My Epic adventure! Dec. 10-17

[kerrytens]

OK, my long awaited Epic cruise has now come and gone. I booked my trip as the ship was leaving the shipyard in 2010 and have faithfully followed all of the reviews (the great, the so-so and the downright ugly;)) over the last year and a half so you can imagine just how excited I was to board this ship last Saturday!

 

Before I really get going here, I thought I'd start by saying that I cruise with my special needs daughter so some of what I have to say is based on the cruiseline's treatment of her.

 

I had pre-arranged many things that many (perhaps all? I don't know as she has only sailed Carnival and now NCL) lines will organize for you. Sadly, I have to admit that there seemed to be a terrible breakdown of communication between what was arranged thru Head Office and what actually happened from the moment we arrived at the port continuing onto the ship for the first 24 hours or so.

 

It's especially tough when you've seen your child treated like royalty on another line from the second we entered the cruise terminal right down to the hugs at our priority debarkation. I do hope I'm not coming off as having a sense of entitlement because that isn't what I'm trying to convey at all. It was just a disappointing start ... no more, no less. I'm also really trying to let others out there know that there could be a lack of communication - just be prepared. And if NCL is reading, perhaps they will realize there is room for improvement. I really hope that what I said above may actually help another family, if truth be told.

 

In the end, I made sure things were eventually put into place. I did have a wonderful guardian angel too(you know who you are - and thanks:D) who really tried to smooth things over. I really hope they know just how appreciated they are!!!

 

Anyway, all of the above has little to do with the ship itself I guess and I eventually decided it wasn't worth stressing out over ... it was time to start to enjoy this much awaited vacation.

 

And with that statement, I shall continue this review shortly (and get some pics uploaded too).

 

Oh, and I'll try not to be so whiny from this point on too;):D

[cynbar]

Can you be a little more specific re what you were expecting and didn't get????

[kerrytens]

Can you be a little more specific re what you were expecting and didn't get????

Sorry, I was pretty vague.

 

We had pre-arranged priority embarkation/debarkation and private muster drill (my daughter has autism and anyone who knows that disease will understand the importance of getting this in place). All were things that I'd previously received so I didn't think they were that tough to get (or to ask for since they offered them).

 

Prior to the cruise I was given a personal port contact and I was told to call him when we were ready to leave for the port - he had no idea who I was nor was he even working on the Epic that particular day. To his personal credit, he did give me the name of the person to find at the Epic terminal though (not that we ever found her mind you).

 

I guess my real problem is the fact that I am comparing it to another embarkation with another cruiseline but that is hard not to do really ... for anyone.

 

Like I said before, I got it all worked out eventually ... and as you will see soon we had a fabulous cruise:D

[sdmike]

I completely understand your frustration. I have a son with Aspergers that is mainstream most of the time, but has some difficulties in certain situations. We try to predict and plan for these in advance to minimize their impact, and it's a great relief when plans go well. It's a big disappointment for plans to fail after all that work. I'm glad you got things straightened out, and I think you should certainly send a letter to NCL on the issue, just to help them get better at this.

[kerrytens]

So, let's get this review back on track :D Here she is in St. Thomas!

 

 

I am done with the bad now and I'm so onto the good!!!

 

The ship more than lived up to its name in my mind. After my little personal reality check (I need those every once in a while:o), I started to relax.

 

From all of my previous reading, I knew what to expect once onboard. I knew what the layout of my room was going to be ... and yes, I will admit that I had that 'OMG this sucker is small' moment when I finally got that door open (it's heavy folks!). But once inside, you quickly realize there is more storage available than you will EVER use. The beds were very comfortable and even the couch wasn't bad either. Besides my daughter and I, we also had my sister in the room so we all took turns on it.

 

The separate shower, toilet and sink was more of a bonus for all of us than a detriment. A total non-issue for our family. I will say that we booked a mini suite (cat. MA) so we did have the tub. Kiddo loved it. LOL!!!! Nothing like water in the tub sloshing with the motion of the ship to excite her:D. We also had zero issues with splashing from either the tub or the sink. I'd even go so far as say that I loved the design of the bathroom setup in our room.

 

Michael was our room steward. We always saw him in the hallway and he was always ready to take care of any of our needs (despite my previous posts about needs for my daughter, we really had none once onboard). He did a great job!

 

Meet and Mingle to come ...:D:D

[kerrytens]

I completely understand your frustration. I have a son with Aspergers that is mainstream most of the time, but has some difficulties in certain situations. We try to predict and plan for these in advance to minimize their impact, and it's a great relief when plans go well. It's a big disappointment for plans to fail after all that work. I'm glad you got things straightened out, and I think you should certainly send a letter to NCL on the issue, just to help them get better at this.

Thanks Mike!

 

I was really stressing out about starting this review as I didn't want to come off as needy (because I'm not) but I did feel it was an important enough issue to mention.

 

I have already emailed my NCL access contact with my concerns so I will wait to see what she says to see if I need to write anything more.

 

In the end, it worked out though:D

[kerrytens]

This particular cruise had the busiest Epic roll call (possibly ever??). There was (is!) a great bunch of folks who joined the roll call that I eventually started way back on January 1st of this year - I seriously couldn't wait any longer to get it going:D

 

I will say that the combination of this great bunch of folks and the ship itself truly turned this a cruise into the trip of a lifetime. I have made life long friends.

 

In the months leading up to the actual day, we had semi organized all sorts of wish list things to do, including Haven tours, Martini tastings and (gasp) a private pub crawl etc. With much work from the wonderful and beautiful Tonette and aforementioned (and equally wonderful and beautiful) Guardian Angel:D, all of the above happened.

 

Of course it all started with the M&M, Epic style - or should that be NCL style? Boy, do they know how to throw a party! We had 175 people who said 'yes I'll attend' from our 250 roll call members. And we didn't disappoint the officers who attended either. Bliss lounge was standing room only. I wish I had photos to share (perhaps my sister does???) or any of the others in attendance??? Feel free to add to this review at any point folks! I really have no idea why I have no pics - probably just overwhelmed by the great attendance:D

 

As I said, NCL knows how to do these things right. All of the big brass attended and we were all given a printed folder with the appropriate contact info.

 

While I am on the M&M stuff, just a quick aside to thank all who helped make this soiree a huge success. Thank you for all of your hard work!!!!

 

I must end tonight's posts for the evening. I promise to get back at it tomorrow, including more photos. Have to admit that the week exhausted me ... and you will see why tomorrow:D

[NengEuis]

Great start! Looking forward to reading the rest. We are 38 days out.....not that I am counting....... :D

[sdmike]

So you are in a cab on the way down to the terminal and you see something towering over the buildings on the left. Then you turn left towards the terminal. Standing there in front of you is something pretty big.

 

That was my first "holy crap" moment, seeing her tower over the terminal building. I was also amazed at how bright and new she looked, especially comparing those bright slides to the old, faded blue slides of the Carnival ship that sat behind her.

 

What was your first impression when you saw the ship? After been watching and reading so long, was it still an "oh my" moment?

 

 

Same thing in Roatan

 

[kwokpot]

Hmmm, I was on the same cruise; when did we stop in Roatan???:confused:

[sdmike]

Hmmm, I was on the same cruise; when did we stop in Roatan???:confused:

 

You didn't. I posted a picture of the ship in Roatan from when I was on it as part of my question for kerrytens :)

[65viki]

Thanks so much for your work on the Meet and Mingle, it was great, I think we made history by being so many!! Overall, we won't sail Epic again, but the people we met were wonderful, our steward, Ronald, was the greatest. Sorry we missed the Haven tour, but will wait for your pics. We didn't take pics in the M&M but I think our mutual friend had a friend who took tons . . .

[kerrytens]

So you are in a cab on the way down to the terminal and you see something towering over the buildings on the left. Then you turn left towards the terminal. Standing there in front of you is something pretty big.

 

That was my first "holy crap" moment, seeing her tower over the terminal building. I was also amazed at how bright and new she looked, especially comparing those bright slides to the old, faded blue slides of the Carnival ship that sat behind her.

 

What was your first impression when you saw the ship? After been watching and reading so long, was it still an "oh my" moment?

 

 

Same thing in Roatan

 

Great pics Mike! Thanks for adding them.

 

I always have one of those 'holy crap' moments when I see a cruise ship at the port. LOL!! The Epic did not disappoint at all. We had that exact same view from our shuttle. She was a beautiful sight, for sure!!!

 

You did make me remember something about the glass on the balconies though with this sparkly conversation - they never seemed to come and clean the glass on the balcony. There was a thick layer of salt covering ours for the entire trip. I have a photo at home that I will post tonight that clearly shows it on the day we boarded. Not a deal breaker at all but I found it sort of weird. I believe in St. Maarten the cleaner came along the side and sprayed water all over the inside of our balcony but he didn't squeegee the glass part.

 

OK, I need to get back to work now;)

[gelo7]

Great start.....

[kerrytens]

Just a quick drive-by post of the salty balcony ...

 

[sdmike]

Did you ask them to clean the glass? That's pretty gross and easy to clean with a little window cleaner/vinegar mix

[kerrytens]

OK, sorry for the delay getting back to this review - I've come to the realization that I should not book a cruise pre-Christmas ever again:eek: I just had too much to get done upon our return.

 

So, I uploaded some more photos during my hiatus and I think I'm ready to get going again ... but first a bit of backtracking to Miami (sorry!). I wanted to comment a bit more on the hotel we stayed at - Doubletree Grand Biscayne. I had booked it online at a good rate and judging where our room was ... I think they knew that. We had a view of another garden roof top which was quite pretty but there was no balcony (we booked the hotel thinking we would get one - oops!). To get to our room, you seriously needed to run some sort of maze as we realized we were directly below the pool on the roof. That area was beautiful.

 

Here's a few photos - inside the room (with the HUGE TV) and the roof top garden area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kerrytens]

Did you ask them to clean the glass? That's pretty gross and easy to clean with a little window cleaner/vinegar mix

No, I didn't. Can't say I ever thought it was something I should have had to ask for either ... it really just should have been done.

 

Sadly, that complaint sort of goes along with my earlier issues about having to ask for everything. I was past the asking stage once I realized just how filthy they were. We just kept saying 'well, tomorrow is St. Maarten ... St Thomas ... etc' thinking they were waiting for a port day. Oh well, just an observation on my part and certainly not the end of the world or a deal breaker.

[kerrytens]

A few days ago, I ended at our Meet and Mingle. Again, I will stress that NCL really knows how to put on a party. They worked with some of our group requests (more on those things soon) and everyone who attended really seemed to enjoy themselves. Our one regret - no group shot of the 100+++ of us who attended:(

 

During our daily chats online, we started to throw around ideas of things that we wanted to request. I don't know if it was the size our group that gave us some leverage but the ship organized a small Haven tour and a Martini tasting for us. We had to arrange a pub crawl ourselves but the ship kindly assigned a bartender to follow our group so we didn't overwhelm the bartenders in each bar we visited.

 

As an aside, the ship assigned the great Clarence as 'our' bartender. This guy is truly an asset to the line. I met him the next day at Waves on the Lido deck when I had my daughter in tow. I allowed her to order an apple juice and sign for it - from that point on, wherever he saw her, he'd ask her how she was doing ... by name!

 

I do wish I could say that all of the staff were as friendly as him but except for a few other great folks, he really was the exception to the rule for us. I guess I kept comparing the staff to what we felt on another line. I know it was apples to oranges essentially but I think it is human nature to still compare. Again, not the end of the world for us but I would have liked to see a few more smiles during the week. And, yet another of my simple observations:) I believe someone said that perhaps it was the full ship that sort of stretches the staff ... and I get that. It is hard to be 'on' 24/7.

 

I should briefly comment on the other two things that the ship arranged for us. Haven tour had limited space and was scheduled for mid morning on the St. Maarten day. This place is stunning. I can only hope to win the lottery ... hehehe

 

Here are a few shots, including my daughter's favourite chair.

 

 

 

Martini tasting was a blast. Armando is everything++ that I'd read about him prior to the cruise. Beware though, these aren't 'tastings' - we had full sized martinis!

[kerrytens]

Here is a pic of our our 4, ahem, tastings

 

 

Wish I could remember the names but the Chocolate Love was definitely the best of them! I also realized that I can't drink a classic Martini. LOL! The olives were good at least :)

[kerrytens]

I just realized that the ship also organized an Ice Bar takeover ... well, 3 actually since we had so many from our roll call that wanted to attend.

 

Now, it may seem weird that a Canuckian would want to do something that they can do just about any day in February but it was a must do for me for sure. My daughter had a GREAT time inside! One of the guys in my particular group had said that he was only going to wear a kilt (OK, and a shirt) and another kept saying that he was going to surprise us. Here is a shot of the two of them!! I found out later that neither used the coat and that Andy (the one in the shorts and sandals) apparently lasted 90 minutes inside. Myself, we were in about 30 minutes and yes I wore shorts and sandals too ... but I did wear the jacket.

 

 

My drink pick - the Polaris. Very good. If anyone out there is sitting on the fence about doing this particular thing - go for it. It was fun.

[kerrytens]

Entertainment section - one word describes the options on this ship. WOW!!! Simply untouchable in my mind. NCL knocked it out of the ballpark in this area.

 

Personally, I went to Slam Allen, Blue Man Group and Legends in Concert. My sister also went to Howl at the Moon.

 

Slam Allen is simply amazing. I could have attended every one of his sets.

 

Blue Man Group - funny, quirky and highly entertaining. My daughter loved them except when one was walking up through the audience and was coming too close for her liking. She screamed and grabbed me. He retreated. LOL!!!!

 

Legends - my daughter was equally as impressed seeing one of her faves, Lady Gaga, perform for her on the 'big boat' too. She and Steven Tyler were really good. Elvis was OK but I kept thinking he would have been a better Bruce Springsteen. Good night overall.

 

White Hot Party (since it is entertainment) - super fun! We attended the kid version first so my daughter could dance away. (Now, if any of you know know or understand autism, you will know that music, lights, crowds etc should really be too overwhelming for these kids. Well, apparently not mine. She was a different kid onboard and even her teachers commented last week at school at how much more outgoing she was upon our return. I think I am going to start a cruise therapy group for kids with autism:D )

 

So back to the White Hot Party, I love that the ship does something for the kids. Music and dancing on the lido. They also did a limbo contest that I couldn't keep kiddo from joining. LOL! Overall, it was probably one of the funnest nights for my family. Bravo NCL for doing this for the kids. All of them seemed to have a ball.

 

We did go back to Spice for a bit to see the real action but kiddo was pretty tired so after I had one drink, she and I left the sister to party the night away ... and apparently she did. LOL!!! (PS. Roll callers, if any of you have the shot of her and Mark in Bliss, I'd appreciate it if you'd post:p )

[kerrytens]

Food section (as subjective as it is)

 

Overall, I really liked the food I had onboard. You can now include me in the pretzel roll fan club too btw. Yum! I went to Moderno, Teppanaki and the Noodle Bar as my upcharge choices. Sister went to Cagneys.

 

Moderno was so much fun - I went to dinner with 2 other Canuckians from our roll call. The waiters seemed to have forgotten about the red and green card rule for our table as the food never stopped for any of us despite flipping our cards. Honestly, it added to the fun though and we had a ton of fun with the waiters.

 

Is it weird to say that my favourite part of that meal was the grilled pineapple??? LOL! It was delicious.

 

Teppanaki - again, a ton of fun! I think our chef was a bit new but he was funny and really tried so I'll give him a pass. The meal itself was really good. I also quite enjoyed my fave drink of the entire cruise too. Loved the Wasabi Cocktail:D The dessert was just weird looking but tasted OK (I actually liked the Green Tea ice cream). Here is a pic.

 

 

Noodle Bar - hmmmh. I was really looking forward to going here numerous times during my cruise but sadly, I went on our first sea day and the ship wasn't being particularly nice to me that day. It was a relatively rough sailing and the ship moved ... and moved a lot it seemed (I love movement at night btw but not during the day and I'm the opposite of most - I feel it more lower down and midship. Weird). I figured that some nice Chinese food would help me and it all tasted good but afterwards, I felt so sick. Boo! Not the restaurant's fault though in my mind but sadly I couldn't make myself try a re-do. That night I drank ginger ale and it was all good past that point even with rougher seas to come.

 

For the most part, we ate at the buffet because it was just fine (and it works better for my kiddo). The stations they have set up make it seem open and uncrowded. Best of all there is a ton of seating, particularly for breakfast when you can bring your plate down to La Cucina for some super quiet dining. We usually sat forward up top overlooking the bow of the ship but we finally went down to La Cucina on the Friday and it was perfect. It was here that we met another shining staff star - I wish I knew his name but at the time he was just being nice (no more or no less). It was when we embarked at Nassau that he made his impression on me. He was welcoming folks back on the ship and yelled out 'there is my little bacon princess' when he spotted my daughter. Again, it is a tiny thing but it is those things that I really like. Make my kid feel special and you will make this mom happy!!!

 

While I'm on the shining employee kick here, I'll mention one more - on the day we embarked we went to O'Sheehans first to wait for the rooms to open. Well, apparently the waitress remembered my daughter for the entire week as she came running over on the Friday morning to ask where we'd been all week (we'd been in O'Sheehans a few other times but she obviously wasn't there). She, too, remembered my daughter.

 

As for O'Sheehans - well, it was just meh in my mind. I'd been looking forward to trying the Chicken Pot Pie but it was inedible IMHO. Oh well. I did like the spinach and asiago dip though. My sister liked the wings too and of course my little french fry queen loved their fries. I really liked the atmosphere there and it was a great place to people watch.

[sdmike]

It warms my heart to hear how much fun your "kiddo" had on this ship. Special needs kids can surprise the heck out of you when you least expect it! Love the idea of cruise therapy. :) Mine surprise was when we went ziplining in Roatan. We were all standing there on the platform looking at how high we were off the ground and thinking about what we were about to do, but my son jumped up to the front of the line, proclaimed "let's go!", got hooked in and jumped right off the platform. It was friggin awesome.

 

Keep the review and pictures coming! Since I talked up the Epic so much it's a little sad to read about the things that didn't go well for you, but it seems that overall you had a really nice time.

 

and off he went..

 

[kerrytens]

I love that pic Mike!!! Those moments when our kids surprise us and do something that you'd never expect them to do (in my case, limbo. lol) are simply the best.

 

Honestly, I look back at this cruise with great fondness. Was it everything I thought it was going to be? No, unfortunately. Did my family have an amazing time? Oh yeah, we did:D