Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Get the ultimate dining experience and go to Moderno, the Brazilian bbq. Make sure to book your excursions beforehand bc they all go up at least $20 per person. Room service is not free. There is a$12.95 service fee per person.

This was our (Myself, Husband, son-7, son-3, son-10mo and Mother-in-Law) second run on the NCL Epic.  Our fist we went to the Eastern Carrib (St. Marteen, St. Thomas, Nassau).  We preferred the itinerary way more on this one.  However, the Epic was brand new the last time we went, and in only a 1.5 years later, it's starting to show its age a little (minor - magnet on sitting area in room broken; kids pool area leaking water; small rust spots showing).  Also, the Legends in Concert was no where near the same level it was the first time.  The entertainers themselves we fine, but the crowd was NOT engaged at all.  Stark contrast to the first time I saw the show.  Some of the kids entertainment conflicted with the port times.  The food was great in both the free places as well as the specialty dining.  Overall the room and the service of the people were great, the ports were great and we still had a FAB time.  We would recommend this cruise - just try to avoid Spring Break crowd if you are cruising with the family.

Positives:  Cabin layout, storage, veranda, attractiveness very good.  Food excellent especially in Le Bistro and Cagney's.  Variety of activities for our teenagers excellent.  Cabin steward pleasant and accommodating. Deck 18 and 19 sun decks nice.  Restaurant service very good.  Availability of seating in very busy Garden Cafe no problem.  Ease of embarkation and disembarkation at stops and cruise end outstanding.

Negatives: Terrible experience with dine-around package accounting.  Had four dine-around packages as part of promotion from Cruises Only and purchased two more months prior to cruise for total of six.  At various venues we were told we had either four, five or six packages.  Some fees were charged--others waived by restaurant.  Went to finance dept. to assure no wrongful charges on next to last day of cruise.  Found that there were $80 in remaining charges.  Sent to cabin to recover my receipt from NCL for six packages, which fortunately I brought with me.  Was being helped by an unfriendly man named Samuel.  This took over an hour.  At the end of that time it was ascertained that the system had inaccurately recorded our packages but he--Samuel-- would straighten it out as he had my documentation in hand.  He asked where we were dining that night and said that he would see to it that there were no charges.  What he saw to was that we were charged for four fees--double any previous problem.  It took another hour for me to have a lovely lady in customer service remove all charges, including the Samuel induced ones, but only possible by issuing a credit against my prepaid gratuities.  This incident ruined the trip for me as I almost became ill from the effort to control my anger.   Next negative--there is no quiet place on the ship other than one's own veranda.  There is lots of noise everywhere including the library which is open to casino, bars etc.  Next,Third bed in mini suite odd shaped, short and uncomfortable sofa--not well thought out.   Mini suite small but clever planning makes it acceptable.  Food in Shanghai restaurant not nearly up to excellence of other special dining venues.  Quality of entertainment at two show venues--Epic theater--fair to poor.  Comedy club--beyond terrible.  Itinerary of three days at sea then three consecutive days of stops not ideal.

Systems should be designed to make guest experience smooth and pleasant.  If one doesn't work there should be an effective way for someone at a senior level to override it.  While our cruising experience is limited we found this ship to be geared much more toward extracting dollars from passengers than any other that we have been on.  There is little ability to just relax on the Epic though on our voyage there was a substantial minority of older guests.  Norwegian has the mechanics of feeding huge numbers of guests well and getting them on and off the ship down to a science.  They need to improve their entertainment, better train their staff in courtesy and efficiency and program for all varieties of customers which they will certainly have among 4,000 passengers.

We've been on several cruises.  We have to young boys.  Last time on NCL was 15 years ago in Alaska.

Norwegian has the best food.  I will give them that.  Other than the watered down sauces, the food, especially the premium food is very good.

Blue Man Group, Nick, and  the Circus Shows were good.  Not Disney good, but good.

My main source of disappointed was the boat was very crowded, the staff was averagely attentive, and the ship wasn't kept as clean as it could be.  I would say NCL feel below Carnival on all accounts (and I'm comparing the larger, newer NCL Epic to the older smaller Carnival Legend; we have also sailed on the Disney Fantasy).  You pay a premium for NCL over Carnival, and other than the food being marginally better, it wasn't worth the upcharge.  It also felt that the boat was under staffed.  You also had a lot of the same people you find on Carnival (which, is really my only knock on Carnival) on NCL.  You don't find these people on Disney, or Disney has lesser folks and higher prices so they getting weeded out.

Don't count on the water slides, rock wall, and bungee being open on sea days.  Mostly, they were closed due to wind.  Nature, no, turn the tv on and you will see the ship is doing 20 knots on these days.  The weather was perfect, the boat speed created the wind.

Getting an elevator is near impossible.  Learned a trick the last day.  Hold the button down of the floor you are going to, and the elevators on the Epic bypass every floor on their way up or down.  Nice, now I know why we sat watching elevators pass up left and right lol.

Not selling Disney, although everyone with pre-teen kids should do at least one Disney Cruise.......but thinking we will try Royal Caribbean next.  I wouldn't go out of my way to get back on NCL, even if prices were equal, I think it would be a toss up between NCL and Carnival.

Well, it rather be a 2 star. This was our worst cruise out of 5.

First a shorter list of what was good. Cabin was OK, food was good, specialty restaurants are very good. Rock climbing, slides, bowling, games, casino, hot tubs, shops are all good. Crew is nice and helpful.

Not good: entertainment is limited, some required extra payments, some shows were really bad. Slides, rock climbing are open only limited time. Elevators are slow, no soap, no conditioner, no iron, no pen. WC in room are noisy, bath has not much privacy. Internet use is expensive, not much information is given. We left a bathing suit accidentally in restroom which was stolen by an attendant so we have to buy one on ship (everything is expensive, excursions are too). Ship is kind of ugly, looks like a cargo ship from front and rear.

I mostly enjoyed this cruise but sometimes felt like I was trapped at sea. I guess 7 days was too much for my first cruise. I enjoyed the countries but hated coming off at the ports because so many vendors are just lying in wait to bombard all the tourists they know are coming off the ship. it was overwhelming at times. The Cozumel port was the absolute worst because they dropped us off so far from the beach that we had to take a 20-min taxi ride there, ugh.

The only dislike I had was that of the people like me watching the shows being pulled to be part of the show and displayed on stage for the other peoples entertainment. I and many others told me that happened on two of the shows where I had to leave on one for that reason. I cruise every year and my next cruise I take will be of checking the entertainment where I can enjoy the show by there talent and not being in fear that I will be picked to go in front of all those people against my will. Glenn Gagne

We enjoyed the cruise.  We are more fans of the port days than the sea days.  Starting off with two caused some troubles for us at the beginning in that our kids were constantly wanting to be entertained by us and did not want to go to the kids program provided.  We forced them on the second sea day and they had a good time but never returned.  The entertainment was good.  Blue man group was great!  The legend of music was good.  I paid for premium seating at the Cirque dinner and we had the back table without a view (It wasn't good).  Get there early as everyone was seated and eating when we showed up 15 minutes early.

Ports:  Ocho Rios:  Dunn River falls was great and Tami (our guide) was awesome!  We went to the Dolphin encounter first and this was a good experience, but we sat around waiting to spend 15 minutes with the dolphins for a couple of hours.  At least they strung out some of the things to see, so we weren't sitting there bored the whole time.

GCM:  Our snorkling was cancelled which was disappointing but we had it combined with a beach tour so we went there early.  We rented some gear and got some snorkling in there, had our free rum drink and enjoyed the beach.  People were friendly and helpful.

Cozemel:  We went to the Chaakanuba park.  This was the least favorite excursion.  The people were very nice and we had some fun.  It just felt like we were run through the system and our day was done.  Our cost included taxi and entrance into the park along with a free taste of a bean taco and tequila tasting.  The first portion of the trip was snorkeling also included but it amounted to starting on one end of the beach, staying in a group and exiting on the other end.  We could stay in the water or provide an ID to snorkel later but my kids were already out of the water when I was told I could stay.  There was not enough room to enjoy the swim when in the group.  All of the beach chairs were already spoken for when we arrived and when we went to the main restaurant to eat we were ignored even though I asked the server if we just sat ourselves and he said yes.  He kept running by ignoring us.  We went down the way and got food and good service also finding our guide there.  The day ends with a ride back to the pier where you can exchange the sticker you got at the beginning of the day for a margarita at Senior Frogs.  I was told the snorkeling was great at this location and that is what we will book next time.

Overall the ports were great but we had a short amount of time to enjoy them having to be back onboard at 16:30, 15:30, and 17:30 when we arrived at 8am, 8am (tender), and 10am respectively.

We did have some problems on this newer ship which we have never experienced on other cruises before (6 of them).  Three days we woke up to our toilet no functioning as when there is a problem in one section, the whole section is down.  On another day we had our shower plug throw up a bunch of black gunk.  This was not handled quickly but did not happen again.

The lower level service people were fantastic!  Friendly and helpful.  Middle management had a few people shine to give them a bad review.  Several of them were on their phones reading email and weren't aware or didn't care that they were in the way.  The head of security kicked my kids out of the pool on night because he didn't observe a responsible parent.  Odd that when I was sitting within six feet of where he would have noticed me he could not observe me or ask my kids where I was before kicking them out.  I had a few words with him and left.  The pool rules state that under 12 needs parent supervision.  I was there and my son is 12.  Both kids are excellent swimmers and could stand above the water level.  Still irks me.

Our room was too small for four of us.  We had a balcony room but I am sure it was the smallest one.  There was only a  two foot path from the curtain to the balcony door and once the bed was lowered from the ceiling there was about 8 inches.  Several heads were hit on this.

It sounds like I am only pointing out the bad, but we decided early this wasn't for us, so I wanted to share why.  Overall we had a good time.

We normally do all inclusives in the Carribean and this was the first time on a cruise for myself and my two daughters, ages 13 and 15 and it was the best experience ever for all of us. We got on the ship in Miami with no lines at all and getting on off the ship at ports was the same, we literally just walked with no lines and the one time there was a line it moved so swiftly we were in it for 10 minutes max. The staff was incredible so polite, helpful, and friendly from the cleaning crew, to waiters, housekeeping, everyone was just fabulous. And the food, all day long...we ate mostly at the buffet restaurant with food like roast turkey, roast beef, roast pork all in one day followed by fillet, pork, grille salmon and shrimp the next day, how can we not. They also had on a daily basis, fruits, pasta, and salads prepared as you ordered it, Indian and vegetarian food, deserts.  Breakfast was another feast on its own and snacks such as made to order crepes...made and served in between main meals. Entertainment-tons of stuff going on for all ages and likes 24/7 including movies on the outside deck.  JUST INCREDIBLE ALL AROUND. 

We really liked the cruise and the ship. Food was excellent. We have been on the Norwegian Gateaway and liked the Shows much better. (We really do not understand, why People like the Blue Man Group so much. Being in Showbusiness ourselves we think the Show is way overrated)

With legend in concert we expected more than just 3 impersonaters. (but the 3 were great)

retonio

www.dreamfactory.ch

We did back to back cruises and was disappointed in the food on the Epic after riding the Getaway...No toilet paper in deck bathrooms , very slow bar service..Did not like the European style state rooms.. The BlueMan group , legends , and Karaokke were great..

We had a wonderful week on the Epic!  As this was our first time cruising, we depended on our friends with us, (there were 10 of us from Maine) some who've cruised many times before, to share their thoughts on the Epic with us compared to other cruise lines.  I will say that for my husband and I that the beds were not LONG enough!  He's 6'1" and did not sleep well all week!  Having a balcony room is a MUST for us!  For the most part the shows were good, the Cirque de Soliel show was fantastic!!  The Blue Man Group for us was terrible and too loud!  We would not recommend it to anyone.  The food was excellent!  The staff from the dining areas, our room stewards etc. were great!  The Music Duo couple was our way of ending each night!  They are the best!  Very friendly and even took time on their day off (Friday) to learn "Color My World" for two of us couples (that was our wedding song).  They were wnderful!  OMG, I could go on and on, but overall, the week was fantastic.  One big disappointment for all of us was that there really was not a large adult pool for us to enjoy and swim on the Epic.

Very clean ship. Bartenders poolside were great. Fast and efficient. The states rooms were very nice. The very few negative: This cruise catered more to family and kids. Lots of activities for youth. Adult night life was not very modern from music to crowd. Also it comes off rude in customer service if your server (waiter) appears to not like you or maybe their job at the moment and they turn an speak in their native language to another coworker. Especially after their body language just suggested they weren't happy. The food was good. Again it's a better ship for those 15 and under as well as 40 and over. Good overall staff.

We loved our cabin but in all we were disappointed in this ship and some of the crew. Being retired we like the advantage of having an area we can go to that children are not allowed. However the adult area on your ship had 6 children in the hot tub and 2 in the pool and one boy was going through the food line in the Spice H2O and sneezed on the food. We complained to a crew member about all of the children and he said "Their allowed to come and get food but not stay" so we pointed to a table that had 4 or 5 boys setting there, he then said, "Well their here with their parents." there were no parents in site. I also told him that I went to the Spice H2O bar and ordered a Pina Colada, a boy about 12 years old came up and ordered the same drink. The bartender fixed both drinks the vary same way with the same alcohol. The man setting next to me said, "He's a little young for that isn't he". He appeared to have an answer for everything we brought up so as not to have to bother with it.  The entertainment other than the Cirque Dreams was poor to say the least. I lost a post card I bought and went to the Guest Services to see if it had been turned in and she was so blunt with me and instead of taking a second to ask if anyone knew anything about it she said "You will have to wait in line". There were about twelve people in line settling their bills. When we got home and checked our bill we were charged $16.44 for liquor we did not drink. This is our fourth cruise with Norwegian and don't know if we will ever cruise on the Epic again. 

My wife and I just returned from our 30th Anniversary cruise on the Epic that we were so looking forward to. I hesitate to write this review because we’re Only NCL cruisers and if we were to judge NCL on the Epic experience we would have to switch cruise lines. Thankfully this is our fourth cruise although it was the first time I couldn't wait to get off the ship. We have been on the Sky, Dawn and Getaway and have had fantastic times on all three.

Let me start with the things we liked about this cruise. • The balcony – much larger than most ships • Moderna • LaCucina • The Manhatten Room • Taste • Cirque Dream dinner show • Blue Man Group • Legends in Concert • The comedian (although he was only there on the last day of the cruise) • The Duet Singers • The Bowling Alley – not scoring great, but a lot of fun to play • The Grand Caymans – • Cozumel – we did the beach excursion at Mr. Sancho’s, fantastic, and I would highly recommend it. • Jamaica – We did the bobsled tour which was lots of fun and the Dunns Fall which is much more difficult then they led you to believe. Glad we did that so that is off the bucket list.

Now let me state the things that we were totally disappointed with

Armen the Cruise Director was very Vanilla Flat/Boring. No enthusiasm at all compared to our past cruise directors. The cruise director can really make your cruise a great experience this wasn't happening. That thought was shared by several couples we spoke with this past week. • The Garden Cafe – the seating was a nightmare and could never find a seat and the Food was a C- at best. The Garden Cafe on the Getaway was tremendous you wouldn't think it was the same cruise line. • The cabin Steward – This is the first time we had a cabin steward that did the basics of his job and not a thing more. We were out of our room for 4 hours in the morning and when we got back the room still wasn't done. We asked about the pools towels (that should have been in the room) and he said he would see what he could do, well that took two days and in the end we went to put a $25 deposit to get extra towels, although to us they were our first set of towels. • Customer service. We had a problem with our air conditioner, refrigerator and hair dryer. It was hotter in our room then outside in the heat. When maintenance finally came he said that someone must have requested to have the air flow turned off (that could only be done inside the unit in the wall by the door). We were told the hair dryer was working...for about 5 seconds at a time. Our steward insisted to my wife that this was normal...the correct response should been to see what he could have done. We were forced to go to the front desk after housekeeping never answered their phone only to be left a message that there were no hair dryers on the ship to replace the non working one. My wife had to go to the front desk again to ask the question that on a ship of this size there are no spares? After much time they finally brought a hairdryer that worked. No sorry for your inconvenience, just the hair dryer. We are not people that need to be pampered or waited on hand and front, but for the money we paid for a balcony room, we expect the basics to work.  • The Room – The round bed was horrible. It was the first cruise we have been on that the two beds kept separating and it was built for very short people. • The toilet and shower area is ridiculous which I am sure NCL was aware of since they never continued with this concept. • The flow of ship - most things were hidden and the fact that you had to walk through the casino all the time was crazy. • The musty smells almost like and outhouse on both ends of the ships on the 6th and 7th floors was horrible. • The three water slides were NEVER open. • Overall the WOW factor was not on this ship. I know most people say you get what you put into your cruise, but that wasn’t it. I felt like I was on an extremely old ship that needed a facelift. • The Manhattan Band singer in the band was horrible, she couldn’t hold a note and was painful to sit and listen too which was extremely disappointing.

I remember walking onto the Dawn for the first time and being in awe of the atrium. The Getaway was outstanding and the Sky was very nice as well. This ship was alright at best which surprised me since at present it is the largest ship in their fleet and I would think they would want this to be their showcase ship.

I have to say that I am glad it is going to Barcelona and I never have to worry about being on it again. I look forward to going back on the Getaway and am excited about the Escape coming this fall.

The Stateroom was very accommodating and comfortable.  Plenty of storage.  The bathroom set up was great with a separate extra large shower and the commode was a separate compartment.  The only negative was the sing was real small and should have been about 50% larger. 

The ship layout was a bit confusing on getting to the different decks.  There was not a center area. The food was excellent.

I had read mixed reviews of the Epic, but kept and open mind.  This was one of the best cruises we have taken in 23+ cruises. The crew seems so happy and seemed genuinely concerned that you were having the best time, food, or drink.  They might be the happiest/most polite crew we have ever experienced.  We didn't eat in the specialty restaurants, but found the food to be good overall. I should note that we are not huge foodies.  We had a junior suite.  Could not believe all the storage.  The bathroom layout is unique as I had read.  It wasn't my favorite, but we had no issues with it.  The entertainment was abundant.  There was always something to do and even the performers in the smaller venues were good.  The only part of the ship we did not "love" was the pool deck.  It is hard to find a chair, especially on a sea day and the ship needs pools.  What they have is not adequate.  Other than that, lovely ship with everything or nothing to do.....depends on you.

If you want to be 'SPECIAL' on the Epic book a Haven Suite. Priority boarding, tenders, premium show seating , individual escorts to shows and disembarkation.  The difference in price is worth it- own quiet pool and lounging area(s), own Concierge and Butler to pamper you and guests.  

Entertainment- Cirque de Dreams- fantastic- food was very good.  Blue Man Group very entertaining, comic on board was great along with Howl at the Moon!!!

There might have been 4000 passengers but there were no crowds anywhere we went.  The Garden Cafe has multiple stations- walk around until you find a less crowded one or eat your meal later.

My wife and I had a wonderful time on the ship, sunbathing, seeing the fantastic  shows and of course eating.  At two of the dinners there was a great band that brought us to the dance floor.  We went on the stingray sandbar excursion and had the best time.  We even kissed a stingray. We would definitely recommend this cruise.

we enjoyed our cruise over all, but it was our second cruise and our first one was on the brand new ship getaway on it's inaugural cruise, so we had the bar set pretty high! The Epic is a beautiful ship and it seemed sad that it wasn't as clean and well cared for as it should be. Some of the staff were outstanding but others were lazy and didn't care about being there. The pools and hot tubs were not clean and were too crowded.

we absolutely love grand Cayman, but not so much Jamaica or Cozumel , mostly because we really didn't know where to go or what o do there.