An Epic Cruise & Aft Balcony Review (with pics) - W. Caribbean - Feb. 8-15, 2015

[marciemi]

Soooooo, you were the FLAG people!!!lol

My husband pointed them out grumbling about not being Able to get away from the Wolverines and cheese heads even on vacation! He is a Sparty Alum!

I am still enjoying your review and reliving my week through your words. Weird about your AC in cabin, ours worked perfect! Our bed was by the balcony and it did make the room feel larger. Carry on....

 

Yeah, I participated here in a thread right before we sailed about balcony flags and some people saying how trashy it made the ship look ("like hanging your underwear out to dry") but it helped identify us for people in any case! We've done it since our first aft balcony in 2003 when we lived in Michigan so the UM flag is traditional even though we really don't have any ties there any more (both my brothers went there and grew up there and cheer for UM though). Packers are a different story, for DH at least who's a shareholder! ;) My thought during that thread was wondering how it would bother anyone unless they were a Bears or OSU fan - guess I forgot MSU!

 

Thanks for the review, and the pictures of the balcony on the Carnival ship. It and the room looked much bigger than what you had on the Epic. Was the price comparable? Thanks again!

 

Susan

 

We actually got that cruise free from Carnival - they sent out a bunch of free cruise offers last January and we lucked out! You only paid port fees and upgrades - and upgrading to any balcony was the same price! So for a 6 day cruise we paid a total of $300 for that one! :eek:

 

However, we'd had the same cabin (one deck down/different ship) the previous year on Carnival and the aft wrap prices have gone up astronomically since then. I think when we booked it then (in late 2012), we paid $25pp per day for the aft wrap over the price of the normal balcony (so an extra $300 total for a 6 day cruise). When I was pricing them this time, some of the sailings were over $60pp/per day - so adding over $800 to a normal balcony cost for a week long cruise. But Carnival as a whole is cheaper so the bottom line comparison for a similar itinerary and week made the aft wrap 6 day on Carnival very similar in price (I think within $100) to what we paid on the Epic for 7. But of course that wouldn't have come with the UBP! :D

Edited February 20, 2015 by marciemi

[marciemi]

Hi Guys, remember us? We met at the M&G.

* electrical tape over red/green lights? Can't say that we saw (or noticed) any. The telephone screen seemed bright but we left it on as a kind of night light.

* Only one electrical outlet? We found 2 110v outlets under the counter. One had the coffee pot plugged into it. In fact, if we had brought adapters we used in Greece, we could have had a couple 220v outlets as well.

* Having a third person in the cabin. We might be bringing a grandson along sometime and were talking about how this cabin was going to work for three. Not sure...

* Storage space. Agreed, there was plenty of it. We especially liked having two separate hanging closets. That basket under the sink is a kind of hamper, you toss towels in there for replacement instead of leaving them on the floor. Your review mentions a couple storage locations we never found.

* We've all heard of "chair hogs" but going up to deck 15 and capturing an extra table for your balcony makes you guys "table hogs" :D:D

 

Great to see you here Joe and to meet you in person! I just cut a few of your comments to reply to above - hope you don't mind!

 

* Yeah, i pointed out that I'm whiny. :o If your bed wasn't right by the thermostat/bathroom, the green light from it probably wouldn't have been as blinding but it was about 2 feet right up from my head. The phone was blindingly bright but I'd read beforehand that if you just pressed the lightbulb icon on the screen, the screen shut off completely. We did that at night and our steward always turned it on in the morning.

* We did have two outlets (places to plug something in) as you said - guess I'd refer to that as one wall outlet. In any case, it was diagonally across the room from my bed/nightstand so there was no way to keep my phone plugged in without running a cable across the room. We'd also brought a small electric fan for DH but had the same issue with that. So we plugged in a power strip but had to squeeze by the foot of the bed to get over there to it.

* In our cabin at least, the third person wouldn't have been that much of a hassle because the area by the sofa (which would probably have needed to be pulled out at night unless they were really small) had the most space. With the sofa by the bathroom like in yours though I think it might have made it feel tighter since you'd have to get by them and their stuff to get in/out of the room. In any case, we were totally crowded with two in the room so I'm sure 3 couldn't have been that much worse - someone would still always be in the way!

* We grabbed the table from Spice although if you ever went up to deck 18 there were tons of spare chairs and tables just stacked up there so I don't think anyone missed it. And they weren't exactly large tables as you can tell - don't know how we could have eaten room service on just one!

Edited February 20, 2015 by marciemi

[detroitlions]

I do love the aft rooms they are my fav. I will be on the epic the 29th so enjoying the review and points no one spoke of. I just hear about room complaints over and over everyone knows that just like the Gieco commercial.

[baxter44]

I'm still with you! Great pics - and being from Green Bay, well, I can't say how cool it was to see a Packer flag out there!!

[marciemi]

I do love the aft rooms they are my fav. I will be on the epic the 29th so enjoying the review and points no one spoke of. I just hear about room complaints over and over everyone knows that just like the Gieco commercial.

 

I was trying to give some detail beyond "the rooms were small" but I have to admit I was surprised by how small it was. I'd read all the complaints going in and just figured they were exaggerated but it was honestly annoyingly small. One more foot of width in the room would have made all the difference. Like each time I dried my hair before I started I had to warn my husband to pick a side - he could be out on the balcony or sofa or he could be by the TV/sink/bathroom but he wasn't getting through easily otherwise. And I have lots more detail to try to get to!

 

baxter44 - glad someone enjoyed the Packers Flag but I'm guessing the poster before you didn't as much! (I lived in metro Detroit for 30 years total and was never a Lions fan). :rolleyes:

[Vacationdeprived]

My Dear Hubby just booked a cruise on the Epic leaving March 8th! I was so excited to see your review! This will be our first NCL cruise, but frequent cruisers out of Charleston, SC. I just started browsing the CC site for the ship info & reviews. We're in a mid-ship balcony mini suite on deck 8.

I've cruised Princess before, does any one know how NCL compares? Our balcony was huge & already had 2 loungers, chairs & table & opened to our friends next door. It was great!

 

Thanks!

 

Heading off to update my signature & cruise info!;)

[detroitlions]

I was trying to give some detail beyond "the rooms were small" but I have to admit I was surprised by how small it was. I'd read all the complaints going in and just figured they were exaggerated but it was honestly annoyingly small. One more foot of width in the room would have made all the difference. Like each time I dried my hair before I started I had to warn my husband to pick a side - he could be out on the balcony or sofa or he could be by the TV/sink/bathroom but he wasn't getting through easily otherwise. And I have lots more detail to try to get to!

 

baxter44 - glad someone enjoyed the Packers Flag but I'm guessing the poster before you didn't as much! (I lived in metro Detroit for 30 years total and was never a Lions fan). :rolleyes:

Been a lions fan for my whole life. I have suffered through only 1 playoff win in 40 years. And this year my hopes were shatterd by the give aways by the refs in Greenbay and the flat out abuse the refs did to the lions against the Cowboys all football fans saw that and thought ouch

[baxter44]

I've seen a couple people mention liking having the bed by the window - is that an arbitrary thing? Can it be requested prior?

[marciemi]

My Dear Hubby just booked a cruise on the Epic leaving March 8th! I was so excited to see your review! This will be our first NCL cruise, but frequent cruisers out of Charleston, SC. I just started browsing the CC site for the ship info & reviews. We're in a mid-ship balcony mini suite on deck 8.

I've cruised Princess before, does any one know how NCL compares? Our balcony was huge & already had 2 loungers, chairs & table & opened to our friends next door. It was great!

 

Thanks!

 

Heading off to update my signature & cruise info!;)

 

We've done several Princess cruises but they were all over a decade ago. We felt they were fairly comparable but of course the typical ship entertainment of Princess back then was nothing compared to all the options on the Epic. But you can look at my pics for balcony size - some were bigger, some smaller but doubt it will be as big as you're describing.

 

I've seen a couple people mention liking having the bed by the window - is that an arbitrary thing? Can it be requested prior?

 

Not something you can request (except maybe with a guarantee) but something you can figure out by looking at the deck plans at where the curved indentation is. If you look at our cabin, you can see it's back by the bathroom, while next door (8214) you can see it would be the other way. The bed will fit back into the curved inward part and the sofa will be on the part that curves outward.

[marciemi]

Been a lions fan for my whole life. I have suffered through only 1 playoff win in 40 years. And this year my hopes were shatterd by the give aways by the refs in Greenbay and the flat out abuse the refs did to the lions against the Cowboys all football fans saw that and thought ouch

 

Hm. All I remember from that game was Suh stomping on Rogers. :rolleyes:

 

Still working on more review - promise!

[marciemi]

Next topic - Ship layout and activities. This was another thing that I'd heard SO many complaints about and I just really didn't see it. We recently bought a house and as we looked at them our realtor kept asking "so what do you think of this floorplan?" I just didn't understand that because unless it was something obviously wrong/inconvenient (ie the master bedroom was right next to the front door entrance) I didn't see how it made a big difference. So for both that and the ship "It was what it was". You'd get used to it within a day or two. People complained about having to go through the casino or that certain floors didn't go all the way through. I don't know that I've ever been on a ship where they did? We were on deck 8 (aft obviously) and if we needed to get to the very front of the ship we could walk all the way there on our deck (by cabins the whole way) - which I'm assuming you could on most of the other cabin decks (9-13). Or we could go down to 7 and walk across through all the store areas. Or 6 and go through the casino. I did occasionally see people smoking in the casino but for the most part unless I walked right next to someone who was, I found the perfumy smell on deck 7 to be more annoying than the smoke on 6. I found it more fun to walk through main areas (and usually stop at a bar on the way!) than to get there directly through the cabin areas with no distractions - just seemed more fun and being part of the action. I'll try to intersperse pics as I go this time - casino and casino bar:

 

 

 

Deck 5 didn't go through all the way to the back but you could then take the stairs or escalator down from the main/central/atrium area. Again, I'd read a lot of people saying there was no atrium area to hang out but I felt there was. Granted no glass elevators like on Carnival but the main area (by the coffee bar) had the huge screen there - we did trivia there, saw movies there, they had the Nick characters there and various other things (Deal or No Deal) during the day. This was right by the Guest Services and Shore Excursion desks (neither of which ever had long lines other than obviously guest services on the last day). Through one wall of this you could see windows looking out. I'd read there was a very "closed in" feel on the ship but again didn't notice that. Every specialty restaurant had windows looking outside with nice views, the pool deck and quiet area forward on deck 18 had nice views and our balcony obviously did. I don't think I ever felt I wanted to see the water/outside and couldn't. Maybe if you only ate in Taste or O'Sheehans (right in the middle of the ship) and had an inside cabin it would feel more that way but I just didn't see it. Large screen in the atrium with DH in front of it for perspective (as they chose what trivia to do) and a couple other shots of it at various times:

 

 

 

 

The pretty area above Taste - we got a lot of formal pics here but didn't end up buying any:

 

 

To be continued in the next post since too many pics:

[PorkChopKid]

While on the subject of balcony cabins.... Here is a well done (click-->)

of a standard deck 8 mid-ship cabin. This wasn't a stern facing balcony cabin but I'm sure features are basically the same. Our deck 8 cabin had the "bed by the balcony door" layout. The layout shown in the video is like what marciemi described. The two electrical outlets are under the counter but there is a shelf there and we kept our phones and/or tablets there when they were on charge. Cords were long enough so we sometimes put them on the stool or on the counter.

About cabin size, we've been on a bunch of NCL and Carnival cruises. In general, cabins run a little smaller on the NCL ships unless, of course, one was to spring for a suite or even a cabin in "The Haven". We've been on "cabin crawls" and have toured some of those cabins and they are pretty nice though beyond what we are willing to pay.

I did see an analysis of the "curved" cabin design when Epic was first launched. The reviewer indicated how the few inches in each cabin resulted in several additional revenue producing cabins squeezed in. This is a business after all.

Keep the review coming.....

Edited February 20, 2015 by PorkChopKid

[marciemi]

Thanks for the video - it's pretty much exactly what our cabin was like except I swear we had a lot less room (at least 6") between the bed and the counter. Maybe we just never got the bed pushed back far enough but it seemed like we always squeezed through there, not just walked. Maybe my imagination or maybe the afts are a bit tighter.

 

Okay, on to the next batch, mostly pics!

 

The coffee bar in the atrium area (we got many a drink here!):

 

 

And a few shots of the desks around the atrium - decorated for Valentine's Day:

 

 

 

Us hanging with the cruise staff at trivia:

 

 

Spice H2O at night - we went to a couple of the parties and also watched the movie Maleficient under the stars (it was a bit cold that evening but fun) and went up to the hot tubs here at night. It was open only to adults until 6pm (although I did occasionally see kids at the bar with parents - not sure why) but the movies and parties were open to everyone.

 

 

Continued in the next post - writeup and pics!

[marciemi]

We enjoyed the activities on the ship - one heads up that I'd gotten. If you do things like the sports (they had dodgeball/soccer/basketball) or the walk-a-mile or morning stretches or the trivias, get an activity card and get it signed each time and then you can trade it in for things at the end. We went to a lot of activities and always did this - some cruise staff would sign off one number and others would do 10 so it was kind of random. We figured if we completed one full card each (20 punches) it would be enough for a t-shirt but turned out you needed 40 just for one t-shirt! We'd gotten on to our second cards and each had 33 so they said that was close enough and gave us 2 t-shirts and a can koozie for that but in any case you could get various other things like bags or lanyards, etc. for less. The trivia wasn't as frequent (or as easy!) as on Carnival but they did have a nice variety and had Visual Trivia on the big screen in the atrium which was fun, although the topics were horrible for us (Name the Celebrity, World Flags). Biggest problem we had with trivia was they frequently assigned staff to it who didn't speak English that well and often didn't know many of the words. We spent more time deciphering the questions than coming up with the answers! But it was still fun and a place to meet people (and crew). The trivia seemed to randomly be in different locations all over the ship - Headliners, Bliss, the Atrium, etc.

 

We also read/heard horrible things about the pools and how hard it was to watch your kids. Granted our kids are all in college and weren't with us so it was a moot point for us but the few times we went to the main pool I didn't see how it was different than any other ship pools we'd been in on other lines. You can't see your kids from a chair due to the raised area around the pool (so the decks don't flood!) but don't most ships have that? When our kids were young enough they needed to be watched closely then we were in the pool with them. When they got older it was fine to just have a "base" for them to find us at. I'm sure others will chime in but again...just didn't see it!

 

Pool and slide pics of us - you can see some of the empty deck chairs (but also the fact that we're still in port):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next post - deck chairs & kids!

[marciemi]

Okay, maybe we were just lucky but we also really had none of the problems people did with either lounge chairs or kids. I never saw a kid that wasn't with a parent or in an organized activity. Oh, maybe when we waited in line for the tube slide there were a lot of kids there. But never alone in a hallway, never running around, etc. Of course we stuck pretty much to adult venues (Spice, later shows, specialty restaurants) and avoided the main pool area or of course Splash Academy. Oh, we went to Nickelodeon Trivia which was hosted by the kids' staff (who kind of looked at us like we were creepy!) but even then all the kids were with parents.

 

And lounge chairs! We found the nice red padded ones - first sea day we went up around 10:45 after trivia and got a comfy bed with no problem. Second sea day we went about 9:30 and got two loungers (padded ones). The one day we went to the main pool we got one near the pool (front row, in the sun although granted not where we could have seen kids swimming) without a problem. Although disclaimer - we really didn't have sun (our main complaint) until we hit GC. First two sea days were overcast and cool and even some showers and Jamaica was also cloudy (although warmer). We didn't try for a lounge chair on the last sea day when it was sunny so I'm guessing it was much more crowded then. But if you went up to the quiet area (with the padded loungers) or anywhere on deck 18 they had TONS of chairs just stacked up or completely empty in areas. Similarly we never had problems getting a table right next to the buffet/pool area when we were eating there, although there was an elevator that went directly from 15 (outside the buffet) to 18 (where all the loungers were) so we just usually brought the food back to where our stuff was up there and ate in peace. Quiet area (this was not the Posh area that you pay more for but just opened to anyone. It said kids needed to be accompanied by an adult but I never saw any in there):

 

 

 

And one nighttime outdoor shot:

 

 

One final thought on layout which is just specific to our aft balcony preference. Probably our biggest complaint (and looks like they solved this with the Getaway & Escape) was unlike every other ship, they had the buffet WAY in the front (and we're set on aft balconies). Going from deck 8 aft to deck 15 forward for the buffet was just too much of a hassle. And while we rarely ate at the buffet on any of course cruises, on our last Carnival cruise we were on 8 aft and the buffet was 9 aft and it took nothing to run up and get ice (main thing!), coffee, tea, lemonade, etc. On the Epic we never found anywhere to get ice other than way up front. Our steward always filled the ice bucket but I use more than that!  But of course we could run down a deck to a bar and grab a drink and ask for a cup of ice water at the same time. But I missed having the buffet nearby - at least the Getaway swapped the spa with the buffet areas (which seems more normal). And of course we knew this going in but I'd hoped the Spice area would have drink dispensers (since they have a buffet there during some times of the day) but never found an alternative to waiting for a drink at a bar.

 

Okay, looks like that's it for today unless I get more time later. I'll plan to move on to the UBP tomorrow!

[Shayhooper]

As a Patriots fan - your flag offends me. :p Yes 19 years later I am still bitter. Just imagine how I would react to a Giants flag. ;)

 

Otherwise your review is awesome!

[debk68]

We were on your cruise also! We were in 10320. I thought your flags were fun!

[Mountainman67]

Love the review. Thanks for taking the time to post! Can't wait to get to the warm weather next month.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and photos!

[apmecruise]

Great review, you look like you are having so much fun!

[keishashadow]

glad you are writing a trip report. after our cruise on the Star years ago, haven't considered booking NCL...convince me;)

 

it's all about the cabin:D & balcony, love that big aft balcony (and your colors proudly flapping lol). Agree, that is one tight cabin though, but pretty. Would that be the standard balcony size?

 

How often did they trot out the NICK characters? GD is now in the fairly odd parents stage, just showed her the pic and she went gaga.

[marciemi]

From everything I saw, that was the standard size for most cabins other than mini-suites (which were only marginally bigger but had a different bathroom layout) or of course handicapped cabins or suites. In general I believe NCL has smaller cabins than other lines, but the Epic is the only one with this weird curved wall idea which makes it seem so much more awkward.

 

We saw the Nick characters at least 3 times and that was just randomly walking by and noticing (once Patrick & Sandy, once the Fairly Oddparents as shown and once Spongebob and Patrick) but they would be on the kids' schedules instead of ours so I can't promise it was more - that was in the main atrium area but I assume they were in the kids' areas more. I know they had a Nick sleep-over and breakfast that was an additional charge (no, we didn't go to that one either!).

 

glad you are writing a trip report. after our cruise on the Star years ago, haven't considered booking NCL...convince me;)

 

it's all about the cabin:D & balcony, love that big aft balcony (and your colors proudly flapping lol). Agree, that is one tight cabin though, but pretty. Would that be the standard balcony size?

 

How often did they trot out the NICK characters? GD is now in the fairly odd parents stage, just showed her the pic and she went gaga.

[marciemi]

Okay, sorry on the delay - you know how life happens sometime! But I'm back with more! Today's topic - the UPB!

 

We booked the cruise only about 3 weeks before sailing, so got the UBP free as our choice for the free perk. To bottom line this - I am 100% certain I would NEVER pay for this plan but also 100% certain that it was by far the best "perk" you could choose and just an incredible deal!

 

In short, we're not big drinkers. On a normal cruise, we'd bring a couple bottles of wine for our room (never been on a cruise where they charged you for that before so not sure we would have here), maybe order a bottle one or two nights (usually formal nights) at dinner, and maybe get one or two other drinks (say a Pina Colada or Strawberry Daiquiri) during the cruise. With Carnival since we're past cruisers we usually get a couple free drink coupons from them so I doubt honestly that we've spent more than $50 on alcohol on any of our last couple cruises.

 

But we had a blast with the UBP. I'd say we averaged between 8-10 drinks (each!) a day! I usually had 3-4 glasses of wine each night at dinner. Add in a couple during the day (on our way out to or in from port, while sitting at the pool, during the shows, just running down from our cabin - that was one thing we were really conveniently located to - bars!). Although most of the drinks besides that I liked were the ones with the zillion calories (basically milkshakes with alcohol) - Mudslide, Dirty Banana, etc. But fun to try a lot - we always got the drink of the day and tried most other things. And tipped $1 cash extra for each drink so servers were always friendly and quick (like during shows). We never did what was recommended and found "our bar" - we actually liked going to different ones and meeting the different people and bartenders but I'd say we went to the Spice H2O one the most just because it was convenient and they were usually very friendly and fun there. We were just shocked at drink prices though - pretty much everything was around $10 with tax (all included with the UBP of course) once you added in the automatic gratuity (not counting what we tipped on top of that). We would just never pay for that normally. And while I didn't find a lot of other drinks I "loved", most of them I liked enough to at least drink - only one I casually walked away with and poured out in a restroom (some kind of watermelon martini).

 

One funny story - in general, if a drink tastes overly alcohol-y I'm just not going to like it. At some point, my husband had gotten a Malibu Breeze (I'm pretty sure on the name but some bartenders called it a Malibu Beach Breeze or simply a Malibu Beach). He had said it was pretty good and seemed like something I liked so I should try it the next time. On our way in from a port, we stopped at a bar we hadn't been at before (somewhere in the middle of deck 5 I think). I ordered one while he tried something else. I had a few sips and turned to him and said "You're right! It doesn't even taste like it has alcohol in it!" Unfortunately, the bartender overheard and immediately came over and asked if there was a problem with the drink! I hastened to assure him that I had meant it as a compliment (not sure he believed me) but realized then that what I had said could definitely be construed as a complaint as well. Just a few pics of drinks (some with/some without us) in this and the next post - starting with a standard strawberry daiquiri:

 

 

The special drink you could only buy right before BMG - which was really, really good:

 

 

Closeup:

 

 

Some sort of "muddled" strawberry Brazilian drink at Moderno, along with the wine I drank gallons of during the week (Beringer White Zinfandel):

 

 

Special "in a pineapple" drink - sorry on the photo quality but DH was sleeping so had to take it myself:

 

 

Some kind of chocolate martini:

 

 

More in the next post!

[marciemi]

Drink pics - continued:

 

Me with my favorite Chocolate Mudslide and DH with his favorite (that neither of us can remember the name of right now - guess we had more to drink than we thought!), then a couple closeups of them:

 

 

 

 

The exciting Pina Colada:

 

 

Some kind of martini but I have no clue - not the icky watermelon one though because that was much later in the week:

 

 

A drink of the day one (think they were Bahama Mama's):

 

 

Can't believe we didn't get any pics of the Wasabi Cocktail from Teppanyaki because we both really liked it (and it wasn't spicy or anything) but guess we missed it (I do have pics with my wine and ice tea but that's doesn't really help). Back tomorrow hopefully with a review of the UDP!

[PorkChopKid]

But we had a blast with the UBP. I'd say we averaged between 8-10 drinks (each!) a day! I usually had 3-4 glasses of wine each night at dinner. Add in a couple during the day (on our way out to or in from port, while sitting at the pool, during the shows, just running down from our cabin - that was one thing we were really conveniently located to - bars!).

WOW!!! :eek::eek: Bet you thought the seas were rough as you wandered the halls. :D:D:D 1/2 glass of wine makes me cross eyed. And here I was stepping out by trying some expresso coffee. :rolleyes: Glad you enjoyed the UBP.