NCL Epic - Concerned About Bad Reviews

[OhJinkies]

If you're looking for modern, cutting-edge entertainment, NCL is probably not going to meet your expectations. I've read some interesting things about the entertainment offered by Virgin Voyages. Not really my thing, but if you're looking for modern and edgy, you may want to check them out.

[complawyer]

i can only speak for myself, but "cutting edge entertainment" is not, nor has it ever been a consideration for taking any specific cruise. price and itinerary are my primary (and usually only) criteria.

 

consequently, im sticking with ncl as i believe they truly give you the most "bang" for your buck

[old nutter]

Recently back from an excellent Epic cruise.  $50 non-ref credit for ongoing missing H2O was applied before we departed. The food was great as usual in all locations - particularly enjoyed La Cucina.  The entertainment was OK, but as many have said whilst it is a significant enjoyment issue it's content is not hugely important as a choice contender.  The staff were outstanding.  There was clearly a higher percentage of inexperienced staff, but all were always cheerful and helpful.  The complicated pricing of the beverage packages is still confusing and the move to paperless bar transactions makes mistakes difficult to sort out.  Keeping a close eye on the TV account page is vital so that charges for things that are not covered by the package can be identified before being repeated.  It seemed that the bar staff concentrate on making the drinks, not telling you whether the order is chargeable or not - that's their job after all.  Paperless bars are a bit of a minefield in this confusion period.

 

The ship herself was still recovering to come to terms with the new world of post Covid and less money.  The rear quarter of deck 16 was dead.  H2O was blocked off, the climbing wall was closed, the mini golf has become blank deck and the Marketplace has  gone too.  The ship has always been short of open deck space with views to the sea, so the  effective removal of everything on a quarter of that open deck is not a good call.  There does not appear to be anything being done to even make it an attractive stroll and the H2O section looks abandoned.  I know it seems a bit daft but I got the feeling that the ship itself feels this sense of abandonment.  The two boarded-up shops on Deck 7 and lack of any staff in the mini shopping islands when the ship was under way added to this feeling.  It felt a bit like looking at someone whose head was down when in one or two of these areas.

 

Having said all that we had a superb cruise thanks to those great members of staff and I would return to the Epic without hesitation if the cruise was a good fit for us.

 

 

[CruizinKittie40]

I hated Epic so much I would never cruise on it again, even if it was free

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

I hated Epic so much I would never cruise on it again, even if it was free

What did you hate so much about it? I'm all for a free cruise, so would probably go on it, but am curious why you so strongly disliked it.

[ontheweb]

18 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

What did you hate so much about it? I'm all for a free cruise, so would probably go on it, but am curious why you so strongly disliked it.

Not the person who posted they hated it, but I found it much too big. However, hate would be a strong term for how I felt. Maybe because of its size, I found it the unfriendliest ship we were ever on as to interactions with other passengers.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Not the person who posted they hated it, but I found it much too big. However, hate would be a strong term for how I felt. Maybe because of its size, I found it the unfriendliest ship we were ever on as to interactions with other passengers.

Quoting my own post, let me give an example of what I meant when I wrote "unfriendliest ship". On the first night when we went to dinner, we were asked would we like a table for 2 or a larger table. Since we like meeting people, we opted for the larger table. We were seated, and then waited, and waited, and waited, until we finally went back to the front and said a table for 2 as it was obvious that no one else wanted to meet strangers. We never again asked for a larger table.

 

And in general, striking up a conversation with fellow passengers was much more difficult than any of the other cruises we were on. DW thought it was because we were in Europe, but almost half our cruises have been in Europe, and it was never like this.

 

Another example, at our meet and greet, almost no one who had been posting on the roll call showed up. Even the person who set up the meet and greet with NCL did not show up!

[sid_9169]

I cruised on the Epic a few years ago, and although the ship does have a sort of "strange" mall-like look on the inside, it was still a great cruise... I was in a Solo Inside cabin, so I can't speak to the strange bathroom layout on the other cabins.