My wife and I cruised on the Epic two years ago and had such a wonderful time that this year when looking for a Christmas get away...we decided to choose the Epic again . I should say the ports of call were not what drew us to this cruise, it was the price of the cruise along with the on ship entertainment and shows that we enjoyed on our first trip on the boat. I hate to say it but we were disappointed this time. The ship felt crowded...everytime we tried to get an elevator we became keenly aware of how many people were on the boat. There was always 1-2 elevators that were locked or unavailable.Long lines to schedule the main dining room or select dining room reservations. The Garden Cafet Buffet was always packed at lunch. Very few other options at lunch other then Sheehans sports pub in the center of the ship. Sheehan's was a disaster...no supervision of the waiter staff. One at sea day I tried to eat their and after waiting 15 minutes for a waiter to take my order...a waiter came and I gave him a simple order..Nachos, a reuben and a Pepsi. 20 minutes later a different waiter returns with cold nachos, and a cold reuben sandwich that had more cold sauerkraut in it then Pastrami...and no Pepsi. After waiting for my drink another 10 minutes I told a waiter I had not received my Pepsi and asked if a waiter would be bringing it and his response as he walked away was " I hope so ! "...This place needs customer service training from the top down! Did I mention the same waiter took the order of the table next to me and he never brought out their order..they had to get another waiter! Where is the restaurant Management here? The restaurant is clearly understaffed! Specialty restaurants we ate at included the Japanese and French restaurants and Cagneys...The food was good but not GREAT which is should be for the price paid.The other change notable to me was the number of intoxicated people on the boat...drinks without the package are too expensive...So people who are social drinkers get driven to take the booze package offered and it shows! The people paying for the booze package are paying so much they drink excessively to justify the money they spent. This is the kind of thing that drove my wife and I from Carnival and may push us away from Norwegian as well!