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Epic Review - November 16-23

soccersharon

By soccersharon,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Some final thoughts...and comparisons

 

I want to start by saying that we had a wonderful time on the Epic. She is a beautiful ship. I regret not taking more interior photos :)

 

The chandelier is beautiful!

 

Epic2013024.jpg

 

As my signature indicates, we've cruised exclusively with Carnival up until now - so inevitably, we made comparisons. As I mentioned earlier, I did not want my entire review to be a "contrast and compare" review, as I thought this would slow the review down. Also, I think every trip is unique, even on the same ship, as was the case for our 3 trips on the Carnival Liberty.

 

Here we go...please keep in mind that these are our thoughts and experiences. Your experience may vary.

 

Stateroom:

 

NCL wins hands down. Our mini-suite was perfect for us in every way - even the funky bathrooms suited us. The décor was just lovely. Very much my personal colour palette.

 

Dining venues:

 

Buffet - NCL is a clear winner. I found the Garden Café offerings very, very good, fresh, and always a great deal of food to choose from.

 

Room service - slight nod to Carnival for their coffee with breakfast (and that's not saying much).

 

MDR - granted, we only ate 2 meals in Taste dining room, and maybe we didn't choose the right meals, but I have to give this to Carnival. More choices, and better flavour.

 

MDR - service. The only downside to the freestyle concept, for us, is no set dining time. We experienced exemplary service on each of our Carnival cruises - especially when we sailed as a family. They doted over our kids - and they loved it! Our dining room team knew very quickly what we liked and didn't like. The bar staff knew what our preferred drinks were, etc. This is by no means a deal-breaker, but we did miss it.

 

Cagney's - as I mentioned earlier in my review, my filet mignon was outstanding - really, a thing of beauty. I'd give this a tie. The steakhouses on Carnival are equally outstanding.

 

Noodle Bar - excellent. Not sure I can compare this venue to the Mongolian Wok on Carnival, so I'll give the nod to NCL.

 

Wasabi - very good. Recently, CCL did away with their dedicated, complimentary sushi bar on the promenade deck - which we missed.

 

O'Sheehan's - great spot for a quick lunch or snack. We did not have breakfast there, so can't comment on that.

 

Entertainment:

 

NCL all day long. We regret not seeing Howl at the Moon and others. We did miss the stand up comedy, which is normally very, very good on Carnival. We did enjoy the pool band, Jammrock and the Manhattan Band. So glad we didn't miss the Blue Man Group, and Legends was quite good.

 

Outdoor venues

 

We didn't spend too much time at Spice H20, but we really liked the concept of a dedicated adult space, complete with a bar area, a food service area, and pool. We had a ball at the White Hot Party!

 

Pool area seemed to be well-used on good days, and there was numerous hot tubs available.

 

Lots of shade if you wanted it, and we had no trouble finding loungers to soak in the sun.

 

Carnival offers an adults only Serenity Deck on most (if not all) of their ships. Not as big as Spice, but the seating is plush, complete with clamshells, hammocks, and padded seating with foot rests. Bar service is available during the day. They do not include food service, or have pools - there are hot tubs.

 

ser.jpg

 

serenity.jpg

(Note: these are not my pics. Just included them for visual purposes).

 

Would call this a tie.

 

Ship cleanliness:

 

Tie. Both lines very clean and maintenance appears to be a priority. One thing we did notice almost immediately was the state of the deck chairs. We guessed that these were likely the original chairs from when the Epic came into service. They were pretty beat up, and need to be replaced. No impact on our cruise, of course. Just a casual observation.

 

Staff and crew:

 

I realize there were extenuating circumstances around our cruise: major crew shuffle following the TA, and the disaster in the Philippines. I can certainly understand the crew thinking of their families back home. It must have been so difficult for them.

 

It was hard to put a finger on, really. Since I booked this cruise, I consistently read reviews of staff going out of their way to provide excellent service, and their friendliness. While the staff was never rude, I guess we didn't find them over friendly either. I think I can be characterized as a pretty friendly person; a people person. I am always polite, smile when I order a drink, say please, and thank you. We more often than not, added an extra tip to the auto gratuity on the bill. So my "vibe" was always positive. Quick example: we had coffee every day at the Atrium, and it wasn't until our second to last night that the person working the counter (who served us almost every night) cracked a genuine smile and made small talk with us. While this did not impact our cruise directly, it did strike us as strange as most of the crew we encountered on our CCL cruises smiled a lot, some bar staff knew our names (and we're not huge drinkers!).

 

The bar waiters on the pool deck also seemed distracted, and not “up” as we experienced on Carnival. Had to flag down a waiter at times.

 

We are not demanding cruisers and as I mentioned earlier, we are very much "our cruise is what we make of it" kinda people.

 

Did this bother us? No, not really. I guess I expected something different, having read everything I could. But my husband did not read reviews, and he noticed it too. I don't want to make a big deal about this, but since my review is balanced, I felt I should mention it.

 

Have to give CCL the nod on this point.

 

The Casino

 

I am not a big gambler, by any means. But, I did find that having sprawl from one end of the ship to another odd. We saw kids sitting at machines, who would never had been admitted in a conventional casino setting. Just an observation. No impact on our cruise.

 

Fellow Passengers

 

Everyone I met seemed very friendly. It helped that we had a big roll call, so we always seemed to bump into someone we knew. Pretty impressive given the size of the ship! Very little in a way of bumping ahead into a line, or general rudeness that I saw.

 

General

 

We never made it into the Ice Bar, but we did see people go in and out, and they seemed to have a good time.

 

I was surprised that my husband didn't want to dine at Moderno! He's normally a real carnivore, but I couldn't convince him to go.

 

We don't watch a lot of TV on a cruise, but there were no "local" stations available. We did watch a couple of movies and and the news (why, I don't know - I'm on a cruise!).

 

Missed mid ship elevators. On the flip side, we did a lot walking, and stair climbing. Kept the pounds off, that's for sure!

 

Would I sail the Epic again? Short answer, no, probably not. As I said, we did enjoy our cruise, but I think the ship is not exactly our style. I am thinking about a Dawn cruise to Bermuda. Smaller ship might be a better fit for us. But, I always say, "never say never!".

 

I think that's it (unless I think of something else that I've forgotten).

 

I'd be happy to try to answer questions. Keep in mind, I am new to NCL - but I'll do my best.

 

Thanks for reading!

Edited by soccersharon
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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Thanks, looking forward to it. Question can you still get more than one lobster if we desire ??

 

I'm not sure. We ate at Cagney's the first night, so we missed the lobster. I hope someone else can answer your question for you :)

 

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hondarr9

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I'm not sure. We ate at Cagney's the first night, so we missed the lobster. I hope someone else can answer your question for you :)

 

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Was there any sort of deal on eating at Carneys the first night, or free bottle of wine? Btw great pics & review!

 

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Was there any sort of deal on eating at Carneys the first night, or free bottle of wine? Btw great pics & review!

 

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NCL offered Cagney's, Bistro, and Italian restaurant deal for a slight discount, if booked together. I believe the discount came to $8.00 per person. The deal included a free bottle of wine. You can pre-book 45 days out on your NCL account online. You have to know which nights you are reserving ahead of time, so we did not book this way. Hope this helps.

 

Glad you enjoyed the review!

 

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hondarr9

hondarr9

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NCL offered Cagney's, Bistro, and Italian restaurant deal for a slight discount, if booked together. I believe the discount came to $8.00 per person. The deal included a free bottle of wine. You can pre-book 45 days out on your NCL account online. You have to know which nights you are reserving ahead of time, so we did not book this way. Hope this helps.

 

Glad you enjoyed the review!

 

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Thanks! I don't want all three. We didn't care for le Bistro or la Cucina. On the Breakaway in October, they were giving bottles of wine in specialty restaurants the first night, even without the package.

 

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newtocruisingcdn

newtocruisingcdn

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We were on Transatlantic in Oct,, you can have as many lobster as you know you eat..... Loved the ship, spent most of our day time in Spice,,, Elliot waiter extrodinaire,,, always smiling criendly words a few jokes,,, and always knew I enjoyed a cold beer in the afternoon,,, Dinners at Taste ,,, staff that we had on previous nights always stopped to ensure we had great service,,, Manhattan for breakfast, fast service and a great meal!!! Spent many nights at Howl of the Moon ,,, maybe because the music we understood the words.... Love this review,,,great pics,,,,,

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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great review making me excited about my upcoming epic cruise...

 

curious did they play movies anywhere? disney and rccl had movies playing in theaters

 

Thanks so much! The movies were shown in the Atrium and at Spice H2O.

 

Have a great cruise :)

 

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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We were on Transatlantic in Oct,, you can have as many lobster as you know you eat..... Loved the ship, spent most of our day time in Spice,,, Elliot waiter extrodinaire,,, always smiling criendly words a few jokes,,, and always knew I enjoyed a cold beer in the afternoon,,, Dinners at Taste ,,, staff that we had on previous nights always stopped to ensure we had great service,,, Manhattan for breakfast, fast service and a great meal!!! Spent many nights at Howl of the Moon ,,, maybe because the music we understood the words.... Love this review,,,great pics,,,,,

 

Thanks. Glad to hear you received great service. I think the first few cruises following the TA reflected crew turnover and the disaster in the Phillipines (sp). Thanks for your thoughts.

 

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Were they recent movies? The ones In the theaters at home

 

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Among some of the movies shown in the Atrium:

 

Skyfall

The Avengers

Sweet Home Alabama

Big Miracle

Here Comes the Boom

Music and Lyrics

Serendipity

Chicago

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Sammae

Sammae

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Great review Sharon!

 

It was nice meeting you and running into you over and over., including on the "Party Bus" and on our flight home!

 

Your review has made me nostalgic. Boy do I miss drinks at "Shenanigans" lol. I can't believe we've only been home for a week...

 

We're trying to figure out what cruise is going on the ticker next... My money's on the Getaway next fall, but we will find out for sure in the next month or so. I, too, would also love to sail the Dawn, but Steve prefers the bigger ships. Maybe someday!

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Great review Sharon!

 

It was nice meeting you and running into you over and over., including on the "Party Bus" and on our flight home!

 

Your review has made me nostalgic. Boy do I miss drinks at "Shenanigans" lol. I can't believe we've only been home for a week...

 

We're trying to figure out what cruise is going on the ticker next... My money's on the Getaway next fall, but we will find out for sure in the next month or so. I, too, would also love to sail the Dawn, but Steve prefers the bigger ships. Maybe someday!

 

Thanks, Sam! It was fun to do :)

 

Had a great time with Junior on the "party bus" and with your bunch too!

 

Hope to bump into you again on a future cruise - the Getaway sounds awesome!

 

Take care!

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mommom1

mommom1

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Thank you so much for the review we are on the Epic in Jan. and are really looking forward to it. We have been on the Dawn and it was a really nice ship smaller then Epic but we really liked it. As I said thank you so much for the review counting down!

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soccersharon

soccersharon

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Thank you so much for the review we are on the Epic in Jan. and are really looking forward to it. We have been on the Dawn and it was a really nice ship smaller then Epic but we really liked it. As I said thank you so much for the review counting down!

 

You're very welcome :) We'd love to go to Bermuda, and the Dawn sounds like the way to go.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

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