Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This was a 13 night transatlantic cruise with only for stops - including the disembarkation port of Barcelona.   Thus not the most exciting itinerary- so not for everyone.  But I knew that.

Also an early April transatlantic cruise can be a bit on the cool side; a May crossing would have been better.  Most days you had to have a light weight long sleeve shirt on to be comfortable on deck.

The Epic is a very nice ship- and large and clean.  

The drink package where you only have to pay for the tips (about $13.00 per day per person) was good.  At full price (pay per drink or purchasing the drink package at about $80 per day) would not be worth it.  The drink quality and availability was very good.

As with all cruises, the staff was exceptional.

As with all cruises, the optional NCL excursions can be pricey and not that good of a value.  You should consider booking with a local port vendor, we did a hop on/hop off bus in Fuchal and a Segway tour in Malaga both booked through Viator

The 13 night Transatlantic cruise was amazing!  The food, entertainment and crew was amazing!  The only problem we had was there wasn't enough crew members on deck to get you drinks during the day.  I would also recommend that you book all your entertainment in advance as soon as possible!  It was basically all full when we tried to book stuff on the ship.  This also goes for the shore excursions as well.  

We enjoyed the Lack of time demands;  friendliness and efficiency of staff; laundry specials; life boat training (held inside); because there were three other cruise ships all disembarking at the same time, port authority delayed us getting off ship!, thus a long process and only 4 people stamping passports, thus a long process. Taxis and busses overwhelmed!!  

Pros

Boarding process was pretty efficient

Spa was amazing

Cabin attendant was great

Cons

Batteries in door lock failed twice, locking us out of cabin twice, once at the intial departure, so we didn't get to enjoy that.  Took security 45 minutes to get to our cabin.  Happened again 5 days later.

Way too much salt - food, water - all of our group experienced foot and ankle swelling

Majority of bartenders did not seem happy to be there

Over charged for spa access, we purchased cabin on 14th deck because spa access was included

Over charged for one of the meals

AC in cabin struggled the last 2 days

Personally, 7 days is a couple of days too long

The best part of our cruise was docking on the Islands. I have to say that unfortunately we didn't enjoy this cruise as much as we anticipated. The staff wasn't as friendly as expected most of them seemed as if they  had been on the ship for too long...we later found out they are on the ship for way too long. 10 months usually and it shows in the attitudes. I had a question and went to guest services on 2 occasions, they were terrible. Not helpful at all and seemed bothered. I can sympathize, these individuals work long hours and some up to 7 days a week but being a first time cruiser I shouldn't have to deal with that unhappy staff. 

With my criticism I will compliment the ship on the entertainment. The shows were incredible, we saw Burn the floor, Pricilla and the comedy show and they were all great! The food was okay, the restaurants are better then the buffet, I expected that. I didn't like the fact that one of the included restaurants, Taste was right under the casino which meant that as your trying to have a nice dinner you're inhaling all the cigarette smoke from up above because the restaurant is out in the open. We had to move our seat for that reason when we ate there. I also didn't like that there were several restaurants on the same floor as the casino so you had to walk through the smoke to get to the Manhatten room and other areas on the ship obviously I don't smoke so it was annoying for me. The music was terrible, a lot op people over 70 and the ship seemed to cater to the older crowed... Don't get me wrong I'm 42 and listen to main stream music but I can only take so much from the 70's and Elvis especially when traveling with my husband alone and wanting to let loose a little. My room was an inside stateroom, I expected it to be small. I didn't expect it to be falling apart, the drawers were coming apart. The bar area was all chipped and crappy looking. Nothing could be done because the ship was completely sold out. 

I will also say the director and his staff were awesome, very involved throughout the entire trip. I honestly don't know when they sleep always full of energy and friendly. Our Stewart was wonderful. I gave this experience a 2 and honestly was thinking I'll never cruise again. I might give it one more shot on another cruise line. 

Ship is older, has been refurbed but still older. Our room was a mini-sweet very unuser friendly with a split bathroom, hard to reach cabinet doors. I don't think their is much of a difference between a mini- sweet and a balcony other than which floor. This was our second cruise with Norwegian, !st was on the Getaway in 2015 it was brand new. I thought the overall experience on the getaway was much better. We had waiters asking us for drinks every 20 minutes on the getaway. Never had one ask on the epic, had to get them myself. Also the cruise director and crew much more energetic on the getaway. I thought the ship had a rockier ride than the getaway. Loved the islands.

After going on a Norwegian cruise last summer to Alaska on the Jewel, my husband and I had a great opinion of Norwegian.  This cruise was such a disappointment to us on so many levels this time.  First, we were excited about the Epic as we had never been on a mega-ship before.  I can honestly say we will never do it again!  There were over 4,000 people on board with 2 main dining rooms and 2 smaller restaurant venues that were not an additional charge.  We had to wait, with a pager, for every meal.  When we did get into the restaurant for meals, we had constant delays in service (2 hour breakfast one day), luke warm food, and empty drink glasses.  Although most of the wait staff was friendly, there were a few who didn't even smile. Many didn't even know where the tables were when we were being seated. Huge dissatisfier.  The shows looked amazing.  Unfortunately, most of them were sold out early in the cruise so we couldn't take advantage of the opportunity.  Freestyle cruising?  I think not! We did get in to see "Burn the Floor", which was wonderful.  The dancers were very talented as were the guitar players.  The magician was very engaging and talented as well, although we saw him in "Headliners", which is a ridiculously small venue for a ship of this size. I tried to join a painting class and that was full as well.  My husband and I like to walk around the ship on an outside deck for exercise and to get quiet time.  The Epic had no such deck!  They had a walking/running area, but it was on one side of the boat and was designed to go back and forth on the same track as opposed to around the entire ship.  Additionally, the ocean view was mostly blocked by the tenders hanging on the side. As far as quiet time, there was NO ESCAPE from the masses of folks on this cruise.  The only quiet time we got was on our own balcony, which was lovely.  The room, however, was beautiful and efficient and we liked the updated colors and feel of it.  Our cabin steward never smiled, nor did he make conversation with us.  He did take good care of our room, that is when he finally showed up.  One day we didn't receive service until after 2pm, which was very inconvenient for us.  Because of our experience on this cruise, my husband said he is "cruised out".  Considering I love to cruise, this is not good.  Oh, and one last thing, Norwegian now adds a "service charge" of $13.50 per person per day to the bill, regardless of the caliber of service received.  Hence, "tips", which help to ensure good service, are no longer an incentive to cruise staff.  Could this have been a part of the problem?  I am not sure.  What I am sure of is that Norwegian is about to raise the service charge by 3% in April.  Bad service and higher service charges?  No thank you!  I am going to place my "cruise loyalty" elsewhere! 

1. Dining Room  maître d' Told me to remove my "Retired US Army Hat" while letting other women and men enter wearing hats and bandana's! Why?

2. Public restrooms were not kept clean at all times. Some were really bad in crowded areas of the ship.

3. Restrooms were not clearly marked. A neon light around the small sign would help.

4. I was sent by Guest Svc to three different places to buy a Soda Package. I was finally told by a passenger Where to go. Staff knowledge questionable. Overall Staff was great.

5. Food, quality and presentation was also great. Staff at the buffet were excellent.

6. Jamar our room attendant was the best, Nilda dela Cruz also gave us the best services. Please let Norwegian know about these two staff personnel and what a great job they did.

6. "Joan" from Cruiseline.com was the best, please express to her our sincere appreciation of her service.

7. Ship was great...!

Our family booked our cruise about 9 months prior to departure.  This gave us plenty of time to plan.  I read hundreds of reviews.  I came to the conclusion too many negative people are taking vacations these days.  It is a vacation.  Relax!  From the reviews, I was able to plan accordingly and had no issues on our vacation.  This was our 9th cruise.

From all the negative reviews I read, the only item I agreed with is the size and set up of the cabins.  We had a family balcony stateroom.  It was really small for 4 people.  Instead of complaining about it, we adjusted and made it work for us.  We were never really in the room anyway.  On sea days, we were up on deck by 8am because by about 9am, there were no chairs left by the pool.  We went on shore for port days and had a blast even though we had our one excursion we scheduled cancelled.  We scheduled our reservations for dining ahead of time so no issues there.  We never had issues with food temperatures, taste, etc.  Again, RELAX, you have people cooking for you and you don't have to clean up.  It is vacation!  We dined in 4 specialty restaurants, buffet, and main dining.  All food was great.  The shows didn't interest me but my wife and others seemed to enjoy them very much.  The layout of the ship was fine.  There were no problems getting around.  I would suggest for those families considering this ship, I strongly recommend the 14th level.  The Splash Academy is located on 14 and the pool is one flight of steps up.  Easy to get around from this level.

Overall, it was an excellent experience for us.  This was our first time cruising with Norwegian.  We will definitely cruise with them again.

I can see this as a 50/50 split, but I enjoyed the freestyle dining. You get to experience several different types of food and cooking styles. The rooms are small but typical for a ship. The bathroom set up (with a curtain) is not private and could have been designed using the same space but providing more privacy. The shows were excellent and the reservation system works well. However, if you didn't sign up quickly, the lines were long to be on stand by. There is no pool per say on the Epic. there are "Aqua areas" which basically are very tiny swimming areas. The 3 slides are good and not crowded. The weather was too rough so we did not stop at great stirrup cay. Overall, we were pleased.

Best part was booking a private powerboat day with Ed at Blue Horizon Powerboat Charters in Tortola, he took is to all the hotspots and local spors, HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Epic was awesome and Huge!

This was our 4th cruise on NCL and didn't disappoint . We were with my sister and brother-in-law. The food and ship were very good, but I didn't schedule this one properly as the ship was PACKED. I was told there were at least 400 college kids (although they were, for the most part, very well behaved). There were so many people that there were not enough deck chairs, and the pools were crammed with people . The shows at night were not up to the NCL standards and were scheduled in an odd hour. The show " Priscilla, ? of the desert was very good however.

Our family booked rooms 11008 and 11004 large balcony staterooms...didn't know that the balcony was metal and you couldn't sit and look at the ocean...you had to stand to see out.  The bathroom is not private...never saw such a weird configuration in a stateroom before...separate shower, separate toilet, situated by the entrance with just a curtain to separate them from the bedroom area.  Extremely small stateroom with a tiny, tiny sink right in the stateroom counter.  OMG who designed such horrible staterooms.  Otherwise the ship is absolutely beautiful, very clean and modern.   Exceptional service from the room steward and all personnel very friendly!  Excellent buffet and alternative dining.  Much better food than Carnival Cruiselines.

Shows and food were good. The condition of the ship spoiled everything. Cabin was damp all the time. Caused hay fever like feeling the whole trip. Felt much better after we left the ship.

Good entertainment. Like being on a casino boat, machines everywhere, Food just so-so, even in specialty restaurants. Alcohol flowed, no need for the drinks package, often the bar tenders just gave the dinks away.

The island was amazing. It was beautiful and had a lot to offer. I really disliked the tender situation. We ended up standing both times and waited for 15-30 before we were even moving. Took very long and we were stuck standing for a long time. It was terrible going to and from the island. Is it not a safety issue as well? Packing a tender so much people are standing? It was terrible coming back from such a good day, took away from the experience. Our stateroom attendant was the best he knew our names and was very personable. We had another horrible experience at the restaurant taste on our last night. As my friend was asking about an item on the menu. the waiter walked away and never apologized. The service took over two hours as we watched other people sit in other sections come and go in that time frame. Again this being on our last night did not leave us with a pleasant experience. I Gave three stars based solely upon our stateroom attendant. The overall experience was fair at best.

The staff was friendly and the dining room service was great.  The cabin was not well maintained or very clean.                                                                                                                                                                       

My husband and I were so excited to go on this boat. Getting on the boat was fine lines moved every fast. Once on the boat you realized rather quickly that the boat does hold a lot of people but seems very overcrowded. It was hard to get an elevator most of the cruise due to elevators being too full. Also lines at Buffet for breakfast and lunch were extremely long. The shows seemed great except you have to reserve a seat for each show. I've been an multiple cruises on different cruise lines and never had to plan out your cruise to try and catch a show. We love the entertainment and even on other NCL never had to reserve seats. I feel this is a huge flaw. The Cirqu show was awesome and really well done. 

The length of the cruise was perfect. The food and entertainment was great. Would definitely recommend the open bar and specialty restaurant packages. The only fault that I found was the information and procedures for the tendering and disembark net. I would highly recommend this cruise for a nice quick get away!

We enjoyed everything about this cruise.  We never had to wait to eat anywhere.  The service was incredible.  The staterooms were awesome.  We will be on Norwegian again because I love the freestyle dining.  I don't want to make my schedule around meals.