Norwegian Epic

We booked this cruise a week before it sailed.  It was somewhat spontaneous--which is always nice because you don't sit around counting the days until vacation.

Epic was built in 2010 and offers innovative designs and great entertainment.  Instead of hiring Norwegian performers, they contract it out to actual known shows.  This cruise is unlike other Norwegian cruises I've been on.

Cabins

Epic is also unique in the sense that they only offer inside, balcony, and suite cabins.  They do not have outside cabins (rooms with windows).  We booked an inside cabin because we decided to use that extra money towards the shore excursions and shows.  

                                                                                      (you probably can't tell, but the Dark Knight was on)

The room was spacious.  The bathroom set-up was unique.  They had the bathroom on one side and the shower on the other side---both with semi-transparent doors.  The sink was also detached as shown in the picture.  The water would splash out of the sink, so keep your things away from it.

Another thing that annoyed me was the t.v set-up was high--so resolution was hard to see.  Speaking of the TV--what happened to the movie channel?  Usually they would show a series of movies that were not yet released on DVD--but the only movie that was offered was a "favorite movie" channel showing old movies.

Decks

Norwegian has a very nice "Aqua park" area.  I'm not sure if it was because of spring break, but it was really hard to find lounge chairs after 10am.  Also the slides had long lines--but worth the wait.

Epic has 2 bowling areas

 One outdoor theater (only at night)

2-story theater inside

Entertainment

Most of the shows on the Epic was excellent.  The Epic makes you do advance reservations for a majority of their shows.  People would then come early to get good seats.  We came at 9pm for the 10pm Blue Man Group and the line was already down the hall.  But there were plenty of seats in the theater--it's just a matter of where you would like to sit.  I'm not a fan of waiting in line for an hour to see a show I have reservations for. :P

This show is nearly identical to the Blue Man Group I saw in Las Vegas a few years ago.  But it's part of your cruise cost--so why not see it?  They also did a separate behind the blue man group Q&A which was very interesting. 

They also have a contract with The Second City, which is a sketch comedy and improv show.  They were funny and entertaining.  There's a PG-13 version and an adults only show.  Try to catch both.

There were other funny activities that was put together by the cruise director department.  My personal favorite was the "dancing with the cruise staff." I literally laughed so hard I cried.

Then there were shows that you had to pay for (optional).  The first one we did was a mystery lunch show.  This was put together by Second City.  The ticket was 20 dollars a person.  My husband liked the show, but I felt like it would have made no difference to me if I saw it or not.

Another show you have an option to see is Cirque Dreams dinner.  It's 30 dollars for standard seating and 40 dollars for premiere seating.  Nearly all the seats are premiere seating--so if you want the standard price, make the reservation early.  We sat on top, which I liked, because we had an overview of everything going on.  It's somewhat like a mini redacted version of Cirque Du Soleil.  I thought that the show was worth seeing.

(photo credit: cruisediva.blogspot.com )

This is a picture of the "White Hot Party"

Food 

Epic offers 4 freestyle dining areas to eat for free and a few speciality restaurants that have a fee.  Norwegian never disappoints me when it comes to their culinary.

Ports 

  

The first port was St. Maarten.  Orient beach tops very high on my list of the best beaches I've been too.  It's just a gorgeous aquamarine color with white powdery sand.  The island itself is very unique in that it's one island with two countries--Dutch and French.

The second port was St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.  I was really happy here because if you have AT&T, your phone/smart phone worked without any roaming charges.  While laying on the beach, I was able to enjoy 4G instead of the slow internet on the boat.   St. Thomas is a very happening place. We went to Magens Bay where their beach is unusually calm.  It reminded me of a lake--only with gorgeous clear/blue water.

The last port was Nassau, Bahamas.  Since we've been here several times, we decided not to sightsee, but instead decided to go snorkeling.   It was a wonderful experience.

Overall, we enjoyed the Norwegian Epic and would recommend it to anyone who wants to cruise.