Our Amazing European Adventure! Navigator of the Seas & Norwegian Epic Review w/pics

[ShellDil]

I also have a question:

We're there any educational/ historical presentations provided by the ship to inform passengers about the upcoming ports?

 

I don't remember any educational or historical presentations on the ports. I know on the Navigator they had some port explanations, but I think they tended to focus more on the excursions and the shopping. I could be wrong though - as I didn't attend. Maybe someone else here can let us know if that's not correct. If what they played on the tv was similar to what the talks were then that was the focus. In the Cruise Compass each port day there was a summary of the history of each port. That was interesting.

 

I don't see anything on the Epic Dailies about any type of destination presentations. They do have a brief blurb about the destination in them though.

[swim13]

Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying the review! I love sharing my pictures, photography is a hobby I really enjoy! Thanks for the positive feedback! :D

 

I can tell! I also love photography, nobody in my family understands why I always have my camera out, lol! I took almost 2,500 pictures on our weeklong cruise we took recently (and I'm currently doing my own review on that right now, link in my sig if you want to check it out!) and already have 2,400 pictures on my phone and I've had it less than 9 months!

 

Can't wait to start seeing the pictures from Epic! Looks like the pizza in Florence you made was awesome!

[big_schots]

Hi, Eric,

 

Our family travelled in Europe for 5 weeks last summer. We took a "multi-wallet": some cash, some Euros, a Visa cash card which you put cash on and can use at restaurants and shops (they just deduct from the cash card balance and you can wire more money onto the card from your home bank) and made a list of bank branches that worked with our home bank that didn't charge a fee for ATM use. So in other words, we had a variety of sources to get cash electronically so we didn't have to worry about loads of money being stolen. And, of course we had an emergency credit card. We tried to use money rather than credit so we didn't have a huge credit card bill when we arrived back home. Hope this helps.

 

 

So in my wordy way of responding - my best advice would be, find the least expensive way to get Euros before going. Find out from your bank the cost of getting money from ATMs for the cash only tours and plan at least a day in advance. Don't try to get money the same day for that day's tour. Try to pay in advance when you can. But you still will need cash for tips and sometimes meals. I do know some people brought travelers checks and cashed them on the ship into Euros. That's an option too. There may be a fee though, I'm not sure.

 

 

Thank you both for the information. I assumed it wasn't easy and simple, as you make it look. In my one lone trip to Europe, pre Euro and pre-ATMs (reliable ones tied to American banks), I just stuffed $2K in my pocket and used those currency exchange booths to get money in each country. It is a different world now, where most people carry little cash. Thanks again, and I greatly look forward to continue reading your review.

 

Eric

[ShellDil]

I can tell! I also love photography, nobody in my family understands why I always have my camera out, lol! I took almost 2,500 pictures on our weeklong cruise we took recently (and I'm currently doing my own review on that right now, link in my sig if you want to check it out!) and already have 2,400 pictures on my phone and I've had it less than 9 months!

 

Can't wait to start seeing the pictures from Epic! Looks like the pizza in Florence you made was awesome!

 

Oh, I'm going to definitely read your review! The Allure is on our list for sure!

[mrsfecura]

I'm glad someone asked the question about money and exchanging, etc. I've read most of the same info you had indicating that ATM's are plentiful in Europe and you should just wait and get all your Euros there. I think I just feel more comfortable getting at least enough for all of our tours before we travel. None of our tours are able to be pre-paid, especially since we've hooked up with people from our Roll Call for all of our tours and that would be difficult to coordinate beforehand. Its probably just because I'm a novice European traveler - there are many well traveled folks on my roll call and they're very comfortable with the ATM's, exchanging money, etc. I'm not there...yet. ;) Actually I recently looked up images of Euro's as I didn't even know what they LOOKED like! Ha!

[ShellDil]

I'm glad someone asked the question about money and exchanging, etc. I've read most of the same info you had indicating that ATM's are plentiful in Europe and you should just wait and get all your Euros there. I think I just feel more comfortable getting at least enough for all of our tours before we travel. None of our tours are able to be pre-paid, especially since we've hooked up with people from our Roll Call for all of our tours and that would be difficult to coordinate beforehand. Its probably just because I'm a novice European traveler - there are many well traveled folks on my roll call and they're very comfortable with the ATM's, exchanging money, etc. I'm not there...yet. ;) Actually I recently looked up images of Euro's as I didn't even know what they LOOKED like! Ha!

 

I've read some reviews where people brought the Euros and put them in envelopes in their safe by "tour" so they had them split out.

 

I think knowing you can get spending Euros in port and bringing the essentials with you is smart. By the time you're over there for a few days, you're going to feel like a pro though!

 

And remember you can get them on the ship.

 

We had to get a lot of Euros by the end of the trip for the apartment we were renting our last three days, so that was a bit tricky. We didn't want to carry around 1500 Euros from the beginning, plus all of the tour money - so it was take some out, spend some, take more out and accumulate enough for the balance on the apartment, without having too much left over by the time we came home!

 

In the end, it all worked out though!

[ShellDil]

Wednesday, June 19th

 

One of the many travel planning decisions we had to make was just how to get from Florence to Civitavecchia to board the Norwegian Epic. Of course the most economical way would be to take the train. The “on the go traveler” in me wanted to make a detour in Pisa though. We had the time – of course we did right? Sure, we could have spent a bit more time in Florence, but I knew the consensus of the group would be to start moving towards the ship. We didn’t have to be on board until 3:30, if I’m remembering correctly now.

 

We could take a train from Florence, stop in Pisa, store our luggage, and then either walk or take a taxi or bus to the tower, and then go back to the train station, pick up our luggage and then train to Civitavecchia, then walk the ½ mile or so to the ship, take the shuttle bus to the pier and board the Epic…..seemed simple right?? The train times worked in our favor if all worked out in Pisa, as far as getting the luggage back, I’d read there could be lines, and getting the taxi or bus in time to make it back.

 

Or we could find a private transfer company to make the trip for us. Surely someone would be able to make this drive, with a stop in Pisa!

 

Or we could just skip Pisa all together, stay in Florence that morning and see some more sites – it’s just the tower right?

 

So, starting to feel like this was too big of a decision for me to make – after all this one was a bit more financial, my parents were paying for the transportation and the transfer would cost more than the train! I decided to ask my dad his opinion. He voted to take the private transfer, the Tower was on the itinerary and we had a plan set!

 

The day before we left for our trip, I started to get a little worried about the transfer and the timing of getting to the ship in time. What if we missed the ship? We were scheduled to be picked up in Florence at 8:30 with an hour stop in Pisa. I emailed our transfer company and asked them to adjust our pick up to 7:30. At that point, I’d rather get up an hour earlier and play it safe than have to rush at any point in the day. You never know with traffic or what if there would be van trouble! Although, as an after thought I should have inquired about just boarding the Epic in Livorno on Thursday morning instead of Civitavecchia on Wednesday, since we were basically coming from there to turn around and end up there the next day! But again, what we did worked fine, and we enjoyed this day.

 

So, here we are in Florence bright and early! Our driver was right one time and somehow he was able to squeeze his van down the narrow street that our hotel was on. One thing that seemed to keep occurring in Florence was random street closings! This happened with our taxi on arrival – he was sure he could go up one street, which when he arrived happened to be closed. Then our hotel had some sort of road work being done in front of it, which I gathered was quite unusual. Everyone from the taxi driver to our tour guide to the van driver the next morning made comments about the strangeness of this truck blocking the road to do work! Then when he finally could get up the street, he found it was blocked at the end! He was sure he could get through it earlier! Turns out he had to back down the street and turn around. It was quite a start to the ride. We were all laughing at how they can possibly figure out how to get around!

 

After an hour or so? Maybe more, I have no idea anymore…we arrived in Pisa.

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

We were all really glad to have made the decision to have stopped. We got there early so the crowds hadn’t really shown up yet. It wasn’t too hot out yet either. We tried to take the obligatory pictures holding up the tower, but you can see they didn’t work out so well. They’re not as easy as one would think!

 

 

Now how do I pose??

 

 

She's got it!

 

Sort of....not too bad!

 

[ShellDil]

Alex and Keith decided to climb the tower. They had no problem buying their ticket and climbing it right then and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ShellDil]

We walked around the Field of Miracles and looked at the buildings. We hadn’t had breakfast so since we were getting hungry, we found something to eat. Megan and I had pizza. We found a little shop we could sit down and eat in. We met up with Keith and Alex after they came down from the tower and once they came down they realized that somehow they missed going to the very top. I don’t quite know how that happens! But they took some good pictures and enjoyed their climb!

 

 

 

 

 

We had about an hour in Pisa and then met up with my parents at the van and drove the rest of the way to the ship. We arrived at about 1:30. Plenty of time! I think our decision to hire the driver was excellent.

[cjcruiser27]

Your review is still going strong! I am enjoying it along w/all your GREAT photos:) I think being in Venice was my favorite, it was so amazing & magical. Cinque Terra is a favorite also:). Does your family know what stars they are?!! Thanks for sharing and I know it takes a lot of time to do.

[ShellDil]

Your review is still going strong! I am enjoying it along w/all your GREAT photos:) I think being in Venice was my favorite, it was so amazing & magical. Cinque Terra is a favorite also:). Does your family know what stars they are?!! Thanks for sharing and I know it takes a lot of time to do.

 

Thank you so much!

 

I definitely found Venice to be magical too! And I have so many places on my list to return to it's not even funny! But Cinque Terra is high up there! It sounds like one of the more unique places to visit!

 

I'll have to tell my family that they're stars - they'll get a kick out of that! :D

[ShellDil]

So here we were...back at Civitavecchia! We felt like we'd just been here, yet in such a short time, we couldn't believe at all we'd seen and done since we'd left! Here we were, about to board the Norwegian Epic! Megan had been talking about this ship for a year. The Epic this the Epic that, it's going to be EPIC! Good grief - we'd heard everything Epic for so long I don't know if there was anything we didn't know about this ship! We had family meetings before this trip about the trip, yet somehow it all came back to Megan showing us you tube videos about the Epic! And here we were! Yet do I have a picture of the Epic in port here? Now? No....I have no idea why? We all know what it looks like right? And I know there's one coming somewhere from some port! :rolleyes:

 

We were able to board the Epic right away, no lines at all. Remember this is a port day for many, if not most of the people on this ship. It seemed that most people boarded in Barcelona so they were off the ship for their day in Rome. They wouldn’t be back on board until last call at 6:30. It made the ship feel almost empty!

 

When we got on board our cabins were ready. How nice! This time the four of us are in one cabin. A Family Mini-Suite. It’s not a real suite, just a bigger balcony cabin, so no need to get excited! We’re on deck 12, cabin 12040. Mimi and Grandpop are in a standard balcony, but on deck 13. Cabin 13214. I think we’ll see a lot less of them on this ship since they aren’t right next door to us. We opened the door to the cabin, and of course we’d seen the videos, seen the pictures and sure it looked like we expected! It’s going to be one cramped week! But we’ll survive! On first glance I don’t think the odd bathroom layout will be an issue. We have this huge shower since we have the family mini-suite. I like that. And as I later compared to my parents standard balcony cabin, our room was a few feet longer and had more storage. We had the Pullman bed, which Alex slept on. They put it up during the day and dropped it down in the evening. He had no issues sleeping up there. He sleeps on a top loft bunk bed at home, so he probably felt quite at home. And he’s not a small child, as you’ve seen!

 

 

 

 

Once we did a quick drop off of our carry on bags, we went to have lunch. We went to the Garden Cafe Buffet. I enjoyed this very much. I loved eating outside, and I had a big fresh salad.

 

Since the ship was so empty, I told the kids to go get their bathing suits on and take advantage of the slides! They did, and Keith went and lounged somewhere near the slides while I went to unpack. There was plenty of storage for all four of us, but it was very strange space. No drawers but instead many small cabinets. And they were not very deep. So, for example if I folded a pile of men’s shorts, they didn’t fit in the cabinet without pressing on the door and bunching up. I had clothes everywhere, which made it hard to keep track of who’s clothes were where during the week. Don’t get me wrong, there was A LOT of room, but was it efficient? I don’t know. We used that drawer under the sink that I think is supposed to be for wet towels, for dirty laundry. That worked for us.

 

Once I was done unpacking I went up to take some pictures of the kids on the slides.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up was our muster drill. It was in the Theater. Now, I honestly may have slept though the safety part? So, please tell me if I’m wrong – I have no memory of them going over the part of putting on the lifejackets or any real safety techniques that are common. We just went through a muster drill 10 days ago, so it was pretty fresh in my mind. I remember them showing us what decks our actual muster stations were on, but that’s about it.

 

Then it turned into a commercial for the Epic. Which was nice. I liked knowing where everything was and what there was to do onboard. But this was not a muster drill, it seemed to be a way to get everyone into the theater for their Welcome Aboard Intro Presentation!

 

Afterwards Megan, my parents and I went to tour the spa. I mentioned previously that I wanted to get Keith the week spa pass so he’d have a little haven to go to during the week to relax. I was surprised when they told me it was only $146 for the week! The spa was gorgeous. Absolutely amazing! If I wasn’t with the kids, I would have gotten the spa pass for myself. But I like hanging out with them and know I wouldn’t have used it. In the end I didn’t buy it for him. He felt with only 1 sea day he wouldn’t get enough use out of it. He knows he wouldn’t use it at night. He’s an early to bed kind of person.

 

 

[ShellDil]

We decided to go to Moderno for dinner. The Brazilian Steakhouse. We’ve been to similar restaurants here at home and this was by far just as good. It was absolutely delicious. As much as we’ve all enjoyed our pasta and pizzas the past several days in Italy, I was craving some BEEF! This fit the bill!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner both kids went to their respective clubs and I did some laundry in the tiny, tiny sink in the room. I brought the tide packets for hand washing. Being gone for three weeks I had planned to wash some smaller items mid-vacation. I forgot to mention that while we were on the Navigator we took advantage of their $25 fill the bag special and fit A LOT in that bag! I inquired when we boarded the Epic about their special and it wouldn’t be until Sunday, getting the laundry back on Tuesday. That’s too long to wait at this point. So I hand washed a lot of underwear and some of the light cotton shirts Keith and Alex had. They all dry fast. I washed them, rolled them in the towels and there was a long clothes line in our shower. I had clothes hanging everywhere! Bu the next afternoon it was all dry. It worked very well. Meanwhile, my parents spent the money to send out some laundry. Individually priced my mom told me it would have cost them over $147! They scaled it back to around $75 I think….I like my way better! ;)

 

 

After the laundry, I read in bed waiting for the kids to get back. Tomorrow we dock in Livorno! Hey, weren’t we just pretty much there?

[cjknox]

Amazing experience. Amazing Review. Good Job!

[Tiggertastic]

I am hooked, so far I've got a great tour with food in Rome, the Chania boat company sea star, the packing cubes and now I'm trying to work out if our thoughts of touring a few places in USA next year should be kept closer to home in europe

 

Looking forward to the next installment

[Riggy84]

When you were in Moderno, do you happen to know how long you were there for? Was the service quite quick?

I've booked reservations there and wondering if i will have time for any shows later on. We have booked it for 7pm.

Also, i don't suppose you happened to get copies of the dailies did you?

 

Great review so far, i'm loving it!!

[cjcruiser27]

Would you cruise on the EPIC again?

[Ocean Boy]

This is the part I've really been waiting for. It will be interesting to read about the Epic.

[ShellDil]

When you were in Moderno, do you happen to know how long you were there for? Was the service quite quick?

I've booked reservations there and wondering if i will have time for any shows later on. We have booked it for 7pm.

Also, i don't suppose you happened to get copies of the dailies did you?

 

Great review so far, i'm loving it!!

 

Hi! The service at Moderno is as fast or slow as you make it. You set the pace by turning your card over to green for them to bring you meat and red for them to stop bringing it. You start with the salad bar. And if you turn your card to green, they will just keep bringing you the different types of meat cuts on the skewers. I know there's a correct name for those, but it escapes me right now. If you want a slower paced meal, you could turn your card to red between the different cuts. If you keep your card on green, they just keep coming and you keep eating.

 

If the show is say 9:00, I don't think you'd have a problem at all getting there.

 

I do have the dailies! I'll have to scan them though. Maybe towards the end of the review, when I'm done going through all of my pictures, I can post them! No problem!

[ShellDil]

I am hooked, so far I've got a great tour with food in Rome, the Chania boat company sea star, the packing cubes and now I'm trying to work out if our thoughts of touring a few places in USA next year should be kept closer to home in europe

 

Looking forward to the next installment

 

Thanks you!! :D

[ShellDil]

Would you cruise on the EPIC again?

 

This is an interesting question! I have a lot of review to go...so I don't want to spoil anything ;)

 

However, that being said, I loved the ports we went to on the Epic. The Epic had great entertainment as well. My son enjoyed their teen club a lot and even though my daughter only went to her age group (she was 11 at the time) she really enjoyed what they had to offer. I think she was just too tired most nights to go and we were in port most days.

 

I am someone who like to try different things - be it resorts or cruise ships -for example, we've been to Mexico many times, but we've never stayed in the same resort twice. And as you can see by my signature, I'm not loyal to one particular cruise line.

 

If I was to sail on another BIG ship though, I'd like to try the Oasis or Allure as a comparison before sailing on the Epic again.

 

I enjoyed the cruise, but I have to say, as much as I wanted to LOVE the Epic, it didn't wow me the way I had hoped it would. There was no one thing that was wrong, but there were several things that just made the ship overall just not one of my favorites of the four ships I've been on. I'll probably touch on those things as we go along - there were definitely positives, but for me the feel of the Epic....well, it just didn't do it for me, or any of us - including the kids! It's all about expectations I suppose. It was honestly a shocker. We all expected to prefer the Epic.

 

To answer your question, yes I would cruise on the Epic again though. I absolutely had a good cruise. It just wasn't the cruise I expected it to be. I hope that makes sense!

[Riggy84]

Hi! The service at Moderno is as fast or slow as you make it. You set the pace by turning your card over to green for them to bring you meat and red for them to stop bringing it. You start with the salad bar. And if you turn your card to green, they will just keep bringing you the different types of meat cuts on the skewers. I know there's a correct name for those, but it escapes me right now. If you want a slower paced meal, you could turn your card to red between the different cuts. If you keep your card on green, they just keep coming and you keep eating.

 

If the show is say 9:00, I don't think you'd have a problem at all getting there.

 

I do have the dailies! I'll have to scan them though. Maybe towards the end of the review, when I'm done going through all of my pictures, I can post them! No problem!

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like i'll be ok for time then!! And after the review for the dailies will be perfect! I don't cruise for another month and 5 days anyway :-d

[rutgersgirl27]

Really enjoying this review. I'm not likely to get to Europe for quite a while, so I really appreciate all the details you are putting into this review!

[cjcruiser27]

Thanks for your input! I travel as a solo and saw that they had cabins available for solos(lower pricing compared to other lines) and wanted to know what you thought of the ship etc. I love cruising and usually pick Celebrity over the others. I was granted 1 week off (new boss came in) and I decided I wanted to go to the Med for my 50th and it was between the LOS or the EPIC...I choose LOS:) The roll call isn't active at all compared to the EPIC one.

This is an interesting question! I have a lot of review to go...so I don't want to spoil anything ;)

 

However, that being said, I loved the ports we went to on the Epic. The Epic had great entertainment as well. My son enjoyed their teen club a lot and even though my daughter only went to her age group (she was 11 at the time) she really enjoyed what they had to offer. I think she was just too tired most nights to go and we were in port most days.

 

I am someone who like to try different things - be it resorts or cruise ships -for example, we've been to Mexico many times, but we've never stayed in the same resort twice. And as you can see by my signature, I'm not loyal to one particular cruise line.

 

If I was to sail on another BIG ship though, I'd like to try the Oasis or Allure as a comparison before sailing on the Epic again.

 

I enjoyed the cruise, but I have to say, as much as I wanted to LOVE the Epic, it didn't wow me the way I had hoped it would. There was no one thing that was wrong, but there were several things that just made the ship overall just not one of my favorites of the four ships I've been on. I'll probably touch on those things as we go along - there were definitely positives, but for me the feel of the Epic....well, it just didn't do it for me, or any of us - including the kids! It's all about expectations I suppose. It was honestly a shocker. We all expected to prefer the Epic.

 

To answer your question, yes I would cruise on the Epic again though. I absolutely had a good cruise. It just wasn't the cruise I expected it to be. I hope that makes sense!