First time on Norwegian after having sailed on Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. First time sailing by myself (male, age 54). I was originally drawn to Norwegian to try something new and also because of the studio cabins. As it turned out the studios were sold out so I booked a balcony cabin for myself and was able to meet with many solo/single travelers.

The unlimited drink package was included in my cruise package. I liked it. I don't know if I would have paid for it had it not been included. I don't know if I drank my money's worth. However, a lot of people did. And they drank the other guy's share as well. This was the oldest, whitest, fattest, drunkest cruise I have ever been on. Yes -- even moreso than Carnival.

The ship left me speechless. Like how did NCL allow this ship to get off the drawing board? Take a 1980s era 67,000 ton ship and make it 2.5 times larger without putting any thought into the public spaces and you'll have the Epic. The Epic was clean and well cared for. But it wasn't well thought out. Main elevators fore and aft, but no significant bank of elevators midship? There's nothing grand or inspiring about this ship. The central atrium stands three decks high, but doesn't provide easy deck-to-deck access to the rest of the ship.The public spaces seemed to be assembled as an afterthought. I like casinos. I don't like having to fight my way through one every time I want to go to breakfast, lunch or dinner. The theater(s) is too small, requiring you to get reservations for every show, including the comedy shows. It isn't a "freestyle" experience when you have to reserve dinner and entertainment every night for seven nights. I had to carry around a sheet of paper with reminders of where I was eating and which shows I was seeing. With traditional cruising, all I needed to know is that dinner was at 8 and there was a show somewhere at 10. Read more