Norwegian Epic Review

4.5 / 5.0
4,409 reviews

Extremely Disappointed

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Epic
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angelwhorns19
6-10 Cruises • Age 30s

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Sail Date: Jan 2011
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside
Traveled with children

Went on the 1/15/2011 NCL Epic cruise with my family - My parents who are in there 50s, younger sister and her friend (15) and my husband and I in our late 20s. We got 2 inside staterooms. Extremely disappointed with this cruise line overall. Though the entertainment was good, everything else of what makes cruising great was really bad.

Lets start with getting on board: Other cruise lines I've been welcomed on board by a happy and attentive ready to help you crew into a big beautiful room - on epic I walked into a small crowded room with a loud bad electric keyboard with not much crew enthusiasm. Um, what happened to the greeted on board with a glass of champagne which was the greeting I saw on a ncl video. Not to mention no instruction in site as to what to do- if i was a new cruiser I wouldn't have known that I couldn't go to the my state room and should proceed to the buffet that I didn't know where it was till my stateroom was available. Luggage took forever to arrive at our stateroom and someone else bag was marked for my stateroom that didn't below to us. We got on the boat about 2, ship left dock at 4, didn't get luggage til 6. Buffet food was good, lots of selection, but it didn't change throughout the week so I got tired of it. Also, was usually always busy and always a search to find a place to sit. Views were beautiful, staff was usually good. Semi-comical breakfast welcome every morning, which will certainly wake you up, 4-5 oriental women would count 1,2,3 then say in unison "welcome to garden enjoy your breakfast" every 30 seconds in broken English. First couple times- cute, after that annoying. A scavenger hunt to find what you want- the butter is not by the bread it's by the cereal that makes sense- right?

Stateroom design didn't bother me, but I can see how it might not be favored for a family or traveling with friends. The shower and toilet being in separate frosted glass dome/cube with a curtain to be able to pull across the middle of the room if you wish is not really private and would make it difficult for a family to get ready all at once. For instance, my dad had to leave the room when my sister and her friend got ready. The sink was on the counter top in the room. The main problem with my stateroom was noise. My original cabin had a crew door behind it- 7am-9am it was slammed nonstop- didn't sleep in much but we tried sticking this out. Then our head board started to creak loudly every time the ship rocked - this was less tolerable. The finally straw that made us complain- club bliss was down a level from us and apparently who ever spent 2 billion to build the ship didn't spend any of it on sound insulation. Noise was also a problem in other venues- in the epic theater the magician/comedian even was making jokes at NCLs expense about the lack of sound proofing when you could hear the club music most of his show. Guest services was very good about taking care of our room complaint. They moved us to another room that did not have the slamming crew door and the creaking headboard. But then we got to experience both in our state room at 5 am when coming into a port and while in a restaurant one night the lovey vibrations and noise when they turned on the side thrusters to dock. The whole boat vibrated so bad it vibrated a wine glass right off our stateroom counter and shattered on the floor. Overall the ship is not laid out well, and it's difficult to find your stateroom. Though I did like the touch screen panels that you can use located throughout the ship that will show you how to get to where you need to go from where you are and the daily activities going on. My parents and my husband and I's experience withe the room staff was different. For my husband and I our room was always cleaned well, the toilet had a slight smell- might be the vacuum septic system they use, but room staff wasn't as friendly as other cruise lines I've been on. Never introduced himself or talked to us much at all. My parents room staff on the other hand was very attentive and friendly tired to go the extra mile to be accommodating.

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Mid-Ship Inside

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