My wife and I just completed a 7 day cruise on NCL’s ship the “Epic” (April 13-20, 2019). The cruise was out of Port Canaveral. We were extremely disappointed. As a former U.S. naval officer, I know the problems we encountered were not the result of the ship’s design or condition or even that of the crew. It must rest solely on the shoulders of the officers. I have been on more than 20 cruises including Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian. This cruise was the worst I have been on.

The most notable problem is the general lack of supervision by the management team. This has allowed a number of problems to fester. Taken in their totality, these minor problems add up to a poorly run cruise ship. Examples of these minor problems are discussed below.

When we got into our cabin, there was something obviously wrong with the beds. The mattress pads are designed to be zippered onto the mattresses. Ours were not attached to the mattresses because they were mis-shapen (shrinkage from washing?) and would not fit. Instead, the mattress pads were turned upside down and more or less centered on the mattresses before the sheets were added on top. Not only could you feel the unevenness of the pad underneath the sheet, but they moved and bunched up during the night if you moved in the bed. After going to guest services and explaining the problem, a housekeeping supervisor checked the situation and new pads were properly placed on the bed and zippered into place. The cabin steward knew the pads were not placed on the bed properly and would not fit. But obviously this is a condition that is lived with by the crew. It is a problem that is so frequent it has become “normal” to just make do and hope the guest doesn’t complain. Read more