Norwegian Epic Review
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The word I used most all week must have been 'amazing!'. I was an extremely nervous first time solo traveller. I chose a cruise because of the social promises made by NCL. I was not disappointed. The studio cabins were perfect for one and I was very comfortable, I loved the little touches like the mood lighting, towel sculptures, the dial outside the door to say Do not disturb/ turn down bed...etc. my only criticism of the cabin is that my shower cubicle didn't drain very well so the shower tray filled up within seconds, but it never overflowed so maybe this was a ship thing. After finding my way around I went to the studio lounge at 6.30pm as instructed on a board in the lounge and about 15 of us turned up ranging in age from late 20's to 60's. The cruise host got all the introductions sorted and had everyone smiling within 10mins so we went to The Taste restaurant for our first dinner, the host came too and organised free bottles of white and red wine for us and then worked hard to get to know everybody and point out connections between us. His attention to detail was superb. He disappeared very quickly as he had the busiest schedule I have ever seen, he was all over the ship each day.
Dinners were pre-arranged for each night based on what we were interested in doing. By the end of the week he was organising 2 events for the different groups that had boarded through the week. He often supplied free drinks like the champagne for the evening sail away meet up in the spice bar on deck when we left Civitivecchia. Free drinks became important once we realised how expensive they were! One issue we did have in Taste and Manhattan Garden (the 2 main inclusive restaurants at night) the service was slow if you weren't down there and seated by 7pm and secondly the food was great but not suited to dairy/gluten free diets. This is a weakness that should be addressed.
The ship appeared to be great for families with the garden cafe, sundeck, teen area and kids water park, but I found the adults only sun deck, bar and food area more peaceful and a lot less chaotic. At night we did do some shows and the Cirque dinner is great, highly recommended. Most evenings we ended up in the Bliss lounge which seemed to change activities every hour so was quite entertaining each night. I didn't do the casino but the martini bar was lovely too. My only disappointment is the jazz bar, when in Europe there is no jazz!!! They put on a Beatles tribute band every night which was very annoying as I had been looking forward to getting some jazz time!
Cabin Review
Studio
My studio was the last studio in the corridor right at the back of the ship, it was very quiet, the door outside let you out in to the main corridor and you had to have a solo travellers key to get through it so there were only a few people using the door mainly me and the lady opposite me. My only issue with the position was how far it was for the studio lounge, next time I will get a room closer. But that was personal preference, I used the lounge a lot and walked miles! The room was spotless all week, size was good for me and I had no problems with all the bits and pieces. There was a tv, hairdryer, washing line over the shower, safe, laundry service bags, loads of storage and European and American plug sockets (5 in total I think). The bed was very comfortable and I slept well although I often woke up early with all the banging around of the ship coming into port each morning. The guys servicing the cabins were friendly and helpful and were great when I locked myself out of my room! I had an issue with the shower not draining very well but I think a few people did so maybe it was to do with the ship rather than my room. I didn't have an issue with the colour changing lighting like so many people seemed to, I thought it was nice, I mostly set it to daylight but not always. There were main lights over the sink, shower, toilet, tv and bed so you could turn the mood lighting right off if you wanted. The towel sculptures was a lovely touch and made you feel special even though there were families spending much more I am sure. Overall I felt it was good value for money and made my week easy and comfortable.