EPIC Review and DAILIES (Feb 22-Mar 1)

[ErinG]

My husband and I were on the February 22nd, 2015 sailing on the Norwegian Epic. We enjoyed everything about it! The ship was wonderful, as well as the staff. The ship was in great condition and didn’t seem old or in need of considerable repair. We did a lot of research and read a lot of reviews prior to our trip, and as many of you know the Epic seems to be one of those ships you either love or hate. We loved it. There were a lot of things we read about that we found to be untrue (for us) and some things that were correct.

 

I won’t bore you with every detail of our entire vacation, but here is a breakdown of our trip…

 

A little background info about us. We are both in our thirties. This was our second cruise. Last year we sailed on the Getaway on its third sailing (brand spankin’ new). We loved that cruise as well.

 

 

We flew to Miami on Saturday, the night before and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Miami - Airport Ctrl - Miami Springs hotel. The price is right for this hotel considering we just need a place to sleep for the night. Free breakfast and a nice patio outside. They have a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel when you arrive, and there is a shuttle service to the port that you pay for. This is the same hotel we stayed at last year and both times we had a difficult time getting a shuttle to the hotel after arriving, and we both think we would rather just grab a cab and get a ride there next time. However, the shuttle service to the port has been a very smooth process both times. They showed up earlier than we expected last year (which we were totally fine with) so we knew to be watching this year. Being so excited, we are happy to get to the port earlier. Same thing this year, so we were ahead of schedule and eager to board!

 

So let’s start at DAY 1:

 

We arrived at the port around 10:15. The porters were right there to take our bags and point us in the right direction. We headed straight for Terminal C and found a fairly short line at security. Got through security and checked in quickly. I think we were sitting down and waiting by 10:45. The boarding process was pretty quick and easy and we were on the ship at 11:45. We walked around and explored a bit until there were too many people and ended up at Spice H20 where we had lunch. Then we went to check out our room.

 

Our Cabin:

-Spa Mini Suite Stateroom #14118

-Very clean

-SO MUCH storage. We had more storage than we knew what to do with. It was awesome!

-HUGE balcony. The particular room we chose had a balcony about 2 ½ times the size of a typical balcony. It is the last room on deck 14 (port side) so apparently they decided to keep going with the balcony. No extra $$ for this. Had two chairs and two loungers. Very nice!

-Bathrooms. OK, here’s my thing. If you are going on the Epic, don’t you already know what the bathroom setup is going to be? I am confused by all of the complaints about this. Is the sink small? Yes, but you just make it work. We were very happy to have a full size tub/shower. That was a nice perk compared to the small showers. The only complaint I really have about the bathroom is when you have to get up at night, it lights up the room and the doors are not quiet when they slide shut. But there again, would it keep me from sailing the Epic again? No way!

-Yes, the phone lights up the room. We covered it with a towel. Problem solved.

-OK, here is my only true negative about the room. The beds are very hard. I have seen some people mention requesting a mattress pad (egg crate foam). I would definitely recommend that. I wish we had. By the end of the week, we were a bit sore from the mattress.

-Hairdryer is great. Don’t waste space packing your own from home. They are very powerful. They will occasionally short-out and turn off, but I found if I pressed the cool-shot button every couple minutes that would not happen.

 

 

Anyway, after we checked out the room, we went and took a spa tour and entered the raffle. Went and did the muster drill and when we returned to the room our bags were there, so we unpacked right away. Then it was time for sail away. We got away a little late, around 4:45. We went back to the spa hoping to win something in the raffle, but no luck. They give away certificates between $50 and $200 as well as a spa pass. It’s quick, fun and painless. Of course they try to sell you a few things in between, but not bad. Last year on the Getaway it seemed to last forever.

 

We had O’Sheehans for dinner. The food is pretty good, but it is just nice to sit down and not worry about what you are wearing. The service was so fast, it was shocking! We got everything very quickly and the waitress was attentive.

 

Checked out Howl at the Moon. It was so much fun. I had no idea. They are very talented and very funny! I would have loved to go again, but we just didn’t have the time.

 

Of course we had to try our luck in the casino, and didn’t have much luck the first night! Oh well. Gotta play to win, right?

Edited March 12, 2015 by ErinG

[clcjdn]

Thanks for the check in! We leave on her this Sunday!

[ErinG]

DAY 2:

 

We ate breakfast in the Garden Café every morning. We like the food they have (especially the waffles) and it’s quick and easy! We like quick, because we like to have breakfast and then go enjoy the spa thermal suites in the morning. We just love this part of our day. The pool is wonderful as well as the heated tile loungers. The sauna and aromatherapy steam rooms are very enjoyable as well. A couple mornings we sat out on the aft facing balcony where there are padded loungers. This was also very relaxing. It’s hard not to take a little nap while you are in the spa. It was very quiet and not crowded at all, most of days we were in there. We never had to wait for a heated lounger, always plenty open. Since we stayed in a spa room, the spa access is included for us, but I would think a spa pass would definitely be worth it if you take advantage of it enough.

 

 

 

We actually went and ate lunch, had a beverage and ended up back in the spa in the afternoon!

 

Then it was time to get dressed up for Norwegian’s Night Out. This is one of those dress-up-or-not nights. We like to get dressed up, since we really don’t have the opportunity many other times throughout the year.

 

 

This was the night we chose to eat at Moderno. We ate in this restaurant last year as well, and we loved it so we decided to give it another try! Excellent choice! The food is fantastic! You start with an impressive salad bar. It is hard not to go overboard on this food alone! Once you are ready you flip your card to green, which means “bring me the meat!” (Those are my words) Then you eat until you can’t eat anymore. The filet is AWESOME! I also really liked the lamb. For sides, you get beans, rice and fried bananas. Since we booked this trip for our anniversary, we brought the card along they left in our room and they brought us a little cake and four of the waiters came over to sing us a song.

 

 

After dinner we had our picture taken in a couple spots and stopped in the casino. In Spice H20 they were having the Norwegian’s Night Out Party. This was pretty fun. There was a lot of latin music and lots of other pop music mixed in. It was pretty entertaining and we had a good time.

 

 

DAY 3:

 

We decided to go looking for the bridge observation room. This is a pretty cool area. Unfortunately you are unable to take any pictures of the bridge, but it was really neat to see the crew updating routes and navigating this massive ship. It definitely makes you remember you are floating through the ocean, and somebody is “driving” the ship! There is a screen you can look at that is the same screen one of the crew members is looking at right in front of the window. You can see everything he is checking and updating.

 

We found the Deck 18 quiet area I have seen many people post about. It really is very nice and a much larger area than I thought. Lots of padded loungers and chairs. We were just walking around so we weren’t trying to find a spot, but I don’t know if we could have anyway, it was full. I would definitely recommend checking it out, and early, if you want a nice quiet comfortable space!

 

This night we attended the Cirque Dreams show in the Spiegel Tent. It was an amazing show! The talent of all of the cast members was incredible. There was a wide range of acts, all of which were very entertaining. There is also some interaction with the audience which was fun to watch. We had the premium seating so we were at a table right up front. Definitely worth the extra money to be in the middle of all of the action.

 

We had lots of luck in the casino this night!! We actually came out way ahead!! Woohoo!

[ErinG]

DAY 4:

 

Welcome to Jamaica mon! We were a little iffy on this stop after everything we had read about Ocho Rios. As soon as we were outside of the port area, we did experience the aggressive shop owners and taxi drivers. It was a little uncomfortable, but we just kindly said no thank you to their offers, and it was fine. Finally, after we got to the end of the road and realized we weren’t going to walk any further, we talked to a taxi driver about taking us out to the Blue Hole. We took him up on his offer and he drove us there, waited for us, and brought us back.

 

The drive out to the Blue Hole is a bit bumpy and rough. You have to go down a long gravel road to get there. It is a wonder the vans and buses even make it up this road. We got there early (got off the ship right away and straight there), which I would definitely recommend. There was hardly anyone there yet. There is a $10 admission fee. It is an absolutely beautiful place. There are endless falls with beautiful pools of blue water that you can jump into. When you arrive, a tour guide greets you and takes you through the falls. Our guide, Morgan, was so nice. He took my camera right away and snapped lots of pictures of my husband and me throughout the whole visit. He didn’t make us do anything we were uncomfortable with, like jumping off of the high falls. There were lots of places to jump in, a cave you could swim under a waterfall to get to, and a rope swing at the end. I wish we could have spent more time there just splashing around in the water, but we definitely enjoyed the time we had. This was the only thing we did in Jamaica, so we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the spa.

 

 

 

Earlier in the week, we had entered our names for a drawing to have dinner with the officers. We did this last year on the Getaway and got to have dinner with the Engineers, so we definitely wanted to give it a try again this time. Much to our surprise, our names were drawn again, and this time we got to have dinner with the Guest Services Manager, Bon Villaluz. We sat at a table with her and four other cruisers. The dinner was in the Spiegel Tent, and was just for everyone having dinner with the officers. It was set up beautifully. The captain was also at the dinner so of course the service was incredible. We had mushroom soup and escargot for appetizers, an amazing filet mignon for the main course, and a tasty red velvet dessert. Oh, and the wine was endless, I never saw my glass empty! It was a wonderful treat.

 

[ErinG]

DAY 5:

 

Grand Cayman! This was our favorite stop. Everything was so beautiful and clean. The tendering process could not have gone any smoother. We reserved tender tickets on the big screens in the hallway. We decided to go with 8:10 am. When we got to the gangway around 8:00, they didn’t check for any ticket, just scanned our card and put us on the boat. We waited for it to fill up and then we were taken ashore. So quick and so easy.

 

We had set up our own excursion since we weren’t too excited about the ones that NCL had to offer. We found Moby Dick Tours online and they had great reviews, so we decided to go with them. The captain and his assistant were hilarious and so nice! The boat was very well kept and because our group was pretty small we had lots of space. The first stop was snorkeling at the reefs. The water was a little choppy that day so I felt like I had to be very careful to not get pushed into the coral. But besides that, there were a lot of fish and probably many more that I didn’t see because I didn’t go too far. Unfortunately for my husband, his mask kept leaking because of his facial hair. Here is a tip, if you have a mustache, bring Vaseline!! They told us that it will help to seal up the mask. Had we known that ahead of time we would have definitely brought some along!! The next stop was Stingray City! The water all around us was sooo beautiful and so clear. Before we even stopped the boat you could see the stingrays everywhere. The Moby Dick guys bring food to feed the stingrays, so there were tons of stingrays all around us. It was a little intimidating at first. You stand in water up to your waist while stingrays swim all around you and rub against you. They are wild, but they are like pets. I will admit, even though I knew I had nothing to be scared of, I was still a little nervous about the tails/stingers. We got to hold them, and the guides were really awesome about making sure that everyone who wanted to hold or pet them, got to do so. My husband and I even kissed the stingrays. Hey, it’s good luck! I wish we could have stayed out there all day, it was just mind-blowing. Such an amazing experience. Grandy Cayman was on place we wished we would have had more time to explore. It was just so lovely.

 

 

 

 

We had dinner in the Manhattan Room. The service was excellent. The food was ok. I wasn’t really impressed. However, it was a nice atmosphere and the band was playing music when we got there which was a nice added touch.

 

White Hot Party! I made sure my husband and I had something white to wear for this night. The party was really energetic and fun. There were lots of people there, and I would say 95% of them were dressed in white. I had gotten some flashing bracelets and glow sticks at the Dollar Tree before we left to wear this night. The wait staff walks around with flashing cups and neon shot glasses. A few of them walked around with a bottle of Fireball in a belt and shot glasses, ready to serve!! The cruise staff did all of the line dances in a row and they disappeared quickly, but the DJ was awesome. He played a great mix of music the whole time. I really enjoyed the party!

 

[ErinG]

DAY 6:

 

Cozumel. We had an excursion planned through NCL, but had some extra time before we had to meet for it, so we got off the ship a little early and walked around the mall area. It was a big area with tons of shops. Many of them sold the same things, but it was fun to see everything they had to offer.

 

The shore excursion we did was the Palancar Snorkel and Playa Mia. There is a big area for all for the NCL excursions to meet, very clearly signed and organized. The staff was there to meet us and have us sign our lives away (that’s really how it felt!). You take a long boat ride out to the snorkeling site (one hour and twenty minutes). On the way out they tell you the safety information and give you your equipment. The staff is great and very friendly. They offer soda and water on the way out. When you get to the snorkeling site you jump in and follow the group. It is pretty much out in the open so it is a little wavy and there is a bit of a current. I didn’t enjoy having to follow a group. I felt like I had to fight the current and always be looking up to make sure I was staying close, so I lost out on looking at what was going on below me. It was also pretty deep so there wasn’t a whole lot to look at up close. The guide would swim down and point things out to the group, but I could not usually hear what he was yelling. I love snorkeling, but this was not my favorite. It is all personal preference though, so people might love it. We got back on the boat and started heading over to the beach. The staff offered soda, water, rum punch and beer. Once we got to the beach, we were given a light lunch (sandwich, chips and fruit) and we had about an hour and 45 minutes to relax on the beach. There were tons of open lounge chairs (we didn’t get there until 2:30ish) we laid in the sun and enjoyed a few Dos Equis. There were a couple pool and waterslides, and big area full of hammocks and lots of shaded area as well. Had we known that the snorkeling would not have been great for us, we would have done the day trip to Playa Mia. It was very nice. Took a fifty minute ride back to port with more drinks and dancing with the staff. It was pretty entertaining, but too hard for me to dance in the wavy boat. But hey, I tried!! It was fun to watch everyone else though. I was impressed!

 

 

When we got back on the ship we went straight for the Garden Café for dinner. We were starved, and we knew it would be quick. We had to get ready and head to see the Blue Man Group!! This show was my favorite!! I was so excited for it and it did not let me down!! It was so fun to watch and I was impressed by their talent. I didn’t really know what to expect since I had not seen this show anywhere else before. I didn’t realize the drumming skills these guys have. And even though they don’t speak, they are very funny! Definitely a family friendly show, but so much fun for ALL ages!!

[ErinG]

DAY 7:

 

Sad day, it’s the last day. We were so exhausted after three busy days in port. It was a nice day to relax in the spa and just kind of do what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it.

 

We signed up for the cruise rewards this day. I think we are becoming cruise addicts :) We have just loved both of the NCL cruises we have taken now, so why not sign up for an offer we just have to use in the next four years!? My guess is it won’t take us that long!

 

For our last night, we decided to have dinner in Cagney’s. We had an awesome table where we got to watch the sunset, and our service was great. The food was fantastic. We both had the filet mignon. I will say, it was really good, but not what we expected. However, the dessert was A. MAZ. ING! Best dessert of the week. I had the Oreo cheesecake and my husband had the apple cardamom crisp. Both were so good. After we had dinner with Bon Villaluz the other night, she had sent us a bottle of wine, so we enjoyed that with our dinner as well!

 

 

 

 

DISEMBARKING:

 

We were into Miami while it was still dark, so we got to watch the sunrise. Because our flight was before noon (11:30) , NCL will not provide transfers. We didn’t know what to expect for disembarking, so we chose to do the easy walk off. . We got up early and we were in line by 7:10. The line was on deck 6 through the casino and started wrapping around both sides by the time we started moving. Once we started moving everything went smoothly and they were letting people off at two ends. We were off the ship by 7:25, and through customs and in a cab by 7:35. When we got to the airport we were lucky to have a short line at our gate and we were checked in at 8:00 with lots of time to spare!

 

So that’s it, the week flew by, but was full of fun and memories!! Now we are home waiting for spring…and our next cruise!!

 

DAILIES…you can find them HERE . Please note that there was a very large group/conference on our ship (1400 people!) so some of the scheduling might have reflected that. There was so Sail Away Party or Farewell Party on the first and last nights.

[ErinG]

Thanks for the check in! We leave on her this Sunday!

 

Hope you have an amazing time and awesome weather!!

[www3traveler]

Who were your Senior Bridge and Hotel Officers?

[funat55]

Thanks for posting your comprehensive and interesting review. So glad to hear you had a good time. I love your pictures too.

[Irina555]

-Yes, the phone lights up the room. We covered it with a towel. Problem solved.

 

If you press light icon on the phone, it looks something like a light bulb, top right corner, phone light will turn off ;)