Norwegian Epic

Norwegian Epic is NCL's new state-of-the-art entry into the cruising market. Carrying on their tradition of freestyle dining, the largest NCL ship ever built will have twenty culinary dining venues.

Norwegian has re-thought stateroom design over the last few years, and their family villas have been carried forward to Epic for those willing to spend a little more for some added privacy by the pool and additional stateroom amenities. Norwegian has always done suites as well or better than other lines, with larger rooms and more discriminating service. Other staterooms have gone rouder, something unusual in the boxy world of cruise ship accommodations, and expanded bathrooms have toilet, sink and shower divided for privacy so two can use different facilities.



The most intriguiging innovation for me is more Vegas-like entertainment, featuring Blue Man Group, Legends in Concert, Cirque Dreams (think Cirque du Soleil at sea) and Second City Comedy Troop.

A lot of fun active venues, like their expanded water park, should keep kids happy.

Does this sound like a lot of innovation?

It should.


Norwegian Cruise Lines is one of the most innovative cruise lines in the world. In fact, few people know that NCL essentially invented what we think of as destination cruising.

Norwegian hit a bad patch of poor quality and dilapidating ships in the 1990s, but they started reinventing themselves about ten years ago with a concept call Freestyle Cruising. Freestyle was another innovation: the idea of making the cruise ship itself more like a land resort. Instead of traditional dining where you meet for dinner at either 6 or 8:30 with the same table mates and waitstaff, NCL made it where you basically showed up for dinner when you were ready and got a table, just like at a land restaurant. NCL also added a lot of alternative restaurants, some of which charge reservation fees, again making the cruise more like being on land.



They have had both success and failure with this approach. Long time cruisers sometimes lament the loss of the traditional cruise dinner experience, which for many is a favorite, despite the fact that in surveys it seemed to be an area where at least some people felt constrained. It is a compliment that other lines have introduced similar alternatives on their ships, although usually only for about a third to a half of the guests as far as the assigned dining times. Most alternative restaurants on other ships are available to anyone willing to pay a reservation fee, just as on NCL. They also made the formal nights essentially optional, making more casual clothing acceptable on every night. Again, some people like it, and some find it to be a downgrade in quality. It really depends on what you like as to which cruise line works best for you.

Norwegian Cruise Lines has introduced all of their ships in the last decade, so now the average age of their fleet is very young. In my opinion, the quality of their hardware isn't as solid as Princess, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and Celebrity, all of which fall in the same general price range, but if you haven't been on other ships, you would be definitely be impressed, and even experienced cruisers may find NCL the same or preferable, based on personal tastes.



I would also say that the quality of the service is a notch below those competitors, partly because the freestyle dinner dining can create chaos when everyone decides to show up for dinner between 7 and 7:30. Ironically, the other cruise lines who followed them do a better job of handling that freestyle approach in my experience, probably because they leave a large portion of their guests on traditional dining, making logjams less likely. However, if you show up for dinner on the NCL ships at 6 or 8:30, like the assigned times on most other ships, you will probably be seated right away, so bear that in mind.

If you want something very casual and hate the idea of a fixed dining time, then maybe Norwegian is the line for you. If you like dining at fine restaurants with a more sophisticated crowd, then it is hard to beat Celebrity. The prices aren't that different, and surprisingly which one costs more is a factor of supply and demand for any trip in particular.

For example, for Western Caribbean cruises in the fall, Norwegian Epic is consistently more than for Celebrity Solstice, which is in most ways a more upscale experience.