kerrytens

Oh Robin, don't you just love the Haven area??? I took a tour of it on my first Epic cruises and then had the pleasure of visiting the Epic Club for the Captain's cocktail party this time around. To top off that wonderful honour, NeilD and his lovely wife invited me back to their 2 bedroom suite.

NCL knows how to treat their suite guests right ... it was stunning in the Haven area.

I should also mention that NCL has nailed down the solo area too. I've spent quite a bit of time in the 'living room' as well (not that I've sailed as a solo for either cruise but I've met some wonderful solos). Can't wait to see your photos of a studio too - they are awesome little rooms!

We were on the same cruise as KerryTens. We loved our day on St Kitts and had no problems at all. However, our tour Best of St Kitts was booked direct through Philip at Clay Villa. Our driver met us inside the building at the port and escorted us to his vehicle so there was really no opportunity for "outsiders" to bother us.

What building did you meet in KJ? We had a tour booked direct through another operator ourselves.

I loved St. Kitts once we got out of the cruise ship centre area but within those walls ... yikes;) Glad you enjoyed the island too!

kerrytens' date=' I swear I could feel all of you rooting for us along the way![/font']

 

I also hope Screenma'am will chime in now and then with her two cents.

 

:D

Believe me, you had a huge cheering section at Bubba Gumps. It was the first conversation we all really had as a group. Oh no, the ma'ams are trying to drive through ice ... please let them make it. And you did:D:D

Hope Screenma'am adds to your review too!

I'd be surprised if you weren't driven to the stairs. The road leading up there is NOT pedestrian friendly (it's barely car friendly - think narrow and very windy:eek: ).

The walk up the 'stairs' is worth it too. The views are spectaculur!!

Loving the beginning of your review Medicalma'am:D As one of those who followed our roll call posts about 'your story to tell' and then your 'we won't make the Bubba Gumps' pre-party, I was thrilled when I spotted you at the M&G. I knew you made it!

I shall let you continue though since that was day two.

It was so great to meet you!!

St Kitts was my least favourite island because of the monkeys and the hounding people. We walked off the ship, excited to see a new island, but instead were bombarded by all these men holding baby monkeys. One did throw one on my shoulder and assured me that "they don't bite" as he started to walk away. Ummm, as I tried to move it, sure enough it bit me!

Once he finally removed it after I told him what it did, we then had to deal with a different hoard ... taxi drivers who hounded us to allow them to take us on a tour of the island. I explained that I had a tour booked already to which one kept following me saying that you are being robbed ... ":insert guide's name: is a robber. She is stealing your money"

I loved the beauty of the island but I have no desire to ever go back after the gauntlet that I had to get through after getting off of the ship:mad:

Oh, I forgot to mention that the monkey guy demanded money from me too. I finally threw him a buck or two to get him away from me.

I certainly hope that others don't end up as targetted as we obviously were ... it was a bad experience.

Here's another vote for the Everglades tour! I would do it again in a heartbeat:D

PS. My then 8 year old loved it too;)

I was in a regular balcony. Here's a photo just for you. :D I didn't pay attention to the number of cups though since I didn't use it.

 

 

Thanks! I totally planned on going to the M&G - but was just too tired. :( Maybe in a future cruise...

Totally understandable:)

As for the coffee maker, I believe it was a 4 cupper. We had the same setup in our mini suite.

OP,glad you enjoyed your cruise! If I recall,you did the Mediterranean one as well,right? I thought I remembered reading a review of yours on that route before I went on my western med cruise.

 

Stacey

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh, I wish I could say that I have done a Med cruise ... perhaps now that my Epic is moving there permanentally I will need to make that happen though.

Oh heck, it is probably in the making somehow!

Sooper, thanks for the review. I loved reliving my time onboard. Wish we could have met though

Gee, now I'm wondering if I'm just super sensitive to the motion. LOL!!!

We were in a mini suite on deck 12 forward. And while I know that higher up and more forward and aft gives the most movement, I am the complete opposite for some reason. Lower down and central makes me terribly seasick. I need to be up high and not midship. Guess that explains it then, I am odd :o:p

The the person going on the TA, I'm booked on the October one and it certainly wasn't enough to make me consider backing out. Just bring your meds, just in case. You'll be fine. Have fun too!!!

LOL, I fell for it too and was ready to jump in and call the OP out as a liar because we had an awesome cruise. I commented a few times about how all of the recent complainers were obviously just whiners because the staff and crew were friendly and helpful, the food was good, the elevators were only crowded when passengers were coming back onboard after a day onshore, and the drinks were strong and often cheaper than in the bars here at home. Plus, the CC people I met were fantastic! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am ready to go back!

What Carol said:D:D:D It was so great to meet you and the family!

Has everyone recovered from your long flight?

I believe the issue backing into St. Kitts had to be more than wind. We arrived before a large Costa ship and when that ship arrived it turned and backed in within about 10 minutes with no problem with the same wind we were experiencing. We did hear from the crew there was a minor problem. But, whatever it was, it did not create any other issue the rest of the cruise, so ended up being nothing to worry about.

See, I thought the whole St. Kitts docking thing was a port issue with them not allowing the 3rd largest ship in the world to use the side thrusters (hence the tugs). We sheltered the Costa ship from that crazy wind and its draft would not have been as deep as ours so they would have been permitted to use their thrusters.

After quite a while I did see the port forward thrusters used momentarily and that use gave the tugs enough momentum to swing us around. We were a seriously big sail out there. If you think about it, we used the thrusters everywhere else.

I still believe it was a port issue and not a mechanical issue since we did use the thrusters. We could see the officers on the bridge getting more and more frustrated as the tug would get us to a point and then the wind would catch us again and back we'd go to square one.

Thankfully this will be the one and only time for the Epic in St. Kitts. LOL!

Only the bridge officers know for sure. A waiter would not be privy to that sort of info;)

Welcome back, and BRAVO on having a great vacation cruise experience!! :D

 

Hoping that most of that wonderful crew will still be onboard for the 2/23 sailing. I enjoy handing filling those well-deserved Vacation Hero cards, and the most ever on the last sailing (Dawn), a very short while after the only sailing that I've never filled out one (Breakaway)

 

Regarding the ship movement . . . do you remember if it was more of a front-to-back tilting, or more side-to-side, or perhaps the infamous 'rolling' that gets to so many who normally have strong stomachs??

 

Again, so glad to have you report it was a great time at sea. :)

 

.

Don, it was definitely a side to side roll. It would roll to one side and then hang there for a few seconds until it rolled to the other side. I slept on the couch one night (so my head and feet were going in the same direction of the rolls). I had to get up and take a pill:eek::eek: And it was far from the first pill that I had to take too - yikes! I'm usually fine 24 hours in but not this time. I spent a lot of time outdoors:o

Enjoy your cruise on my favourite ship. I hope that you get to experience the same crew too. They exceeded my expectations!!

HELP! I am having trouble adding to my review. I have entered it several times as a reply to original, but it won't go through. Is it too long to add as a reply?

First off you need to have a site to 'host' your photos (I use photobucket). Upload the photos there. In the banner that is above where you are typing your message you will see numerous symbols. On the bottom row there is a yellow and black box with what looks like a mountain in the box. Click on it and another box will open where you can paste the link from the hosting site (for me it is the 'direct' link)

I see a few others from my same sailing are doing reviews so I will leave them to fill in the blanks about the 8 days that we shared onboard the Epic.

I want to address a few other things myself - things that seem to have been brought up over and over since her return to the Caribbean.

First off - the staff. I'd read many reviews saying that the crew were rather lacklustre/tired/rude (insert any other adjective you'd like that would imply less than stellar attitudes). Well, let me say that I never experienced ANY of that at all. As a matter of fact, I have nothing but praise for every single crewmember that crossed my path. I have never filled out so many 'hero' cards as I did on this cruise. We even had a few of the staff say hello to us while on their own time onshore.

What I did see, sadly, was many rude passengers who seemed to be taking their frustrations out on a crewmember or two. I can certainly say that if I was berated for doing something that was quite often beyond my control, I'd clam up too and become distant. A smile and a thank you went a long way with them ... as it does in my everyday life too. I felt bad for many of the crew.

Second note of late - movement. Well, it is true. The Epic really is moving way more than it did in 2011 on my first cruise on the ship. The biggest seas I remember seeing were just over 8' so not bad at all. We rocked and rolled our way through the Caribbean for 8 days!! Not saying that it was really bad but I wanted to prepare those who may experience even a bit of motion sickness that you may want to bring meds to ease the symptoms.

Now, as for my cruise - it was THE most amazing time for my family and I. I would not hesitate to book this ship again ... oh wait, I already have!!! I plan on spending 14 lovely days onboard her again this October as she makes one final Western TA.

I'm really going to miss this ship when she moves permanently to Europe. NCL should be very proud of her!!! And most of all, they should be even more proud of the crew that are currently working very hard onboard her right now too.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'll see if I can answer them.

Dude, you scared me!!! I think that you are right though - there must be an Epic evil twin out there because my cruise was just as thoroughly enjoyable as yours was.

It was great meeting you too!!

Hey Chris! Glad that you are going to give NCL a try. I can't compare the lines since I've never cruised on RCL before but I can say that NCL has a very relaxed feel. You can do what you want, when you want.

Food is just one of those very subjective things so I will leave it with the fact that I've never gone hungry on any of my cruises;) and I'm a somewhat picky person. LOL!

Entertainment onboard is phenomenal and Getaway does not look like she'll disappoint in that department either.

I believe that you will have a great time. I hope that you'll be doing one of your great live from reviews!

Many people are reporting the same thing - the good news is that they are all saying a simple phone call to NCL will resolve the issue.

Great cam!!! Thanks for sharing

you are right...never heard country band on cruise...except in karoke the entire week....lol

 

so now instead of hearing the sounds of slot machines and off key, note impaired bad country singers...you hear slots and jimmy Hendrix's twin playing the guitar/bass/electric...he switches up...and his drummer and then somebody on the organ(that was the last night) it was hot!!

 

he has a CD..so you can probably youtube him.

 

im hoping on the getaway they do add a jazz band but we shall see....

Just you tubed him - he's there. Lots of clips actually. I'm looking forward to seeing him even more now:D:D

NCL, if you are reading this thread - thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to us and utilizing Fat Cats in a proper way again!!!!!

They have music again in fat cats!

Bart Walker Band most nights they play from 9pm-1am

 

it is all blues...white guy (Bart) plays the guitar like a BEAST and can sing. His brother was in the band but I understand he kept messin up so he had to get rid of him. so he has a few musicians from the mahantan band to join him. they fit. its like rock mixed with blues...but grooves....but if you don't loud music its not for you! many of the ships officers will stop by fat cats each night to listen to them play.

 

you have to check them out!

 

they also had manhattan band doing 60's soul review!! The woman lead singer OMG! sung the heck out of Tina Turner.

 

Then they have the latin duet couple performing. AWESOME! AWESOME!AWESOME! You want to try and catch them as well.

 

 

Mark (I think that is his name) he plays every night in Malting's on deck 7 aft. he is also very good.

 

all the live bands were phenomenal.

Thank you so very much!!! I am so happy to hear this news. I'll definitely be checking out this band. Can't wait.

Found it and Tiffygirl responded to my excited post too!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=41264965&postcount=143

When we were on the Thanksgiving week cruise they had it set up for karaoke. VERY disappointing!

The band in Fat Cats seems to be as of the Jan. 11 cruise. I'll see if I can find the post that I found but the person specifically states that there is a blues group back in again. I'm thrilled beyond belief:D

Tiffygirl, thank you for your comments. I was very excited to see your mention of a new blues band in Fat Cats. One of the reasons I wanted to go on the Epic originally (we booked almost a year ago) was to see Slam Allen. When he left, they had the Charlie Love band, but then it seemed the venue was used for karaoke and different duos. Can you tell us a little bit more about the new band?

Ooops, should have continued to read ... but I was so excited that I jumped the gun:D

I'd love to hear more about the new band too, Tiffygirl.