I purposely did not post a review of the Epic's cruise of November 12th as I assumed other passengers would slam it and it appears that is the case. Two major problems will probably cause the worst memories -- embarkation and disembarkation.. Now realistically, the first voyage since arriving from Europe and the use of a new or different terminal might have caused the very poorly organized embarkation but NCL is a big company with many talented employees so making it better than the chaotic situation should have been a HUGE priority. The lack of a working P.A. system really complicated things as different employees gave different answers to what was occurring. Immediately there was unhappiness being exhibited by both the cruisers and the staff. This is exactly the wrong way to begin a cruise vacation on a beautiful ship. Disembarkation was even worse if that could have been possible. By the way, these explanations were provided by staff members but never verified or explained by official communication, that's a problem NCL needs to rectify.

It is a huge ship with many, many customers trying to do the same thing at the same time. It is also a large ship with many, many amenities. If you are unwilling to have those factors weigh against each other and enjoy the experience, try a smaller ship at probability a substantially higher rate. I am not letting NCL's ineptitude slide as they could have done immeasurably better with clear and appropriate communication. Too many times on this voyage there was confusion due to a lack of clear communication. I tried to explain some of these in a written correspondence but I have had no response as of yet. Note to travel professionals: Americans hate being confused by poor or non existent communication.

Speaking of communication, when or how were we to know the private island stop was cancelled. Many passengers had no idea until the printed itinerary showed Nassau. The problem here is that I had the private island experience on a previous NCL cruise and was so impressed I encouraged others to join me on this cruise. I was informed before traveling by my travel agent but most other passengers were unaware. Also, I understand that hurricane caused issues are beyond NCL's control but I have to believe this was a cost saver so how about something else to compensate? Another bone of contention is the "nickel and dime charges" that many passengers found noxious. I believe these practices came about due to many passengers "stiffing" hard working staff but maybe re-evaluation of the whole system is needed. Once again, I can see NCL's situation. They provide the opportunity for a wonderful experience at a price I find very reasonable, to wit, some passengers paid less for passage than a hotel room for a weekend in Manhattan! Read more