We booked this cruise after cancelling another NCL cruise going to Havana, Cuba (during last year's hurricane). My wife and I have always wanted to go to Italy, so we booked this one leaving from Rome and then came in a few days early to tour Venice and Rome. We had an amazing time in what felt like a mini-vacation before we even ended up on the ship! The folks at ItalyScape really set us up with some fantastic tours and guides. We did a "Breakfast at the Vatican" tour before the general public was allowed in, and I definitely recommend getting there early if you really want to appreciate the artwork before the crowds show up. In retrospect, booking a cruise in July in Italy meant it was going to be hot, and it was. But going early helped.

We boarded the boat on Wednesday, and I must admit it was a little strange that most of the people on this particular cruise had boarded in Barcelona, so they were halfway into their cruise already. Didn't create any issues, just interesting. Boarding was simple, and we were in our room in no time. The cabin was great...we had picked a spa suite and we were literally two doors down from the spa, which was so convenient as we spent a lot of time there. Although the Epic is enormous, and there were times when the crush of people was annoying, we pretty much stayed to ourselves, ate when we wanted to, and stayed away from the pool on deck 15 where all the families and there kids were. We got into a routine of having a cocktail at the martini bar and then hitting one of the restaurants. We really enjoyed the food, especially the Brazilian steakhouse. And all the servers and wait staff were exceptional. The do nickel-and-dime you a lot for things, such as in-room movies and shuttles at the ports).

We did our own trips at the ports, and were glad not to be in the cattle call every morning. We would roll up to the port, and our guides/drivers were waiting for us for a personal tour of whatever port we visited. Overall it was a great vacation and would do it again! Definitely recommend booking the Cirque show...it was awesome. We didn't really see any other shows...just nothing our speed!