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Having sailed with NCL twice before we were really looking forward to the Epic, expecting bigger and better than the ships we'd been on before.
Embarkation at Barcelona was quick and easy and our stateroom was ready almost immediately. The room was very clean and contained everything we needed, although in order to cram in as many cabins as possible NCL have given them the minimum amount of space.
As always, we found the dining options, service, public areas and entertainment to be of a very high standard, although I would recommend booking for the Blue Man Group before you go to be sure of getting in.
We choose NCL because of the Freestyle dining and on this trip we visited four of the 'speciality' restaurants and enjoyed each one, especially the Tappenyaki which is great fun.
What we didn't enjoy on this cruise was the extortionate cost of drinks and services e.g. $36 for an average bottle of wine and $25 for a spinning class in the fitness centre. Don't even get me started on the price of excursions!
Our experience of cruising has taught us that prices are higher than normal, having a captive audience appears to give them licence to charge whatever they want to but such high costs and the addition of 18% gratutity on everything you purchase (on top of the $12 per person per day service charge) is forcing us to consider whether the overall cost of cruising with NCL is really worth the money.
This is such a shame as we have receommended this cruise line to lots of people and continue to believe that their format is a winnner but we object to being ripped off!
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