NCL Epic Cruise Ship Review

It’s time for the first of many travel blog posts that a lot have you have been waiting for after seeing my excited tweets and Instagram photos… My NCL Epic Cruise Ship Review!

I almost didn’t know where to start with this post, there is just SO much to talk about and I have thousands of photos to share, so I’m going to just get straight into it. This blog post will be a general review of the Norwegian Epic as a cruise ship; an overview review of it’s food, facilities, entertainment, staff and pictures and tips. If you are looking to cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines or are considering the NCL Epic, this is gonna be a good place to start! Over the next few weeks I will also be posting in depth reviews on various other parts of the ship – a detailed review of it’s restaurants, it’s shows and a blog post about every port of call and excursion on the NCL Epic Western Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona in 2015.

All of these images and opinions are my own – if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below and I will get back to you!

Cruise Itinerary 

This August 2015, I went on the holiday of a lifetime; a cruise on the Norwegian Epic Cruise Ship around the Western Mediterranean for 7 days (stopping in Naples/Pompeii, Pisa/Florance, Rome, Cannes and Palma), followed by 5 days in Barcelona. This was by no means an average holiday for me – taking the whole family with us, this was a summer vacation to celebrate my parent’s 30th Wedding Anniversary.

Travelling from Manchester, UK, we picked a fly-cruise. This meant flying from Manchester Airport to Barcelona Airport (a veryyy early start of 4am, FYI!). We actually saw the NCL Epic from the window on the plane – which was SO exciting! Once we arrived in Barcelona we got a private transfer from the airport to Barcelona Port for embarkation. This was only a 15 minute or so ride, so very easy and I think actually easier than sailing from Southhampton, UK, which we have done before in the past.

Embarkation

Unfortunately embarkation was a bit of a hassle; nothing terrible, but the Barcelona Port staff were unhelpful and made the process more complicated than it should be, despite us having Priority Boarding with Norwegian Cruise Lines as we had cruised with them before.

However, as soon as we stepped on board (not even on the actual ship, just walking up the gang plank!) we were greeted with typical NCL staff; friendly, welcoming, engaging and at once they couldn’t do enough to help us. That is something which continued throughout the whole cruise – we didn’t have ONE experience with a rude member of staff, not even an ‘average’ member of staff. ALL of the staff on board the Norwegian Epic were gracious, welcoming and beyond helpful at all times.

Cruise Preparation

Although I wouldn’t consider myself a cruising expert, I am definitely a cruise enthusiast. We booked this holiday over a year in advance and in the year’s run up to the holiday I DID MY RESEARCH! I looked up tips, cruise expectations and advice for getting the most out of the holiday – cruising is very different to any other types of holidaying and I had only cruised once before. There are a lot of things which aren’t obvious if you aren’t ‘in the know’ of cruising; extra charges, on board spend, etc. If you would like a blog post about any of my cruising tips, please leave me a comment and let me know.

I do think my research was highly valuable and helped us make the most out of the holiday – which is exactly why I am writing this now, to help others! – but one thing you can never be prepared for is the size of the ship. It’s HUGE! Built in 2010, the Norwegian Epic is the second largest ship in NCL’s fleet and the FOURTH largest ship in the WORLD. It is big. So big. As soon as you step on board, you almost forget you’re on water – it’s almost like a huge hotel resort, or a shopping centre, or both!

Staterooms and Luggage

If you’ve not cruised before you might not know that when you arrive at the port, your suitcases and luggage are taken off you and before you enter the port, even before check in. These magically appear at your staterooms (the term for your cabin room on board) in the evening. We were told to expect these around 8pm that day, so I would recommend taking anything you might need for a day on board in your hand luggage, however ours were there after only around 2 hours.

For our staterooms, we had three separate inside staterooms. The cost was expensive, not gonna lie, and on board a few of the staff tipped us off that next time it would probably work out cheaper for us to share a suite in the Haven area – the exclusive area of the ship that needs keycard access to enjoy. Obviously, this would have been incredible, but our room situation worked out well for us. The rooms were modern and furnished with attention to detail, the size being plenty enough for us.

The bathrooms are an area which have raised some complaints in other reviews I’ve read as the shower and toilet are separate, rather than being shoved together in a little corner bathroom within the stateroom which seems to be the usual set up on cruise ships. I shared with my sister and we found the NCL Epic bathroom situation worked for us – we could get ready at different times and if we ever needed privacy there was a curtain we could pull.

On arrival in our staterooms, we found some little surprises from NCL to welcome us on board. We had bottles of champagne, chocolate strawberries, Elemis products and invites and info to welcome us on board. This isn’t usual and without them our holiday would have still been fantastic, but these little surprises were just the cherry on top of the cake! They were set to continue throughout our week on board…

Top Decks and Pools

The main top deck on the NCL Epic is on Deck 15 and spans the entire length of the ship. It’s divided into two areas with various bars and buffet areas (of course!). The front of Deck 15 is taken up with the Garden Cafe – the main buffet restaurant on board (which is ALWAYS busy) – and this has both an indoor and outdoor area.

The main pool area on board the ship is a family area – it has a waterpark for the whole family to use, four hot tubs, three HUGE water slides, and a kids’ pool and play area. It also has many deck chairs, bars, and a stage which had different entertainment on every day.

This area got REALLY busy, and really noisy. There were a lot of kids in this area when we were there, which may have been because we went in typical summer holiday time, but if you have a family then this is the area for you. Personally, I don’t have kids and our family ranged from 18 – 83 and so we didn’t sit in this area really. We used the water slides a lot, which were GREAT, but preferred the adult’s only area for relaxation…

At the back of Deck 15 is Spice H20, an adult’s only bar and pool area. It has a pool, two hot tubs, a bar serving all drinks and a buffet area for meal times too. This is where we set up camp every afternoon, relaxing in the sun, dipping in the pool and making the most of our drinks package. Prosecco + hot tub = one very happy gal!

This is one of my favourite areas on the Norwegian Epic – it’s quiet, chilled and sophisticated. There’s a huge screen which mostly just plays relaxing imagery with no sound, but in the evenings this screen is transformed to show movies or used as a backdrop for discos. But honestly – my one tip to you would be to go and find this pool area on your first day and make it your home; so many people seemed to not know about it that it was a lovely little secret. Shh!

Restaurants, Food and Bars

One of the first things people associate cruise ships with is the abundance of food – and let me tell you, the Norwegian Epic did not disappoint! Honestly, the food on board the ship was incredible. There is so much choice and that does not compromise the quality.

There are 21 different restaurants and dining options on board, which is pretty mind-blowing when you really think that this is essentially a boat travelling along the sea! We pretty much ate three course meals, three times a day and had unlimited snacks in between – safe to say, the post-holiday diet is way more strict than the pre-holiday diet in this case!

I’m going to go into more detail about each restaurant on board in a separate blog post reviewing the different NCL Epic dining options, but my top tip to you guys would be to make the most of the sit-down restaurants. When speaking to other people that cruise, it seems like they really love buffets – and the constant business of the Epic’s buffet restaurant, the Garden Cafe, definitely stood testament to that! But really we didn’t use the Garden Cafe for anything other than a quick snack at lunch time occassionally or a quick breakfast on deck before heading to shore for an excursion.

My advice would be to check your Freestyle Daily (Norwegian Cruise Line’s own magazine that let’s you know what’s going on every single day) to see what’s open for breakfast and lunch. A few times we were able to eat at the premium restaurants you usually pay for, such as Moderno’s and La Cucina, for free as they were open for breakfast. It’s a great way to get value for money and make the most out of your day!

Entertainment

Again, I’m going to do a whole other blog post about the various different types of entertainment on board the NCL Epic, however I’ll give you a quick overview here. Firstly; there is so much to do! We were on board for 7 days and longed to stay on for 7 more as there was simply so much to do. Every day there’s something new and different to keep you entertained, whether it’s shows, parties, rock climbing, waterslides, workshops or gatherings! Plan your day carefully to make sure you don’t miss out on things you really want to do whilst your on board.

The main entertainment on board is the Epic Theatre, which seats many people and houses their headline shows such as Legends in Concert and Burn the Floor. For this, I would recommend you book your shows in advance to make sure you get in, as they get pretty busy. For other, smaller shows – such as comedy or singing shows – you can also book in advance but I found there to be less need for this.

We actually really ended up loving the Howl at the Moon show which took place in Headliner’s Comedy Club from 10pm – 1am every other night – three guys taking requests for songs, playing them together, drinking and getting the audience involved. So funny! It was free and easy to pop in and out whenever we fancied.

I’m going to review more of the entertainment and shows properly in another blog post all about the entertainment on board the NCL Epic. This will include info about the famous Norwegian White Hot Party – ‘the hottest part at sea’! We did pay extra for a couple of things, such as the Ice Bar and the Circus Show and Dinner which I want to go into in more detail. However 95% of the entertainment on board is inclusive which is really a huge positive and there was just so much to do!

Overview 

We had the best holiday ever. Honestly, if I could do it all over again, I would! It’s not a cheap holiday – it’s expensive and the price you first pay for a cruise is never the last. There are a lot of extras that mount on top during the way, including further entertainment, excursions, premium dining, gratuities, tips, etc. However, I think if you work hard and save up your money (like we did!) then this is such a fantastic way to spend it. We have some amazing memories and we still can’t stop raving about the holiday!

One of the best things about NCL is their ‘Freestyle Cruising’ options, which is why I think it’s such a great option for younger people. If you haven’t cruised before you might not know that on board other cruise lines you have set dining times and often share a table with other passengers with set show times, excursion times, etc. Norwegian Cruise Lines pride themselves in giving their customers agency and making it easy for them to choose what they want to do, exactly when they want to do it – including Studio Cabins for solo travellers. It was brilliant!

As I said before – I have only cruised once before with Norwegian Cruise Lines (around the Baltic on the Norwegian Sun) so don’t have much to compare this to other than all of my research and chatting to other passengers on board – all of whom I spoke to said that NCL was the best experience of cruising they had, compared to lines such as Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. However, there is nothing negative I can say about NCL. Everything they did for us from start to finish was incredible and I have absolutely no incentive to try out any other cruise line at this point. Why would I risk going elsewhere when I feel like I’ve had the best?

(Please keep your eyes peeled for my other NCL Epic cruise blog posts – I will be writing specifically about: Entertainment, Restaurants, Facilities and will be doing a blog post for each Port of Call on the Western Mediterranean Cruise!)