NeedsVitaminSea

I've mentioned this in other threads. I was on the Epic earlier this month. We had a spa room but to use the thermal suite, the front desk holds your room card. When we went to leave the spa, they had given my sister's card away to someone else. We immediately checked her account and there were gift shop charges on there. It took us three days of talking to security and guest services to get the charges taken off and it was completely their mistake. I'm not surprised that no one was willing to help you. Customer service for this sort of thing was really lacking, in our experience.

I just returned from my first NCL cruise two weeks ago - I've only been on two DCL. NCL was nice and we had fun but the experience is different.

Definitely reserve any specialty dining as soon as it's available on the web site. Also, reserve any shows you think you might want to see. Everything filled up by the time I realized I could book other stuff on board. Some shows must be booked on board so do that ASAP.

We only had one meal in the main dining room and had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. We were a party of two. Reserve if you can.

The deck parties were a lot of fun. We stressed about what to wear but it ultimately didn't matter! I wish we would have skipped dresses and just packed shorts because the back of the ship was very windy.

My biggest takeaway from NCL is that the customer service attitude is just not the same as DCL. The spa messed up and gave our room key to someone else and then left us to deal with getting the charges reversed. It took three days and several trips to guest services! Another time, the ladies room was out of TP. We reported it to a male worker in the hall and he shrugged and said "well I can't go in there". I experienced lots of friendly service but the "extra mile" attitude was not there for me.

Forward is nice because you are just a couple flights up to the buffet and a few flights down to the theater. We were on 14 aft and enjoyed it but I didn't feel like we were close to anything except the spa and Spice H2O.

Is that typical to have wait times on NCL for drinks? Typical to not have servers in bars and lounges?

 

That really was probably the worst thing about the cruise. When I’m on vacation I don’t want to have to fight my way up to a bar for 20 minutes trying to get a drink...and that no lie is what it was like. It wasn’t like you were standing in an orderly line waiting your turn this was people pushing their way in front of you or having one person with 10 cards trying to order drinks for all their friends. Really disorganized and chaotic.

 

 

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This was my first experience with NCL so I don't know. It was very chaotic. I did notice some of the bartenders would favor the non-spring breakers a little but it was still a long wait with lots of people pressing up against you.

We went to the Priscilla show one night and there were servers just standing around. The show hadn't started yet and it was not busy but they were not running drinks for anyone. I'm not sure why they were there! It was very strange.

We did get drinks inside at the buffet a couple of times - mostly just a diet soda or something simple. They did not offer cocktails there. That line was definitely more orderly but still could be long sometimes.

I was on the ship with you and very much agree with your review! I will add that the hibachi meal was outstanding. If you find yourself on Epic again, definitely give it a try!

I wish they would have provided more drink service in the quiet areas. It was quite a hike to walk to a bar and then wait for 20+ minutes! We saw a waiter once and, surprise, he was doting over the college girls up there and ignored everyone else.

I was fine with the cabin except when the shower and toilet doors started slamming open and closed as swells were hitting the ship! We could not figure out how to get them to stay closed.

I was on this cruise as well. My sister and I (late 30s-40) booked this as a little girls' trip.

The Spring Break thing did not occur to me. In hindsight, I guess it should have. I just didn't ever equate cruising with spring breakers. I went to college in central Florida and never heard of anyone going on a cruise for spring break.

For us, the main annoyance was the excessive lines at the bars. You couldn't even get a diet soda without waiting in a hoard of drunken craziness. I will give the kids credit and say that I did not experience anyone being anything but polite and respectful to me.

These kids absolutely had the unlimited drink package. We talked to some sophomores that had it. Typically, college sophomores are not 21 yet. They had a signed waiver to drink at 18 and were served unlimited alcohol.

The ship has some quirks but I was well aware of them going into it. The one design flaw that really got me was that our shower and toilet doors started slamming open and closed violently whenever the seas were rough. There is no mechanism to lock them either open or closed so we had to try to stuff towels in the track so we could get some sleep. It was not ideal at all.

We didn't have any issues with the food. I've had better, I've had worse. Our two best meals were at Teppenyaki and Le Bistro. Our service was mostly very good. We had an issue with the spa people giving my sister's room key away and that person ran up some charges. It took three days to get that resolved. We are very dissatisfied with how that was handled given that it was their mistake to begin with.

I'll probably consider NCL in the future but am much happier with Disney.

We experienced them during our Fantasy cruise in October. The kids went out into the snorkeling lagoon, near all of the grassy plants in the water and that's when they started to itch.

We've never used lotion so I have no idea if it works. The nurse at first aid was spraying people with something (vinegar?) to neutralize the sting. A lot of people were affected. We did not go back in above our knees for the rest of the day.

I grew up in South Florida where this is a regular phenomenon so I'm used to not swimming at the beach!

Thanks!

My sister and I are new to NCL and are sailing on the Epic next month. It's a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas. Will we still have the glow party?

We were just at WDW for 8 days and people were sick and coughing everywhere! We washed hands and tried to avoid being near people that were hacking up a lung. We managed to avoid getting sick but my kids are 10 and 8. I think their toddler years have shored up our immune systems by exposing us to so many viruses in the past decade!

So I guess I am saying to get sick more often? There must be a better way!

I'm new to Norwegian and am sailing on Epic out of PC on 3/3! Do the 4 night sailings have the glow party? Thanks!