We really enjoyed our time on the Norwegian Epic. Prior to this we had cruised with Carnival Freedom in the Western Caribbean. We had also looked at Royal Caribbean but they did not have an itinerary that met our dates. As a comparison, we had heard really great things about RCI though it seemed we were able to get more for our money with NCL, specifically our fare included the Ultimate Dining option (more on this later), a balcony room, and 50% fare price for our child. Additionally, the itinerary for NCL was a little better for us since we chose to start and end in Rome. It's hard to take in much of Rome with a single day port excursion, so we really enjoyed the extra days we had to take in the city from the ancient sites all the way to the modern day attractions.

Back to the cruise - as mentioned our fare included the Ultimate Dining option which meant we could dine (for "free") at the Specialty restaurants, and this was really a highlight of our time. In terms of a "vacation" experience, eating at any one of these restaurants in a land setting would be a nice experience, and we got to dine at a different restaurant every night of our trip. We really enjoyed the teppyanaki restaurant - sure it's no Benihana, but it was still a fun time with good food; and we went from that to French, Brazilian BBQ (which was a close second), American steak house, Italian, etc. for each night of cruise. We had a great time with it.

The cabin was nice. We found it to be spacious for the three of us and I noticed the lighting was well done. We had more than enough balcony space to sit and relax. Some have commented on the bathroom location being near the door. Maybe a little imperfect but wasn't a big deal for us; you keep the door locked anyways. Read more