Trip Report Epic Rome to Rome

[Twocoasts]

Our cruise ended about a week ago and I’m finally getting around to doing a report. We are a couple in our early 60s—new to NCL, but not to cruising. My last European cruise was on Oceania.

 

We arrived in Rome Monday morning for a Tuesday departure. Our flight was delayed so by the time we go to our hotel, our room was ready. We used Rome Cabs for our transfer and they were wonderful as always We booked an afternoon Golf Cart Tour of Rome and it was fabulous! My fiancé had never been to Rome and it was a perfect way to get an overview of the city—and adjust our body clocks. The Med is experiencing a major heat wave. Like, July/August heat. So the golf cart was also a cooler option than hiking all over the city. Dinner at a small restaurant near our hotel.

 

Tuesday we transferred to the port with Rome Cabs. We scheduled an 11 am arrival time. I was prepared for crazy long lines but there were none! Check in was insanely easy. The spa staff greeted us and were running a port day special so we booked a couples massage for late afternoon. Made our way to the Garden Cafe for lunch and before we were done they announced that cabins were ready. 
 

We were in a Club Balcony on 11. I had read so many mixed reviews about the Epic cabins but we were pleasantly surprised. The layout was great for us—more than enough storage and we never felt cramped. Our massage was wonderful. Explored the ship a bit then dinner at Cagney’s that we really enjoyed. Great start!

 

Naples. We did the Pompeii/Sorrento excursion. Hotter than heck but we really enjoyed it. Our guide was wonderful—super informative and consistently moved us to shaded areas. I read on CC that the Pompeii tickets were not included with this tour, but they definitely were—including headsets for the guide and a bottle of water. Showers and a quick dinner at the Pub. Happy tired. 
 

Livorno. Pisa and Lucca excursion. Lucca is one of my favorite places in Italy and this excursion did not disappoint. Florence was probably the most popular excursion but I wanted to save that for a land trip when we can spend several days. Another amazing guide and plenty of free time to shop and enjoy the town (and gelato). Dinner at the Manhattan Room. A little underwhelmed but overall OK.

 

Cannes. Did an overview tour. Another good guide but we were underwhelmed with Cannes itself. Lots of hoopla for the Film Festival. Dinner at ale Bistro and it was fabulous! My favorite of the specialty restaurants we tried. Shopped at the jewelry store in the evening. SO found a necklace for his sister, who is impossible to buy for and who is exceedingly generous with us so huge win. I didn’t find anything I liked for myself so he got off easy!

 

Majorca. Did a short tour that ended in a lovely square with shops and cafes. Great guide and nice, slow-paced day. Dinner at La Cucina. This was SO’s favorite. I’m a tougher critic of Italian food so my rating was “good,” but not great. 
 

Barcelona. Oh boy. We did the full day excursion and by far 5e worst of our trip. Our guide was disorganized and kept repeating the same info over and over. One of the couples on the tour lost their souse 4 times over the course of the day. Seriously?!? And we spent half the time standing i. The sun waiting for the guide to figure things out. The AC on the bus was not working well—and it was 95 degrees out. Back to the ship for showers and dinner. Tried Shanghai. Not fans at all. In fact, we ended up going up to the Garden Cafe after because we ate so little of our dinner. Honestly, our only disappointing day of the cruise.

 

Corsica. Today we just wandered the port. SO loved seeing the Citadel and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at a cafe that had a view of the marina and all the yachts we can’t afford! Dinner at Moderno. Really enjoyed our final dinner on board.

 

Back to Rome to disembark. Again, extremely low stress. Our Rome cabs driver was waiting to take us to our hotel.

 

A few notes:

SO loved the cigar lounge. His haven while I got a second massage. Win/win!

The ship was immaculately clean. I mean spotless. We didn’t meet our cabin steward until day 4 but our cabin was kept in perfect order.

Elevators. At least two out of service all the time. Not always the same two. Baffling.

Not sure how many people were on board. At times the ship felt almost empty—at others—especially during breakfast— so crowded. 
Entertainment. So so. Priscilla was not playing so they did a “Broadway” review that we didn’t really enjoy. Talented performers but it was just meh. I loved Burn the Floor—SO probably would have been happier back at the cigar lounge. There was a band from Ukraine inThe Cavern Club one evening that we enjoyed a lot. And, I talked SO into doing the Perfect Couple game thinking they would just ask embarrassing questions. Oh boy. No questions just silly partner games that were hilarious but not what we were prepared for. And we didn’t win…

All staff were masked. We did wear ours indoors but not outside. I’d say 70% of the other passengers were not masked. They took temps every time you got off or on the ship.

Laundry service was excellent! 
Room service breakfast was on time and as ordered, but there really isn’t any good place for the tray in a Club balcony so would probably skip it in the future except for disembarkation day.

Used our balcony every evening before bed. So relaxing.

 

Overall, we had a wonderful time and would cruise NCL again. It’s no Oceania or WINDSTAR, but for the price we found it to be a great value.

 

Happy to answer any questions.

 

 

 

 

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[TSUmom]

My favorite cruises have started in Rome...I love Italy!  Hoping to go back again.

[Cruise-mom]

Thanks for the review, we are doing Barcelona-Barcelona next month. I hope Priscilla is running by then. Other than specialty, did you need to book dining, Shanghai or Manhattan etc?

[Twocoasts]

10 minutes ago, Cruise-mom said:

Thanks for the review, we are doing Barcelona-Barcelona next month. I hope Priscilla is running by then. Other than specialty, did you need to book dining, Shanghai or Manhattan etc?

 

[Twocoasts]

Booking wasn’t necessary for the non specialty restaurants. And there are monitors throughout the ship that show remaining availability for each of the specialty restaurants for the evening. 

[Sundiego]

Very thorough review! Thanks for sharing.

 

~Denise

[CaptainBazz]

Great review...we did a 10 day Rome to Rome about 3 years ago...such a great cruise.

[cruiserchris613]

Thanks for this quick but very concise review! Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

Did you book your excursions thru NCL or on your own? 

Regarding the elevators - perhaps they were doing maintenance on them...?

[Twocoasts]

We did all NCL tours. When we booked, Italy was only allowing cruise line tours and with Covid rules changing so often, I didn’t want to get stuck. I would definitely do private in the future, only because dealing with a bus full of people who can never get to the meeting point on time was making me nuts!

[Twocoasts]

And —no clue about the elevators but they was at least two down every day. Never the same two and on both ends of the ship.

[trollydolly]

Hi come Priscilla not playing did they say , we board next week was looking forward to it , guess it won’t be on by then.