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Norwegian Epic Review

4.5 / 5.0
4,409 reviews

Epic is not for me, or a lot of people I know

Review for Nowhere Cruise on Norwegian Epic
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gabbygrrl
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Cabin

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Sail Date: Jul 2010
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony

I'm going to make this short since I really don't have a lot of good things to say about my sailing on the Epic. It was a short 2 night trip to introduce the ship and show us all the WOW factor. Unfortunately, I left feeling like "WOW, that was not good!"

Our balcony cabin was beautiful to look at, horrible to stay in. The bed was by the door/bathroom so there was hardly any space to stand and use the sink. If my partner was by the balcony and needed to use the bathroom we had to pass by one at a time, since there's only room for one person to walk near the end of the bed. The balcony was fine, not a huge space, and we could see next door since the separation wall was curved. I felt like I had to say hello to the neighbors every time I went out there. Not private at all. I did think that the rooms had a ton of storage space and that was impressive. But I would have traded all of that in for just a bit more room to move around. And the fact that I can be sleeping and my partner could come in at 2am and want to brush her teeth, which would be right next to my feet. Stupid design, period. As for the bathrooms, huge failure IMHO. But it's not because they are divided and have see-through smoked glass(not a problem for us, but I heard a ton of complaints about it from families). And it's not because of the 'privacy' curtain or the sink in the living space (although that is ridiculous). And it's not because of the curved bed(but anyone over 5'10" will have their feet hang over end). It's because you have to use the toilet and THEN open the door to go wash your hands!! Can you say unsanitary?? I sincerely hope that those door handles are scrubbed daily and between sailings! Just plain disgusting.

As for the entertainment, they had plenty. As others have said, if you want to party and dance and gamble, this is the place. With Blue Man, Second City, and Cirque, you're good to go. Second City was ok, passed on Blue Man (we've seen them 3 times already) and loved Cirque, although the food was blah and the show a bit long. (but come on, the things those acrobats can do...) My other BIG issue was the smoking. It was everywhere. The cabin below and next to us were smokers and it kept us inside. In the casino, you might as well wear a gas mask to play the tables. O'Sheehans Pub is a great concept, but to allow smoking indoors with food? Come on, almost every state in the country doesn't even allow that anymore. And we tried to enjoy the pool bar on 3 separate occasions but there were always a ton of smokers there. So by the pool, casino, up on deck, on the balconies, everywhere. They need to look at cutting back on smoking areas. We live a smoke-free life and like to vacation that way. A land-based vacation includes non-smoking flights, non-smoking hotels, non-smoking rental cars, non-smoking bars and restaurants. But go on NCL, and you're constantly in a cloud of smoke. You go back to your cabin and your hair, your cloths, everything smells like smoke. It amazes me that others are allowed to ruin someone else's health all in the name of making them happy. (Sorry to rant, but honestly, the smoke really got to me-my contacts, my nose, my throat, all a mess-and this was only for 2 nights!!)

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony

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