My wife and I have sailed on dozens of different cruises over the years - we’ve lost count of how many we’ve taken. Four this year alone.

At the last minute we got a decent offer to sail on NCL Epic so we acted impulsively. Historically I’ve never particularly enjoyed very large ships finding them to be too crowded and the queues are often long. So we booked this cruise primarily because of the destinations and the convenient dates for us. How wrong could I have been about NCL Epic. The service was outstanding from check-in to departure. We didn’t have to queue up once for restaurants or even tendering at Cannes. Our cabin steward, Jonathan, was very helpful and friendly and his towel sculptures were like nothing I’ve ever seen before. We stayed in a balcony cabin (13198), which was fine except we couldn’t get two cases under the bed! I would say it’s the best service I’ve ever received on a cruise ship. Something I didn’t expect when I booked it. The entertainment was top drawer - especially the band in The Cavern that played classic British and American rock music. When we got back to the U.K. we told our family that we should all go on her at some point in the future.

Regarding the stops: Read more