January 14th 2012 Epic - Aft Balcony review

[tarjan]

First off, Hello to the rest of the cruisecriticers we met onboard! Was great fun and hope to see you all on a future cruise.

 

The TL;DR for this is "we had a great time; would do it again"

 

If you want to read more though, here we go :)

 

Since so many have done pictures and detailed room reviews, I won't be adding much detail there. I'll only say that the room, other than the bathroom situation, is very nice. The aft balconies have more than enough balcony space to fit a lounger and provide a very relaxing place to watch the world go by. We never felt too cramped and the fit and finish was very good.

 

The food, this is another point of contention I think. At one point in the spa (which I will get to in a minute) I sat down in the "warm" tub with a few other people. One couple was talking about how much they disliked the food, the other couple was keeping mum. After a while the first couple left and we got to talking about the expectations of some.

 

Basically the Epic's food, in my opinion, is quite good for what it is. Never did I feel that I was served anything that was poor quality or prepared improperly. Much of the food is presented in very high standards that belies the fact they have to make many thousands of dishes a day. Everything I ate tasted great.

 

That being said, I think there is a point to the dishes where they don't feel especially distinct. We did go to Le Bistro and Cagneys of course, and while some of the dishes are only served there, you can tell that they use the same equipment and same basic mis en place to produce the food for those restaurants.

 

Again, that isn't a BAD thing, but neither are certainly what I would consider truly comparable to a high end french or steak place.

 

The only place that stood out in this respect was the Churrascaria. Then again, the meals there ARE different from everything else, how could they be otherwise? It is just seasoned grilled meats. Everything was, yet once again, prepared very well. When we asked for rare, they smiled and got us rare. When I asked for a wheelbarrow and someone to help get me back to my room because I ate so much... ;)

 

All can't be high praise though, and the one restaurant that fell through is Shanghai. I completely understand that we are cruising with lots of families and the Caribbean is probably as far out of the country as 95% of the people on the boat are ever going to go but... the menu reads pretty much like the "specials" list at the chinese place down the street from me. Notice I did not capitalize chinese... that is because it has nothing to do with China.

 

If you are going to put a place called Shanghai on your boat (which.. well the name seems strange to me considering what the old english connotations were related to boats*... then again maybe that is part of the fun) you should make it either free or a REAL Chinese place. Chongqing style chicken, cumin based dishes, fresh noodles, duck of all sorts or any of thousands upon thousands of other dishes.

 

It only costs me 8.95 to 12.95 for a dish at home, paying extra for a similar dish on the boat seems to be a bit much. I would pay for something more creative.

 

So on to the ship itself. The epic is big, but the layout makes it very easy to navigate. I never found myself thinking "when is this hallway ever going to end" like I have done in the jewel. We did end up having to go up and down stairs more than before though, since our rule is we only take the elevator on the way in and on the way out with luggage. That means 6-7 floors up and down every time we went to go out to the main floor.

 

Ok, out of time for now. I'll include more information later.

 

 

 

*verb (used with object), -haied, -hai·ing. Nautical . to enroll or obtain (a sailor) for the crew of a ship by unscrupulous means, as by force or the use of liquor or drugs.

[LivingLifetotheFullest]

looking forward to hearing more about your experience on the Epic - and specifically about your AFT cabin and excurisions on port days.

thanks for sharing.:)

[sdmike]

Thanks for sharing your initial impressions. Looking forward to hearing/reading more

[david_sobe]

Yes, good start

cant wait for more

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the start, now bring it home!

[mramz]

How did you like the aft balcony? What deck were you on, and especially was there extra vibration from being in that location? Look forward to hearing more.

[4774Papa]

How did you like the aft balcony? What deck were you on, and especially was there extra vibration from being in that location? Look forward to hearing more.

Yes, the title of your posting indicated some info on your aft balcony. We have one booked on the Epic for 27 May out of Barcelona. Was there a vibration problem?

[gelo7]

OP, were are you?

[soaringfalcon]

We're booked in aft on the 1/12/12 sailing :) You said there was plenty of room for loungers, are they already there or do I need to get them from somewhere?

[Let'sGoNow]

I sailed on Epic in an aft cabin. I asked our steward if he could bring me a lounger for my balcony, and he did.