We chose the Norwegian Epic as we had a very narrow window in which we could plan a cruise, and the Rome mid-week boarding option matched our dates. We have previously cruised with Royal Caribbean and Princess, and were hoping for something similar. Sadly we were disappointed.

The boat is lovely, and we had a good time, but there are so many ways in which the crew could make it even more special for their customers. The shows are amazing, but were spoiled by people coming in and out of the theatre all the way through the show, despite a strict ticket only entry system, which the crew didn't enforce. To be fair, we had the chance to speak to Pedro, the Cruise Director about this, and he said that his team were having great difficulty with some customers of different cultures, where they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Verbal attacks were apparently not uncommon, and staff were having to call security in order to try and do their job.

We were disappointed at the lack of formality on the boat. We are not passengers who want to wear black tie every night, but it is nice to do this once on a cruise, and despite us making the effort on one night, and going to the Manhattan restaurant which claimed to have a 'no-shorts' dress code, we felt completely out of place with other customers in shorts and flip-flops. Read more