Norwegian Epic Review
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After reading many, many reviews before sailing and then experiencing the Epic first-hand, I have to say it certainly is true that you can't please everyone! I am happy to report that we had a wonderful experience all the way around. I have been on four previous cruises; this one was the first with NCL.
We sailed on the Epic the week of January 19-26th. Arrived a day early and stayed at the Embassy Suites Airport, using their "cruise package" pricing (meaning they include the transfer to the Port of Miami). I highly recommend a stay here, as the rooms are very large, clean and comfortable and from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. they have a manager's cocktail party--basically an open bar for drinks, beer or wine. They also serve snacks (pita bread with hummus, chips/salsa, goldfish crackers, etc). The hotel pool and hot tub were very nice with lots of loungers and nice landscaping. The hotel gym was excellent, with good equipment. The breakfast buffet (also included in the cost) was one of the best I have ever seen in terms of choice, with omelets made to order. The port transfer is at 11:00 or 12:00 (sign up for your time when you check in). The transfer to the port was very organized and quick.
Ship size: No doubt about it--she's a big one! I thought it would be hard to navigate, but actually, it was pretty easy to find your way around. The best thing to remember is that the port side carpeting is mostly red and the starboard side is mostly blue. If you can remember this, you will always know what side of the ship you are on. Also, decks 5, 6 and 7 mid-ship have the front desks, restaurants, shopping and entertainment venues. Deck 15 is the Garden Cafe and pool deck. The ship had excellent signage to point you in the right direction. I also have to say that it only occasionally felt like there were 4,000+ on this boat (you definitely noticed the crowds at muster drill time and white hot party time, for example). For the most part, it did not seem that crowded.
Cabin Review
Balcony
We were in cabin 11064. The cabin is VERY narrow, particularly in front of the bed. This is a cabin that can hold 3, but honestly, I would not have wanted to have three people in this room. The toilet with opaque door was on the left, shower with opaque door on the right and behind the shower a small vanity with the sink. The vanity had a nice feature with a sliding drawer hamper for used towels. There was plenty of storage in the medicine cabinet above the vanity as well as storage for small towels and for the bath towels in the vanity cubbies. The bed in our cabin was located next to the balcony. In some of these cabins, the bed is located next to the sink and bathroom set up. This is because of the wave design. The bed is placed in the concave of the wave; the couch in the convex of the wave. Depending on where the concave/convex is in the particular cabin will determine if your bed is by the balcony or closer to the entry door and the sink and vanity. My friends were in a balcony room the opposite set-up from ours and I think the bed near the balcony is a better set-up. It feels a little larger and it is nice to have the bed away from the sink/bathroom area. Other than that, the bathroom set-up was not an issue for us. The room was adequately cleaned each day and turn-down was always nice with a new towel animal each night. The bed was very comfortable with really nice soft bedding. I would book this room again.
Storage in the cabin: Good storage for the most part, with a nice large closet for most of the clothes (lit up inside when doors opened) and good storage behind the couch. The suitcases fit nicely under the bed as well. However, there is another smaller wardrobe-type closet in the room that has three drawers for storage underneath. This closet was very narrow and was useless for handing clothes (no hangars either) and the drawers were very narrow (about 7-8" wide) it was difficult to get clothes into them. Again, this is all due to the "wave" design of the room.
Balcony: The balcony was a nice size with two chairs and a very small table. It was definitely adequate. The glass was not clean when we got on and it only got worse with salt spray during the cruise.