Epic Disaster

[Epic Disaster]

Epic Disaster - thanks for your review. Sorry about the Cruise Critic family here blasting you as they have. If you would have said all good things they would have praised you. However, you mentioned things that you were not happy with and they come to destroy.

Shame on them!

 

I just returned from Epic 2/23 - 3/2 cruise. I have lots of good and bad to say...some of what you have mentioned minus the spa incident. I have never had a bad cruise, because I go to have fun and meet lots of new friends, which we did.

Would I cruise Epic again, he** NO! The ship is dirty, spa is very moldy, staff rude, food in dining room and pay dining NOT good. Chef Table was wonderful! Blue Man...come on.

 

That's it in a nut shell maybe more in a couple of days.

 

I look forward to your comments. Yes, there were good times. However the only relaxing place we could find was on our balcony. We too met lots of great people. I enjoyed Legends more than Blue Man. I had seen Blue Man three times before. Maybe I was getting bored with it, however it seemed that they cut a lot of the items out. My wife did not like it. I have sailed on Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. All smaller ships and all great experiences. This was our first NCL cruise. I will give them another chance but it will not be on a big ship. My primary frustration is with management. They just don't seem to care. Whether it is the manager of the spa, restaurant or corporate offices.

[Epic Disaster]

Cruiser after my own heart terrydtx!

I also give the chair hogs a limited time then I sling their towels onto heap, move the chair a little and sit down. Hubby is usually mortified! but after ten or fifteen minutes even he comes around and sits down!! :)

 

I read in another review site where someone witnessed a near fight on the Epic because someone moved the towel of a hog. My point is that when you pay for the cruise you expect a level of service. I should not be forced to move them. NCL (or any other line) should monitor the area.

[Cruisegirl6]

No positive points yet on the Epic OP?

[SissasMomE]

:rolleyes: Perhaps if you posted under your real screen name, instead of this one, you would be taken seriously.

[SissasMomE]

I read in another review site where someone witnessed a near fight on the Epic because someone moved the towel of a hog. My point is that when you pay for the cruise you expect a level of service. I should not be forced to move them. NCL (or any other line) should monitor the area.

 

If someone moved my towel after 15 minutes, well, they would not be happy when I returned. :D An hour - yes, most definitely should be moved.

[Epic Disaster]

Wow, a lot has changed in the last couple of months since I was on the Epic. My wife and I both had spa passes for our 13 night cruise. We didn't use the spa everyday, but the doors were never left open. It would certainly be possible to follow someone in, but I find it hard to believe that an honest person would

sneak into the spa for three days. Didn't you find it odd that you didn't have a locker key?

 

We never used the showers. We wore out swim suits down. WE were told at the time of joining the spa that we only needed to turn our room key in if we wanted a locker. You are still not listening to my point I am trying to make. There was hardly ever anyone from NCL in the common area of the spa. The occasional person would walk through picking up towels. There should be someone there full time. Maybe we had the only Epic cruise where the gay guys decided to spend their time in the spa walking around with no clothes. Like I said, the gay couple(both guys) we travelled with also felt uncomfortable. They also said they were hit on by the gay guys in the spa. We filed a complaint with the spa desk. They sent someone after an extended period of time to investigate. We gave a description but they said there were too many names on the list and they did not have descriptions of everyone on the list. They did say if we saw the guy in the spa again to point him out. Not sure what they would have said.

[Nalagh]

We never used the showers. We wore out swim suits down. WE were told at the time of joining the spa that we only needed to turn our room key in if we wanted a locker. You are still not listening to my point I am trying to make. There was hardly ever anyone from NCL in the common area of the spa. The occasional person would walk through picking up towels. There should be someone there full time. Maybe we had the only Epic cruise where the gay guys decided to spend their time in the spa walking around with no clothes. Like I said, the gay couple(both guys) we travelled with also felt uncomfortable. They also said they were hit on by the gay guys in the spa. We filed a complaint with the spa desk. They sent someone after an extended period of time to investigate. We gave a description but they said there were too many names on the list and they did not have descriptions of everyone on the list. They did say if we saw the guy in the spa again to point him out. Not sure what they would have said.

 

The first day I was on the Epic in January I got very sick and required medical attention. It was the fault of the concierge not reading what was later proven was in his report from the pre-concierge desk. We were in DOS and I slept on the balcony the first night. Was I angry..yea. What I did not do is let that experience ruin my trip or the trip of those I sailed with. Had it been me who had seen what you did in the spa I would have gone to see the HD and demanded my money back for the passes and moved on. Like you said, it was over in 5 minutes.

 

We had some food and service on the Epic that we did not like or even hated. We also had some of the best food and service ever.

 

Problems will happen on any cruise line, and how the line deals with it is important to me. NCL goes out of their way make issues better and wants to make us happy and that is why I sail with them.

 

Why create a user name that trashes the Epic to be used on all of cruise critic?

[OCruisers]

Sorry LuLu but I didn't realize I was required to post ten favorable posts before I could post a truthful post. I will try to read the fine print next time!

 

Gosh, I actually thought I thanked you for your review and for you time to join CC to be able to do so .... :confused:

 

LuLu

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[SissasMomE]

Maybe we had the only Epic cruise where the gay guys decided to spend their time in the spa walking around with no clothes.

 

Could you tone your prejudice down slightly? I'm embarassed for you. You using the term "gay guys" is just as insulting as "black people" or "fat girls" or "homophobes" -- well, maybe not homophobes. They are human beings that really do not need to be labeled anymore than they already are.

 

I was walking through a casino in Atlantic City one time and saw a man and woman having sex right against the wall. It was a pretty nasty sight. Point is, I'm sure there were more hookups than just the guys.

 

IF this really did happen, you could have reported it to the autorities when you got off the ship as it is a sex crime. You still can. If it happened.

[ClaireAndMike]

I was on the Epic in January and that was not my experience AT ALL.

 

I don't doubt that the pool area was crowded or that there was a phantom masturbator in the spa, but I didn't sit by the pool at all (I'm a redhead who has yet to turn 30 and already had two precancerous moles excised) nor did I utilize the spa. I will say though that I have encountered public "self-pleasuring" 3 times in my life (lucky me) the first time being when I was in 7th grade - on school grounds right outside the gym! My friends and I laughed about it at the time and never even told anyone but ew, yeah it's pretty gross.

 

I am in my 20s and joke around about being "old" but I wouldn't at all say our cruisemates were mostly elderly. I hate to think of my parents as old (they are 59) but I doubt they would enjoy the Epic as much as my sister and I did.

 

The only night we had any wait at all at a MDR was the first night. I think we waited 20 minutes, maybe less, and were offered a complimentary glass of champagne while we waited.

 

We typically eat at sadly "normal" times (that's probably the only thing normal about my sister and I) and eat only two or three times a day so there was never a time we wanted to eat and nothing was available. We aren't big eaters so food is never a major issue for us. We didn't eat anything from the buffet.

 

We will be on the Epic again the cruise after next and I am hopeful that we have as spectacular a time as we did the first go-around.

[emcelh]

Gosh, I actually thought I thanked you for your review and for you time to join CC to be able to do so .... :confused:

 

LuLu

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That's what I thought you were saying too . I don't know why the OP made that comment.

 

Im curious about one comment OP made though. Does anyone know what cruiselines have a buffet that's open 24 hours?

[sdmike]

Apparently you have never sailed the Epic. When we found someone to report they did investigate it, however the people that showed up were in their early 20's and did not seem to know what to do. The younger male that showed up made the comment he was grossed out by it. The female was very concerned however she was limited to what she could do. It was over five minutes between the time we saw the guy and we found someone to tell about. He was long gone!

 

Concerns like this need to be addressed to the Hotel Director...not some 20-somethings grossed out by it

[Cruisegirl6]

I keep getting avoided and not get an answer OP were there any positive things on the Epic?

[terrydtx]

Cruiser after my own heart terrydtx!

I also give the chair hogs a limited time then I sling their towels onto heap, move the chair a little and sit down. Hubby is usually mortified! but after ten or fifteen minutes even he comes around and sits down!! :)

 

On the Nieuw Amsterdam MY DW and I took the "holding this chair" towels and did the same. Over an hour later 2 women came to us and said they had reserved our chairs. I said Oh really how did you reserve them? They said our towels were on the chairs I told them sorry but somebody must have taken them off. They told me that is the way you hold your chairs while doing other things. I also told the BTW there are no rules for saving chairs around the pool, they left in a huff. You can tell I do not like the Hogs on cruise ships.:cool:

[SMSACE6]

I also would love to hear if there was anything at all on the Epic that was good. Anything?

[mjb1939mary]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience and the posts seem to indicate it was not the norm. We were on the Epic from Feb. 2- Feb. 9 and it was our second NCL cruise and our last NCL cruise. The cabin was the smallest we have ever had and this was our 25th cruise. Our cruise had a large group of Irish celebrating and they were loud and seemed to be having a great time. But this was the noisiest ship we have been on so it was hard to have a conversation in the dining rooms or bars. Before you jump on this--I have no problem with being Irish but just had a problem with the loud singing and chants that were

a daily happening. There was also a gay group that seemed to be having a great time but never bothered anyone to our knowledge. NCL does get you on and off the ship with ease so that is a plus with this line. We were on the ship for the superbowl and had a problem finding two seats from which to watch so ended up at the bowling alley which was very noisy. We got there two hours before the game but that wasn't early enough it seemed.

We did enjoy all the Second City Shows including the mystery lunch (which was the best meal we had on the ship). The Cirque show was a disappointment since we paid $40 each extra for better seats and the steaks were served (with no preference as to how they were cooked) over done and during the show so you were eating and looking around heads in order to see the performance. The day before one of the performers was injured and no mention was made of the change in the show. The Cirque type show on Celebrity is free and is just as good and the seats are better. We found the staff to be mostly from the Phillipines and they were friendly, courteous and efficient (except I had to keep asking for a washcloth each day) The only day we could get a seat at the pool was the day we went at 9 and left at 11. The other days we couldn't find one but noticed a great many people in bathing suits with a coverup in many areas of the ship and figured they had put their towels on a chair and then left to do other things. We are walkers and were disappointed with the track. The Legends in Concert show was OK. We spent only one evening in the casino (which was huge) and we didn't play bingo but did hear the announcements for the bingo and the art auction (which was very expensive) Most of the time when the captain was making announcements the noise was such that we did not understand it at all. We missed the daily newspaper which has been available on other cruise lines. On a scale I would give this cruise a C and I was looking forward to it so it was a disappointment to us, too.

[youngestof9]

Concerns like this need to be addressed to the Hotel Director...not some 20-somethings grossed out by it

 

absolutely. And Kaj was visible ALL OVER THE SHIP. I was on this particular sailing and every time I turned around I saw the hotel director Kaj (and many other officers for that matter). And had you come to CC first, you may have joined the roll call and come to the meet and greet where he was *again*. He gave us his card to call him with issues.

 

At any point if I had an issue with public ************, I wouldn't have stopped at the front desk of the spa. I would have escalated it until it was resolved.

 

At this point, the Bahamas issue has been beaten to death. They cannot give us the Bahamas back and it was out of their control. What they did give that day I felt was perfectly satisfactory.

[Jotravelnut21]

Maybe we had the only Epic cruise where the gay guys decided to spend their time in the spa walking around with no clothes. Like I said, the gay couple(both guys) we travelled with also felt uncomfortable..

 

Jeez... What about your wife? Wasn't she uncomfortable?

I agree with rest. You should have complained, asked for your money back and moved on.

[kerrytens]

While not my experience at all, I'm sorry to hear that your cruise wasn't a good one. I would advise that if you experience such disappointing things in the future on board, that you go directly to the Hotel Director. If they can fix it, they will.

 

I do feel that I have to comment on one of your points directly though. You mentioned that 'NCL cancels ports' - all cruise line's can cancel a port without prior notification. You are never guaranteed the itinerary that you signed up for. Heck, I booked a western on another cruise line a few years ago and it ended up being a trip to Nassau so the ship could be fixed enough to get us back to Miami. Sadly, it happens. Sorry that you were so disappointed about missing a port.

 

I hope your next cruise is a great one!

[terrydtx]

If someone moved my towel after 15 minutes, well, they would not be happy when I returned. :D An hour - yes, most definitely should be moved.

 

Would you please show me any written rule where placing a towel on a pool chair reserves it for you while you go off and do other things? There are none and a chair hog is a chair hog whether it is 15 minutes or an hour.:p Chair hogs by the pool and in the ship's theaters are one of my pet peeves, sorry but I find this to be grossly rude and inconsiderate of others wanting to enjoy the limited space and facility.

[SissasMomE]

Would you please show me any written rule where placing a towel on a pool chair reserves it for you while you go off and do other things? There are none and a chair hog is a chair hog whether it is 15 minutes or an hour.:p Chair hogs by the pool and in the ship's theaters are one of my pet peeves, sorry but I find this to be grossly rude and inconsiderate of others wanting to enjoy the limited space and facility.

 

Using the restroom or getting a beverage is rude and inconsiderate of others?! LOL

[Jotravelnut21]

I keep getting avoided and not get an answer OP were there any positive things on the Epic?

 

 

Maybe you should ask the question in a different way Lynamr

 

"Epic Disaster... Was there anything positive things on the Epic"??:)

 

Sorry, trying to lighten the mood! ;) tell us something positive...please

[SissasMomE]

The only day we could get a seat at the pool was the day we went at 9 and left at 11.

 

You can't come out to the pool deck, on any cruise, after 10 am and expect to find a chair by the pool. It's not going to happen. Even that is late, IMO. We have never had a problem finding a chair, but we are early risers and are usually out there before 9am. If you don't mind eating outside, it is perfectly acceptable to put your stuff on a chair and go get your breakfast and bring it back to your lounger to eat. Otherwise, you may want to have breakfast earlier and then go to the pool deck before that 10am time period.

[terrydtx]

I do feel that I have to comment on one of your points directly though. You mentioned that 'NCL cancels ports' - all cruise line's can cancel a port without prior notification. You are never guaranteed the itinerary that you signed up for. Heck, I booked a western on another cruise line a few years ago and it ended up being a trip to Nassau so the ship could be fixed enough to get us back to Miami. Sadly, it happens. Sorry that you were so disappointed about missing a port.!

 

This is so true. We had port days canceled in Grand Cayman Island and Half Moon Cay on the same HAL cruise because of rough seas making it too dangerous to tender into the islands. We did get our port taxes for the missed ports back on our OBC which I would hope NCL did on the missed Nassau port.

[RVman]

Thanks for taking out the time to do a review, at least some of us appreciates it.