Having sailed with Royal Caribbean in the past and having loved our experience with them, we had high expectations trying Norwegian Cruise Line for the first time!
Embarkation was quick, waited less than 20 minutes to get through the line-up to check-in, they printed our cards and then we are on the ship.
The best part about our cruise was the free-style dining. With Royal Caribbean we had tried my-time dining but it was always a wait. Had also done the pre-set dining time in the past, but find on vacation our eating habits are never the same every day. On the Epic we could go where we wanted when we wanted, and always had no problem getting a table. Loved Cagney's steakhouse, La Cuina and the Wasabi Bar. Favorite spot was O'Sheehans, every night we'd stop in at one point to grab a beer and wings. Only ate at Manhattan once when it was lobster night, it was delicious! Drinks on the ship found were comparable prices to most lounges and bars we've been to, if you keep to regular cocktails instead of big fancy drinks it helps keep cost down. They now have unlimited alcohol drink packages on NCL, though in March they weren't offering it do to spring break.
For the first time yet in cruising we booked a balcony cabin room, now we'll never be able to go back to an inside room, so worth the extra money! Our cabin was a family balcony cabin, and the room was quite spacious with a nice modern look and feel to it. The room has a wave appeal to it, with each room set-up alternating between a bed by the balcony or a couch by the balcony. Our room had it's bed by the balcony, which I definitely preferred and sounds like most people do. There was also no shortage of drawers and cabinets for storage, loved that everything fit away with tons of extra storage room if we needed it.