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Norwegian Epic Adventure

Loopyloo12

By Loopyloo12,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Loopyloo12

Loopyloo12

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Thanks to others that have taken the time to review we had an even better cruise so doing my bit in response....

 

Cruise on Norwegian Epic starting Sunday 4th September (so only just back to work ). Travelers include me, and DH and our two friends all in 40's. It's our 2nd cruise (first was Western C out of Miami 4 years ago, Carnival Glory). Our friends are First timers.

 

Stansted to Barcelona with Ryaniar all uneventful, landed, found the taxi rank easily and airport to our hotel (Autohogar) was €40.

 

Hotel was nice, refurbished, nice rooms, we had balcony but friends didn't, but rooms were a good size and lovely bath, shower and some toiletries. AC was not the best but we survived. Location was good and we wandered off to Ramblas, took about 15 minutes and happened across our first Gaudi building (jailhouse) by accident.

 

Barcelona - beautiful city that we couldn't do justice in two half days but we did see the Gaudi Cathederal, after our walk up the busy Ramblas and a stop for enormous jugs of cocktails to people watch. Slightly tiddly after the drinks we ended up getting a taxi from the top of Ramblas to the Sagrada Família. It was too late to go in but amazing spectacle nonetheless. We found a nice restaurant nearby, had Paella which was yummy and then saw the Cathederal in the dark too which was great.

 

Fed, watered (or wined) we had enough sustenance to walk back but did find it necessary to stop along the way for more energy (it is necessary in Barcelona as you need to go to bars and cafes for the toilet, thus the requirement to keep drinking!).

 

DH and JF (male friend) took up lodging in the local bar outside the hotel while I and JH (female friend) opted for a shower and bed!

 

Breakfast was a little hectic as we were not the first up (surprisingly) and as it was Sunday everyone obviously decided to have a lie and and rush to breaky at the last minute. Plenty of food to choose from, and even cava for those eager for the hair of the dog!

 

We checked out, left our cases and headed off in a taxi to Gaudi Park, €20 each way but worth it. Lovely walk round and views of the city then headed back, time for a lunchtime sangria in the cafe/bar near the hotel then collected our bags and taxi to the port. €20, once port tax and other 'extras' were added on!

 

First sight of Epic proved she is Epic indeed! Arrived at 1.30pm and probably 30mins too early as it was still busy but not too bad. Cases get left at the front of the entrance and whisked off. We went through security, then check in desk for ID cards and credit card registration and paperwork. Probably took about 30mins in total and then we were off up the walkway into the ship.

 

Not as glam as boarding Carnival Glory in Miami but all very functional. Walking onboard certainly lacked the Wow factor too as you board on deck 5 (I think, could have been 6!) into the Art Gallery area so fairly subdued in comparison to the massive glass atrium on the Glory but it didn't take long to be impressed with The Epic.

 

Following reviews we made our way to O'Sheeans for a late lunch and gin and tonics. The start of our Epic eating and drinking adventure!

 

We had the drinks package included in our cruise price (thank the Lord) and must have sampled most of the drinks and cocktails available throughout the ship. We did not find any restrictions to the quantity, so long as you ordered by the glass (no bottles of wine or doubles) most things were included. A few very premium brands were above the 'per drink' price, but very few and Hendricks Gin and other good brands of spirits were included. There was also numerous cocktails, frozen cocktails, lager, beer, liqueurs and a range of nice red, white, rose and Prosecco available by the glass.

 

We found Shakers Martini Bar on that first afternoon and it became our 'meeting point' when we got split up or for pre-dinner drinks.... Great vodka and gin martinis and martini cocktails and nice live music in the evening plus super people watching spot and just and quick stumble down the stairs to the blackjack tables for me! More about that later!

 

So, off to our staterooms we go.... 9003 for us and 9015 for our friends thus quite a distance because of the set up and restriction to walk round the end due to staff rooms but as the crow flies pretty much back to back! Was not an issue as 4 people are never going to socialise comfortably in the inside staterooms so we never attempted to enter each other's domains.

 

Our stateroom was the last inside one at the front of the ship. It had plenty of space for us, loads of storage, shampoo and shower gel (if needed, I used my own as hair would have degraded to straw by the end of the week I suspect if I'd partaken of the complimentary offer, but DH used it happily). Mini bar but we left that well alone as not included in package. Toilet and shower set up was totally fine for us, in fact it worked well as no one was hogging the bathroom. Lighting was subdued which I like anyway (when one gets to their 40's there is nothing wrong with a bit of subdued lighting) but it did make eyebrow plucking a challenge. I never did perfect balancing my iPhone with the torch on at the right angle to help light up my eyebrows! Thus resigned myself to unperfect brows...luckily DH is fairly long sighted and too vain to wear his specs, plus having been married for 23 years he's unlikely to look too closely anyway, so I survived without comment!

 

We unpacked and headed up to the deck for sailaway. Lots of dancing and fun being had on the main deck by the pools and we watched, sampled some cocktails, and then enjoyed the sailaway from Barcelona and a beautiful sunset.

 

Explored the ship a little and then went for dinner in Manhattan.

 

Most evenings we ate in Taste or Manhattan. We booked for the first and last night as wanted to eat at 8.30pm and its busy then, so if you book you walk straight through. The other nights we went a little earlier and so long as it was before 8 or 8.15pm it was never busy. The food, we found to be superb. We all eat out a fair amount and having a father as an a la Carte chef I like good food and honestly found nothing to complain about. Portion sizes are not huge, but you can have as many as you like! If you want extra veg or potatoes ask for it and your wish is their command. I had a main as a starter one night because I fancied two of the main dishes and they did not bat an eyelid. DH was horrified but that soon turned to jealousy as my prawn dish arrived! The steak and meat generally was always superb, and beautifully cooked. One night Beef Wellington was on the menu and it was quite honestly the most melt in the mouth Ive ever had. We did no speciality dining at all. Shanghai Noodles was Ok, order a couple of dishes if you like a lot as the portion sizes are not huge but nice choice.

 

The buffet, or Garden Cafe had an incredible range of dishes at breakfast and lunch. Asian being cooked fresh, huge salad bars, road beef, veg and all the trimmings, a grill area with burgers, hot dogs, Mexican area with chill, curry area, pizza being freshly made, seafood and on and on.... At lunch on top of all that there were sandwiches and panini options.... Then lovely cakes and pastries, fruit whippy soft ice cream and harder scoop ice cream and frozen yoghurt....it really was never ending!

 

The Garden Cafe was a bit hectic for me, and as lovely as the food was the plastic plates and DIY was reserved for breakfast and the odd lunch, rather than dinner which just felt more special in the restaurants.

 

O'Sheeans was reserved for post partying late night 'supper'. It's 24/7 so the place to get a burger or chips at 2am... The ultimate in gluttony which I'm embarrassed to say we did at least 3 times! I like to think it helped with the hangovers!

 

Entertainment was everywhere... Our fav was Siglo, a band that played most nights quite late in the Cavern Club. They were superb, covered soft 80's Rock through to ELO, Pink Floyd, Red Hot Chillis and many many more... So good and can't understand why they are not raved about more on the reviews... We did go to Howl to the Moon but after Siglo they were just too Chas and Dave for us... But I could see people were having great fun which is probably the appeal.

 

BUrn the Floor was great, The Men were very reluctant and after dragging them out of the cigar lounge we were late for our booked slot (they release it to others after 10minutes quite rightly) and it was full. We were able to stand at the back and actually had a good view and the men were happy as they thought they could make a quick escape after a few minutes but they were still there at the end cheering with the rest of us.... It was a super dance show.

 

Precilla was fun, and it was entertaining seeing people leaving despite being told there would be bad language, sexual content and that it was not suitable for children at the start... The Men did not cope quite so well with this show, luckily I was blocking the entrance to the row or they would have been off in a heartbeat. As it was they had to stick it out and were a little shell shocked for an hour or so afterwards. Both hate musicals generally so the combination of musical and content of this show stretched the boundaries a little I think. Us girlies loved it however!

 

We did the circus dinner thingy too and this got the thumbs up from the boys. If you see it you will probably know why, two words 'bendy lady'! It was incredible and no idea what we ate but I'm sure it was lovely... Non stop entertainment and well worth it for the show, food was secondary!

 

I decided I wanted to have a go at blackjack and have always felt a little intimidated by the speed and seriousness of gamblers in the past so just watched. I was determined this time so took along some dollars and found myself a $6 minimum bet table and joined when there was only two other people playing. I explained I had no idea what I was doing and was immediately taken under the wing of an experienced American lady and the banker was actually really helpful too, keeping me straight! I soon caught onto the basics and managed to keep going for almost an hour in $20 and had a ball. I continued this most evenings, just for an hour or so and always found friendly co-gamblers who took me under their wing... Usually friendly American's who also made the table fun with their antics and jokes with the bankers... One night I even turned my $20 stake into $85! All in all I only lost about $30 and had about 5 hours of entertainment out of it so was quite chuffed.

 

H20 at the back of the ship was also fun.... The White Hot Party was there on the Friday night (second last night of the cruise) lots of people wearing white, glow sticks and boogieing on down. Blis, the nightclub, was another dance location so there was lots to choose from and a good, but different, atmosphere in each.

 

Lots of things going on during the day, Art Auctions, bingo, competitions, dance classes, towel folding etc.. Can't say we got round to any of that but no excuses for getting bored even if you stayed in board during the day.

 

In terms of the excursions, in Naples we just popped into town and took an open top bus ride (I was a little hungover so that was enough for me!) We've done Amalfi coast, Sorento and Pompei before so we enjoyed a bit of time on the ship without all the 1000's of passengers. Our friends took a tour of the said beauty spots with Crusie Excursions and loved it.

 

In Rome we all did a luxury mini bus tour into Rome with Crusie Excursions. That was great and we had super company, 8 of us who were driven to the key sights which kept the walking down to a minimum and allowed us to see so much in only a few hours. We even squeezed in a fab lunch and had tickets included for the Vatican where we saw (or convinced ourselves we had!) the Pope out for a stroll on a balcony opposite where we were all shuffling down the corridor towards the Sistine Chapel.

 

Florence took my breath away, truly beautiful place that I will definitely go back to for a longer visit. Again cruise excursions took care of us. A bigger group this time but once we arrived most of the coach took off on their own and a small group of us had the bonus of a guided tour around this compact little city, putting the history into context and making sure we saw all the key things. Worth noting at big coaches are not allowed into the city so there is a 10minute stroll into the centre from the coach and then a longer one (20 minutes) back to the coach near the train station at the end of the day so there is a bit of walking beside walking round the sights. Also worth noting that some people we met took the train and the one they planned to get back to the port just didn't turn up. They and a number of other passengers very nearly missed the ship as the next one got them in at 6.25pm and the ship left at 6.30pm!

 

Cannes delivered a well deserved break from sight seeing and we took the tender off the ship once the mad rush was over, turned left and wandered along the shore for about 5 minutes. There are public beaches amoungst all the private ones and restaurants. All are clean, pristine golden sand with showers and some even have lockers. We pitched up, stripped off and laid in the sun and swam in the crystal clear waters looking out at the yachts of the super rich, and the Epic dwarfing them all.

 

Marseille was a surprise to us. Our friends stayed in the boat to climb the wall and make use of the slides and daytime entertainment but we opted for E-bike tours. What a ride! We were picked up at the boat (so saved the $15 transfer from port to city) and had the most fun day whizzing round all the sights. The bikes were so easy and took loads of the effort out of it so are suitable for even the unfit like me. You can see so much, including city centre sights, the old town, cathedral and regenerated port area, then the old town, off along the coast and then up up up to the heights and amazing views down over the city and port. Really recommend this excursion if you have even a little energy left.

 

On the morning we disembarked we were out of our room at 8.30am, kept out luggage with us so we could leave when we wanted to not a a set time. Went up on deck and had breakfast then hung around will about 10am. We then walked off and hopped in a taxi to the airport, we were there by 11am for a 2pm flight so had loads of time. It was a set €39 from port to airport in the taxi.

 

Only grumble about the cruise is probably the cost of bottled water, there is water by the glass but bottled water should be more accessible too, it's $7 from a bar (including service) which is bonkers! Oh and the lifts are a bit of a joke when it's busy as there just are not enough of them... But thins means using the stairs which I guess is exercise, but not suitable for everyone!

 

Posh was good on the day at sea, we got passes for $15 each and it was a nice quiet place while the ship was full.

 

If you want to drink I'd say the package is a must. I dread to think what we'd have spent on drinks... Most are around $10.95 each (for a G&T) so it doesn't take much to get your money's worth, in my humble opinion and fun to sample things you wouldn't usually try.

 

Try to loose weight before you go as you will pile on the pounds unless you really are strong willed and visit the gym regularly!

 

So that's it... Hope it's helpful information and if you have questions I'll help if I can.... Over an out!

Edited by Loopyloo12
Smilie is wrong
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SullytheBFG

SullytheBFG

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Great review, we go in 12 days time from Barcelona. Now getting really excited!

 

Is posh worth it? I have my Mum with me who will not get off the boat during the week and thought it might be a nice place for her to be. Does it have a hot tub or any other cooling water feature?

 

We had vibe passes on the Escape earlier in the year and it was a really good area.

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Oakman58

Oakman58

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Thanks for the review. I’ve been questioning whether I want to see Burn the Floor but now I think I will definitely book the show. We will be cruising on the Epic out of Port Canaveral Florida in December and we’re looking forward to experiencing the Epic.

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Loopyloo12

Loopyloo12

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Could you give us some more info on the open top bus you took in Naples. That will be our last stop and we may be to tired to do much else by that stage.

Thanks

 

It's really simple, just wander off the ship and through the port, all signposted. Once out of the port building follow the crowds up towards the castle and a wooden walkway. At the end you will probably see the City Tour red hop on hop off busses over the road to the left. Just cross and head towards them and there is a little booth. Two tours, red and blue, €22 for both pp and both very different, one is city and one is out along the coast. I liked the coast best as some lovely views but we did both. Naples is not as beautiful as Florence, Rome or Barcelona so if you've already done those you may want to skip the city tour, but depends what you like. We didn't hop on or off at all just enjoyed the ride. Took about 1hr 40mins for both. You walk right past the castle so could always pop in there too but we were too hung over! Have fun!

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Loopyloo12

Loopyloo12

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Looppyloo - that's a fabulous review. We do the same cruise from Barcelona in 18 days time - can't wait.

 

After your review I have also booked the e-bike tour of Marseille - looks really good.

 

Cheers

 

Have fun, check you have booked the 'Cruise Bike tour' that includes the pick up and drop off from the port... Two of our group had booked the city tour that did not include the pick up so then had to make their own way to the city centre and the taxi was €20 each way! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did....

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MarkCheshire

MarkCheshire

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Have fun, check you have booked the 'Cruise Bike tour' that includes the pick up and drop off from the port... Two of our group had booked the city tour that did not include the pick up so then had to make their own way to the city centre and the taxi was €20 each way! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did....

 

Thanks for that - yes booked the 'cruise' version for pick up from ship

Really looking forward to it :)

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Loopyloo12

Loopyloo12

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Great review, we go in 12 days time from Barcelona. Now getting really excited!

 

Is posh worth it? I have my Mum with me who will not get off the boat during the week and thought it might be a nice place for her to be. Does it have a hot tub or any other cooling water feature?

 

We had vibe passes on the Escape earlier in the year and it was a really good area.

 

Posh was worth it for the day at sea because the ship is very busy so getting some quiet space was good, however I'm not sure I'd have bothered for the whole week as on the other days at port the boat was quiet anyway and there is an adults only area, H2O at the back which has a pool and hot tubs. Posh does not have these and can be really hot so I suspect your mum may prefer the H2O area on the days when the boat is in port. There are water mister things to cool you down but not as good as the pool. All depends how quiet your mum wants it as posh is very quiet and comfy chairs and beds. Another option for you mum may be the spa, we didn't use it but my friend did and said it was lovely....

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tomsgirl66

tomsgirl66

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Hi Loopylou 12,

 

I have just finished reading your review , & I must say it was wonderful. My partner & I are off on this cruise on the 25th and the info you have written has answered all of our questions. We have only cruised once before & that was on a small ship, so to say we are excited is an understatement . So thank you 0nce again for your review.

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SullytheBFG

SullytheBFG

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Posh was worth it for the day at sea because the ship is very busy so getting some quiet space was good, however I'm not sure I'd have bothered for the whole week as on the other days at port the boat was quiet anyway and there is an adults only area, H2O at the back which has a pool and hot tubs. Posh does not have these and can be really hot so I suspect your mum may prefer the H2O area on the days when the boat is in port. There are water mister things to cool you down but not as good as the pool. All depends how quiet your mum wants it as posh is very quiet and comfy chairs and beds. Another option for you mum may be the spa, we didn't use it but my friend did and said it was lovely....

 

Cheers for that. I might just get passes for the sea day and tell her to go to H2O as she likes to people watch and chat to people if they want to. We are getting off a few times as some of the places we have been to before.

 

Counting down to the 25th, seems that tomsgirl66 is on the same cruise!

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Trickster999

Trickster999

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It's really simple, just wander off the ship and through the port, all signposted. Once out of the port building follow the crowds up towards the castle and a wooden walkway. At the end you will probably see the City Tour red hop on hop off busses over the road to the left. Just cross and head towards them and there is a little booth. Two tours, red and blue, €22 for both pp and both very different, one is city and one is out along the coast. I liked the coast best as some lovely views but we did both. Naples is not as beautiful as Florence, Rome or Barcelona so if you've already done those you may want to skip the city tour, but depends what you like. We didn't hop on or off at all just enjoyed the ride. Took about 1hr 40mins for both. You walk right past the castle so could always pop in there too but we were too hung over! Have fun!

 

Thanks v much

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sandancer

sandancer

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Hi looplou. Glad you had such a great time. Your review was really entertaining. We are on the Epic TA Barcelona to Port Canaveral and I have just recommended everyone on our rollcall to read it, especially Epic first timers. It's going to be our fourth Epic adventure and I loved your review. I had to smile at your comments on the shows. It was almost exactly the same for me. DH grumbled about going to Burn the Floor but those guitarists won him over right away and we both really enjoyed it. His response to Priscilla was much the same as your men. Ah well, everyone's taste is different. Thanks again.

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Loopyloo12

Loopyloo12

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Thank you for the great review. I didn't think you could purchase posh for just one day. In wonder if that is a med. thing?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Not sure, we went to the customer services desk in the Atrium on boarding the ship and asked having seen some other comments on CC. Initially the chap was not sure and seemed confused, but he asked someone more experienced and she immediately said yes. We were quite late onboard so unlikely that we were the first to ask. Perhaps it depends on who you ask!

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Loopyloo12

Loopyloo12

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Just realised there are some mistakes in my post, too much haste typing, sorry! 'Road' beef !!!! I can assure you there is no road kill on offer, should have been 'roast' beef!

 

One thing DH reminded me of was the vibration in the stateroom, I guess because we were at the front we had the noise from the massive anchor dropping and there was a fair bit of juddering when we docked. Luckily I'd read others on here talking about it or I may have been a little alarmed the first morning, as it was the vibration was a little odd but managed to go back to sleep quickly each time... If you are a light sleeper or not full of alcohol you may find it more annoying.... One great thing was that there was a very slight vibration on the bed which made our towel animal (dog I think) ears wiggle... Caused huge amounts of hysteria....

Edited by Loopyloo12
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