Back from the Epic "Hybrid" Cruise - 28th August 2010 - a Brit's point of view!

[kikki21]

Just got back from the Epic "hybrid" cruise due to Hurricane Earl.... we got married 2 days before we set off on honeymoon and I was aware of Earl before we set off and from a bit of American tv but the last time I looked it was still on course for Bermuda but nobody from our travel agency let us know that we may have a change of plan, that's how rubbish Thomson are and how bad their customer service is! Our hotel in Miami - we were there for 4 days and cruise was booked through them so it wasn't as if they couldn't contact us!

So the first we knew and it seems the first time a heck of a lot of people knew, we were going somewhere different was in the queue waiting to get on board when we were being handed out our change of itinerary!

I have to say that I understood why we had to change plans but I was really looking forward to seeing St Thomas and St Maarten as I had booked independant tours (not paid out any money thankfully) so I was quite disappointed at that but hey I was on a cruise ship for a week and we were going somewhere, Cozumel I had heard of but for both of us, it was a case of Roa what?! Where!?

I am going to write a full review later on but I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the Epic and would definitely sail on her again and the West Med itinerary sounds interesting for next year if the price is right.

There were quite a few Brits on board but not many from CC, it seems this cruise was full of people from New Jersey!!!

Also Japanese, Russians, Spanish people, a real dolly mixture of a cruise!

 

We had outstanding service everywhere we went, in the spa, in all restaurants, the shops, the bars... our stateroom steward deserved a medal! We are messy and he tidied up our room very well and always said hi to us and had a little chat everytime he saw us!

The Epic definitely lived up to expectations.......

[bluesea777]

Just got back from the Epic "hybrid" cruise due to Hurricane Earl.... we got married 2 days before we set off on honeymoon and I was aware of Earl before we set off and from a bit of American tv but the last time I looked it was still on course for Bermuda but nobody from our travel agency let us know that we may have a change of plan, that's how rubbish Thomson are and how bad their customer service is! Our hotel in Miami - we were there for 4 days and cruise was booked through them so it wasn't as if they couldn't contact us!

So the first we knew and it seems the first time a heck of a lot of people knew, we were going somewhere different was in the queue waiting to get on board when we were being handed out our change of itinerary!

I have to say that I understood why we had to change plans but I was really looking forward to seeing St Thomas and St Maarten as I had booked independant tours (not paid out any money thankfully) so I was quite disappointed at that but hey I was on a cruise ship for a week and we were going somewhere, Cozumel I had heard of but for both of us, it was a case of Roa what?! Where!?

I am going to write a full review later on but I have to say we thoroughly enjoyed the Epic and would definitely sail on her again and the West Med itinerary sounds interesting for next year if the price is right.

There were quite a few Brits on board but not many from CC, it seems this cruise was full of people from New Jersey!!!

Also Japanese, Russians, Spanish people, a real dolly mixture of a cruise!

 

We had outstanding service everywhere we went, in the spa, in all restaurants, the shops, the bars... our stateroom steward deserved a medal! We are messy and he tidied up our room very well and always said hi to us and had a little chat everytime he saw us!

The Epic definitely lived up to expectations.......

 

Hi, we were on same cruise (as well as the week before) ... we also had a great time. (We are Brits too)

 

It was Hurricane Danielle that was on course to Bermuda but she changed course and veered away when she was 300 miles from Bermuda.

 

It was Hurricane Earl that caused the itinerary change. He visited both St. Maarten and St. Thomas on the days we were due to visit them. Believe us, be glad that the Captain changed the itinerary - we live in the hurricane alley and know the high surf often arrives several days before the actual hurricane itself!! Better be on calm seas than rough seas.

 

We were a bit disappointed (but VERY glad) as we have never visited St. Maarten. But we had another week of glorious weather! We booked the sea-based excursions thru NCL (Snorkel in Cozumel and Tabayana Beach in Roatan) that we enjoyed very much.

 

STORM HAPPENS!! :rolleyes::D

 

Congrats on your recent marriage!

 

When we attended the Latitude party we were told NCL is looking into sending Epic to homeport in Copenhagen and do Norwegian Fjords in summer 2012. We'll check out the itinerary when it's released!

[kikki21]

There's no way we would have wanted to be near a hurricane so we are glad we went the other way, it's just the 2nd time a planned south/east Caribbean trip has been thwarted so maybe we'll be 3rd time lucky! :)

 

I looked at American TV on the Wednes evening (we were in Miami for 4 nights before the cruise) and the forecasters there were saying both storms were heading to Bermuda at that stage but we were pretty chilled about the change of the plan, still another 7 days of holiday and on a cruise ship!:)