dunhill

Thanks 

I apologize if this has been asked before. My wife and I are taking our five year old grandson on his first cruise in June on the Mardi Gras. He will turn five a week before the cruise and wouldn't have enough time to get vaccinated and wait the two weeks to be considered fully vaccinated. I'm not to worried about Cozumel as we can do a ship's dolphin tour and, I guess, walk around the shops at the pier.  Is Mahogany Bay considered under the bubble for carnival or would my grandson have to stay on the ship? Thanks in advance.

Years ago likely. Now I don’t drink. I really was just being cheap. My wife says I can buy water on the ship. I’ll get water,  she’ll get jewelry 

Hello. This is our first time on MSC and first COVID era cruise.  Does anyone think we’ll have problems putting four full water bottles in our suitcases?  I know I’m just being cheap.  Thanks

No you won't have time in the am for a Rome tour before unless you are going in a few days early

We did the same thing in May 2015. We were given a flyer when we checked into the hotel telling us what time to be in the lobby with our luggage. Only one time but it worked fine. My only complaint was I didn't feel like we were welcomed aboard the same as if everyone got on the ship the same day. We used romain limo for tours before the cruise and they were great. Enjoy your trip!

didn't see a beach near the port in Palma. In Cannes the free beach is right next to where the tender drops you off

We were on the ship by 12pm

No I laid out by the aft pool. A staff member came up to the twenty or so people out there and we just flashed him our cards

Sorry nod allies. We took cookies and deserts from the buffet around 9pm to eat before our early tours

We took our time and got off around ten am

We had been planning this cruise for months and were nervous we had not seen much about the Epic in Europe. The ship only began this year's European season one week earlier. I LOVED IT! I will give you a rundown of what we did and my impressions. My starting point is I believe no matter what, any cruise is better than not being on a cruise.

My wife and I sailed on the Epic from May 6th to May 13th out of Rome. We are an early to mid fifties couple who have taken well over twenty cruises in the last twenty five years. We have sailed on Carnival, RCCL, Princess, and the Big Red Boat - Oceanic. Most of the Carnival cruises were with our children. This was not only our first NCL cruise but also our first cruise in the Mediterranean. I was nervous about NCL and hoped it would at least be as good as RCCL. In my opinion Epic exceeded my experiences with most of the RCCL ships and definitely the Carnival ships. I knew the ship had recently sailed in the Caribbean and there was very little in the way of information about this particular cruise.

Pre-Cruise

We left on May 3rd. out of Philadelphia at 635pm on a direct flight arriving in Rome on Monday May 4th at around 9am. Luckily we used points and were able to fly business class which really helped. I had arranged several tours and transfers in advance with RomeInLimo who picked us up and transferred us to the NCL pre-cruise hotel - Crown Plaza St. Peters. A typical 3 star type hotel. It served its purpose and had a basic but free breakfast buffet each morning. Noting really to walk to but a restaurant next door. We met our guide from RomeInLimo at the Vatican who gave us a personalized fantastic tour. She knew all the short cuts and ways to avoid the massive lines while telling us many interesting facts. TIP - If doing the Vatican tour on your own make sure you buy your tickets ahead of time on line. Otherwise you will wait in a line stretching for blocks. We had our tickets and walked right in. After the three hour tour we headed back to our hotel and crashed as we were exhausted from the nine hour flight and six hour time change. We ate in the hotel's restaurant which was passable.

Tuesday morning we were picked up at the hotel at 9am by our driver from RomeInLimo and given an all day tour. Again, RomeInLimo exceeded all my expectations. Enrico, our guide and driver took us to all the places you'd want to see including the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Catacombs - great tour!, Pantheon, and Spanish Steps. We stopped at numerous places to view various monuments, building, and churches. For lunch he took us to a small cafe in a residential neighborhood and enjoyed a great lunch. The tour concluded at hotel around 5pm. For dinner we walked about a block to the only restaurant near the hotel. I'm blanking on the name but it was Italian and not bad.

The cruise began for us on Wednesday. Our transfer through NCL picked up about ten of us and after stopping at the Hilton - Airport for another pickup of about ten headed to the port which took about an hour. Check-in was a breeze. Remember most of the guests get on in Barcelona and considered this day a tour day in Rome. The only thing I didn't like about it was I never get that welcome aboard feeling you get when you typically first get on the ship. You feel like you are just returning from a port stop. Minor issues though. The life boat drill took about ten minutes at 4pm. The ship began to fill back around 5pm as tours returned from Rome.

Cabin

We had balcony cabin 8075. This is closer to the front of the ship. I would recommend an even numbered cabin as you will get better in port views. I didn't like the 8th floor as our cabin overlooked a lifeboat. I would probably recommend a 10th or above floor cabin. Keep in mind there are no mid ship elevators. all the elevators are either aft or forward. This results in slow usually full elevators. a little frustrating but not a big deal though.

Dining

We purchased the dining plan and ate mostly in the specialty restaurants but did eat twice in the main dining room. We both liked Le Bistro, Cagney's, and the Italian restaurant. Moderno, the Argentinan grill restaurant was a major disappointment. Not anywhere close to a Texas De Brazil or Fogo De Cho. Service was slow and servers did not go to all tables. The meat can't be cooked over a flame so it just doesn't have the same taste. I liked the main dining room and probably will not pay for specialty restaurants in advance next time on NCL. In my opinion the food served and service during dinner was better than RCCL and much better than Carnival. Buffets are buffets. Burgers were better on Carnival especially with Guy Fierti's burger grill on the Breeze. I really am not a big drinker. My treat is ice-cream. NCL has both free soft serve and hard ice-cream in several flavors.

Shows

We went to the Legends in Concert show starring an impersonator of Rod Stewart, Sting, and Gloria Estephan. Rod Stewart was good the other two were fair. We never made it to the Burn Up the Floor dancing show as neither of us like that stuff. IMHO the best two shows were the Beatles and the Howl at the Moon dueling pianos. Both have several shows per week in the smaller club areas. The Howl at the Moon were two guys and a lady players. They did comedy during and in between the songs. After 10:30 the comedy was more adult and extremely funny.

Tours

This is a very port-intensive cruise. Typically we never do ship tours and opt for more individualized tours by operators recommended by others on Cruise critic. But since we've never been to Europe plus were worried about the length of tours and distance from the ship we opted for ship sponsored tours this cruise ( except for in Rome).

Thursday we took an all day tour of Florence and Pisa leaving at 7:30am. We were part of a multiple bus tour but remained with our bus/tour guide all day. Florence is magnificent! The buildings, monuments, and statues are everything I hoped they would look like in person. Frankly I would recommend using RomeInLimo and getting other couples to cut down the price. I would have spent more time in Florence just wandering and seeing the real David statue rather than the copy. The tour stopped for lunch in a restaurant overlooking the city of Florence on the way to Pisa. Have your camera ready! The view from this restaurant is phenomenal. The food wasn't bad either. Pisa is OK. It's a long bus ride from Florence to Pisa (1.5 hours). After the wine with lunch I slept most of the way. The bus drop off point is about a twenty minute walk to the area of the tower. As you get closer you will encounter a gauntlet of hawkers trying to sell you hats, purses, selfie stick holders for your cell phone ( I bought 2 at $12.00 Euros each). The leaning Tower is in a courtyard with several other building around it. Most people are snapping away pictures. There isn't much to see beyond the tower and that really doesn't take too long. Our tour returned to the ship around 6pm. We were the last two onboard before they pulled up the gangway.

Friday we were in Cannes. due to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix all tours to Monte Carlo were off this cruise. We just spent the day wandering through Cannes. We took a tram tour around the city for 10 Euros which gave us an idea where to walk to. TIP If you want to go into the casino in Cannes you need to show an original copy of your passport. A copy won' do - we tried. There are many small cafes around to eat lunch. There is also an open air craft area with artisans painting and offering crafts for sale. I purchased a great James Bond paining. The frame I purchased at home cost more than the picture. Saturday we were in Palma De Mallorca. You're only there from 2pm top 7pm. We chose not to go to the beach but rather to just wander around. We took a horse and buggy ride which was enjoyable.

Sunday the ship is in Barcelona. This is where most of the passengers get off. Your kinda on your own to get off the ship. No pictures or cruise staff around. There is a desk operated by Barcelona tourism just before you exit the terminal which will give you maps and ideas. We took a city hop on-hop off bus tour. I thought it was very boring. The guide keep pointing out the different building and who the architects were. i could have cared less. Seeing the Olympic Stadium and Torch was interesting though. We got off the bus and walked down the Rambles back to the ship. That night there was definitely more of a welcome aboard mood on the ship. Monday is a day at sea. By this time you need it. We slept late, laid out by the pool, and wandered around the ship.

Tuesday was an all day tour of Pompeii, Sorrento, and the island of Capri from 7am to 6pm. Great tour!!! but a lot of walking. Seeing Pompeii and walking it's street and Mt. Vesuvius was extremely interesting. Sorrento is OK. Typical this building and this monument were built by... Then you take a fast ferry over to the island of Capri. If you close your eyes and imagine what a Mediterranean island would look like this is it! Beautiful! We kind of ditched the tour after we rode the mountain car to the top. We shopped and ate ice-cream at a small cafe overlooking the bay from the top of the mountain. The tour concluded with a 45 minute ferry ride back to the ship.

Our cruise ended on Wednesday. People were getting off the ship by 7am for tours and airport transfers. We spent another day in Rome relaxing before our flight home on Thursday. Overall I would say this was one of my most favorite cruises. I very much enjoyed the ship including the cabin layout, crew/staff, food, fellow passengers, itinerary, and entertainment.

We are getting in the Epic in Rome on 5/6. My best guess is there will be a different exit point for guests touring Barcalona

My wife and I are getting on the Epic during the Rome port stop. I understand most of the guests board in Barcelona several days earlier. When do we do the lifeboat drill or do we get out of it (can only hope).

Thanks

Would the ship be called The Garbage Scowl of the Seas?

go Ravens!

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