Norwegian Epic Review

17-day Western Med on Epic: Marvelous despite the ship's crew shortcomings

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Epic
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10+ Cruises • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Nov 2015
Cabin: Balcony

My group and I, two couples total, traveled on a 17-day cruise on the Norwegian Epic to the central and Western Mediterranean in Nov/Dec 2015 departing from Barcelona. It was a 7-day and 10-day cruise that we purchased online at www.ncl.com on a combined 17-day itinerary. Our ports of call were Naples (Sorrento & Amalfi Coast), Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno (Florence), Cannes, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Tangier, Las Palmas, Tenerife, Madeira (Funchal), and Malaga, with five sea days scattered througout, before disembarking back in Barcelona.

I have personally been on the Epic in the past, so was eager and exited about cruising on her again. What I experienced though was not as great as I had expected. Throughout the entire 17-days aboard I felt that many little things had fallen by the wayside on the ship. The crew didn't feel the same as before (I sailed on her back in Sept 2011). They weren't as happy as I had remembered them. Many times over I encountered crew members who didn't know specific information - like which deck or exit to use for disembarking at a particular port of call. They would send us one way when in fact we had to go the exact opposite way. They were guessing answers instead of knowing answers.

On this trip we had a balcony stateroom which included complimentary alcoholic beverages under $15. Soft drinks, beers, frozen drinks, and most cocktails were included, though specialty coffees were not. During the first few days the bar staff would make us sign receipts showing the value of our alcoholic drink purchase. They couldn't tell us why they needed us to sign the receipts, but assured us the charges would not be added to our bill. Indeed, they never did. The bar staff eventually got to a point in their procedures where they wouldn't bother to even give us a receipt for drinks - just swipe our room card and give us the drinks.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin BE

Our balcony stateroom was 10031 on Deck 10 Forward. I found the interior space somewhat tight for a 17-day trip. The little toilet room is way too small also. The metal piece on top of the toilet paper dispenser is so heavy that when you pull to get more squares, the roll rips immediately. Doesn't anyone else need more than 1 square like me? There's no need for a metal piece to cover the paper... just annoying. The shower doesn't stay consistent in terms of temperature. The sink was absurdly tiny. I had trouble keeping the counter dry when washing my teeth or my face, let along shaving. The lighting throughout the stateroom - above the sink, in the little toilet room, in the shower, and in the cabin overall - wasn't nearly adequate. In fact, it was pretty poor, especially in the toilet room and above the sink. Easily fixable for NCL, and very annoying.

Our stateroom attendant, Christine, was absolutely fabulous. She was on top of things and extremely personable. She made sure, every time we ran into her, to ask us what she could do for us to make us happy and/or more comfortable. She was really great at making towel animals for our stateroom as well.

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