When Norwegian launched the Norwegian Epic the entertainment obviously had to match the name, it had to be epic and I thought they did an excellent job!
I'll start with my only complaint and get it over with. With so many people on the ship you had to make advanced reservations (pre-boarding or on the first night) for many of the shows if you wanted to guarantee to get in. However, if you couldn't get a reservation there was usually a standby line, which I hear got everyone in. This system, while reducing the chaos at these shows, took a lot of the spontaneity out of the cruise entertainment.
On the first night of the cruise I went to see Cirque Dreams. This is not a Cirque du Soleil show, but its the same type of performance: acrobatics, music, clowns, and in this case - audience participation. I'm not a huge fan of this type of show. I enjoy it, but I also get a bored after about 45 minutes. The nice thing about Cirque Dreams is that it's a dinner show so you have a little distraction from the show which helped prevent the boredum from setting in.
Cirque Dreams takes place in a Spiegel Tent, whatever that is, the setting is like a theatre in round. It has two floors and the seats upstairs are cheaper (there is an additional fee for this dinner and show), I also thought they were better as there are fewer sight line issues and you're not picked for audience participation. You do need to show up early to get seating, which is especially important if you get the premium seating on the main floor - if you come late you'll end up in the back of the room and you'll miss what is going on in the air during the show. The food was good, very tasty. I don't remember what they served, though I know it was a new menu for my cruise, but there was a sampling of different appetizers, main courses and desserts.
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| Blue Man Group's Theatre |
Next up is Blue Man Group, I had not seen this before and I enjoyed the show. I'll admit I didn't get the plot of the show, but there were lots of cute and goofy things to keep me entertained. I know this show isn't loved by all, but for the price (included in your cruise), it's certainly worth seeing. I hear it's pretty similar to the shows done in the US; however, they do have audience participation. Consider yourself warned.
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| Steven Sorrentino as Sonny and Cher |
There were quite a few things that I did not see - some Spanish Ballet, which I heard was very good. A puppet show, which I heard you couldn't see the puppets unless you were in the front. Legends In Concert, which I heard mixed reviews of. The Second City was not on our ship, they took off for the summer. I was disappointed by this, they were on my cruise in Hawaii and were very good.
There was a Beatles band, I thought they were very good, but the crowd didn't seem to get into it so the experience wasn't great.
