NCL Epic Review

[OntCruise]

I’m a frequent Carnival guest but had the opportunity to sail on the Epic on December 2nd from Port Canaveral. Here is my mini review with some comparisons to Carnival for those thinking of trying something new.

 

SHIP: The Epic is a beautiful ship and was a welcome change after being on so many Carnival ships. It felt so spacious. We originally were booked in an inside cabin through a Casino deal, but was able to upgrade to a balcony on the 10th floor midship. I will not get into how dumb the layout of the Epic cabins are - suffice to say it’s as bad as everyone says. Room felt very small compared to Carnival balcony cabins but the worst part was the lighting. The cabins are SO dark it was nearly impossible to put your make up on in the evening. Barely saw our cabin steward the entire week - never talked to us or introduced himself once.

 

FOOD: Definitely give NCL props for food variety.... way way better than Carnival. I wasn’t blown away by the food though ... I think Carnival has better tasting food. On all my Carnival cruises I have never once eaten dinner at the buffet, but we did twice on this cruise because of the variety of options. We did the Taste dining room once and Manhattan twice. It was OK .. nothing spectacular. Staff were not friendly at all and service was very slow. Dinner on Carnival is definitely more fun but we are those people who enjoy the singing, dancing and napkin swinging! I missed that for sure. We also ate at the Pub one night and it was OK, not great. Had the fajitas which were lukewarm and not served with lettuce or cheese which was odd. Didn’t do any of the speciality restaurants. Again I will say the variety of food on the Epic was great. The warm cookies were to die for and we liked having a hard ice cream option. The crepes were also very good.

 

PORTS: We had an itinerary changed due to Hurricane but in my opinion we got a better itinerary and an extra port. Bahamas - I’m so over Bahamas . We shopped a bit, walked around and back on board a few hours later. Falmouth - we did a ship tour to Bamboo beach in Ocho Rios. They don’t tell you that over 2 hours of your 5.5 hour excursion is riding on a bus. Beach was OK - said it included a chair - silly us we assumed that meant a lounge chair but no it was a super uncomfortable wooded lawn chair. The chair was so close to the water that you couldn’t leave your bag on the ground. Lunch was served tapas style. I liked the jerk chicken but didn’t try anything else. Grand Cayman we just took the bus to 7 mile beach and hung out at Calico Jacks for the day. Really nice beach with free wifi and cheap chairs and umbrellas. Such a pretty beach. Last stop was Great Strirrup Cay. Nice private island and tons of chairs. Lunch was good. The rentals were very expensive FYI.

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT: I liked the app where you could book everything but the app doesn’t include a summary of what you booked which would have been handy. You could view it on your TV but that doesn’t help you when you’re out an about around the ship. Shows were good. I liked Pricilla a lot, but it’s pretty risqué and we did see some people get up and leave. The cast was very talented. Burn the Floor was Good. Comedians were good especially Kristin Key, she was hilarious. We did the Under the Big Top game and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We liked the Beatles tribute too. Overall I’d say NCL has better entertainment options than Carnival.

 

 

This cruise had very few children onboard and the crowd did seem a bit more mature which might explain why there were litterally 100’s of available deck chairs. Sure was nice to not feel like you had to get up at the crack of dawn just to get a chair like you have to on Carnival. We sat up at the very front of the ship where there were comfy chairs with thick pads, The first day I went up there I actually asked someone if we were allowed to be there because it was so empty. It’s nearly impossible to get chairs on the Serenity Deck after 8 am on Carnival. This was a pleasant surprise.

 

 

We had an issue with the internet package that was part of our “free at sea”option. Long story but they said we didn’t have it - even though it was clearly marked on our confirmation. The Guest Services Rep was indifferent and wouldn’t even look at the email. Said he would email head office to inquire. When we asked a few days later a different Rep said he needed the email - the same email the first Rep wouldn’t look at!! But this Rep wouldn’t accept a copy on the iPad said we had to print it. It cost us $10 in pay as you go internet to print it because it was soooo slow. We finally got our “free” internet on THURSDAY after producing the printed email! That was super frustrating and no one seemed to care. I did remark several times throughout the week that the staff didn’t seem super friendly ... except for the “washy washy” lady at the buffet, she was awesome.

 

The weather was great and the ship barely felt like it was moving which was awesome. I enjoyed trying something new and would definitely try NCL again.

[Clarea]

Enjoyed your report/review. Thanks!

[easyboy]

Appreciate your comparative review!

 

 

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[Keith1010]

Nce review.

 

Keith

[Skubi]

Thank you for the balanced review. Will be sailing on her in February. Have always found most of NCL staff to be over friendly and want to please. So hope this was just a fluke that you didn't have that type of service and the staff will find their happy face again before I sail. Although not surprised by the internet staff, since on all of my NCL cruises I've never found an internet staff member to be friendly or helpful.

[APDMOM]

Thanks for the review! We will be on Epic in 3 months [emoji846] Hope our ‘free’ internet is on our account. Hope they refunded your $10...

We had excellent staff and friendly service on Escape. Like Skubi, I hope the Epic staff will improve in this regard [emoji846]

 

 

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[suejoe]

Thanks for your review. We'll be on the Epic for New Years Eve (6 more days!)......can't wait!!:D:D

[BirdTravels]

Thanks for your review. We have sailed on the Epic 7 times (Med, eastern Caribbean, western Caribbean, Iberian peninsula) and understand your comments.

[joteacher]

Thanks for your review! We'll be boarding seven weeks from today...can't wait! Hopefully the staff will be as happy as the washy washy lady when we sail... ;)

~Joanne