I have been on 4 other cruises from Galveston, and after moving to Miami, I thought I had arrived in Cruise Heaven...NOT...For me, the Dining experience IS the highlight of the day, and my NCL agent had assured me that the two main dining rooms on the Epic were of the same high quality standards of the "old days" designated dinner seating's. I cruised NCL when it first started to test the "Freestyle" dining years ago. What it has morphed into NOW is a flat, tasteless meal resembling one's I could get from the Marie Calender's or Stouffer's section of the frozen food isle.

I tried to stay positive as I thought things would get better but by the 4Th day, I found out I was not alone in my disappointments. After being literally SQUEEZED (17 people at a table for 12)knocking knees with my neighbors to either side and elbows drawn up to my sides, I tried to move my arms without bumping elbows with the people on either side of me and it was impossible. Out of nowhere, a stranger seated across from me mentioned the poor food and food service of this cruise and bias towards certain "types" of guests.

She said she had been noting how quickly people who were ordering full bottles of wine or many drinks from the bar, were being well attended all throughout the cruise. We were seated and waited for our drink orders to be taken while others in the tent were already getting drinks before the performance and we had not even GIVEN our drink orders. I finally tapped the waitress who worked the table behind me to go find our waiter and after 5-10 more minutes passed, he finally showed up and took our orders. Others were already getting their food orders and we sat there with our water. Their fixed menu take on "surf & turf" was another joke. A shoe leather thin (and tough) piece of meat and 3 raw shrimp came on my plate. Read more