Embarkation:Swift, no problems. Usual queue for photographs. Warm welcome when stepping aboard.Staff:Helpful, always smiling, they seemed to genuinely enjoy working on the ship. Always courteous and attentive. Room steward introduced himself to us, showed us how to operate the TV and demonstrated everything in the room that we needed to know.Food:Manhattan Dining Room; Staff were very knowledgeable about the menu and wines. The food was very well presented but was lukewarm when it arrived, the food itself was fine but have sampled much better on other NCL ships and other cruise lines.Taste Dining Room: The menu was the same as the Manhattan but was always piping hot. We were given a tip that Taste was much nearer to the kitchens than Manhattan so the food was always hot. We ate here most evenings and never had to queue for more than 5 minutes.Garden Cafe: Not as well laid out as some of the older NCL ships but never any real queues for food or tables. The food was OK but not much variety. The desserts were very poor and again little variety, the same two hot desserts every day, just different fruits used in them.Le Bistro: Excellent. Food 1st class. Staff attentive and knowledgeable of every dish served. We couldn't make our minds up on the desserts so they brought one of everything. Worth the $20 cover charge. Ate here a few times.A little disappointed that we need to go to a restaurant with a cover charge to get first class food.Stateroom:Our room was excellent. Plenty of storage space. Everything we needed, even a filter coffee machine. Bathrobes were lovely and thick and of good quality. Toiletries were Elemis and were re-stocked regularly. We thought the layout of the shower, toilet and sink were very good, can't understand why some reviews thought it poor, if you needed privacy you just pulled the curtain across. We had problems with our shower tray over flowing but this was put right within an hour of reporting it.Flat screen interactive TV. Plenty of powere points.My only complaints are, not a lot of room between bed and vanity unit, sat using the hair drier (hair drier very good) didn't allow my husband much room to squeeze past. (we are not big people)We felt the furniture on the balcony could have been better. A larger table and reclining chairs.Entertainment:Good all round entertainment, plenty of variety with something for everyone. The trivia quizzes were great fun and always well attended. Murder mystery lunch was great fun, however the food was poor with no choice of start, 2 choices of main and no choice of dessert.The shows in the theatre were very good apart from the ventriloquist who's material was poor and outdated.Second City were great, very entertaining, very funny, enjoyed several of their shows.Howl at the Moon were amazing, spent many a happy hour listening to them. Sydney and Drew were the stars of the ship.The entertainment staff were very good and imaginative with the entertainment they provided.The casino had lots of variety and the staff were always willing to give lessons on the gaming tables.Pool Area:Plenty of sun beds available with staff willing to move the beds for you if needed. The whole area was always spotlessly clean. The water slides I'm told by my husband were great fun.Adult only area was great to relax in peace and quiet especially when the Nickelodeon crew were by the main pool.The spa was very restful, however you needed to get there early in the morning to get a bed.Overall we had the perfect cruise aboard the Epic. We met some great people who we hope to meet up with again next year.The whole experience from start to finish was perfect. The ship was only half full so whether our experience would be any different if it was full, maybe we will find out when we sail on her again.