Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The resources are available to make an enjoyable vacation. The ship provides all one can want. It's up to the passenger to do what they like when they want. The staff in all the dining rooms are committed to providing quintessential service! The food is outstanding and plentiful. The drinks are ever flowing. The only drawback are the passengers lack of courtesy. There will always be those who reserve lounge chairs and never show up. There are some who feel lines in the buffet are ment to be breached. There are always those that back into others carrying food without looking. As far as ship deficiency, the light over the sink in the stateroom should be brighter to be able to see while shaving. Fantastic cruise!  

"Tastes", the main dining room, was good but not enough choices.

Buffet had a good variety and taste, but luke warm at best.

Drinks were so-so

Room steward (deck 12)was the "invisible man"

Everyone else on the ship was very nice and very helpful.

Stingray excursion in the Bahamas was dissapointing.  3-4 stingrays.  Stingray City in Grand Caymen was much better.

Tortola has legalized cock fighting and downhill burro racing.  Won't go there again.

The specialty restaurants were exceptional, and the Garden Cafe was one of the best we've seen on any ship.  Other restaurants were acceptable, but nothing to rave about....and the service was about the same.  The ship was beautiful, as was the weather, so the time was enjoyable and relaxing.....except for the huge lines and crowds at popular places.  Freestyle dining is indeed flexible and sometimes convenient if you don't mind spending an inordinate amount of time making reservations and figuring how to fit everything in you want to do.

Our biggest objection was the questionable and smutty comedy & entertainment....even in early time periods which should be family friendly.  The talent level was great, and the music wonderful, but content, gestures, themes, and costumes were depraved and offensive to much of mainstream society.  Cirque was awesome, with surprisingly good food and service.  Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the only major production show on a cruise ship we have ever walked out of, and were thoroughly disgusted for even reserving time for the event.  Many of the lounges had excellent entertainment, especially the guitarists, and pianists.

I suppose that the ship did a pretty good job of handling a large passenger level, but 4000 people is a lot on one boat, and the layout of the ship creates some serious bottlenecks at busy times.  And while the cruise price seemed attractive, they have a way of nickel and diming you to death.  The drink package offered extremely poor selections of wine, in hopes that you would upgrade and buy more expensive bottles, but the staff always did their best to accommodate us within their ship guidelines....except when they tried to slip in different types of wine than we had ordered.

Would definitely not cruise on this ship again, and perhaps not on Norwegian, as well.

The cruise reaffirmed my dislike for the 4000+ size ships.  Making reservations for Dinner and the Shows was a bother especially for a Solo traveler.  The Solo cabin was very nice.

The shows on The Epic were all amazing and we totally enjoyed them.  The food was good but not great. The room setup with its separate toilet, shower and sink was awful and uncomfortable to say the least. Having to make the reservations in advance was not enjoyable as you worry about not getting to see and do everything at an appropriate time.   You're supposed to be on vacation and this is work planning it all!  

The prime time showtime on this cruise was very bad because of the language and content which had to leave after the show started  This was a 700 pm show.

The ship was easy to get around on and the food , shows were very good.

But the rooms were so narrow only one person could walk around at a time. Hated the set up of the rooms and lighting was terrible. Beds so short feet hung off them and 'm not that tall. Had what the called a balcony room . It did have a deck with two chairs but small cut out to see out of. Could only see the sea if standing up.  what a Joke.. Will not sail on this cruise line again.

Totally enjoyed the cruise overall.  We loved the Broadway show, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The food was good with plenty of choices.

Embarkation was slow, not sure if terminal is equipped for 4,000 passenger ship. Inside cabin was small and dark, couldn't see to shave.  Tendering in at Stirrup Cay was horrible.  There were only 3 tender boats running for a ship that holds 4,000 passengers.  It took us three and a half hours to get ashore.

I would not recommend this cruise. One thing we noticed but hadn't noticed before we went was how many people it held. 4100!!! We went by ourselves and that was a mistake. We never met anyone twice. You'd talk to people and then never see them again. It was just too big for our liking. The size of the room was very small. As we had an inside cabin you can realize what it was like. The cabin man was very good. It was one thing that we liked. The entertainment was very good, especially Howl at the Moon dual pianos. We went to all the shows they had and there was 4 of them. The 2 plus days at sea were too long. Unfortunately, the two islands we went to BVI and USVI were side by side. If we could have had one day at sea, then an island, another day at sea, then an island it would have been much better. The food was very good. The waiters were excellent. There was one thing about the cabin we didn't like and that was the bottled water. It was put out on the counter and we assumed it was free. We never used the mini bar. Then we were charged $5.00 a bottle!!!! We asked the man in guest services what the charges were for and he told us it was for the water. We were quite surprised. These are just our opinions.

Epic is older and different from Breakaway, but in all it's a nice cruise ship. The itinerary is good (4 ports in Western Caribbean ). Casino only takes money and gives very little return. (smoking section needs more ventilation, even smokers can't take it after a short while.) Buffet Food was good but not great. We tried all specialty restaurants, and found outstanding services, and food was very good not excellent. Didn't get a chance to eat at Main dinning restaurants.

Burn the Floor is outstanding.  This is the 3rd or 4th time we watch the show and it improved each time. We enjoy it very much.  However, the other Broadway show is not that main stream. 

The less crowded days when most people went on excursions. We found it very relaxing on these days.

At times it was difficult to order a drink, whether it was from a server or at the bar.  It was much easier on excursion days.

We were very concerned the first day.  It was difficult to get an elevator in an acceptable amount of time.  All the lines seemed too long.  However this seemed to get much better after the first day.  I thought the music and entertainment pool side after 2 pm was pretty lame and louder than need be and this is coming from a fairly hip senior.

the ship Epic,is unlike any other ship I've been on,I understand why only one was built.Its design is awful.the layout of the ship is not ideal.your bathroom and shower,are in the front,with frosted glass,so just hope no one enters your room,while showering.everyone in hall will see you,.service not good,except specialty restaraunts.saw stateroom attendant 3 times,never got our balcony cleaned,couldn't see thru the glass balcony,,divider........the good points,cruise was cheap,and destinations ,fantastic.

we loved the Ship and the Freestyle dining and dress.  The whole cruise was fantastic. This is the best one yet, we have gone on seven cruises on other liners but this was by far the best, not one glitch. Loved it and will do it again.

Hands down what Norwegian does is give you amazing talent through Broadway productions, comedians, music , and CIRQUE!  I have now traveled the EPIC and ESCAPE and both have amazing shows!  The Epic Beatles was my husband's favorite and we enjoyed 4 different performances.  Downside is that the Epic Beatles play in the Cavern Club ( yes I know the history) which is way too small for ship.  My husband really wanted to see the shows so we had to change our Specialty Dining to significantly earlier times so we could sit for hours to guarantee a seat at the Epic Beatles shows.  My husband and I were both more than willing to wait because they were great.  Specialty dining though does not work well with those who cannot know exactly what they need to book the second they are on the ship.  Plus we would never know which night the Beatles were going to perform to try to get dining times.  Needless to say this lead to much argument.

 We purchased a three meal specialty package several weeks before the cruise.  When we entered our balcony cabin we were surprised to see that our travel agent had provided another night of Specialty dining credit.  Watch out this is where they get you!  We had to reschedule the Steakhouse from the first night (so we could see the Beatles) to our last night or 4th specialty meal.  But low and behold that beautiful gift that our travel agent gave us which says complimentary specialty dining on the Norwegian card that is in our room.  Is not actual dining credit but rather a $50 credit. So what we should have done was asked to change from a three meal plan to a 4 meal plan - silly us how were we to know?  The card in the room clearly says " Specialty Dining - not only $50 watch out!"  So if you do not tell them to use the $50 credit on our first meal that only cost $50 you are destroyed!  We were charged $100 dollars for a wonderful steak dinner which should have been covered.  I was still in the belief that Norwegian would take care of the confusion.  Don't expect that the customer is right ever.

We go down to fix our bill since we had 4 specialty dining days and were told by an extremely rude member of staff that I too would want a $100 dinner for free.  We purchased ahead of time the package and our travel agent did as well.  As I explained the young lady was rude and told me the day  to ask questions was when I on-boarded.

My husband and I pre-purchased through Norwegian 4 shore excursions, Cirque Premium seating, drink packages, and specialty dining.  We traveled in a Balcony.  We spent money - yet were treated like we were scum by the person I was sent to resolve an issue.

All I can say is, when you have to go to a Box Office on the ship to get tickets for a free show, or call a number that no one ever answers, or go on your TV in your cabin only to find out all the shows are sold out, and you have to go through the TV in your room or some touchscreen to reserve a Tender time, which aren't times, they are letters, you have too many people on your ship AND IT CEASES TO BE A VACATION! That was my takeaway from sailing on the Norwegian Epic. I needed an extension cord. On all my other cruises I simply asked the cabin steward and he brought me one. On the Epic, you have to stand in line at Guest Services forever to "rent" an extension cord "if there are any available" and if it's not returned, there is a $36 fee. Just a bad experience after a couple of nice NCL cruises. Not sure if it's NCL or just the huge ship but didn't really feel like vacation. O'Sheehans was awesome!

You have not really cruised until you have experienced the Haven by NCL.  The service is terrific and non-stop.  After 40+ cruises, I am in a position to make a good comparison.  After finding the Haven, I only shop NCL.  In the evenings, people would come to the Haven bar, grab a drink and just start talking.  Since it was a closed atmosphere, it invited conversation.  The bartender (bartendress?) knew our name from the first night.  I met people I want to stay in touch with for the first time in cruising.  Cannot say enough good about the Haven lifestyle.

loved the UBP and UDP food the very good the sfaff was friendy the only complaint was bathroom location. With 3 people in room there wasn't very much privancy. Would recommend it to others but would tell them about the bathrooms.

The ship itself is beautiful but here are pros and cons:

Pros: Great Booze package, great entertainment, clean

Cons: Check in at Port Canaveral took over 1 1/2 hours standing in line.

Small rooms, no bathroom doors, dark rooms w/ little lighting, tiny bathroom sink is in vanity making it hard to use.

Food in main dining rooms horrible (have never been on a ship with food that bad). Could not eat it on the 2 nights we tried. We were forced to eat in the buffet since we were not willing to spend $80. to 100. a night in one of the 6  ala carte restaurants.

Not enough lounge chairs at the pool. Never got one!

Not enough lounge chairs at the private island.

Our room steward never never removed dirty glasses

I was tripped (falling down) 3 times and no consideration is given for the disabled. There is no parental control required for infants and toddlers in food lines or passageways. Guest Services follow up on nothing. Excursion staff is fine, but exert no control over unruly or drunk guests.

The drink package was fantastic!  Lots of choices with premium brands.  The entertainment was excellent, especially Priscilla and Burn the Floor.

Interior staterooms were designed poorly. Sink in inconvenient place  and not enough lighting for putting on makeup.  Food in dining room was subpar.

Embarkation was a nightmare--Transportation had to wait in line for 50 minutes to let us out--then lines to check in took over an hour.