Best itinerary in the Caribbean

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 64

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5
Norwegian Epic

11 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 26, 2020

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11056

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

NCL has improved since last time in January 2019. Their food is better and their employees seem to be happier than in the Dawn in January 2019 (this was our biggest issue last year, employees were very unhappy, management was unprofessional and the service suffered a lot). The fact that NCL charges extra for some of the entertainment it is disappointing. It leaves you with a feeling of being nickel and dimed too much. The itinerary is one of the best in the Caribbean: 11 days, 10 ports and 1 day at sea. We did this itinerary two consecutive years, but now it is no longer available. The itinerary was the only reason we picked NCL in 2019 and 2020, without this itinerary most likely, we will select other cruise line. To similar itinerary, there are better cruise lines than NCL.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Easy, organized and fast

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Main dining (Taste and Manhattan) are really good, except for breakfast in Taste.

Taste

3 out of 5

Very slow for breakfast.

Cagney's Steakhouse

5 out of 5

Excellent food and service

Le Bistro

4 out of 5

Good food, not a great service

The Manhattan Room

5 out of 5

Excellent food and service

O'Sheehans Neighborhood Bar and Grill

5 out of 5

Really good pub food.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5
I am sorry but it does not make sense to charge more money for shows. This is one of my biggest issues with NCL, soon nothing will be complementary

Spice H20

5 out of 5

Excellent venue for evening movies!!

Entertainment

2 out of 5
NCL charge you extra for some of the entertaining on board!!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The rooms are extrange and the layout is not practical. 10 years old ship shows sometime its age.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5
The lay out is awful. I am not sure what they were trying to accomplish.

Ports of call

Kralendijk, Bonaire

5 out of 5

Bridgetown, Barbados

4 out of 5
Best thing to do, go to the beach.

Willemstad, Curacao

5 out of 5

Castries, St. Lucia

5 out of 5
Most beautiful island in the Caribbean.

Oranjestad, Aruba

5 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5

Basseterre, St. Kitts

2 out of 5
Second time in St. Kitts and a little disappointed. It is so dirty!

St. John's, Antigua

4 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
Really bad organization. The elevators capacity is not enough for disembarkation for the amount of passengers carry in this ship.
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3 Comments

cruisereckoning    4 years ago

Glad you enjoyed

Cruiserike0322    4 years ago

Good to read

willwork4cruz    4 years ago

What shows does NCL charge for? I remember there being an intimate dinner show that had a charge but it was more like a specialty restaurant. I certainly went to all the usual type Broadway, comedian, singing, etc. shows found on all ships for free... I never mind if a ship does something new and above the usual that they charge for. If they start charging for the normal stuff I will say something.

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