Norwegian Epic Review

4.5 / 5.0
4,409 reviews

Very Good but not Excellent

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Epic
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BaWBarmy
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Sep 2016
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony

My wife spotted this deal on one of the major cruise TV shows and the price was good considering it included flights and transfers, but what really swung it was the inclusion of NCL's extremely expensive Ultimate Beverage Package as a freebie. We ended up as a party of seven, My wife, daughter, daughter - in - law and myself had all cruised with NCL previously. My mother - in - law and her husband had cruised before but not with NCL and my mother was a first time cruiser.

Between us we had a range of staterooms from an inside through a solo cabin and up to a couple of balcony cabins. The layout of the cabins took some getting used to with the toilet, the shower and the sink not being closed off in a separate bathroom. It quickly became obvious why NCL had done this as it gave the staterooms a feeling of having more space. As usual the staterooms were kept clean and supplied constantly with coffee etc. My daughter is still mystified as to why NCL do not supply a coffee maker in the Inside staterooms. My wife and I were equally mystified as to why there were no dressing gowns in the balcony staterooms, as they had been supplied last year in our balcony stateroom on The Gem. The solo cabin and facilities that come with it are excellent, and my mother didn't have to far for her morning fix of coffee. Overall everyone was very pleased with the staterooms.

The Epic is huge, although in Barcelona it was dwarfed by RCL's Harmony of the Seas which was moored next to us at the pier. Having previously cruised on the Gem (twice) and Fred Olsens Braemar, which has less than 1000 passengers, we were all a bit worried that the Epic might be too big. This was not the case, in the end you could've been on any of NCL's ships just with a few extras, like the Ice Bar and Spice H2O thrown in.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony

Cabin BB

Couldn't be faulted. Always kept clean and everything worked.

Port Reviews

Naples

Took our own excursion. Taxi to Pompeii plus tour of Naples and visit to a Limoncello emporium. Fixed a price at the dockside, didn't have to pay until we'd finished. Naples is a strange place. It looks and feels a bit rough but you really wouldn't mind spending longer there to see what it has to offer.

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Rome. I wish we could have spent more time there. The only drawback is the distance to and from Civitavecchia and therefore time wasted. We spent nearly three hours travelling there and back, would love to have spent that time in Rome. We did this on our own.

Florence (Livorno)

We only got as far as Pisa as time constraints meant that travelling to Florence and Pisa was out of the question unless we'd got up at the crack of dawn. Pisa doesn't have much to offer except the Duomo and the Tower BUT they are worth it.

Cannes

Not really a lot to do in Cannes once you've done the little train tour past all the hotels etc. There is a nice little beach near the tender drop off point.

Marseille

The old port is a shuttle ride away from the harbour. A little disappointing after a walk round the harbour and a few shops it was back to the ship.

The shuttle is something else NCL have started charging for.

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