Norwegian Epic Review
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The Epic was wonderful. We had a great 7 days away. We've cruised twice before, with Carnival. The Epic was definitely a step up.
We flew into Miami the Friday before departure, and stayed at the Springhill Suites Miami Airport East / Medical Center. The hotel offered a free shuttle from the airport, and a $5 a person shuttle to the Epic the next morning. The shuttle to the ship was on a "reserved" basis, so if you didn't get your name on the list you were out of luck. We got lucky, a couple cancelled at the last minute, and we got on the 10AM shuttle, which put us in line for boarding at about 10:30. If you're going to stay there, I'd call a day or so in advance to make sure you get your preferred time on the hotel-to-ship shuttle.
Embarkation was fast and efficient. Even with a stop to pay the $15 corkage fee for our chilled bottle of Chardonnay, we were on board well before 11:30. We checked out the Garden Cafe Buffet and agreed with the warnings we'd read that said it would be a madhouse. We retreated to the Taste Dining Room, and were seated immediately (the room was barely 1/3rd occupied). I chose Fish & Chips and was surprised when the malt vinegar described on the menu didn't appear with the entree. Our waiter brought me a "vinegar & oil" salad dressing set when I asked for vinegar, which worked, but I was surprised they weren't ready for such a request, as Fish & Chips is a staple on the lunch menu every day.
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
We found 9086 to be an especially well-located cabin, just off the forward elevators on the port side of the ship. The ninth deck puts you nicely between the public areas on decks 5,6, & 7 and the upper public areas on decks 14 and up. Taking 6 flights of stairs to get to and from the Garden Cafe Buffet IS doable, and helps work off the extra food you'll be eating. The 2 to4 flights of stairs to get down to the lower public areas are nothing, and even if you're tired of stairs or they're not your thing, the elevators are just steps away. We never heard any hallway traffic or elevator noise the whole cruise. I'd imagine the exact same would be true for the similar cabins on the starboard side. The matching cabins off the aft elevator bank would have a longer walk to the Buffet, but a shorter path to the main dining rooms and pool areas.
We didn't even come near to filling the storage provided on only one side of the cabin there was so much space. We did run out of hangers for hanging clothes. The hangers provided in one closet do not transfer to the other closets either. We made do, but I'd guess you could ask for more hangers or bring plenty from home. We'd been warned there were few electrical outlets (three 110v and two "European" 220v) in each cabin, so we'd brought a couple extension cords. I sleep with a CPAP machine, and used one of the extension cords to route over the headboard of the bed from the "shaver" outlet in the medicine cabinet to the bedside. We used the other extension cord to plug in our iPhones and iPad along with the coffee machine on the counter opposite the foot of the bed. While it seemed like a good idea, I awoke constantly during the first night, and finally discovered the power from the shaver outlet was cutting in and out, making my CPAP machine shut down completely and then re-start from scratch. I "rewired" the cabin and slept well from that point on. Next trip we'll bring a power strip with a short cord and a long extension cord.
At night we found the blackout curtains covering the balcony sliding door worked well, even if there were a couple of the magnets missing. The light indicating there was power to the TV, and the lights from the bedside reading lamp switches provided plenty of "nightlights", so much so that we ended up taking sugar packets from the coffee service and laying them over the reading lamp switches to tone them down. The bed in our cabin seemed a little short, possibly because it had generously rounded corners at the foot of the bed to match the cabin design. I'm 5'9" and found that if I shoved my head almost up against the headboard only my toes hung over the end of the bed.
Mini-suites come with a bathtub shower, and the requisite "salad-bowl-sized" sink. The shower is comfortably large, the water pressure's generous, and only on the last morning of the cruise, when everyone is due out of their cabin at the same time, which means almost everyone is showering at the same time, did we ever get warm instead of hot water in the shower. If you're a man and shave with a blade, you'll bump you head against the mirror above the sink while getting your face wet to apply gel/foam, and you'll cover the countertop and maybe even the floor with water (that's one reason you may want extra towels every day in your room if you're a guy). In addition to the soap and shampoo dispenser in the shower, there's also a soap dispenser with the sink.