Epic Vacation with a 3 and 5 year old

[vtroper]

Since I spent the better part of the last 4 months living on this site reading every thread, post and review of the Epic, I feel it's only appropriate to take a few minutes to document some of my own thoughts after having finally completed our long awaited voyage last week to pay it forward as others have done before me.

 

First off, a "warning" that since we traveled with two young children this review will be of no assistance to those looking for input on clubs or bars. 10 years ago, I would have been a excellent reviewer of both. This trip however, was more about Swimming Pools and Slime Time Live.

 

I believe the protocol for a review like this is to start with the proverbial "background" heading:

 

Background:

 

My wife and I are 34 and this was our 6th cruise after having previously sailed on the Mariner of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Norwegian Sky, Oasis of the Seas and most recently the Disney Fantasy. We were traveling with our two sons, ages 3 and 5, my mother and my stepdad. As you can see, we tend to prefer the Mega ships and loved the Oasis when we sailed it two summers ago. Upon getting off the Oasis two years ago, we were sure that the next trip we would book would be on her sister ship the Allure. (We already had the Fantasy booked for the following summer) However when I was in need of a cruise fix last November and was looking to book something, I wasn't as gung ho about the Allure as I had been previously because I felt like booking a ship that was essentially exactly the same as the Oasis would be like booking a Groundhog Day vacation. The biggest negative to the Mega Ships in my opinion is the lack of variety of ports, so I was already feeling to some degree like whatever ship we booked we were going to places we'd already done before, so the more I thought about it, as much as I enjoyed our trip 2 years ago, I didn't want to recreate it, I wanted to try something new. As I started reading up on what was out there, the Epic was the first to catch my attention. In the last 10 years, most of my vacations have been either cruises (6) or trips to Vegas (8) so when I saw the expression "It's like a Vegas Hotel on a boat" I was immediately interested. I saw the water slides, the Nickelodeon tie ins for the kids and the chance to try something totally different then the traditional dining setup all of our previous week long cruises had been and decided to surprise my family for Christmas with a Spring Break Cruise.

 

Pre Cruise:

 

We flew into FLL last Friday and rented a van with car seats so we didn't have to lug ours from home. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale Friday night and drove to the port Saturday morning. While I'm happy to go into more detail if anyone wants it, I tend to skim past most people's Pre-Cruise information, so I'll offer the only tips that I can from our pre-boat vacation. Our standard procedure the last 3 cruises with kids has been to rent a van, drop everyone off at the port and then I return the car by myself and make my way back to the port alone since I move faster by myself then with toddlers in tow. Usually after I drop everyone off, I fill the car up with gas and return the van. Coming back from the port, I didn't pass any gas stations before getting on 395 and within about 12 minutes I was following the signs to rental car drop offs at MIA. Once you get off 836, you loop right into the airport without any opportunities to stop for gas. I had never returned a car without filling it up, but made the decision that since the clock was ticking on my wife's sanity as she tried to entertain our two children for the hour I was gone, I made the decision not to spend the extra 15 minutes to circle out of the airport, find a gas station and then work my way back to the vehicle return but instead to just return the car on 3/4 a tank and pay the consequences. And pay I did! When I arrived I was informed that I would be charged $72 for the missing 1/4 a tank of gas. I asked if this was something that a tip could help with and was told "Hey, I know what's like to be a customer too." I gave the attendant a $20 and was on my way. Lastly, while I was planning on taking a cab from MIA back to the port just to be as quick as possible, as I was trying to find a cab, I stumbled into the shuttle for the rental company I had just used. I knew this was an option, but again had figured I would pay a little extra to take a cab back and get back quicker then wait for the shuttle to fill up and not know how many other ships it would have to drop off first. As it turned out, I was the last person on the shuttle and since the Epic was boarding from the last terminal, it was the first stop. Not having to pay for a cab essentially canceled out my $20 in hush money, so I considered that a victory.

 

Since I am supposed to be working today, (I think we all knew that wasn't going to happen) I'll be breaking this up as to appear to be getting some work done.

 

Coming up next: Boarding the boat

[dcollette]

Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

 

On a side note, I'm contemplating taking the Monday after we get back from our cruise off from work just so I can "re-adjust" myself, but since we come back the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I guess the short week will have to do! :D

 

Sounds like a good start, thank you for sharing!

[wheatengirl]

I am really enjoying your review and I hope you have time to finish. Thanks!

[3DBeach]

Great review so far. can't wait to read more!

[Sauer-kraut]

Looking forward to the continuation! I bet work is getting in the way, but you really do have a great start.

 

I wish I knew about trying to pay hush money as I had the exact same problem as you had, mine was in Tampa. I had no idea I was on the way to car return and had no opportunity to get off the expressway. I did pay the $74 it was a big hole at the end of a long weekend at Disneyworld and not being able to get out of Orlando and having to rent a car to drive to Tampa. Oh well...we made it home.

[jdvmd]

Good tip on the hush money!

 

Keep those comments coming!