My View: The Epic Beauty/Beast

[VancouverKory]

Keep it coming! Great photos! Sailing the Epic in December for 10 days can't wait!!

[somechic]

I am loving your review!! We just booked Epic for April 2019 and are counting down the days!!

 

Trish

[kamitz]

We join the ship in 91 days, so we are shipmates for a portion of time! Smooth sailing!

 

Great! Come on over to the Roll Call! Looking forward to it.

[APDMOM]

Enjoying your review. I too sailed Epic last week. I'm curious, I see you have a pre-teen/teenager with you. By any chance did he participate in the scavenger hunt set up by the other youngsters on Friday? I was asked to use my photo for it and agreed, but have not yet seen any results, if I ever will.

 

Hi! Sorry we did not meet you onboard! Our son did not participate in any teen programs. Let me know if you find out about the picture :)

[APDMOM]

Thanks for all the comments and compliments! I will be finishing up day 3 shortly, then start organizing the info for day 4. It usually takes a couple of hours to get a day’s info ready for posting, so I hope I have time to complete day 4 later tonight. :)

[APDMOM]

Day 3.... My View Continued...

 

(The following has extra detail, for those who are setting up a meet and greet...)

 

This was the day our meet and greet was scheduled. All the directions for setting up the meet and greet are listed on the Cruise Critic site, and it was an easy process. I learned in the past that there is an unwritten rule that the person who starts the thread sets up the meet and greet. However, that person on our roll call jumped ship (or at least switched to a different week), so I volunteered to do the meet and greet due to lack of other interest.

 

If you have the chance and interest to do the meet and greet, it is very simple, and it often comes with some special perks. We received chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine.

 

Here is the link with clear directions to set up the meet and greet: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1300907

 

For our sailing, I set a deadline to sign up at 3 weeks before departure. On Sunday, February 25th, I e-mailed the coordinator for Epic.

 

Here is the body of that e-mail, in case you want to copy something similar:

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

We would like to kindly request a meet and greet event for our Cruise Critic roll call, boarding Norwegian Epic on March 17th, 2018.

 

We currently have 30 people interested and signed up for the event.

 

Coordinator information:

(YOUR NAME)

Booking #:YOUR BOOKING NUMBER

Cabin #: YOUR CABIN NUMBER

Contact: YOUR e-mail ADDRESS

 

Please let me know if you need additional information.

 

We look forward to our cruise adventure on Epic!

 

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME

 

I received an acknowledgement within hours, and our Meet and Greet confirmation was sent to me within 2 days (on Feb 27th). We did not get a choice of when or where to meet. TIP: When you do your meet and greet set up, ask for 11:15, so that it does not coincide with the behind the scenes tour for higher tier Latitudes members. We found this to be a conflict at our Meet and Greet.

 

I made invitations, using an old Epic photo that I took in Grand Cayman:

 

Most of the roll call members who signed up gave me their cabin number, so I delivered the invitations by leaving them in the mail slot by the door on Sunday. I only ran into one glitch, as one of our members had a cabin in Haven. I asked guest services to deliver the invitation, and hope they did!

 

At the Meet and Greet, about 20 people showed up. Manny (hotel director) made a joke that there seemed to be more staff members than CC attendees! I think the Epic staff did a nice job of putting everything together, but André, the CD, could not attend.

 

Here in the front is Manny (Emmanouil Kampanakis), the hotel director:

 

The event took about 30 minutes, and we had fun getting cruise tips and life stories from other CC members. Best advice from Manny: Don’t try to do everything. You need to relax on your cruise too!

Edited March 26, 2018 by APDMOM
tips

[Oakman58]

Thanks for all the comments and compliments! I will be finishing up day 3 shortly, then start organizing the info for day 4. It usually takes a couple of hours to get a day’s info ready for posting, so I hope I have time to complete day 4 later tonight. :)

 

I know how time consuming it can be to do a trip report with photos and I truly appreciate you doing this. I will be going on a port intensive Southern Caribbean cruise on the Epic in just 671 days. :D

[APDMOM]

After the Meet and Greet, we went to Taste for lunch. We got window seats quite frequently during the week:

 

 

DH had his usual Grouper sandwich, DS had the Meatloaf again, and I tried the Philly Cheese Steak this time (Very good):

 

We spent a quiet afternoon, watching the ocean currents from our balcony. It was a very calm sea! Manny said that our week had the best weather they had in a while!

 

I may have caught a nap out there too [emoji6]

 

[APDMOM]

I know how time consuming it can be to do a trip report with photos and I truly appreciate you doing this. I will be going on a port intensive Southern Caribbean cruise on the Epic in just 671 days. :D

 

 

Nice! I saw that itinerary and it is very tempting! For Aruba, I can highly recommend Aruba Trikes. You can see details in my signature in my most recent Navigator review. Enjoy planning that awesome itinerary!

[APDMOM]

You will probably start seeing a pattern here - we had dinner in Taste again. I only got one picture of the menu items - my favorite appetizer - Smoked Salmon Tartare:

 

 

The menu for tonight:

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Dessert - If you get this menu with the bread pudding, do not miss it. It is The Best dessert I ever had (on or off a cruise): Remember... I like sweet and sugary desserts. This one nailed it!

 

[APDMOM]

After dinner, we found our new favorite live entertainment group in the Cavern: Siglo

 

 

 

I made a short video to show their style. The sound quality on the camera is not the best, so it does not do them justice, but here is a sneak peek. Don’t miss them!

 

3kQb6NCPwg8

Edited March 26, 2018 by APDMOM
video

[APDMOM]

With that, here is the Freestyle Daily for our sea day:

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

My View: The end of Day 3

 

[Oakman58]

Siglo was on our Epic cruise in Dec '16 and we thought they were great. Overall I think NCL does a great job hiring the various bands for their ships.

[dd likes to cruise]

After dinner, we found our new favorite live entertainment group in the Cavern: Siglo

 

 

 

I made a short video to show their style. The sound quality on the camera is not the best, so it does not do them justice, but here is a sneak peek. Don’t miss them!

 

3kQb6NCPwg8

 

 

I love Siglo. They are leaving Epic to go on Bliss I think. What I read they will be gone by November, when we sail Epic again. 😢😢😢😢😢

[sue402001]

Day 3.... My View Continued...

 

 

 

If you have the chance and interest to do the meet and greet, it is very simple, and it often comes with some special perks. We received chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine.

 

 

At the Meet and Greet, about 20 people showed up. Manny (hotel director) made a joke that there seemed to be more staff members than CC attendees! I think the Epic staff did a nice job of putting everything together, but André, the CD, could not attend.

 

Here in the front is Manny (Emmanouil Kampanakis), the hotel director:

 

The event took about 30 minutes, and we had fun getting cruise tips and life stories from other CC members. Best advice from Manny: Don’t try to do everything. You need to relax on your cruise too!

 

Ahh, it's good to see the senior crew members again. Most of them were there this past December.

[APDMOM]

Siglo was on our Epic cruise in Dec '16 and we thought they were great. Overall I think NCL does a great job hiring the various bands for their ships.

 

I agree! We loved Port Royal on Escape, and also enjoyed Howl at the Moon on Escape. In all our “relaxation”, we never got to Headliners for the dueling pianos this time. I think the live music on NCL is the best we have found. Great “talent scouts” [emoji846]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 4 - Ocho Rios, Jamaica

 

[APDMOM]

I woke up early again, and enjoyed the sunrise from the balcony, watching the ship enter the port of Ocho Rios, Jamaica:

 

 

[APDMOM]

True to what was becoming a habit, we enjoyed breakfast in Taste.

 

DH had Huevos Rancheros (Good, but not as good as Blue Iguana on Carnival):

 

DS had a ham omelette with coned beef hash (again):

 

I enjoyed the Eggs Benedict (better than Royal and Carnival):

[APDMOM]

Since we are talking so much about Taste, take a tour with me… I am sure everyone has seen this chandelier as a feature for Epic. It happens to hang over the center of Taste:

 

A view from deck 7:

 

 

The easiest way to get to Taste from mid-ship 7 is to go down the ‘pretty stairs’, as mentioned before. On this photo, you can even see the escalator from deck 6 (center of the photo):

 

Once on deck 6, walk to the right past the slot machines, and experience what it is like to go down an escalator on a moving ship (I am easily entertained :D):

[APDMOM]

The entrance to Taste:

 

 

I have to say that Norwegian Epic has dining seating down to a fine art! We never had trouble finding a table for 3. Their computer system is top notch to keep track of seating. It is similar to Carnival. Royal can take lessons in this from NCL and Carnival to accommodate guests at breakfast and My time Dining.

 

Taste has many smaller tables (2,4,6-top), which allows for the opportunity to eat as a family:

 

I love the look of the stained glass windows and the decor:

[APDMOM]

On that note, let’s enter Ocho Rios, Jamaica!

 

 

I can see our balcony!

 

It seems one of the rooms one deck down and over from us also got a lounger :)

 

Beauty or a Beast? (Talking about the ship, of course!)

[APDMOM]

We had been to Ocho Rios before, and know from experience that there is a beach around the corner where you can pay locals to enter. Since we had "been there, done that", we just walked around the flee market inside the port and headed back to the ship.

 

If you are interested in walking to the close-by beach, turn left outside the port until you find a gate that shows entrance to the beach. We did learn from CC to watch your possessions, even within the fenced area of the beach. I do not know how much it would cost now. In 2005 it cost $5 for us to enter. The beach can be seen in this picture from the ship - just beyond the yachts:

 

A close up picture of the beach, with beautiful trees:

 

A view of the port with the straw market (set up around the taxi pick up/drop off):

 

Jamaica, Mon!