Nov 5th our group of 6 (myself,husband,mother,2 girls-5&7yrs, and 16 yr old cousin) set sail on NCL Epic. We have cruised several times in the past but this would be our first on such a large ship. And we won't be sailing such a large ship in the near future. Embarkation and Disembakation were nightmares. Wait times of over an hour each time. They promote easy walk off and most people take advantage of this, picture 4500 people each with 2-3 pieces of luggage trying to descend down several flights of stairs/elevators. Every elevator would have 2-3 people and 6-8 pieces of luggage. After waiting 40 minutes in a line at the elevators, we decided to carry our luggage down the five flights of stairs. If you choose this option, make sure you can comfortabley carry your luggage as the elevators are too full and too many people just pulling their big bags down the stairs and taking people out along the way!

We had no issues with our room, we didn't mind the bathroom situation either. Balcony was nice and spacious. Pool areas were pretty good, no chance of chairs though but that is common on every ship. This ship does not enforce the no leaving towels on chairs rule. Although they do charge you $25 per towel if they are not returned to staterooms so I'm not sure why so many people just leave them unattended.

The first two days the ship rocked a lot! I have only felt that motion once before and that was during a cruise where we had 18 foot waves, during this sailing, the waves were only 5 feet on average, not sure if the rocking was due to the height of the ship, it was very windy those days. We all had to take medication for it and that was a first! Read more