hostess desk and asked them for mayo. It was a full hour from arrival until we could actually start eating! If you’re prepared for that kind of delay and don’t mind the attitude, or if you’re a drinker, you should be fine on Epic.

Sushi Bar

My daughter enjoyed this venue and went back a second time. I wasn't as impressed. The Miso soup is not good, and that's the simplest thing to make in Japanese cooking. They make the sushi in front of you, and the chefs are charming and pleasant, but I'm not a huge sushi fan to begin with, so I'd avoid it unless you're a hardcore fan.

Le Bistro

The best customer service and staff attentiveness onboard can be found at Le Bistro. The food is French, so it's rich and unusual, and we expected more dressing up since there is a dress code. However, we wore black cocktail dresses and saw one couple where the gentleman wore a white dinner jacket, so it wasn't awful but there were other diners where the women were wearing slacks and men were wearing Hawaiian shirts, so the dress code is really all over the place. Food was cooked as ordered, but some salads were a bit salty.

Spice H20

It's a swimming pool, and it's smaller than my private pool in my backyard. Ten people stood shoulder to shoulder crammed into that tiny pool. No thanks.

Casino

We would have loved to play the slots or maybe a hand or two of Black Jack, but please? Epic allows smoking in the casino, and it smelled like the bottom of an ashtray for the entire trip, so we passed.