Norwegian Epic Review
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We chose this cruise because the 10-day itinerary included 2 separate trips to Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian's private island. My wife and I were surprised to find out the first 3 days was actually a separate cruise on which 3700 of the 4100 passengers disembarked on Saturday 3/10 and the other 400 of us was required to disembark and re-board the ship. This was not handled too efficiently and we were never told we would not be allowed to remain on the ship until a letter arrived on Thursday evening. The 3700 3-day cruisers were almost 100% there for the party and with the free all-inclusive drink package that had been offered it appeared many of them made a valiant attempt to get their money's worth. On Saturday when the 7-day cruisers boarded, the atmosphere changed to a normal cruise and we settled in to a very enjoyable time.
The Norwegian Epic's cabins, specifically the balcony cabin we were in were designed very strangely. The bed was two twins shaped like half-eggs which wouldn't have been two bad except I am 6' 3" and my feet hung off by 3 or 4 inches. The bed was not comfortable and the seam between the two twins stuck up higher than any other part of the "queen bed". The "bathroom" design was a failed experiment. The curved toilet area with a frosted glass door was very public, if you get my drift. The separate shower, also with a frosted glass door was adequate but not very private either. The sink area to the inside of the shower was a nice feature since it was accessible when either the shower or toilet was in use. The casino took up nearly half of deck 6 and you had to walk through it often to get from the Epic Theater to the dining rooms. It was VERY smoky.
The shows were great, but only 4 choices over the 10 day length of our cruise in the main theater. The reservation system for the Headliners comedy club was poor. Every time we tried, the shows were booked and the only option was to stand in line to see if there were no-shows. There were family movies a few nights at the outdoor entertainment are, Spice H2O, and there should have more on the nights the area wasn't being used for parties until later.