We enjoyed our cruise on NCL's Epic, embarking on January 18, 2015. We enjoyed sailing again in an aft balcony cabin and enjoyed the use of our lounge recliners associated with the basic aft cabin. As a couple, we are very comfortable with each other; the "odd" cabin layout did not bother us at all, but we can certainly understand why some are not pleased with the design. The ship will have greater acceptance in Europe, we're sure!

We love the NCL product. Having just sailed the Carnival Splendor the week before, a couple of items to compare, quickly come to mind. Those who value the Karaoke experience should probably stick with Carnival. We heard a woman, as we were traveling to the Splendor the week before we boarded the Epic, explain that Carnival's entertainment is much better than NCL's, which was a surprise to us. This was our second sailing on Carnival and eighth or ninth with NCL. We saw this woman fully involved in many karaoke venues throughout the week on the Splendor. Trying to be open minded, we can truly say that our experience on both lines puts the level of entertainment on NCL more superior to that of Carnival. Although, we will confirm that karaoke is far superior on Carnival, for what that's worth. Entertainment is nice on both lines, it's just NCL's is better, if doing a compare. We loved the Blue Man Group, Legends in Concert, the hypnotist shows and thought the Cirque Dreams & Dinner Show was excellent. We also enjoyed the dancers and singers, although they were somewhat limited, which was probably a good thing. While there are many entertainment options on the Epic, our experience across much of the fleet on NCL shows they provide a superior entertainment product, no matter which ship we were sailing.

There were fewer than 100 children on the Splendor, allowing for a very relaxing cruise. Due to some sort of New York Holiday, during the week of 1/18, unfortunately, there were nearly 1,000 children on our Epic sailing. We love children, but this population of children were not the normal children we have grown to love and enjoy. Many were very unruly and out of control! Some of their parents were not much better! (Now we know why we never, ever want to sail from a NY port.) The Splendor experience was much more relaxing, however, as we have sailed on NCL many times in the past, we know this was not normal for NCL and we will do our homework, going forward, to ensure that we do not sail during that holiday again. Read more