Norwegian Epic Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This cruise was possibly the worst I have ever been on. The ship has no wow factor whatsoever, there is no grand atrium,  even carnival has a nice atrium, it is ready for a re furbishment it is smelly especially at the taste restaurant, I think all the carpets need a good steam clean. The food is also the worst I have ever had very bland no flavor every meal I had at night came with broccoli, the buffet is boring with the same bland food, twice at the carving station they were cutting up ham & Cheese pannini's !!! The cabins have no proper bathroom just a shower in one corner and a toilet in the other with just a frosted glass sliding door around each, no privacy at all, and the sink is really tiny, this was a balcony cabin. I have been on many cruises and this was supposed to be a 4/5 star NO WAY it is 2/3 star at best. I had the ultimate drinks package and on all the other cruises I have done(princess, celebrity, royal Caribbean) this includes specialty coffees and pastries but lo & behold not on the Epic you have to pay for them everything is an extra.They will try to rip you off any way they can even in the casino they have no $1 chips the lowest denomination is $2 chips, I will never go on this ship again.

As the title informs you, NCL is not a all inclusive cruise. We where not impressed with the layout of the ship. There is not one deck that you can walk straight through from the front of the ship to the back. Every time you wanted to go for dinner you MUST walk through the casino.

No one informed us that you need to make reservations for the shows. There 20 restaurants on board, however only 3 are complementary.

The pools are very small and there are not enough lounge chairs. WE had a balcony room and love to sleep with the door open. BUT due to the fact that everyone around us smoked on their balcony it made our nights unpleasant.

Upon check out we found that we had a $50.oo each credit on our account HOWEVER we where never informed of this. If we had been we would have used it to dine at one the restaurants.

NOW I can hear many of you saying why didn't they attend the orientation meeting.  There should have been information in our cabins. Also every time we ate in the main dinning room we where seated in the back by the wait station or by the cleanup[ area. I have since been told, by other passengers that we should have tipped the maître'd for better seating. 

This was my 4th cruise with NCL and it will be my last.

From the moment we stepped into the pier for check in, until the time we stepped out upon return this trip was nothing but a disappointment as far as Norwegians involvement.

I was given untrue information at the Pier by NCL manager. When I spoke to the customer service manager on ship I was advised that the pier staff are contracted out and don't actually know what the rules on the ship are, and it continued in this fashion the whole way. 

The ship itself is large and has activities planned and by activities I mean sales pitches the entire week. Everything is over priced for very little value.

It's not kept very clean, now that may be because they have over 4000 guests and not 200 staff so I can understand. The food is sub par and I actually lost 9 lbs on vacation. Breakfast and lunch is the same every day, and dinners are quite gross but there is variety if you could choke it down. The only good meal we had was at a premium restaurant for 30 USD a person. 

The most infuriating thing of the cruise food and lies aside is the fact that the largest smoking area is on the kids deck 6 feet from the pools and activity floor.

As a first time cruiser I would have to say this experience almost ruined it for me. However I spoke to many many people who have cruised Norwegian before and was told by all that the Epic is not a true representation of Norwegian itself. That being said I would not cruise Norwegian again but I will try another cruise line.

i truly enjoyed the set up of the studio rooms, there is a nice lounge that they post activities for and times to meet up with the other if you would like to, made traveling alone a joy and fun.

We enjoyed the Blue Man group, the food in the dining room was good but no shrimp cocktails nor lobster.  I guess you have to go to the specialty dining rooms, which you have an extra charge, to have shrimp or lobster.   The buffet was very busy but good for breakfast and lunch.  The casino was in the middle of the ship where they are allowed to smoke and you had to pass thru to go from one end of  the ship to the other.   We really enjoyed Nadeen, the hypnotist, where we attended all of her sessions.  The inside cabin was fine. The price was good. The pool area had three different slides & I went down the largest one even at 68.   The Legends Concert was good but only three people performed.  It was our 27th cruise on a variety of different cruise lines.  They all have their good and bad points. 

My experience was a wonderful one.  The whole crew was friendly and always attentive.  My favorite crew members were the Entertainment to be specific "They Rocked".  Not a dull moment ever with them around.  The Theater Shows and Lunch / Dinner shows were excellent, Top Noch!!! My cabin service was also the best it could be.  The gentleman  who serviced our room even gave us a short demo on making the towel animals, awesome tricks!  The food was so good I gained a few pounds but quickly worked them off with the many activities available and the adventurous shore excursions.  The only down side was that we missed Grand Caymen due to weather.  This was certainly not the Epics fault.  The Captain, however, got us to Cozumel our next port as early as possible and we left two hours later than expected on the original schedule.  This was my 8th cruise trip the 3rd on Norwegian and I can't wait to book my next trip!  No other way to vacation for me!!!

I have previously cruised in the NCL Getaway and was blown away by the amenities of the ship, the food and the room. So I booked on the NCL Epic to try a different itinerary. Bad move. It was not all bad. The entertainment on this ship was wonderful. The layout of the pool area was far superior to the Getaway and the food was great in the restaurants.

Now for the bad: the food was lacking on the buffet. Buffet food had little variety compared to the Getaway and was often stale. Seating in the buffet was very limited due to very large booths.

On board the Getaway you could always find a quiet spot to getaway. Not so on the Epic it was always like the mall at Christmas. The bathrooms were woefully lacking on the EPIC. They always wanted you to cleanie cleanie your hands but at least 2 soap dispensers in each bathroom were out of soap at all times.

They also forced you to go through the casino at ALL times by blocking the back staircase forcing you to go through an area that smelled like a bowling ally and often had the gamers blocking the traffic area. If you want to go on the ship to gamble that is OK but for those of us who don't smoke or gamble this was an unpleasant experience.

The room was well... unique. I was able to compare apples to apples as I had the exact same type of room on both ships. The Getaway was roomy and had a private bathroom. The Epic was an epic fail in this area. Upon entering the room you had an out house toilet to your right and a pod shower to your left. I am short but the shower was for munchkins and the toilet felt like you were on the Greyhound bus. The sink was in the room which made brushing your teeth and sneaking out before everyone else impossible. I have seen bowls on a salad bar bigger than the sink which was right next to the bed. More water went on the bed and the counter than in the sink. There was also very little privacy. We have a teen age daughter traveling with us and to change they offer the area between the shower and the latreen but directly in front of the entry door. You pull a curtain for privacy. This was the worst part of the experience. And before you say so what you are never in the room... we had very rough seas and could not even pull into Grand Caymen so we were in our room more than usual. The one time we experienced rough seas on the Getaway you could not get off the elevator with out someone offering you sea sick meds. The Epic suggested you buy them.

Many staff seemed like either they had not had their contracts renewed and were just working out the rest of their time or were in training and not very knowledgeable. Before this cruise I was a NCL loyalist. I will try them again, carefully looking at ship plans first, but will be much more open to trying someone else.

I give this trip 3 stars because I loved the entertainment and the specialty restaurant food and the freestyle dining.

I had the best time of my life. Everyone was super nice and forever friendly. The food was our standing. I would love a variety of more Caribbean did And of course more seafood. The staff was always there when I needed them. For this being my first cruise my experience was awesome. Can't wait till my next one.

The price is attractif...but after you pay evry thinks that geting huige cost. Epic is a beautiful ship...but to big.A love yuor directeur de cruise:Armen nice guy.

My husband and I love cruising.  We just returned from a 7 night cruise to the Eastern Caribbean on the Norwegian Epic, which was our 27th cruise.  We were a little hesitant to cruise on a ship of this size at first.  Boy were we wrong!  This is a beautiful ship.  For the amount of people who were on this voyage, we never once felt crowded.  Even the common areas were spacious.  Never had a problem getting a chair (except for maybe around the pool).  Our stateroom was very nice and well tended to.  My only complaint is the elevators were too slow.  I'm not sure what they can do to remedy this problem, though.  We are planning on cruising on the new Norwegian ship next year.  Can't wait!  We would definitely cruise this ship again. 

Overall we managed to survive but the family mini suite is nothing more that the regular balcony room with pop down beds (if you can call them that). They should not sell this as a SUITE by any stretch of the imagination. The layout of the room curving like an "S" made for a very uncomfortable feel and the toilet and shower at the cabin door was nothing more than terrible design. The slightly rounded bed at the head and the feet made it difficult for a person of even 5 10 feet to sleep without feet hanging over the bed and the couch was terrible to sit on as the back of the couch was also curved. When you pulled the couch out from the curved back, there was little room to walk by. Balcony was a nice size but there was not any comfort. Two metal chairs and rickety tables provided. Sadly the linen was not nice nor new and our room was never kept clean. The carpets where also filth.

Cruise was fun and evening entertainment kept us happy but bed time with kids was a nightmare. We got though the cruise but 7 days with the "SUITE" like that we will not go back on this ship and will be cautious of their fleet.

I've read as many reviews from those on the Epic ship as I could leading up to my booking.  After reading some good and some bad, I had to make up my own mind to cruise.  The price was perfect.  As we began our trip, I was very amazed by the ship's appearance and how huge this sucker was.  People complained about the food, lack of deck space, etc.  I went on a 7-day Caribbean cruise to Jamaica and had a blast!!  I still feel like I'm rocking to the waves.  I didn't enjoy Cayman or Cozumel that much; expensive. 

We mostly ate in the Garden Café where I found the food to be very excellent as well as the upkeep by the staff.  I really enjoyed the table set-up by the window and just enjoyed the meals looking out into the ocean.  That's what it's all about; relaxing and taking it all in. 

We also ate in O'Sheehan's for lunch only but it was just ok.  Shanghai was great! 

The entertainment was excellent!  We watched Blue Man and Legends...people complained about the lack of entertainment.  Geez, what do you want?  The whole broadway?  Movies at the back of the ship Spice H2O was nice and relaxing as we watched Cool Runnings..about the Jamaica bobsled.  I enjoyed how there were different activities going on the ship.  And people complained about the kids/teens...Really?  It was cool seeing them having fun as well.  How selfish of people trying to keep others from having a time of their lives.  They weren't a bother.  People also complained how huge the ship was...damn I liked every bit of it...man what an exercise. 

I won $500 in casino slots..so I have no complaints there. 

Overall, it was sad to step off the ship on the last day this past Sunday, 2/15/15 and go home.  First time on Norwegian, but not the last.  There is a new ship coming in Nov. 2015 "Escape".  It's going to the Virgin Islands/Bahamas and we are thinking about going on that one to see what a new ship feels like...and it's a Norwegian. 

Thank you Norwegian for a wonderful time!!  I will continue to sail with you as long as you continue to make us happy!  Washy-washy..smiley-smiley.  Until then, Aloha!

This is my second  and last time on the ship, although there is plenty of food. The service is terrible most esp. the bartenders. Nasty, don't look at you, take forever to get a drink. Honestly don't give out the all drink included, if your company is not taking care of your workers. If you bribe them with cash they are happy???.

The help desks... just as RUDE.

As for the kids activities,,, HORRIBLE... what happened when the kids could walk around and hang out and swim, its just poorly managed. No fun activities, Sponge Bob and friends are like hidden, pay for me or don't see me kind of thing?? Really??... not enough fun things for kids to do.Makes it harder for parents to come and enjoy a cruise.

Same thing, all the time,,,, if the weather is bad change up your activities... make the people have fun... felt like we where trapped on a ship with nothing to do ....

Felt like your staff is worn out and bored. Felt like I booked the cruise to go feed myself, because we where honestly bored.

cabin was nice. after my first meal I got sick with severe gastro and was quarantined in my room for 3 days. simptoms so severe I thought I was going to go blind.food was horrible even the restaurant that charged extra. entertainment was poor compared to other cruises.staff was nice.

I think that Norwegian has slipped from wher it was. Food in the dining room was inconsitant and warm not hot. The suite with a Tub is a waste of space, the toilet area is the size of what you would find on a small boat. The sink is in the cabin area. Poor design. The balcony area is nice but was not maintained,trash that was there when we got on was never picked up. Towels did not look clean and felt rough. The specilaty dining restaurants are OK ,the service is good. Information at the front desk is an adventure the people there are not trained or are not informed. Depending on which bar you got to and who is tending will determine the quality of your drink.

Food was of a very high quality and Norwegian deserves its great reputation for entertainment. Short time in Grand Cayman together with tendering requirements (hassle)  made us choose to stay on board. Our snorkeling and beach excursion at Cozumel was cancelled due to winds but a couple of hours at Senor Frogs made up for it. Do not like the design of the balcony cabins - least favourite of any cruise ship that we have been on - they made this curved wall thing so that they could cram in more staterooms per linear foot of the ship and it's a failure. Try and reserve your entertainment before sailing, as it books up fast. Second City is good if you hit the right show (ie go to where they do play acting, not game shows) unfortunately when you reserve ahead of time you don't know which show you are getting.

My wife and i cruised the Norwegian Epic and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The ship has a lot of amenities and nice restaurants.  The entertainment is varied and inviting and seems to fit the bill for all ages.  We thoroughly enjoyed the energy of the "Legends in Concert" show to such an extent that we saw it more than once.  The show was "sold out" (it is complementary) every night and the Epic Theater holds 800 people!  Wonderful, professional talent was exhibited by the three acts, Jimmy Buffet, Adele and Aretha Franklin, the Legends Orchestra and the Legends singers and dancers.  All I can say is WOW!, don't miss it.  The Dueling Piano show was very entertaining and the artists were really talented.  Don't miss the Cirque Dreams dinner show.  That is worth the extra cost.  I am not a Cirque fan but I was thoroughly entertained.  Great job by all!  We saw the Blue Man Group.  It was n t my cup of tea but I suspect it was for many of the guests based upon the audience response and other comments I heard.  Also enjoyed the Burlesque show.  The general deck was really active and noisy.  I did take advantage of the quiet zone for a while and it was a relief.  I did enjoy, though, the hot tubs and the water slides.

We tried to make the rounds of the different restaurants and meal venues.  I was impressed with the Manhattan Room and the Friday evening entertainment.  I recognized many of the entertainers from the Legends show.  Again, a great experience and i appreciated the talent.  Heard that the Legends are leaving the ship later this year. What a loss!!!  The Garden Buffet was always good with good variety and convenience.

I had to use Medical once and found it very helpful and accomodating. 

We enjoyed the "Taste of Cayman" and "Joy of Chocolate" tours very much.  Would have enjoyed the Dunn's River Falls and the Dolphin Encounter more if we could have avoided the very aggressive craft vendor area at Dunn's.  That was a real downer.

The service personnel on board the ship were very helpful and always seemed welcoming. Our Steward was particularly helpful and very good natured.  Loved the towel critters.

Our vacation was very enjoyable.  Could not see the entire ship.  Need another voyage to experience it all!  Thanks, Norwegian!!!

This ship is soooo fantastic!   Great food and awesome entertainment are just 2 reasons to book it.  I've been on this ship twice in the last 3 months.   The service is great.   The staff is totally focused on passenger service.   I love the 14 dinning options.   The shows are top notch.  You will love the cabins.   It is a fabulous ship.  I've been on over 15 ships and this one is my favorite by far!  

This was a great cruise for the value.   The ship was nice, the food was good, the crew was friendly.   I would recommend this trip.   That said, we still prefer Royal Caribbean as their ships are nicer.   Also, we only had 3 main shows on the Epic and had to pay an upcharge for up to 3 more.   We paid once for the Circus and Dinner.   Was good, but at $40 each for the premium seat, I felt it was over charged.   Royal Caribbean does not charge more for shows.  I hope the cruise industry does not go in that direction.   The Epic, although very nice, did not have as nice of pool deck as other ships, the layout just was not right, but still okay, so still consider this ship.

The cabin setup was bad, the food was so so ,not enough entertainment .Only one good show the whole week ,that was the Legends . I will never sail on large ship again .It was to crowded. This was my third cruise on NCL & LAST