Epic - does anyone have anything nice to say?

[serena_17]

We just booked a 7 day West Med cruise (ex Rome) on Epic in July as part of a bigger Europe trip.

 

Since booking, I've come back onto CC and can't seem to find overly positive things about Epic.

 

We've previously sailed RCCL and P&O, all in Australia/South Pacific.

 

The aim of this cruise for us is to get over jetlag (27 hour flight + transit time) before heading to Prague.  We're staying in inside cabins (DH & DS in one;  DD & me in the other).

 

Odd bathroom/shower configuration aside, can anyone give me some positives for Epic?

[MeHeartCruising]

It's a unique ship and I like it.  I've sailed on the EPIC twice.  

[barb65]

Great entertainment and Thermal Spa!

[Son of a son of a ...]

The Haven is awesome and the ports are great!

[mapleleaves]

The caribbean sailings seem to get a lot of bad reviews, but if you look back at last summers reviews of the W Med, there are many positive reviews, (even for the bathroom setup ).  And if you look at various rollcalls for this summer, it's amazing to see the number of people who are returning for their 2nd, 3rd or more cruise on the Epic 

 

I'm not at all concerned about the negative comments. We'll be busy in various ports each day, then in the evening we'll have a meal and be entertained.  What's not to like ?  It probably helps that I'm not a fan of cruises .... I prefer to travel.

[FLAHAM]

Thousands sail on the Epic every week and enjoy it.  I have sailed on it three times (Caribbean, Mediterranean and Transatlantic) and had wonderful cruises each time.

[BirdTravels]

We have sailed on the Epic six times and have loved every cruise. Med twice. Iberian Peninsula. Eastern and Western Caribbean. She’s a beautiful ship and we would sail on her again any time. 

[AK Dreaming]

Been on the Epic 5 times. 3 times in the Med. My favorite ship. The crew is so friendly and the entertainment is amazing. 

[Birdie And Sue]

Great ship.  She is beautiful.

[Sea saw 56]

We are just home from a 15 day TA on the Epic.

We found the food to be very good to excellent, never one bad meal anywhere on the ship in 15 days.  Never had much of a wait for drinks with the drink package either.  

Their great outdoors, around the pool area was a great place to eat, even had outdoor buffets at breakfast and a late lunch there.

Service was good all around, entertainment fantastic, layout of the ship took a few days for us to navigate--but it was our first big ship.

Cruise director Mandy was EXCELLENT.

One thing to remember is to make your reservations for dinners and shows in advance, if you do that you can relax and get into venues when you want to.  

In some of the venues, especially the first few days onboard, you have to be persistant, they fill up fast (Headliners and The Cavern Club cannot be reserved and at first everyone wants in RIGHT NOW).

On our TA the shore excursions were extremely well organized by the ships staff, they really made getting all those people off the ship at the same time easier than our last few cruises (all NCL by the way).

It looked like they had great water slides.  There was always something going on in the Atrium, sometimes it got crowded-but if you arrived a bit early you could get a seat.  Spice H20 on the back of the ship was a neat outdoor swimming and sunning area in the afternoon, another novelty being our first big ship.

We loved the Epic, I must admit that our suite was in the Haven but we certainly did not spend all our time up there.

I have not had time to write my full ship/cabin review yet, but we were impressed with our TA on the Epic.

Happy cruising.

[Newleno]

53 minutes ago, serena_17 said:

We just booked a 7 day West Med cruise (ex Rome) on Epic in July as part of a bigger Europe trip.

 

Since booking, I've come back onto CC and can't seem to find overly positive things about Epic.

 

We've previously sailed RCCL and P&O, all in Australia/South Pacific.

 

The aim of this cruise for us is to get over jetlag (27 hour flight + transit time) before heading to Prague.  We're staying in inside cabins (DH & DS in one;  DD & me in the other).

 

Odd bathroom/shower configuration aside, can anyone give me some positives for Epic?

nope

[Epic_Bear]

I was on the Epic in 2010 and then again this April.  Great entertainment, food, lots of great bars.  We were in the Haven this time, so we didn't feel crowded or have the split  bathroom.  In 2010 we stayed in the balcony and the bathroom set up didn't bother us,  nor did the waved wall.

[kochleffel]

I've sailed twice on the Epic and have a third cruise booked. I haven't tried to book on the Epic again and again; it was just a coincidence that the itineraries suited my work schedule, but I wouldn't hesitate to choose the Epic.

 

The two cruises were quite different, not only in the itineraries (western Med with 1 sea day/eastern Carib with multiple sea days), but also the demographics of the passengers. I was alone both times and the bathroom setup didn't matter. In the western Med cruise I was frequently annoyed with the crowds and waits for elevators, but that didn't occur on the Caribbean cruise. On the other hand, in the first cruise there was no problem with access to entertainment of any kind, but during the second any entertainment except shows in the theater for which reservations were taken was nearly impossible to get into.

 

Food and dining service were equal on both and generally good. (The only recurring dining problems I've experienced on NCL were on the Gem where the configuration of the MDRs didn't match the needs of the passengers and some of the food preparation seemed careless.)  Cabin service was better on the first Epic trip, satisfactory on the second, but neither was as good as I had on the Gem.

[Tammyd549]

We enjoyed the Epic, the split bathroom worked well for us,, the round bed was a mild annoyance but, no ship is perfect. We loved the waterslides, (which are unique to Epic) and it's the only ship in the fleet (that I know of) that has a pool exclusively for the adult area. The spa is awesome, food is subjective but, we enjoyed the layout and views from the buffet that we ate there for dinner 3/4 nights out of 7.

 

I think it gets a bad rap but, I'm not sure why. 

[surfone]

Sailed twice on Epic.  One Caribbean and the other a Med out of Barcelona in September.  Loved our aft balcony.  Food was very good. Nice choice of bars/lounges.  By far not my favorite NCL ship, but it was decent.  You will be too busy with all the ports.  I was so exhausted after my Med cruise,  but was my favorite itinerary so far. 

[serena_17]

The port intensive part of the cruise was the attraction - we are thinking we can combat jetlag a lot more easily by walking full days and then having a couple of early-ish nights.

 

[dreamr]

Just wanted to pipe in and say that I've been on the Epic twice. It's a great ship! I was solo both times, though, so the split bathroom thing didn't bother me. From what I've seen, the Epic does tend to get less positive reviews than some of the other ships, but I don't know why. I loved it!

 

The entertainment has changed since I was on it a few years back, so I can't speak for the new shows. However, I've always loved the shows I've seen on each of my cruises.

 

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate booking the Epic for a future cruise.

 

Have a great cruise! :)

[WakeView4Us]

4 hours ago, serena_17 said:

We just booked a 7 day West Med cruise (ex Rome) on Epic in July as part of a bigger Europe trip.

 

Since booking, I've come back onto CC and can't seem to find overly positive things about Epic.

 

We've previously sailed RCCL and P&O, all in Australia/South Pacific.

 

The aim of this cruise for us is to get over jetlag (27 hour flight + transit time) before heading to Prague.  We're staying in inside cabins (DH & DS in one;  DD & me in the other).

 

Odd bathroom/shower configuration aside, can anyone give me some positives for Epic?

OMG! seriously? I love love love this ship...If I could cruise it every time we are on NCL, I would (that or the Jade). I have cruised her twice...once in a solo cabin, once in a balcony. Both times...amazing! Service, food, layout was great! It never seemed crowded, the entertainment was fantastic! and we loved the jazz club, howl at the moon and the entertainers on board. 

 

As for Prague, if you have never been...be prepared to be amazed...it is one of my favorite places on the planet! 

[xcell]

Room configurations are weird -- not a fan.

 

MDR was terrible -- almost had us not cruise NCL (Epic was our first cruise).

 

TBH - haven't sailed EPic for a long time but if I did again, I'd be booking specialty dining.

 

Loved the slides!

[keywest1]

Best thing I can say about the Epic is that I'll be sailing on her Sunday 🙂  

[JimR24]

Sailed on the Epic on our first NCL and would cruise again on her if the itinerary meet our needs.  With a little research we were able to be prepared for EVERYTHING.  While the bathroom setup was different, we knew about it before hand and prepped our kids.  

 

We were off from work, kids were not in school and we were on vacation in the Caribbean.  A bathroom setup, room setup or any other petty complaint wasn't going to ruin our time.  I laugh at most of the people complaining on the boards.  A petty complaint would never stop us from trying something for ourselves.   

[spanishguy1970]

12 hours ago, serena_17 said:

We just booked a 7 day West Med cruise (ex Rome) on Epic in July as part of a bigger Europe trip.

 

Since booking, I've come back onto CC and can't seem to find overly positive things about Epic.

 

We've previously sailed RCCL and P&O, all in Australia/South Pacific.

 

The aim of this cruise for us is to get over jetlag (27 hour flight + transit time) before heading to Prague.  We're staying in inside cabins (DH & DS in one;  DD & me in the other).

 

Odd bathroom/shower configuration aside, can anyone give me some positives for Epic?

I have been on it 4 times, love the thermal spa and the ship itself. I take peoples reviews of anything with a grain of salt, i take the positive and negative comments as a personal experience from those cruisers.

[ColinIllinois]

The only negative thing I can say after three cruises on her was the lack of public spaces that let you connect with the sea.   It doesn't have the Waterfront like other NCL large ships do.

[lhsail]

After sailing on the Epic once, we weren’t sure we’d ever do it again, but we’re now taking a 16-day Transatlantic in November. There were several things we didn’t like about the ship, but we’re not going to let that ruin a good itinerary. 

 

In the cabins, the bathroom layout is weird.  But also the curvature of the rooms, in my opinion, makes it seem smaller when two people are moving around and trying to get ready. The sofa, because of the curve, is not real comfortable. I’m usually up before DH and like to sit and read, have coffee, etc. on the sofa. Again, just inconveniences, not show stoppers. 

 

We were quite happy with the atmosphere and food in the Manhattan room and loved Cagney’s. O’Sheehan’s is a great alternative for a casual meal at no additional cost. There are several nice bars/lounges on the ship. Most of all, the entertainment was outstanding. No one does it better than NCL and a bigger ship means bigger entertainment. 

 

Probably not an issue for your July itinerary, but it was for our late March Med cruise and will likely be so for part of our TA. The weather was not conducive for being outside much. We felt the ship often felt crowded as a result of everyone needing interior space. The dining area of the buffet was especially a problem on port days when everyone was trying to get breakfast before tours, etc.  It was much better on the few days that is was nice enough for some people to take their meals outside. 

 

Those are my thoughts and I’m sure others will disagree. Given the purpose of this cruise for you, you should be fine. 

[robin13]

I too just got back from the 15 day TA and have to say that I really enjoyed the ship.  I had read all of those horrible reviews before I left and I was kind of scared to sail on her.  I thought the food was good and never had to wait for a drink.  I do have to say that the bathroom configuration is strange but since I was sailing solo in a mini suite it didn't bother me.  And I have to warn people that if your cabin comes with the bath tub be aware that it is very high to step into so if you have issues with mobility you need to ask for a shower instead of a tub.

 

And as previously mentioned do book ahead for the shows as there was always a long line of people without reservations.  At first I didn't know what the line was for that I was standing in and then discovered about 5 minutes later that it was for people without reservations.  Moved out of it and then just walked into the theater.  Loved Pricilla Queen of the Desert.  You can tell that it was a million dollar set and all of the actors did a great job.  Also saw Burn the Floor and that was excellent as well. 

 

You will have a great time so don't worry and enjoy your cruise.