Big ship. Big crowds. Big lines.
Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 95
5 Night Western Caribbean (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 02, 2019
Ship: Norwegian Epic
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
The Epic is a big ship. On this cruise it meant big crowds and long lines everywhere. The first long line was for checking in. The line was triple-wrapped outside before going up stairs into more line mazes through security. While we've had some long lines checking in before, this was by far the longest. Once on the ship we found our next set of long lines: the elevators. We're pretty used to elevators being very popular on cruise ships, but these were always jam packed with people. Often several elevators had to stop and pass before one had enough room to add a person or two. One reason for this was due to two large groups being on the ship, and had meetings on common rooms. Whenever their meetings would end, the elevators would be jam packed for the next 15 minutes or so from their level on the 5th or 6th floor, all the way up to the buffet on 15. The buffets had lines, the bars had lines to get drinks, the guest services desk always seemed to have a line back into the atrium, etc. Strangely enough the places without lines were the entertainment shows. We saw the Epic Beatles, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Burn the Floor in the theatre. Each time the theatre was less than half-full for those shows. The shows were great, but both Priscilla and Burn were played on 2 nights each, which meant looking for other entertainment if one had already seen them. If you need the Internet on a cruise ship, look elsewhere. Norwegian is 10 years behind other cruise lines. I got much better Internet on my 2009 cruise than on this one, and I paid for the top quality package. On the good side, the food was wonderful everywhere. Our room steward was top-notch. Having the complimentary extras such as the unlimited beverage package and the two nights of specialty dining was wonderful. We'll never get the beverage package on our own -- $99 plus another $20 in tip -- I can't imagine drinking that much in a day, even at $20 a beer. We ended up at 3 specialty restaurants and loved them all (Moderno Churrascaria, Cagney's, Sushi). Our balcony was very spacious and very private. The private island Stirrup Cay is like all other cruise line's islands -- it's a great place to spend a day at the beach, or snorkel. They told us to take our IDs, key cards, and money with us to purchase souvenirs from local merchants. Then we go to the island to snorkel, and there are no lockers to put up our valuables. Of course, there were lines galore, from the tenders, to the BBQ buffet, to the bars, to the restrooms, etc. Again, I think this cruise had more passengers than expected due to the groups, which likely had many sleeping 3 to a cabin. But the end result was still lines after lines after lines. Getting off the ship was like a root canal. First we were supposed to be off by 10:00am. In the past, we've been told a time, and usually we are off well before that time. Not this time. At 10:30 we finally get off the ship, but the lines have just started. We wind down to get our luggage, then we get into another long line to go through customs. We finally make it through customs at 11:30. By then people coming for the next cruise are backing up the bag drop/pickup area, so I just carried my bags to the car in the parking garage. I know that larger cruise ships are what the cruise lines are pushing nowadays, but I think I'll stick to the slightly smaller ones in the future.Embarkation
Embarkation was rather slow -- it took about an hour from the time we got in line until we got onto the ship.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food on the Epic was wonderful. Can't say enough about the two specialty restaurants we went to -- the Moderno Churrascaria and Cagney's steakhouse were two of the best dining experiences I've ever had. The Sushi restaurant was delicious, and the sushi chef gave us a great extra roll for our anniversary. O'Sheehans was a neat place to grab a bite that was different than most ships. The buffet was more than acceptable.
We had the drinking package as part of the cruise, which is something we normally don't do. Turns out we still don't drink that much, but it was nice to just get a drink from a bar without a lot of paperwork.
Onboard Activities
The most unusual item on the Epic was bowling on a full-scale lane. $7 a game and shoes, but how often does one ever get a chance to bowl on a ship? No golf activity, putting or otherwise, which is unusual, too. The water slides were fun, even for old fuddy duddies.
The worst part was the on-board Internet. We paid for the best unlimited package, but often the Internet wasn't available. After the 2nd day I was about to cancel it completely, but at least from the 3rd day on it got better, but it still wasn't good. If you like having the Internet on a ship, don't choose this one.
Entertainment
The entertainment was wonderful -- the Epic Beatles were spot on and were great. Priscilla Queen of the Desert was a riot, and Burn the Floor was spectacular. But both Priscilla and Burn played on two nights each, and only to half-full crowds at my showings. I'd like to have seen Cirque Dreams, but one had to pay for dinner to see that show.
Service and Staff
Our room steward was one of the best we've ever had -- got us everything we asked for and more. Wait staff did well for as packed as the ship was. Internet manager couldn't help us get better Internet. O'Sheehan's staff forgot that they seated us, and about the time we were going to complain a manager saw us, yelled something, and then shortly thereafter a waiter showed up.
Ship Quality
The Epic is strange and not well thought out. The strange bathroom setup in the cabins has been beat to death, so I won't add on. Trying to get power for our devices is still awkward, even on these newer ships. The beds were shorter than most -- I'm not tall, and my feet were hanging off the end of the bed. I pulled the bed out from the padded headboard to get more room on the bed, but then trying to walk between the bed and the balcony was difficult.
Because the ship is so big, an elevator is pretty much necessary to get between rooms and the common areas. I don't mind climbing a few sets of stairs, but going up 6 floors to get to the pools and/or the buffet is taxing after a while. And due to the number of passengers because of two large groups (travel agents and paralegals), the ship was at least at full capacity, if not higher (3 to a room, for example). Thus waiting for elevators was worse on this cruise than all others I've been on. And like most all ships, not all elevators were working all the time.
A big complaint is the lack of a walking track around the ship so one can both walk and look out over the ocean. On the 7th floor there was some outside areas, but the view was almost completely blocked by the lifeboats. One side had a so-called "jogging track", which was a circle line going back and forth on one side of the ship.
Other weird things included the lack of ability to walk around certain areas of the ship. On the 7th floor one couldn't stay on the right when walking by the Sushi / Teppenyaki restaurants because the dead-ended.
Cabin / Stateroom
The room itself was fine. In fact, the balcony is quite large due to its location, and has a lot of privacy.
Ship tip
The bed in the room is pushed under the padded headboard, which shortens the length of the bed. If you find your feet are off the end of the bed, pull the bed out a bit to lengthen it.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Port Canaveral, Florida Did not visit port
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas
Private islands are pretty nice to me. Snorkeling was nice, but there aren't any lockers to lock up your money and IDs that we were told to bring with us. Royal Caribbean has lockers....just a hint.
Like everywhere else this trip, the lines for anything were long....for the tender, for the BBQ buffet, for the bar, etc.
I've been to Cozumel numerous times and it is a great place to visit, especially for snorkelers. We did try an excursion to Xel-ha, a place we've been to in the past on trips to Cancun. I'd skip it on a cruise, though -- the 4 hours that were given for the excursion aren't enough. And because of the ferry ride and bus ride there and back, there was no time for any shopping. Best bet is to find a place to snorkel off of Cozumel instead of anything on the mainland when you are cruising.
Disembarkation
Terrible. We were scheduled to get off the ship at 10:00, and got off at 10:30. We didn't get through customs until 11:30. I doubt there was much anyone could do though -- this cruise was just too overcrowded.