We chose this particular itinerary because we wanted a Thanksgiving cruise that visited ports we'd not visited. Being Latitude Silver, having cruised with NCL before, was a nice bonus as we felt our prior experience was good (not fantastic). Our experience with Epic however, was lacking. We had a mid-ship balcony cabin and my husband and I (mid-40s) traveled with our teenage daughter. My parents (mid-70s) also booked this cruise to enjoy Thanksgiving together, staying in a balcony cabin as well.
Our first odd experience began with the online reservation system. We booked several shore excursions, dinners, and entertainment options on the first day the system opened. We booked mostly 6:30-7pm dinners as this is when we normally eat at home. Since we didn't have an entertainment schedule, we had no way of knowing that this precluded us from being able to enjoy some of the evening entertainment options at a decent time (the later shows started at 9:30 or 10:30 as the earlier ones were closer to 7). This left us a little short-changed for entertainment after dinner, which was a little frustrating.
Additionally, I booked both parasailing & jetski/waverunner shore excursions on Great Stirrup Cay. Only one time came up as an option and I called the Customer Service number to inquire about this as well as how to book all 5 of us for the upcharge dinner reservations (hint - have everyone in your group book at once as time slots fill up quickly and each cabin must have their own reservation). The gentleman I spoke with was surprised I was able to book my daughter on both parasailing and jetskiing since they were at the same time. I asked if they ran all day long and he said that they didn't, we would have to cancel one of them. We canceled the jetskis and also changed another shore excursion so I could book a non-NCL jetski tour at one of the ports.
The wavy design is attractive, but not functional to fit a family of 3 comfortably. We had a smaller cabin on a previous NCL cruise with a pull-down bunk for daughter and it fit us better than this one did. The sink is very small if you're trying to wash out clothes & there is very limited drawer space. Bring hangers as there is a TON of closet space but limited hangers. Lighting is ineffective for makeup.
booked an excursion independently, which was canceled due to strong wind advisory.