Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I didn't think the food was as good as the cruise I went on many years ago, but having choices was awesome, the staff was mostly attentive, appreciated the spa and relaxing especially in the hot saunas and steam rooms!  The shore excursions were excellent, had a few better guides than others but overall really good.  I don't like the 18-21% increase but realize that's what comes with it.  Enjoyed the activities, watching or participating, wish it was warmer for the pool activities but still tried it and was a blast!  ( I dont have pictures downloaded yet to send)  Thank you! 

Everyone onboard and associated with NCL was friendly and helpful. The entertainment was exceptional! We even went to some of the shows twice. We saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Burn the Floor (twice), Cirque de Dreams, Graffiti Classics (excellent), Howl at the Moon (3 nights), and several other musical groups. We found "Taste" restaurant to have best quality and service; wish we would have gone there more. O'Sheehan's food was good but service was very, very slow. We would have loved to see more dancing (professional and amateur) especially in Atrium area. 

The room was nice-size was average. Nicely quiet and the bed was comfortable. 

The excursions were exceptional! We had excellent tour guides and were thrilled with everything we did and saw. We took the excursions "Pisa and Florence on your own", "Monaco and "Monte Carlo", and "Capri, Sorrento, and Pompeii". You don't get to pick your tour guide, but if you get Claudio in Naples (Napoli) you will be in for an educational and fascinating day of some of the most beautiful cities in Italy! 

Unfortunately, our trip even included a visit to the medical facilities (medical issue), but even there, we were seen quickly and appropriately, and the staff was very friendly and professional. 

Overall, when it was time to leave, we couldn't wait to talk about what our next NCL cruise would be! 

As usual it was very nice cruise with NCL. It the 5th time cruising on NCL. The only negative was that shows were repeated but other venues were offering very good entertainment.

The ship itinerary  was amazing . The ship was beautiful, clean. The staff professional ,friendly and helpful . The  food and specialty restaurants were excellent. The only negative was missing not being able to see the last port .

Having done 6 cruises in the past, one of them being with NCL (Hawaii), This was the second to last in overall experience. The ship, although reasonable new, was tacky and the food not really great. Also, the whole Freestyle cruising thing was too casual, border lining a Cancun resort, with too much salsa music going on for an European cruise destination.

I will go back to Royal Caribbean. Sorry NCL.

Overall just average. There were some good and some not so good things about this cruise. The ship is very large and overall nice. It holds 4,100 passengers. The not so good:  The elevators. The elevators do not accommodate the number of passengers and during busy times, generally two are not working. We spent a lot of time waiting for elevators and then only to find them too crowded to enter.  

The shows were wonderful, but you have to get reservations in advance and thus can't really "plan as you go", so much for freestyle cruising. If you don't have reservations, you can generally get in, but must wait in a long line.

The food was pretty good, except at the Garden Cafe Buffet. The up-charge meals were good and the general dining rooms had good food and OK service. The buffet food was not good.

Most of the service staff were good and friendly, but overall there seems to be a bit of a morale problem.

There was always a line for the Service Desk.

I don't think I would go on a ship this large again with so many people. It just didn't provide the atmosphere I enjoy on a cruise ship.

We booked our cruise with very short notice. was a great avenue to get fantastic savings on our cruise. Harry Kroll was EXTREMELY helpful as I have never been to Europe. He was able to provide the guidance that I needed to assure a great trip. I would certainly book again with and Harry Kroll. The cruise itself was AMAZING! We have been on a total of 4 cruises and I would put Norwegian Cruise Lines at the top of the list with Disney Cruise Lines on the lines that we have been on. Both my wife and I enjoy drinking adult beverages :) and we loved the beverage package. I automatically thought that we were going to be limited to the house offering of liquor, but no, we were able to upgrade to top shelf liquor and it was included in the package. In fact, I tried to exceed the limit in many cases, but couldn't do it. I definitely recommend , Harry Kroll and Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We loved all aspects of the cruise.  The ports were great except Palma Majorca. We love NCL and love the service and attitude of the employees.  Their shore excursion pricing is outrageous.

We have done many cruises... and our intent on this trip was to see places and things we had never seen.  The ship was a great way to briefly touch the various ports, cities and sites. The food, entertainment and quality of the ship was very good.  We were happy with the service and the quality.

Our room was very small with a balcony. This did not matter so much to us. We stay in the room only to sleep and dress for our next event. The bathrooms have little privacy ( sliding frosted glass doors).

This was very intense trip for us as we booked a tour at every port. Yes, the tours were very expensive... but we decided it was our best option.   Other people that have been to some cities had other means to get around.  One advantage of the NCL tours was that we had reservations at places like the Vatican and could almost walk right in... the general public was lined up for blocks. 

The excursions were well organized and we felt safe ... (not knowing how to find these attractions)  For many of the sites there was an hour just in 1 way travel... The quality varied depending on tour guides, their accents and our ability to hear/understand over the portable radios. 

We are very pleased with our experience and are taking some down time to recuperate from our vacation! 

everybody had a nice experience, great cruise we had fun nice staff, food was great, entertainment show was great, italy france spain wereallnice places

Took a group 0f 11 people, including 2 first time cruisers and with the recent upgrading of the Epic, we found ourselves spending many evenings at the Cavern, which showcased the Beatles. We saw all 4 shows with a different set the first 3 shows and the placed was packed each night. Don't believe the ship expected the crowds as the band announced that the show was moving to the Epic theater on the next cruise week. The bartender Dino was also awesome and we can't wait to return.

The seven night Western Mediterranean cruise was fantastic. This was my husband's and my first cruise and we could not ask for a better one. The staff was friendly and well organized, the food was excellent, and the entertainment was very good. The ship is so large that even though it was at full capacity it never felt crowded. I loved the free restaurants and our favorite was the Manhattan. We would get there a half hour before it opened (at 5:30 pm) and ask for the back window seat. That way we could watch the ship leave port on most nights. The food was beyond good! 

My only critiques are these: 1) Smoking areas should be far away from public places. We could smell the smoke while we sat in the hot tubs because people would be smoking on the second deck. Also, the casino always smelled of smoke. 2). There should be adult only hot tubs. Children were always running in and out of the hot tubs with excessive splashing. 3) Do not see the Circus of Dreams! I had to pay more for a smaller portion of food (and not as good) than I could have eaten for free. I did choose the regular seats but they were so far under the second ceiling that we could not see a third of the circus which was above our heads. There were many premier seats (15 euros more a ticket) that were under the same ceiling. Those people were not happy. If you really want the best seats you need to pay for the premier seats, get there 45 minutes to an hour early and get the second floor seats (that way you watch the circus below you and you are facing the circus.) All I can say is that the people in our elevator had nothing good to say about their experience.  5) The show Priscilla Queen of the Desert was very sexually suggestive and crass. It was a good production but the subject matter was not family oriented. I know we were warned but I had no idea what the story line was and would not have gone had I known. 

The best show was Burn the Floor. I would have seen it again but it was sold out after we saw it. Wonderful dancing!!!! The two tours we went on were really good (Pisa and Florance on your own and Pompeii). We had a great time and were able to see the sites. We also highly suggest going on the Hop on Hop off buses at each of the stops that you can walk into the port. (Cannes, Palma, Barcelona, and Naples). The bus stops really close to the ship.

We took this cruise for our 35th wedding anniversary. We had so much fun we will not wait another 35 years to take another. I am sold on Norwegian Cruises.

This was our 18th cruise,we have been on most all of the major cruise lines even Norwegian 16 years ago,as of now this will be the last time we use Norwegian....

 Let's start with the room design,worst I have ever been in,no  privacy whatsoever. While cruise ships bathrooms are well known for being small most do offer a much higher level of function and privacy,I don't like the fact of having to shave and finish getting ready in the middle of the bedroom that's where the sink is....our room steward was great.

Worst service we ever had in the main dining room and food not any better,we did find one of the secondary restaurants that the food was better,and service also.Be prepared if you go to the specialty dining restaurants we paid $29.95 per person for one of the  specialty restaurants which thay added on 18% gratuity a 10% value added tax and thay had a place on the bill for more  gratuities  and we have already paid $180 in prepaid gratuities our 59$ dinner came to 79 dollars..

 We have also never been on the ship where you've had to pre-book all your entertainment  there are too many people on that ship so they can't handle open seating which most cruise lines do.

I will say thay kept the ship very clean and it is nicely decorated,the  itinerary was wonderful but in general the service was terrible and the food not so good and it feels like they're trying to ding you for every thing thay can...

This was our fifth cruise but the first on Norwegian and hands down the best cruise ever.  The food was excellent and the ports of call were just great. The most outstanding was the crew they went above and beyond  on every aspect of service.  I would recommend Norwegian cruise in Europe to all my friends.  

Just returned from a fantastic cruise on the Norwegian Epic.  Clean comfortable ship, friendly crew, great food, interesting itenery.  Called Norwegian direct and did noot like the quote.   saved me over $400.00.  

Arrived 2 days before the cruise and visited monserat.Embarkation was very quick on the ship to our inside cabin ready done [Here i must thank Richie Malik for his choice of my cabin as usual.This was my 2nd time on epic].Left our hand laguage and to the garden cafe.Had lunch to reception to deposit on my account.Unpacked and back to deck 15 to relax.Ship is spotless,friendly staff and met the cruise director Pedro from theJade.very nice guy.Variaty of food at the garden cafe and taste restaurant,entertainment, comedian,and bands are all excellent.Done already 2cabin deposit for the next cruise.

The cruise was one of the most memorable vacations I have taken.  The food and service was excellent.  The shore excursions were very educational, using local your guides.

My wife and I travel a lot and this was one of our favorite vacation trips. We have done all the eastern and western Caribbean Cruises. After our last one we decided we would only cruise where the ports were independently places we would go to as a destination place. This Norwegian Western European Cruise fit that criteria.The ship was really nice and the food and entertainment was high quality. We would definitely cruise on that ship again with different port tours.

This had to be one of the best cruises I've ever been on!  I must say I was not onboard the ship much but the shore excursions were the best!  The architecture in Spain and Italy is mind boggling to say the least!  To think how long ago these buildings were built without the aid of all the tools and machines we have now, well it's amazing!  I was asked what my favorite part of the cruise was - I don't think I can pick one part, it was all beautiful!  The Amalfi Coast was beautiful - the Vatican & the Sistine Chapel was a sight to behold - Monaco was gorgeous - I loved every excursion we took!  I would take this cruise again in a heartbeat!

I have been on several cruises before (all Disney/Big Red Boat and Royal Caribbean) and really enjoyed this cruise. The multiple areas, activities, bars, and restaurants were a real treat for us in regards to taking care of our "down time" onboard between cruise locations. 

The staff was friendly, but there were few that were really excited to be helping us it seemed. The food was ok, but there were a ton of choices, and the locations and excursion choices were great. 

Our biggest issue was the lack of communication or knowledge of what was going on. Here are a few instances: 

1. We had the UBP (Ultimate Beverage Package) and you still get a receipt with a "charge" on it after every drink you order... when you arrive and get your first drink, you feel like you're getting charged and your UBP isn't working-- causing some worry on my part. 

2. We have the 4UDP (4 Meal Ultimate Dining Package) as well and did not get an itinerary or list of the restaurants and times we had pre-chosen before arriving on the ship.

3. To compound with #2 above, when we arrived on the ship, everything stated that we were on the 5th day (even though we were on our first, essentially giving us the exact same information as the Barcelona boarders) and the information provided on the APP and through the team was only good up until that last date and then started over with the rest of the information on the next boarding of the Barcelona group. This really made us feel like we were second class to them. Cruise experiences (especially free-style cruising) should feel like it's tailored to each group of people arriving on board. 

4. Departing was difficult in Rome if you wanted to do an excursion as well. The staff wasn't quite sure how to handle this (since we weren't doing an excursion that had a set non-port drop off location) and the information provided on getting to the train station from the port was also unclear. We had to go through 3 different people to figure out what luggage tags we needed and we ended up having to talk to our tour guide and porters in order to really figure out what we needed to do in order to get to where we needed AFTER the excursion. 

5. The app/TV was helpful on what was going on onboard and with your account, but again, like #3, only gave you the Barcelona timeline information. 

6. The additional gratuities and service charges for meals/drinks/shows were not conveyed and described as well as they should have been ahead of time. When choosing our meal package, we were not fully aware that there would be an additional service charge billed with each meal we sat down to be served for (including "free" meals at TASTE & Manhattan Room) and the additional 18% gratuity already included in drink costs/meal costs was also quite confusing as to whether we should tip additionally or not and felt like we were obligated to anyways. 

Overall, we'll definitely cruise like Norwegian's again (it was awesome and we love the fast you wake up in a new location without the hassle of traveling via air/rail/bus)-- but I really think the communication level needs to increase between the cruise line and it passengers on what is to be expected in terms of costs, process of boarding and disembarking, etc.