jagdog

hey there "little ole me" lol ...I am laughing and saying I am laughing because it is the truth hahaa...I have never seen so much defensiveness over a ship and if there is any "bad attitude" out there it is of the people who feel a need to "protect" the ship and somehow feel threatened by the fact that someone feels differently than them and actually thought the experience was lacking and subpar. Also, your points are all out of left field. Have you not read the entire thread I am guessing? I simply responded to the original posters inquiry about why there had been so many negative reviews of the epic of the last few months. I did not realize that it was a requirement that I had posted all of my previous great experiences on here about all the other ships over the last 20 years plus before it could be given credibility. This was an anomoly in my experience that so many people had the same feeling as me in a negative way and I think it is noteworthy. When there are already hundreds of positive reviews and those positive reviews are the majority for a ship it doesnt really make a huge difference to comment the same as everyone before me..In this case, something is going wrong and people are noticing. I felt it was the responsible thing to do to make sure that future cruisers were fully aware of the risks they were taking by investing their money in a dream that may not come true. Last, I never felt it was "necessary to come on here to state why my particular cruise was so very bad." I simply answered the question that was posed in an honest and direct manner. Also, as I have said over and over again, I have loved each and every other cruise I have ever been on before this and didn't realize I needed to identify each ship especially since it goes back over 20 plus years and some are not even running anymore lol...just remember this is our families perceptions and we are not alone and NUMEROUS other people have said virtually the exact things over the last few months....sad but true....highly doubt all the posters with negative reviews of the same ship who are all basically saying the same things are all just sitting around making this stuff up or happy about having been underimpressed. I am trying to help someone make an informed decision and to realize that if they are experienced cruisers and are expecting the classy touches most of us have come to expect then dont be suprised when those dont happen and if you are someone who is fine with just plain, basic, adequate no frill and feeling like u are one in a sea of masses then you will be just fine :-)

hahaha my family and I are laughing at these responses because you are so far off base its funny. First of all, nobody ever said anything close to what u just said. Second, I definitely do not need pointers from you about how to express my own personal opinion and reaction to a service i purchased and was dissatisfied with. Third, I would hope a reasonable person would be looking at all the reviews and not basing their decision on one person's opinion. Fourth, I wish I had thought to read reviews before we made our decision because if i had seen the preponderance of negative reviews we honestly would have made another choice. The bottom line is that the original poster was worried about the recent upswing of negative reviews. I responded with my own personal experience and my own individual (and families) advice. I am one of many but in this case unfortunately for him I am one of a growing majority. The last point is that obviously something is amiss if suddenly there is an upswing of disappointment/dissatisfaction. For most people, this is a noticable amount of money to spend on a vacation and like i said before in close to 30 years have come back feeling so satisfied that I never even thought to look at reviews, assuming all others felt as good. It may be that younger or more inexperienced cruisers do not have the history or knowledge of what can be provided on a cruise in regards to food, entertainment, comfort, etc. I think there are alot of people that just do not know better. All I can say is that I expressed my and my families feelings/ratings/views and I am sorry if it is not what you want to hear or how you want to hear it. Some of it is hard to put into specific words but in general is how I want to say it. It just felt like I was going to Kmart instead of Neiman Marcus. In addition and last, it would take way more time then I have to go into more specific detail. The truth is that there was nothing that exceeded my expectations other than the crew members performance at their talent show (the one spanish opera singer was amazing). everything else and yes i mean everything else was average/adequate to subpar. (my sons would like me to add that even the toilet paper was awful haha)....Just if you are ok with average or mediocre then you will be happy!

You say your subjectiveness is based on your 20 years of cruising experience. But shouldn't objectivity be the goal? What bothers me the most is your expectation that everyone will hit the cancellation button based on your opinion. You say that "It is up to the individual to weigh what is most important to them and what they are looking for in a cruise experience". I agree totally. So why all the urgency to convince everyone else they will not like the Epic because it was not what you were looking for?

I am not sure why you are so defensive and uptight about a cruise ship or my opinion or why you are insisting to incorrectly assert my intentions...Once again, I was responding to the original poster who was curious about what was behind all of the recent negative reviews and I was responding with yes my own personal experience which is subjective but there is also some very objective points and there is no "urgency to convince everyone else" lol...I am simply stating that based on years of experience if someone is looking for what I was looking for and found multiple times over and over again on other ships that this person would probably be disappointed as we were and would likely find their needs met more satisfactorily on another ship....Do you own stock in this ship or have some personal need to defend it? lol its a SHIP and a company and my family certainly paid money to receive what we had come to expect and did not receive what we had hoped. And yes we obviuosly did pour over the layouts , ship info and researched but the one thing we did not check because of our own good fortune with always having amazing experiences on a cruise was the reviews...we really really wish we had read the reviews because we probably would not have booked this cruise and we are hoping to do someone else the favor we missed out on.

my response was directed to the original poster who was wondering about all the recent bad reviews and I am simply and honestly answering him. It has NOTHING to do with a "bad attitude" but yes of course it is subjective. and the subjectiveness is based on my and my family's years of experience and the fact that in over 20 plus years of cruising on various lines and yes even on NCL numerous times. It is my opinion that if someone is expecting this ship to live up to other ships as to the quality and quantity of entertainment, food and various and numerous other qualities that yes he would be much better off cancelling and booking on another different type of ship. It is funny how overly defensive people are getting over someone having a different experience than them. The point is that this particular ship is getting more than the usual amount of negative reviews lately and obviously there is a reason for this. There will always be people that are afraid to criticize or speak up and especially if they have spent a lot of money on their vacation they have a need to justify in their own mind and convince themselves how wonderful it was. GOOD FOR YOU. For us, we are realistic, honest and given our history of 100 percent awesome other experiences for over 24 years on over 30 plus ships I think our subjective experience in relation to all of our other experiences is valid and worth listening to instead of immediately trying to dismiss or belittle because you cannot allow yourselves to acknowledge that yes indeed this ship/crew may not possibly measure up to others in quite a few areas.....That is what these boards are for. For the expression of experiences and opinions. Every one obviously has merit. It is up to the individual to weigh what is most important to them and what they are looking for in a cruise experience.

You are correct that much is subjective! But, given that we had a group of seasoned cruisers --- I would have to weigh the subjectivity in all of our favor. The food was lacking (cold, bland) in comparison to other cruises. The entertainment (absent Blue Man Group) was marginal to non-existent.

Our group has a long list of experience to compare the Epic to and it just simply doesnt stack up. All of us embarked with the expectation of having a great time --- but unfortunately it was this expectation that was waaaaaay out in left field.

oh trust me, my entire family came in having the best attitudes possible and were beyond excited to be on the cruise and absolutely had reasonable expectations given that all of us have cruised over 20 times each and on many different lines and had NEVER had a bad experience...This had absolutely nothing to do with bad attitudes or unreasonable expectations..our family still managed to have fun together and enjoy our time together but it had everything to do with what i described in that the SHIP and its LAYOUT and the lack of entertainment and average food were not up to par with every other cruise we have ever taken and yes other people may be able to over look those things and not care but we feel we are highly qualified to comment when things that have been present on every other cruise we have ever attended were noticably missing/lacking. It would be different if this was a first cruise or we had barely cruised but it is not. Sorry to have to burst your bubbles and be direct. We WISH it had been designed better. Other people may be willing to settle or overlook and good for them. This was our experience and the experience of every member of not just our family but countless others I have read on these board and others...must be something to them.....

I feel bad doing this but at the same time I feel it is necessary to be honest. I have always been one of those people that never posted a review because in over 20 years of cruising I have never had a bad experience...until last week. I am not a complainer by nature and I hesitated tremendously in even posting a review which should be posted shortly. But the truth is that the epic is SORELY lacking in much of the atmosphere that I have loved about cruising over the years with the most obvious and uncomfortable being that it is way too big and way too many people. Also, there is a tremendous lack of entertainment. Each person has different things they are looking for in a cruise but my family and I have always looked forward to feeling like we are away from home, feeling special, having decent food, good entertainment, being on a visually appealling vessel with nice cabins, enthusiastic crew.....sad to say that none of that was present on this cruise. If you are looking for that type of cruise then cancel your reservations asap and book on another line or smaller ship. For the first time in 20 years+ my entire family and many other ppl that we could overhear speaking were happy/excited to LEAVE this ship...So sorry.