Chose this cruise because it was leaving Rome at a time we wanted to cruise. It was our 20th Anniversary , and the cruise was a surprise for my wife. We have always cruised an Carnival and did note the the people on this cruise were somewhat older then we have experienced. The ship (Epic) was was nice and clean, and we dined in the upscale restaurants so the food was very good there. The food in the main dining rooms was as expected. The one mystery we still have is why do all cruise lines have the most wonderful looking deserts that have almost no taste at all. Thought maybe Carnival was the only one, but Norwegian is the same. We finally just gave up on deserts and had some ice cream.

There were several things that left a bad taste with us and we have decided we will NEVER sail with Norwegian again. The first was the ICE BAR. They have a ice bar on the ship that everything is supposedly made of ice. The bar, the chairs, the tables, etc.... I say supposedly, because we never got to go in. Why, you may ask? Here's why. THEY WANTED TO CHARGE 20 euro to go in!!!!!! Just to look in!!!! I was told "But Sir, we give you 2 FREE drinks". I don't want 2 free drinks, I just would like to see what it looks like inside. By the way, you aren't giving me 2 free drinks. You are forcing me to "BUY" 2 drinks at 10 euro apiece just to go in. I spent over $3000 for this cruise and I can't just "Look" in the door? Needless to say we did not go in their stupid Ice Bar. The other thing that pissed me off is the $13.50 per person daily gratuity charge they put on the bill. Supposedly it's for "My Convenience" that they automatically add it to the bill. I have always in the past tipped those who wait on us in the restaurants, as well as out cabin Stewart and anyone else who makes our trip more enjoyable. I went to the desk to ask the charges be removed and was told they could not remove the charges, "But here is a form you can fill out and submit it to our main office and a adjustment will be made" She then took out a folder and added my name and cabin number to a LONG LIST OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAD REQUESTED THE SAME!!!!! So, ok fine. Got home and filled out the form and submitted it like I was supposed to. It says the adjustment will be done in two weeks. It has been seven weeks and no response. I have resubmitted it, also with no response. I am now in the process of disputing the $189 gratuity charge. This nickel and dime stuff is something we haven't seen before. If you want to charge me an extra $189 for the cruise, that would have been fine, but don't keep adding little charges throughout my cruise. One of the reasons I do this is so that I can pay one fee and just relax for seven days knowing everything is taken care of. We will most definitely never cruise on Norwegian again, and I have made it a point to share my experience with everybody I run into. Who knows, maybe somebody from Norwegian will actually read this. This concludes my rant.