My Epic thoughts. (24 Nov 2012 - 1 Dec 2012)

[rajones007]

Maybe these "Rug Rats" live on the Epic as I'm sure they were the same one's living in the Haven Courtyard when I was there in March :p It was the jumping from the railing of the hot tub into the pool that did me in...waiting for one them to go splat on the pool deck :( The staff would tell them to stop which they did for Oh about 3 seconds.

That's EXACTLY what they were doing on this cruise too. It was one of those things that you try to look away...but you can't. You must watch the impending disaster!

 

I swear they were thinking about jumping off the Haven sundeck (above the exercise room). They were up there a couple times, peering over the edge. But none of them ever did it (at least not when I was there.)

 

More things I thought of last night:

 

--Speaking of the private Haven sundeck. If you go up to that private Haven sundeck above the exercise room after dark a NCL security person will usually appear up there within 5 minutes. No, I wasn't up to anything. It happened numerous times, both when i was alone and other times when I was with my GF when we both wanted a quiet place to relax that was off the beaten path.

 

One night I was sitting down by the pool reading and another couple were wandering around, checking things out. They strolled up there, sat down, and just as I expected, within a couple minutes a security officer magically appeared in a cloud of smoke at the top of the steps.

 

I wonder if they've had issues with people doing unspeakable things up there in the evenings. After all, it's a rarely used area and the back corners of this deck are quite private and secluded. Things can get romantic on a cruise ship under the stars. Just saying...that's all. We're only human. I'm not going to lie - the thought crossed my mind while up there with my girlfriend! ;)

 

--The balcony in a 2 Bedroom Family Suite is plenty big enough for a lounge chair. I don't understand why they don't just put one on each balcony to begin with. After Adrian had one delivered for us, we had the lounger against the far wall, and the two chairs side-by-side (with the small table in the middle) on the other wall. There was plenty of room to stand at the railing and get back and forth to the cabin.

 

--One thing I really would have liked on the Haven Courtyard would have been a view of the ocean. I presume they thought of that, but the loss of some cabin space was probably not something they were willing to give up.

 

I find sitting on my own balcony to be the most relaxing time. Time seems to fly by. I just look at the waves and get lost in my own thoughts. Then all of a sudden I'll wake up and be like "holy crap, look at the time! What have I been doing?"

 

--Being in the Haven made me feel disconnected from the rest of the ship. It did. It felt very exclusive. So much so that it felt a little odd for us middle-class blue-collar people who are very down to earth and unassuming.

 

So we were sure to go down periodically and spend some time with the peasants. :D

 

--Our butler, Jeffrey, was being run ragged so we didn't use him too much. And when we did use him, he was always so busy that he couldn't even stop to chat for half a minute. I like to learn something about the crew, but it was next to impossible with Jeffrey. All I got out of him was he was from Montego Bay, Jamaica and he started out with NCL as a cook back in 1995.

 

There was a few suites down our side of the ship (starboard) that we never seen a soul come out of. But Jeffrey was constantly bringing food into. Constantly. No exaggeration.

 

I'm thinking they were occupied by very elderly and/or severely handicapped people. Perhaps a group of them booked together. I think I'm fairly safe in my assumption.

 

If so, I hope they had a good time on the cruise. I'm sincere about that. I know if I ever get to that point in my life I would like to have one last cruise. If I have to spend it in my cabin, so be it. If I'm on a cruise ship, I know I'll be happy.

 

It's either that or they were just very reclusive people.

 

--Jeffrey and Garry were awesome to all of us. I filled out those Hero cards for them, and each of our kids did one too. Every day they brought us a big bowl of M&Ms and another bowl of Gummie Bears. Anybody who does that for me is ACES in my books.

[rocklinmom]

Good to know this information on the Epic Haven! I am debating between the same family suite on Epic or going on the Spirit instead (for a Mediterranean cruise). It's an older ship, so no Haven, but I don't want to pay for that and then have problems with unruly kids. My three kids would never act like that, especially on a cruise ship. Unbelievable.

I also have concerns about such a huge ship. We are used to smaller Princess ships, and will be on the POA next summer which is half the size of Epic.

Thanks for this review, it gives me even more to think about.

[iluvdoxies]

That's EXACTLY what they were doing on this cruise too. It was one of those things that you try to look away...but you can't. You must watch the impending disaster!

 

I swear they were thinking about jumping off the Haven sundeck (above the exercise room). They were up there a couple times, peering over the edge. But none of them ever did it (at least not when I was there.)

 

More things I thought of last night:

 

--Speaking of the private Haven sundeck. If you go up to that private Haven sundeck above the exercise room after dark a NCL security person will usually appear up there within 5 minutes. No, I wasn't up to anything. It happened numerous times, both when i was alone and other times when I was with my GF when we both wanted a quiet place to relax that was off the beaten path.

 

One night I was sitting down by the pool reading and another couple were wandering around, checking things out. They strolled up there, sat down, and just as I expected, within a couple minutes a security officer magically appeared in a cloud of smoke at the top of the steps.

 

I wonder if they've had issues with people doing unspeakable things up there in the evenings. After all, it's a rarely used area and the back corners of this deck are quite private and secluded. Things can get romantic on a cruise ship under the stars. Just saying...that's all. We're only human. I'm not going to lie - the thought crossed my mind while up there with my girlfriend! ;)

 

--The balcony in a 2 Bedroom Family Suite is plenty big enough for a lounge chair. I don't understand why they don't just put one on each balcony to begin with. After Adrian had one delivered for us, we had the lounger against the far wall, and the two chairs side-by-side (with the small table in the middle) on the other wall. There was plenty of room to stand at the railing and get back and forth to the cabin.

 

--One thing I really would have liked on the Haven Courtyard would have been a view of the ocean. I presume they thought of that, but the loss of some cabin space was probably not something they were willing to give up.

 

I find sitting on my own balcony to be the most relaxing time. Time seems to fly by. I just look at the waves and get lost in my own thoughts. Then all of a sudden I'll wake up and be like "holy crap, look at the time! What have I been doing?"

 

--Being in the Haven made me feel disconnected from the rest of the ship. It did. It felt very exclusive. So much so that it felt a little odd for us middle-class blue-collar people who are very down to earth and unassuming.

 

So we were sure to go down periodically and spend some time with the peasants. :D

 

--Our butler, Jeffrey, was being run ragged so we didn't use him too much. And when we did use him, he was always so busy that he couldn't even stop to chat for half a minute. I like to learn something about the crew, but it was next to impossible with Jeffrey. All I got out of him was he was from Montego Bay, Jamaica and he started out with NCL as a cook back in 1995.

 

There was a few suites down our side of the ship (starboard) that we never seen a soul come out of. But Jeffrey was constantly bringing food into. Constantly. No exaggeration.

 

I'm thinking they were occupied by very elderly and/or severely handicapped people. Perhaps a group of them booked together. I think I'm fairly safe in my assumption.

 

If so, I hope they had a good time on the cruise. I'm sincere about that. I know if I ever get to that point in my life I would like to have one last cruise. If I have to spend it in my cabin, so be it. If I'm on a cruise ship, I know I'll be happy.

 

It's either that or they were just very reclusive people.

 

--Jeffrey and Garry were awesome to all of us. I filled out those Hero cards for them, and each of our kids did one too. Every day they brought us a big bowl of M&Ms and another bowl of Gummie Bears. Anybody who does that for me is ACES in my books.

 

we had jeffrey and gary as well ----Jeffrey was awesome ! did soooo much for us - we were on a b2b and tipped him well---you'd have thought we gave him a mill $$===he is from Jam.. after 2 weks we did have a chance to talk to him ---our only request was NO seafood for the snacks lol

 

Adrian was great - fixed a problem with bon voyage liquor we had ordered. Always smiling, always busy.

 

dont uesually tip the room s extra, but this time we did ---he made me some awesome towel animals, supplied me with ice/limes and was soooo much fun to talk to

[aknz]

Couldn't agree more re the rugrats. We have sailed Epic three times, twice in the med (not such a problem there but it is a very port intensive cruise and we chose a couple of days to stay on the ship as we've done Rome and Forence on land based holidays) and once last January. I complained to Adrian on about day five and he suggested we go to Posh. I wish I'd complained earlier because it was great. My kids (18 and 20) and I loved it up there.

 

It was the second week of January and Adrian did say "lucky you weren't here last week..." I think you have to choose your dates carefully when booking in the Epic Haven as the rooms are designed for families.

 

I loved the Epic buffet too and I am so not a buffet person.

 

Back on the Star in January, haven't been since the kids were 12 or so. Will be interesting to see how we find that, no haven but we got a great deal on the Garden Villa so hopefully that will compensate.:)

[Aladdin1968]

Wow. I had almost exactly the same experience as the OP. In the same cabin category. I thought I was crazy and kept quiet... NCL yes, but as to he Epic, once was enough.

[elbodans]

first, i have to applaud you for injecting so much humor into this post. and that you started out by saying it was a good cruise. well done!

 

but second--wow. the kids in the haven were NOT ok. i applaud you for not saying something; i'd have said something. loudly. that is unacceptable. i'm not sure what NCL could do about this, but the PARENTS should have done something. i would have spoken to them, first, and then to any NCL person who would listen. but then again, i'm rather outspoken. :o but really--it is NOT ok that you paid that much money to have a 'private' area only to have it ruined by children. yes, those parents paid, too--but not to have a common area act as a babysitter. i'm sorry for that experience.

 

that being said--i sailed on the gem last october, and i LOVED it. i feel it is the perfect sized ship. and sailing to bermuda in october--VERY few kids.

[SMSACE6]

Thanks for your review of the Epic. I appreciate every single one of them, as I eagerly await my cruise on her next year. Sorry about the negative things that affected your enjoyment of the ship, but it sounds as though you

also had some positives too. Im glad to hear that La Cucina was good. I have been reading lots of negatives about it, but I love italian food, and I think it will be the one fee/restaurant that I will visit. Thanks again for taking the time to post.:)

[SissasMomE]

I really enjoyed your review. Thank you.

 

We keep toying with going on Epic, but then choose something else.

 

It would really bother us to spend all that money for a suite and then have the problems you had with kids.

 

BTW, we were on Oasis and it wasn't crowded at all. Well, maybe the buffet on embarkation day. :)

 

We sailed spring break - which I would imagine is a pretty popular time to bring kids - and we never had a problem. In fact, we are going back again, also during spring break. Well - let me clarify that. To be fair, the pools were FILLED with kids ... but it's a cruise, and I expected that. We didn't have a problem with impolite or obnoxious kids though. If I saw kids doing cannonballs into the hot tub day after day I would've found the parents .... or started doing cannonballs myself ... depending on my mood :D

 

I"m an ex smoker, but unlike the OP, I can't stand the smell. It gives me a headache and makes me nauseous. That said, I didn't have any problems in or near the casino. Maybe the air purifiers weren't working - I don't know. I mean - you could smell it when we were on, but it definitely wasn't smoky or in my clothes or anything like that.

[SissasMomE]

Wondering if anybody here has taken the ferry over to other islands while in Port (St John?, Jost Van Dyke?)

 

I have, but I really recommend doing it thru the ship. If you do it on your own, and miss the ferry, they won't wait for you. I did it on my own on RCCL and didn't have a problem, but I was really hesistant to do it on the Epic. I don't remember if it was because of the ferry schedule or what .... but for our upcoming Epic trip, I did book thru the ship.

[bluesea777]

Looks like here are 2 factors that will probably put off people (like us) booking to stay in the Haven.

 

1) 2 bedroom suites catering for FAMILIES - folks AND children

 

2) only one pool in Haven and it's for BOTH adults and children (see #1 above)

 

Due to the above 2 factors there is NO quiet time in the Haven. The Posh Club is adults only, yes, but it is missing one important, maybe 2 things - pool and tub - for adults only.

 

We had a mini-suite and bought Posh Club passes - loved our time up there but missed the pool.

[K L B]

I sometime want to be to ask one of these types of parents how they let it happen, and not say anything to their kids. Is it white noise that they don't hear, or have they just given up because the kids are uncontrollable? Do they think it is ok for kids to behave like that? Or is it a sense of entitlement since they paid to be there? It would be an honest question but chances are the question wouldn`t go over well.

 

I really, really hope I don't end up with the non-parenting types on my cruise. That will be very upsetting. (Not to mention embarrassing for my son if i end up being the mean mom at the pool who yells at the other kids)

[catgags]

Twinkstarr,

how far from Port is Maho Beach?

Maybe 20min in cab. I think it was $12 for the 2 of us. The beach is right next to the Sunset bar and grill!!! We would go early before it got busy. Get a good table on the deck then drink and watch planes!!!

[maulers2000]

I believe that some parents think that they are on vacation and that rules no longer apply. They think that it is the responsibility of someone else to discipline them.

 

On a recent cruise, in the Haven, we thought our kids were being too loud and kept asking them to respect others. An older couple pulled me aside and thanked me for having such quiet, well behaved kids.

 

I try to hold them to high standards of respect and am maybe hard on them at times but a few kids on that cruise were totally out of control. At one point one of the kids (maybe 10 yrs old) jumped in the Haven pool on top of my then 3 year old.

 

The main pool is often more crazy, especially on sea days.

 

That being said, this summer we had an odd experience on the Gem in Nassau.

While we were in port my wife decided to take some pictures while we (myself and 2 kids) were on the slide and in the main pool. With the exception of one gentleman on a chair hear the pool there was nobody in sight. The result is pictures of us swimming and on the slide looking like we had the ship to ourselves. Truly one of the greatest moments we have had on an NCL ship. Very different from kids jumping from the 17th deck into the Haven pool on 16......

[dlynn0366]

I honestly was afraid to approach a parent as I thought they must feel it was OK for their kids to be acting like this and if I were to say anything they would take it the wrong way :mad:....have their kids throw me overboard. So I took the cowards way & stayed at POSH. But again no big deal as I found Haven Courtyard hot and also I didn't like the fact you couldn't see the sea.

[Alg63]

Excellent review, thank you .. I am a celebrity "Loyal" booked on Epic in October. The more I read, the more nervous I get.

 

Those same people who can't walk up or down one floor are the same who have scooters UNTIL it's dinner time, then they park their scooters all over and RUN to the buffet

And the REASON they have heart and knee issues is because they never take the stairs. Oh, and look what a big plate of food they have

 

Yes, I know this is a generalization, those that have legitimate needs generally do not take offense. They are just as much, or even more inconvenienced by "unnecessary scoooters" or over full elevators, because they have even more difficulty getting in

[boopsahoy]

Excellent review, thank you .. I am a celebrity "Loyal" booked on Epic in October. The more I read, the more nervous I get.

 

Those same people who can't walk up or down one floor are the same who have scooters UNTIL it's dinner time, then they park their scooters all over and RUN to the buffet

And the REASON they have heart and knee issues is because they never take the stairs. Oh, and look what a big plate of food they have

 

Yes, I know this is a generalization, those that have legitimate needs generally do not take offense. They are just as much, or even more inconvenienced by "unnecessary scoooters" or over full elevators, because they have even more difficulty getting in

 

You shouldnt get worried about the Epic. Ive read many great reviews of the ship. Unless you dont like big ships.....

[jaimedag]

**This is not directed at the OP as much as it is a general comment.

 

I wouldn't worry about the Epic either. This was my third time on it and second time in the Haven. We just got off this exact same cruise. We were suite 16017 and had a blast. We too were one of the (apparent) dreaded hard working families that brought *gasp* children and especially *gasp* to the HAVEN! I get pretty annoyed at the lack of courtesy people without young kids have towards those who do. We have 3. A DD 2.5, DD 6 and DS 9. We were also traveling with friends who have two son's, 4 and 8. I would like to point out right now that our kids were nowhere NEAR as wild as the children the OP is mentioning. We know exactly who those kids were and I actually had one of their sisters yell at them while I was relaxing in the hot tub with my 6 year old. I don't think every kid should be painted with the same brush, when really, it was only about 3-4 kids that were animals.

My one and only complaint this week would be about a very rude and completely arrogant family, who on almost every occasion made mention of how there were "too many annoying kids" in the Haven. Even Adrian explained to them that is is a family cruise. I find it is very rude that these people are so "above" being in the presence of children. And may I mention again, that all 5 of our kids were more behaved than 80% of the adults on the ship. Well, at least they were more respectful than the family we tagged "Kid Haters". A word of advice, if you don't like kids, want to see them, think about them or acknowledge that they deserve to be there just as much as anyone else, book an old person cruise.

Epic is awesome! Adrian is a godsend and Jeffery and Garry were the best ever!

[jake54321]

**This is not directed at the OP as much as it is a general comment.

 

I wouldn't worry about the Epic either. This was my third time on it and second time in the Haven. We just got off this exact same cruise. We were suite 16017 and had a blast. We too were one of the (apparent) dreaded hard working families that brought *gasp* children and especially *gasp* to the HAVEN! I get pretty annoyed at the lack of courtesy people without young kids have towards those who do. We have 3. A DD 2.5, DD 6 and DS 9. We were also traveling with friends who have two son's, 4 and 8. I would like to point out right now that our kids were nowhere NEAR as wild as the children the OP is mentioning. We know exactly who those kids were and I actually had one of their sisters yell at them while I was relaxing in the hot tub with my 6 year old. I don't think every kid should be painted with the same brush, when really, it was only about 3-4 kids that were animals.

 

 

 

My one and only complaint this week would be about a very rude and completely arrogant family, who on almost every occasion made mention of how there were "too many annoying kids" in the Haven. Even Adrian explained to them that is is a family cruise. I find it is very rude that these people are so "above" being in the presence of children. And may I mention again, that all 5 of our kids were more behaved than 80% of the adults on the ship. Well, at least they were more respectful than the family we tagged "Kid Haters". A word of advice, if you don't like kids, want to see them, think about them or acknowledge that they deserve to be there just as much as anyone else, book an old person cruise.

Epic is awesome! Adrian is a godsend and Jeffery and Garry were the best ever!

 

 

You make a very good point and generalizations should not be made. I'm sure there were some children like yours that were well behaved. That being said, the three or four animals should have been delt with by security. One doesn't need to confront parents who obviously can't or don't want to control their children. If other passenengers are " too afraid" to speak to the parents a call to security or the HD sholuld suffice. I would simply tell the powers that be that certain kids are ruining the cruise for adults and other children. the parents should be informed that they have to control their children and respect other passengers (adults and children alike) or they will be made to go to the kiddie pool. JMHO.

[Twinkstarr]

Twinkstarr,

how far from Port is Maho Beach?

 

If the traffic is "normal" 30 minute cab ride. I think it cost $8pp one way.

 

Now on the way back, it took a little longer because of traffic. So don't cut it to close on your return. There was a group of travel agents on board, and one of them had an 1hr return, got on the ship 20 minutes before departure.

[toledo]

We have done a snorkeling excursion to St John through the cruise line ( not Epic ). It was by boat over to St John and then open top bus to the bay. I wish I could remember the name of the bay. It is still our favorite. Crystal blue water. You can find all the tours for each ship on the NCL website, or check with others on the ports board for recommendations. St John is mostly designated as a national park. I highly recommend.

 

I believe you're referring to Trunk Bay. It is wonderful and not too far from the docks on St. John.

[Twinkstarr]

Hmm, I can't remember seeing too many out of control kids. The ones I met were behaved.

 

One of the few times I got into an elevator, did see some kids handy work. Every button was pushed, so we stopped at every floor.

[rajones007]

Excellent review, thank you .. I am a celebrity "Loyal" booked on Epic in October. The more I read, the more nervous I get.

Please don't be nervous. The ship is fantastic and the crew is even fantastic-er.

 

The main reason I didn't spend much time in the Haven Courtyard is because I couldn't view the ocean from there. The kids never directly chased me out of the CY area. I was probably thinking of leaving anyways, and they just convinced me it was time.

 

I think others have taken my kids comments a bit overboard. Yes, they were annoying at times, but it didn't "break" our cruise. There were plenty of other places to go. And I openly admit there were times when I just wanted to get away from the crowds. And placing the blame on the amount of kids in an area is an easy thing to do.

 

If had to make a choice between a Disney cruise and a HAL cruise, I wouldn't hesitate to say Disney. I could probably talk about some of the grumpy old people who were on this cruise just as much as the unruly children at the Haven Courtyard. Some grouchy entitled people aged 70+ who think they own the ship because they have over 20 cruise can be annoying too.

 

(I'll offer my pre-apologies to anybody 70+ with over 20 cruises who took offense to that last statement. You'll notice I placed the word "Some" at the beginning of that statement. "Some" meaning "Some of the them", not "All of the them".)

 

**This is not directed at the OP as much as it is a general comment.

 

I wouldn't worry about the Epic either. This was my third time on it and second time in the Haven. We just got off this exact same cruise. We were suite 16017 and had a blast. We too were one of the (apparent) dreaded hard working families that brought *gasp* children and especially *gasp* to the HAVEN! I get pretty annoyed at the lack of courtesy people without young kids have towards those who do. We have 3. A DD 2.5, DD 6 and DS 9. We were also traveling with friends who have two son's, 4 and 8. I would like to point out right now that our kids were nowhere NEAR as wild as the children the OP is mentioning. We know exactly who those kids were and I actually had one of their sisters yell at them while I was relaxing in the hot tub with my 6 year old. I don't think every kid should be painted with the same brush, when really, it was only about 3-4 kids that were animals.

My one and only complaint this week would be about a very rude and completely arrogant family, who on almost every occasion made mention of how there were "too many annoying kids" in the Haven. Even Adrian explained to them that is is a family cruise. I find it is very rude that these people are so "above" being in the presence of children. And may I mention again, that all 5 of our kids were more behaved than 80% of the adults on the ship. Well, at least they were more respectful than the family we tagged "Kid Haters". A word of advice, if you don't like kids, want to see them, think about them or acknowledge that they deserve to be there just as much as anyone else, book an old person cruise.

Epic is awesome! Adrian is a godsend and Jeffery and Garry were the best ever!

I have nothing against kids. Honestly. My kids were young like that too. And you are correct, it was only a small handful of ring-leaders who were to blame.

 

The ring-leaders would have been, in my opinion, the two boys aged somewhere between 11 and 13 who never took their shirts off to go swimming. That's all I'm going to say for identification. Hopefully they weren't your kids and you'll know who I'm talking about.

 

But some of the others did tend to follow the leader when some parents weren't within earshot. Like I said a few times before, it wasn't THAT bad. It just sounds bad when I type it out in text and some people took it like I had to deal with Hells Angels or something.

 

Here's one specific situation that I will mention, just for posterity. This is not aimed at you or anybody in particular: There was three 8-10 year old girls in the Courtyard early one evening. After a few minutes of just wandering around, they decided it would be fun to use one of the large round loungers as a trampoline. To do that, they haphazardly placed my GFs and her 16 yo daughters stuff (book, e-reader, towels, key cards, cover-ups, etc) onto the wet floor. To their credit, they were kind enough to treat the e-book reader with care when placing it on the ground. Why they chose that particular round lounger is beyond me. There were plenty of other round loungers available to jump on. Anyway, unknown to the girls, my GF and her daughter were in the hot tub, and I was sitting in the back by the sliding doors next to Adrian's office. There was nobody else whatsoever in the Courtyard to speak of. We watched the whole thing. Once my GF and her daughter started to get out of the hot tub, the 3 little girls stopped, tried not to look guilty, and then got the hell out of Dodge before anybody could say anything to them.

 

Annoying? Yes, mildly. Worth getting upset about? Nope.

 

Anyways....We never talked to Adrian about the children problem, so hopefully we weren't dubbed the "Kid Haters" :) . It really wasn't worth the time and the effort to complain about. The kids weren't THAT bad. And Adrian had more important things to do than worry about some loud kids at the pool. After the lounge chair request I barely seen Adrian for the rest of the week. He was rarely in his office whenever I/we walked by. If Karen wasn't there, it was always that other guy who looked nervous and confused all the time. I'm smart enough to know that those families paid their fare just like I did, so complaining would do nothing but aggravate myself.

[K L B]

**This is not directed at the OP as much as it is a general comment.

 

I wouldn't worry about the Epic either. This was my third time on it and second time in the Haven. We just got off this exact same cruise. We were suite 16017 and had a blast. We too were one of the (apparent) dreaded hard working families that brought *gasp* children and especially *gasp* to the HAVEN! I get pretty annoyed at the lack of courtesy people without young kids have towards those who do. We have 3. A DD 2.5, DD 6 and DS 9. We were also traveling with friends who have two son's, 4 and 8. I would like to point out right now that our kids were nowhere NEAR as wild as the children the OP is mentioning. We know exactly who those kids were and I actually had one of their sisters yell at them while I was relaxing in the hot tub with my 6 year old. I don't think every kid should be painted with the same brush, when really, it was only about 3-4 kids that were animals.

My one and only complaint this week would be about a very rude and completely arrogant family, who on almost every occasion made mention of how there were "too many annoying kids" in the Haven. Even Adrian explained to them that is is a family cruise. I find it is very rude that these people are so "above" being in the presence of children. And may I mention again, that all 5 of our kids were more behaved than 80% of the adults on the ship. Well, at least they were more respectful than the family we tagged "Kid Haters". A word of advice, if you don't like kids, want to see them, think about them or acknowledge that they deserve to be there just as much as anyone else, book an old person cruise.

Epic is awesome! Adrian is a godsend and Jeffery and Garry were the best ever!

 

I know there are some people who have posted who are 'anti-kid' and if that is the case, the Epic is probably not your best choice as it is very clearly a family ship. Spongebob is your first clue! I posted above, and also will be bringing my 9yr old on the Epic and the Haven. The problem is not children, and I hope my post was not misunderstood. The problem is parents who fail to parent their children. Kids should be welcome, at all hours, to enjoy the space. They should not be welcome to run wild and not be parented. Anywhere. At any time. I think everyone (or most...) here can agree to that.

[mafig]

Still not convinced I'll ever go on Epic now.

I don't want to spend all that money and have the expectation of a nice "Haven experience" and then come back and say "the kids weren't that bad."

[rajones007]

Some other random thoughts...

 

--The reserved seating for Haven guests for Blue Man Group are kind of sucky. Well, the seats weren't entirely awful, they just wouldn't be my first choice.

 

Adrian walked us down to the theater and they roped off the first 4 or 5 rows of the section to the left of the stage (left, when facing the stage). I was led to believe by these forums that we would be escorted there before they opened the doors to everyone else. Then we would have our choice of seats of anywhere in the theater. In which case my choice would have been halfway up the center section.

 

But that wasn't the case. The place was already full when we entered.

 

No big deal. We still got to see everything, but a couple times the angle we had meant certain (albeit small) portions of some scenes weren't easily visible to us.

 

--The Epic Blue drink (or whatever it was called) is awesome. They only serve it in the theater prior to a BMG show. I'm not much for alcohol, but it was pretty damn tasty. (I think I said that before in one of my updates. Oh well, it was worth typing it out again.)

 

--Contacting the pre-cruise concierge desk was met with mixed results.. My girlfriend likes a specific vodka cooler. As a surprise to her, I contacted the NCL Concierge and asked if they carry this particular vodka cooler.

 

"Why yes we do! They are even available in our buckets, pay for 5 and get a 6th one free!", was the response.

 

"Can you put one of those buckets in the room prior to our arrival, please?" I said.

 

"Yes, sir! It will be there. We'll just bill it to your onboard account. Is there anything else you would like?"

 

"I'd like to purchase the soda package for all of us." was next on my list.

 

"Done. You'll just need to pre-pay for that now. The stickers will be on your cards when you pick them up at check-in and the souvenir mugs will be in your stateroom upon arrival," was NCL's response.

 

"Here's my Visa number..." I said, and they processed the purchase.

 

"Thank you sir. What about pillows? Do you have a preference? We have all kinds of different pillows to choose from."

 

"Okay. I never thought of that. Hmmmmm. We all like feather pillows. And we'd all like an extra pillow if possible. So 4 pillows on the King bed, and 2 for each twin in the small bedroom."

 

"Yes sir. Consider it done."

 

And that concludes my discussion with the NCL Pre-cruise Concierge.

 

How did they do?

 

1. The bucket of vodka coolers wasn't in our room. Luckily the Posh bar had these particular coolers (in fact, they were the ONLY bar that had them, as far as we could tell). So they were easy to find. Once we told Jeffrey, our butler, where to find them, he made sure my GF always had a new bucket whenever she finished one.

 

2. The soda stickers were not on our cruise cards, so we had to pay for our soda during lunch prior to being allowed in our cabin (not a big deal, but still.) Once allowed in the cabin, we found 4 letters, one for each of us, telling us we just had to sign the form and present it to one of the limited amount of bars to receive the sticker and souvenir mug. Luckily, the Epic Club Lounge bar was one of them.

 

3. [EDIT]Correction: We had 4 feather pillows on the king bed, but the kids bedroom did not. They just had those narrow cheap pillows. When we met Jeffrey our butler for the first time, he rectified the situation immediately.[END OF EDIT]

 

--Don't get your soda from the Epic Club Lounge bar (the one closest to the Haven pool.) Something is wrong with their soda dispenser and it always has a terrible plastic-y taste to it. Anything served from that fountain will taste funky. All the other bars on the ship are fine, except for this one. I told the bartender about it, but she didn't believe me.

 

I'm a lover and Connoisseur of fresh fountain pop, soda, or whatever you want to call it. Fountain pop is just better than any bottle or can you can get. I think it just tastes more fresh. I know what I'm talking about too. I'm known to go through the McDonald's drive-thru JUST to get a Coke.

 

--I could never figure out what the Courtyard Grill was supposed to be. Yes, the bar there was handy (except for fountain pop) and the coffee there was great. But they never served any food there that I could tell.

 

In the mornings they had a basket of croissants and muffins next to the coffee, but that was it.

 

Could you order food in there and sit down and eat it? I sat down and watched the ocean while I had a Pepsi one day, but I never seen a menu, nor did a server ask me if I wanted to order anything.

 

So what is the intention of the Courtyard Grill?

 

--The amount of people who purposely avoid using hand sanitizer is depressing. I watched many people try to get past the girl at the front of the buffet. Some successfully. Some who weren't successful reluctantly took the little spray of sanitizer and then proceeded to wipe it directly on their shorts.

 

I know we can argue about how effective the hand sanitizer program is, but really people; is it that difficult to rub your hands together for 2 seconds? Sheesh.

 

--These forums led me to believe that the deck 18 forward sundeck was for Haven guests only. Wrong. :)

 

--I didn't have the nerve to check out the deck 19 freestyle sundeck. I know. I'm a wimp.

 

--I didn't want to bother our butler, so every morning while everybody else in the cabin was asleep I would scoot down a flight of stairs to the buffet and load up a plate and bring it back and have my own quiet breakfast on the balcony.

 

The waffles were AWESOME. They ain't no Eggo waffles, that's for sure.

 

The eggs were gross and runny.

 

The pancakes were decent if they weren't sitting around for too long. Then they'd get hard on the edges. Usually a buffet serves those paper thin pre-made pancakes, a la fast food restaurants. Not these. They weren't perfect, but they did have some puffiness to them.

 

I've said this before and I'll say it again - I want to shoot the guy who thought it would be a good idea to put raisins in the French Toast. Seriously, who would ruin a perfectly good piece of French Toast by putting the worlds more vile and disgusting fruit in it? Terrorists, that's who! (The same thing can be said for Butter Tarts.)

 

They had these little cookie-size hash browns that were crafted and cooked by Jesus himself. Oh my they were sooooooo goooooooood.

 

PRO-TIP: put a second plate upside-down on top of your plate of food when going back to your cabin. I wish I had thought of that prior to that old guy on the stairs coughing on my breakfast.

 

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