My Epic Review - Western Carribean 1/20/18

[APDMOM]

It was such fun to read your upbeat review! 6 more weeks until my feet hit the sandy shores of Great Stirrup Cay...:D

[Love my butler]

Only a $42 tip on a 75 minute massage? Another reason to avoid the spa.

[Victorious8]

Thanks for the follow up and the pictures. It is so nice to see reviews from 20-somethings! I'm in the final months of my twenties so I guess I don't need those as much anymore :( Thanks for the tip about Spice, I can just picture my friends and I going up there already <3

[rachelia160]

Thanks for the review we are headed on the Epic the end of the month, we've only ever sailed NCL 1 other time. Love the door decor that's a great idea. Did you just tape the decorations to your door?

 

 

 

They were actually magnets! I ordered them off Etsy. If you go to Etsy and search "Cruise door magnets" there are a ton of fun options!

[rachelia160]

Great info! Thanks for sharing.

 

When you were in Cozumel, do you remember if you stayed on ship time or local time? Could you take a photo of the front page of the daily for the day in Cozumel, please?

 

 

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Thank you!

 

I'm pretty sure we stayed on ship time. I never saw a notice or anything about a time change at any of the ports. I'm at work right now but I'll take a picture of the daily when I get home! :)

[LinnieRed]

What a great review! Thanks for all of the tips. I thoroughly enjoy your writing style.

[rachelia160]

Thanks for all your kind words everyone!

 

I finally downloaded pictures from my camera, so I'll do a few posts with some pictures around the cabin.

 

Here's the outlet situation. Those are the only outlets in the cabin (or at least I think they are, I didn't see any others). You can see why I wasn't able to use the surge protector I brought. Ha

 

 

 

Having a USB charger like this was handy though - my husband and I could both charge our phones at the same time with an outlet to spare for their hair dryer or whatever else.

Here's the hair dryer because some of us ladies just like to know about these things.

 

 

Here's the coffee maker.

 

[rachelia160]

The bathroom mirror cabinet, which had TONS of space. The shelves were pretty deep

 

 

Tons of storage space behind the couch. We stashed our beach towels in there during the evening to keep them out of the way.

 

Huge closet:

 

Second closet that has three big drawers underneath:

 

 

 

 

 

I barely even had to use this big cabinet since all our stuff fit so well in other spots. (I didn't know before now how obsessed I am with storage space. Who am I?)

 

[rachelia160]

The bin to stick your dirty towels. (NOT a spot to store your sunscreen. Sorry, Adhian.)

 

 

 

 

Yet another ginormous cabinet that contains the safe:

 

Nicy roomy drawer beneath the sink. I dumped all my makeup in there so I wouldn't have to deal with my cosmetics bag.

 

 

 

[rachelia160]

The throne room (or possibly throne closet):

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rachelia160]

Since we had an "exposed balcony," this is what you'd see when looking up, instead of a ceiling.

 

 

Another balcony view. Some people have concerns about the life boats obstructing the view. I didn't think it was a problem at all on the 9th floor (you couldn't even see them when sitting down), but I can see how it wouldn't be ideal to be right on top of a life boat if you were on the 8th floor. But hey, life boats are big, there's thousands of people on the ship, they gotta go somewhere!

 

 

 

Mini bar:

 

 

Okay, I think that's about it for storage-palooza. Hopefully there are some other organization nerds out there who will find this helpful!

[rachelia160]

Hahaha. I'm also a tech writer/editor/content strategist, and that typo would have killed me too. I feel your pain!

 

Loved your review of the Epic! Sounds like you had a fabulous time. We've sailed on her twice (got engaged during our first sailing!) and I'm looking forward to sailing again at some point. Trying the Breakaway next year after taking a Carnival cruise in a few weeks. So many ships, so little time!

 

Hello fellow editor! I'm a greeting card editor. (Think of the two biggest card companies you know...it's probably the second one.)

 

I can rip other people's work to shreds and pick it apart with a fine-tooth comb, but I STINK at editing my own work. I've already found about a dozen over typos just glancing at my posts. Don't judge me too harshly, I swear I'm decent at my job! ;p

[rachelia160]

What a great review! Thanks for all of the tips. I thoroughly enjoy your writing style.

 

Thanks so much! There's no higher compliment than that for me! :)

[rachelia160]

Great info! Thanks for sharing.

 

When you were in Cozumel, do you remember if you stayed on ship time or local time? Could you take a photo of the front page of the daily for the day in Cozumel, please?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sorry for the delay on this! I've attached the page as a PDF - let me know if you have any trouble with it.

 

Cozumel p1.pdf

Cozumel p1.pdf

[njmomof2]

I also really enjoyed your review and your breezy writing style. Light and enjoyable and funny!

 

I also edit as part of my regular job, so I'm constantly finding typos in all sorts of things, from the newspaper to mailers, even an online notice from our HS! Seriously, who looks at this stuff and thinks that the swim team secured a "birth" in the semi-finals?

 

Glad you had a great time.

[OUgal]

Sorry for the delay on this! I've attached the page as a PDF - let me know if you have any trouble with it.

 

 

 

Cozumel p1.pdf

 

 

 

Thanks very much!

 

It’s amazing all the storage hiding places on the Epic. I was on the ship in 2013 and never found the drawer near the sink.

 

 

Nicole

 

 

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[llollipoppi]

Thanks very much!

 

It’s amazing all the storage hiding places on the Epic. I was on the ship in 2013 and never found the drawer near the sink.

 

 

Nicole

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I was on the same cruise and never found this drawer either:'):')

[joteacher]

I love your writing style! I know what you mean about editing...I'm an English teacher and some of what I see in newspapers, from administrators, etc. drives me crazy! :rolleyes:

 

We're leaving on the 17th, and your pictures of the storage places were very helpful. Thanks for an excellent review!

~Joanne

[twallan59]

Thanks for the review we are headed on the Epic the end of the month, we've only ever sailed NCL 1 other time. Love the door decor that's a great idea. Did you just tape the decorations to your door?

 

Love the idea about the cups too, I'll have to think about picking some up before we go.

 

Looking forward to our trip and just relaxing.

 

Sorry --- What size of cup did you bring? :-)

[rachelia160]

Sorry --- What size of cup did you bring? :-)

 

I brought a whopping 30 ouncer! Handy for ordering two drinks at a time and dumping them in so I wouldn't have to get my butt up off my lounger for as long as possible :cool: But I'm sure a single drink would easily fit in a 20ish ounce size.

[njgrlloves2trvl]

Spa

This was the only borderline negative experience I had onboard the Epic, but it turned into a pretty funny story for the week.

 

Warning: this is long and rambling and probably not all that interesting, and doesn’t really contain any “revew” information that you need to know – I just want to rant about my experience for a few minutes, so feel free to skip if you’re not interested in anecdotes.

 

Off we go…

 

One of the spa specials listed in the freestyle was the Top to Toe special. For $149 (not including the 18% gratuity), you received a full body massage, scalp massage, and a facial massage, totaling 75 minutes. I thought this was a pretty good deal, and my husband encouraged me to go for it.

 

 

 

When I arrived, my therapist was named Hammad. As he lead me back to the room, he told me all about all the other cruise ships he’s worked on and that he was a skin expert. This was all fine, but kind of unusual based on my past spa experiences – the therapists usually aren’t so chatty. He sat me down in a chair first and wanted to talk and ask me questions. I sort of wanted to get on with it and didn’t want to waste time talking about my skin, especially when I was more excited about the massage and the facial was just kind of a bonus, but whaddaya gonna do?

He asked me when my last facial was, and I said I had never had one. He started telling (lecturing?) me on how important they are, how important skin is, everything they do for you, how important the products are, on and on for a good ten minutes. Okay dude, I get it!

 

He then began asking me if I had any concerns with my skin.

 

“Acne?”

“I get a zit or two every once in a while, but not bad.”

“Wrinkles?”

“Nah, not yet.” (I’m 26.)

“Under eye bags?”

“Not that I’ve noticed.”

“Oily skin?”

“Towards the end of the day, maybe, but not too bad.”

 

As you can see, I didn’t have too many concerns. I certainly don’t have an amazing complexion or anything, but all in all, my skin pretty much behaves itself. I was just soooo over talking about it. Again, wasn’t that concerned about the facial – I wanted that rub down!

 

We (finally) got started on my massage, and it was wonderful – no complaints there. I mentioned that my lower back was a problem area and he did a great job loosening it up. It felt like it lasted a good long time, too. The scalp massage was also amazing. (Is there anything better than someone scratching your head? Especially when you don’t have to beg your spouse to do it?)

 

Then came the facial. He started examining me under one of those really bright magnifying glass things.

 

You know how I said I didn’t have that many concerns, and that overall I thought my skin was pretty decent?

 

HOO boy, was I apparently wrong.

 

Hammad picked apart my face piece by piece. He told me how bad the blackheads on my forehead were. He told me about the horizontal lines on my forehead. He told me he can tell I don’t use eye cream because of ALL THE WRINKLES by my eyes. (Again, I’m 26.) He told me how oily my forehead was. That I have acne all over my jaw line (I had, like, ONE zit, so sue me). I should really get a facial once a month and come back later in the week so he could do a full facial with extractions. On and on and on.

 

I know I’m ranting a bit, but I can’t even remember everything he said. All I know is that it made me feel awful. I went to the spa for a calming, relaxing (and quiet) experience, and then basically got told, unprompted, how horrible I look. I’ve never had an experience like that before. Of course, I know he was saying all this to sell me products to solve all of my ‘skin issues,’ and to get me to come back and get a full facial later in the week, but I gotta tell you – even knowing that, it really didn’t feel great.

 

So he gets on with the actual mini-facial and it was nice and relaxing, although I could have done without having the products explained to me as we went. I just tuned it out.

 

At the end he handed me a mirror and said “See how much better you look? Imagine if you got a full facial! See how this blahblahblah cream really reduced the wrinkles around your eyes?” (I’m know I’m harping on the wrinkles, but, YOU GUYS, I have never seen a wrinkle by my eyes, before or since!!)

 

So after I get dressed, the sales pitch starts. Of course, I’m expecting this. I get that it’s part of the deal when you receive a spa service. I get it – it’s part of their job, they make commission, and that it’s probably how they make the bulk of their money. That’s all fine. I usually listen to the pitch, and then politely refuse. In the past, if I’ve turned the product down, say, two or three times, after one last “Are you sure?”, that’s the end of it.

 

Well, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, that wasn’t the case this time. I’ve never been pushed so hard by someone selling me a product. He essentially resorted to insulting me to try to get me to buy a $150 teeny tiny bottle of eye cream. Reiterating how bad my wrinkles are and how badly I need it. I just kept saying it’s not in my budget, it’s not in my budget, IT’S NOT IN MY BUDGET! He wouldn’t take no for an answer. After about 10 minutes I felt like I was being held hostage. I finally said “I’d want to talk to my husband before spending that kind of money.” (Not really true, I was just trying to get out of there.) His response: “I think it’s so silly when women say they have to ask permission from their husband to spend money. Don’t you work?” Um, excuse me?? I certainly did not say “ask permission,” and I don’t think it’s your place to tell me that communicating with my husband about finances is “silly.”

 

That was the last straw for me. I finally said “Look, I’m not interested, and I’d like to go now.” (Which is SO not like me, but I just didn’t know what else to do – politeness was getting me absolutely nowhere).

 

He lead me out the lobby and was certainly less sunny and chatty than he had been during my entire service. He handed me my bill to sign, and stood over my shoulder while I signed it. That made me extremely uncomfortable since there is a line to leave additional gratuity (on top of the 18%) – I feel like he was watching to see if I was going to leave anything. I didn’t, because I had been planning on tipping a little extra in cash, but I could just feel his annoyance as he saw that I didn’t write anything in the tip line.

 

I handed him an extra $15 in cash, and that seemed to cheer him up slightly. I’m still kind of mad at myself for doing that – I’m always a generous tipper, but after the experience I had just had, I don’t think I should have tipped extra on top of the 18%.

 

All that being said, I don’t think that’s the typical experience at the spa – I have an inkling that he is definitely just the really pushy type. He was also dressed differently than the other massage therapists I saw walking around, and seemed more like a salesman than a massage therapist. I wonder if the deals in the freestyle are more of a sales pitch than if you just signed up for a massage at full price? Or maybe he’s just too intense. Who knows.

 

Overall, I’m still glad I did it. The massage and facial themselves were wonderful. The pushiness was not.

 

Of course I told my husband all this, and he felt bad for me, but also thought it was kind of hilarious. The rest of the week, when I’d get ready for the night, he’d say “Babe you look great! Other than the fact that you need a whole new face!” Oh well. I got a good massage and a funny story to tell out of the whole thing.

 

One other thing I want to mention: every other time I’ve gotten a massage at a resort or on a cruise, I was given access to the thermal suite before and/or after my service. I had assumed I would this time, but that wasn’t the case – maybe you only have access to the thermal suite with the pass, not when you have a massage or spa service? Just wanted to point that out in case anyone was planning on booking a service to have access to the thermal suite.

 

I'm always amazed when people reward bad behavior. My next facial would have been free.

[rachelia160]

I'm always amazed when people reward bad behavior. My next facial would have been free.

 

I’m often told I’m amazing.

[njgrlloves2trvl]

A few other notes and tidbits that have popped into my head since my original post:

 

 

• I couldn't get over how well maintained the ship was. There was always someone cleaning or wiping down something, and empty drink cups seemed to never stay on a table for more than 30 seconds. I saw workers wiping down the GARBAGE CANS on a regular basis. There was even the smell of fresh paint when we embarked. Everything was spotless.
  

• Demographics - there were virtually NO kids on this cruise. Whenever we saw one pass by it was like seeing an exotic bird - "Oh look, there's one!" It makes no difference to me, but I know some people have strong feelings about kids on cruises, so if you're one who wants to avoid them, mid-end January seems like a good time to cruise. (Which side of the "Which is worse, kids or drunk people?" debate do YOU fall on?) I'd say the average age on this cruise was probably about 55. There weren't a lot of people our age (mid mid-late 20's) on this sailing, but that's fine with me. We made plenty of friends anyway. (Hi Chris and Pat from the pool!)
  

• The "toilet bowl" water slide is SO much fun. I probably rode it ten times. That sucker really gets you flying! There was never any kind of wait on port days, and the lines never even seemed that bad on sea days. (Then again, not a lot of kids on our sailing.)
  

• I highly recommend bringing a breakaway lanyard (which just means it has the little buckle on the end). We got our cards hole punched at the front desk, and it was super convenient to just snap it off and hand it to the bartender and then pop it back on - easier, I think, than removing your whole lanyard, or sliding it out of a little sleeve. You can buy a Norwegian one on board for $8, but I thought the ones I brought from home were a little sturdier. This is the one I bought on Amazon for my husband for $4. Go Cavs!
  

• I also reccomend bringing some kind of "Yeti" cup if you think you're going to be having cocktails by the pool. I have an Ozark from Walmart, which cost $12 instead of $40 or whatever crazy price the Yetis are. Drinks melt fast in those little plastic cups, so having the metal cup kept our drinks from melting and getting watered down.
  

• I liked having a Brita filtered water bottle as well. I'm almost positive that the water from your bathroom sink is the exact same water you'd get at a bar anyway, but if you're a water weirdo like me, I liked having that extra layer of filtration for my own piece of mind.
  

• Outlets are pretty limited, and the only ones in the balcony cabin are located across from the bed inside a little cabinet. I had read to bring some kind of surge protector thing for some extra outlets, but unfortunately I couldn't use mine because of the orientation of the prongs. Because of how they were situated, it would have needed to be plugged in vertically, which there wasn't room for it to be flipped that way inside the little cabinet, so that's something to be aware of. This is the one I brought and couldn't use.
  

• Your hair straighteners and curling irons will not be taken away from you - pinky swear.
  

• Poo-Pourri is your friend!
  

• I've read a lot of people say that the water from the sink somehow blasts onto the bed. Maybe they adjusted the water pressure or something, but at full blast, it comes no where close to blasting out of the sink, and I thought there was plenty of room between the sink and the bed. Since the basin is a little shallow, it's easy to splash a little water onto the counter when you're brushing your teeth or whatever, but it's not excessive.
  

• The bin under your sink is for dirty towels. (Took me three days to figure that one out.)
  

I'm sure I'll think of 37 other things as soon as I post this, but that's all for now!

I bought a Belkin similar to yours but the back swivels. I think that may be the ticket.

[sun_lovin!1]

Are there USB plugs in the bedside lamps like on the Escape?

 

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[Pappion]

Are there USB plugs in the bedside lamps like on the Escape?

 

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No. There were not. I looked for those on the first day. When/if they put Epic in dry dock someone should suggest that they should add those!

 

 

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