10th Wedding Anniversary - Puerto Rico to New York City

Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

CoyneBoch

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 8

Helpful Votes: 53

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5

8 Night Eastern Caribbean Reposition (San Juan To New York)

Sail date: April 14, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Epic

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9009

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 3 months ago

Review summary

This was a trip for our 10th anniversary. This was our first NCL cruise. I wanted to experience the party and the all inclusive, cruise at your own pace that NCL offers. I did not like it. The dining options were poor. If you went to the dining room, you had to wait forever to get a table (45+ minutes). Le Bistro (specialty, french) was very good and so was Cagneys (specialty, steakhouse). Every other venue was poorly staffed with mediocre food. The thermal area on this ship was nice, we had a day pass. The cabins are insanely designed, just watch some YouTube videos. We always prepare well for our trips and travel, but I did not like them one bit. The bars were overrun because everyone has the drinks package. It would take 30 minutes sometimes to get waited on for a drink. We hardly used our drink package because of this. Also, everything is nickel and dime with NCL. They sell a base product and push for the upsell everywhere!

Embarkation

2 out of 5

We boarded in Old San Juan. They seemed ill prepared to handle embarkation. It took us about an hour to get into the building while waiting in line baking in the sun. Once we got past security it was very smooth.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The food on this ship was pretty good. The buffet had excellent Indian food. The main dining room was okay but service was slow because 1/3 of service staff was laid weeks prior to our sailing. So they were all overworked. We went to 3 specialty restaurants during the 8 days and they were all great. The only silver lining.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

We really enjoyed the thermal spa. We used it with a day pass one day and basically went from open to close. The white party was also great, lived up to the hype.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

It was good, the biggest disappointment was that they had been offering 2 broadway style shows and just before our sailing NCL cut back to just one per ship. Also any of the games like Deal or No Deal required you to pay to play along!

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

We had a few great experiences and few head scratching moments. Our room steward informed us within 30 minutes of boarding that he would only come to our room once per day because he got double the cabins assigned to him due to layoffs. Our waiter in the MDR that we requested was really spectacular.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

The ship was fairly clean, but the design is awful. The waves concept of the cabin rooms is asinine and whoever came up with it should be fired. The cabin bathrooms and showers are horrible. There is no privacy and the toilet door is angled very poorly.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

We had an enclosed balcony. It was really nice and the size was great. We spent a lot of time in it. The rest of the cabin was poor. The couch and bed were oddly shaped due to the waves in the walls. The cabin bathroom was also poor.