Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ports we visited were good, however, we did not have enough time to spend in St. Thomas.  We did not do any excursions because they did not have any good ones to choose from at any of the ports.  Most were water related. They have too many specialty restaurants that you had to pay for and the service was slow at the free restaurants.  We also had one waiter in the private dining that was just sorry.  He carried on a conversation with the table behind us instead of taking our order.  We spilled water on the table and he didn't even change the table cloth.  He put a dry napkin over the wet area and served us dessert. Unacceptable. We have traveled with two other cruise lines and this one was the worse.  We will not be going with Norwegian again unless it is free. The beds in the mini suites were too small and curved, which made sleeping uncomfortable.

My favorite part of the cruise was the dining and entertainment.  Excellent service, food in specialty restaurants was supurb.  Staff was very accommodating.  Sometimes we had reserved a seat for

the entertainment and couldn't attend because our Specialty Restaurant reservation interfered due to timing.  I'd rather have had a longer stay in Saint Thomas rather then Tortola.  

Favorite part of cruise - food on 15th floor, 

Worst part of cruise - staff communication, everyone we asked a questions had a different answer, very frustrating !!!

Embarkation was the fastest we have ever been through on any cruise.  This was our 10th cruise and it was a breeze to get on the ship. once off the gangway they were having people split up. some would go left some would go right. so right away we were separated from our group.  once on the ship no one welcomed us. the only person that said anything was a guy that wanted our picture.  our cruises before we have always walked in the atrium and went straight to the bar for a drink.  No bar was to be found. so then it was another 10 mins before we found of group that we were traveling with.  our room wasn't ready which was fine we didn't expect it to be.  went straight to osheehans for lunch.  it was ok.  very busy.  the first night for dinner we went to the manhattan room and had the grouchiest waited ive ever had.  we were asking him for recommendations on the food.  shrugged his shoulders.  then I asked again and he just pointed to the top thing on the menu.  we had to ask for a dessert menu.  the next day was sea day and still had yet to see our room steward. that night for dinner we ate at the Italian restaurant.  service was very slow. very.  we noticed by the end of the cruise every specialty restaurant we ate at (4 of them) were all so slow.  we usually were in there for at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours. the buffet was good. different choices every night.  the entertainment was decent for what we saw that was only 1 comedy show.  1 did bingo one day.  it was ok. lots of people.  still in the middle of the week still had no met our room steward. after our first port never we never got beach towels put back in our room.  about after the 3 day on the cruise we always had to call housekeeping to bring us towels for our room bc she never would put more in the room if we were out. our neighbors said the same thing they always had to call.  there was sand on our floor for  2 days.  this was the first time in 10 cruises ive never left a tip for our room steward.  the public bathrooms were always dirty. there would be cups just sitting by the toilet, no toilet paper in 1 stall I  went into.   toilet paper on the floor.  on our last port day at great stirrup cay was a mess.  we went to where they told us we needed to be then ended up sending us somewhere else. so once we got to the manhattan room they tried sending us back to the first place. it was a mess.  finally once we got called and our place was ready to board the tender we were almost off the ship and then they decided it was unsafe for us to board the tender on that side of the ship. they couldn't of figured that out before they had 400 people ready to board a tender.  we were probably about 20 people deep in line so we would of gotten off first. they said we need to turn the line around so we ended up being at the end of the line instead of being first. we got up early that morning so we would end up being one of the first onto the island. after that ordeal we ended up being the 4th tender to the island.  very unorganized.  over all it was ok cruise. casino was very smoky and crowded.. they did have the poker tournament going on but just a busy place anyways.   disembarking was pretty easy. we did self assist.

Favorite part of the cruise were the shows. 

I am not a fan of big ships and wil stick to the smaller Ncl ships. 

The epic seemed to be a gambling ship. Actually almost the entire 6 deck. 

No real place to dance. 

Plenty of restaurants with minimal waiting time, if any. 

The inside caving have a separate bathroom , shower and sink. 

Does have a curtain to deprecate the sleeping area 

you have to make reservations for the shows. Our tv wasn't working to book shows. Had to run down stairs to do so. 

I had a good time. But 2 small pools for 4100 people is a bit small for me. 

I will not retention in the epic. But had a nice trip all in all. 

Once you get past the unconventional cabin layout the rest of the ship is set up to accommodate anything your heart desires to do on your vacation. We enjoy fine dining and the specialty restaurants did not disappoint. Although a large ship we never waited in any long lines ( except debarkation, not on the ship but customs who had only 4 agents) and the reservation system for entertainment and restaurants worked well. Non-stop activities appropriate for all ages both at pool and atrium. First two days, a lot of rain, wind and rough seas but ship seemed pretty stable and there was so much to do inside that it didn't really matter.  The two broadway productions were the best I've seen at sea. Comedy club, Cirque dinner show, The Beatles look alike band, painting classes, bowling, pool tables, large casino, dance classes, trivia, art auctions and on board shopping kept us busy. I definitely would sail on this ship again. My sister really enjoyed the free hand dipped ice cream choices, pizza delivery and the steaks at Cagney's Steakhouse. I liked that no one pushed taking photo'a or cocktails on you. It was a really laid back atmosphere.

I've been cruising on NCL for years and the newer ships have smaller and smaller cabins and are larger and larger in the number of passengers.  This is not good.  This cruise was fun and exciting and overall a wonderful experience.  My balcony cabin was so much smaller than the same class of accommodations on ships I've taken cruises on before.

The highlight was the food and outstanding service in the two main dining room, Taste and The Manhattan Room.  We age at Cagney's the first night and it was great, but I won't be pay extra ever again as these dining rooms were great.  The food was just outstanding.  Also, NCL needs to do more for Latitudes Gold members like me, including cabin upgrades, preferred seating at shows and other freebees.

Favorite part was going on to the islands and seeing all the sights and shopping. We had a blast , the ship was beautiful and the food and entertainment was awesome!  So much to do and see that next time we have to go on a longer cruise.  See different islands and places. Do more excursions also.  Maybe even bring family along instead of just my husband and myself...........................................................................................................

First let me start off by saying it wasn't all bad the people were very friendly in our room Stuart was great my main complaint was the layout of the ship the layout of the casino the lack of bathrooms near the casino and the bars being so far from the casino and they're alcohol selection for this being such a massive boat you would think the common areas would be bigger and was never informed that you had to register for shows

The crew was great. But there is to many people and the food wasn't great it was all gluten free and my taste buds are now out of wack. The cleaning crew was fantastic they were polite. 

My family and I have gone on over 50 cruises, most of which have been on NCL. This was the worst ship we've ever been on.  Completely disappointed. The staff doesn't want to help in any way, when something doesn't work out, they play the blame game. I've never been on a ship that you need to make reservations to see a show or to get a tender off on the island. So by the time you make a reservation, everything is sold out. The ship is very big, which is fine, but the layout is horrible and doesn't have much entertainment, especially if you can't get into a show. So everyone is crammed in the casino or sheehans. The slides only work half the time and the pools are wayyyyy to cramped. My sister stepped on glass by the pool and cut her foot opened, there shouldn't be glass anywhere near the pool and all they did was throw a dirty towel on the ground and left it there. Not very hygienic, especially when you are barefoot. If you have a problem and need to go to guest services, you can hear each other because it's located in the same atrium as the game shows. Horrible experience. The food was TERRIBLE, dishes piled up so high that we actually had to move tables (there were 6 of us) the workers were  just talking to one another. One of their workers got sick on our table. This must be the ship which holds all the rejects. I'm sad that we did our back to back cruise on this ship. 2 weeks we wasted on the vessel.  DONT BOOK THIS SHIP!!!

The service was really great on this cruise. Very courteous and friendly staff. Did not like the rooms layout. The ship was to big for my taste. Had to remember to make reservations for the shows. All in all the staff made this cruise enjoyable. 

Had an excellence time on the NCL Epic. There are pro's and con's of course on any ship but overall a great trip.  We have cruised on difference cruise lines and I think they all have there strong points and their weak. This was a very large ship but didn't seem crowded. The food was excellence in the dining room and at the the other venues. But the hamburgars and hotdogs at the outside grill were not good. I think they could do this better. Also because of the size of the ship reservation were required at the shows. The problem with that is people just sign up for everything and then there are no shows you can get in. They have stand by but good luck getting in at the 11pm comedy show. We did have the drink package that came free with our room and that was wonderful. No problem getting a drink. The stateroom service was the worst I have every had. Never meet my steward until day 3 of the cruise. Called but no one answered. Only 3 towel animals the whole week on a seven day cruise. Personal in other areas were great. Ship was very clean. And one thing that NCL does very well is the ice cream. As I first stated we had a great cruise but we will go on a small ship next cruise.

We have cruised over 50 times and at least 7 times on Norwegian. This was by far the worst experience we have ever had. On the second day of our first week, the second in command walked up to us and asked if we were having a good time as he was concerned that everyone he spoke to had only negative things to say. We expressed our feelings about how disappointed we were. We could write a novel about what was wrong with this cruise from hell, but will give you some quick highlights so you do not make the same mistake that 4,100 other people make each and every week.. The food is horrible, unless you go to upgraded pay dinning. One night we had escargot, good luck finding one as I would have called this dish minced mushrooms in snail juice! Our daughter stepped on glass by the pool, 24 hours later the blood and bloody towel still are in the same spot on the deck and have not been cleaned. The mini suite is so poorly designed that you cannot move in there without tripping over something. Our shower door was defective without a security latch and smashed my finger as the boat rocked. The servers treat you like cattle, and customer service is completely indifferent. The buffet was horrible, the Pizza was not as good as Elio's. Burgers were dry, deserts bland and overall quality made Golden Corral look like a five star restaurant. The entertainment was difficult to access unless you booked all of your reservations the first day. We could not get coffee in our room, and 2 days out of 14 we actually saw pool towels in our room, as we were told they did not have enough! The ship is poorly designed, and cannot accommodate 4,100 passengers efficiently. The back pool area for adults only is nice, but a little planning and a coffee station would have been nice, so you did not have to walk to the front of the ship. Customer service is unorganized and run by kids with poor listening skills and canned robotic answers. Of course you are hoping they can actually hear you above the loud band playing in the atrium across from them. The only positive thing I can say about the ship is the casino was nice and large and the Noodle bar. I am not sure if this is a reflection of just the Epic or all Norwegian ships since they started to give away all of the Freebies. I can tell you as well as virtually every other passenger on board that this was the cruise from hell. In addition to the above, the overall cleanliness of the ship was disgraceful as was the maintenance. Can you imagine asking a crew member to lower the shades in a dining area as the sun was blinding you and being told, they are not working for over a month! Can you imagine two days in a row of getting hair in your food and then being told this never happens. How about ordering a nice juicy cheese burger from the Irish bar inside, only to find out it was topped off with a think piece of plastic. Bottom line, don't travel on the Epic!

This was our 1st cruise with NCL, and so far is going to be the last.  Service at the Manhattan and Taste restaurants was slow.  We didn't like the fact that you have to make reservations for most of the shows, even though they were included in the price.  Music was too loud in all places.  Cigarette smoking in the casino was a problem when we were walking from the theater to the restaurant.

This is the second time we've been on the EPIC and some things have changed.  i) we were surprised t see that, in the TASTE dining room, some entree item were not complimentary.  2) just an observation.. altho several time slots were designated for ballroom dancing, there were not many dancers making use of this. I can recall on past cruises, the dance floor was mobbed... not so any more. Perhaps a new look at this activity would be worth the time spent.  3) without meaning any disrespect, several of the staff's understand-ability (dialect) was very difficult.  This was most noticeable with the dining room staff.  4) Our cabin attendant (Rolando.. 11040) was very good.  

Service was prompt and friendly. Did not like having to book reservations for shows/entertainment. That's not consistent with free-styling.  I would recommend opening dining facilities before 5:30 pm.

The ship and it's crew were great.  The food...not so much!!!  Wish we could have more time in St. Thomas....they just didn't give us enough time.  We could leave ship at 7am but stores didn't open until and then we had to be back on the ship by 130p

This was our 10th cruise and validated why we waited so long to go on NCL. Embarkation was painful. With a "reservation" for 1:30 quickly found it didn't matter. Just got us there later than we originally plan, reservation time never came into play and the process took forever.

EPIC was a beautiful ship and our room, a Mini Suite Balcony was the best thing on our trip.  I'd heard NCL's rooms were smaller than most, the design of the room was somewhat awkward, entering to a tub/shower and toilet on either side but the amount of storage was amazing, including a hamper and was a great buy for the money, with a great deal of time spent on the balcony as weather was a "10." 

The staff was not nearly as friendly or accommodating as other ships we have been on.

It was the "extras:" they charged that got to us.  We opted for main dining knowing the food wasn't great but didn't expect the menu (on the left) to be the same every night. On the right were more options but starting at $24.95 per person.  The Oriental dining was also disappointing.  O'Sheahan's "The"Pub" was open 24 hrs. and they ultimately had the best choices for food, with options to eat at the bar or in their restaurant. So we ate at the buffet most of the time finding that other than a few stations with "themed" dining, the rest was always the same.  Continental Breakfast in your room was free but anything else had a $7.95 service fee.  You can't bring water or soda and wine was a $15 corking fee, collected as you went through security.  

We heard entertainment was above par but found it somewhat disappointing. By the time I realized they required reservations, some were hard to get so missed out on them.  We saw "Priscilla: Queen of The Desert" a "spoof" on LGBT but I found the meaning intended got lost in the presentation/translation. Many walked out and most were not impressed.  A performance "Burn The Floor" was supposed to take you through the many years of dance but it didn't seem to be moving on through history as promoted. There was other entertainment but "oops" had to pay for it $29.95 or $39.95 depending on where you sat.

One stop was their private island but we only found out two days before that you had to have reservations for the tender.  By that time we were at the end of the list of those reserving and at 12:00 (for an 9:00 a.m. arrival) and 450 people on the tender we knew our fate.  We walked the beach, walked back to the tender, forgoing sitting on sand to go to the beach.  Living in FL so not imperative but happens to be one of my favorite stops.

So.... overall the cruise line was an EPIC failure but not the cruise itself. Having said that we've heard the EPIC is not the same as their other ships and also that this is what the mega ships are doing.  Thinking I'll stick to the smaller, older ones.

Wait staff in some areas unwilling to go the extra step to accommodate

guests. Embarkation was a nightmare. The wait to board was long and

frustrating. There were no amentias outside the terminal during the long wait for those guests who were elderly or physically challenged.(No places to sit or complimentary beverages) People had to sit on hard nearby steps to get relief.

It was observed by several guests that some were allowed to go ahead

of the line after they complained.. Several other areas were lacking.

Overall we enjoyed the cruise but were disappointed with crew friendliness toward guests.