EPIC FAIL: Anyone who has been on cruises before will quickly realize that Norwegian's Epic is a rare standout for merging greed, gaudiness and total incompetence - literally the worse cruise I've ever been on.

1). CUSTOMERS ARE NICKLE-AND-DIMED TO DEATH. Where most cruises have good on-board dining houses that are already covered in the main fee, the Epic's dining rooms are constant pressure-cookers of up-selling. Basically, you can order a gross, substandard dish from the peasant selection of the menu, or you can order something resembling a real meal and pay an extra $30 or $40, in addition to what you already spent to be there in the first place. And while other cruise lines have indoor cafes that make you espresso drinks and morning pastries for free, Norwegian hits you with international Starbucks prices for the same thing.

2). LUXURY IMAGE HIDES PATHETICALLY CHEAP COST-CUTTING MEASURES: Enjoy a morning cup of coffee? Well plan to make 10 separate trips to the coffee spout, since Norwegian's recently replaced its mugs with ceramic thimbles. Seriously, they are barely bigger than shot glasses. When we asked one of the kitchen staff about it, he confided that "management" recently changed the mugs so customers would drink less coffee, creating a higher profit margin, despite the recommendations of the the actual crew. And, as pointed out by other reviews of this ship, to just get a bottle of water is $7. Read more