Epic January 4-11 Excellent Trip

[BlueJai]

We booked the Epic as a last minute trip. (Well last minute for us!) We had never expected that we would board one of the 'big' ships but we had an extra week off and the weather sucked :D! We looked initially at doing a 4 day on the Sky but figured if we had to pay the air fare to get to Miami, a 7 day was way better than a 4 day.

 

We have only done the smaller ships (and mostly Small). This was truly an experience. I don't feel like I can call this a review as we didn't do close to half of what is available on the ship. Because it was a 'bonus' cruise for us, we decided we wouldn't pre-book anything and be truly freestyle. No plans, no reservations, no tours. Thanks to cruise critic, the only thing we knew we really wanted were Posh Passes!

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We did arrive early because we wanted to be in an early booking group. We were group 2 so boarded before 11:30. Off to guest services and we were successful in getting 2 Posh passes. There weren't a lot available on this sailing so I think there were some disappointed people - by the time we left guest services, there was quite a long line up.

 

Up to the Pool deck to check things out and have a drink. At this point I have only seen a bit of deck 5 and the pool deck and WOW! First guy we ordered a drink from was a bartender we knew from the Sun! Yes - we are home. That is one of the things I love about NCL - no matter what ship we are on we always run into crew/officers that we have met before. I love NCL!

 

First night we never did get to the dining room so we missed the Lobster dinner. We grabbed a snack from the buffet after the muster drill and then just wandered around all over the ship (stopping at various bars - It was thirsty work doing all that wandering!):)

 

We ate at Le Bistro, Shanghai's, Cagneys and La Cucini throughout the week. All the restaurants were excellent and I don't have a single complaint with any of the service that we received. Food was hot, tasty and well presented.

 

We ate breakfast in the Outdoor cafe - using the buffet. We found it extremely easy to get what we wanted and get back out. Any of the times we were in there, it wasn't too busy and they have so many stations available that it appears they have a good plan for spacing people out.

 

The biggest problem in the buffet is people almost running from place to place looking like they are worried about missing something. You need to keep your eyes open or you will get run over. :D

 

It took us a couple of days to get used to the size of the ship. The first 2 sea days were of course busy and I was so happy that we had the Posh passes. Honestly, there are more people on the ship than the town that we live it - probably twice as many! But again, thanks to cruise critic, we were well prepared for the adventure!

 

We saw some of the entertainment - we really loved Howl at the Moon and The Bart Walker Band. As I said earlier, we didn't do any reservations so we just took each day as it came. Had no problem booking any specialty restaurants the day of that we wanted to go there.

 

This was the first cruise that we have been on that we actually made it to the White Hot Party. Spice H2O is an amazing place and we really enjoyed the party.

 

Be back in a bit - lots of catching up to do here!

 

Jai

[sdmike]

Welcome back. Glad you had a nice time

[SissasMomE]

Glad you had a nice time. We will be on her for the 3rd time in November! Love the Epic!

[soccersharon]

Welcome back! Looking forward to reading more :)

 

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[jdvmd]

Glad you had a great time!

[2boyzmom]

Glad to see a nice review. Tell us about Posh. Crowds? Chair Hogs??

[BlueJai]

Welcome back. Glad you had a nice time

 

Thanks Mike, The information that you have provided on this forum was invaluable to us! We poured over your review and all the answers that you provided to others questions. We were so much better prepared. Thanks so much for all the help you give!

Jai

[BlueJai]

Glad to see a nice review. Tell us about Posh. Crowds? Chair Hogs??

 

Posh was amazing! There must be room up there for over 100 people and I would be surprised if we ever saw more than 20 people. There were never loungers reserved in Posh. The bar servers were great, friendly and helpful. You could order lunch from a limited menu and they would bring it up to us.

 

Like I said, we are from a really really small town. Looking down from Posh onto the pool deck on sea days was crazy. I am sure it would have been very much fun to be there, but I really really really liked having the opportunity to be in Posh.

 

We had some wine in our room so we took it up there one day and Gede (one of the bar tenders) put it on ice for us to enjoy throughout the afternoon. Nice!

 

About chair hogs, we went to Spice one morning - I think it was the 2nd sea day about 8:00am. There were probably about 30 people in the whole area but almost every single chair was already taken :D

[sdmike]

Thanks Mike, The information that you have provided on this forum was invaluable to us! We poured over your review and all the answers that you provided to others questions. We were so much better prepared. Thanks so much for all the help you give!

Jai

 

Glad to help!

[sunbird21]

Great review!

 

If I can ask, what time did you get to port to get into boarding group 2?

 

 

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[anandaindonesia]

Tell me more, tell me more, tell me more .... :)

Thanks for sharing!

[cruisingcasinos]

Thanks so much for sharing and it is so nice to see Good review for the Epic. Can't wait to read more!

[BlueJai]

Great review!

 

If I can ask, what time did you get to port to get into boarding group 2?

 

 

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We were on board by 11:30. It took about 25 minutes at Guest Services and we were on the pool deck for noon!

[BlueJai]

We had a B6 large balcony. First impression of the room was Yikes! This is small. But again, we were prepared for it with all the great information on cruise critic so all was good. As everyone has said, there is tons of storage and we were able to keep the room somewhat tidy throughout the week. It did take a couple of days to get used to where we had put everything but that might have had to do celebrating on the Pool deck when we boarded and before we unpacked :D.

 

As small as the room was, the balcony was amazing. We were on the 10th floor forward. When we arrived there was 1 lounger and 2 chairs and 2 tables on the balcony. We asked our room steward for another lounger and he assured us that it was 'no problem'! Sure enough, later that night he showed up with another lounger, carried it through the room and placed it on the balcony. Perfect! Dee (Dinesh) was our room steward and he was very good.

 

Sorry for being all over the map here but I didn't have a plan for this review.

 

When arriving into the Ports on the Epic, you always back in. The balcony is a nice place to be when arriving, but we also found that Spice was a great place too. Being on the aft gives a great view (well, you have to look around the big screen!) and it is a lovely place to sit and enjoy. There are also 2 hot tubs in Spice - one in each corner. That would also be a great place to enjoy coming into or leaving port.

 

We have a good turnout for the meet and greet (thanks to Tiffygirl for all her work organizing it). It was held in Bliss. There was also a good turnout of the officers. They each spoke briefly and we were told to please let them know if there was anything at all that needed attention. They really mean it and I hope that people will do that so they don't have to come back here with issues that weren't resolved because they didn't tell anyone.

 

Our weather was not bad but the first 2 days were really windy. We had read lots of threads talking about the huge amount of movement onboard but we didn't really experience that. On Deck 10 in our room it was definitely fine, on Deck 18 in posh there may have been a little more movement on the first day but it wasn't bad.

[soccersharon]

We had a B6 large balcony. First impression of the room was Yikes! This is small. But again, we were prepared for it with all the great information on cruise critic so all was good. As everyone has said, there is tons of storage and we were able to keep the room somewhat tidy throughout the week. It did take a couple of days to get used to where we had put everything but that might have had to do celebrating on the Pool deck when we boarded and before we unpacked :D.

 

As small as the room was, the balcony was amazing. We were on the 10th floor forward. When we arrived there was 1 lounger and 2 chairs and 2 tables on the balcony. We asked our room steward for another lounger and he assured us that it was 'no problem'! Sure enough, later that night he showed up with another lounger, carried it through the room and placed it on the balcony. Perfect! Dee (Dinesh) was our room steward and he was very good.

 

Sorry for being all over the map here but I didn't have a plan for this review.

 

When arriving into the Ports on the Epic, you always back in. The balcony is a nice place to be when arriving, but we also found that Spice was a great place too. Being on the aft gives a great view (well, you have to look around the big screen!) and it is a lovely place to sit and enjoy. There are also 2 hot tubs in Spice - one in each corner. That would also be a great place to enjoy coming into or leaving port.

 

We have a good turnout for the meet and greet (thanks to Tiffygirl for all her work organizing it). It was held in Bliss. There was also a good turnout of the officers. They each spoke briefly and we were told to please let them know if there was anything at all that needed attention. They really mean it and I hope that people will do that so they don't have to come back here with issues that weren't resolved because they didn't tell anyone.

 

Our weather was not bad but the first 2 days were really windy. We had read lots of threads talking about the huge amount of movement onboard but we didn't really experience that. On Deck 10 in our room it was definitely fine, on Deck 18 in posh there may have been a little more movement on the first day but it wasn't bad.

 

Dee was our steward too :)

 

 

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Edited January 16, 2014 by soccersharon

[3DBeach]

Glad you had a great time :)

[duce95]

We were on board by 11:30. It took about 25 minutes at Guest Services and we were on the pool deck for noon!

 

So does that mean you arrived at the port at 11? Or earlier?

[Newtonville Dan]

So does that mean you arrived at the port at 11? Or earlier?

Hi duce95

 

Dan here........We wanted to arrive at the port around 10:30. We normally arrive about 11:00 and try to be on the pool deck by noon with a drink in our hands.

 

We left the nearby Doubletree at about 10:00 by cab and arrived at the port in about 15 minutes. So... quick smoke, then in the door. No lineup outside. Once inside there was a lineup inside for Port Security of about 20 people and a number of people sitting in chairs around the small room. Suite people and those needing assistance perhaps. The lineup was not moving and security check in did not start till 11:00. The people sitting were taken before us.

 

So to answer the question we walked into the building just before 10:30. ( all times approximate because of excitement factor).

 

I may pop into thread from time to time if I feel a can add anything.

 

Dan

[BBT]

I was on this cruise as well and really enjoyed myself. Biggest ship I have been on and there were a few times I noticed the crowds. But it wasn't as bad as you might think over 4100 people could be.

 

Great entertainment, and I didn't see all of it. LOved Blue Man, Second City & Bart Walker. The Manhattan Band was good too, just didn't catch them in time to hear a full set. Too busy! :D

 

Great staff on board. Friendly, smiling. Drinks servers not overly pushy like I have encountered on other ships. Appreciated that the ship's photographers weren't in your face all the time, too.

 

I did feel that this was the windiest ship I have been on. Nearly had my flip flops blown off my feet a couple times. :eek:

 

Food for me was so-so in main dining, but thoroighly enjoyed La Cucina & Cagney's. Garden Cafe buffet was very good too. Didn't care for the $5 room service pizza. Tasted a lot like the cardboard box it was delivered in. But only $5 delivered, so....

 

I had a Studio and surpirising amount of storage. They did a good job on designing this except large people will have trouble with the shower & toilet. Tight.

 

Favourite outdoor spot was Spice H2o. Not as windy as other spots on ship (didn't even try for Posh).

 

Emabrkation process was very good. I didn't get there that early, but I was in Group 10. They move the groups aboard pretty quick & I think I was on shortly after noon. It was a smooth process.

 

I do have a few things that were negative for me, other than mentioned, but nothing really major.

 

Just thought I'd add to this.