we are seasoned cruises and have done NCL several times along with Celebrity etc etc
We liked the NCL low key cruise as you want they offer - our panama canal 16 day trip was a lifetime best -
We found the Epic too large - no thought as to the layout of things - like the Le Bistro restaurant right next to open bar with evening entertainment so loud that you could not have a conversation - nothing like the chicken dance to ruin a evening and top of that had to pay for the privilege - same with the main dinning self serve chow line area - seating for a few hundred if that when 4000 want to have breakfast was a cluster - or you could have room service of course form another 8 bucks -