Disappointed - Get the same thing on Carnival for much less cost.

Item: Norwegian Epic
Rating: 1.9
Author: Williams0525

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Williams0525

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 16

Overall rating:

1.9 out of 5

Verified Review

10 Night Greek Isles: Santorini Athens & Florence (Rome Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 08, 2024

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 13047

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 months ago

Review summary

These mega-ships are too large to provide the necessary infrastructure to accommodate so many people adequately. We pulled up to Santorini, a very small island, along with 4 other cruise ships in for the day. That's approximately 10 to 15,000 people flooding the island. Little did we know that if you just want to get off the ship and explore the island, you will not be able to tender to the island until everyone who booked an excursion gets off in front of you. We anchored at Santorini at noon and were not able to get off the ship until 4:00 PM. We missed the luxury restaurant reservation we made 6 months in advance, spent two hours on the island, and then spent another two hours walking down a 3000 foot cliff (about 1800 steps), only because the cable car line was about two miles long. It can only carry about 20 people up or down at a time. As I said, there is an infrastructure problem when these mega-ships pull into these small ports. We were extremely disappointed that we did not get to spend the day seeing Santorini. Excursions that I booked through Viator were of higher quality than anything we booked through the cruise line. It's obvious that the cruise industry to mega ships is to heard you around like cattle for as cheap as possible, while you pay out the nose for it. I will not do this again.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

As expected

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Mediocre at best. I can go to restaurants in my town that have better food & drinks for half the price.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Terrible. No one paying attention. No one on the dance floor. No one seemed to be having much fun.

Children's Programs

I don't have kids

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

Stayed on the 13th floor. Every day it was miserable trying to get an elevator down. Again, when you have 4,000 passengers on board, there is obviously not a enough infrastructure to accommodate them.

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Waste of money. Size was no better than a regular balcony room.

Ship tip

Expect to be charged for everything. $10 for someone to bring a bottle of wine to your room is ridiculous. I'm surprised (not really) that they would actually create a line on your receipt for tips when they already charge you $20/day for "gratuities" and also charge you a gratuity every time you order room service.

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