Review of our westbound transatlantic crossing 4th – 17th November 2018
Background
We’re Peter & Patrick from Manchester U.K. who began cruising back in 2004. We sailed exclusively with Royal Caribbean for 11 years and then started to widen our choices to include Celebrity, MSC, Cunard, P&O and NCL. This was our 4th Transatlantic crossing (or TA for short), our 3rd westbound with another 2 ...
I am going to preface this review with a note that I had sailed on Epic in August 2017 for a 7-day Western Mediterranean. That said, I boarded with certain preconceptions and expectations. This 13-day cruise across the Atlantic as a solo traveler gave me ample time to compare my previous voyage against today’s NCL Epic.
Embarkation in Barcelona seemed chaotic with little information being ...
This was our 4th cruise with Princess, but this was the first time where we had difficulty obtaining a seat in the Horizon dining area due to people placeing objects on chairs and tables to reserve seats for others that were not even in the Dining area at all. Walking shore excursions were somewhat rushed although very factual for the time we had. Tenders were great with the exception of one which ...
Good service, food and entertainment but public areas need new upholstery- old, stained and grimy. The excursions were enjoyable except for the “foodie walking tour of Naples”. We paid a lot for tiny portions eaten on our feet. Walk around on your own.
Our foodie tour in Rome was much better. Toni Brancatisano did an excellent job of showing us her local places. Our archeology tour in Santorini ...
We only had a 1 week window of opportunity to holiday with friends and that was how we ended up on the NCL Epic. The ship itself is well looked after and everything is very clean. As a group of 4 adults we missed having somewhere to sit early evening before dinner or when we had come back from an excursion. Other ships we have been on (Celebrity and the NCL Jade) had a lovely lounge with floor ...
So a group of 7 girls decided to go on a cruise for one of our friends 40th birthday, only 2/7 people has done a cruise before so it’s an amazing idea on something different to do. We boarded at Barcelona, everything went very smooth, the check in staff were helpful and informative, so sat at the bar waiting to be called. After looking at the info the check in desks give we head into our room, ...
My daughter and I are 1st time cruisers so didn't know what to expect. The staff and cabin crew were excellent and I must mention "washy washy happy happy the Epic cruisers will know what this is. We ate most of the time in the Garden Café which was well set out and the food was excellent however, not much for vegetarians . All the public places on the ship were very good and the entertainment ...
I chose this cruise because I did a similar "repositioning" cruise last year on the Preziosa and enjoyed it. This time we were going to New York, which I have never been to. Embarkation was not good this time - not enough people and information at the port in Lisbon which resulted in us carrying our suitcases to the cabin ourselves. I didn't think the food was as good on Divina as it was on ...
The Epic is a good ship but can be crowded, this doesn't help with having the havens expedite elevator service blocking others from that lift. This was my second time on the epic and although I have had great service as always on Norwegian the entertainment on the epic seems to lack with the same shows from over a year ago. The ship was starting to show some wear but was still well maintained. The ...