This was my second time on the Epic and third cruise with Norwegian. Cruising is 99% back to normal, with very few COVID restrictions remaining (this took me by surprise). According to the GM at the Q&A session on May 21, we had 3000 passengers and 1500 crew onboard (about 80% capacity). He said they can’t go any higher with the current restrictions, but I am not sure what restrictions are left, because it sure felt like we were almost totally back to normal.

Embarkation was very smooth. A taxi brought me right to the terminal. It was a quick stop for luggage tags, another quick stop to verify COVID vaccination and negative test, and then there was no line-up to check-in. After checking in I waited about 20 minutes as they were letting people onto the ship in groups. In all, I arrived at my 11am check-in time and I was onboard by 11:40am. My room was ready around 1:40pm and luggage arrived to my room by 3pm.

Norwegian could use some updates to its mobile app; Royal Caribbean is way ahead in this regard. For example, you can’t book restaurants or entertainment from the app – you have to do so in-person or on your stateroom TV. But once booking it on your TV, it shows up in your app. Also, the Royal app replaced the daily newsletters, whereas Norwegian is still delivering the Freestyle Daily. The Norwegian app makes it seem like there isn’t much to do onboard (because the app isn’t easy to navigate), whereas the Royal app was very easy and intuitive. Read more