Previously, we had taken the Jade and decided that the 10-day itinerary leaving from Barcelona sounded intriguing. Morocco was high on my "to-see" list and the other stops (Canaries, Funchal, Granada) also sounded interesting. While we had fun, we couldn't help but compare this experience to our time on the Jade.
Getting on to the boat was easy and efficient, despite having twice as many passengers as the Jade. We were quite ecstatic to get on the boat - our checked luggage took a detour during a connecting flight in Paris, meaning we had to survive out of our carry-on for a day and a half in Barcelona, and only received it right before we checked out from our hotel. So we were definitely a bit soured on Barcelona, which wasn't as much fun of a city as I remember when I last visited in 2007. The photo of my wife and I in our funky clothes in front of a picture of the Epic was, somewhat hilariously, one of our best NCL-made photos.
We saved money this time with an indoor cabin - we barely used the balcony last time. The room was cozy but comfortable. Norwegian really knows how to make the most of their cabin space. As residents of New York City apartments, we know the pain! Our room steward was good, but he and the others on our floor seemed overworked. It would take him an awful long time to get to our room - we'd go have breakfast, walk around a bit, and come back to find the room still unmade. Our steward on the Jade mentioned that he and some other workers were scared to work on the Epic, and I think they had a legitimate concern there.