Norwegian Epic

I had the absolute pleasure of joining colleagues from the travel industry onboard the newest edition to the NCL fleet 'Norwegian Epic' in June this year.
On arrival to Southampton, my first impressions was 'wow' the size of the ship was unbelievable, it was clearly visable from some distance before we actually arrived at the port.
I could clearly see the 'Epic Plunge Slide' which came off the side of the ship, and couldn't wait to get onboard and give it a go. (A must for anyone, especially all them big kids - like myself!!!)

Norwegian Epic, really has taken having fun to the next level. this ship is whatever you want it to be with a two-story Sports complex where you can play basketball on the full-size court, or try your hand at hockey and dodge ball, 'The Spider Web - a 24-foot-high climbing cage was amazing, 10-pin bowling was a ball - although with these activities you do have to book well in advance!!! I did try and make a reservation in the mandrin spa but unfortunately this was booked up quite quickly and there was no available appointments.
There is such an array of activities available for everyone.

For the kids - Recess kids crew, unique space with seperate areas for the little one's and Tweens.
They have everything here Wii, Playstation 3, light-up dance floor and Karaoke.

Entourage - Teen's Club, this is designed like an adult lounge, very stylish and cool, with air-hockey, juke-box, flat screen tv's and of an evening the club, turns into a hip teen night-spot.

Food - With over 17 extraordinary dining options, I found it hard to choose.
we dined in the Chinese 'Shanghai's' on the first evening, which was an amazing experience and honestly is one of the best chinese meals in have ever had.
The following morning we had breakfast in the 'Spiegel Tent' as this becomes the venue to dine with the ' Nickleoden characters ' Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick Star and Dora the Explorer and Diego.
Absolutely fab experience for families, the kids love it.
During the rest of the time we ate at 'The Manhattan room and in the 'Garden Cafe' buffet restaurant and can truly say I wasn't disappointed with either venue.

I stayed in a Balcony stateroom on deck 8, known as 'New wave' balcony. It had all your usual attributes but featured an unique style bathroom, where every area is seperate including the shower and vanity sink. The shower and toilet only has frosted glass and a curtain going across so doesn't allow for much privacy.
The walls are curved, and I think this helped create the modern and chic living experience. I didn't not like it, but found certain aspects strange.


There was 18 different places to be entertained, there was so much going on you were spoilt for choice.
My absolute favourite place onboard the ship was 'Spice H2O' this was truly fabulous venue whether it's day or night. During the day it's a place where you can relax, soak up the sun, have a dip in the pool or watch the big screen tv and during the evening it transformed into a sultry, ibiza-inspired open-air nightclub. you can dance under the stars, the party is non-stop as the pool floor rises to become a dance floor with giant speakers to keep everyone moving.

The huge disappointment for me on this entire cruise was the fact we could not get into the 'Ice Bar'. Unforunately
it can only accomodate a small amount of people for 15 mins at a time, and was booked up for the duration of our cruise. Huge tip is to pre-book this prior to sailing as this is a key attraction onboard this ship and you will be unlikely to secure a reservation once onboard.

I would have no hesitation in travelling again on this ship and would recommend this ship/cruise line to others

Thoroughly enjoyed it

As a cruise expert/travel agent we obviously sometimes get to "sample" certain companies ships. I was lucky enough to have the chance to spend two nights onboard Norwegian Cruise Line's brand new ship, the Epic. We had issues before we got onboard as we were meant to be boarding around midday on the first day but due to the ship leaving Rotterdam later than expected we didn't actually board until 7:30 at night. On the positive side though, it meant we didn't have to set off down to Southampton at 3:30 in the morning as originally intended! Every cloud...!
As we pulled into the dock and craned our necks up to see the mammouth of a ship before us, our fears were confirmed from the images we'd seen online and in brochures that there's no denying the ugliness of Epic from the outside. It really does look like a block of flats attatched to a large boat.
Once onboard those fears were well and truly quashed as I was blown away at the vibrant and beautiful appearence of the ship. Walking through the casinos and bars to get to our stateroom we were treated to many smiling faces of genuinely nice and helpful staff. Upon arrival at our cabin, myself and my colleague were a little underwhelmed as the size was certainly not what i'm used to from seeing cabins on Arcadia, Crystal Symphony and Prinsendam. Small would be an understatement and we barely had room enough to pass by each other in some areas. We were in a standard balcony cabin and the balcony itself was a fairly decent size but the cabin itself wasn't what i'd call spacious. There was also a very odd layout to the facilities. The shower and toilet were on seperate sides of the cabin with nothing but a frosted glass sliding door to conceal them and the sink was in the middle of the cabin at the end of my bed. Not ideal at all. The storage wasn't fantastic either with very deep but narrow drawers and the beds were quite small too with only a few inches seperating the two.

Now the negative points are out of the way i'll move onto the more pleasing aspects of the ship:
We headed down to a couple of bars for a drink before deciding which restaurant we wanted to eat in and decided to sample a couple of ****tails which were made to perfection. After this a few of us decided to check out the Asian themed eatery, Shanghai's. To keep it in simple terms, it was one of the best Chinese meals i've ever had. The food was clean and there was no 'red gloop' which is generally associated with Oriental cuisine. The starter of minced lamb with lettuce leaves and a beautifully fragrant sauce was perfect and I went for the safe choice of a curry for my main which was very tasty too. The highlight though was the dessert of waffle and banana with maple syrup and the best ice cream i've ever tasted which had vanille pod pieces and melted on the tongue.
After a few glasses of wine we headed up to the top deck to sample the nightlife. At the aft of the ship is an area called the pool bar and grill by day but by night the pool is covered over and it becomes Spice H2O when the pool is covered over to become a dance floor. The enormous screen which shows films, football matches etc behind and massive speakers to the sides was a sight to behold. The weather was just nice enough to stay out until about 2:00 before retiring to our cabins for the night.
The next morning after a decent night's sleep I met up with some friends for breakfast at the garden cafe. The buffet style service was the same as any other ship but the quality of the food even here was outstanding, serving up streaky bacon, sausages, scrambled and fried eggs, mushrooms, pancakes, Canadian ham and more. I really couldn't fault the food. After this we decided to explore the ship and had a look around the top deck to see the marketplace which unfortunately wasn't open and the amazing looking water slides. We didn't get chance to give these a go sadly but they looked pretty awesome.
The kids area was brilliant too with plenty for the young ones to do and Nintendo Wii's and other computers for the teens with their own cinema room and comfy bean bags.
Venturing down to the Mandora spa and Pulse fitness centre we really got an idea of the beauty of Epic. The gym was unreal and stretched on for what seemed like miles and the spa itself was incredible with so many different options to help you relax. We decided to dine in O'Sheehan's Irish bar for lunch where I had a burger and chips. This was the only meal I'd say wasn't particularly impressive, only because it was a little bland, though i'd highly recommend the malted vanilla shakes. We then went to the pool bar to watch the England game with a few beers. The sun was shining and even though we were only sailing around just south of the UK it really did feel like a world away from the British weather norm.
After getting ready for the evening meal we went down to Fat Cat's jazz bar for a drink before being seated for dinner which had a wonderful European feel to it. We dined in the Manhattan Room and while the food was great the night before, I was curious to see what the quality would be like in the meain restaurant. My apprehention was suppressed and all five courses were as good as anything i've had on other ships. My only problem was that the food was so nice in the Manhattan i'd begrudge paying for the speciality restaurants. Great soup, great garlic mushrooms, fantastic lamb casserole, amazing key lime pie and coffee to finish went down a treat. More drinks followed and we had a look around at the other restaurants and bars to see what the menu's looked like. If i'd have had more time i'd have loved to try Cagney's steakhouse and the Tepenyaki bar.
Up on deck a few more beverages flowed but it was a little cooler this evening so we went back to a few other bars inside and then headed to the Bliss nightclub to finish the night off.

The next morning we were sad to be saying goodbye to the ship and wished even more that we'd have had the extra day that we should have had at the start. The two days definitely wasn't enough to see even half of the ship and i'd happily book for myself and my family.
The only downsides were obviously the cabin itself which I wouldn't want to put anybody off ebcause the benefits far outweighed this issue, and the fact that we didn't get chance to sample the ice bar. It would have been nice to try the first one at sea but unfortunately it was always fully booked up.

I'd recommend the Norwegian Epic for anyone looking for something less formal than the usual cruise, and the freedom dining just to clarify, does not affect the service of the staff. They were absolutely second to none and nothing was too much trouble. Definitely a great experience and much more family oriented than what you usually expect from a cruise.

When we first pulled up at the dock in Southampton you couldn't miss the Epic, it's HUGE! Having only ever been onboard P&O's Arcadia before this I was overwhelmed by the size of her.

Our cabin was a new wave balcony cabin, where all the walls and furnishings were curved. It is a very modern ship and I was a bit shocked with the bathroom arrangements, the toilet and shower cubicles had frosted glass with just a curtain to separate them from the main cabin area. I'm sure this would be fine if you were travelling with your partner but with a collegue it was a bit strange.

We were onboard the Epic for 3 days and it wasn't enough for me, there is so much to do onboard with 15 different restaurants and 18 different bars, including the first Ice Bar at Sea. I would definately recommend this ship to families and couples alike. I'm even looking to book a holiday for myself on this ship next year!

Three days on NCL's new ship Epic was not enough to check out all the eateries onboard! With over 20 different restaurant choices including French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and American cuisines no-one could accuse NCL of not offering enough choice. Service standards and food quality were high in both the main dining room on deck 6 and the huge Food Court which is located forward on deck 15.

The cabins are very modern and feature lots of curved surfaces and a novel approach to bathroom design. Standard cabins have separate shower and toilet cubicles with the washbasin located in the cabin vanity unit. Single passengers have their own lounge which is accessed by a special keycard.

The tenpin bowling innovation found on two other NCL ships is also extended to Epic. There are two bowling alleys - one midships in the family area and the other in the Bliss Ultra Lounge which turns into a nightclub in the evening.

As with the restaurants, the choice of entertainment is huge as well. With twenty bars and lounges including a genuine Ice Bar, a Jazz & Blues lounge and a circus inspired big top venue where passengers can dine and watch a show at the same time.

Epic represents a new generation of resort cruise ships and the interest in her has been massive - so much so that NCL are now ordering two further ships for delivery over the next few years.

We booked this cruise as we had heard so much hype about this ship from all over the internet and in the press – it was also our first NCL cruise having previously cruised with Princess and Royal Caribbean. We booked an outside cabin which was roomy and well decorated. Not too sure on the shower arrangements, but you soon get use to it.

The ship has excellent facilities – everything you would expect from a brand new large cruise ship. The crew were very helpful and always friendly.

The entertainment was as good as you would expect from an American cruise line, but be prepared for some queuing on the busiest nights. The specialty restaurants were excellent although remember you pay a bit extra for them - however the meals were well worth it. The buffet did tend to have the same foods everyday, but there was plenty to choose from and it was always fresh.

Plenty of day time activities for sea days, so there’s never a chance of getting bored – plenty of deck space to sunbathe and read your book.

I would definitely cruise with NCL again, but possibly try one of their other ships next time. (not that there was anything wrong with Epic, but it’s always good to try more of the fleet)

Norwegian Epic is a great ship, but make sure you fully understand the 'bathroom' arrangements in the cabins - bathrooms are meant to have a door for a reason :-(