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Cruising with a cheapskate: Review of NCL Epic 3/31-4/7 2018

drewsmom123

By drewsmom123,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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drewsmom123

drewsmom123

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When I got tired we headed back to the pier to get in line. And boy, was there a line. It was around 2 and we waited for about 45 to catch a tender. It wasn’t miserable, but it was hot and nobody likes to stand and wait. People just seem to fall apart when they have to wait in line. Grouchy!! They had cool cloths and punch for us again.

There were 5 ships in port- Marella Discovery 2, Carnival Vista, Rc Liberty of the Seas, Celebrity Radiance, and NCL Epic. However, I didn’t really notice the town being really crowded.

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After sail away, we decided we needed a little nap (3 and half hours). Then we went to O’Sheehan’s for supper (it was Italian night in the Buffet). We had fajitas and nachos again.

My drink of the day was the Rebellious Fish- get one at one of the inside bars- not the pool bar. We also decided to make a drink list. These aren’t in any kind of order just ones that we liked.

Rumchata and fireball.

Mudslide

Mojito

Bloody Mary

Rum punch

Baileys and Kahlua

Bushwhacker

Crown with any of the following grapefruit pineapple

Rebellious fish

Painkiller

Miami vise

Strawberry daiquiri. Banana, mango

Bahama mama

Melon ball

Lil Sumpin beer

Red Stripe

Shots of Jack honey

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After supper we went to the 80s rock party in Spice. They had music videos on the big screen, it was pretty crowded. There were just a couple waiters coming around and the bar was crazy busy.

It was a lot of fun to watch the different age groups dancing.

Then we caught the end of Howl at the Moon in the comedy club. They were taking requests and were pretty good.

We headed back to O’Sheehan’s to play some pool. We met some great guys from NY and Jersey, it was a family of 30ish traveling together (fun). We played until around 2:30, DH of course won all but 1 game!! We finally told the guys that he had been invited to play in Vegas. They took it as a challenge. This was our only really late night and the ship was still going strong. There were a lot of people still out and about.

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Day 6 Cozumel

We weren’t scheduled to arrive in Cozumel until 10 am, so we didn’t get in in hurry getting ready. We docked at Punta Lagusta. We had docked at the other pier the last time we were in Cozumel and I think I liked it a little better. It was very touristy, but I liked the live music and beach theme.

We went to breakfast at the buffet around 9:30 with about 3000 of our closest friends. This was probably the first time I felt like the ship was crowded. However, we did get breakfast, and we did find a table. We just took our time and went down to 4 when we finished. The line was 6 or 7 people deep. I think they had 4 stations checking cards as you left, so we moved quickly. When we arrived on the pier, they had a dog checking bags (so no bringing your lunch from the ship- I saw a large family at breakfast making sandwiches to go- I know they were very disappointed to have to throw those out).

After exiting the pier you have to go up an escalator and then cross the street by a walkway. They have a tourist shopping area right there- jewlery, t-shirts, etc. We went on through and headed out into town. We walked down to the Mega shop (like a Walmart) where we just looked around, and saw a lot of crew buying food to take back on the ship with them. Then back in the direction we had come. Along the way there was a flea market like area with shops back off the street. We wandered around in there for a while they all promise the best price. We didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without. Then we continued on up the beach away from the congested area. We walked about a mile and I decided to get a real Margarita. I convinced DH that we needed to check find some wi-fi and the only place I could see required a purchase. We went to the Thirsty Cougar and I order. The bartender did an excellent job right down to the freshly squeezed lemons. It was yummy. We checked in with home and I found out that our son was sick and had taken himself to the Minute Clinic. They took good care of him and he was mostly recovered by the time we returned.

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On our way back to the ship we did some shopping in the area by the pier, they had the best prices on shot glasses and t-shirts. We had an argument about a pair of earrings I wanted to buy (sometimes being cheap annoys me) and then returned to the ship.

Docked beside us was a MS Spitsbergen. She is an explorer ship that can carry around 300 people. The prices are outrageous but the itineraries are incredible. They were in the shade of the Epic all day.

Buffet lunch and then to find a good spot to people watch. The pool area wasn’t terribly crowded and we easily found chairs. Where we stayed for sail away. A NCL excursion was late getting back so we were delayed about 30 minutes, just before we were leaving a family came running down the pier. They were on the trips FB page and explained later that their excursion (not NCL) ran late and then there was terrible traffic in town. If it hadn’t been for the other excursion running late, they would not have made it.

My favorite drink for the day was a melon ball.

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I read on another review that they made crepes to order from 5:30-7:30 at the Great Outdoors, so I had to check that out. Just inside the Cafe’ doors was a crepe station. I got one with Nutella and one with apple. I was a little disappointed, they were just ok.

It was Asian night in the buffet, we had a couple pieces of pizza for a snack. (I know we ate all the time- of course we did.)

We went in to change clothes and ended up going to see Burn the Floor again (no tickets and not full). - Remember to get drinks before you go in. It was just as good the 2nd time.

There was a crew talent show in the Atrium, we were too late to get good seats, but found some where we could at least see. Everyone did a good job with their talent -singing, dancing, playing guitar. We were seated in O'Sheehan's so we ordered some wings and nachos. Then we headed back to Spice to the Glow Party. My friend from school was there and they sat with us. The staff had glow in the dark paint and were painting hands and faces. It looked like it would be a lot of fun, however, when the music started it was just too loud. We all decided we were just too old and called it a night. We ended up watching a movie in the room.

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Day 7 Sea Day

Surprisingly we slept until 11 o’clock, it was wonderful. We went up to the track for a couple of miles, then hunted some breakfast which was lunch food, because it was after noon by this time. I mentioned earlier that there was $75 onboard credit that had appeared in our account. It was still there Friday morning so we decided to spend it. The souvenir shops were all running sales, but we didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without so we headed to the duty free liquor store. We had spent a little money playing pool and those weird in port Canaveral drink taxes, so we had a total of $92 left. 6 bottles of the good stuff brought us to an end of cruise total of $1.33 (not counting the DSC). Since it was the last day of the cruise we were allowed to take what we bought with us to our room.

The pool deck was of course very crowded. We found chairs in the very front on 18. Nice cushy ones with a good breeze. The waiter came around regular, but DH liked to go to the bar. I was a perfect afternoon. Someone (waiter or DH was bringing me drinks) I could cool off in the shower, there was music. What more can a girl ask for?

We stayed until supper time and then went the buffet for the BBQ Extravaganza. We went to the farewell variety show and then hit the hot tub in Spice, we had it to ourselves- nice. It was an Epic end to an Epic vacation.

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Debarkation and then home

We chose to walk off with our luggage. We weren’t really in a hurry so we kind of took our time with breakfast and leaving. We actually didn’t pack anything until that morning. We left our room at 9:15 and to entered the endless line. I have to say I have to say I have never experienced a debarkation quite like that. 5,000 people and 3 customs agents- crazy!!! You could get a porter and essentially go to the front of the line (one of the customs agents was just for the porters), but we didn’t, I just kept thinking things would improve. I was wrong. Our shuttle was waiting for us when we finally escaped at 11:15 and we were off to find our car. That process was really nice. I liked staying the night before and leaving our car there.

Then we began our endless trip home. Between weather and other crazy traffic issues, it took us 15 hours to get home. However, spring had sprung while we were gone.

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Reflections

Thanks for hanging in there with me. This started as a review of a trip on the Epic and it became a novel. I believe you get out of life what you put into it. I put a lot of research in ahead of time and knew things that might be an issue before I ever paid for the trip. I thought that the NCL Epic is a beautiful place to spend your time away from life, she is huge and sometimes you have to check a map to know where to go. There are lots of people on board so sometimes you have to pick and choose where you want to spend your time- breakfast on day 6 was really the only day that I really felt crowded. The crew were all very friendly and seemed to want to do a good job. There are plenty of food choices- if you want gourmet then maybe you shouldn’t be eating where they are serving 5000 people- I found plenty of yummy things at every meal. I think I could probably just keep writing things because I feel like I am still on this wonderful trip, but I will stop now. I hope you have found something helpful- hope to see you in the open ocean!!

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