Epic. Can ncl do this?

[Trickster999]

There's a review from frankienapoli in the cc reviews section.

He was supposed to go east from Barcelona, to Italy, France Etc.

But the itinerary was changed to Canary Islands and he was stuck with it. He wasn't very happy with the situation.

Do itinerary changes happen often?

[KeithJenner]

Yes, they can change the itinerary.

 

A big change like that at short notice is extremely rare. More common is a missed or changed port

[KeithJenner]

I just checked the review and it doesn't say how far out the itinerary was changed.

 

Big changes to itineraries can happen but they are usually months (in my experience, more than a year) in advance. I don't know the specifics of this change but I suspect it was probably changed some time in advance.

[Trickster999]

Maybe he'd got his flights and accommodation all booked up.i didn't understand what he meant by saying he'd never book a a cruise to a specific location

 

Some time ago someone told me that a cruise company aren't obligated to take you anywhere. They could leave port and sail round in circles for a week than chuck you off. Is that right?

[Trickster999]

Btw

I think I'm going to stop reading the reviews. They are starting to depress me. However I'm sure it will all work out.

[KeithJenner]

Maybe he'd got his flights and accommodation all booked up.i didn't understand what he meant by saying he'd never book a a cruise to a specific location

 

 

 

Some time ago someone told me that a cruise company aren't obligated to take you anywhere. They could leave port and sail round in circles for a week than chuck you off. Is that right?

 

 

My assumption is that they booked specifically to do the big Italian ports (Naples, Rome and Livorno) and, as you say, had booked flights etc before the change was announced.

 

All that tells us in respect of timings is that the change happened sometime in the year before the cruise.

 

The Epic did have a lot of changes to its itineraries announced last Summer. Maybe this was one of them.

Edited March 13, 2016 by KeithJenner

[KeithJenner]

Btw

 

I think I'm going to stop reading the reviews. They are starting to depress me. However I'm sure it will all work out.

 

 

That is a very good plan.

[Demonyte]

Some time ago someone told me that a cruise company aren't obligated to take you anywhere. They could leave port and sail round in circles for a week than chuck you off. Is that right?

 

 

Yes, that is absolutely correct. Your contract with the cruise line only guarantees you full board, meaning the accommodation that you have booked (or better) and food.

 

That is fulfilled by them letting you onboard the ship and having the buffet as the only dining option (at all or complimentary), everything else you might be getting is "extra".

[Trickster999]

That is a very good plan.

 

Hi Keith.

I see you have sailed on the epic several times and have got one coming up.

 

So you must rate it highly.

 

I think that probably A higher % of people post a review if they haven't enjoyed it than those who have. We've booked several trips/ hotels where there's been a lot of negative reviews only to find on arrival that it's fine.

Maybe people's expectations are too high for what they have paid.

 

Only once in all the holidays we have taken did we ask to be relocated as the appartements was more or less uninhabitable and the rep apologised that we were ever sent there.

[Burgmeister]

Our upcoming Med cruise on Epic had an itinerary change last year when the original port of Palma de mallorca was swapped for Marseille. One port change out of 5 so not too serious although I have no desire to visit Marseille.

 

Changing that itinerary to the Canary Islands would really upset me though as we have already done 2 cruises to the Islands. I would assume a change of that magnitude would result in NCL offering to change your cruise/refund. If I had already booked my flights I still would have cancelled and booked a hotel in Barcelona instead.

 

I too have decided not to read reviews on NCL and judge for myself how good/bad they are. My only comparison will be against RCL as all 3 of our previous cruises have been with them.

[Trickster999]

Hi burgmeister

Yes just before we booked about a month ago the itinerary was showing Palma Majorca. I would have preferred that to Marsailles but having read a bit about Marsailles it seems the old port and the Panier area are nice to wander round.

We go October 5th from Rome. We have two nights there first. I chose that as we sailed from Barcelona last time on the ncl spirit to the canaries. We enjoyed that trip a lot.

It was a very relaxed ship but it seems on the epic you're best to book your dining and shows before you sail which seems to defeat the idea of free style cruising.

When do you sail?

[Burgmeister]

We're on the same cruise as Keith sailing from Barcelona on 29th May.

 

Already booked dinners and entertainment but then, we aren't really fans of freetime dining we are more traditional in that respect.

 

I'm sure there are probably some areas of Marseille that may be worth seeing but I probably won't be getting off the ship. Hopefully everyone else will and we will be able to make good use of the onboard facilities. I don't mind having one duff port on a cruise that has quite a port-intensive itinerary. We don't like to over-do it so having a port that really doesn't do anything for me gives me an excuse to relax more.

[Trickster999]

Have a great time.

Are you having some time in Barcelona first?

I hope you do a review when you come back.

 

Yes it is a very port intensive cruise. Because we start in Rome our sea day is the 5 th one. That might be a blessing as it will give us a chance to relax a bit after a few busy days

Are you doing any shore excursions

What about speciality dining... Booked any of that or sticking to complementary.

We might go to the tent thing for the show but apart from thAt will use the main dining rooms.

[clivep]

There's a review from frankienapoli in the cc reviews section.

He was supposed to go east from Barcelona, to Italy, France Etc.

But the itinerary was changed to Canary Islands and he was stuck with it. He wasn't very happy with the situation.

Do itinerary changes happen often?

 

The itinerary was changed from a Western Med cruise to a Canary Islands one quite a few months ago. I know as I was watching the prices of the Epic January & February cruises for a long time waiting for the prices to drop. We don't like hot weather so were most interested in the 11 night Western Med cruise but would consider the 21 night back to back if the price was right. It soon became evident that the Canaries cruises were selling far better than the Western Med ones so it was no surprise when NCL switched the 24th Feb Western Med sailing to do the Canaries instead. I was actively looking at making a booking in October/November 2015 and the change of itinerary had happened before this.

 

This left the 13th January and 3rd February 11 night Western Med sailings for me to consider. I was hoping for a Cyber Monday pick 2 offer like that offered in the US but they didn't offer this in the UK/EU. However the price did drop and we paid €559 pp inc. taxes for a B6 balcony cabin with one free amenity (inc. 18% gratuity) by booking through a German TA.

 

This was our 26th Cruise and one of the best. Celebrity is our favourite line (where we are Elite in their loyalty club) but NCL compared very well. We chose the 5 night SDP package as our free amenity and went to Cirque Dreams, Modernos (twice), Teppanyaki & Cagneys. All were excellent. Other than that we mainly ate in the Garden Cafe... it was quite busy at times but we never had problems finding a table and there were hardly ever any queues for the food... the choice and quality were fantastic (I particularly liked the ice cream counter!).

 

Don't pay too much attention to the negative reviews and enjoy your cruises on the Epic.

[hawkeyetlse]

The change was announced to booked passengers about 6 months ahead of time, in August 2015, as you can see from this thread and the roll calls for the affected cruises.

 

"frankienapoli" evidently booked the cruise specifically to visit Naples, so it is understandable that this change was extremely disappointing to him, and left him negatively disposed to everything about the onboard experience. He says he was "locked in" to the cruise, but in fact he was only locked into travelling to Barcelona. In hindsight he probably should have made different plans for his time in Europe (for example, a different cruise during those dates that woud have taken him to Naples).

[Burgmeister]

Hi Trickster

 

Thanks, we certainly hope so!

 

We are flying out to Barcelona on the 28th, we couldn't have any longer as its half term holiday and getting kids out of school is a lot harder than it used to be. So we'll just have to go back to Barcelona again sometime - no hardship I'm sure!

 

We won't be doing any NCL port excursions as they are all so expensive and also a bit "full on" for our liking. My wife is not a well woman so we have to take things pretty easy. Naples is a trip on the train to Herculaneum for a few hours and then we'll decide whether to do a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Naples when we get back, depending on how she's feeling. If she's had enough we'll get back on board and down a few cocktails (me and wife) and enjoy the waterslides/pool (me and daughter).

 

Rome is a bit busier but same kind of routine. Train to Rome HoHo bus tour then see how we are feeling as to when we return. Its our 25th Wedding Anniversary on this day, which is the main reason for traveling at this time.

 

Livorno is the only port where we actually have anything booked. We have bought tickets for the bus from Livorno centre to Pisa, relaxing couple of hours, then back to port.

 

Cannes, tender to town, mooch around and enjoy the beach.

 

Marseille - probably stay on board.

 

 

No speciality dining so far. We'll see how we get on with the complimentary stuff (already booked) and if we enjoy it we'll probably stick to that. We have the UBP, so if we don't enjoy the dining maybe a few more drinks will help!

 

I generally don't do reviews as my mind tends to flit about a bit and it makes it difficult for people to follow my train of thought. Also, I rarely take pictures as I find it detracts from the actual experience - my wife on the other hand always has a damn camera in her hand!

 

Cheers

[Welshdoc]

Hi Trickster

 

Thanks, we certainly hope so!

 

We are flying out to Barcelona on the 28th, we couldn't have any longer as its half term holiday and getting kids out of school is a lot harder than it used to be. So we'll just have to go back to Barcelona again sometime - no hardship I'm sure!

 

We won't be doing any NCL port excursions as they are all so expensive and also a bit "full on" for our liking. My wife is not a well woman so we have to take things pretty easy. Naples is a trip on the train to Herculaneum for a few hours and then we'll decide whether to do a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Naples when we get back, depending on how she's feeling. If she's had enough we'll get back on board and down a few cocktails (me and wife) and enjoy the waterslides/pool (me and daughter).

 

Rome is a bit busier but same kind of routine. Train to Rome HoHo bus tour then see how we are feeling as to when we return. Its our 25th Wedding Anniversary on this day, which is the main reason for traveling at this time.

 

Livorno is the only port where we actually have anything booked. We have bought tickets for the bus from Livorno centre to Pisa, relaxing couple of hours, then back to port.

 

Cannes, tender to town, mooch around and enjoy the beach.

 

Marseille - probably stay on board.

 

 

No speciality dining so far. We'll see how we get on with the complimentary stuff (already booked) and if we enjoy it we'll probably stick to that. We have the UBP, so if we don't enjoy the dining maybe a few more drinks will help!

 

I generally don't do reviews as my mind tends to flit about a bit and it makes it difficult for people to follow my train of thought. Also, I rarely take pictures as I find it detracts from the actual experience - my wife on the other hand always has a damn camera in her hand!

 

Cheers

 

See you on the 29th May!

Would be delighted to share notes on the cocktail list!!

We did the train to Rome last year, walked all day from point to point, 6 year old still hasn't forgiven us! This year, we'll do the train again but not get off at the Vatican and go to the end of the line and just enjoy the sights around the Coliseum etc.

Marseille, we were with MSC last year, only docked there for the afternoon and stayed on board as the shuttle buses weren't cheap!

Need to do my homework for the other 2 Italian ports!

[Burgmeister]

This year, we'll do the train again but not get off at the Vatican and go to the end of the line and just enjoy the sights around the Coliseum etc.

 

Are you on the roll call? Keith has given some good information on there.

 

Also, looking around t'internet it appears that the HoHo bus has a stop just outside Rome Termini station. Definitely beats walking!!

[Trickster999]

Hi Trickster

 

Thanks, we certainly hope so!

 

We are flying out to Barcelona on the 28th, we couldn't have any longer as its half term holiday and getting kids out of school is a lot harder than it used to be. So we'll just have to go back to Barcelona again sometime - no hardship I'm sure!

 

We won't be doing any NCL port excursions as they are all so expensive and also a bit "full on" for our liking. My wife is not a well woman so we have to take things pretty easy. Naples is a trip on the train to Herculaneum for a few hours and then we'll decide whether to do a hop-on hop-off bus tour of Naples when we get back, depending on how she's feeling. If she's had enough we'll get back on board and down a few cocktails (me and wife) and enjoy the waterslides/pool (me and daughter).

 

Rome is a bit busier but same kind of routine. Train to Rome HoHo bus tour then see how we are feeling as to when we return. Its our 25th Wedding Anniversary on this day, which is the main reason for traveling at this time.

 

Livorno is the only port where we actually have anything booked. We have bought tickets for the bus from Livorno centre to Pisa, relaxing couple of hours, then back to port.

 

Cannes, tender to town, mooch around and enjoy the beach.

 

Marseille - probably stay on board.

 

 

No speciality dining so far. We'll see how we get on with the complimentary stuff (already booked) and if we enjoy it we'll probably stick to that. We have the UBP, so if we don't enjoy the dining maybe a few more drinks will help!

 

I generally don't do reviews as my mind tends to flit about a bit and it makes it difficult for people to follow my train of thought. Also, I rarely take pictures as I find it detracts from the actual experience - my wife on the other hand always has a damn camera in her hand!

 

Cheers

 

Hi again burgmeister

Because we have the two nights in Rome prior to sailing I've been asking lots of questions on the tripadvisor forum. The general consensus is that the Ho Ho bus isn't much use as it can't get close to lots of the must sees as they are in pedestrian zones. I've planned a walking tour with a bit of metro so we will get the bus from our out of town hotel to the city centre. Walk to Spanish steps. Metro to Coleseum. Walk to Trevi, walk to Pantheon walk to Navaro,walk back to bus terminus, bus back to hotel. We will get the bus to St. Peter's basilica the first afternoon and only do that as we will be knackered after an early flight from Brum.

I hope your missus's health improves and you all have a great time.

[Trickster999]

Berg.....

 

Cannes there's a number 8 bus that goes a few miles to Palm beach and also a petit tren

[Burgmeister]

Thanks for the info. Presumably though you can simply Hop off near to the attraction and Hop on again when you've seen whatever sight it is you want to see?

 

Walking tours are definitely no good for us but they are the best way to see any city if you are fit enough. I think we will stick to the HoHo and, if we feel it necessary, we'll hop off. The problem with all of these major cities is that you simply can't do them justice in a single day so you just have to determine what is best for your own circumstances to make as much of it as you can.

[sandancer]

Hi burgmeister

Yes just before we booked about a month ago the itinerary was showing Palma Majorca. I would have preferred that to Marsailles but having read a bit about Marsailles it seems the old port and the Panier area are nice to wander round.

We go October 5th from Rome. We have two nights there first. I chose that as we sailed from Barcelona last time on the ncl spirit to the canaries. We enjoyed that trip a lot.

It was a very relaxed ship but it seems on the epic you're best to book your dining and shows before you sail which seems to defeat the idea of free style cruising.

When do you sail?

You may enjoy Marseille more than you expect. We had no great expectation and even considered staying onboard. We were pleasantly surprised. Took the Open top bus tour and then pottered around the old town before heading back to the ship. Give it a go. We have taken 3 cruises on the Epic and we are on the TA this year. Have never booked dining in advance and have always managed to book what we wanted onboard. We do book the shows in advance though although again this is not essential as they have a stand by line for every show for people who prefer to just turn up. I'm guessing you'll have a great time.

[KeithJenner]

Hi Keith.

 

I see you have sailed on the epic several times and have got one coming up.

 

 

 

So you must rate it highly.

 

 

 

I think that probably A higher % of people post a review if they haven't enjoyed it than those who have. We've booked several trips/ hotels where there's been a lot of negative reviews only to find on arrival that it's fine.

 

Maybe people's expectations are too high for what they have paid.

 

 

 

Only once in all the holidays we have taken did we ask to be relocated as the appartements was more or less uninhabitable and the rep apologised that we were ever sent there.

 

 

Yes, I really like the Epic. I don't particularly have a favourite ship though and another factor which leads to us having been on it the most is that the 7 day Barcelona round trip fits in so well with May half term.

 

It is a ship which draws strong feelings one way or the other though. I know quite a few people for whom it is their favourite ship, whilst others hate it.

 

Lack of sea views is an issue, and I really miss the promenade deck (I usually walk a lot on other ships). Some people hate the bathrooms, which don't bother me at all (in face the ability of people to use the sink whilst someone else is using the toilet seems to me to be an advantage).

 

Another thing that affects reviews a lot (with all the large ships) is that some people don't seem to appreciate beforehand the differences with the way the entertainment works, for example. Some people legitimately don't like it, but others just seem to be caught by surprise.

 

My advice is to always keep an open mind, expect things to be a bit different and always remember that different doesn't necessarily mean worse.

[KeithJenner]

Our upcoming Med cruise on Epic had an itinerary change last year when the original port of Palma de mallorca was swapped for Marseille. One port change out of 5 so not too serious although I have no desire to visit Marseille.

 

 

I'm just catching up with yesterday's comments.

 

The Palma, Marseilles, Cannes stops on this itinerary have changed a few times over the years. I think this will be my third variation in the four times I will have done the cruise, and this is the second time it's changed after booking.

 

This is the sort of change that can happen.

 

One slight word of warning though. One year we missed Livorno as they couldn't dock, and fairly recently Civitavecchia was missed for the same reason. It's rare, but it can happen.

[Trickster999]

Thanks Keith.

We go in October so hopefully there won't be any problems docking.

I assume Barcelona is a port where they can dock anytime, but what would happen to passengers who were due to embark/disembark at Civiteccia. Presumably they'd have to be bused to Livrono and the disembarkees would have to re arrange their flight home.