Our family just completed a 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise on the Epic, which was also our first NCL cruise. Prior to boarding, I was absolutely terrified having read all of the recent negative reviews. Having completed the cruise, I must say the Epic gets more criticism than it deserves.
Let's start with the bad:
We had a later board time (I was late doing the online check-in), and ...
First time on Norwegian stayed in The Haven. Highly recommend staying in The Haven even though it is not adults only. The ship was very crowded. It happened to be spring break time and there were A LOT of kids. Norwegian seems to be advertising and promoting families with kids/teens. Choose your week carefully. The excursions were okay. The Jeep and Safari in Costa Maya was very misleading. ...
The cruise was ok. Getting on and off at ports was fairly easy and quick. There was a lot to choose from once you were off the ship. The excursions offered on board were much more expensive than if you just got off and got one of the ones they were selling at the ports. There were not as many activities as we liked on board and their "main" area was not big at all. There were not many bigger pools ...
We just did our first cruise this past week. The food, services, cleanliness, and attendees were wonderful. The only thing that we did not appreciate is how their employees were being exploited. I noticed fairly quickly that all the servers, attendees cools, housekeepers were from very poor countries. The only white faces who were part of the crew was the captain, entertainment, and onboarding. I ...
We're not among those that are habitual cruisers. At 62, we've probably been on 15 in our lifetime. We like the convenience once in a while and just the ease of travel and leisurely feel. Have been on Cunard, RC, and Celebrity. This is our 2nd with Norwegian (first was right before pandemic in Hawaii). While I'd say the lines overall are similar, Norwegian is probably my least favorite. ...
We sailed on the Pearl since it hosted a musical cruise we were interested in.
Our balcony cabin on the 9th deck was clean and the bed was comfortable but several maintenance issues were very apparent. We noticed torn wallpaper near where a coat hook had been installed and a light fixture looked liked it had been bounced around a bit and could have used a replacement with something that wasn’t ...
As an experienced cruise traveler, I've been on countless voyages over the past two decades, cruising with family early on and then increasingly venturing out solo. Most of my cruises in the 2000s and 2010s were on major lines like Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Carnival. In the 2020s, I've sailed with Virgin Voyages, Holland America, Princess, and Celebrity among others. This Norwegian Encore ...
Mid ship / Deck 9 Balcony Room
Pros:
Excellent / Great food (all beef is angus beef) - never over cooked as we experienced both times on Royal Caribbean. By far the best food on any cruise line we've experienced.
Excellent customer service
No seasickness due to captain/pilot's experience on large swells on last day of cruise
No lines for Starbucks
Cons:
*No place to get away ...
Start with the positives, ship was quite nice, as were accommodations. Staff on the most part were helpful, and food was very good. Now the negative, way too many passengers to appropriately accommodate. Long lines and wait times for shows, drinks elevators etc. Norwegians overall business practices are poor in my opinion. Besides the unreasonable costs for packages such as drinks and specialty ...
We chose Norwegian Joy because we'd been on another NCL cruise and enjoyed the experience. As Midwesterners, we wanted to escape the end of winter, so booked in md-March. The "Free at Sea" benefits made it attractive and affordable.
We felt we did great research--on Cruise Critic and other sites--and thought we could deal with the consistent negative comments about the crowding, bottlenecks, ...