Norwegian Epic Review
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This was our second cruise was NCL and we were excited to be on the Epic. The ship looked huge, and unfortunately, so were our expectations.
Public Spaces: It felt small. All the restaurants, shops, bars, casino and entertainment were all condensed on decks 5-7, except for the buffet on deck 15. I was bummed that there wasn't a grand atrium/staircase. There was a super beautiful chandelier over the Taste restaurant, that was about it. I read the reviews about the smoke in the casino, I guess we were just lucky as we didn't encounter any smoke in any of the public areas. However, our next door neighbor did light up a few times. Also, they had eight elevators towards the aft and eight forward. You have to wait for ages for one to come and if it did, it'd be packed, especially during breakfast/dinner times.
Food: We were on the NCL Dawn out of New Orleans last December and we just laughed when we discovered the food served in the main dining room and buffet were exactly the same, and prepared the same way on the Epic. +1 for consistence but -1 for redundancy. The food got tired after 3-days so we made sure to eat somewhere different (non-specialty) for each meal. Some days, they hosted a special breakfast or lunch at the specialty restaurants, complimentary. They had a Mexican and a Mediterranean lunch during our trip. Also, the "Hometown Buffet, food will run out, eat while in line, lick my fingers" behavior happened at the Garden Cafe buffet, go figure. But +1M for freestyle cruising, we love that we can enjoy a table for two vs. sitting at a table with eight strangers, who want to know your business.
Cabin Review
Balcony
We had a balcony stateroom. Not sure why they bothered with the curved design, it just made the room smaller. There was only a good 18" of walking space from the tip of the bed to the vanity, so only one person could be at the sink, which is literally in front of the bed. The design of the toilet and the shower didn't bother us at all however, if I had a choice, I would've rather had the toilet and shower enclosed it in its own space, to alleviate noise and um, odors...the toilet water smelled. The balcony however was quite big but would've been nice if there were loungers vs. the two chairs and side table. Closet space and storage was adequate. Channel line up was sufficient, the only American channel they had was MSNBC, otherwise we watched Jurassic World and San Andreas about 4x each our entire trip.
We peaked into some of the other balcony staterooms and we noticed depending on the curve, some of the staterooms had the sofa towards the door and the bed towards the balcony, whereas our was reversed. I would've preferred that layout instead. So when picking a stateroom, pick the one that curves in at the door, and out at the balcony door.
Port Reviews
Barcelona
Barcelona was our embarkation/debarkation port. We stayed at the nearby Eurostars Grand Marina Hotel the night before embarkation. Very upscale but worth the price and convenience.
Naples
We thought Naples was a small Italian village but we were quite wrong yet super impressed! We took the CitySightseeing Hop-on, Hop-off bus which is available at the port, which cost 24E per person. It took us through the city and offered photo opportunities of sweeping views of the city and Mt. Vesuvius. We also walked through the shopping area nearby and the church/castle right in front of the port.
Rome (Civitavecchia)
Our server in Taste gave us a tip to just take the train into Rome, which was about 5E per person and took about an hour into Rome (Termini Station). From there, we were able to jump on a CitySightseeing bus and it took us to all the major sights, including the Colloseum, Vatican, Trevi Fountain, etc. It was WELL WORTH it compared to the $300++ per person NCL was charging, and that was just to the Vatican.
Florence (Livorno)
At the port, we caught a bus to the downtown area, where we got a bus tour that went to Pisa. It was 15E each, I think? It was a 45-mins drive to Pisa. The bus drops you off in a parking lot and the tower is a 10-15 minute walk through a very small/quiet town. Once we saw the tower, it was amazing. PS - Take pictures of the people doing their funny poses, in addition to you own, it's funny!
Cannes
We had to go on a tender to the port, where they had a little trolley that went around town for an hour tour. They also had a bus (not CitySightseeing) but was not as frequent. Cannes was warm and quite scenic, but otherwise, nothing too special. Reminded me of a combination of South Beach Miami meets Beverly Hills.
Palma de Mallorca (Majorca)
We had no idea what there was to do in Palma de Mallorca but, they had a CitySightseeing bus as the port so we just hopped on it. The tour was borderline boring, although it passed by some of the churches/cathedrals which were amazing. Other than that, not much else to see. However, cruising on the way to Palma de Mallorca was beautiful, seeing the shapes and geography of the islands were very picturesque.