NCL Epic – loud, lively, glitzy and Bling!

Pretty she is not from the outside, but as someone once said to me – it’s the inside that counts, so don’t be put off when you first see her – reserve judgement until you have boarded. You cannot fail to be impressed by the interior. She is absolutely stunning.
There was so much to take in that I’m not going to be able to do her justice in one post, so I’ll give you my ‘overview’ in this post and then cover some areas in more detail over a few posts. Bathroom facilities in cabins, for example, need more attention given to them, as do the somewhat ‘bijou’ balcony cabins and the oversized ‘sneeze-guards’ in the buffet-style restaraunt.

In a nutshell she is a stunning ship with great facilities. The  decor is fabulous, much more classy than I was expecting. I don’t know why but because NCL is ‘freestyle cruisig’ I expected it to be very bright colours and a bit ‘plastic’. I couldn’t have been more wrong, though the whole ship has a very Vegas feel, and she carries the largest chandelier at sea.

There are numerous different themed bars and restaraunts, a wide assortment of entertainment to keep the whole family amused – though I did find the dance music on deck at 6.30am yesterday morning a bit too much!
The Jazz bar – Fat Cats, has great music for Jazz lovers and Headliners Comedy Club is a hoot. The Blue Man Group were utterly bizarre, and although I just didn’t ‘get them’ so to speak to start with I was howling by the end of the show – just brilliant, and not to be missed.
Tuesday night we ate in Cagneys Steakhouse. This was definitely the best food I’ve ever had at sea. It was outstanding. I couldn’t fault a thing, but then Fillet Mignon and Lobster cooked to perfection, who could?

Food in the Main dining rooms and the buffet style restaraunts was great but as I have found so often on ships – luke warm at best. The Sushi Bar is a must and although it carries a surcharge it is a minimal one – well worth trying.
One thing which really didn’t impress me was the Ice Bar. This will carry a $20 surcharge for guests who are required to wear a Parka and gloves to spend 15 minutes standing in a refridgeration unit drinking 2 Vodka shots. Very novel, I’ll grant you, but I just can’t see people paying the money for it. It’s a bit something and nothing.

Being an American ship the Casino is massive, taking up much of the centre of Deck Six. An issue one of our party had was that due to the positioning of the stairs you had to walk through this area to get to other places and as it is a designated smoking area it could prove an unpopular feature with non-smokers.
The deck area on Deck 15 is great fun, although not vast considering the number of passengers the ship carries – it could be very busy on sea days. Two great watr slides will keep kids young and old amused for hours! Note, not the place to spend time if you are looking for quiet relaxation! Entertainment is almost constant around the pools.
All in all a great ship with a really oppulent feel, and very friendly helpful staff. Very family orientated with plenty to keep everyone happy.