Norwegian Epic Review

4.5 / 5.0
4,409 reviews

Not for me

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Epic
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ilovegoldens
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jun 2016

We have completed over 15 cruises, 3 of them previously with NCL. We chose this ship as we were travelling with family who had not cruised before and it had attractions for everybody. Embarkation was very speedy in Barcelona and our luggage was delivered only a couple of hours later. As others have commented, the cabins are awful, they are extremely cramped ( and we had one of more expensive balconies). The curved walls are not a success and make for very little room to move around, actually only 10 inches between the end of the bed and the dressing table. The bed is also curved and at 5'9" my feet were off the end of the bed. The washing facilities and toilet are also only acceptable if you are very familiar with your cabin mate, as the glass doors leave nothing to the imagination. The toilet is in fact like a cupboard! You can pull a curtain across, but it isn't ideal. There is a more storage space than usual though. We had a larger balcony and it was very roomy, although did not have a sun lounger. The entertainment on board was first class: Priscilla Queen Of The Desert was brilliant if a little risque and the Epic Beatles were fantastic, also the Soul group. Food was good both in the buffet and in Taste and Manhattan dining rooms. Our family enjoyed the nightclub, which I believe was very lively. As is usual with cruise lines, the shore excursions were exorbitant, we took the hydrofoil from Naples to Sorrento and a public bus into Pisa. The itinerary was good and the weather superb. The sun deck was extremely crowded on the sea day and impossible to find a lounger after 9am as they had all been reserved at dawn! The water slides went down well with our family, although there were often long queues. It wasn't easy to find a quieter area to sunbathe as there was always a lot of noise going on, even in the adult only area. We travelled on the Breakaway in January, which although large, was altogether a much more enjoyable experience. The service in the dining rooms was very slow and haphazard at times. I would advice keeping a close eye on your onboard account, as we had to visit Guest Relations three times as they had charged for drinks, even though we were all on a drinks package. Although NCL is of course a more casual cruising experience, we found that this was much too casual for our liking as many people did not change out of shorts and tea shirts at all. I am a fan of NCL and as well as the Breakaway we have been on Jade and Jewel and will be on the Gem next January. This cruise certainly went down well with the younger members of our family, but I would not travel on the Epic again - mainly due to the terrible cabin layout and the noise!

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