An experience - did not turn out as expected, but had some high points

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean

tracyjoe4748439

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 29

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 22, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11318

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

Ship is OK; food is OK; the stops were very nice particularly if you arrange for your own private tours. Be very aware of cruising during the pandemic with a rule such as the US. that requires a negative test before returning. I tested positive on the second to last day (double vaccnated, double boosted where mask). In spite of the what is written the cruise does little to prevent the spread. Almost no-one wears a mask even with crowding in elevators. They did no contract tracing with me. They did not even consider quaranting any of my traveling party. NCL canceled my flight home, took the refund for itself (according to the airline), NCL said it would use the cost of my trip home toward my flight and book my flight but then refused to do so leaving me to obtain my own flight home and pay for it. And by the way, travel insurance does not pay for the hotel and food while quarantining (or is very limited) and pays nothing for traveling companion (or at least the insurance I had).

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Almost no lines for us; fast; never provided us our embarkation photo

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Food was definitely one edible. One is not going to starve here. However, if these were restaurants where I live, I would never choose to go to them and pay for the food either. The specialty restaurants were a cut better and a great deal when they were free not a good value when you are paying for them. At one, the fish was so bad, I found it inedible. However, there was no problem getting it replaced with something else without any hassle. It seemed most unfortunate that while cruising the Mediterranean there was never any Mediterranean fish or seafood. There were annoying exclusions from the drink package such as fresh juice. All the various supplements seemed like nickeling and diming (but change cents to dollars) given the cost of the cruise.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Trivia games were fun; build a catapult activity was nice

Entertainment

3 out of 5

The shows were OK; not as good as I have experienced on other cruises. The juggler and magician were good but kept asking the audience for applause.

Children's Programs

program canceled and no children

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Our room steward was good too but nothing special. On previous cruises the room steward made animals out of towels and left pieces of good chocolate or chocolate mints on the pillows. Nothing like that here. Main Staff was not that helpful when wife wanted to get head ache medicine one evening. Nothing like that was available for sale and the medical facility was closed. However, the cabin steward was nice enough to find some for us. The fact that if you buy alcohol on shore that they do not allow you to drink it even if you have a drinking package that includes alcohol makes no sense.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Walking and jogging path not good... did not even circle the boat. Large space for exercise room was nice.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Nice.... about the size and comfort would would expect on a large cruise ship

Ship tip

Be very aware of cruising during the pandemic with a rule such as the US. that requires a negative test before returning. I tested positive on the second to last day (double vaccnated, double boosted where mask). In spite of the what is written the cruise does little to prevent the spread. Almost noone wears a mask even with crowding in elevators. They did no contract tracing with me. They did not even consider quaranting any of my traveling party. NCL canceled my flight home, took the refund for itself (according to the airline), said they would use the cost of my trip home toward my flight and book my flight but then refused to do so leaving me to obtain my own flight home and pay for it. And by the way, travel insurance does not pay for the hotel and food while quarantining (or is very limited) and pays nothing for traveling companion (or at least the insurance I had).

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

4 out of 5

Free walking tour

Thumbs Up 0

Ajaccio, Corsica

4 out of 5

Private tour.

Thumbs Up 0

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

Private tour

Thumbs Up 0

NAPLES (POMPEII), ITALY

5 out of 5

Private tour

Thumbs Up 0

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5

Private tour

Thumbs Up 0

Cannes, France

4 out of 5

Private tours

Thumbs Up 0

Palma De Mallorca, Balearic Islands Did not visit port

COVID - quarantining

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Because of COVID positive test, let out and dumped on walk without any direction as to go to transfer or reconnect with rest of party. NCL as mentioned previously cancel return trip and pocketed refund instead of allowing us to reschedule. NCL did provide a transfer. They booked a hotel for us (our credit card) and told us we had a special COVID rate. That was not true it turned out. The used booking.com that anyone could use and we got a better rate at the hotel ourselves after three days.

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