Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

First off, let me say that my wife and I have been on 3 previous cruises together, all on Holland America ships.  So a number of things were different, some good, some not so good.

On the positive side, we did enjoy the wider variety of food options, and having the option to dress up or go casual was nice.  We hadno complaints about the food, although we both felt that the food in our previous Holland America cruises was a little better.

We also liked having more entertainment options and, in general, the entertainment was good.  The tribute to The Four Seasons was great, although we both felt that the Second City performance was just so-so.

The service we received from our cabin steward and in all of the restaurants was good.  We had no complaints.  However, this was another area in which we both felt that the service aboard Holland America ships is a notch above what we experienced on the Epic.

My wife and I are middle-aged (late 40's and mid 50's) and we both prefer a more subdued atmosphere, but of course that's not everyone's preference.  There were a lot of activities available, many of which cater to a younger clientele, and I'm sure that a lot of folks were happy with that aspect of the cruise.

For us, there were 2 things that we really wish we could have changed. 

The first was the crowds.  The Epic is a very large ship with about 4,000 passengers.  At times, you had to fight the crowds for seating by the pool or in the restaurants.  And it seemed like the elevators were usually crowded.  The Holland America ships that we had cruised on previously were nearly as big as the Epic, but with only about 1,900 passengers.  So they were much less-crowded.

The second was the lack of smoking areas.  We both understand the health concerns of non-smokers and very much respect the rights of non-smokers.  However, there were only a couple of areas on the ship in which smoking was allowed.  As a result, they were just about always crowded.  On our previous cruises, we had made use of our balcony to smoke, which made it convenient and private for us and also minimized any impact to non-smokers.  I had booked a Balcony stateroom on this cruise, primarily to be able to use the balcony to smoke.  However, prior to the cruise, Norwegian changed the rules so that smoking on balconies was no longer allowed.  We both wish that Norwegian would have given us the option to switch a cabin without a balcony at a lower cost.

All in all, we enjoyed the cruise.  As far as recommending the Epic, I think it really depends upon what you're looking for.  If you want a big ship with lots of different dining and entertainment options and a party atmosphere, and you don't mind the crowds, then I think that you would enjoy the Epic.  However, if you would prefer a less crowded environment with a more low-key atmosphere, then I think that either a smaller ship or a cruise line such as Holland America would be a better option for you.

NCL is charging extra for almost everything on this cruise even entertainment. It has really gotten out of control. You could really run up a bill if your not careful. Toilets not working and sewer smell did not help the experience. Did enjoy the ports of call but only 1 was booked with NCL. Most of the staff seemed really unhappy. Not many smiles to be found. Pool bar staff and my room steward were very nice.

All in all it was very nice. For me it was to many people because on sea days you could not find a chair near the pool unless up by 8am. Pools very crowded. Food was very good and service was very good.

The service was excellent, however, the decor was dated! Not enough outdoor spaces, Deck 15 overcrowded!  We cruised previously on the NCL Getaway and there is not comparison with the NCL Epic, even though this is the Flagship.  We found the NCL Getaway more pleasing for a more relaxed atmosphere without over crowding and Deck 15 ...............

Not my best cruise experience, but was quite enjoyable.

The best entertainment offers were too expensive. Thankfully, good free entertainment was available. The balcony stateroom was quite cramped... the sink was barely large enough to wash hands in., no reclining lounge chairs. Public bathroom equipment was partially functioning and were lacking in cleanliness as a rule. Other than that it was good enough that I would consider another cruise with NCL.

Recently returned from a 7 day cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.... it was Awesome !  I've had over a dozen cruises with Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess, this was my first NCL as was the Celebrity.  Celebrity has the others beat in all respects.

We just arrived from a 7 days cruise on board the Norwegian Epic. With  Ports of calls Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. It was our first time with Norwegian. 

Comparing it with other Cruise lines we have travel with before such as Disney Cruise, Royal Caribbean, and Carnival. Norwegian Epic come in last Place.

Here is why...

Keep in mind I have a Wheel Chair Accessible room which I have to pay more from the start for a room that is suitable for my needs. This room in comparison to the other mentioned Cruise Lines is much smaller. The hall ways are very narrow making it difficult to get around specially when housekeeping carts are out.

The Staff never has a clear answer to basic ship information, The food was the same all through the 7 days. Now that gets old real quick. 

The shows were aimed for the real Senior Gusts with 60's Music

The Pools including the adults pools were Extremely Small.

****Note**** If you are wheelchair bound be aware of the word "Tender" At the time We booked the cruise they told us about Tendering to Grand Cayman which you will assume they have everything set for their Handicap Guests.

It wasn't to the night before arriving to Grand Cayman that we were told that unless Grand Cayman's Tender service was available I may not be able to get off on The Island because their own tenders you will need to actually go down (walk on your own) a flight of Stairs. Keep in mind we paid for 3 Islands or Ports of Call to get off on and know you are told You may have to stay on board because we can't offer you a way off the ship. "Really" Why was we not told at time of booking Specially when requesting and paying extra for a Wheelchair Accessible room?

If I were you I  would really consider some other line before Norwegian.

Hope our review help you while booking your next cruise.

The only good thing was the food.employees were miserable, ship didn't have anything compared to carnival. I would never ever go with that company ever again.The ship smelled like mildew. They cut off TV and electricity after midnight the day before you leave.

This cruise was for my honeymoon! It was pityful! Bland entertainment, 5000+ people on board with only 4 sets of elevators, bland food, all services were an upsale, not all inclusive at all, adult areas were not enforced, overcharged for excursions, just to name a few issues with it. Not to mention that my balcony stateroom was smaller than the interior stateroom on my last cruise.  All this on what they said was the 4th largest cruise ship in the world.  What a waste!!!!

NCL EPIC is great - not only in dimensions, but in service, amenities, excursions offered and organized, almost nothing to complain about.

The only drawback of a big ship - rather difficult to disembark when not docking to the pier (using small boats instead).  That was a real frustration.

Other than that - no problems, very pleasant trip. There were 3 of us - my wife, grandson of almost 9yrs old and me. Thus - very limited nightlife experience, extremely extensive early morning experience (thanks to our grandkid). But, even though we with my wife are two owls, we still had a very pleasant time - so much things to do with kid. Everything is clean and convenient. Pool areas, slides, various sports and games, shops, etc...

First day felt a bit crowded (4K passengers, if I am correct), all roaming around - which is understandable. However, from next day on - all was pretty normal, like on any other (smaller) cruise ship.

Specialty restaurants are OK, but this ship/cruise just confirmed my previous observations - stay with standard (complimentary) restaurants and buffet and you will be just fine. No ship's steakhouse can beat NYC Old Homestead, for example. Two main restaurants are surprisingly non-packed, nicely decorated, with gorgeous windows (and views from them). Food was great, service as well. Wine selection is the same in ALL restaurants (special or complimentary), can not tell of all, but wines we had were fine.

It was our second time on NCL, but first time with the kid, so - hard to compare. This cruise is very well suited for people with kids. It even has something like a latch-key (called Splash Academy). Our kid all the time refused to go (although he is very much social), however on the last day he went there and we could not get him back till it closed - he wanted to stay there. Obviously, he had fun.

I can not tell about GYM (although, it was big): kids under 16 are not allowed, I had no time to go there alone.

We have balcony, which is rather big (compare to other ships). We always trying to have it and always underutilize it. Nevertheless - nice to sit there and look at see or night sky.

Very good bathtub!!! better than on any other ship (Holland America Zuiderdam has the same, but NCL feels better, cleaner, newer).

Separate toilet room. Although, it is separated by the glass door/wall from the suit itself, not much of advantage, but still - some privacy.

Excursions were well organized, but again: if not first time with the kid, we would use a taxi to the beach as we usually do. Or, better yet - would stay on the ship to have all the ship to ourselves (almost). 

Final disembarkation was charming! Including the bus to MIA airport.

Overall - we can not stop re-living it, and already thinking of the same (contingent kid's availability).

Very enjoyable experience. Great family vacation.

I like the itinerary, the food was great. Our cabin was very comfortable. Great location of our cabin. It was quiet. Corridors were quiet too. Shore excursions were fun and very well organized. We did three excursions: Jamaica, Cozumel and Everglades and we had a great time, they were worth the money we paid.

Entertaining was not too good. The bluemen show was canceled and we had only two different shows for seven nights! Every cruise I have done we had a different show each night.

Blue Man Group was a big reason that we booked this cruise and they were not performing on the ship, despite the fact they were advertising for it during the cruise!!!!  Way too many people on the ship led to very poor food.  We have cruised Norweigian almost exclusively since trying all the cruise lines and this food was by far the poorest of any cruise we had taken.  No variety from day to day, same selections in the same spots at the same times the entire cruise.  Very disappointing, we had a good time but I would never go on another large Norweigian Ship again.  The last comment I would make is that it seemed like everything on the ship was "extra", from the cover charge on the Ice bar, to Cirque show costing $40 to having to make reservations for anything that you wanted to do because of the massive amounts of people sailing with you.  The people also outnumbered the staff significantly, could not get drinks or service easily.  The line for guest services was "normally" around an hour.

I would not cruise from the Port on Miami, parking is $20 per day.  I have cruised on other ships and find the Epic holds to many people for the ships design.  There are only three little pools that only hold about 15-20 people and when you have 4000 its not fun.  I found my self having to wait in line constantly on this whip and that's not my idea of a vacation.  I would not cruise this ship again but I would cruise with Norwegian.

The Blue Man Group was the only reason that I booked with Norwegian.  I booked over a year in advance and received emails almost daily from Norwegian over every little thing.  They did not seem to be concerned to notify people that The Blue Man Group did not renew with Norwegian and would no longer be onboard.  I purchased the Ultimate Dining package for all of us and was sadly disappointed in that also.  It took so long for our dinner each night that we missed what few shows were available.  We tried to make our online reservations online before the cruise but that option was not available.  The first day aboard, the reservations system was messed up.  Our room key cards did not work half the time and we would be locked out.  The art gallery people were extremely pushy.  Our room did not get cleaned everyday and on the days it was cleaned, it was close to evening when it was done.  Twice, we had to ask for towels because our room steward removed the dirty ones and did not leave clean ones.  All in all, this was the absolute worst cruise I have ever taken.  Never again, will I take a Norwegian cruise.

The Norwegian Epic is a beautiful ship with excellent service.  It is filled with areas and activities for children.  I would have loved to take this cruise when my kids were young.  However, we traveled without children and found the areas for adults to be somewhat limited.  The Spice H20 area for adults is nice but has a very, very small pool.  The other pools were so filled with kids you couldn't move in them.  Some of the activities, such as Howl at the Moon, which were were intended for adults, were also attended by children with their parents.  Kids had fun on the ship by pressing all the elevator buttons, making the elevators stop at every floor.  We woke up almost daily to some new food item thrown on our balcony from an upper balcony.   This is no fault of the ship's crew, just consequences of being so attractive to families. 

We sailed on the Celebrity Summit last year and will probably go back to Celebrity after this trip.  While there were some kids on board, most of the activities were more appealing to adults, limiting the number of families.  

The ship itself is beautiful.  It is well maintained and spotless.  The cabin's have an unusual layout but still quite functional.  We found additional storage spaces in the cabin for about 3 days.  We loved the bars and the variety of restaurants on board.  

Although it was a good experience for our boys, it was very disturbing to discover that you had to pay to bowl and the video games for the kids cost and to play pool cost as well.

I was very excited to board the Norwegian Epic because I heard so many great things to do while on the ship and that it was going to be an excellent experience. Boy was I in for a treat. 85% of the time spent on the ship I spent in my stateroom. For one the Blue Man group event was replaced with a show I never heard of "Oh what a night" and although the guys did a great job performing the show was fairly boring and not entertaining. The food was HORRIBLE!!!! Every morning we ate the same thing (burnt French toast, watery eggs, dried fruits and greasy bacon etc..). The food remained under a hot light until the point it will crack your tooth if you weren't careful. The staff we not that pleasant and the daily itinerary was shameful. This ship only catered to the smoking, kids and old casino heads. Nothing for the young adults to do myself. Everyday I was hoping something interesting would be printed but there wasn't. I think I was more happy to get off the boat when we got to our excursions than being on the boat itself. I will never book another cruise with Norwegian nor will I recommend this cruise line to any of my friends or family.  

We decided to sail on Norwegian after a couple of cruises with Carnival. We expected an overall upgrade due to the higher price. We did enjoy the entertainment on Norwegian. It would have been even better if they had not cancelled the Blue Man group the week before we sailed. They did not see fit to replace it with any other headliner. We paid $49 extra per person for the Cirque Dreams and Dinner show and it was worth it. The food quality was a 6 out of 10 and the service was 3 out of 10. Half of the waiters were OK, and half acted like they despised you and their jobs. Plus, the bartenders were either rude or ignored you most of the time. I think Norwegian is trying to push their upgraded dining choices by making the standard option undesirable. We got much better food and service on Carnival. The rooms were also hard to navigate. Our balcony was great, but very hard to get to because of the bed placement (you only had 12 inches of clearance between the bed and the dresser). The ship is nice and big, but most of the extra room is space for shopping and the casino. We will probably go with Royal Caribbean or Disney next time.

Even though we upgraded to a mini suite space on this ship within the rooms is very tight.  While the styling is attractive to look at, the function is less than desirable.  Storage if very narrow due to the design -- not enough rooms for shirts and slacks to lay flat on shelves.

The most uncomfortable part of this cabin was the bathroom.  It is extremely odd to enter a cabin through the bathroom with the shower on one side, toilet on the other and the sink open to the cabin.  It is embarrassing if room service is ordered.  It is impossible for one passenger to get up and allow others to continue sleeping.

I would not use this type of cabin again -- even though it was a mini suite.

The studio room is fabulous and the food was superb, but the staff was not on their game at all. They were not prompt with anything - I actually had to remind them that I was on vacation and shouldn't have to ask more than 3x to fix something broken (my cabinet broke at least 4x while I was there). They also will give you a hard time when you request your sheets to be clean. If you need directions, good luck! The staff will point "go there" and you are still wondering where "there" is.... Lazy staff... Poor experience. 

My three sisters, their spouses, my husband and I cruised on the Norwegian Epic March 29 through April 5 and had the time of our life. We enjoyed the ship and all it had to offer as well as the excursions we went on once we docked. There are many specialty restaurants aboard. We ate at most of them and enjoyed ourselves. The shows were great as well, especially The Legend. Everyone was so nice and the people aboard were very friendly as well. This was the best cruise yet. The ship is huge and I look forward to future trips aboard the Norwegian Epic.

Excellent!!!!!!