Norwegian Epic Review

4.5 / 5.0
4,413 reviews

Great ports, bad ship

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Epic
User Avatar
kimwrightman
6-10 Cruises • Age 30s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Oct 2019
Cabin: Family Balcony

We were on the NCL Epic leaving from Barcelona I was in a group of 20 and we all felt the ship was lackluster. This was my first time on sailing with NCL and I will be sticking to my preferred cruise line in the future. Out of all the workers I encountered only 2 seemed to be happy to be working on the ship. All the other workers were miserable, the seated dining service was horrible on one occasion our server brought out the wrong dish to my boyfriend so she took away the wrong order and NEVER brought him what he asked for; thankfully the buffet was delicious because after that experience we didn't go back to the dining rooms. I'm glad that the ships were in port for long periods of time because they didn't have to many activities on ship I usually spend most of my time playing the games/trivia but those were few and far between. We also encountered an issue with our excursion to Florence of the hop on hop off bus tour, our guide warned us it was "end of season" for them so transportation and traffic were going to be bad yet they had no problem charging us as if it was still season they provided us the transportation to Florence and then highly recommended that we didn't use the hop on buses because we'd lose a lot of time waiting for the buses or sitting in traffic. My sister booked a different excursion in Florence and they also had issues with transportation and they recommended to her to take a taxi back our she'd miss the ship. When we got back on the ship they only offered us a 20% refund and didn't seem apologetic or that they even cared. I'm confident that everyone on board my ship was disappointed as well, at all times of the day there was a long line of people at the customer service desk complaining about something. We booked a balcony room 13265 for four and it fit us all well but the layout was very odd we didn't like the open concept bathroom the sliding glass door is just a light frosting so you can see a clear silhouette of whom ever is in there and no one felt comfortable using the restroom peeing alone was amplified to the room because of those stupid glass doors. And I highly ADVISE for everyone to continuously check your bill on the tv they charged me a $30 bar tab that I never made they had to go back into the paper receipts to check for the wrongfully made charge it took a day for them to confirm the accident and remove it from my account. I learned on the first day that i wasn't going to be purchasing on the ship due to the high gratuities and port charge I bought a beer that was menu priced $7 and ended up getting charged $10.50 with all their fees. Poor service and high prices just solidified to stick with the cruise line I know and trust.

Cabin Review

Family Balcony

There was 4 of us to our room which fit us fine but we could've used more storage space. We were not fans of the open concept bathroom even with the frosted glass you can see a clear silhouette of whom ever was in there and the glass doors amplify any sounds in the bathroom. Also the glass doors rattled at night so we had to stuff towels under the doors for some peace and quite. The balcony was almost unnecessarily huge I think more room would've be nice.

Port Reviews

Barcelona

We stayed in Barcelona a few days before we boarded and LOVED it there. I would definitely go visit again. Great shops and cafes everywhere.

Naples

We got on a city sight seeing bus right on the dock it was only 23 Euro and definitely worth the price we rode the double decker bus and got some amazing pictures of the city and then had plenty of time to walk around the city and eat delicious Margarita pizza from Pizzeria Brandi its been around since 1780 you have to eat the pizza there its the best in the city we heard about lots of bad pizza throughout the city so I'm really glad we went there.

Cannes

Cannes was very beautiful we just walked the coast and the little city right there in port. We didnt spend too much time there though a lot of the shops and restaurants were closed but the people there were nice and the city was clean. I'm glad I stayed near the ship I heard Monte Carlo and Nice didnt have much to offer either.

Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)

We took a taxi to the church and walked the city area there we found really cute shops and restaurants. There wasnt too much to do so we got back on the ship early.

4 Helpful Votes
previous reviewnext review

Find a Norwegian Epic Cruise from $299

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.