We had sailed on the Epic twice before in The Haven and therefore decided to trust it with a transatlantic crossing, especially as the restaurant in the Haven had delivered an excellent experience on both occasions Unfortunately this time the restaurant under a brand new maitre 'd and seemingly new kitchen staff was a disaster. Waiting staff tried valiantly to rectify bad management and indifferent cooking, but cold food, appalling salads, and an arrogant and inexperienced maitre 'd led us to avoid meals in The Haven (sandwiches in our suite 3 nights, Chinese another night courtesy of our Butler, cafeteria another night as well as 6 speciality restaurants made a total of 11 nights avoiding The Haven out of a 15 night cruise.

At lunchtime, having experienced badly executed salads, never mind tasteless main courses, we resorted to chilled soups and 'berries' and nothing else. Unfortunately some soups - noticeably the one with raw leeks, and the one with raw chilli, and the one that tasted of double cream and nothing of soup in its texture left us in despair. How embarrassing for experienced waiting staff to serve this appalling food, and the maitre 'd obviously didn't know the difference and didn't care.

Will we be back on the Epic? No way! The best restaurant was La Cucina which had a vigilant Maitre 'd. The food was hot. It was also tasty. Read more