Not our favorite ship

Item: Norwegian Epic
Rating: 3.6
Author: dbjernin

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

dbjernin

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 58

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 16, 2020

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8078

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

This is definitely a ship with a younger crowd. It would be fine for some people, but for us it was far too crowded.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Took nearly 2 hours standing in line

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Food was fine but nothing special. Good drinks. Wine list was definitely adjusted to be disadvantageous to those with the Premium Drink Package. Many of the wines were priced at $16 or higher per glass. It was obvious that this was done because the drink package was for drinks and wine $15 and under. Some of the wines that were $16 a glass were less expensive by the bottle than the few that were priced less than $15. I wouldn't say that the "Free" drink package is a scam, but it borders on it. By the time you pay the required gratuity based on a "value" of $99 per day, the drinks are definitely not free.

Spiegel Tent - Cirque Dreams and Dinner

3 out of 5

The dinner was mediocre - you have no choice on what you are going to eat or even how well done the steak is. The dinner was very rushed. Some of the seats we not very good and they put 6 people in a booth that was better suited for 4.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

The stage shows were excellent.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

The waiters were fine, but they definitely were not a friendly and personable as what we have experienced on other cruises. Our room steward did an excellent job and was friendly without being intrusive. Other ship personnel did not seem as friendly as what we have experienced on other cruises.

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

The cabins were very tight and the curved beds made them very short. All of the common areas seemed crowded and noisy. Having over 4000 passengers on a ship that had about the same amount of common area as ships that carry 2000 to 2500 passengers is not a good idea.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin was quite tight on space. We were constantly having to maneuver to get around each other. The TV was directly in front of the bed with make it very difficult to watch from the couch. The curved bed ended up being very short unless you made a concerted effort to sleep as close to the long edge as possible. On the positive side, there is LOTS of storage available in the cabin, the balcony was quite large and the shower was nice.