This review focuses on the ship. This was our fourth NCL cruise in a little over a year, the others being on older ships. The public areas on the Epic were very attractive. I don't mind the decor of the older ships, but truly enjoyed the more sedate decor of the Epic. Overall, our food was quite good. We ate in the Manhattan dining room most nights. We also ate twice in Cagney's and once in Le Bistro. The food in Cagney's was outstanding, Le Bistro was mixed. There's no doubt our experience at Le Bistro was diminished by the atmosphere. While we were having dinner there was a musical trivia game being played in the atrium. What should have been a quiet, romantic dinner didn't stand a chance. They either need to move this restaurant or at least put in doors so the noise can be blocked.

Overall our dining service was very good. For some reason our last lunch, last dinner and last breakfast in Manhattan were not up to par. For our last lunch and our last dinner there, it was over a half hour from the time we sat down to the time we saw our first course. Fortunately we weren't in any big hurry to get anywhere.

The entertainment was probably the highlight of the ship. We did the Cirque dinner and that was very good. We also saw Burn the Floor and Priscilla, both were excellent. I had booked our reservations ahead of time and was glad I had as there were long lines for booking shows. The night we were to see Priscilla they had technical difficulties and had to cancel the show and re-book for the following night. I thought they handled that very smoothly. We didn't really care for Howl at the Moon or the Beatles band on board, but that might just be a matter of taste. We did really enjoy Patricia in Shaker's. She had the place pretty well packed every night. Read more