This was our 20th cruise and 8th on NCL (2nd time on the Epic). We chose this cruise because it was a New Years Eve Cruise and it was the first cruise for our friends who wanted to go on a End of the year cruise.

The embarkation was a breeze - thru the process and onboard within 10 minutes. Only delay was getting into the port on the Hampton Inn shuttle bus. We had for the first time a balcony room on the aft of the ship. Room 10317. Our room stewardess Daisy was amazing. We both were sick on Tuesday with a 24 hour bug of sorts but apparently we were the exception on the ship (never happened in the past). Don't understand the rave reviews about aft balcony rooms as we didn't care much for it. Always a spray of water while at sea spraying up on the balcony and very noisy at times.

Service at the buffet was good (washy-washy) and the food was always the same. Service was good as well at most of the specialty restaurants. Food service at O'Sheehans was terrible. Trying to get into some of the venues was virtually impossible as you needed reservations for almost everything and they filled too fast as if they were too small for the size of the ship or there weren't enough perrformances to accomodate the cruisers. No room for spontaneity. Read more