The funny thing is I wanted to rush home to write a review and post photos but as with most things I think it's better to wait a moment and try not to make knee jerk reactions. So after being home a week from my cruise I think I can give my review. This was my first NCL sailing; let's begin with the ship. The Epic is a huge ship and from the outside it looks somewhat funny with the big black tinted windows at the top. Check in for the cruise went extremely quick, I think it took longer to board the plane to Miami than it did to get on the Epic. The staff here was friendly and seemed happy that we (and not them) were headed on our vacation.

There were 12 family members in our party and we stayed on various decks, with my cabin being a studio suite on Deck 12. Great idea...sort of. A room for a single traveler is an awesome idea. The rest were on Deck 9 towards the front of the ship. My studio was nice, clean and modern just like the photos. Two things I didn't really dig were the lights and the TV info system (which didn't work until day 3). In order to keep the lights on in your stateroom, you have to leave your room key in the slot next to the door. (Which I wouldn't have known without my roll call family.) The lights switches are in various places around the room, some easy to spot, some... not so much and if you can't find the switch for the light over the sink it will just stay on until you find it again. For me it was two days n to the trip. Having to keep the key in the slot is kinda silly because I locked myself out a couple of times and that wouldn't have happen had the key been in my pocket. Not to mention, the door to the studios is locked and your need your key access the area. Then once inside you have to find the Steward to open your cabin.

Which is another thing that drove me nuts, my Steward situation. It seemed like there were two stewards for the entire studio cabin area. I never got the names of my Stewards mainly because I saw them very sparingly. This was my 15th or so cruise and on every other trip my Steward for the week went out of the way to find me and make sure I had everything I needed. I had to find my Steward or call housekeeping way too much to get my room turned down or to get clean towels. Also, my Stew seemed not to know what trash to toss out and what to keep. I found out on the 2nd to last day where the trash can was, several times he left empty soda cans about my cabin, which I would have put in the trash had I known where to put trash. BTW way it looks like a file cabinet near the shower. Read more