NCL is often overlooked, but my takeaway is they are stellar. The studio rooms are a bargain and were impressed with the value/security/lounge for only those guests.
The food in the buffet was sub-par, especially compared to Celebrity. However, the standard dining room offerings and quality easily surpassed Celebrity.
The private island in Belize is adequate, but the zip-lining over a tropical beach needs to be removed.
The shows on NCL Epic were outstanding. The Howl at the Moon offered dueling pianos, comedy (I got picked to participate at my own mocking expense) and wonderful vocalists.
We found it to be a very comfortable balance between adults only and children activities.
The only downside of NCL sailings out of Florida that go to their "main" island Great Stirrup Cay is that they are/were tendered. Since there is/was no dock, it made the probability of visiting this island much lower (in fact, the waters were too choppy for the narrow inlet for our most recent cruise). So we looked at Royal Caribbean's private island, practically adjacent to NCL's Great Stirrup Cay, having a docked RCL cruise ship.
The Epic's thermal spa is among the best at sea. I purchased the whole cruise length package and spent at least 3 hours/day bouncing between the different saunas, steam rooms and the hydro pools. The hydro pools completely invigorated me after a day of activities or port itineraries. I could live in these warm, not hot, bubbling waters. There are multiple bubbling/jet stations that hit different parts of the body. You can walk, in the warm water, between almost all of the stations. I also enjoyed the fresh fruit infused water (they also had several teas). I would fill up my water bottle and just melt away in peace. Here's a picture I took.
View attachment 552192
We are booked for a 10-day cruise over Christmas into 2022 and are going to book a private villa at Silver Cove once the window opens. I think we're going to book on the lagoon side. I definitely can see these luxury villas sold out for overnight itineraries if and when they offer it.