Epic Adult Vacation Review

[Shayhooper]

Hi guys!

 

Even though I am not a very active member on these boards I have spend a great deal of time here researching our vacations. Reading reviews is one of my favorite things to do so I promised myself that I would write a review for our most recent trip. I had a lot of fun writing the review of our Jewel cruise to Alaska and I know I will enjoy writing about our glorious 7 day Caribbean cruise on the Epic!

 

Just a couple words of warning before we get started. There won't be a lot of pictures and those that I do post will have been taken from my iPhone. Please don't expect them to be of great quality. :) If you are looking for a photo intensive review, please check out SDMike, Megacruiser, or DGP1111's reviews. All are excellently written with stunning pictures that have helped me plan and get excited for this trip. In fact any trouble that I got into on this trip I am blaming on SDMike because it was his review of the Jewel that sold me on NCL and his review of the Epic that convinced me to experience this ship! ;)

 

I will be posting dailies as I get to the applicable day. For those that have already asked me to email them, I will need to scan them tomorrow at work but should be able to email them out then. Sorry for the delay.

 

It is going to take several days to write this so if you have specific questions please feel free to ask away!

 

Before we get into the review, let me introduce myself. My name is Shay - 41 years old from Vancouver WA, which is pretty much a suburb of Portland OR. This was my 6th cruise and 2nd with NCL. I traveled with my husband, Brian who turned 32 on the sad day we had to leave the ship. After almost 8 years of marriage, this was the first trip we have taken by ourselves without either family or friends.

 

[Shayhooper]

Planning:

 

By far planning is what I do best in life. I work in the construction industry on the project management side, so all day every day I am either coming up with a plan, executing a plan, or figuring out how to salvage things when the plan didn't work. This girl NEEDS a plan in order to sleep at night. Most things in my life are researched meticulously and planned several months in advance so it should come as no surprise that this trip was in the works for over 2 years.

 

As I mentioned above, while researching the family Alaska cruise I came across SDMike's review of the Epic. The itinerary that he went on was interesting but what sold me was the ship. To be more specific it was the entertainment that the Epic offered that was intriguing. Blue Man group? Second City? Dueling Piano bar? A pub with complete pool and darts? On a cruise ship?! YES PLEASE! This ship, regardless of itinerary, was on my short list of vacations that I had to do.

 

When I heard that Epic was going to be leaving for Europe I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to sail her until a Europe vacation was in the budget. My assumption was that a newer ship with everything that the Epic had to offer would be well out our price range. There were still a few credits burning a hole in my pocket from that site that allows you to go fishing for cruise fares so on a whim I set up an alert for an itinerary around my husband's birthday. As I dug in and researched, it quickly became apparent that Epic just might be something we could afford. After a few months of watching the prices fluctuate and tracking airfare costs we pulled the trigger. A balcony cabin departing on Feb 8th!! WOOHOO!!

 

Typically when cruising we have done inside cabins because they are cheapest, just a comfortable, and are the most conducive for incredible naps. The bathroom configuration in these cabins convinced me that perhaps this time, it might be good to have some extra space.

 

Within a few weeks I also had airfare, precruise hotel, and excursions all booked. I was still being emailed alerts about cabin fares so shortly after final payment when prices dropped I was able to upgrade to a large balcony for no extra charge!

[kenlyn]

I'm tuned in....

Just off Epic myself, I love other people's take on vacation!

[Shayhooper]

Travel to Miami:

 

Finally after months of planning and waiting it was time for us to go on our adventure. Brian and I were leaving our 5 year old daughter Callie home with my 19 year old son Colby so the days before our flight were busy with preparations for them. Meals, scheduling, emergency contacts, and lists out the wazzu were prepared. Colby is a very responsible young adult who adores his sister so I wasn't worried but was also very careful to make sure he had everything he needed.

 

Very early on the morning of the 7th we loaded our bags into a cab, took the short drive to PDX, and arrived at 4:45 AM. We flew Delta out of Portland at 6:30 AM to Atlanta and then to Fort Lauderdale landing at 6:00 PM. For the PDX to ATL leg we opted for the extra leg room seats which was enjoyable. Armed with an Ipad filled with Breaking Bad episodes from the last two seasons and a headphone splitter we settled in for two very uneventful but entertaining flights.

 

After landing we gathered our bags and called the hotel to get a shuttle. I had booked the Cambria Suites in Ft Lauderdale via Priceline and their no bidding program. Through the program you get to pick the area and price you want to pay but don't know the hotel until after you pay. Think of it like booking a GTY cabin. If you research enough you can pretty safely narrow down the hotels they will be chosing from to 3 or 4 so you can mitigate your risk. For some the risk of not knowing the hotel isn't worth it. For us, it was one night so we were good with the gamble. Our cost was $178 including tax which I was pleased with, especially when I heard other people checking in were paying $100 more for the same night. It took about 20 minutes for the shuttle to pick us up and the drive there was another 10 minutes. Check in was, as my daughter would say, easy peasy lemon squeezy, especially since we had already paid for the room.

 

The room itself was nice with a comfortable bed, small separate sitting area, and roomy bathroom. Some of the finishes were a bit banged up but I think these are things that only a gal in construction would notice. :) My only compaints were minor - the shower was one of those new "open" showers with no closing door and we didn't have the book explaining room service, wifi, check out times ect.

 

Bed:

 

 

Desk:

 

 

Sitting area:

 

[PathfinderEss]

Looking forward to your review.

[Shayhooper]

Cambria Suites, Travel to Miami, and Check In:

 

Once we were checked into our hotel room, we texted the kids to let them know we had made it safely to Florida. My son's text back to us:

 

"try and avoid hurricanes"

 

After a long day of traveling we were hugry (and thirsty) so we hit up the lounge down in the lobby for an adult beverage and some food. We sat next to a very nice couple, Jim and Cindy from Virginia, who were just coming back from an extended trip that included 10 days on a Princess cruise and a few weeks in Costa Rica. They were an intriguing young retired couple who were, based on their stories, were spending their time traveling just about everywhere. We settled in with a couple beers and chatted the evening away with them. The four of us talked about traveling, politics, and life in general while consuming a few burgers and more than a few drinks.

 

A couple of texts we recieved from my son:

"Not to bum you out or anything, but, I am pretty sure Cassie (our dog) is waiting for you"

 

After telling him to have a good week:

 

"working on it"

 

 

Moving on.

A couple of things to note: The burgers there were actually really good and the service was excellent. The bartender, Alex, was extremely attentive and apparently also very liberal with his pours. Some of the drinks I saw him pour made me grateful I stuck to beer because I had to be up in the morning. Jim, who was drinking Bacardi on the rocks, was feeling no pain. Also, I had mentioned to the desk that we didn't have the information book - they brought it to me at the bar. :)

 

Even with the boozy night before, I was on west coast time and woke up early. I took advantage of the on site gym and got a nice work out in before Brian even woke up. Once back in the room, we showered, repacked, and was out of the room by 10:00 AM. The hotel offered a very uninspired buffet style breakfast for approximately $10 per person which we took advantage of but wasn't enthusiastic about. The lobby was filled with people taking advantage of the shuttle the hotel offered for 8$ pp to the Ft Lauderdale cruise terminal. Apparently there was a Holland America ship sailing that day.

 

We had book a shuttle to Miami through SAS transportion which is an independent company that picks up people from FT Lauderdale hotels and transports to the port of Miami for $15 pp. They had told us that they would begin hotel pick ups at 11:00 AM and would call us when on their way. SAS showed up at our hotel at 11:15, called my name, efficiently loaded our luggage into their trailer, and we joined a full van of other cruisers. It took just over 30 minutes and we were getting our first glimpses of the Epic. The SAS driver quickly unloaded our luggage, processed our payment, and gave us very specific instructions for the return trip.

 

Now we came to the part of the trip I dreaded most - embankment. Reading these boards I was prepared for rude porters, unorganized lengthy lines, and disenchanted staff. I anticipated an ordeal that would last a few hour testing all of our "we are on vacation - we are happy" mojo. The porters were just fine. The attendants letting you into security were bored and barely glanced at our documents but at worst I would categorize them as disinterested. Once beyond security there was a bit of chaos but it appeared to be organized. We joined the line we were directed to as previous guests which appeared to be as lengthy as all the other lines. All the lines appeared to move in a reasonable speed. The woman who checked us in was cheerful and the whole process was painless. I expected after check in to have to sit in a waiting area for an indeterminate amount of time but was shocked to be welcomed aboard!

Edited February 19, 2015 by Shayhooper

[Shayhooper]

That is all I can do tonight. I'll be back tomorrow with our first day!

[Shayhooper]

I'm tuned in....

Just off Epic myself, I love other people's take on vacation!

 

I do too! Did you have a good time?

[Shayhooper]

Looking forward to your review.

 

Thank you!

[Trynity]

looking forward to reading more about your experience as this will be our 1st time on the EPIC (and 1st European Cruise).

 

Would you by chance remember what class Balcony room you had ?

[brookie848]

Yay! Looking forward to reading your adult review. We are on the Epic on March 1.

 

If you are able to put up with sending the dailies to one more person, my email is the same as my user name @yahoo.com.

 

Thanks!

[dolita22]

Woohoo! Love reading reviews on the Epic. We sailed her for the second time in January and will miss her when she goes to Europe.

 

Looking forward to more!

[lbrandon]

3/22 will be our 2nd cruise on Epic. Can't wait!

[Shayhooper]

looking forward to reading more about your experience as this will be our 1st time on the EPIC (and 1st European Cruise).

 

Would you by chance remember what class Balcony room you had ?

 

We were a B6 - room 12241. Loved it!

[Shayhooper]

Yay! Looking forward to reading your adult review. We are on the Epic on March 1.

 

If you are able to put up with sending the dailies to one more person, my email is the same as my user name @yahoo.com.

 

Thanks!

 

I keep on forgetting to bring the folder to work. Be patient - I promise I'll get them!

[Shayhooper]

Woohoo! Love reading reviews on the Epic. We sailed her for the second time in January and will miss her when she goes to Europe.

 

Looking forward to more!

 

Me too but I am really glad I go to experience her before she leaves. I was especially glad when I heard that BMG wasn't going to be there starting in a few months.

[kenlyn]

I do too! Did you have a good time?

 

We had a fantastic time! Now we are dealing with -20 and snow! YUCK

[Shayhooper]

Day 1:

 

 

 

[Shayhooper]

So we were finally on board! Apparently we were in so much over getting onto the ship so quickly that we can't quite recall which deck we arrived on or what we did first. :p I do know that it was about 12:45 so the whole security, check in, and welcome aboard took approximately an hour. Well done NCL!

 

As best as we can recall, we went up to deck 15 to check out the buffet and sun decks. It was a quick trip because everything was predictably very crowded. We opted for a much quieter lunch in Taste on deck 5. It did take us a bit to actually figure out how to find Taste (escalator on 6th floor) but once we did we were immediately seated right next to a window. Server took our food order quickly but we were never given an opportunity to get a drink. No biggie, the order would have most likely been iced tea anyway. All the food came out in a timely manner, the service was friendly, and the atmosphere was much calmer without the hordes of people on deck 15. A fantastic relaxing way to begin our vacation.

 

Next we think we went up to our room to drop off our stuff. We were on deck 12, a B6 Large Balcony cabin starboard aft. Room 12241.

 

It was a FANTASTIC room! We had the configuration where the sofa is next to the bathroom area so the bed was next two the balcony. And what a balcony! I told my husband that I never wanted to leave. By now everyone is familiar with the unique set of the rooms on the Epic. Some people love it, others hate it. My opinion was closer to the love it. The narrowness would make it difficult for more than 2 people to be in comfortably but with just the two of us we did just fine.

 

Other people have posted pictures of the different room configurations so I'm going to post a few things not commonly seen:

 

 

The safe is in an upper cabinet with shelves above and below. It was the perfect place to stash my purse that I wouldn't be using for the next week.

 

 

The couch back swung out for additional storage. The NCL towels that you get charged for if they go missing were stored in there. We also kept some of our heavier sweatshirts and the beach towels we brought with us there.

 

 

Medicine cabinet had tons of storage. Seriously loved how much stuff I was able to stuff in there.

 

 

The drawer below the sink was used as our laundry hamper the whole week.

[Shayhooper]

 

 

 

We brought a power strip which was stored below the coffee maker along with all of our miscellaneous charging cords. The more commonly used on were fed up through a grommet so we could charge the multitude of devices above the counter.

 

 

[Shayhooper]

Once in our room we stashed our carry on bags and set off to explore the ship. The first place we headed was to the spa and gym. I have been working very hard the past few months to be more active which includes almost daily trips to the local gym so I wanted to see what options would be available this week. Wow it was impressive. Tons of different cardio machines, weight machines, free weights, kettle bells, exercise balls, ect in a bright room.

 

While planning this trip I drooled over the spa pools and had really hoped prices would drop enough so we could afford a spa cabin. After seeing the spa I can see why those rooms cost as much as they do. My research had told me that I could purchase a spa pass for $200 a person but honestly $400 wasn't in my budget either. The tour itself was the only time where I felt like there was a serious sales pitch by NCL. They insisted on taking us to every different treatment room for a brief description of all the different treatments available. Since I don't believe that I would loose 8" off my body during the week and wasn't willing to spend $75 for a pedicure the "tour" was annoying. We did each fill out a card for the raffle held later on.

 

After the spa tour it was getting close to the safety drill. We called the kids one last time then put the phones in airplane mode. The drill itself was held in the Manhattan room and was quick and painless. I appreciated how upbeat the gal who was running it at our muster station was. After the muster drill we headed back to our room where our room steward Melanie was bringing the last of our bags. We unpacked, finding a spot for absolutely everything and stored our bags under the bed. It felt like we were home!

 

We had ordered a couple bottles of rum for the room which came with a variety of mixers. We asked Melanie to please remove everything in the mini bar so we could stash our mixers. I was slightly disappointed that we couldn't order what we wanted for mixers but Melanie told us we could swap out what we didn't want at any bar. We never did but honestly should have. We spent the next hour or so on the deck watching the comings and goings of everything.

 

 

While at Taste we had noticed that O'Sheehan's was having Prime Rib for dinner and also had pitchers of beer for $13.75 before gratuity. Brian likes Prime Rib and I like beer so our dinner decision was quickly made. We figured that most everyone else would be eating in the dinning rooms or the buffet so it shouldn't be crowded. Ohhhhh boy were we wrong. We showed up right after 6:00 and there was a long quick moving line to get seated. There weren't any tables left so we were seated at the bar over looking the atrium. We sat there for almost 30 minutes before a server who clearly didn't work in that area finally showed up to take our order. She was visibly annoyed, didn't know what they had on tap, and in general was unfriendly. We both ordered the prime rib medium rare and we ordered a pitcher of New Castle. It took another 15 or so minutes for us to get our beer and 30 more minutes to get our food. At that particular moment, I worried that perhaps some of the negative reviews about the crew and crowd were accurate and was a bit worried.

 

I didn't need to be. My best guess is that the staff didn't anticipate the crowd that showed up. By the time we got our food reinforcements had arrived and service was much better. The Prime Rib came out hot and a perfect medium rare. While we were waiting we were entertained by Maria and Carlos singing and watched an enchanting scene where a father was bringing his young daughters out onto the atrium stage and "dancing" with them. Every dip and spin they did earned hearty applause from us and the people sitting around us. The father was a bit embarrassed but the little girls were loving it. Seriously adorable!

 

After dinner we had some time to kill before the 9:00 PM Blue Man Group show we had reserved. We wandered around a bit and came across a staff member walking around dressed in a Superman costume. He graciously allowed us to take a picture with him. Not sure what he was doing or where he was going so if anyone knows, please tell us!

 

[Shayhooper]

We arrived at the Epic Theater for what I was looking forward to most and was by far the best entertainment I have ever had on a cruise ship - Blue Man Group! We chose seats about 6 or 7 rows back from the front, watched people in the first 3 rows don their plastic covers, and watched the very amusing reader board. Brian took pictures of the people putting on their covers so I'll have to post those later.

 

The show itself far exceeding my expectations. It was very interactive with the crowd, intriguing, hilarious, and full of surprises. We LOVED it! Easily the most fun we had on the trip. It is difficult to even describe the show so I won't even attempt it. I wouldn't be able to do it justice. Honestly it is a shame that BMG won't be on the Epic much longer.

 

After the show Brian and I were both tuckered out. We headed up to the room which had been turned down but sadly no towel animal. After two long days we both crashed out.

[apmecruise]

Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to read more!

[Shayhooper]

Before I go to bed for the night, I thought I would touch on a few things I read in some reviews.

 

1. The staff on the ship are rude / disinterested / lack luster / ect.

 

For the most part this was not our experience. Yes we had the one server at O'Sheehan's that clearly was not happy but besides that we were very pleased with the service we received. I should say that there were times that initially some of the staff felt a bit reserved but typically when we looked them in the eyes and greeted them with a smile, that reserve would melt away. In general the crew was not a exuberant as the staff on the Jewel however this crew was just a lovely. For some reason it just took a bit more effort to draw out a more friendly type of service from some.

 

2. The ship is crowded with too many people.

 

Once again, this was not our experience beyond the first night. The first evening I think a lot of people hadn't explored the ship much so they stuck to the common areas on levels 6 and 7 which made it feel crowded. After that, we rarely felt crowded unless we ventured into the buffet during peak times.

 

3. This ship is difficult to navigate.

 

This is true, somewhat. Getting down to the 5th floor was a choke point and the design really seemed to keep people on the casino floor. Certain elevators only went to some floors and I was consistently turned around, not able to figure out if I was moving aft or forward. Some of this can be attributed to the fact that I am directionally challenged.

 

4. The ship is too big. I have to walk for miles to get anywhere.

 

Meh - this is subjective. We didn't feel that the ship was that long but it did feel considerably wider than previous ships we were on. It was never a hardship for us to walk forward to the Garden Cafe even though our cabin was aft. ETA I can so how those with difficulties getting around would have a hard time.

 

5. With all the reservations you have to make the "freestyle" concept is applicable.

 

I'm on the fence about this one. My husband pointed out the wisdom of the reservations for the shows. Since space is limited it makes sense to have the reservation system. It keeps away the large groups of people that crowd into a small space trying to get into a show. Every show we went to had open seats 10 minutes before show time so people were still able to spontaneously go to a show without dealing with the large crowds. Besides the first night, we never saw a large line for anything. It does require a bit more forethought.

 

That is all for tonight. I'll be back tomorrow for day 2 and a few other thoughts about the ship. Namely the bathrooms and balcony smoking. Dun dun dun!!

Edited February 21, 2015 by Shayhooper

[Shayhooper]

Thanks for sharing! Can't wait to read more!

 

Thank you!