7 Day Western Mediterranean Norwegian Epic Cruise Review

I will never forget the excitement in the car as we got closer and closer to the cruise port in Barcelona. We all knew that the Norwegian Epic ship was the biggest in the world (during that time) but still, it was nothing like seeing this MASSIVE vessel in person! Finally, the day was here that we spent months planning for and anticipating for over a year! We were going to embark on the Epic for seven days and cruise to:

Naples, Italy

Roma, Italy

Florence/Pisa, Italy

Cannes, France

Palma, Majorca, Spain

Disembark back in Barcelona, Spain

Embark/Disembark

I never cruised before prior to this trip, but I heard that oftentimes boarding and departing each day can be ridiculously long. Well I’m here to tell you firsthand that the staff on the Epic has mastered this process. Each day embarking and disembarking took no longer than 10 minutes. For this ship to be the largest in the world, I consider that phenomenal!

Rooms

Our room was a balcony suite that was situated perfectly in the middle of the ship. It was rather spacious (as it should’ve been) for a cruise cabin. There was a round queen sized bed, desk, pull out sofa bed and tons of storage! One common complaint I heard regarding the room was the bathroom set up. In the Epic there isn’t a full enclosed bathroom that we’re all used to. Now that I think about it, our bathroom was in the entryway of our room. When you walked in, the bathroom “stall” was on your left, shower/tub with sliding glass door on your right and the sink was a few feet away. Although this set up bothered most people, I was not entirely phased by it. My only complaint, was the small sink and no counter space to store my daily morning essentials. As for the balcony, it was large enough to fit four people comfortably and the high walls offered privacy.

If you’re a solo traveler, I’d highly recommend that you take advantage of the singles cabins! They were way cheaper than the standard double occupancy rooms and had their own mix/mingle area. Not to mention, the rooms were so cool with their changing theme lights that also extended into the hallway!

Food

For my very first cruise, I was happy to hear that Norwegian pioneered the “alternative dining” concept. We did not have a set dining time for any of our meals and no assigned seating. There was so many options to choose from on this ship, both free and for a fee. We stuck to the main dining rooms each day and I looked forward to seeing the “theme” (Italian, seafood, Asian etc.) for dinner every night. With so many people on the ship, I didn’t experience long wait times for the buffet. Also, I will never forget “Washy Washy!” as a staff member sprayed our hands with sanitizer every time we walked into the dining rooms.

My only disappointment, was the quality of the food when we ordered room service. Both of our meals were absolutely horrible! Which was shocking considering I ordered a simple grilled cheese with fries. Nonetheless, that was our first and last time of ordering from there.

Entertainment

There is entertainment for anyone, of any age on this cruise ship! Expect to hear lots of live music, line dancing and games scattered throughout the ship. Some of the highlights that I thoroughly enjoyed were Cirque Dreams, Legends in Concert and a Dreamgirls act. We also frequented one of their nightclubs called Bliss Ultra Lounge, which played a mixture of top 40 and has bowling lanes. The ship also features an ice bar, which was quite the experience for all of us! If gambling is your thing, there’s an entire floor dedicated to slot machines and tables that stay open all night. For people who want to relax, there’s tons of loungers by their huge pools/slides that were open often. I loved the slides but hated the fact that there were no adults only pools. For the seven days we were on the ship, I did not get in the pool once.

Overall, I absolutely LOVED this cruise and their awesome staff! There’s so many other aspects of the Norwegian Epic that I didn’t touch base on here. Trust me, you will love this ship and the Western Mediterranean ports! We all loved it so much that we vowed to take this trip again in the future! Stay tuned for my future posts on our activities in each port!

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Until next time ASSASSINS… Stay Motivated!