The Norwegian Epic is a beautiful ship but, for me, far too big, with 4200 passengers and 1700 crew. The crew, who had to work extremely hard due to the number of passengers, were superb! The sheer number of passengers on board sometimes made service in the restaurants and bars a bit slower than I would have liked. The entertainment was first class - I think it is fair to say that it would not look out of place in London's West End!

Now for the downside, which I should emphasis was not the fault of NCL but impacted on my overall enjoyment. I had flown from Edinburgh to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Barcelona, both flights with KLM. When I arrived at Barcelona I went to reclaim my baggage and when I was waiting at the belt I received a text message from KLM saying that my case had not arrived in Barcelona. I was astounded by this as I have travelled for over 40 years and never experienced this. I had to file a report at a desk in the airport and was given a phone number which I was told to hand to guest services once I was onboard. I explained that the ship was sailing that evening at 6.00pm and that I needed my case with all my clothes, toiletries etc.as the only clothes I had were those I had travelled in. I said that the lack of information was unacceptable and was told that I was not the only one whose luggage had not arrived. In fact I was told that there should have been 170 cases on the flight but only TWO arrived. It really does beggar believe that this was not queried by the airline staff including the pilot!

The ship consequently sailed without my luggage on Sunday evening and it was not delivered to the ship until Tuesday evening! In the interim period I spoke to guest services on numerous occasions and was given very little information. This whole business caused me a lot of anger, stress and distress. I am currently taking this up with KLM and expect some form of compensation! We will see! Read more