Norwegian Epic mini review Jan 13 2018

[yummysbakery]

Background: Middle age girls trip. I am a frequent cruiser my friends not so much. Originally 4 of us were going in two inside rooms which we upgraded to mini suites prior to bidding process. The day before leaving one of our party had to cancel. So I had a mini suite to myself and next door to the other two in my party.

 

Embarkation. We were due to fly in to Orlando one day prior in the afternoon from Cleveland Ohio. Of course there was an ice and snow storm going on as usual for my part of the country and Southwest was kind enough to call us on Thursday night asking if we wanted to fly out early Friday morning as they didn’t think our flight would get out ahead of the storm. After some quick phone calls and schedules rearranged we agreed and took the earlier flight. De-iced in Cleveland and Chicago and arrived to 55 degree weather in Orlando. Whew we made it. Looking forward to warmer weather in the morning. Stayed at best western airport which has seen better days but for a quick over night was ok.

 

Used Cortrans for the shuttle to port Canaveral and they arrived 15 minutes early. Stopped at a few other hotels enroute and arrived at the port around 1130 am. Have to say that I expected a mess as the holy cruise charter was disembarking and reading about all the issues with this charter I thought it would take forever to board. The terminal was packed! However the lines moved quickly until they stopped the boarding process. So.....we received a group number of 10. Not too too bad I’m thinking. Come to find out they were calling group 12 of 25 and my group number was the number 10 group after they got to 25 and restarted the group numbers. Ugh.

 

On board: it’s 1:30 and we are on board. So not too bad. We went to the main dining room Taste to skip the buffet crowds. We’re seated right away. Vacation has officially begun.

 

So I will not be reviewing day by day. I will be using categories and no pictures [emoji17]

 

Mini suite 10220 Hate hate the bathroom situation but otherwise loved the room. More than enough storage deep balcony with room for loungers, chairs and a small table. Great location. Room steward ok. Did his job but was not engaging hardly ever saw him except when we first went to the room. I requested he bring the loungers to the cabins and empty the mini fridge when he had time and when we went to bed that evening he had fulfilled my requests. Other than that we didn’t have any interaction with him.

 

Weather: In the last 10 years of cruising the Caribbean this was by far the worst weather. Cold windy and wet! Sun for half a day on gsc but I’m not complaining. It was in the negative numbers at home so all is good.

 

Ports. Nassau only got off to use the WiFi and get a Starbucks. Nassau is well Nassau if you know what I mean.

 

Jamaica Falmouth booked for Dunn’s river and vip bamboo beach thru ncl because we had shore ex credit as a perk. Tour left on time but they did advise anyone wanting to cancel could because of the rain. And rain it did at the falls. We were soaked before stepping foot in the water. Because of the torrential rains the falls were running fast and furious. We elected to hike the boardwalk beside the falls and in the end we looked like we actually climbed as we were drowned rats. One note here the guides were extremely rude and aggressive about receiving their tip as well as the vendors in the park. Actually heckling some people. Worse much worse than I have ever experienced ever. VIP bamboo beach club. By some miracle it stopped raining on our way there. They have updated the beach and amenities in the last few years and it is quite nice. Food was good drinks were plentiful service was good a nice afternoon but slightly chilly.

 

Grand cayman tender port. Did a 3 hour tour to hell rum-cake factory and turtle farm. Plenty of time for shopping. We had planned on going on our own to 7 mile beach but with no sun we elected to have a few drinks before just going back to the ship.

 

Gsc. Another tender port which we felt lucky to go to. Sun was in sun was out all day back and forth but this was our best weather day. Buffet food was ok but food was pretty cold. Drinks were strong though and packed a punch. Taco bar we heard was good but did not eat there.

 

Food on board: We ate at Taste, Shanghai , wasabi, modurno,le bistro Cagneys and the buffet. The specialty restaurants were excellent. The complimentary restaurants were good. I can’t say I had a bad meal in them just not memorable. Wasabi was excellent and the chefs were very engaging and were our hero’s of the week.

 

Entertainment we went to cirque solei paid dinner show. This was fabulous. We were front and center and the show was amazing and we thought the food was very good as well. Priscilla queen of the desert. Outrageously funny great music and costumes. By far my favorite show. Burn the floor was good but not as good as the first two in my opinion.

 

Casino yes it is Smokey at times and I asked where smoking sections were and was told on both sides but not in the middle. Go figure how that works. That being said this girl (me) hit two jackpots on the same machine two days apart and let’s just say I wired funds home! So Smokey or not I’ll take it!

 

De embarkation : my two traveling companions didn’t have a flight until late afternoon and I was hanging in Florida for a few days to board the jade for 10 days so we took our time. Had breakfast at Taste with farewell mimosa’s and hung out there until 930 and our group was called. About a half hour later we were searching for our luggage grabbed a porter to skip in front of about 300 people and were outside boarding our transportation.

 

Final thoughts: it was a good cruise. I probably will not go back on the epic again though. The layout of the ship and the rooms are just not my cup of tea. If anyone has questions I’ll be happy to answer them for the next couple of days before I board the jade. Safe travels!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thanks for the feedback.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[Victorious8]

Thanks for the update. Can you comment on the nightlife?

[hummelda]

What was it about the rooms on the Epic? And we're thinking of taking a chance to book a BX grade balcony room. They note on the website that it could have an obstructed view from the balcony. Any insight on this?

[Keith1010]

Thank you for taking the time to write and share this very well written and detailed report.

 

Keith

[cbtravel1]

Thank you for the review!

[dexddd]

One note here the guides were extremely rude and aggressive about receiving their tip as well as the vendors in the park. Actually heckling some people.

 

 

I know I made mention of this on one of the other Jamaica discussions the past few days, but we too were at DRF back in August. We did the falls on our own but you are right, the folks working the shops are the WORST I"ve ever seen. We too were heckled for not stopping at their shops.

 

 

What a rude bunch of people making it our desire to not go back there on our future trips.

[bradystrib]

Thanks for the update. Can you comment on the nightlife?

My wife and I just got back from the same cruise. It was pretty good nightlife. Bliss lounge was a good time with the Karaoke and some of the parties that were supposed to be at Spice H2O got moved to bliss because of the weather, but they were all really good time. Some of the bars and lounges in the aft were older crowds but had live music. The casino was always fun. The Cavern for the Epic Beetles was fun, but again a little older crowd. Howl at the Moon piano show was great everytime we saw it!

[yummysbakery]

Thanks for the update. Can you comment on the nightlife?

 

 

 

The nightlife was almost non stop. Plenty of choice in music styles and dance. Movies and popcorn at spice h2o. Comedy club shows casino all were great fun.

 

 

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[yummysbakery]

What was it about the rooms on the Epic? And we're thinking of taking a chance to book a BX grade balcony room. They note on the website that it could have an obstructed view from the balcony. Any insight on this?

 

 

 

I don’t know about the obstructed bx balconys but I would assume it is because of the life boats. I did not care for the bathroom setup on the ship nor the wave shape of the room. The layout of the ship is different too with the elevators only forward and aft but we took the stairs a lot so I could live with that. It did seem that most of the venues you were routed through the casino or Osheehans which got quite congested at times.

 

 

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[ari6108]

My husband and I were also on this cruise. Pros--Nightlife and dining. Cons--Cabin setup and lighting-horrible; service was below par.. Another advantage is that we did not gain any weight cause we walked constantly to get to our destination. Would not go on the Epic again but have been on 3 other Norwegian Cruises and was happy.