My husband and I have been on numerous cruises with different cruise lines. For this vacation, we decided to try NCL and also a larger ship. We were not disappointed. The ships we had previously sailed on were quite a bit smaller at around 2500 passengers. We were concerned about the number of passengers on Epic and how crowded the ship would be. Our concerns were unfounded. There were always tables available near the outdoor buffet and in restaurants. The busy areas of the ships tended to be the casino, Sheehan's Pub and of course the outside deck on sea days. If you don't like crowds, there are plenty of quieter places to hang out. This was also our first experience with Freestyle cruising, which we both absolutely loved. It will be difficult to go back to having things scheduled as other cruise lines do. We ate where we wanted, whenever we wanted. We did not try the specialty restaurants as we were quite satisfied with all of the other options. This was the first cruise we have been on that we did not have to dress up for dinner. Of course many people did, but it was not required in the main dining room or at many of the other restaurants. We enjoy being casual on vacation and really liked this option.

Another first for us was a balcony cabin - we had a mini-suite with a balcony. The room was spacious and had tons of storage. The shower/bathroom configuration was different as it was split into 2 but we had no issues with it. There is a curtain you can close so you have privacy. The bed was comfortable. My husband is 6'6" and had no issues.

The entertainment on the ship was good. We enjoyed the Howl at the Moon dueling piano show and actually went 3 times during the week. If you like sing alongs, you will love this show. We also enjoyed the magician comedian - he was very entertaining! One tip I would give is if you are planning to see a show, some require reservations - book early. It seems that many booked before going on the cruise, which I will do the next time we sail on NCL. Read more