NCL Epic Thanksgiving Cruise Review 20-Nov-2010

[geekonacruise]

Ship: Norwegian Epic

People Aboard: 4,200 passengers, approximately 1,000 children, 1,740 crew

Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean, Miami, Philipsburg, St. Maarten, Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, Nassau, Bahamas, Miami

Dates: Saturday, 20-Nov-2010 through Saturday, 27-Nov-2010

Cabin: SD 14169 (Spa Deluxe Balcony/Spa Mini-Suite), viewing the starboard of the ship, this cabin is two decks below the "O" in the Norwegian Epic placard, and is one balcony to the right of the start of the spa.

Steward: Marlon - exceptional service

 

Department Heads for this cruise:

Captain: Trygve Vorren

Hotel Director: Denis Prguda

Assistant Hotel Director: Richard Janicki

Food and Beverage Director: Steve Knott

Executive Housekeeper: Melca Malana

Entertainment Director: Julie Valeriote

Guest Service Manager: Irma Reyes

Executive Chef: Peter Haselsberger

Restaraunt Manager: Serhat Kati

Cruise Director: Paul Scally

 

I will post the Freestyle Daily papers from this cruise in this thread shortly. They are scanning in as I write this :-)

 

We had a very fun Cruise Critic Meet and Greet on this cruise. Thanks to everyone for attending from the Roll Call and being patient as I ran one for the first time. Hope you enjoyed the gift exchange, and thanks to Shawn for running the Casino Slot Pull! Thanks also to TropicalGirl, monn_a and carimma for setting it up! I will post our group photos shortly.

 

Review:

 

Cruising over Thanksgiving - I thought it would end up being stress due to the higher number of people traveling, but it turned out to be nearly perfect. Airport crowds were reasonable, the TSA searches not at all as bad as the media were portraying, and the weather was overall very good.

 

Ground staff were friendly, our transfer from the hotel (Holiday Inn Miami Beach, 4333 Collins Ave.) was organized well. Boarding was quick and the on-shore staff were very friendly. We were aboard by 12:45 PM and our cabin was ready at 1:45 PM. The Epic was sparkling and well prepared when we boarded. Aside from one missing Spa bracelet, which the Spa staff quickly provided, our cabin was perfect.

 

SD 14169 had plenty of legroom and storage for three people. As my Mother remarked, we could have brought much more clothing, etc. and still had plenty of room. I really liked being able to step out of the room, cross the corridor, and be right in the Spa, as well as the aft starboard elevator bank. Being near the aft end of the corridor is also great since it was never noisy, and we had very nice neighbors on both sides of us (and both cabins were celebrating birthdays, it turns out!) Lastly, having the couch adjacent to the balcony door helped with traffic when all three of us were up and about. Thanks Dominic Samuels @ NCL for helping pick this cabin!

 

Bed linens were pristine and the couch pulled out to form a comfortable bed (don't forget to pull it out, otherwise its curved back will get in the way!)

 

The Bathroom:

 

I am not going to rehash all the postings on Cruise Critic about Epic non-suite bathrooms, but I will mention that the three of us had little trouble with it. Honestly, the sink worked well, did not splash any more than ours do at home, and we had a very good amount of storage space in the bathroom area for our toiletries, towels, etc. The curtain provided a reasonable amount of privacy. In one case we did not latch the door correctly and Mom had to dash into the shower while dressing when the door opened, but that proved to be our own fault, and also provided some laughs. No worse than accidentally leaving the balcony curtain open while in port across from another ship and stepping outside the bathroom on any other ship.

 

The biggest area that I think could use improvement is the noise of the toilet. The glass door just does not provide much noise insulation. Having a regular door on the toilet would serve better.

 

The Spa:

 

We chose SD 14169 since we enjoyed the Dawn's Spa so much. On the Epic, the Spa is very large (largest at sea currently), well appointed, relaxing, and very well staffed. The Spa staff quickly got to know us and all three of us enjoyed our treatments. We had access to the spa 8AM-10PM on all days of the cruise except the last sea day, when it closed at 8PM for cleaning before the next cruise. All days, we used the Spa's thermal suite facilities at least once. The dressing rooms include well-sized aroma therapy rooms, saunas, plenty of showers, and a relaxation room. The common area includes a large hydrotherapy area with several individual (6) nooks, three high pressure water streams in the center, along with a separate jacuzzi that can comfortably hold 8 people, heated lounge chairs, a herbal therapy room, a couple larger saunas, and padded lounge chairs with a great view of the sides and stern of the ship.

 

Spa treatments are more expensive than on land, of course, but feature high end processes. The Thai Herbal Poultice massages I had are the best I have ever had, and at 90 minutes (a special available if you signed up on the first day) were very generous. The treatment rooms are large and feature great views, with a balcony.

 

The Restaurants:

 

We ended up trying as many of the premium restaurants as we could fit in. This does add to the cost of the cruise, of course, and is not strictly necessary as the included restaurants (Manhattan Room, Taste, and O'Sheenan's Bar) had great food and friendly service whenever we used them. However, I'm glad we diversified! With that said, with only two exceptions (Teppanyaki and Noodle Bar) we never felt over-stuffed. Norwegian has ideal serving sizes in my opinion, and if you are hungry, you can order additional servings.

 

Our favorite ended up being Le Bistro. Hazel and Lelani were exceptional servers and Chef Eric's team served up the best meal we had aboard, including the finest duck dish I have tasted anywhere. The setting is magnificent, with plenty of art, a tasteful selection of wines, and unobtrusive music playing.

 

Teppanyaki turned into a special experience on our second sea night as Anthony (Teppanyaki Chef) and Elizabeth (Server) made the best of very rough seas. The food was provided amid a lot of entertainment, and Anthony did not appear to pull any punches as he tossed eggs and a spatula into his Chef's Hat while my plate tried to creep down the table in the 20 foot swells we were experiencing. It was so good we went a second night (on calmer seas), and Ver also did a superb job as Chef. Don't forget to ask Elizabeth to make some origami - she is superb and made us several creatures to take home :-)

 

Cagney's ended up being a great choice for Thanksgiving dinner. The setting, next to Moderno, is also expansive. It reminded me a lot of Indianapolis' St. Elmo steakhouse with the large wood trim, wine display, and open food preparation area. It was fun celebrating a friend's birthday there, and we also met a couple celebrating their 50th Anniversary. The lady from that celebration turned out to be picked on Friday night's Blue Man Group show to be on stage, and she pulled off her guest appearance very well :-)

 

Noodle Bar served very generous (perhaps too generous) servings of dim sum, stir fry, and fried rice dishes. Very tasty, prepared right in front of you. We quickly learned to ask the chefs to make us smaller portions. The first time we went we wanted to try a few things and ended up with an overwhelming amount of food. All the selections we tried were very tasty and fresh, including on the last sea day of the cruise.

 

Garden Cafe / The Great Outdoors had a great selection of food and very good service. At times it was pretty busy, and we quickly found that Taste was generally quieter and also had great breakfast food. But, Garden Cafe's selection of ice creams was superb throughout the cruise, and after a while, the staff learned that I liked pistachio ice cream. A couple times each day towards the end of the cruise someone would run up to me on the pool deck with a bowl - thanks Sunitha Pal for arranging that :-)

 

The View of the Sea:

 

Some previous Epic reviews have mentioned that the view of the sea is difficult on Epic (outside Studios and Inside Cabins, of course). I have to disagree. In Le Bistro, Taste, Manhattan Room, Fat Cats, and several other places, the sea was very visible. On Epic, Garden Cafe has special prominence on Epic being on Deck 15 Forward, with a great view of the Bow. In all those places, the view of the sea was available. Curtains and shutters (Taste) could be closed, and were closed on our rougher sea days, but at other times were open. In one case in Fat Cats, I asked if the curtains could be opened so we could see the sunset as the band played, and the sound manager kindly did so. In that venue they are mechanical curtains, so please do not try to open them manually.

 

Admittedly, the jogging deck and deck gaming areas on deck 7 are not as nice as on Norwegian Dawn due to the new requirements on always-deployed lifeboats, but there were gaps that provided great views. Deck 15 and the public sun deck on top of "The Hat" had plenty of deck chairs and areas to walk around with sea views, as well.

 

The Telephone and Television:

 

Again, on previous reviews, some have mentioned problems with these. In our experience they worked well. We had to have our television "Rebooted" once, on the same night we had those 20 foot swells, possibly due to a power glitch from the bad weather. The operator took care of it quickly, and other than that, had no problems. Both were easy to use. Only one problem: during the latter part of our cruise, the navigation channel was inexplicably unavailable (none of the staff I talked to knew what the deal was, and although I reported it to Richard, I treated it as a very minor problem, as when the Bridge Observation Room on Deck 13 Forward was open, you could check position there easily enough).

 

Entertainment:

 

It was great seeing Bernie Martini again (thanks for signing Margaret's CD!), Louie's group was superb in Fat Cats (thanks Mary Ann for the great bar service in that venue!), Howl at the Moon was hilarous on our two rough sea nights, Blue Man Group was simply exceptional, Legends was fun to see (and as well performed as I've seen it in Las Vegas), and we missed Cirque Dreams! The two shows on the night we had booked it had to be canceled due to very rough weather, and we were unable to fit in during another showing as we already had plans for all the other days. Julie personally apologized to us, but I am glad they canceled the shows as the performers would have surely been hurt. That evening I was blown a fair distance across Deck 15 (which was largely deserted) as we had strong winds and large swells. Blue Man Group performed as scheduled but several other events had to be rescheduled that night.

 

Others on board said the modified Cirque Dreams show went quite well, so whatever the changes were in October seem to be successful. On our next Epic cruise, I'll be sure to book this show later in the week!

 

Jeff Hobson's magic show was simply hilarious and reminded me of Nathan Lane's performance in Bird Cage. Not to be missed.

 

Paul Scally's comedy show on the last day of the cruise was also a blast. Note to self: Never be late nor get up during either Jeff Hobson's or Paul's shows, unless you WANT to be tormented :-)

 

The Staff:

 

As on our previous cruises, we're simply in awe of Norwegian's staff. With only two exceptions, all treated us very well and were fun to talk and interact with. I really enjoyed Paul Scally's humor throughout the cruise, and he made it a point to check in on us to make sure we were having fun.

 

My approach in life is to try to be as positive as possible, and I highly recommend that approach on a cruise. Not all the staff will respond to this, and we did run into one guy in the photo area that was less than friendly (and others commented about him as well), and a person that did not show much consideration to others in Teppanyaki as she arranged for her parents to have many photos taken during our second dinner there. Some of the comments she made when she visited her parents between the photos were also less than flattering ("I have to get back to the mess", etc.) I recorded both names and will likely file negative S.T.Y.L.E. reports against both of them, but two "bad apples" out of all we were exposed to is simply astounding, and this reflects very well on their management and desire to please their passengers. Kudos!

 

Miscellaneous observations:

 

Great communications when we had bad weather that forced event cancellations. Messages were left on our voice mail as well as later a letter offering to reschedule. Since we had no problem finding other fun we did not take up their offers.

 

Really enjoyed the Future Cruise Seminar - very informative, and I'd recommend attending it. There are many changes coming up in 2011-2012 that were revealed in the seminar.

 

Oreck XL air cleaners were prominently along the walls in the casino in several places. They seemed to keep the smoke at bay quite well. Recent addition?

 

Shopping is very well laid out on Decks 7 and 15 (aft near Spice H2O), and well used Epic's stunning width and size for their merchandise displays. The "Black Friday" sale was well attended. It was amusing seeing some passengers lifting the curtains on items before the sale started, but Alen and the other shop staff did not get upset :-)

 

Myla at the Ice Bar teased me about wearing my Tropical Turkey shirt that monn_a designed in our Roll Call. She made sure we had plenty of great photos. That was a very unique experience at sea and was a fun way to cap a great dinner :-) It is smaller than it looks on the videos but is a lot of fun. Recommend wearing closed toe shoes and pants if you want to stay for a while!

 

The photo system worked very smooth and I hope becomes standard on other Norwegian ships. It was nice not having to sort through thousands of photos to find ours. The photo staff (Aaron, Philip, etc.) were kind. On sea days, visit decks 5-7 for opportunities to have photos taken in the late afternoon and evenings. It is not necessary to dress up for photos, and as long as there is not a long line, we did not feel any pressure as we had several pictures taken.

 

Bar service was not pushy in my opinion, and the drinks I asked for were well prepared. Fat Cats, Headliners, Epic Theatre, and the pool area all had excellent bar service, and when I was done, they honored that and did not hassle me.

 

The Behind the Scenes tour was a lot of fun, and Captain Vorren kindly let us view the Bridge on a very rough sea day. The staff and department heads that educated us on the tour took a lot of time to explain their roles, and it rubbed off very strongly that all of them are proud on their roles to get Epic sailing smoothly, and are very anxious for feedback. Seeing the vast stores reminded me that cruising is a resource-intensive operation, but the care involved to keep waste down is impressive. For safety reasons, the tour does not include the engine spaces, but the photo staff sell a customized DVD that includes a tour of those spaces - a well-spent $30. The Behind the Scenes tour cost $55 and while some were complaining that that is excessive, it does disrupt the crew to run these tours, and I felt the charge was very fair.

 

Conclusion:

 

Thank you again to members of the Roll Call for making our Meet and Greet fun, and it was great seeing so many of you throughout the cruise. This was easily the best Thanksgiving trip I have ever taken. The Epic was sparkling, the staff superb, and the islands we visited were beautiful, and our shore days had perfect weather. It boiled down to being an exceptional experience. It is a very different "type" of cruise than our first two on the Dawn, feeling more like visiting a large Las Vegas resort that happened to have great sea views, but at the end. It takes a bit more effort to find "quiet" spots on Epic, but they are there (try the library in Bliss in the morning!)

 

Kudos to the NCL Staff, both on Epic and ashore, for another superb cruise for my family.

[murcor]

Gald to hear a very positive trip report :)

[geekonacruise]

The Freestyle Dailies from our cruise are posted at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/geekonacruise/NCLEpic20Nov201027Nov2010EasternCaribbeanFreestyleDailies?authkey=Gv1sRgCJf7t8qTsO_fgwE&feat=directlink

 

If you run into any problems accessing them, please contact geekonacruise@gmail.com and I will be glad to e-mail them to you.

[nathand95]

Sounds like you had an amazing cruise. I am extremely excited for my cruise on the Epic with my parents in April.

What all does the Behind the Seas tour entail? It sounds very interesting. Also, when do you pay for that? When booking other stuff pre-cruise or on the ship?

Thanks:)

 

[Mike Lee]

Thanks for an informative review. Glad to see updated Dailies I have been looking for those for a while. By chance did they have the Jazz Brunch at Le Bristo anytime during the cruise or did they replace it with the Mystery Lunch?

[geekonacruise]

Our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet photos at Bliss Lounge are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/geekonacruise/CruiseCriticMeetAndGreetNCLEpic21Nov2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2npOv53rC0AQ&feat=directlink

 

If you run into any trouble accessing them, please e-mail me at geekonacruise@gmail.com and I will send them to you.

[geekonacruise]

Sounds like you had an amazing cruise. I am extremely excited for my cruise on the Epic with my parents in April.

What all does the Behind the Seas tour entail? It sounds very interesting. Also, when do you pay for that? When booking other stuff pre-cruise or on the ship?

Thanks:)

 

 

Thanks much, and best wishes on your cruise! The Behind the Scenes Tour is booked at Reception on Deck 5 midships. I asked about it shortly after we boarded, and I'd recommend doing that as it seems to fill up fast. You pay for it using your onboard credit account. The next day, I received a letter at our cabin with the instructions on where to meet, along with advice to wear comfortable closed-toe shoes and a long-sleeve shirt (it does get cold in the storage areas of the ship, so this was great advice!)

 

The tour visits the huge kitchen behind Taste, and you get to see the plating process for Manhattan Room and Taste, along with how the breads, pastries, and cakes are baked. An extensive tour of the ships stores (frozen, refrigerated, condiments, etc.) is nearby. You get to see the I-95 corridor in the crew area (bustling, and you're asked not to take photographs nor videos in that area). You see the ship's laundry - a huge operation, with new machines at sea that are really impressive. Waste recycling and water desalination and water cleansing are talked about by the ship's Environmental Officer. The ship's stage manager leads through a tour of the Epic Theatre, and you see how they make repairs to the lighting pods high above the stage without having to use ladders. Lastly, we were permitted on the bridge for quite a while as the two ship's Navigators on duty explained bridge operations. During that time there were very rough seas, so we all had to be careful not to stumble into consoles. Very impressive layout and setup.

 

Thanks for an informative review. Glad to see updated Dailies I have been looking for those for a while. By chance did they have the Jazz Brunch at Le Bristo anytime during the cruise or did they replace it with the Mystery Lunch?

 

On our cruise they had a Jazz Brunch in Cagney's on Thanksgiving Day. I believe it ran 10AM - Noon. I heard good things about it but already had a spa treatment scheduled. There was a menu at the Restaurant Reservation Desk in the entry area of the Garden Cafe on Deck 15. There was also a Mystery Dinner scheduled but we did not attend it.

[MiamiSpartan]

Thnx for the review!

Just booked the Epic for Jan 15th and starting to look forward to it!

[kerrytens]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review - it is much appreciated! I'm so happy to read that the Epic has a Behind the Scenes tour. I am even more excited for the next year to pass ...;)

[Nanatopiper]

So glad to hear a positive trip report! Thanks for posting it.

 

Excited for our turn in February! :)

[Ontario cruise duo]

Just wondering, were you able to stop in Nassau? We were on the EPIC two weeks ago and were unable to stop there due to rough seas. Maybe I don't want to know the answer to this one.:rolleyes: We also enjoyed the ship very much.:)

[geekonacruise]

Just wondering, were you able to stop in Nassau? We were on the EPIC two weeks ago and were unable to stop there due to rough seas. Maybe I don't want to know the answer to this one.:rolleyes: We also enjoyed the ship very much.:)

 

We had very good weather on our port days thankfully. It was sunny and warm at Nassau. Sorry to hear you missed it!! Our worst weather was between Miami and St. Maarten.

 

We only had a delay due to a problem with one of the lifeboats but the repair took a bit less than an hour, and Captain Vorren made up the time. There were a couple communications about this so I felt it very well handled.

[Ontario cruise duo]

We had very good weather on our port days thankfully. It was sunny and warm at Nassau. Sorry to hear you missed it!! Our worst weather was between Miami and St. Maarten.

 

We only had a delay due to a problem with one of the lifeboats but the repair took a bit less than an hour, and Captain Vorren made up the time. There were a couple communications about this so I felt it very well handled.

 

I'm glad to hear your weather for Nassau was ok. I could have booked this cruise for Thanksgiving week at the same great rate that I was able to get, however being Canadian, and thinking that there would be a lot of families on the ship with children, not that I'm not "kid friendly" (my "children/kids" being 23 and 25 now) I decided to go two weeks before your Thanksgiving. I think someone "higher up" has punished me for not booking our cruise for this week. Oh well, now I've got to book another cruise stopping in Nassau so we can once again try to spend some time at the Atlantis Paradise Resort, darn it, that's gonna cost me more than $149 x 2.:eek: Oh well, my BAD!!:o (Troy, Michigan, so close to us (visited there many times)... we've got a sister/brother-in-law who live in Sterling Heights!)

[Jerseyboy1]

The View of the Sea:

 

Admittedly, the jogging deck and deck gaming areas on deck 7 are not as nice as on Norwegian Dawn due to the new requirements on always-deployed lifeboats, but there were gaps that provided great views. Deck 15 and the public sun deck on top of "The Hat" had plenty of deck chairs and areas to walk around with sea views, as well.

 

Thank you for your review, but I'm not aware of any new requirements for always-deployed lifeboats on ships.

 

That deck on Epic and Oasis, gaps or no gaps, IMO is just a bad design as it pertains to public space on what is usually the exterior promenade deck on ships. While deployment of lifeboats is quicker and safer this way, and it makes cruise companies feel better, I don't think it is required.

 

If someone can show me where that is stated in regulations somewhere, I'd be interested in learning of this regulation. Thanks

[geekonacruise]

Thank you for your review, but I'm not aware of any new requirements for always-deployed lifeboats on ships.

 

That deck on Epic and Oasis, gaps or no gaps, IMO is just a bad design as it pertains to public space on what is usually the exterior promenade deck on ships. While deployment of lifeboats is quicker and safer this way, and it makes cruise companies feel better, I don't think it is required.

 

If someone can show me where that is stated in regulations somewhere, I'd be interested in learning of this regulation. Thanks

 

Please take a peek at this link:

 

http://www.captainsvoyage-forum.com/showthread.php?1294-SOLAS-and-the-requirement-of-lifeboats-on-passenger-vessels.

 

I'm not authoritative on this and found it a while back while reading about Oasis of the Seas and Epic. The relevant section appears to be about midway down under Chapter III: Life-saving appliances and arrangements, Regulation 21, paragraph 1.4.2.

 

So, unless I am misunderstanding completely what I read a few months ago, if Epic did not use this design, they would need to have even more lifeboat capacity than they have now.

 

Others, please chime in, and thanks!

[Jerseyboy1]

Please take a peek at this link:

 

http://www.captainsvoyage-forum.com/showthread.php?1294-SOLAS-and-the-requirement-of-lifeboats-on-passenger-vessels.

 

I'm not authoritative on this and found it a while back while reading about Oasis of the Seas and Epic. The relevant section appears to be about midway down under Chapter III: Life-saving appliances and arrangements, Regulation 21, paragraph 1.4.2.

 

So, unless I am misunderstanding completely what I read a few months ago, if Epic did not use this design, they would need to have even more lifeboat capacity than they have now.

 

Others, please chime in, and thanks!

 

Not really sure where it says anything about having always-deployed lifeboats on new ships anywhere there and if I am seeing it correctly, it looks like the new Disney Dream is using swing-out davits for their lifeboats and are hanging them over a fully functional promenade deck....

 

Checkout the link below....click full screen then original size for a closer look

 

http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1210255#

[KittyCat1Million]

Great to hear about the Epic, we are looking at sailing her to Northern Europe Next Summer. We sailed Oasis already (Royal Caribbean) and found it to be awesome, not too big and not too many people for the size of the ship and the number of crew.

[Tropicalgurl]

Our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet photos at Bliss Lounge are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/geekonacruise/CruiseCriticMeetAndGreetNCLEpic21Nov2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCM2npOv53rC0AQ&feat=directlink

 

If you run into any trouble accessing them, please e-mail me at geekonacruise@gmail.com and I will send them to you.

 

Hey,

Sorry I missed y'all at the last meeting. I came up around 5:15-5:20 and did not see anybody, thought maybe it was moved to the Spice area and I did not see anybody there. Great pictures of our group. I was looking for texangal39 and I remembered she was the one taking the picture. We need to get one of the pictures out there for the fan of the week on NCL facebook.... But I can't remember who's camera was used for the group picture that everyone was in. Do you remember?

[joyy7403]

Wow, your review could have been written by me! I have posted my review in the review section, but it hasn't shown up yet.

 

We loved our 2 weeks on the Epic! The staff was absolutely the best, I mentioned several by name. I told Denis (our hotel director) that I would post my review before he left on the 4th (I'm sorry I didn't ask where he was going!) but it looks like they post all of them on the 10th of the month. The crew was wonderful and the officers were always accessible. They made us feel like we were there making their cruise great, not the other way around!

 

Great review!!

 

Joyce

[geekonacruise]

Hey,

Sorry I missed y'all at the last meeting. I came up around 5:15-5:20 and did not see anybody, thought maybe it was moved to the Spice area and I did not see anybody there. Great pictures of our group. I was looking for texangal39 and I remembered she was the one taking the picture. We need to get one of the pictures out there for the fan of the week on NCL facebook.... But I can't remember who's camera was used for the group picture that everyone was in. Do you remember?

 

Sorry I missed you, I was also wandering around looking for people :) I ran into a few in the casino so we talked for a few minutes but then broke up to pack suitcases.

 

Not sure who else took pictures, my apologies. I know at least two couples were on back to back cruises so they have not seen these messages yet.

 

Thanks again!

 

... The crew was wonderful and the officers were always accessible. They made us feel like we were there making their cruise great, not the other way around!

 

Great review!!

 

Joyce

 

Thank you, Joyce! I wish I was exposed to a staff like that every day!

[flowerpetal2166]

Cabin: SD 14169 (Spa Deluxe Balcony/Spa Mini-Suite), viewing the starboard of the ship, this cabin is two decks below the "O" in the Norwegian Epic placard, and is one balcony to the right of the start of the spa.

 

SD 14169 had plenty of legroom and storage for three people. As my Mother remarked, we could have brought much more clothing, etc. and still had plenty of room. I really liked being able to step out of the room, cross the corridor, and be right in the Spa, as well as the aft starboard elevator bank. Being near the aft end of the corridor is also great since it was never noisy, and we had very nice neighbors on both sides of us (and both cabins were celebrating birthdays, it turns out!) Lastly, having the couch adjacent to the balcony door helped with traffic when all three of us were up and about. Thanks Dominic Samuels @ NCL for helping pick this cabin!

 

Bed linens were pristine and the couch pulled out to form a comfortable bed (don't forget to pull it out, otherwise its curved back will get in the way!)

 

The Bathroom:

 

I am not going to rehash all the postings on Cruise Critic about Epic non-suite bathrooms, but I will mention that the three of us had little trouble with it. Honestly, the sink worked well, did not splash any more than ours do at home, and we had a very good amount of storage space in the bathroom area for our toiletries, towels, etc. The curtain provided a reasonable amount of privacy. In one case we did not latch the door correctly and Mom had to dash into the shower while dressing when the door opened, but that proved to be our own fault, and also provided some laughs. No worse than accidentally leaving the balcony curtain open while in port across from another ship and stepping outside the bathroom on any other ship.

 

The biggest area that I think could use improvement is the noise of the toilet. The glass door just does not provide much noise insulation. Having a regular door on the toilet would serve better.

 

 

Thanks for the review of SD 14169. We are booked in to this room on an upcoming cruise and it's nice to know in advance what we'll be looking at. :)

[geekonacruise]

Thanks for the review of SD 14169. We are booked in to this room on an upcoming cruise and it's nice to know in advance what we'll be looking at. :)

 

Have a wonderful cruise! We're looking forward to our next one on Epic.