I chose this cruise because the ports were amazing. I knew in advance the ship was homely, I was shocked at how poor of shape this ship actually was. I still had hope because of all the wonderful things I had heard of the NCL food. I was misled there, also. The food was terrible, and I'm not a "foodie". It was my first and last time on NCL. There are way too many wonderful cruise line options to ever chance this company again.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Fast check but the process was not completed properly. I was left with wrong name, app that didn't work the entire cruise, and somehow lost all my pre-planned excursions. On day 4 I was receiving notices to complete important information such as emergency contact info.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Food was of poor quality (tasted like bulk frozen food). Buffet was chaotic and food was consistently terrible. Always crowded everywhere. No control over the masses so it is a constant free for all mentality. Staff assigned to direct the masses for anytime dining stood oblivious, as if just eye candy, allowing large amounts of people to poor into the restaurant while others were standing in a line to nowhere! Staff and space were not equipped to handle the mass of humanity they poor onto this ship. Every dining experience is a hurry up and wait and staff just wants to get through it, no personal touch or service in main dining rooms. Push for quick turn arounds.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Too many people and not enough room to enjoy any of the activities. You either have to show up very early or be of the mind to push and shove your way in, the route many people chose. If you are not savvy enough to know to book rapidly for most events as soon as you get on board, then you will most likely miss out on many of the events.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
I gave NCL 2 stars because Burn the Floor was excellent talent. Everything else was average to poor or you just couldn't get in the venue.
Children's Programs
I did not travel with children so I am not familiar with what programs they offered.
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
Aries and Louis, cabin attendants, were amazing. The rest of the staff felt overworked, untrained and had poor customer service skills. They were there to do a task for a paycheck.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
This ship does not deserve even 1 star. NCL should be embarrassed to sail this heap of junk. It has no charm at all. It is a dirty, stale, dark, dingy, cheap floating 2 star casino hotel, you know the depressing smokey stale casinos you find in Parump, NV. The last stop leaving Las Vegas before the person ends up in rehab. Just tacky all around. Unless you have a balcony, you will never see the ocean clearly. The only windows on this dank ship is in the Casinos, bars or if you are lucky will get one of the few in main dining. But if you are a solo traveler don't count on it. They will try to seat you in the least desirable tables. There is no where to go relax on the ship either. All the levels are blocked from looking out. It's like a floating prison. For almost 5,000 people there is really only the bars and restaraunts to go hang out in - always packed. Walking around the ship is like walking through the Atlanta airport at Christmas time. There are only two sets of elevators for 15 floors. I don't need to say much more about that - except how fun it was each time the masses came back to the ship after their excursions. Utter chaos on this floating ugly beast.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
It was as I expected it to be and was adequate. I booked NCL and a studio cabin to try NCL and their solo program. The cabin was fine but they failed in every other aspect of the cruise.
Ship tip
Book only a balcony or above on this ship or your will be claustrophobic and miserable. You will not experience the joy of being on the ocean because there is nowhere on the ship to relax and look out. The few places where you get a glimps of ocean will be packed with people wanting drinks at the bar. I would also recommend you visit Youtube to review Epic's balcony cabin because the bathroom setup is utterly not private. You will not be comfortable with this cabin if you are not comfortable doing everything in front of your cabin partner.
Chaotic, poor control over the masses on board. Luggage in heaps of piles everywhere. Long walk with all your luggage from the ship to transfer bus. It was pooring rain. Very steep and slick gangway. I did OK but any elderly or disabled would have found this to be a nightmare.
i heard recently that if you select an excursion and do not pay for it at check out it could cancel all your excursions. i cannot believe the system would do that if you had paid for some allready...but if you do not pay in full it will cancel everything in your cart. not sure if thats what happened to you? the gym has nice windows to look out and its huge, but the yoga room is very small lol.
Sorry that you have a bad experience. We sailed 5 times on the EPIC and she is just an amazing cruiseship.
Nothing wrong with this ship.
The staterooms are different than the staterooms on the most cruiseships. But that design is great. Sailed 14 times with NCL and we never had a bad experience. Within 2 weeks we sail for the 15-th time with NCL.
Now we are going to explore the fantastic Norwegian VIVA.
Sorry you had to go through that. The Epic should be scuttled. It was awful when we sailed on it last New Years, was bad when we sailed on it over 3 years ago, and sounds even worse now. It made us cancel two upcoming cruises with NCL and bail on them forever.
We have been on the Epic twice and had a wonderful trip. The bathroom is different but worked for us. The design for a couple to get ready at the same time, worked for us.. The sink, toilet, and shower are in separate areas.
Omg it sounds like a floating Alcatraz with a cattle trough for food. Yikes. What a nightmare. And if they treat solo cruisers that poorly I'll stay away from them and stick with Carnival.
I cruised on the Epic, and my only dislike was the cabin design. I was a single cruiser, so was no big deal, but if you are cruising with others, it could be awkward if someone needed to leave or enter while someone was showering or using the toilet. I 100% disagree about open spaces and ability to see anything. The front of ship is all glass in the buffer, and I never had an issue getting a table and I thought the food was great. All you did was complain, and I think you spent so much time looking for what wasnt perfect and found only the negative. For the amount of money spent on a cruise, I would be enjoying every minute, and if something went wrong, which it certainly can, I don't spend the rest of my cruise complaining about it. Its obvious someone told you "no" at some point on the cruise, and you let that be the guide for the rest of cruise, which is a shame and your loss.
I hace to disagree a little with you on The Epic, sure food wasn't the best but entertaining was good at least not boring and disappointed.. Room yes it feels outdated but his refurbishment is in 2025 I believe
We were on the same sailing. You rate Trieste as 5 star; we were in a 3,5 hours line to disembark and missed our flight although we had the transfer with NCL 🙄. Total chaos and unsafe. For us we enjoyed our cruise. But I agree the evening buffet was not good and extremely crowded.
Great itinerary. Appreciate your details. So often people say “it was a horrible experience” with no specific explanations. Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations.
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