Just back from NCL Epic with 2 kids...

[youngestof9]

will be glad to answer any questions. I got so much info from this board before I left, I hope I can help someone!

 

My kids LOVED the kids club. I have a 5 year old and 12 year old. Unfortunately there weren't a ton of kids for the 10-12's, so they sometimes combined them with the 6-9's which didn't thrill my daughter, but she made the best of it. She still enjoyed going. she asked to go - we never forced. The counselors were really nice. Smoosh, Dynamite and Mr. Wiggles were our favorites :)

 

the waterslides were FUN. You do have to go down alone. My 5 year old finally mustered up the nerve to go alone on our last day and lo and behold once she started, she didn't stop!

 

Nick "slime time live" was fun - they picked 2 families but during the actual game they selected audience members to participate.

 

they had a Nick meet and greet, which was basically pictures with the characters. To me, no need to spend $15/adult $10/child on the Nick breakfast when you can just pop in and meet and have pics during one of the meet and greets.

 

Pools were busy but still enjoyable. The little aqua park section for the little ones is really cute.

 

My daughter turned 5 on embarkation day and wore a "birthday girl" hat. I swear at least 1000 people said happy birthday. They really are so great with the kids.

 

My 12 year old did the epic bounce (so did I!), the rock wall and the rapelling wall.

 

We did the Eastern Caribbean so our ports were St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Bahamas.

 

If you get a chance to go on Epic, I say DO IT. We loved it!

[crusinmama06]

Sounds like you had an awesome time! So I thought I had read everything about Epic -- but what's the "Epic Bounce"? :)

[#1TravelMom]

Hi Michele. The Epic bounce is a trampoline with bungees attached to you with a harness around the waist. Our kids really liked it.

[New2Cruise10]

Hi Youngestof9,

thanks for all the info. We will be on the epic 7 day eastern carribean in Apr with my two young kids, 5 and 3.. My sister has a 2 yr old.

 

What's the min age requirement for the waterslide and the plunge? i fear that my kids would be too young for it. Reading your post I think the waterslides is ok with a 5 year old?

 

Also what' about the bounce and the spider web thing? what's the min age?

 

I didn't know the Nick breakfast cost $. now i am having second thoughts.

 

What about the Nick "Slim Time", any extra charge?

 

any 2-5 kid club dailies you can share here?

 

Your answers appreciated!

[jam82]

Hi Michele. The Epic bounce is a trampoline with bungees attached to you with a harness around the waist. Our kids really liked it.

 

Are there height/weight/age requirements for the Epic bounce? We're cruising on the Epic out of Barcelona this summer and I know my 4 year old would love it.

[youngestof9]

Sounds like you had an awesome time! So I thought I had read everything about Epic -- but what's the "Epic Bounce"? :)

 

Michele - it was FUN - it's just a huge trampoline with bungee cords attached. It's a wild feeling at the end of the ship.

 

Hi Youngestof9,

thanks for all the info. We will be on the epic 7 day eastern carribean in Apr with my two young kids, 5 and 3.. My sister has a 2 yr old.

 

What's the min age requirement for the waterslide and the plunge? i fear that my kids would be too young for it. Reading your post I think the waterslides is ok with a 5 year old? I'm not sure there's a height/age limit. However, they do have to go alone. My daughter turned 5 on the ship and was scared to go alone, not so much of the slides themselves. But she finally got the nerve on the last day (port day in Bahamas) and once she started, she didn't stop! But she's a peanut and fell off the tube on the 2nd part of the plunge so she didn't like that as much. But she loved the green and purple. I think the more you weigh the faster you go, so she really didn't go that fast. But it was fun for her.

 

Also what' about the bounce and the spider web thing? what's the min age? Again, not sure about age but the little ones would be way too little for the bounce I think. However, the spider web has a MAX weight of 125, so it's definitely made for littler kids.

 

I didn't know the Nick breakfast cost $. now i am having second thoughts. It's $15/adult and $10/child so for our family of 4 it would have been $50. I didn't think that was worth it as the food is no different (from what I've heard) and there's a few opportunities for the meet and greet of the characters.

 

What about the Nick "Slim Time", any extra charge? Nope - just have to make reservations. We LOVED this. It was fun to watch. There's basically 2 families chosen - in our case it was a mom/dad/2 girls on the red team and then a dad/daughter and dad/son foursome on the blue team. They have do to a little stunt. Then they have a couple other things throughout the game where they select both children and adults from the audience. We weren't chosen for anything but it was really fun to watch. It's only 45 minutes long - it was 1:00-1:45. Also, the Nick team members are really engaging with the kids. If you see any poolside Nick events - try to hit them. They're fun. I have pics of both if you want to see.

 

any 2-5 kid club dailies you can share here? I'll try to attach pictures - I don't have a scanner, but I took pictures of them for you. If they don't post properly, just email me at marybethp at yahoo dot com and I'll be glad to send them. I also have the 10-12 if anyone needs it.

 

here's a link to the 2-5. Hope you can read them.

 

http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa440/marybethp18/

 

 

 

 

Your answers appreciated!

 

Glad to help!

Mary Beth :)

[youngestof9]

Are there height/weight/age requirements for the Epic bounce? We're cruising on the Epic out of Barcelona this summer and I know my 4 year old would love it.

 

Not sure if there's a age/weight/height requirement. But there are big bungee cords that attach to you and a harness that goes between your legs similar to the rock wall harness. I'll look through my papers and see if I see any more info. I did see some younger kids but more like 7 or 8.

[cantw8togo]

We are sailing this weekend on the Epic to the same ports. Did you do any excursions at the various islands?

 

Can't wait!

 

N.

[youngestof9]

We are sailing this weekend on the Epic to the same ports. Did you do any excursions at the various islands?

 

Can't wait!

 

N.

 

Oh I'm so jealous! Have a wonderful trip!

In St. Maarten, we hopped off the ship and took the water taxi right over to Great Bay ($6/person round trip - you get a bracelet). Our initial plan was Orient Beach (which you can just grab a cab on the pier as well) but our daughter wasn't feeling 100% so I wanted to be closer to the ship. We actually loved it at great bay. After I returned I read the St. Maarten board and saw that it's not apparently clean water but I was too late to worry about it. We rented chairs on the beach right past the Firehouse restaurant from Bernard. We got lunch delivered to the beach chair - guy works for tips and just brings your lunch - and a bucket of beer 6 for $12. There's a trampoline in the water and the kids loved it. It was $5/person for that. The water was nice, it does have a little shelf so watch it with littler ones. My 5 year old was fine and then I had to help her to the trampoline because it got a little deep. Walked through town a bit to buy a couple t-shirts, then hopped on the water taxi back to the ship. It was a perfect day.

 

In St. Thomas, we hopped off the ship and grabbed a cab to Magen's Bay. The key here was to get there early so you could sit where you wanted - there were a lot of ships in port. We rented chairs $7/person plus a $20 deposit so that you bring the chairs back and get the $20 back. What we did was when we were leaving, we saw 4 people just arriving so they gave us $20 for our chairs. Basically they got free chairs once they returned them. Worked for everyone. Girls loved swimming in the bay. Food was expensive. Girls had bagels early $4.25 each WHOA. So we skipped lunch there because we had to be back to the ship by 3:30. We got a cab (they're all waiting) around 1:30. It was busy at Magen's but never felt overcrowded. Water was really clean and fun. did some shopping at the pier (had to buy some cruzan rum to take home $9 a bottle!! and some souveniers and then back on board.

 

In the Bahamas, we opted to just shop a bit in port and get back on the ship to enjoy an empty ship. Weather wasn't perfect in the am but it cleared up nicely. We loved doing the waterslides and pool with nobody on the ship.

 

Have a wonderful time!

[New2Cruise10]

Mary Beth,

 

Thank you sooo much for the detail answers to all of my questions! Thank you especially for the photos of the 2-5 programs. I have been searching for it for a while. there was one posted in a different thread but it was way too small for me to read. Yours are perfect!

 

Yes if you have pictures of the Nick event I would love to see them too!

 

Love your recount of the excursions also - gave me more idea on what I want to do...

 

For St. Marrten, We booked a "cat" cruise already in St. Maarten in the morning and then plan the rest of the port day just walking around. Also plan check out Margot on the French side after our Catamaran tour.

 

For St thomas, I think we will either go to Megan Bay or go to Coki Point where the Coral World is. We live in So Cal and goes to Aquarium of the Pacific a lot so I'm not sure if Coral World is somethin we really want to do. My sister from NY thought might be more interested. I heard it's easy to get around town with the taxi so I think we will just keep it open and see how we feel when we are at port.

 

For the Bahamas I am not sure at all. I think we might just do what you did. I personally would love to go to the Atlantis but i think the day passes are way too expensive. My DH and I think maybe when the kids are older we will just go there on our own so we have more time to have fun at that resort.

 

I am now more and more excited about the upcoming cruise. :)

 

Alice

[New2Cruise10]

Did you book any reservations for the onboard entertainment ahead of the cruise? I heard people do that but I'm not sure when we can start booking on the NCL website. Maybe I have to wait until closer to the actual cruise date?

 

The shows we want to do are:

Blue Man Group

Circu Dream (yes I heard it wasn't that good but I think the kids will like it. they always like the circus)

 

Maybe Legend in Concert for my 3 year old music loving boy...not sure yet. the last cruise we were on, his favoriate show as "Frankie Valli and the four seasons". he is probably the youngest audience. we saw it twice!

 

Sorry for so many questions!

[youngestof9]

ask away!! I wanted to see Atlantis too but first of all, you don't get into port until Noon so it's a weird time because this time of year it's dusk by 5. I just didn't want to spend that much for not that much time. And I couldn't find a local-enough beach that was nice so I actually enjoyed the semi-empty ship at that point.

 

45 days before sailing you can go on ncl.com and book your dining and entertainment. I pre-booked Slime Time and Blue Man. Saw Blue Man on Sunday and it was full. It's definitely a must see. My kids loved it. I also prebooked restaurants too - went to Moderno (OMG YUM) and La Cucina. We had booked Cagney's but ended up canceling. Because we were in a suite we ate at Epic Club for dinner a couple times.

 

Also - around the ship on the walls are these big displays that are touch screen (lots of times they're near elevators). You can look up availability at restaurants. On Friday night we had dropped the kids at kids club and didn't know where we wanted to eat so went to the elevator right by kids club and pulled up the dining - it shows red/yellow/green for how busy the restaurants are. Great tool! It also can just map things out so if you find a place you want to go, you can touch "map it" and it tells you where to take the elevator to and which direction.

 

I'll add some nick pics to my photobucket account - so click on that same link in a little while.

 

Didn't see Cirque or Legends. As much as we're normally night people, we really weren't this time. We were in the room early (9:00 ish) so we didn't see too many late shows. Although we loved Slam Allen in the Fat Cats blues club - didn't stay too long but really enjoyed them. Also watched a little Howl at the Moon and that was good. Had reservations for Second City but never made it.

[youngestof9]

oh and FYI about Epic Bounce - my husband reminded me there is a 200 pound weight limit on it. He wanted to do it but he couldn't since he's 215.

[jam82]

ask away!! I wanted to see Atlantis too but first of all, you don't get into port until Noon so it's a weird time because this time of year it's dusk by 5. I just didn't want to spend that much for not that much time. And I couldn't find a local-enough beach that was nice so I actually enjoyed the semi-empty ship at that point.

 

45 days before sailing you can go on ncl.com and book your dining and entertainment. I pre-booked Slime Time and Blue Man. Saw Blue Man on Sunday and it was full. It's definitely a must see. My kids loved it. I also prebooked restaurants too - went to Moderno (OMG YUM) and La Cucina. We had booked Cagney's but ended up canceling. Because we were in a suite we ate at Epic Club for dinner a couple times.

 

Also - around the ship on the walls are these big displays that are touch screen (lots of times they're near elevators). You can look up availability at restaurants. On Friday night we had dropped the kids at kids club and didn't know where we wanted to eat so went to the elevator right by kids club and pulled up the dining - it shows red/yellow/green for how busy the restaurants are. Great tool! It also can just map things out so if you find a place you want to go, you can touch "map it" and it tells you where to take the elevator to and which direction.

 

I'll add some nick pics to my photobucket account - so click on that same link in a little while.

 

Didn't see Cirque or Legends. As much as we're normally night people, we really weren't this time. We were in the room early (9:00 ish) so we didn't see too many late shows. Although we loved Slam Allen in the Fat Cats blues club - didn't stay too long but really enjoyed them. Also watched a little Howl at the Moon and that was good. Had reservations for Second City but never made it.

 

Please tell me about the menu in the Epic club. Would you compare it more to the main dining room or the steakhouse? Are children welcome?

[youngestof9]

Please tell me about the menu in the Epic club. Would you compare it more to the main dining room or the steakhouse? Are children welcome?

 

I found this and bookmarked it before I left - it's a lot of menus

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1232127

 

Here specifically is the Epic Club

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=25117630&postcount=9

 

We didn't bring the kids to the EC for dinner only because we wanted a quiet evening alone! But they are CERTAINLY welcome. It's a quieter atmosphere. also, anything on regular kids menus (hamburgers, mac & cheese, chicken tenders) are all available at the EC for lunch and dinner. In addition to the menu items, there's always 2 "special" items they have for dinner. One night they had lobster but we didn't eat there that night.

 

You MUST try the "tasting of chocolate" for dessert. Nice little sampling. I had the grilled filet and it was tasty. I asked for a caesar salad and they had no problem accommodating that.

 

I'll say it again - if you get Gabriela as a waitress she is just fantastic!!

[New2Cruise10]

Thank you so much for all the info! This really really helps!

 

Love the pictures and what a nice suite! We are staying at a balcony and from the reviews I've read the biggest complaints are the size of the room and size of the beds.

 

The last cruise with NCL I was on the Pearl in a oceanview cabin so this is def. an upgrade for me and most likely I will be happy just b/c now I can actually smell the ocean and feel the breeze. :)

 

I am starting to get a little concern with dining since we have a total of 10 people in the party...although 3 are kids 5 & under and 1 little baby. I've read from other forums that for bigger table usually there is a long wait. (didn't experience it when we are on the Pearl but we only have 6 people) Guess we will have to see...

[needalatte74]

Oh I'm so jealous! Have a wonderful trip!

In St. Maarten, we hopped off the ship and took the water taxi right over to Great Bay ($6/person round trip - you get a bracelet). Our initial plan was Orient Beach (which you can just grab a cab on the pier as well) but our daughter wasn't feeling 100% so I wanted to be closer to the ship. We actually loved it at great bay. After I returned I read the St. Maarten board and saw that it's not apparently clean water but I was too late to worry about it. We rented chairs on the beach right past the Firehouse restaurant from Bernard. We got lunch delivered to the beach chair - guy works for tips and just brings your lunch - and a bucket of beer 6 for $12. There's a trampoline in the water and the kids loved it. It was $5/person for that. The water was nice, it does have a little shelf so watch it with littler ones. My 5 year old was fine and then I had to help her to the trampoline because it got a little deep. Walked through town a bit to buy a couple t-shirts, then hopped on the water taxi back to the ship. It was a perfect day.

 

In St. Thomas, we hopped off the ship and grabbed a cab to Magen's Bay. The key here was to get there early so you could sit where you wanted - there were a lot of ships in port. We rented chairs $7/person plus a $20 deposit so that you bring the chairs back and get the $20 back. What we did was when we were leaving, we saw 4 people just arriving so they gave us $20 for our chairs. Basically they got free chairs once they returned them. Worked for everyone. Girls loved swimming in the bay. Food was expensive. Girls had bagels early $4.25 each WHOA. So we skipped lunch there because we had to be back to the ship by 3:30. We got a cab (they're all waiting) around 1:30. It was busy at Magen's but never felt overcrowded. Water was really clean and fun. did some shopping at the pier (had to buy some cruzan rum to take home $9 a bottle!! and some souveniers and then back on board.

 

In the Bahamas, we opted to just shop a bit in port and get back on the ship to enjoy an empty ship. Weather wasn't perfect in the am but it cleared up nicely. We loved doing the waterslides and pool with nobody on the ship.

 

Have a wonderful time!

 

Thanks so much for this info. We're sailing in March, also Eastern Caribbean. I'm wondering what the beach temps were. Was the ocean temp comfortable enough for swimming? If it was, then I have hopes for March. :D

 

Thanks

[cantwaitforoasis]

thanks for sharing your Epic experience! It sounds awesome! We are booked for a balcony, western caribbean cruise. Too bad on the spider web's weight limit... were there adults using it or just lots of kids? With the free style dining, do you get to sit with JUST your family or do they make you share a table with others? How long were the waits for slides? Did they have specific hours, can you use them early in the morning and late in the evening??? Hope so! How was the buffet? :)

[youngestof9]

Thanks so much for this info. We're sailing in March, also Eastern Caribbean. I'm wondering what the beach temps were. Was the ocean temp comfortable enough for swimming? If it was, then I have hopes for March. :D

 

Thanks

 

Not sure about actual temps, but it was perfect for swimming. I'm a "one toe at a time" when it comes to the ocean, but in St. Thomas & St. Maarten, I just jumped right in. WARM!!!!

 

thanks for sharing your Epic experience! It sounds awesome! We are booked for a balcony, western caribbean cruise. Too bad on the spider web's weight limit... were there adults using it or just lots of kids? With the free style dining, do you get to sit with JUST your family or do they make you share a table with others? How long were the waits for slides? Did they have specific hours, can you use them early in the morning and late in the evening??? Hope so! How was the buffet? :)

 

I saw nobody using the web when I was up there but my 12YO said there were young kids using it.

 

We didn't eat at any of the MDR's - we did the buffet for the kids a couple nights and hit some specialties alone, so I'm not sure about the seating. However, I think you can request to sit with others or just your family. They accommodate both.

 

Slides had a wait, but not too bad. The plunge was the longest wait, but only because of the tubes - there's only so many. Best day is the first day when everyone's still checking in and organizing, or port days. We spent the Bahamas day on the ship and it was great at the slides (I know you're doing Western, so I'm not sure if you're hitting all the ports).

 

Not sure about the hours - we generally just used them midday so I don't know how early/how late. I'll check my dailies and post later or tomorrow with the hours.

 

Buffet was Fine. Exactly what a buffet should be. We had access to Epic Club, so we never ate breakfast at the buffet. We did grab dinner there one night because we were exhausted and hungry and it was good. Good carving station. My favorite was the fresh blue cheese which I put on whatever they carved. Yum. There's burgers and hot dogs and chicken and nice pastas and pizza every night. Then there's speciality stuff like stew or vegetarian dishes and always an Indian dish. But lots of choices. Crowded, but you can find a spot.

 

Definitely get the milkshake at O'sheehan's. I think it's $3.95 but it's DELISH! Tastes just like whoppers. Yummy :) Our girls loved it.

 

Have fun!

[New2Cruise10]

Hi Mary Beth (or anyone else),

 

Doing some more reading today and saw many posts regarding car seats. Since I am also going to the same ports I was wondering if you notice people using car seats on the taxi at the 3 ports - St. Maarten, St. John and Bahama?

 

We have 4 kids - 5 yr, 3 yr, 2 yr and 6 months old. We have 6 adults so we can help each other with car seats but just the thoughts of hauling 4 car seats with us is kind of stressing me out...

 

Alice

[youngestof9]

Hi Mary Beth (or anyone else),

 

Doing some more reading today and saw many posts regarding car seats. Since I am also going to the same ports I was wondering if you notice people using car seats on the taxi at the 3 ports - St. Maarten, St. John and Bahama?

 

We have 4 kids - 5 yr, 3 yr, 2 yr and 6 months old. We have 6 adults so we can help each other with car seats but just the thoughts of hauling 4 car seats with us is kind of stressing me out...

 

Alice

 

well, we only used transportation in St. Thomas. It was an open air taxi and I don't even think you can use car seats. I didn't see seatbelts! I stuck my 5 year old between me and hubby. As far as your really little ones, I don't know - I'd have to see if you get other answers.

 

in St. Maarten we took the water taxi, so no car. And in the taxis to the airport we just used the seatbelt. Not normally the way I go (I'm a carseat loony normally) but opted not to bring the booster. I'd be afraid you'd lug them for nothing (not sure if you're flying or driving to port). I don't know if you can really use them on the islands in the open air taxis. If you're on a ship sponsored excursion maybe ask NCL??

[queenL]

Hi Mary Beth (or anyone else),

 

Doing some more reading today and saw many posts regarding car seats. Since I am also going to the same ports I was wondering if you notice people using car seats on the taxi at the 3 ports - St. Maarten, St. John and Bahama?

 

We have 4 kids - 5 yr, 3 yr, 2 yr and 6 months old. We have 6 adults so we can help each other with car seats but just the thoughts of hauling 4 car seats with us is kind of stressing me out...

 

Alice

 

We have a ride safer travel vest. I love it. No more hauling the car seat. It fits in my backpack.

 

http://safetrafficsystem.com/

[SportsMomof4]

Your review was great & I'm glad you had a great time. We are interested in the Epic but having 4 kids (16, 13 yo twins & a 5 yo) not sure if there is enough for my older kids to do? What do you think?

[beachchick]

Your review was great & I'm glad you had a great time. We are interested in the Epic but having 4 kids (16, 13 yo twins & a 5 yo) not sure if there is enough for my older kids to do? What do you think?

 

Hi there. Here is a link to a list of activities onboard Epic:

 

http://www2.ncl.com/cruise-ship/epic/onboard/play#tab_detail

 

There are more details within each listed item/activity/venue.

 

I'm not sure how to say this without sounding snippy, but if this isn't enough to keep them busy and happy, I don't know what possibly could. Epic is the largest, most activity-oriented ship in the fleet; she's brand new with the latest bells and whistles.

 

beachchick

[youngestof9]

Your review was great & I'm glad you had a great time. We are interested in the Epic but having 4 kids (16, 13 yo twins & a 5 yo) not sure if there is enough for my older kids to do? What do you think?

 

There's a really cool teen lounge and club along with an arcade that was fun. My kids are younger, but I think there's something for every one of your kids. The 2 bedroom villa can fit 6 with 2 on the couch in the living room or you can opt for 2 connecting rooms. Either way I think beachchick is right - you can't go wrong with the ship - there's tons to do.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to do it again!