We (two well-travelled Canadian seniors) did a back-to-back cruise leaving Barcelona Jan. 3 and disembarking Jan. 24. We would travel with Norwegian again, but would avoid the Epic if possible. 4100 passengers is too many. Elevators were overflowing, reservations were necessary for entertainment, and embarkation was very slow. Surprisingly, disembarkation was surprisingly efficient for such a large ship.
If you travel with Norwegian and don't plan to spend $$ on the overpriced excursions, be sure to do your homework on the internet before you embark. (I noticed that one of these reviews mentioned a ship's excursion in Barcelona to the Sagrada Familia that was $140. One person could do it on their own for 4 E for the port bus, 4.3 E for the Metro and 15 E for the cathedral entry, for a total of $26. That's what I mean by over-priced excursions.) We took no NCL shore excursions, but arranged everything on our own - through Cruise Critic or just by taking local transportation or walking. Norwegian supplies minimal port information on the TV and the TV maps are unreadable. I wish that NCL would print paper maps and information the way Holland America does. There wasn't even a map on the wall anywhere on the ship that showed the route the ship was taking. This is a far cry from the NCL Alaska cruise we took last year on the Sun - there were large nautical charts in the forward lounge that everyone checked regularly.
There are very few areas in the ship where you can get away from piped music or just sit quietly away from the crowd. The only place we found was the tiny library, but it was always full of people. Unfortunately, the internet access was also there and people would talk while they were using it. The tiny games room next door was always packed as well (who kept taking the Scrabble games?), while the enormous photo studio outside was so empty that the staff spent most of their time talking to each other. Speaking of people with time on their hands, how about most of the dealers in the casino? Or the staff in the shops? The only time we saw a rush there was their $10 sale. Does NCL ever survey the passengers to see what THEY want?