Most expensive & worst vacation

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Hannahmariexoxo

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 4

Overall rating:

2.4 out of 5

7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 23, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 11127

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

I just got back from the 2022 Norwegian Epic Christmas cruise. This was the most expensive & worst vacation I’ve ever been on. They completely booked the ship. But did not have the staff or amenities to keep up with the guests. Embarkation took 4+ hours. They never addressed this or apologized. Instead we got a $10 credit on our account. Which won’t even buy you a nice drink. All we did on ship was wait in lines. The ship is not big enough for the amount of people they booked. Waited for the dining room, the buffet, the public bathrooms on the ship, get on & off the ship at ports, the bar, had to be on stand by for the shows. Being on ship was like being at Sam’s Club the day before Christmas. An absolute nightmare. They changed the show times and rebooked us without checking to see if we were available. Poor communication all around. The food was awful. My husband and I both got sick after having some fishy scallops. The food was bland and the dining room messed up our orders multiple times. When we complained about the food. No one apologized and the manager took no accountability. We had 5 port calls while on this cruise. They changed the times of all aboard and were awful about communicating when they changed the times. The app was useless and did not work. The pools were tiny and crowded. In the adult section of the pool there were only hot tubs. After being in the sun all day there was not where to cool off. Guest services did nothing to mitigate the problems. I have never had such disrespectful service. The staff looked miserable & did not want to be there. Shore Excursions, Box Office and most of the restaurants had horribly short and inconvenient hours. It was hard to get breakfast most days. I blame Norwegian for overbooking and not delivering the service they promised. Do not waste your time or money with this awful cruise line. This was my first cruise and will be my last.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

The lines were 4+ hours long. With no apology or explanation. Horrible service

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Food was bland. Not enough staff or seating. The open times for the buffet and restaurants made no sense. It was hard to get breakfast most days. Sometimes food was cold and left out too long. I got food poisoning from some fishy scallops

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

The ship was completely overbooked and under staffed. All I did was wait in line. All the shows were fully booked on the first night. The pools were small and sad. Horrible programming

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Couldn’t get tickets to any of the shows and the box office was never open.

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Very little for kids and horrible Christmas programs

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

The staff didn’t want to be there even more than me. They were over worked and had no support.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

The ship is dated