Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ship was overall very clean and crew friendly. It was, however too large for our tastes as the different dining and entertainment venues were quite a walk from our stateroom in the aft of the ship. We felt things could have been a bit more centralized.

The ship was excellent. The check in/check out process very easy and fast. The rooms were specious and new. The fact that they almost all come with balconies is a big plus. The service was great everywhere, rooms were cleaned twice a day, the staff was there when you needed, there were plenty of waiters, greeters, bartenders and others wherever you went. There were a lot of options for entertainment, including excellent circus program and Blue Man show. A huge variety of food choices in buffets and restaurants. Some of the restaurants were accepting "walk in" instead of reservations, which was great. And of course free style atmosphere is the best for vacation. If you want to dress up for dinner you definitely can, but if you don't feel like it, it is perfectly fine too. Some restaurants required long pants, but that was all. The only downside was pools. There are two very tiny ones, and they were always crowded. It was a bit compensated by the water slides, tubs, and variety of sprinklers, but still pools were definitely lacking for the size of the ship.

Beautiful ship however the size compromised the service and quality expect on this new ship. The 2 main pools were not sufficient for all the guest on the ship. The main dinning rooms food was not good and the service was worse. The ice bar and the cirque was extra. Lines were very long. I paid for a family balcony and got a queen size bed and couch made into a sofa bed and a pull down bunk blocking the view. Not to mention the bathroom that was enclosed by a opaque door litrally 4 inches from the head of the master bed.

way too many people for the space. Not enough daytime spaces. Everything is geared for the evening drinking and gambling scene. Terrible shopping onboard. The private courtyard area was excellent in every way, and would recommend this area only.

We thought it was an awesome ship. The service, the food, and the entertainment was great. We did not like the Cirque show- we felt it was way overpriced and fooled people because it we all thought it was Cirque du Soleil. The Nickelodeon characters were great and so was the Nickelodeon shows for the kids!

Overall we had a fantastic time. My only complaints are that the pools were very small and crowded and were not able to accommodate the 4,000 people on board. There were also long waits for the water slides. Food was good but not excellent. Plenty of choices. As for the ports of call--Cozumel and Roatan were great. Costa Maya left a lot to be desired.

Ship is huge and beautiful but even though we had a balcony room it was very difficult to walk in stateroom. I did like the new bathroom setup with sink, toilet and shower seperate.

Nice ship. Great entertainment. Average food. Average Service.

The Epic is a large cruise ship. However, NCL chose to pack as many people as possible onto the ship without increasing the common areas. The service is mediocre at best. Everything is extra. For example; It cost us $100 extra for the four of us to eat at the steakhouse, Cagneys. When you get there, they ask an additional $10 for the "chef selections". Circ de Solel is in a very small venue ( and its extra (which includes a so so meal) and its not nearly as good as what we have seen on other ships. There are only 5 hot tubs for 4000 people. The pools were very small- the pool in the adult area was about the size of a bathtub. The drinks are very expensive: 11$ martinis and $9 glasses of wine. When i asked for a wine steward or recommendation for wines to order, they looked at me as if i were crazy. The wine list had 14 bottles on it but I saw a bunch of bottles in an area on the side of the dining room. When i asked about those bottles i received answer: A $70 bottle of Far Niente was going for $250! there is no atrium on the ship; instead you have to pass through the casino ( it was huge of course) to get anywhere. Room service is horrible-it took very long and there were very few items. And they charge for pizza. There was no continuous pizza/hot dog/hamburger service by the pool. On a positive note, our room steward was excellent. The room itself had lots of storage and adequate room ( we had a deluxe family balcony - 2 adults and 2 children). Blue man group was amazing. Also, on the "lobster night" in the main dining room the lobster was unlimited and very good. In conclusion: We will never go on an NCL cruise again

For a "first cruise experience" I have to say I chose a great ship - however, I am not certain that I would repeat the experience. Loved the newness of the ship, disliked travelling on a busy holiday week with "way too many passengers" on board. Fighting to get into buffet lines, people taking our tables, no room in some entertainment bookings, not being able to access entertainment options on NCL website.

We really liked the outdoor activities, pools, slides; unfortunately our days at sea were extremely windy and cool, so we were not able to enjoy the outdoor activities, like rock camlimbing, repelling... We did not like the staterooms, they were cramped and the configuration was very ackward, the toilet on one side and the shower on the other side with frosted glass that you could see through.the sink was in front of the bed and tiny,, we had a balcony, but still for 3 persons the cabin was not anything to be desired.Even for 2 persons, we would have been uncomfortable. There was always some kind of activity going on, so we were never bored or looking for something to do. The Kids club (called REcess) was extrememly disorganized, there was no structured activities, our son really enjoyed it though.So he was happy, we were happy. The food choices were great, even though, you did have to pay for most of the restaurants. But overall, we had a great cruise !

The ship is clean and spacious. It has an odd layout, but manageable. Not many places to relax outside. Not enough windows in the main areas to enjoy a view of the ocean.

A beautiful ship. The entertainment was lacking and the layout wasn't great. The smoking in the casino was overbearing and in order to get from dining to entertainment you had to walk through the casino.The cabin layout also made the room feel really closed in.

The studios & studio lounges were great! I would highly recommend them. Also, the Garden Cafe buffett was wonderful, lots of excellent choices. The Ice Bar is nice too!

I have been on at least 13 cruises and 8 of them have been on NCL. This was the least favorite of all the cruises and has greatly impacted our desire to do another NCL cruise. Some of the reasons we were disappointed include: * The design of the ship was annoying (sink in the bedroom??), curved walls, poor visibility in lounges * The staff didn't seem like they were happy. Not sure why, but there was a different feel to this cruise. If I had to assess the mood of the staff I would say "grumpy" or "put off". What makes this really surprising is that we heard the CEO of NCL was on board! Plus, I was surprised at how often I saw staff/crew on cell phones versus attending to customers. * The entertainment was so-so, except for Blue Man Group and Second City. Having to make reservations was annoying and inconvenient. We ended up not having anything to do later in the week because we booked our shows for earlier in the week. We were actually bored on this cruise!! * The activities were poorly run. Example: we went to a Family Pictionary game that was so poorly run that we almost left after the second round. What was supposed to be fun, ended up being stressful and confusing. * If they are going to charge extras for a dinner show, at least provide food that is different than what you would get in the Garden Cafe. We did two of the extra charge shows and did not feel they were worth it. * It felt like everything was an extra charge. * Speaking of extra charges - make sure to ask for your drinks NOT in a souvenir glass. You get charged an extra $2 per drink. They will automatically bring your drink in the souvenir glass unless you ask them not to. If you forget and they bring the drink in the souvenir glass tell them to take it back and make you one not in the souvenir glass. * Not sure if this is now the new industry standard or just an NCL thing, but to change the "gratuity" to a "service charge" is also annoying. Is the expectation that we tip above the $12 pp/per day?? We have always provided the recommended gratuities and given extra for especially good service, but this new language is confusing and I am wondering if this is why the quality of service wasn't as good this time. Perhaps the motivation to provide excellent service just isn't there when you are guaranteed to get your portion of the "service charge". Don't insult me, by requiring me to pay a "service charge". Instead train your staff to provide exceptional service and allow customers to control who they feel deserves extra. * Internet cafe was a total rip off and the crew member running it was rude (I certainly hope he didn't receive a portion of the "service charge"). My husband was charged $15 for internet usage and never saw one email. Turns out is takes at least 3 minutes to access comcast email. Hmmm, that would have been nice to know before being charged to "set up an account". Yes, yet another extra charge that didn't used to exist. I usually have more of a balance between the positives and the negatives, but overall this trip was a disappointment and has changed my perception of NCL. I would expect this type of experience from a lesser rated line, but NCL should have mastered the cruising experience. Instead it felt like they just don't care anymore and are all about squeezing as much money out of you as they can.

The ship was well-appointed. I missed the "happy hours", meeting other prior cruisers, and the Captain's welcome aboard party .............. as was offered on prior NCL cruises with smaller ships.

The cabins on board this vessel are inappropriately designed. Bathroom sinks are shallow and installed inside a countertop meant for placing personal articles for storage. There are no dancefloors in the 18 lounges, except for the Bliss Lounge which subs as a disco. The entertainment exceeds that of Vegas style shows and the food is some of the best I've tasted at sea, although there is no longer a chocoholic buffet, or lobster tails served in the dining rooms. And all specialty restaurants have a charge. Other than that the ship is really big. Also there is only an aft and forward elevator to get around.

The ship was beautiful but there are not any good places to quietly watch the water go by like on the Carnival ships. The view from the #7 deck that runs down the side of the ship is obstructed by lifeboats with about a twenty foot gap in the middle. I loved the waterpark and layout of the pool area. More hot-tubs would always be better. The nightlife is kind of a hit or miss thing, not many nightclubs and they only have stuff for short periods of time. The studio staterooms are good for singles, I definately would not put a second person in the room. It would be nice if they could squeeze a flat spot into the room somewhere to lay stuff down. The "living room" for the studio is very nice with a really nice young lady that keeps it up, I like the whole "singles" thing they have going on.

We were looking forward to cruising on the Epic as we had heard so much about it beforehand. We were not disappointed. There was plenty to do, lots of fun and excitement. You just can't beat the pricing compared to other vessels of this size and the fact that it's a brand new ship. We couldn't say enough about our cruise. Everyone was so friendly and helpful in every way.

Because this ship is so large, it takes time to get somewhere. The casino is smack dab in the middle of the ship, so to get from point A to point B on that floor you have to walk through gagging cigarette smoke!! The acoustics in the staterooms on the ship are not the best. The pay restaurants that we visited were very good. Thankfully there is a quiet area for sunbathing, so you can get away from the noise of the pool deck. We were on the 14th floor and it seemed like the elevator had issues stopping on that floor, we frequently had to take the stairs to another floor to catch an elevator. Escalator wasn't working between the lower floors either.