So..........was our Epic adventure an Epic success???

[SASA13]

Thank you for the great review and pics. We also loved the Epic so much, that we are sailing again this December. Thanks again :)

[Chester & Brewster]

Sounds like you had a blast!

Can I ask about the wine package you bought?

We've always cruised on Royal Caribbean before & pre paid our wine package before we board, but can't do that for our Epic cruise. Curious to know what they offer.

[meltingmoments]

Thanks for your review!!

 

You're very welcome! :)

[meltingmoments]

Thank you for the great review and pics. We also loved the Epic so much, that we are sailing again this December. Thanks again :)

 

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

I would sail the Epic again in a heartbeat....loved her!

Enjoy your December cruise.......review please!! ;)

[meltingmoments]

Sounds like you had a blast!

Can I ask about the wine package you bought?

We've always cruised on Royal Caribbean before & pre paid our wine package before we board, but can't do that for our Epic cruise. Curious to know what they offer.

 

We DID have a blast, you're right! :)

 

 

Wine package was offered only on embarkation day. If I remember correctly, it was set up near the Garden Cafe area. There's a fairly good selection of red, white, rose and sparkling wines ranging in price from $26 to $$$$. You choose 6 bottles.....any mix....and get 20% of the total price. You can then have them delivered to your cabin and take them into any restaurant you like, or leave them in the ship's cellar . You are given 6 slips and you just hand over a slip each time you want a bottle!! Easy as that! I had one in our cabin, one in O'Sheehans, one in Manhattan....lol....they were everywhere!! But the wait staff jut tag the bottle for you if it's un-finished and you retrieve it next time you are in O'Sheehans, Manhattan etc.

Hope this helps! :)

[Chester & Brewster]

We DID have a blast, you're right! :)

 

 

Wine package was offered only on embarkation day. If I remember correctly, it was set up near the Garden Cafe area. There's a fairly good selection of red, white, rose and sparkling wines ranging in price from $26 to $$$$. You choose 6 bottles.....any mix....and get 20% of the total price. You can then have them delivered to your cabin and take them into any restaurant you like, or leave them in the ship's cellar . You are given 6 slips and you just hand over a slip each time you want a bottle!! Easy as that! I had one in our cabin, one in O'Sheehans, one in Manhattan....lol....they were everywhere!! But the wait staff jut tag the bottle for you if it's un-finished and you retrieve it next time you are in O'Sheehans, Manhattan etc.

Hope this helps! :)

 

Great, thanks a lot. We're thinking of taking our own on board & paying the corkage, which will save us quite a bit, and we get to choose the wine we want to drink. I've looked at the wine list & there isn't much on there I'd drink (not without paying through the nose for it anyway).

 

Unfinished wine - now there's a concept I'm not familiar with :D;)

[meltingmoments]

Great, thanks a lot. We're thinking of taking our own on board & paying the corkage, which will save us quite a bit, and we get to choose the wine we want to drink. I've looked at the wine list & there isn't much on there I'd drink (not without paying through the nose for it anyway).

 

Unfinished wine - now there's a concept I'm not familiar with :D;)

 

Now I'm with you on THAT one!!! ;):D

[meltingmoments]

Great, thanks a lot. We're thinking of taking our own on board & paying the corkage, which will save us quite a bit, and we get to choose the wine we want to drink. I've looked at the wine list & there isn't much on there I'd drink (not without paying through the nose for it anyway).

 

Unfinished wine - now there's a concept I'm not familiar with :D;)

 

We would have considered this , but flew in from England, so wasn't an option! Time was tight in Barcelona beforehand......no time to check out wine shops, so we did what was good for us! :)

[Chester & Brewster]

We would have considered this , but flew in from England, so wasn't an option! Time was tight in Barcelona beforehand......no time to check out wine shops, so we did what was good for us! :)

 

We're flying into BCN on Friday night, so that gives us all day Sat for wine shopping. I can fit 10 bottles into my pull along wheelie hand luggage - yes, I've already checked! :D

[meltingmoments]

We're flying into BCN on Friday night, so that gives us all day Sat for wine shopping. I can fit 10 bottles into my pull along wheelie hand luggage - yes, I've already checked! :D

 

Lol........I actually never noticed where you were from!! :o

 

We flew in on the Friday too, but spent Saturday at the Sagrada Familia......amazing!!!

 

I think I'd like to cruise with you......I'm sure we'd get on VERY well......I'm good at sharing.....especially wine!!! ;)

[Chester & Brewster]

Lol........I actually never noticed where you were from!! :o

 

We flew in on the Friday too, but spent Saturday at the Sagrada Familia......amazing!!!

 

I think I'd like to cruise with you......I'm sure we'd get on VERY well......I'm good at sharing.....especially wine!!! ;)

 

I'm very good at drinking wine ;)

We're having an on-going discussion as to how many bottles we can carry on - 13 night cruise with lots of sea days...........

[meltingmoments]

I'm very good at drinking wine ;)

We're having an on-going discussion as to how many bottles we can carry on - 13 night cruise with lots of sea days...........

 

Oh I can DRINK it as well as share it!! ;)

Let me know what decision you come to!!

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for your review and your efforts to do photos and even get them a bit bigger. Do you remember your cabin number? :):):)

[meltingmoments]

Thanks for your review and your efforts to do photos and even get them a bit bigger. Do you remember your cabin number? :):):)

 

Oooo I got a surprise seeing my old review pop up on here again!! Nice to know people are still reading it! :)

Thanks for your kind comments........I'm nothing if not a tryer.......won't let technology beat me........and I had some help from other posters too!!

 

 

Our cabin was 13286.......are you considering The Epic? She's fab!! :)

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for the Cabin number...yes, we are considering the Epic or maybe the Breakaway. :):)

[SwellBee]

Normally I wouldn't post something on a thread this old, but since there has been recent activity... here I am! :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for writing your review. I'm trying to convince myself that booking a solo studio cabin on the Epic for my birthday in October 2014 is a good idea. I'm a little hesitant but reading all of the reviews about Epic make it seem like a no brainer! :D

 

If there is one thing you could suggest doing on the this ship/itinerary, what would your suggestion be?

[Blondie008]

OK, let's carry on!! So we arrive at port and catch our first glimpse of our home for the next week! She sure is one HUGE ship!! We get out of our taxi and are immediately greeted by an NCL staff member who takes our cases and directs us to the waiting area. We are directed to a check-in line, fill in the health forms, hand over our credit card details ( OH DEAR!! LOL )and given a number.....7.......which was called before we even had time to take advantage of the coffee and cookies available!!

Then that was it.........we were onboard!!! Greeted by music, happy, smiling staff and the inevitable photographer!!

Having read lots of advice on here, we decided to make our way to O'Sheehans for a drink and a bite to eat......chicken wings for me......fish and chips for DH.....both were excellent!

 

Then a tour of the ship, taking in as much as we could!

Before we knew it, our room was ready and we made our way to Deck 13, Aft. Our cabin was actually an accessible cabin and it was HUGE......I was so surprised!! Within 20 minutes there was a knock on the door and Josephine, our room steward, was there with BOTH our cases!! I had thought one of them would end up in the * naughty room * as I had a travel iron with me because we were continuing our travels after the Epic. But no.......I escaped!!

We unpacked and went off for another look around. Came back to our cabin for sail away, chilled on our large balcony and then got ready for our first evening onboard!!

 

 

Hols 2012 102 by smilinglady, on Flick

 

 

Hols 2012 048 by smilinglady, on Flickr

 

 

Hols 2012 050 by smilinglady, on Flickr

 

Hols 2012 090 by smilinglady, on Flickr

 

This was really cool for a shortie like me.....all the hanging space comes down to easy reach level!

Hols 2012 049 by smilinglady, on Flickr

 

Hols 2012 060 by smilinglady, on Flickr

 

Hi - The hairdryer in the above pic - is that theirs? Or your own? If NCL - any idea of wattage of it? I need a minimum of 1800 watts - have one USA hair dryer I travel with but its cumbersome - and my travel dryer orUK dryer doesnt work with ships voltage as well - looking at this one it looks like its a normal dryer with nozzle etc? Thank you for the great review and pics!

[meltingmoments]

Normally I wouldn't post something on a thread this old, but since there has been recent activity... here I am! :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for writing your review. I'm trying to convince myself that booking a solo studio cabin on the Epic for my birthday in October 2014 is a good idea. I'm a little hesitant but reading all of the reviews about Epic make it seem like a no brainer! :D

 

If there is one thing you could suggest doing on the this ship/itinerary, what would your suggestion be?

Aww how nice to see my review again!! :)

What a great birthday present to be thinking about!!

There are a few great reviews from solo passengers on here....try Lara Lox or zactac if you haven't seen them already!

As for my one suggestion on the ship/itinerary......tough choice but I'll go with Blue Man Group for the ship......we have nothing like it here in England!

And our favourite destination was Florence....a truly pretty city.

Enjoy whatever you decide to do! :)

[meltingmoments]

Hi - The hairdryer in the above pic - is that theirs? Or your own? If NCL - any idea of wattage of it? I need a minimum of 1800 watts - have one USA hair dryer I travel with but its cumbersome - and my travel dryer orUK dryer doesnt work with ships voltage as well - looking at this one it looks like its a normal dryer with nozzle etc? Thank you for the great review and pics!

 

The hairdryer was NCL's own, but I'm afraid I have no idea about the wattage! :o

I WILL say it did an amazingly quick job of drying my hair......but mine is very short....although thick.....hope that helps?

Glad you enjoyed my review and pics! :)

[robinbird62]

You say you were on deck 13 and it was a little noisy - we in 13016 just wondered where you were and are we going to be disturbed as well. Luckily we have to be up early on most of the ports so may act as an alarm clock !!!!:)

[meltingmoments]

You say you were on deck 13 and it was a little noisy - we in 13016 just wondered where you were and are we going to be disturbed as well. Luckily we have to be up early on most of the ports so may act as an alarm clock !!!!:)

 

 

We had an aft balcony and it was the noise when docking that woke us up each morning! This is only felt/heard aft of the ship from what I believe. It DID serve as our early-morning wake-up call and we saw each port come into view, which was amazing! Even WITH the noise and vibration we would book an aft balcony on the Epic again, given the chance, we absolutely loved it!

[joyus]

I enjoyed reading your review. Good things (reviews) don't go away :-)! Couple of questions...How far was it & approximately the cost of a taxi from the airport to the hotel then to the cruise port?

Did you find the aft cabin rocky most of the cruise? Do you know what disembarkation started? We'll need to make airlines reservations back to the US and wondered what would be the best time to book our return flight.

 

Thank you.

[meltingmoments]

I enjoyed reading your review. Good things (reviews) don't go away :-)! Couple of questions...How far was it & approximately the cost of a taxi from the airport to the hotel then to the cruise port?

Did you find the aft cabin rocky most of the cruise? Do you know what disembarkation started? We'll need to make airlines reservations back to the US and wondered what would be the best time to book our return flight.

 

Thank you.

 

First of all, thank-you for your kind words! :)

 

Our taxi from the airport to the hotel ( if my memory serves me correctly! ) was about 28 Euros and took approx. 25 minutes. From the hotel to the cruise terminal the cost was about 23 euros and took about 15 minutes.

 

As for the aft balcony, I only noticed the vibration when pulling into port.....never felt it otherwise!

 

As for disembarking, I believe the ship docks at 5:00am and you can self-disembark from as soon as the ship is cleared.......about an hour, I believe......I'm sure someone will correct if I'm wrong! We self-disembarked at about 9:00 am and it was very painless.....but we only had a train to catch to Sitges at our leisure, not a flight!

 

Hope that helps....and enjoy your trip! :)

[joyus]

What about the language in Spain and on the ship. We speak so little spanish. I told my husband we may need to start now learning spanish. What do you think? Did you find it best to be able to speak spanish when dealing with taxis, vendors, on ship, etc?

[meltingmoments]

What about the language in Spain and on the ship. We speak so little spanish. I told my husband we may need to start now learning spanish. What do you think? Did you find it best to be able to speak spanish when dealing with taxis, vendors, on ship, etc?

 

I have to say that we have been taking land vacations in Spain for many years and have picked up a fair bit! My DH SPEAKS it better than I do, but I have an understanding of the language.....I just lack the confidence....in case I'm wrong!! :o The Spanish people always appreciate an attempt at their language, so I would say, give it a go, learn some basic phrases that you may need,

As for the ship.......we found everyone spoke amazing English.....put us to shame!