Norwegian Epic Review
Rating by category
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Where do I begin? This trip was nothing short of wonderful. I was a little skeptical when I read the reviews after we booked our cruise but my girlfriend and I had an absolutely wonderful time. This was our first time cruising on the Epic and our second time cruising with NCL. We have also cruised four times with Carnival. All in all at least on NCL's newer ships I've found the dining options to be far more diverse and the food quality to be better.
Embarkation:
Getting on the boat was perhaps the smoothest and least time consuming of any cruise I have ever taken. We flew in Ft. Lauderdale and rented a car and drove it to the airport in Miami. The rental car cost less than $40 including gas and allowed us some flexibility. We rented with Thrifty which provides a free shuttle service from the the Miami airport to the port. Once we got to the port we handed off a bags with a small $5 tip to a porter and breezed through security with our carry on. We had no wait time to check in with NCL and get our room keys. We got to the port at 12:30pm and encounter no lines (terminal C). Once we were on the boat our room was ready in about and hour so we took the opportunity to grab lunch at the buffet.
Cabin Review
We went for an inexpensive balcony guarantee cabin and ended up with a nice cabin on deck 12. We had nice views as we were near the bridge area of the boat. The cabin itself was spacious and modern. The bathroom problems described with the toilet and shower weren't really an issue for my girlfriend and I but I could see where two friends traveling together might experience some difficulty. There is a curtain you can extend to cover the entire bathroom area but that blocks access to the door to the cabin as well. There was plenty of storage in the cabin and all the finishes were in excellent condition. Room service options were great as well, just remember that you incur a fee if you order after midnight. The television in the room had extremely limited channels but honestly that shouldn't even be an issue with all of the available entertainment on board.