Ship: Easy boarding. Got to the port at 11:00 am. Sat in waiting area until 11:30 when boarding began and walked right on. We all thought the interior decorating was very nice. Especially in the specialty restaurants. The theaters and clubs are all a nice size. There wasn't a bad seat in the Epic Theater. The casino is huge, but we don't gamble much, so we didn't hang out there at all. One big negative was that the smoking policy didn't seem to be enforced. We saw people smoking daily on the "non-smoking" side of the pool deck. We had to move seats twice to escape the smoke. I thought that one half of the casino was non-smoking, but I couldn't tell you which side that was. There was smoke everywhere, which was annoying because we had to walk through there almost every day with the kids. We also had a guy smoking a cigar on his balcony below us - yuck!! A tip for the pool deck - wear your shoes - they let you keep them on to ride the slides. I had blisters on my feet after trying to go 15 feet across the deck while we were in port in Miami that first day. Do the slides the first day you get on. That day and the morning we docked in Nassau were the two least crowded times.
Room: SMALL!!! We had a family balcony on deck 14 (Quiet dead end hall near kids club - that was a big plus). We had 2 adults and a 9 and 10 year old. The bed was by the door. To get by each other around the bed, we had to crawl over the bed. When the bunk beds were set up at night, we couldn't open the closet doors all the way. To get to the balcony we had to climb over the ladder. I could not stand sideways between the bunk and the opposite wall. Kids slept fine on the bunks. If NCL had added just 3 or 4 inches to the cabin width, it would have made a huge difference. Our bed was comfortable except my feet hung completely off the end (I am 5'9") But the room was quiet and night. We loved the balcony and that really helped make up for the small room.
Bathroom setup: Thumbs down big time. The plastic door to the toilet lets every sound out. The opaqueness wasn't a big issue for us, but the toilet was so loud that we couldn't flush it at night or everyone would wake up. Our neighbors toilet woke us up one morning! The sink was the stupidest design I have ever seen. One of the Second City guys joked that after you wash your hands, you need to change your pants. Water goes everywhere. My husband and brother soaked the floor trying to shave. The best thing to do is just line the sink with hand towels. Having the sink in the cabin is also a pain. It is loud at night, too. In the morning, I like to run and so I get up earlier than everyone else. Well, I had to turn on the light in the bathroom with the curtain partially shut and then try to see well enough to put in my contacts. The light over the sink was too bright. On other cruises, I can go into the bathroom, shut the door, turn on the light, get ready and leave without any hassle. On the plus side, the shower was great!! And there was a lot of storage space!
Nice balcony - view of water below - no lifeboats. Quiet - on dead end hall. Across from stewards work room but didn't bother us. Good storage, but tight squeeze for 2 adults, 2 kids. Noisy toilet/bathroom, but they all are on the Epic!!