Epic - Reviews are confusing

[detroitlions]

Now I am going on the same cruise in 2 weeks when I first read this I got half way through and thought this person complain way too much about way to little for me. The first half is about how horrible and confusing embarkation is. I have been on many cruises half the time the wait really stinks since I have cruised alot during spring break I expect it and it does not affect my cruise you are not even on the ship yet. Guess what the airport is worse. Now all the little tidbits on lights and where switches are very lame and would not affect anyones cruise. The wait in the dining room on the first day which on every ship I would advise to not go in the main dining room for lunch on embarkation there are tons of other options that are a lot faster or wait a hour when the lido buffett calms down. Geez. I basically learned nothing from this review and I see a lot like this one complain about kids during spring break Huh do not cruise during spring break if you hate kids and alot of crusty old people do not like kids. So I throw that out too what about the islands? Your comment on special restarunts is wierd the food is good the wait is less whats not to like. your mad because they qustioned your order big deal or confused on one chair at your seat please. I can not pick a thing out of this review that would make me think you did a whole lot on this trip.

Refered to Skater Jasp Review

[detroitlions]

My son just got off the same cruise as SkaterJasp and said it was the best family vacation they ever has. so, to each their own.

There is no way anyone I know would have there vacation ruined by the things stated in that awefull review. What I got out of that review was I cant stand smoke I cant stand kids I refuse to wait I dont drink. I an not a fun person. I went to the gym.

[Sparkles87]

Great review! :) really enjoyed it - thanks!

 

Thanks Wanderlust81 - like I said I couldn't fault the ship and enjoyed recalling all those wonderful memories! :)

 

With so many negative reviews floating around in cyberspace I like to make sure that If I had an awesome time then everyone who cares needs to know about it! ;)

Edited March 16, 2015 by Sparkles87

[Envelope21]

The main thing I've learned from cruise critic is never ever write a bad review. You will be accused of being nit-picky and a complainer.

[Randy000]

Well most of the reviews on CC are negative. Its funny how two people can be on the same exact cruise and one person absolutely loved it and the other talks like it was the worse experience of their life. So when I go on the Epic next week Im sure Ill have a great time and leave an amazing review so the normal people out there don't shy away from the cruise.

Some of the reviews are extremely nit picky yes. Many people have complained about the cabin not being turned down, up, side ways whatever it is...you on vacation who freaking cares!! Seems like people werent informed that there is going to be 4000 other guests on this boat and sadly a lot of people are just plain rude, welcome to Miami! These people should goto a spa retreat some where thats quiet. They'll probably enjoy that more. If every cruise was as bad as the reviews make it sound then NCL wouldn't be in business.

[cwistyred]

Envelope 21, you can write a bad review and it will be mostly well received (there will always be some who will criticize the criticism no matter what you write) as long as you what you write is about things of consequence, such as mold in you cabin, dirty linens, broken pipes, food that was spoiled in the dining rooms or of low quality such as grizzly meat, strange noises in your cabin, buffet tables left dirty for long periods of time and lost reservations. What people call nit picking is when folks complain that the light on the cabin phone was too bright - this is a safety issue to be sure in an emergency you can find the phone in the dark. Or that there were too many kids on the cruise or that there were not enough towel animals left in their cabin. On mass market lines you are not going to get the personal attention of the high price lines (if you read their reviews there are a lot of "critics" of their service as well)

If you write a mostly constructive review you won't have to suffer the slings and arrows of the majority of your fellow Cruisecritic members.

Just my one and half cents worth

[welove2cruise*]

I have been on the Epic three times so far and will be back again in October.

 

As far as cabins go - yes, you have to be careful which one you choose. Some balcony cabins on lower decks are not covered and some large balcony cabins at the front of the ship are "hull" cabins with a metal enclosure around them limiting your view. There are threads on cruise critic that provide good information as to what to avoid. Most recommend to look at the deck plans and choose a cabin where the wider section of the room is at the balcony. The bed will be near the balcony in those cabins and in my opinion makes the room configuration much nicer.

 

I also dislike the casino placement and the smoke that it creates, but you can avoid it if you make an effort to.

 

The entertainment has always been good (we missed Slam Allen on our last sailing as he was really the best entertainer we saw in the Jazz club) and lots to choose from. Overall we have enjoyed the ship very much. I actually preferred the Epic in some respects to the Getaway as even with so many people it never felt as crowded as the Getaway did.

 

Lots to enjoy as far as I am concerned.

[nancynana9950]

We had such a totally different experience last year when we sailed on the Epic. Boarding was very easy. We did get there early, about 9:45 and certainly no one yelled at us. Not sure why your experience was so different. We weren't thrilled with the balcony room design and we're happy they did not repeat it on the newer ships. But the balcony size is way better than the newer builds. We liked the food selections in the buffet, especially breakfast. Eggs Benedict made to order and everything was nice and hot. We did take our food downstairs to La Cucina to eat it there as it was way less crowded. They are only open for dinner and you are free to sit there during breakfast and lunch. No one should confuse Cirque Dreams with Cirque du Soleil. It could be someone from NCL may have described some of the acts in each as similar but even that would be a stretch. Cirque du Soleil is a way larger production with tickets going for $85-125 easy. And no dinner! Not to say I didn't enjoy Cirque Dreams; I did. Thought the dinner was passably good as well. We also had a very good meal at Moderno. While Epic is not my favorite ship, we had a great trip for a great price and would sail her again for the right price and itinerary. That running track really sucks though. [emoji32]

[dolita22]

That running track really sucks though. [emoji32]

 

We sailed the Epic for a second time in January and my husband loved the running track! He ran 8-10 miles on it 3 days of our 7-day cruise. :) He liked that it was somewhat protected from the wind and he had something to look at on each run. Granted, he was comparing it to a.) the track on RCCL's Independence of the Seas, which is on one of the upper decks and he'd have to bend quite far into the wind when he was on the more forward part, making it quite difficult to run; and b.) the track at our gym, on which he runs 20 miles and just looks at blank walls the entire time. :-)

[nancynana9950]

When we went it was very hot. There is very little breeze there because of the life boats. They block the view as well. Then you have those blowers from the kitchen blowing hot stinky air on you! And it's just so narrow.

[TifffanyD]

We were on Mar 1-8 and had a great time! It was our 2nd trip on the Epic (the first being back in 2011).

 

 

My main complaints are with the passengers. There were a bunch of chair hogs, theatre seat hogs, and grouchy old people. But there were fun folks as well.

 

I thought service was good. We didn't see our cabin steward hardly ever but our room was always ready. He was like a ghost ;)

 

Servers and bartenders all good too.

 

Entertainment was, of course, top notch.

 

Stairs at the ends are a little bit of a pain but it's not *that* long of a walk... and there are plenty of elevators (unlike Disney).

 

Have a great trip~!

[Dutchie13]

We sailed on the Epic on the March 1 cruise and loved it!

You can always find things to complain about on any ship, but you are on vacation so why worry yourself! So what if sometimes service is slow or the cabins are small, there are plenty of things to enjoy on the ship.

 

We loved the Posh area, so if you are traveling without kids, try to get the passes.

We also loved the dueling piano's at Howl at the Moon. These are very talented guys and they managed to create a party every night they played.

But mainly we just loved being on holiday, enjoyed the weather, the food and drinks and the company.

 

We had a cabin all the way Aft on the ship. It was nice because there was not a lot of passing traffic so it was quiet.

Also it was close to the Aft elevator so it never felt far to walk (only if we took the forward elevator to our deck and then had to navigate through long windy corridors).

 

I also read the reviews beforehand but decided not to let it affect my holiday and once we were on the ship it didn't. Just go with the flow, try to enjoy and decide for yourself!

Have a good holiday! :-)

[missaud]

Rebekah- We just got off ithe Epic in February. We had a wonderful time. We live by the motto "No cruise is a bad cruise. It is all what you make it,". If you are midship, you are okay, equal distance to both elevators. Ships lay out is a little getting used to, and you do have to go through the casino a lot to get to where you want to go. Entertainment was really great. I guess that would be relative though to your liking. We liked to chill at the Martini Bar and Maltings. We enjoyed the entertainment they had in the evenings. We enjoy jazz and they had a good jazz band playing try and make Fat Cats and the Comedy Club..Food was great as well. Some places were better than others. We went to the specialty restaurants. Cagneys was okay, the Brazilian restaurant was our favorite. The Italian was good but not great. The service we received was really good as well. Sometimes not fast, but again that was okay. We could enjoy the company of everyone at the table. I think the rule of thumb is, if you make an effort to be nice to the staff they will be nice to you. Whenever we asked for anything, it was never a problem and they were willing to do what they could. The cabins are a little smaller than we were used to. The balconey though was worth it. We stayed in the aft. Now we get to the bathroom---- having the sink in the room was not a problem and the shower was a little smaller than we thought as well, BUT our friends had a family balcony and the shower was huge. The bathroom layout was a little getting used to as well and we did get used to it. We weren't sure if we would like the Epic or not. We were used to ships like Pride of America and Pearl and Radiance. My husbands balance is not good and we thought that might be an issue. BUT-- my husband said he loved the ship and would go on it again in a minute, so would I. Forget about the reviews. Go and enjoy every minute. You will have a great time.

[quercus alba]

Epic was our first ever cruise--we booked it for the European itinerary, and then I found this forum and started reading about it. I saw all the negative reviews, most coming from the initial season of Caribbean sailings. I had to decide if I was going to change my mind--but thinking critically, I saw that really, most of them were complaining about things that weren't going to affect my wife and me on our vacation. I looked for the things that folks had complained about during our sailing, and quickly realized that these people really seem to need to be unhappy about something to be truly happy, I guess. :rolleyes:

 

It was a great vacation--best we've had in our 30 years together so far.

 

Dug up our review from 2011 for you. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=29279885&postcount=1

[rlb81]

We just returned home from the 3/15 sailing. We had a good time but will not book the epic again, and probably not NCL for a long while.

 

here is a random stream of clif notes:

 

-None of us (wife, bother, sister-in-law, myself) are first time cruisers but this was the first mega ship for all of us.

-Embarkation was fine, we noticed we were at the wrong terminal just before walking in, so we walked to the right one. On board by ~12:30

-I do agree on the poor first impression with entering the casino, smelling smoke, etc. Also having to walk through the smoky casino at times was irritating.

-We walked straight to Taste for lunch, service/timing was excellent.

-Agreed that the number of passengers vs. the size of public areas leads to a lot of waiting & missing out on what you want if you're not the type to arrive 15-20 minutes early to get what you want.

-Most meals were in Taste. Most lunches were in the buffet since we were on the Lido. Overall the food was good, the service was poor. As the cruise went on, the waiting time in Taste grew longer and longer and food was coming out colder and colder. We all agreed that the dining service was definitely lacking. In all, there were 3 meals in Taste where we had good service. But in the end, most of the food (>90%) we ate was good. Worst service was the one meal we had in Manhattan room.

-Wait times at the bars were ridiculous. It seemed that no matter how many staff were behind a bar, you could not walk up and get a drink in under 5 minutes. This includes a beer or glass of wine, and times where there were few patrons. Most on the ship had UBP (us included), I'm sure that factors in some how.

-Spice H20 was nice if you could get a spot in the shade. There were many tables, but only 4 umbrellas. This meant if you didn't claim your table at 8am you were probably not getting a shady spot to sit/relax.

-We stayed in 8088, a little forward of mid ship. No problems getting to/from. Our balcony collected a lot of trash that blew off of other balconies.

-Stateroom bathroom layout was nice at times and frustrating at others. Overall I never expect to be wowed by a stateroom, they're designed to meet a certain level of function with the smallest possible footprint.

-Staff: no one was downright rude, but few seemed happy to see any passengers.

-We ate at Le Bistro one night. Service there was top notch and the food was good.

-Positive, let's end on another positive...................................We had a good time with good company. While we didn't get the level of service we all would normally expect from cruise staff, it was still vacation and I'd do it again vs going to work tomorrow!

Edited March 23, 2015 by rlb81

[Soccer Mom 96]

I also just got off Epic yesterday (3/15 sailing). Although I am a seasoned cruiser, I haven't sailed on Norwegian in almost 18 years so it was obviously a very different experience since my last. I am 49 and sailed with my mom, sister, HS age niece and her friend. We did have a good time but was it a perfect cruise? No...but I don't think any of my cruises have been perfect...and don't expect them to be. Is there anything glaring that would prevent me from sailing on Norwegian again...no. Would I sail on Epic again...probably but I think I would want to try the Breakaway class first. I found the design of the ship to be confusing...I often had difficulty figuring out which way was forward or aft. The Norwegian staff admitted they now know certain things on the Epic "didn't work" which is one reason the ship is a one of a kind. There is no other ship like her in the fleet.

 

Most of our experiences with staff were friendly. We did run into the occasional waiter that was rude...our night in Cagney's comes to mind. Overall I found the food good. I personally like the chilled fruit soups on RCCL and missed those on Norwegian. We all thought the Caesar salad on Norwegian was awesome...and of course the Chocolate Volcano! I realize food is subjective but I am of the opinion that if I don't have to plan it, shop for it, cook it and clean up after it, I come out ahead!

 

My best advice would be not to go in expecting it to be fantastic but also don't go looking for things to criticize. Have a great time!

[Soccer Mom 96]

I should have said don't go in expecting it to be "perfect" rather than "fantastic". A cruise can and should be fantastic even if it isn't perfect. I also would give that advice for any cruise...not just the Epic. I hope you have a great time.

[ricearoni161]

Don't head into vacation worried :).

 

I took the Epic from Barcelona to Miami 6 months ago and LOVED it so much, I just booked a trip on Breakaway since they're similar.

 

I had a quick painless boarding process, which I will now admit after 10 cruises on 4 different lines, is totally just luck of the draw and timing!

 

Our steward was good. You start to see the same crew so it never felt impersonal. In fact, they went way above and beyond for my friend with gluten sensitivity!

 

The ship is large but I never struggled to get around. Not having the mid-ship elevators wasn't a concern.

 

Best wishes and tell us all about it!