Norwegian Epic Review

The good, the bad, and the itchy.

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Epic
User Avatar
herbyroo
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Apr 2011
Cabin: Family Inside
Traveled with children

We flew into Fort Lauderdale which was just a few miles farther than Miami airport and a lot cheaper. We arranged our transportation with Top Shuttle ahead of time and they were there waiting for us when we arrived. After a 25 min drive we were at the port. From the time we left the van until the time we stepped on the ship was only about 20 min. By far the easiest and fasted boarding I have ever seen.We opted for a cheaper inside quad, since we would be outside the room except to sleep anyway. The room was small to move around in. We had to get out of bed 2 at a time to get ready for the day. The storage was huge and we were able to put 4 peoples wks worth of clothes all away with no problem. The bathroom and shower that is such a problem with people seemed to work out fine for us. The only thing about the toilet room is it is very small and if you are tall your knees will probably hit the wall. The sink was no big deal, yeah it splashed but no biggie. We did discover that the upper bunk my daughter was in did indeed have bedbugs. After the first night she had a couple bites and I did search the bed but did not find anything. I thought she just picked up a couple mosquito's in Miami. After the 2ed morning with her finding a couple more bites I began checking her bed again. Still I was unable to find anything (I am not sure after researching it when I got home, that I was looking correctly). After all was said and done she had what I counted 57 bites on her. The rest of us had 0. Because I could not find a critter I did not go to the desk to report it. After coming home and having the Dr. confirm and seeing what I should of been looking for in the bed, I did contact NCL. The response was that they were sorry and if I would of told them they were sure that it would of been taken care of. (whatever that means)The food in the buffet was "OK", my son lived on pizza and burgers the whole time. I do have to say that after the 3ed day of basically the same stuff 3 times a day, it started to get old. We did not want to spend money going to the speciality restaurants as we would rather let the kids spend it at the ports. The hand dipped ice cream is what saved us at each lunch and dinner. The rest of the desserts, although very pretty, were awful!The first port was Costa Maya. We opted for the Snorkel Beach Blast. The wind was up so the cancelled the snorkel part but for the same price we were able to just drive the boats and hang at the beach. We almost said forget it but we are glad we did not. The boats actually turned out to be a lot of fun!The next port was Roatan. I must confess, I have been here before a couple yrs ago, and was not excited about returning. To my surprise they have come along way in making this an awesome place to visit. Although the port shopping itself is pricey and small, if you go outside the gates and across the street to the locals, you can find some awesome deals! The excursion for this port was the Discover Scuba. I was very anxious about the whole clearing my ears thing, which turned out to be a breeze! We loved, loved, loved it! The guides were AWSOME, and so very patient with my 10 yr old, who lost a loose tooth during the practice and became very anxious about sharks with blood now in the water :). They took us out to a reef and we were able to go down they say 40 ft. AMAZING! By far the best excursion ever in 6 cruises!The last stop was Cozumel. Lots of shopping. We did the Everybody loves rays. It was fun but a little to structured for us. The dolphin swim and ride was fun and the kids enjoyed it. The pictures were outrageous. 30 dollars for 2 photo's! We lucky were able to get good shots with our own camera!Sea days were kind of boring for the kids. Lots of activities going on but nothing that interested them. Kid club was not the greatest. All my son wanted to do was play the wii, but it was never the "right time". There activities for the 10-12 age were geared in our opinion for a younger group. The teen club was not good for our 16 yr old daughter. She went up once after some coaxing and there were just 3 boys playing video games, she did not hang around. She never did meet any other kids. The lines for the water slides were very long (not so much a lot of people, just took forever with having to wait until one finished before letting the next go, so we only rode them a few times on port days. The soda card turned out to be a great thing, my son discovered "Shirley temples" and could not get enough of them. The bar staff were always very nice to him when he would go for constant refills threw the days. We did love the bowling alley and for 5 dollars each were able to bowl a game and rent the shoes. That was our favorite activity, other than the Blue Man Group. The trampoline, the spider climb, and the ice rink were never open the whole cruise. There was an old looking sign that said closed for maintance, but no one ever was working on them. These were some things I played up with the kids in preparing them for vacation and choosing a ship. It was disappointing that they were shut down the whole time!The entertainment did not impress us except for the blue man group. They were awesome, and even though it was a full ship, we were able to see them 3 times and the kids got in the front row twice. They loved it! The rest of the shows were in our opinion, boring.Disembarkation was a mess. It took FOREVER!All in all, it was an OK trip. I think next time instead of spending so much on a huge new ship, we will have just as much fun on a cheaper smaller ship.

Cabin Review

Family Inside

Cabin I1
previous reviewnext review

Find a Norwegian Epic Cruise from $298

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.