Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I had a great time on my Mediterranean cruse.  I would highly recommend Norwegian cruise lines.  My flight from the US was cancels so I had to meet the ship in the second port.  They handled it very well.  I was credited for offshore tours I had booked. 

I recommend purchasing day tours ahead of time.  They are much cheaper.  I also recommend the food add on.  It general buffet was busy and can always eat there, but this option allowed me to eat in all the restaurants with no extra cost.

Norwegian also has studios on some of their ships.  If you are traveling also I highly recommend this.  You don't have to pay extra for traveling along.  If you want to meet people they have a get together each evening at 6 or 6:30.  Nice place to meet people

We loved this cruise.  Food was great, room was great, excursions were great.  But, entertainment on board was fairly lousy.  For those who wanted something other than just a place to eat, there was a jazz club, a piano bar, a comedy club, and a karaoke bar.  None of them were great.  The music in the piano bar and jazz club was mediocre at best.  The comedy talent was not very talented.  And the karaoke bar reminded us of a small town strip club (very tacky design, with actual beds in certain parts of the seating area).  These onboard activities are all great in theory but, in our opinion, were executed poorly.  Also, some of the bartenders in some of the bars were not the friendliest people.  We talked to some people on board who loved all of this stuff, but we definitely didn't.

Overall the Epic is a great ship.  I have been on a bunch of cruises before, this was my first with Norwegian.  While I did like the freestyle cruising concept, the one disadvantage I experienced was that each time we dined, we had a different server.  On previous cruises, we had one wait staff and they got to know us and that to me was a better experience.  I did hear one couple request a waiter so maybe on future cruises we can do the same.  The food was excellent.  Better than previous cruises.  I'm not sure if this is based on the region we cruised in or the cruise line.  The entertainment was good.  My only complaint is that on previous experiences we had a new act every night and on this cruise it was the same 4 acts over and over again.  Having said that, the quality of entertainment was better.  We had excellent tour guides and the excursions were fantastic.  Tough to beat a European vacation!

The Norwegian Epic had a great looking cabin but some of the space was not very practical.  It looks as if it is newly decorated but some of the details were not passenger friendly such as the lights over the vanity were very dim.  There is a small pull out ledge on which to put your tray if you order room service but there is only one ledge and only one stool for a cabin with two passengers which means one person will have to eat in the bed.  There is also a charge for breakfast room service if you order anything that is not listed in the complimentary menu such as eggs!!   I was also disappointed in that we attended one onboard show which was supposed to be complimentary but we were charged for it on our final bill.  One other disappointment was the adults pool which was very small, maybe a 12 -20 capacity, if that;  the water was also around bath temperture.  But a very pretty ship.

The cruise was overall very good and the boat was overall very good.  

Pros:  Clean, good food, lots of options for entertainment and eating, friendly staff.

Cons:  If you intend to do Rome on your own, there is a shuttle to a parking lot where you have to get another shuttle to the train station.  Its horrible.  Taxi's won't take you - so just be aware of that.  Cagney's on the boat is not the best steak on the boat.  You would think, since its the steakhouse it would be - but we had better steaks in the main dining room.  

Our Epic cruise began July 1 in Rome and ended there on July 8. The massive ship (world's fifth largest) is operated with remarkable efficiency considering it can hold 5100 people which it came close to on our voyage. The ship embarks and disembarks in both Rome and Barcelona, which enables passengers a quick entry or exit in whichever port they choose. In other words, 5000 people are not doing the same thing at the same time. Barcelona embarks about 2/3 of the guests on average. It is a beautiful and well organized vessel. There are plenty of dining options and so as to make eating as peaceful as possible. On days at sea however, one feels the enormity of the guest list. 

The food was the most mediocre we have ever experienced on a cruise ship which is no surprise considering how many people need feeding at all different times. This was our 18th cruise by the way.The speciality restaurants weren't much better than the main dining rooms with the exception of Cagney's Steakhouse. 

The entire staff was wonderful, remembering our names and preferences and always greeting us with a smile. Considering most are on board 9 months at a time, we found this remarkable.

The pools are small, crowded and noisy. Why can't cruise ships offer decent pools? The adult pool was the size of a hot tub, and the water was not refreshing. There were plenty of lounge chairs, although most had no shade protection. As this was a summer cruise, kids were everywhere. If you are considering taking a summer trip on Epic, be prepared to spend a week with a lot of other people's families. Peace is hard to find.

Our mini suite with balcony was wonderful. A tremendous use of space with tons of storage. Brilliant design. The divided bathroom might put some people off in terms of privacy, but we have been married 17 years, so privacy is not a priority. The bed was quite short, and we are average heights, but the bedding was very comfortable.

We found little to do after dinner except gamble. Many evening adult activities are by reservation, and we didn't want to feel tied down. We wished for more adult-only nightclubs for dancing. This was our biggest complaint.

The Epic is going into dry dock in Fall for a month for upgrades and general service. It will come back even more attractive and perfect for those who can tolerate the goods and bads of a small, floating city.

Trip of a lifetime!  Great experience.

Beautiful boat with exceptional amenities.

Our only suggestions would be:

1.  H2O adult area needs to remain adult-only to later than 6pm.  Understand the need for family movie time, but movies didn't start until 7:30 for the most part.

2.  H2O area would be stripped of lounge chairs, beginning around 6pm.  Floor area surely needs this, but the upper levels should remain untouched as many passengers wanted to continue "lounging" well past 6pm.

3.  Should offer a wider selection of food options around the clock.  The Irish/Scottish bar is inadequate for late in the nights.

4.  Need more comedy acts.

Really, it's just little things mentioned in the suggestions ... but the little things can go a long way.

The cruise was everything! The unlimited beverage and dining packages should definitely be purchased. The specialty restaurants were fun and different and were just enough to eat something different every night. Get up and out early once you hit the Roma port! You have to catch a train, which is about 1:10 hour long ride to get to Rome/Vatican and then make sure you make it back in time for the last ride to the ship!! We did the Pisa Tour/Tuscan wine & lunch excursion which was fantastic. The food was awesome! Didn't have enough time to get into any of the Pisa highlights, long wait lines, but walking around taking pictures was fun. The suite was nice, The Haven was nicer!! Definitely will be our next choice.

OMG!!! What a ship. What a room. Entertainment was fantastic. Dining WoW. The customer satisfaction of the people the worked there was phenominal. Can't wait till next year to do it again.

When we went on our cruise the staff was excellent.  They went above and beyond to make sure we were well taken care of.  Our housekeeper did a great job cleaning the room and making checking back to make sure we didn't need anything.  All the staff made sure our every need was met.  They worked very hard to ensure that we felt pampered on our vacation.

este crucero es mejor de lo que las criticas dicen, fuimos a ITALIA DESDE BARCELONA, IAS COMIDAS ESTAN MUY BIEN, TODO LIMPIO, , BASTANTE BUEN SERVICIO, ESPACIOSO, UN POCO CARO, LO RECOMIENDO POR QUE NO TEDA 7 DIAS PARA DISFRUTAR EL BARCO....

This cruise is must for the entire family! We enjoyed the ship, food and all ports visited. I would recommend this cruise to anyone who enjoys having fun, visiting foreign counties and trying new foods.

My extended family of 13 had the most wonderful time celebrating my parents 50th Anniversary on Norwegian Epic in the Mediterranean. The Norwegian staff is amazing, area able to see assist with every need, and help to make the trip the easiest vacation one could have. I highly recommend Norwegian Cruise Line.

We enjoy this trip a lot. Very Good destination. Food was great, cabins small but clean and looks nice. A lot of different activities. Shows could be better - very short.

Palma Majorka destination stay could be longer - 4 hours  very little time.

the cruise was exactly what I expected. Rooms were nice (I had a balcony) and well taken care of. The ship was clean and staff was generally very pleasant and helpful. I upgraded all of my dinners, which I highly suggest if you don't want to feel like you are being fed with the masses or rushed through. Embarking/disembarking was easy and all ports had some form of transportation to local train station or city center. We did one excursion, but any port can be accessed on your own.

We just disembarked from the Norwegian Epic cruise and it was just an excellent experience!! The cruise was very clean, the service was fantastic, the food was super good and the ship itself has a lot of nice activities and things to do.  There are so many dinning alternatives, that we did not have enough time to try them all.  But the ones we did, were of excellent quality.  The water park is very nice and the ambiance was great!!  We went with our kids and they really enjoyed it.  The only thing we would have changed is the size of the stateroom. We had a balcony stateroom for a family of four (two adults and two kids) and we were a little tight  in there.  So, next time I rather stay in two separate rooms.  We had cruised before with other lines and this was our first time with Norwegian and it turned out that this is now our favorite cruise line.  I would definitely recommend the Norwegian Epic!

There as no problem with the security process in embarkation and disembarkation on the cruise.  Debarking at ports was very easy as long as you had your cruise card----it was used for everything debarking, food, beverage and using the room number for incidentals was very easy.  The fitness area on the cruise ship had every piece of exercise equipment you could think of----easy way to maintain your weight with this fitness room.  They had fitness activities going on every day, although my husband and I were touring every day so could only use once we boarded the ship after tour, if time was available.  We used it on one full day of sailing and when we returned early from one of the tours.  Our steward, Rafael, was superb!  He was friendly, knew our names as he greeted us, replenished everything in the room and make cute little creatures with our towel.  The specialty restaurants - Teppanyakki, Moderno, Le Bistro and Cagneys --- we had wonderful service and delicious food.  La Cucina was moderate.  I enjoyed the Dueling Piano Bar group----those three individuals were very talented---could sing, and all of them could play the drums and piano, plus Tobin could play in addition to those two instruments the bass guitar and violin.  They were fantastic and very interactive with the audience.  If there were songs they could only remember some of the words, they adlib the rest----amazing three guys---huge KUDOS to them!!!!!  I thoroughly enjoyed Scott singing just like Louis Armstrong and Kermit the Frog singing Rainbow Connection.  The other show was the Supreme Dreamgirls - singing Motown songs and interacting with the audience.  All three had great voices!!!  My husband and I also visited the ICE BAR---10 degrees and had two drinks that kept us warm----lots of fun!   This ship had a lot to do on it and if you could not find something to do, then it is the person's fault.  The captain was on time to every port.  The tenders were waiting for you as long as you booked a tender in advance.  We had a cabin with a balcony and could not believe all the storage room we had.   I would definitely cruise on NCL again.   the only think I would like to have been able to print out an itinerary for the shows we booked.  It was indicated to me they were trying to save paper, however, for every drink and meal 2 or 3 sheets of paper had to be signed, which seemed a little ridiculous! Also, we paid for gratuities in advance and then found out from our steward that he never received anything so we left him a gratuity.  I probably would not pay for that in advance again.

I can't say enough about my first cruise experience.   It was the best vacation I have ever had.   The crew were so wonderful and provided the best customer service I have ever experienced.   I am also grateful to the Skymile cruise folks that help me select the most cost effective cruise.    The only thing I wished for more was to spend a little more time in each location because I couldn't do all the things I wanted.  

This cruise worth every penny of it. We love the services that Norwegian

cruise line provided. 5 meals a days, 2 dining restaurants, breakfast

buffets, 24 hr snacks, ect...GOOD FOOD !!!. Shore excursions are 

very good. I would recommend this cruise.

The ship and itinerary (Barcelona, Naples (Pompeii), Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (pisa/Florence), Cannes (Nice, Monte Carlo), and Palma Mallorca were fantastic. The epic is a fantastic vessel, my girlfriend and I booked an interior cabin and the room was more than sufficient. While the quarters are tight, every bit of space is taken advantage of wisely. Our service in every part of the ship was first class all the way. The food was fantastic in all of the complimentary restaurants. There is always something to do on the ship, whether you want to party the night away or just relax.

We also were able to go to all of the ports and see all of the sights on our own without booking any shore excursions. While seeing the better parts of a port like Rome in only a few hours independently is slightly stressful it IS doable if you're savvy and willing to embrace public transit and ask questions.

Great experience overall and I wouldn't hesitate to sail the NCL Epic again soon.