EPIC Eastern Carib 5/23-5/30 1st time cruiser

[CRAustin]

My husband and I booked this cruise through Harrah's free offer, paid $200 for a balcony upgrade, port fees and taxes and insurance cancellation and cost was around $1000 before add-ons, excursions and of course gambling expense!

 

This was my first ever cruise as I get motion sick easily. I got 3 patches from my doctor and used 2 - worried that I would get after side effects using all 3 for a seven day cruise. They worked very well I was never sick during or after.

 

I was very excited we came on on Friday and used SAS transportation picked us up in a van in FLL airport and $15 ea way - they were also right outside when we disembarked no waiting either way, extremely efficient and both times only one other group of 2 or 4 on with us in the van.

 

We stayed at the Intercontinental in Miami right next to the outside shopping prominade, Hardrock Cafe etc. We ate at Mombos there and did some shopping, had drinks and did the breakfast buffet at the IC and all were good. Got hotel on Priceline for a bid of $80 or so, room was very nice and hotel is beautiful.

 

We headed over to the ship at 10:30 am and we had like one family in front of us, we got checked in, all documents in order went up to waiting area and we were lead onto the boat within 30 minutes or so. Very easy process - we checked all luggage but a carry-on.

 

First we went to guest services and purchased the weekly pass for POSH for both of us, got our writsbands, cabin card upgraded for access for $59 each. We headed over to O'Sheehan's and had lunch, a New Castle Ale Draft and a wine, corned beef sandwhich and fish and chips we were like the first ones there. Fast friendly service, food was good.

 

Headed up to POSH and hung out at bar, went to room and our "5" bags began to arrive one by one. I had 2 octogonal boxed wines in the bag "Pinot Evil and Big House Red - I didn't declare and no one ever asked anything as we dropped those bag at the curve - I never got charged and we only ended up drinking maybe half of one and dragged the other one back home! There is plenty of storage we were able to hang everything and use drawers as we way over packed and my husband brought two suits.

 

We had 11192 and oversized balcony and we loved it - it is about 1/3 bigger than the standard balcony and our steward immediately brought me the lounge chair I requested. We loved this cabin, plenty of room, little movement, tons of privacy, sun and shade on deck.

 

Casino of the Seas left chocolate covered strawberries and truffeles 3 times for us and we got cookies one night. We got our Casino of the Seas players cards after the luggage around 2 which came with free drink cards attached.

 

I played the same set of machines near the Cascade's BAR (Stinkin Rich, Noah's Ark and Kitty Glitter) and I was served (over served) whenever I flagged them down. One thing I found out they do not carry change so have one's on hand for tipping.

 

Casino was a money sucker, I won a few times but the machines were not kind. I earned 5000 points on the cruise and they took $300 off my final bill. Go to Casino Services on your last night between 7-10 pm and they will assess. He told me normally it would only be $50 but that I played alot so he would make it $300, believe me I lost way more than that - but I had fun and enjoyed the casino. FYI this area was non-smoking and I had no issue on this ship with smoking. My husband doesn't play but he even played the Noah's Ark and came out ahead and got a couple of free drinks each night.

 

We went to the invited Sail Away Party in Bliss for Harrah's and Casino of the Seas invited guests. We had a free buffett, free drinks, door prizes and met alot of interesting people. Unfortunately, this was the only time we made it to Bliss as we are not to good at staying up late and spent most of our partying time during the day on the POSH deck and then various bars or casino for a couple of hours each night.

 

My husband enjoyed the Cigar Bar and he bought cigars for like 6 ea. I did not go in there as I don't like the smoke. We did enjoy POSH, O'Sheenan's, Fat Cat's, Shakers, Cascades, The Ice Bar. I thought drinks were reasonable and we did hit the 2 for 1 martini happy hour in Moderno one night.

 

We really didn't do the buffet except one late night and 2 times by the pool for lunch and brought it up to POSH. So didn't really experience the big meals there - they did have crepes which was good.

 

Eating Options: We ate at Moderno - was better than the Brazilian Steakhouse here in Austin. Very impressed, served like at least 10 different meats, the lamb was outstanding. We did the dessert sampler and this was good also. It was very rocky the day we ate there, that was the only think I didn't like that the restuarants were at the back of the ship and swayed alot, took a while to get used too. I believe this was a $20 up charge - I booked 45 days in advance, but it seemed all restuarants that were speciality were able to accomodate walk up. Other specialty was Teppanyaki this was also very good (except skip the Lobster tasted fishy). Calamari and Scallops and Filet were better. Unfortunately we got the new guy and a family that didn't speak to each other - so we didn't have as much fun as the other tables. Our sever did make me a rose with the oregami. This was $25 and worth it.

We ate in O'Sheehan's for breakfast most of the time and we did the remaining dinners in the Manhattan Room and Taste. Both were good, limited selection - you can add chicken to the pasta alfredo - just ask. Cesear Salads were good. Tiramisu was good - Apple Pie was like eating cardboard. Steak was pretty good. Overall food was good we didn't stuff ourselves. We did do room service for pizza $5 and the free continental breakfast which was good. Steward forgot 3 times to put coffee in our room, so finally had housekeeping bring 3 packs for remainder of trip but we also got it from room service a couple of times.

 

Entertainment: Blueman Group - never saw this before was great - one lule period but entertaining - get the special blueman drink special it was great frozen with a marshmellow. Jazz Club - was very good, Slim likes the ladies.

Cirque Show - don't waste your money on the $35 seats like we did - we were smushed in and those in the $25 seats had a better view and private seating either behind us or above us. I thought the dinner was good - filet with shrimp, crab cake appetizer, and trio dessert. I liked the show alot and the food - unfortunately we got the last of the $35 seats and they weren't very good.

Legends in Concert: I just saw this in Vegas and it was great - this one left something to be desired - was looking forward to leaving. Janet looks lke LaToya, Neil Diamond & Aretha - eh ok but hey it's not Vegas it's a cruise.

We had reservations for 2nd City but unfortunately I was ill that night so didn't go.

Service: Steward was not very good - started off strong and went down hill. I never tipped him again after the lounger as he just never left coffee and forgot towels in room twice and didn't make it up one day. Other servie POSH exceptional service, restuarants pretty good, alot of Romanian's that could be a little friendlier and there was definately at times a lack of the english language with some when being seated and served. I always tipped on top of what they already got.

 

Let me take a break and then I'll give you my newbie perspective on the ship + and -.

[CRAustin]

Excursions:

 

St. Maarten - did the tour of the town, with the drop off for some shopping and then back to the port. This was good but bus could have made some additional photo stops, it rained a little so hard to get photos from bus. We went back and hung out at the beach, shopped and had a great time and then took the water shuttle back to the boat for $4 each. The beach was beautiful I should have worn my bathing suit.

 

St Thomas to St. John's snorkeling. Boat ride take about 45 minutes each way and then you have 1.5 hours at the beach, water was nice, but snorkeling at this beach was not the greatest - too many people have been there and it is no longer so secluded like my husband remember from 20+ years ago. Trunk Bay it was called.

 

Nassau: Paradise Island - Beach and Dig Access. Way over priced, too many people they couldn't accomodate with buses. By the time they loaded up the 5k that took this excursion from the 5 ships in port you had about 2 hours - buses started leaving to come back at 3 we were supposed to leave at 12 we didn't get to the beach until 1:45. We left at 4 and only had 20 minutes in the casino. Food and drink way over priced. Buy the coconut drink for 2 for 10 on the beach way better - better yet bring your own! This was a waste of money, others took a cab over to the casino for like 6 bucks.

 

The beach was beautiful and you could swim with beautiful fish there, aquarium was ok but really not that impressive to me and very hot inside made me sick.

 

Since this was my first cruise, I have learned not to book through the cruise line in most cases - go your own route and there are plenty of better offerings for cheaper when you get off the ship.

[Sauer-kraut]

Thanks for your review. Its nice to read what the first time cruisers think about the ships and excursions.

[CRAustin]

I enjoyed the cruise and I enjoyed this ship. I think it had very high standards, and it met my expectations. What was mainly lacking on this ship was a pool that any sane adult would want to use. The H2O pool was as big a joke as the 2 pools on the main deck. 10X10 maybe - I went in once. I never really used the pool deck because we had the Posh passes. I found it amazing that we never had to wait for anything.

 

They give you so much information in the dailies, announcements, etc. and directions were easy to get every where. Sometimes the elevators were full.

 

I did mess up our disembarkation, as I thought we could use our original luggage tags for pick-up but you did need new ones. So when I looked in the hall at 3 am the last night there sat our 5 bags! I was worried about doing the easy walk off with so many bags. We went to breakfast and took our time and luckily mostly everyone was gone so we were able to handle it. We did get pulled for questioning - I think she picked us cause it was easier then dealing with the big families in front or behind us - you 2 look good! Well it took all of 2 minutes a bunch of questions on declaration, they didn't search anything.

 

We bought alcohol including the 35% wormwood Absinthe that is not sold in the US in St. Maartin and we had no problem bringing the booze on ship - they scanned the bags and didn't say anything about our 6 liquor bottles. I bought Patron and Grand Marnier on our last night and packed that up too - we luckily could fit that plush the wine we didn't drink - no questions asked and I claimed in all on the declaration.

 

I also made a very bad mistake in St. Maarten and I want to say how honest the shop owner was. I did not bring my purse and had a very small wallet card holder that had my license, $500 cash and 2 credit cards. I mistakenly left it in a souvineer backpack with my passport that I had bought earlier and then realized was ripped. I brought it back to exchange it and forgot these very important items!!! Thank God this guy checked the bag and came after me in the street, I would have been totally screwed!! Be careful with your stuff, as this was a really poor mistake on my part and I thank God for watching out for me!

 

We enjoyed every port, but could have done excursions for less. We thought the up charges for the Cirque Dinner and Speciality Restuarants were well worth it.

 

We found that we did not feel crowded at all, had very little contact with kids due to the use of the POSH deck and eating in sit down restuarants. The children I did encounter all seemed to be enjoying themselves and well behave. I only ran into a group of teenagers that decided to run through the casino at full speed about 20 of them doing some kind of game or race annoying - pretty good for 7 days only one time I wanted to reach out to trip one of them.

 

This ship is very well designed to accomodate the family, the single traveler and the couple with no kids, it really caters to all and gives you the advantage to keep away from areas that may not be to your liking and be over crowded or noisy.

 

I'll post a link to some pictures.

 

I'll cruise again but it probably won't be for a while, I did feel somewhat uncomfortable with the lack of accessability to what was going on at home and unfortunately came home to a couple of disasters on the home front, that I wouldn't have been able to do anything about any way - so I guess it was ok that I didn't find out about it until after the cruise!

 

Thanks for all the help from everyone here and I hope my review was helpful to some.

 

Any questions please let me know.:)

[CRAustin]

http://community.webshots.com/album/580147582DofFZi?vhost=community

 

Here's the pictures on webshots

[mtb242]

I'll cruise again but it probably won't be for a while, I did feel somewhat uncomfortable with the lack of accessability to what was going on at home and unfortunately came home to a couple of disasters on the home front, that I wouldn't have been able to do anything about any way - so I guess it was ok that I didn't find out about it until after the cruise!

 

Sounds like our return home! :( I'm glad you had a good time - we sure did - despite any small inconveniences or negatives about the ship.

[Journey11]

Thanks for taking the time to prepare a very interesting review and to provide pictures. I am glad that overall you enjoyed your first cruise and wish you well with the issues at home.

[CRAustin]

One other quick note: Souviner shopping and watch and jewelry wait til last night and the shirts are like $7.50 and $80-$100 watches are $19.99.

 

Also don't forget feminine products or you are SOL, $3 for two.

 

Also on regular pool deck if you don't bring your 2 towels from room you have to leave a $25 deposit - on Posh Deck towels are unlimited with no deposit.

 

There also was alot of art sales - every day -NO interest. We didn't sign up for the Martini Tasting at Shakers but came in at the end and everyone seemed to be having a ball.

 

Svedka Ice Bar - small but you can take all the pictures you want and you get 2 very strong drinks of your choice we spent a good 45 minutes on our last night in there. I had shorts and sandals and was fine but a guy from Canada was shaking like a leaf!

 

There was alot of bingo, slot tournaments, bowling, WII on the big screen and we missed the late night stuff at H2O and Bliss - we probably did less than 1/2 of what was available but we did plenty of relaxing and met lots of great people.

[snorklinbarb]

Really enjoyed your review. It's always interesting & fun to see what a first time cruiser thinks. Sounds like you really made the most of it!

 

One clarification, however, just so others don't get confused. After reading your comments about spending 35 each for Cirque, I did check to see if NCL had again raised prices.

 

Prices for Cirque Dreams + dinner are still 20 for standard, 30 for premium.

 

Happy planning for your next cruise.:) Like you say, just not enough time to do everything the first time, especially on Epic. Last Aug. when we got off Epic we felt the same way so we returned in Feb.!!;)

[che5904]

Thanks for the review OP.

 

But am I the only one confused by this: OP you have your cruise date as 5/23-5/30. So is this a mistake? because unless I'm in a very strange time zone or some time warp we haven't even gotten to 5/23 yet, it's only the 12th today.

[CRAustin]

Yes dates are a mistake and I noted it on May 10 @ 4:30 because I could not find any type of edit button for the title!

 

Sorry.

 

Yes $30 for the upgraded Cirque also - didn't go back and check. Thank you.

 

If there is a way to fix the date let me know and I'll be glad to do so.

[Tropicalgurl]

[quote=CRAustin;29061591]My husband and I booked this cruise through Harrah's free offer, paid $200 for a balcony upgrade, port fees and taxes and insurance cancellation and cost was around $1000 before add-ons, excursions and of course gambling expense!

 

 

Hey

Glad you had a great time… Can you elaborate more on the Harrah’s free offer? My brother goes to the casinos a lot. He does not like to use the cards, but I think he is slowing changing his mind… He got an offer for a free trip to Biloxi… And was that total $1000 per person?

[CRAustin]

Trop,

 

The Harrah's offer was from New Orleans, but I have gotten them from all over. Had to go to NOLA and pick up the certificate and it was godd pretty much on any domestic and some European cruises for a year. For the EPIC is was only good for an inside cabin so I paid the upgrade, which was either 200 or $299 total, then I had to pay port and taxes and I bought the cancellation insurance which was $118. So it came to just over $1k for both of us. I priced out our cabin and to take the trip based on online prices was close to 4k. If your gambling any way us the card - my brother is the same way.

[Tropicalgurl]

Trop,

 

The Harrah's offer was from New Orleans, but I have gotten them from all over. Had to go to NOLA and pick up the certificate and it was godd pretty much on any domestic and some European cruises for a year. For the EPIC is was only good for an inside cabin so I paid the upgrade, which was either 200 or $299 total, then I had to pay port and taxes and I bought the cancellation insurance which was $118. So it came to just over $1k for both of us. I priced out our cabin and to take the trip based on online prices was close to 4k. If your gambling any way us the card - my brother is the same way.

 

 

My brother goes to NOLA all the time...that is one of his favorite places to gamble... and now since they had the floods in Tunica.. I think he will be staying away from Tunica for a little while once they get going again... They gotta get their money back somehow and he figured it ain't gonna be from him. I will tell him to use his card more...

That was a great deal!!!! Wish they had that back in my gambling days... I am officially retired from gambling now... Cause I have definitely paid for someone else’s retirement with my funds...

Are the certificates transferable?

[CRAustin]

No cruise certificates are not transferrable. They are good for 2 people, usually you have 6 months to book and a year to use.

[pruske25]

:) Thanks so much for posting a very informative review of the Epic & fun details of your trip. So glad to hear that DH had a great B-Day celebration on the Epic.

It bad that you had a bad room steward,:confused: we've been lucky to have had really good ones but glad it didn't ruin your time on the ship.

Lucky for you that the guy was so honest that he found you on the street to give you all your personal things that is a true blessing!!!:p

The Epic sounds like a wonderful ship that I need to plan a cruise on it.

Great pictures thanks for posting them, everything look really nice & fun !!!:)

Thanks for sharing & writing a CC Review !!!!

Hope everything at the home front is ok now !!!!

See you at Sumfest !!!!!:o

[CRAustin]

Thanks Pruske - yes see you in Vegas in a month. The cruise was fantastic highly recommend it. Hopefully late 2012 we can do another one. I loved the room and balcony and the ship was very easy to navigate.