All in all worth every cent and the 3 years that we had to wait because of covid. I would like to see NCL drop 2 stops and extend the time in Rome and Naples by 2 days. Allow you more time to visit the sites.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
process was speedy, but don't understand why NCL requests that you pick a time as they don't follow it.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Everything in the dining rooms was spotless. The food was definitely better than you would get on Carnival, Cagneys Steak House was superb. O'Sheens was a disappointment, small orders and the staff appeared to be not very knowledgeable. NCL should just close the Chinese restaurant. The food was terrible, service sucked took at least 20 minutes to even ask if wanted anything from the bar and that was after they took our order. The couple next to us order 2 glasses of wine that they never received. As we were being seated the manager went on tirade and just about let out an F bomb until he saw us sitting there. Manager also seemed to have anger management issues, while in the back he grabbed one of his female servers and started yelling at her, he did not realize the doir was opened and my wife could see the whole thing.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
We took the last 2 days and just relaxed. We used the hot tubs once, they could definitely been much hotter than they were. Had no issues with finding lounges to sit on. The bars were always busy, seemed to be the same people taking up the space around them which made it hard to order a drink. Also gave a low score as the adult only section of the ship was closed for supposed maintenance, and besides your cabin there was no place to get away from the kids that were onboard.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We managed to see one show in the theater as everything in said theater had been booked. The Beatles Yellow submarine show was excellent, wanted to see the White Album show but we had to be up early as NCL wanted us off the ship by 7:15 am to catch the shuttle bus to the airport.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Wait staff with the exception of O'Sheehans,and the Chinese restaurant were excellent. Our room steward was exceptional, he made sure that he came to our cabin at least 3x a day to make sure everything was great.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The Epic is old and it definitely shows. Took some getting use to the layout numerous times we got lost going back to our cabin. The ship was very clean, security made sure the guests knew they were on board. A plus for that. All in all very nice ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The cabin was very clean from the time we embarked until we disembarked. But in all honesty the cabin was not worth the extra money we paid. NCL needs to add more advantages to the cabin. Such as early boarding, first shot at reserving shows, more than just 2 free room service deliveries, and maybe one more specialty dining. The other issues were the bed was like sleeping on a concrete slab, it had absolutely no give. And our cabin had the bath tub, it was hard to get in and out of it as it is too damn tall. NCL needs to figure out how to install a step.
Ship tip
Get to the shows you want to see at least an hour before hand if you want a seat.
Spent 2 days, unfortunately we did not get to see what we wanted as there were 2 festivals going on and everything was sold out or the lines were too long to wait in.
The city is very dirty, garbage bags sitting next to empty garbage cans, garbage strewn about. We only stayed long enough for an hour ride on one of the tour busses. Would not get off the ship again if we ever did this sailing in the future.
Rome was excellent, we booked the hop on hop off bus. It took us to pretty much everywhere we wanted to see. Only issue is that the stops are about 5 or more blocks from the locations. Found this little hole in the wall restaurant by the fountain. The food was excellent. If you have never been to Rome prepare yourselves, the drivers there are absolutely crazy nuts.
We booked an excursion with Italy tours, excellent. They took us to Pompeii, which was absolutely something to see. Hard to believe that people back hundreds of years ago could build structures that can stand up to time. They also took us along the Amalfi coast absolutely gorgeous, spent a little over an hour in Soronno. Very busy city, but we did find another hole in the wall restaurant that had the best cannollis
We caught the cities shuttle to Livorno and then jumped on a tour bus to Pisa. Very nice even though the trip took longer than the site seeing. Unfortunately the cities are so spaced out that it is almost too hard to see everything. But like Rome and Naples we are planning on returning some day.
Thank you so much for this insightful review. My husband and I will be sailing in December on NCL for the 1st time (this is like my 10th cruise or more I stopped counting as I've been cruising since 6 years old). We've been wanting to do a Mediterranean cruise but are postponing it. I found one on the Epic for 14 days from Venice to Lisbon so this gives me very good insight. Thanks for sharing!
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