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Norwegian Epic Cruise Review

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 43

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Norwegian Epic

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 13, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8195

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

We really enjoyed this cruise! We got the hang of things pretty quick and would definitely do it again! It was pretty smooth sailing and the only day I got a little sea sick was our 1 at sea day. I took a pill and felt better after resting for a bit.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Check in was simple. I booked the transportation from the airport to the cruise with Norwegian and then did the same for the return trip. The bus brought us right to our ship where check in was simple. We checked our luggage with the crew and after we checked in we were free to start enjoying the ship! Our room was ready right away so we checked out our room first then went up to the pool deck to find some food at the buffet!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Yum!! We literally gained almost 10lbs each! Mornings had omelet bars.. most lunches we were off on excursions but each night in the buffet they themed the food in a different way (Asian food night.. Mexican night etc) and we also enjoyed the various complimentary restaurants as well! Portions in the restaurants weren’t huge so you didn’t feel too stuffed after but got to try lots of different things. I wouldn’t say the food was the best I ever had - they keep things pretty mild to appease many different peoples

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
We enjoyed most of what the ship had to offer! Pool and slides of course.. the adult pool was nice and we lounged there sometimes and my husband watched sports on the big screen they had above that pool. They various shows were good and we enjoyed a magic show, a dance show and dialing pianos. We went to the karaoke bar a couple times but weren’t brave enough to sing. There was also a game room which was stocked with lots of games and tables to play on!

Entertainment

3 out of 5
We saw a magic show which was ‘ok’. He was more funny then magical. And the dance show had good dancers but the show itself didn’t make any sense. We went to the ‘white party’ on the ship which was ok.. it was supposed to be outside but due to wind they moved it inside and you could tell it would’ve been better outside- there was decent songs played by the DJ. We didn’t stay long though.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
For the most part everyone was so nice!! We had 2 servers at 2 different restaurants (Manhattan room and Taste) that just went so above and beyond- they were amazing!! I wish I remembered their names!! One night at the Manhattan room we had a guy server who was probably the worst server of our whole trip.. he basically took our order and never returned!! After 30mim of sitting there and we hadn’t gotten our appetizers yet we finally flagged someone down to help us.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Everything was clean and nice everywhere! I was amazed to see the wait staff totally change the table cloths after each group left the table. I wish the ship was a non-smoking ship. It was hard to walk through the 6th floor and the casino because of the smoke smell. Bathrooms and pretty much everything on the ship seemed well taken care of.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We didn’t have our guy clean everyday because it’s just the 2 of us and we mostly weren’t even in the room but it’s nice that they clean your room in the morning and have a turn down service in the evenings. He did a good job we just didn’t use his service often as our room stayed pretty clean.

Ship tip

Bring your own coffee!! We couldn’t drink the coffee there and next time we’d pack our own and make it in the room with the eo

Ports of call

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
We did an Amalfi coast/Pompei excursion and it was AMAZING!! Amalfi coast was a bucket item place for me to see and I was interested in Pompeii but once we were there I realized you could spend a good half a day there! Very interesting and both places were worth it!

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands

5 out of 5
We didn’t get into port until 1pm and didn’t have to be back on the ship till 7:30pm- although we were back well before that. We got off and didn’t realize you need a shuttle that costs $15/person to take you into the city. You could walk but it would be a LONG walk. The bus drops you right by this old castle thing which we walked to and took great pictures! We floated around the shops and grabbed coffee and then headed back to the ship to go for a swim. No excursion this day either but you don’t really need one.

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5
We started in Pisa and took all the fun pics in front of the tower. Seems like there’s not much in Pisa to do besides see the tower. We saw the original David in Florence.. ate pizza and walked around. All the warnings of pick-pocketers had me very on edge the whole time in Florence though.. I even saw scammers with my own eyes! Just beware!

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5
Omg!! You could literally spend a week in Rome!! We saw the Pantheon, Trevi fountain.. ate pizza and got gelato- the BEST!! Went to the colosseum and ended at the Vatican! I wanted to spend more time in each place but glad I got to see it all.

Cannes, France

5 out of 5
After how on edge I felt in Florence, Cannes was more relaxing and amazingly beautiful! We didn’t book an excursion and I don’t think one is necessary either. You can get off the ship and immediately walk into the little beach city. We ate the BEST French pastries.. had yummy coffee and people watched and spent some time shopping. We loved this more relaxing day.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Easy-peasy. Again I booked through the ship a transportation back to the airport. We kept our luggage with us the night before so we could exit quickly to get on the bus fast since we had an earlier flight back home. The whole thing was pretty organized and we got to the airport with time to spare! We left thinking what a great time we had as this was our first cruise experience..
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