Norwegian Epic Review
Norwegian Epic CruiseTour Rome 7/28-7/31 Cruise 7/31/13-8/7/13
Rating by category
Additional details
We were looking for a special trip to celebrate our 20th anniversary and we found it. We selected the CruiseTour, spending 3 nights in Rome with a small tour group arranged by Norwegian and then the 7 night Western Mediterranean cruise. It was the first time we had ever been on a cruise and the first time I had been to the area (although my husband had spent time in the Med while in the military). We enjoyed almost everything immensely, just a few drawbacks and things we learned that we would do differently.
The tour operator in Rome was Gate1 and Francesca did a wonderful job. Simon met us at the airport on 7/28, got us to the car and we were taken to our hotel. We met the rest of our group of 18 and Francesca that evening and went for a short walk around the area of our hotel. Francesca led us through various areas of the city the next three days - Vatican, Collesuem, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc. She was very considerate in how she arranged the trips through the next few days to beat the worst of the heat. There was time we could have spent on our own as well, but for most part we elected to go on the optional tours arranged by Gate1. Hotel Mediterraneo was decent. Rooftop restaurant had great view. Food in rooftop restaurant and breakfast buffet was satisfactory, but not great.
After a last tour on 7/31, they got us all to the ship. We had booked a suite and immediately on checking in, Anoop, the Haven concierge, met us and we were whisked away to the Haven restaurant as we had chosen not to eat lunch before boarding and then shown to our suite. Our butler, Maria, later gave us a tour of the ship including all of the Haven amenities. Our steward, Chris was also very great. We enjoyed all the benefits of being in a spa suite. We were a disappointed though that upon hitting the port of Barcelona, our butler and steward were changed out and we never felt as well taken care of as we had with Maria and Chris.
Cabin Review
Spa Suite
Cabin 14151 on NCL Epic: Cabin itself was good, but not the location! The balcony was great - fairly large. Had plenty of closet space. We were fine with the round bed (I am 5' 10" and my husband is 6' 2"). Didn't have any problem with the shower/toilet/sink set-up although I could see it being an issue for some people. One day, we did have an issue with the water running out of the shower onto the cabin floor. We didn't use the whirlpool tub much, but it was nice to have. Enjoyed the access to the spa and the Haven that having a spa suite entailed. The one thing we didn't like was being on the deck right below the main pool area. I read reviews ahead of time where people said the noise wasn't an issue, but we found that not to be true. We could hear people running above us and we could always hear when they were putting away and putting out the beach chairs. It was generally quiet from around midnight - 5 a.m., but that was about it - so forget sleeping in or spending quiet time in the cabin during the day! The only other thing we had an issue with was for a couple nights there were some kids running up and down the hallways hitting all the doorbells in the middle of the night, but that wasn't the fault of the cruiseline.