BeeeJay's 11/6/2010 NCL Epic Trip Report

[BeeeJay]

(pics to be added upon arrival in Miami)

Up around 9am, I think---the computer time doesn't match the phone--not sure if they have daylight savings time 50 miles off Cuba!. The cause of the early wakeup was the various loud coffee cup "tinking", cart noises, and I am near a crew door that slams jarring my bed. Not too mention the Good Morning PA announcements. Could you imagine how those would go over at 9am at Bellagio or Encore? Lol.

I would have thought it was about 2pm. I understand the noise and am not upset with it. I might be later in the week. I have noise-cancelling headphones if needed. Going to sleep at more realistic hours would probably help.

My fridge and ice were delivered at 10am, I think. Might have been 11am. I'm not sure what time it really is. ;)

After stocking my mini fridge I showered while catching Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN, which now that I've determined we are on Atlantic time started at Noon, with the early NFL games starting at 2pm. I hit the buffet at about 12:30 where I indulged in a build-your-own Caesar salad which was excellent, along with some grilled chicken breasts and the excellent green beans almondine. I think that is a word, however Microsoft WORD does not. ;p

By 1pm I was scouting for a lounge chair on the top level of H2O where they have an enormous big screen showing the NFL games. It was packed but being solo I fairly easily found a prime spot and ordered a $5.69 16oz. "bar drink" Miller Lite. Much like the pre-game 80's music, I found my lounger had some "Back From The Future" when I found a can of TAB underneath. Laboratory Rats need not apply.

It was a packed house but quickly became unpacked as the announcement came that the NFL games weren't for another hour. Lol. ;)

I ended up watching the game and enjoying cheering for the Dolphins with a nice couple from Miami. Service was good but not overbearing. The sun was in and out of partly cloudy skies and seas were mild. The temperature was perfect. In H2O on the aft the 30-35 mph winds were barely noticeable. A lot like the first tackler for the Dolphins were "barely noticeable" to the Ravens ball carriers.

The H2O area is awesome to me. I found it comparable to an outdoor version of the sports book at Palazzo. Not quite as nice, but similar and the fact that you are outdoors on the ocean makes it nice. Plus the whole cruise probably costs less than table service at the Palazzo sports book on a prime NFL Sunday.

I subconsciously chose to give myself a small bright red tattoo on my right ankle by applying my 55 sunscreen to everything BUT that spot. I would say it is shaped like a cloud. A cloud shaped like a random spray tan missed spot sunburn. grrr. This despite my trip back to the room at half time to reapply and grab my camera.

I ended up staying for basically the entire first game, leaving at maybe 4:45pm. I only know this because I was getting hungry again due to the poor choices aka healthy choices I made at lunch. The buffet however was not open until 5 so I headed down to the spa. I did get a cool pic of a nearby ship in a spot of sunlight:

Included in my $119 weekly spa package was the key to locker #69 offered provocatively by an attractive young lady spa desk attendant. Also included was a lengthy conversation about New York City with a nice couple from the city. I enjoyed their company through the various spa sections until the soap in the hot tub finally got in my eye and I took leave to shower my eyeball.

The various saunas, hot tubs, lounge chairs, tile lounges, and aft lounge area, and even the showers in the spa were extremely relaxing and enjoyable. I did some light reading, perusing a book called "God and Gold" about the history of Dutch, British, and U.S. religion, banking systems, and culture and how they have effected history. Who knew Queen Anne had such an influence on Abraham Lincoln!

This was enough to insure heavy eyelids for me, especially considering my shortness on sleep. As usual I mistook this fatigue for hunger and decided the ideal course of action was a return trip to the buffet, but with a far more enjoyable menu choice.

I grabbed a spot at a tall table near the outside bar near the buffet entrance and ordered a diet coke $2.24. I gave the dude an add'l $2 cash tip, primarily to guard my stuff while I filled a plate inside with 2 shrimp cocktails, a few of the stolen McD's fries, a beef fajita, some mac and cheese.

The meal also included a curious pulled pork burrito I did not eat. This was because it had lettuce in it. I had a bad experience with warm lettuce in early September 1987. This involved a homemade batch of purple passion, swimming in a decorative fountain, and a mis-guided effort to sleep in a dorm bed hanging from the ceiling.

Upon noticing the lettuce in the burrito I immediately had a flashback and became aware of the ironic similarity between the instability of that bed and the motion of this ship.

This would be no time to throw out my significant 23 year Brett Favre like record of 317 McDonald's drive-thru orders of "Big Mac, No Lettuce". Unlike Brett Favre I did not send a picture text to my New York friend (a hot chick, not the people I met in the spa), primarily due to the cost of international data on my AT&T cell plan.

Of additional interest related to this pulled pork burrito was a drunken woman of I believe southeastern U.S. origin who had an amusing discussion with the buffet chef in her search for pulled pork. She was looking for the loose type pulled pork one could throw on a bun sandwich style. He was having trouble communicating to her

the fact that the pulled pork was hidden within this pre-made burrito. She mentioned vodka and began a "pulled pork Suuuuueeeeyyyy" type call I believe I've heard moments before a whole pig was roasted on a spit.

This reminded me a lot of a 2001 trip to the Atlanta Bread Company in Rolling Meadows, Illinois where a Greek woman attempted to order a Sprite from a Vietnamese employee who insisted they had only chips and French Fries were not on the menu. The dozen repetitions from each person were ended by my translation in both situations.

After dinner I watched the rest of the Chiefs-Raiders game until the fatigue of a day at the pool caught up with me and I headed back to the room for some 37 cent caffeine and a nap. I was thinking I needed a cookie from the living room lounge but it was too crowded and I was too tired to go down and back up the stairs so I headed back to my room.

The Casino at Seas read my mind and had a plate of small gourmet sweets in my cabin:

It also appears we are still north of Cuba:

Hmm my TV now says: "Channel 306 ESPN Car needs authorization key." I guess Apollo didn't pay their NFL Sunday Ticket bill? Oh its back on. They must have bought DirecTV.

[BeeeJay]

Slept until 9:30am from about 11:30pm for a solid 10 hours without any wakeups. Oddly I have begun dreaming about being on the boat. I was dreaming about being at H2O. lol.

I got out of the room quickly due to the motivation of the buffet only serving breakfast until 10:30am. I loaded up my plate with biscuits and gravy, a waffle with strawberry, bacon, sausage, roast potatoes with peppers and onions, fried potato hash browns, a sugary roll, scrambled eggs and ate on the deserted 14th floor Italian restaurant as no spots were to be found in garden cafe on level 15.

After breakfast I walked the length of the ship on floor 14 where I saw a room with a big star that said "Harrah's VIP". Hmmm, I wonder what is in there!!!

I went into the gym where I had a solid workout on the treadmill and with weights in the pro style gym. Lots of people were there but able to workout on machines and treadmills without too much waiting. It was just the right amount of crowd. I had a great view of a bird fishing during my treadmill workout.

I hit the shower and switched into swimming gear and sandals and then headed up to the very top of the ship where I played basketball in the very cool sports area. I played 21 with two other guys, fun challenge with pitching decks! And my vertical leap of 1.5 inches, shot a bit off, but I still got it! Not. After about 5 minutes I asked for confirmation that Doctor Bricker was nearby.

From 2ish until about 4 I hit the H2O pool deck. The captain announced 15 foot waves and told people to hold rails and be careful while walking. The ship felt more than before. People were saying it was not as bad as during the Tomas delay, but about as bad as most any other time. I am fully adjusted to the ship and love the movement. No quesiness of unease as yet. I enjoyed an "orange dream" at H2O. It's like a creamsickle. I sat with a nice Irish lady from Canada and some Indy ladies. It was a little warmer so I was motivated to try the pool. It was small, deeper than Vegas pools though. Not quite piss warm, but not refreshingly cool. relaxing afternoon reading and relaxing.

After showering from the pool I headed to the casino around 4:30 for a few drinks before dinner. This resulted in a nice set of quarter quad 3's with 4 kicker for $200, more than covering the days expenses.

Famished, I took the elevator up to 15 and the buffet was fairly deserted at 6pm as many people were in line for shows or dining in the fancier restaurants. The buffet was a lot of crying kids.

I enjoyed some chicken fried rice, sweet and sour pork along with the usual staples. My plan after dinner was to hit the spa, but I was far to full for that and needed a workout casino style.

Starting out I was taking a bit of a beat down on craps and roulette. Even the good ole dependable coin dropper was rough going. After a couple hours I burned though the $150 I had taken down to the casino so I headed back to the room to watch the game.

Fortunately for me it was too early even for the pre-game to be on so I grabbed some more cash and headed back to the casino. Won a little at craps, won a little at blackjack, and treaded water on the quarter video poker despite the crap odds by hitting an embarrassing number of boats and flushes.

Then it happened. I saw my buddy from a couple nights earlier who brought me a drink and I said let's tempt fate and try moving up to the dollars.

BOOM BABY!!!!

INSERT QUAD ACES HERE

then I headed over to the roulette table.

BOOM BABY!!!!

INSERT roulette #17 here

Three words:

CRUISE

PAID

FOR

Played a little more here and there and actually continued making a few bucks, mostly off these quad fives on a quick move back up to dollars. Despite playing mostly quarters, the moves up to dollars have been quite timely. I like to do it after losing about 8 straight hands. lol. figure I'm due a win.

I had a great time with the friendly players, dealers and cocktail servers. Everyone is very friendly on the ship and especially if you are tipping which most people aren't.

Back to the room for a shower to get rid of the cigarette stench. Watched the football game with a $5 pizza. decent. not great. I thought it would be smaller. I ate about a quarter of it.

Set the wake up call for 7:30 tomorrow with the St. Maarten excursion early tomorrow.

[BeeeJay]

Snoozed the wake up call to 8:15 and took a quick shower and had a small bite at the buffet before heading off-ship for the St. Maarten excursion. Boy was it HOT out on that dock. Probably partially feeling that way due to a few cocktails and a small amount of poor sleep. I was feeling happy I would be spending my tour seated in an air-conditioned bus!

Well I was lucky enough to meet a nice Australian retiree gentlemen on his own whom I sat with and had a great time as I ran into the Canadian/Indy crew from the pool. The five of us sorta stuck together and helped each other out with group pics and found some nice $1 Caribe beers.

The Dutch woman giving the tour was entertaining with her Marge Simpson's sister gravelly smoker voice. The island was beautiful, its an interesting mix of extreme luxury and sort of Mexico-like living conditions. Granted a storm had just come thru but one takes for granted the infrastructure in the U.S. and other countries. The major difference I noticed from Chicago was one construction worker was standing on top of a building with no protection from falling, on the ledge, sawing with one hand, a cigarette in the other. lol. wish I'd gotten a pic of THAT! In Chicago there would be 3 guys, one intently focused on the sawing, one smoking, and one observing to insure safety regulations were followed.

The tour stopped at a beach, at a shopping area where I had the following cheeseburger and fries to see how the French do it. Pretty similar to your standard NFL ballgame. About the same price. Except the service was worse, with more attitude, all the bad cliches.

stereotypes.

exist.

for.

a.

reason.

$2 for use of washroom, $16 for burger and fries.

The worst part was I basically ate to burn time, wasn't really hungry and ate half. I just could NOT shop. Later I ran into my buddies and grabbed $1 beers. Big improvement! I thought Caribe beer reminded me of Tsing Tao. Maybe I'm crazy. well that's no maybe. But maybe I have no taste.

Ok so we headed to a couple photo ops and they dropped some people off to shop. It had been about a 4 hour deal so I was fine NOT SHOPPING (central theme cause my wife bribe to get this solo trip was a Mall of America trip, a $698 Coach purse, and yeah, last but not least worst a trip to Oprah).

Once back on the ship I began a frenetic set of laps up and down the stairs and back and forth. Basically my cabin is just 3 floors below the buffet on the stern, but I am spending more time at H2O, the sports area, Mandara Spa, and Pulse Fitness Center.

So I did about 8 laps. I think the Ron Jeremy impersonator who keeps blocking my view of the 2 hot chicks at the pool actually noticed what a retard I was coming and going.

First i went to the pool about an hour, clouds came in, then to the Bball court in sandals, started pouring rain, then to the spa for about an hour, most sleeping on the aft balcony, then back to room to change for workout, basketball on a wet court, gym for workout, then back to room to change into swim gear for H2O.

About 5 hours later I finally came back to the room for a shower, a couple beers, and prep for dinner. It is lobster night. I hope that includes the buffet!!! ;)

Wow, this Kristi Noem rep from South Dakota is HOT!!! Who the F cares about her politics, I wanna see more of her on TV. I don't like tea, can she join my new Grey Goose Party?!?!? The party platform is hot chicks, no policies, no guys---except me! ;)

BeeeJay OUT, until later!

The buffet did not include lobster. Despite the best laid plans I ended up eating the chicken fajitas, which were really good. Then headed to the casino. Fairly immediately lost my $150 for the night on video poker. MAYBE 5 minutes. Back to the living room to lick my wounds and devour a couple white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. White chocolate makes everything better!

I decided rather than heading back to the room early in retreat I should instead RELOAD! $200 from the safe and back to the roulette table.

lose.

lose.

lose.

Down to my last spin:

Hit #28 for $35.

Next spin:

Hit #0 with $3 straight up and $3 split with #00 for $156.

Next spin:

Hit #28 with $6 straight up for $210. "Give me large and color me up". $350. dead even lol.

Back over to quarter dropper. one had a $20 bill a little ways away. about 10 coins in a bill I hadn't seen cause it was under the left side ledge drops. It was a $20 with 2 singles!!!

Over to video poker. Buy in $20. lose. $20 more lose. $100 in on dollars, down to $80ish. Back to quarters. Hit quad 9's and it rings up to exactly $150 again! dead even.

Over to roulette. Lose. Win. Lose. Lose. drop $60. not bad.

Back to video poker. Dollars. dealt trips, nothing. lose lose lose. back to back boat shows. back to $125. lose. lose. dealt trips. dealt trips. no quads.

dealt 4 to the ROYAL IN HEARTS!!! 7 of clubs. bite me.

hold one card, get 4 to the royal again on the draw. lose lose.

Down to $200. Out with my earlier $150 loss.

Done for the night. Wow this ship is a rocking so I hope no one comes a knockin! Ok its actually rough seas again. lol.

wake up call set for 8am for St. Thomas.

[BeeeJay]

Woke up too early to the 8am wake up call, somehow I ended up watching the WSOP final table until pretty late so i could have just as soon stayed in bed. This proved even more true once I saw the weather was rainy.

They didn't make the same boarding announcements so I was a little late after showering and grabbing a quick bite. Additionally it was raining so I had to make a quick switcheroo back in the room into some rain gear. I made it to the pier just in time to join the St. Thomas tour.

The rainy day took a little away from the tour. The vehicle was also not as nice or as easy to see out of as the great bus on St. Maarten. The driver was the tour guide and it was no where near as entertaining or informative as in St. Maarten. We stopped at a few scenic overlook type places and had a couple opportunities at those for some great fruity cocktails and shopping.

I had what tasted like an orange-tangerine type rum drink at the first place, and then a banana dacquiri at the second. The first was $5 and the second $7.50. Both were strong and tasty. No more $1 beers, I guess we are back in a U.S. Territory!

I happen to sit by a couple Husker natives from Omaha and a guy from Phoenix who dines regularly at the In-N-Out on Carefree Highway near the interstate so we all had lots to talk about. Great company!

They let some people off for shopping downtown but I wasn't feeling great, thinking I was tired and the drinks so I headed back to the ship for some pool or spa time. First I grabbed a salad at the buffet as I wasn't too hungry and then headed to the spa. Damn I forgot my spa bracelet so I went back to the room to get it. About this time I started feeling a little sick so I took a quick nap in the room.

Woke up after maybe a half hour and headed up to the spa to watch the sailing out of St. Thomas. I got there early enough to get a lounger on the back balcony of the ship on level 14 (spa). These loungers are well padded, there are maybe 8 and a couple outdoor couches. It is a very relaxing area and worth the price of admission. I fell asleep back there a few times. It was one of my favorite areas on the ship and is especially worthwhile for those staying in the studios who may like a balcony type space to hang out.

I had a nice conversation with a couple from Boston here and we enjoyed the sailing. After we got a little ways from St. Thomas I noticed the sunset on the side of the ship and headed up to top to get some pictures of the beautiful sunset over an island to our south.

After sunset i hit the showers and stopped by the casino for a little pre-dinner gambling. I took $100 in $20's to "keep it real" and maintain my previous hard-earned profit. I had good luck on the quarter dropper, eaking out a $3 profit in short order by taking a $20 bill that was easy pickings. From there I headed over to my favorite video poker area where I treaded water.

A woman was playing my favorite machine and when she left I hopped on it. It was up and down, then down, then down to about $7.50 left. Then I got lucky and hit quad 5's off a pair. It was my 2nd quad 5's of trip, 3rd ever, I got jinxed at Palazzo a couple years ago when a woman told me a pair of 5's was like kissing your sister. My sister is probably considered pretty hot, but still it has been a jinx for me. ;)

So the quad 5's got me up to about $70 and I had some breathing room. I started talking some smack with a couple funny guys, one from Alabama, one from Mississippi. Is everyone from Alabama from Auburn now that Alabama has a 2nd loss?!?!?! lol.

Ok so while we were joking and enjoying the evening, I got another nice hit: Quad 3's with kicker for the second time this trip. This popped me up over $250 and gave me a little swagger. I used that swagger to play a little $1 and decided why not try 2 or 3 hands of my good ole standby $2 DDB VP.

Can I get another BOOOM BABT!?!!?!?

yep 3rd hand, quad 10's. timing IS EVERYTHING.

Played it down to $700 and cashed out. Booooo YEAH!!!!!

Now the good ole southern boys were heading out at the same time so i got to meet the wives, one of which was busy winning $500 on the slots, but the other fine gentlemen's wife talked with us for a minute. She was tall, blond, hot, and young. None of this mattered though, although I did have to give his buddy the thumbs up on a job well done with that one. But anyway, what I found most attractive about this southern goddess was the can of TAB in her hand. Could it be? Yep I asked. And she plead guilty. She had been the one who left that pink Tab can under the lounger I used on Sunday! lol. Small world, on the cruise of 4,000 anyway!

I now took leave of the casino with my net $600 profit for the evening. I dropped off $500 in the safe and grabbed a bit at the buffet.

Then it was back to the casino for some roulette. This went poorly and I was all in with my last $20 when I hit a #28 for $35. Next spin I went all in again and my (and James Bond's) good ole friend #17 came in!!! I had $7 on it for a $245 hit. Not bad.

I gave back $120 of that over 5-6 spins and then took my black and green chips to the cashier and promptly dumped the cash at DDB VP. Boooo. Oh well, it was a net $400 win. I shall take it.

Again great drink service from the staff who are kind enough to call me by name and give a real VIP level of service. Greatly appreciated!

Back to the room to shower off the smoke stench and catch a little ESPN as these early wakeups are really killing me. Oh no it is soccer again. Grrrr.

Ok now after today I am REALLY not going back to that darned casino. I am gonna KEEP THE WINNINGS!!!! (Gaggles and JNCVH laughing hard at that one---Macker and Alexanbo I know YOU GUYS have faith in my ability to pack it in and book the WIN!!!).

Hmmm i haven't eaten for almost 2 hrs, better order room service.

Maybe I should go to one show on this cruise.

Good night all.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Enjoy reading. Keep'em coming

[wrxrob]

after all of this play, I'm very interested to know what the comp fairy says at the end of this trip. I'm guessing they'll give you $20 off of your next cruise :D

[db1234db1234]

Sounds like you're having a great time. I don't think you'd care about the $2, but when you buy a $5.69 drink, that price already includes "auto-gratuity". About $0.74 tip per drink. I discovered that after the 2nd or so night. Nothing wrong with tipping extra, but just an FYI in case you think you have to tip like in Vegas.

[Fishbait17]

Sounds like you're having a great time. I don't think you'd care about the $2, but when you buy a $5.69 drink, that price already includes "auto-gratuity". About $0.74 tip per drink. I discovered that after the 2nd or so night. Nothing wrong with tipping extra, but just an FYI in case you think you have to tip like in Vegas.

 

This is true, but when your drinks are free (as in the case here) there is no tip automatically included. I also tip at $1-2 per drink, with a decent beginning tip and end tip to my favorite servers.

 

Keep it coming Beejay, I am loving this. You have more self control than I do, limiting yourself to $150 per day... Glad to see you're ahead so far!

 

Robin

[Fishbait17]

after all of this play, I'm very interested to know what the comp fairy says at the end of this trip. I'm guessing they'll give you $20 off of your next cruise :D

 

Very true, especially with all the play on the "Quarter Drop machine" lol.. Curious what his ending points will be!

 

Robin

[silkhair1]

I love this. You are so very funny!

[BeeeJay]

Thanks everyone for reading, I'll post the rest soon. Just got into hotel in Miami. I ended up with 1,000 pts AKA $10 in freeplay. lol. They comp horribly. My points were earned as 700 pts on video poker and 300 pts for table play. The table play was 5 hrs total for the cruise at $30/hand.

 

I never would have gotten clost to that without some good wins early. The odds and even worse than the comps, well at least compared to Vegas.

 

I didn't play at all except for the free play the last day. I ran that through once, broke even at $10, and gave it to my favorite server there, Luis.

[LorriSG]

Welcome Back BeeeJay! I loved reading your trip report. I cant wait to read the rest and see your pics. TIA:cool:

[kerrytens]

BeeeJay, I have loved reading about your adventures onboard the Epic. You're a great writer - it was like I was right beside you:D

 

Can't wait for the photos (please say there are photos).

[BeeeJay]

BeeeJay, I have loved reading about your adventures onboard the Epic. You're a great writer - it was like I was right beside you:D

 

Can't wait for the photos (please say there are photos).

 

Thanks for the compliments, I am glad you like the report.

 

There are a few photos and I am going to let those upload while I'm at the beach today, it takes a while when you have almost 3 Gigs worth of pics/videos. lol;)

[Tyron]

Hey BeeeJay, I'm also enjoying your review. I was on the Oasis of the Seas and we actually cruised along side (albeit a nice distance) the Epic on Sunday for awhile...

 

I thought the Epic was suppose to be in Nassau on Friday? When the Oasis was heading towards Nassau around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, we could see the Epic in the distance as if she was anchored.

[kerrytens]

Thanks for the compliments, I am glad you like the report.

 

There are a few photos and I am going to let those upload while I'm at the beach today, it takes a while when you have almost 3 Gigs worth of pics/videos. lol;)

Cool! Enjoy your time at the beach today. BTW, glad to hear I'm not the only one who goes crazy with the pics/videos;)

[msboo18]

Hey BeeeJay, I'm also enjoying your review. I was on the Oasis of the Seas and we actually cruised along side (albeit a nice distance) the Epic on Sunday for awhile...

 

I thought the Epic was suppose to be in Nassau on Friday? When the Oasis was heading towards Nassau around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, we could see the Epic in the distance as if she was anchored.

 

 

The EPIC didn't got to Nassau on Friday "due to high winds" - bummer, we were really looking forward to that port! How did the Oasis handle the high winds?

[NJGeorge]

Hey BeeeJay, what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking?

[BeeeJay]

Hey BeeeJay, what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking?

 

waiter at Red Lobster.

[NJGeorge]

waiter at Red Lobster.

Thought you would said a French Fry tech at Mickery' D's

[BeeeJay]

Ok so this website only lets me upload I guess 6 pics per post so I am just going to post the link by day. I'll post them within the trip report in context when I post on VMB which I'll prob do Sunday night or Monday morning. Some of the Wed might be jacked up or repeated, had some upload issues on that. I tried to upload all the pics instead of just the decent ones.

 

Saturday 11-6

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov6/

 

 

Sunday 11-7

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov7/

 

 

Monday 11-8

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov8/

 

 

Tuesday 11-9

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov9/

 

 

Wednesday 11-10

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov10/

 

 

Thursday 11-11

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov11/

 

 

Friday 11-12

 

http://s781.photobucket.com/albums/yy93/BeeeeJay/Nov12/

[BeeeJay]

Up at around 8ish sent some emails to home and for work. Saved just enough internet time to upload 1 or 2 pics and update my trip report on cruisecritic.com in a text only format.

Currently in a heated internal debate regarding a breakfast buffet. Meh. The breakfast is just ok. I like the lunch better. Plus I'm not at all hungry having ended the evening with a chicken caesar salad late last night. ok ok. and a turkey sandwich. ok ok and another complimentary plate of fancy chocolates sent by Casinos at Sea. They will be giving me a comp kick to the nuts after I disembark Saturday morning with a small sliver of their money as I am giving them NO CHANCE to get it back!!! yeah right. strength BeeeJay strength.

I've got an NFL game tonight and Nassau on Friday to help distract me from the evil quarter droppers! Those little buggers are the gateway drug to craps, blackjack, then onto roulette, and the crack cocaine of gambling---video poker.

My dream is to hit back-to-back royals on $5 playing two side-by-side machines at the same time. That's probably a little John Belushi-Chris Farley-esque though. You can only survive so many "cannnooonball comin' " attempts so I think I better stick to checking out some actual shows these last few nights.

Perhaps legends in concert tonight?

Ok I would hate myself later if I didn't hit the breakfast buffet.

Wow what an awesome day at sea!!!

I enjoyed the buffet and followed it up with a nice workout including some basketball, weights and treadmill. Then due to the clouds I went to the spa which was somewhat crowded but I was early enough a lot of people were still likely eating lunch.

The thing I did that I hadn't before was use all the sauna and steam rooms. The really cool thing is the big pool with this area you can lay on these round metal rods making sort of a bed with water jets all over. It was really cool because of the "tide" coming in and out.

I also tried the heated tile beds which were about the same as Aria. The spa is such a great deal. Have I said that?

From the spa I could see it was getting sunny finally (around 1pm) so I went up to the top of the ship and searched for a single open chair. I walked the entire deck twice and found nothing but people and quite a few "towel saved seats".

Just before I gave up I noticed one of the other searchers had pulled chairs from a far away shady area into the sun. So I followed suit and got a great spot. There I spent the entire afternoon. I was sitting by another group of Boston people. Everyone is quite nice on the cruises. Not as nice as in Vegas, but for the level of crowding people are nice. There was one near fight between some older ladies over seat saving. lol.

The one guy sitting by me was checking his phone the entire time for stock quotes. I was focused on the business at hand, a bucket of Michelob Ultra! I also gave the water slides a good workout. The green was too scary for me. The girly pink was still a little too scary. ;) Good times, and a good amount of sun despite my constant reapplication of SPF 55.

I finally bailed out late afternoon as my sun had hit a pole and I didn't want a striped tan. Oh, FYI the beers are 16 oz. so a 6 pack is really an 8 pack. 28 bucks with tip. Not bad for the ship.

I hit the showers and then the buffet. I should try a restaurant (or a show) but I'm always in too big a hurry to get to the CASINO!!!!

I played the quarter droppers and a low stakes game of roulette where I had a few nice wins but never got up or down more than $50. They don't have as many chips as a regular casino so they give you greens a lot. I ended up getting back down to my original buy-in but with all greens and decided to call it good with an couple hours worth of entertainment at an $8 loss.

The casino was clearing out a bit as it was time for the Ravens @ Falcons on the big screen in the Atrium. I really LOVE that TV. I want that in my house!!!

The gambling environment on the ship is interesting. The rules and play are a little different than Vegas. Obviously the odds are worse where they can be. Inside bets on craps, slots, video poker, etc. Roulette is basically the exact same. Except for the fact that the MIN/MAX sign says $1 MIN/$25 MAX but it means $1 min chip, where that sign would normally say $5 MIN and mean "per spin" inside total or per outside bet. People had issues with this on the $5 table and that seemed empty all the time. People would be pissed the min chip was $5 and the min bet $25. Basically they are doing it wrong. Also they let people take their wins on roulette before all wins are paid and the marker is removed. That is a major offense anywhere else. They also change the direction every spin. I don't like that. Most people buy in $20 or $100 and its real small play. I did see some $5 inside play and black chip outside, but nothing like the quarters inside you can see in Vegas.

So anywho I watched the game until half time at which point all this hard work was catching up with me and I was getting a little sick of the smokey smell from the casino. I decided another shower to remove that and the second half in the room would give me a chance to maybe go on deck before my Nassau excursion at 1pm.

Cruises are super fun but I am getting sick of not being with either my friends or family. I would do more restaurants and shows if I had someone else with me. I won't likely do one solo again. I would probably bring a kid with me and replace all the casino stuff with shows and kid stuff. I don't know if I would even do that vs. a regular Disney vacation. It's a little too much of the same thing for me after a week. Then again if I did some more of the options I'm sure I wouldn't feel that way. Also I am guessing the moment I get off the plane into the cold Chicago weather I'll be wishing I was back onboard!

[BeeeJay]

No alarm today with the late arrival in Nassau--wooo hooo. I still woke up around 9:30am.

My plan was to sleep late and workout after the island tour, but since I was up I figured why not get it out of the way. I played basketball up top for about 30 min, then did 30 min on the treadmill and some stretching and ball work. Just as I was finishing up and getting ready to shower for my excursion, the captain came on the PA system. I had wondered why we hadn't docked yet at it was about 11:30am Well the captain announced that due to wind conditions we would not be docking in Nassau, Bahamas and all shore excursions would be canceled and refunded automatically.

Basically this was the same wind condition that forced Epic to leave Cozumel late last week. It can't leave the dock if the wind is over 35 mph into the ship.

So time for quick thinking and a change of plan. Hmmm, another sea day at H2O? Sounds AWESOME to me! I headed up quickly before the towel vultures could drop their towels and grabbed a spot. Not too many people were up there yet, but it sure as hell crowded up over the next hour. Everyone had the same idea i guess!

After about an hour i grabbed a quick lunch, a salad with some chicken. I needed to save room for drinks as a free rum(less) punch was given out along with a $19.41 credit for our missing Nassau. People were bitching a lot about that. I didn't much care. After the weak run punches with no rum I decided to get my drink on. I got into some nice conversation with a young couple from Washington which included some great college football talk, and well the wife was the hottest woman on the ship all week. Anyway I also got to talking to a nice woman from Texas and her mother. We ended up having a few drinks and she helped me with my "free bottle of bubbly" from the quarter droppers. At some point they started playing Mama Mia on the big TV but it was quickly axed to a bevy of boooooooos. lol.

Once we polished the rum punches and the bubbly the ladies had to go prep for dinner. The sun had moved so I grabbed my stuff and moved over to the side deck with the sun. I also got my last two beers from my room and polished those bad boys.

It was getting colder and cloudy so I had a quick bite at the buffet before heading directly to the spa and had a great time talking to some Californians in there on the back balcony where I ended up being the last one out there after sun down. Then inside to the most incredible pool, hot tub, spa thing every.

I finally showered and finished up all the paperwork for disembarkation. I also spent forever packing and finishing up a few things. I had eater pretty lightly all day, just salads so I ordered room service. A salad and a burger. I have still eaten only salads as the burger was raw. Nasty. I don't mind rare, pinkish, but it was just not cooked except a thin layer on the outside.

Finished up some more packing and suddenly it is 10:30pn. At least I've got all the comment cards done for my favorite employees. Luis Rodrigues in the casino is the best of a bevy of excellent service professionals I encountered this trip. He was truly fantastic and made me feel like a VIP at all times.

Oh by the way I got a nice pic of the door with Harrahs VIP on floor 14 and saw them handing out the goodie trays. I didn't get one apparently. BS. Guess they don't like people who quit while they are ahead.

I really like cruising and this ship, but it is a bit too corporate for me. I have heard a lot of complaints from people who either prefer Carnival or Royal Caribbean. Without fail almost everyone has said the others have better food and more inclusive activities. To me it seemed like they had a lot here, but a lot of stuff is extra fee. I did almost nothing at an extra fee and I had a great time. But I was just looking to relax and enjoy sun and some reading. I got exactly that. The food is getting really old and I'm just getting sick of the constant nickel and diming attempts.

I may try it again if I can do it with friends. I am getting pumped about my upcoming "shows", the Heat game Saturday and the Dolphins game Sunday.

[BeeeJay]

this is a little better flow than the report on CC, as I could include all the pics:

 

http://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?p=454933#post454933

[Tyron]

The EPIC didn't got to Nassau on Friday "due to high winds" - bummer, we were really looking forward to that port! How did the Oasis handle the high winds?

 

For the most part, the ship handled the seas/winds pretty good. There were those times we did more than our share of rocking & rolling but nothing extreme where the dining room was empty, etc. LOL We were scheduled for Nassau last Sunday but due to rough seas & high winds our scheduled was changed.

 

We actually sailed past the Epic as u all were "anchored" just off Nassau. We made it in and out with no problems.