NCL epic delays

[pop5]

Just got off Epic cruise today. The cruise was great. Really had no complaints until time to get off the ship. It was awful!!! 

[houtxaj]

Thanks for the information on your experience.

Yes, in total agreement of making the best of everything...surely will try...Thank You Again...

[evandbob]

On 3/24/2019 at 2:31 PM, JoeTec said:

We were on the Epic out of Port Canaveral in Nov 2016 on the 2nd week in that port.  The whole embarkation was a zoo & its took us until almost 3pm getting on board. There was an accident between shuttle buses & they blocked the entrance to get into port.

We didn't leave until after 9pm that night but there was a shuttle launch at Cape Canaveral so they stayed in port until it went off. 

 

I thought the last shuttle launch was in July 2011.  Perhaps you saw a different lift off?

[JoeTec]

7 minutes ago, evandbob said:

I thought the last shuttle launch was in July 2011.  Perhaps you saw a different lift off?

@hallux had it right it was a SpaceX launch.  

[Ixtoras]

17 hours ago, doxiegal said:

All this is a big bummer to read.  We're sailing on the Epic on 4-6-2019, for probably my parents last cruise, and I'll be really disappointed if all these issues pop up again on our cruise. This is the first time sailing on NCL since 2013, was enjoying Princess so much, been sailing with them for the last 5 years, but had some Next Cruise Certs that had to be used by Sept with NCL, that we chose this sailing. Oh well, I guess we'll have to make the best of it.....

 

Just got of Epic yesterday.  They reiterated on Sunday that the delay was due to a medical issue that required that the ship be cleared.  We got underway around 11:30PM.  Rumors on board were all over the place, but general consensus was an unexpected death during or right after boarding.

 

Even with the delay for sail away and the epic fail that was disembarcation, we had a great time.  Ill do a mini review once I have a little more coffee in me, but overall the service, food, entertainment and shows were all very good.  Missed GSC due to weather, but expected that was a possibility..   (and by the time we got there, the winds were blowing pretty hard.)  I expect you'll have a good time.  

[houtxaj]

Does anyone know how was embarkation for the March 30, 2019 epic cruise? 

Disembarkation for the April 6, 2019 return cruise to Port Canaveral?

I guess we are just trying to figure out if NCL epic has a functional grasp of directing/handling thousands of passengers.

Thanks for your feedback.

[Millerfamily04]

On 3/24/2019 at 9:52 AM, www3traveler said:

From what I read yesterday, a passenger died after boarding the ship.  The police and Medical Examiner had to be call and an investigation done.

 

A friend on board said they left shortly after midnight.

 

He reported earlier this morning because of weather they were skipping GSC. 

We were in the aft penthouse that week and listened to the engines repeatedly restarted until we started moving at midnight. Did not give us much confidence in the seaworthiness of the ship. Rather have it happen in port than somewhere out in the ocean.

[houtxaj]

Does anyone know how was embarkation for the March 30, 2019 epic cruise? 

Disembarkation for the April 6, 2019 return cruise to Port Canaveral?

I guess we are just trying to figure out if NCL epic has a functional grasp of directing/handling thousands of passengers.

Thanks for your feedback.

[spanishguy1970]

On 3/30/2019 at 8:41 PM, pop5 said:

Just got off Epic cruise today. The cruise was great. Really had no complaints until time to get off the ship. It was awful!!! 

disembarking from the Epic has always been awful for us and i don't understand why, we still love the ship though.

[Millerfamily04]

Until there is a more organized process, trying to move the volume of people through a restricted space it’s going to remain a nightmare. Even though they try to separate disembark into groups by colors, those colors still not called after the time they were assigned finally left into the chaos. The majority of cruisers keep their luggage and do direct assist first thing in the morning.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/profile/1816569-houtxaj/ how did your disembark go?

[ighten]

2 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

disembarking from the Epic has always been awful for us and i don't understand why, we still love the ship though.

 

It does depend on the port though - 2 examples from our last Epic trips are Southampton for a repositioning - Absolute Nightmare - 1 gangplank at what seemed like a 45degree angle.. AAARRRGGHH

 

Barcelona - seamless and off in 2 minutes.

[spanishguy1970]

21 minutes ago, ighten said:

 

It does depend on the port though - 2 examples from our last Epic trips are Southampton for a repositioning - Absolute Nightmare - 1 gangplank at what seemed like a 45degree angle.. AAARRRGGHH

 

Barcelona - seamless and off in 2 minutes.

Well honestly our nightmare disembarking from the Epic has always been at Port Canaveral. We are going the other way in 3 weeks, Port Canaveral to Barcelona, so i am hoping disembarking will be better. 🙂

[Ldarc02]

We are currently on the epic and it left at 840 from port Canaveral due to another medical emergency.   Does it seem interesting to anyone else that 3 out of the last 4 embarkations were delayed heavily? And 2 of those due to medical emergencies? It may very well be valid and truthful but some red flags are going off for my wife and I.  We are hoping this does not cause an issue tomorrow at GSC.  It seems like seem to have "bad weather" conditions after these delayed embarkations.  Just looking for other opinions and experiences. Thanks

[teesmc]

10 hours ago, houtxaj said:

Does anyone know how was embarkation for the March 30, 2019 epic cruise? 

Disembarkation for the April 6, 2019 return cruise to Port Canaveral?

I guess we are just trying to figure out if NCL epic has a functional grasp of directing/handling thousands of passengers.

Thanks for your feedback.

For 3/30 Epic, Embarkation was slow if you arrived at port before 2.  We got there around 11 and waited outside in line for almost and hour.  Moved inside thru security and processing, boarded around 1.

Disembarkation today was not bad at all!  We carried our luggage off.  Went down after we ate breakfast around 8:30 and were in our car a little after 9.

[teesmc]

57 minutes ago, Ldarc02 said:

We are currently on the epic and it left at 840 from port Canaveral due to another medical emergency.   Does it seem interesting to anyone else that 3 out of the last 4 embarkations were delayed heavily? And 2 of those due to medical emergencies? It may very well be valid and truthful but some red flags are going off for my wife and I.  We are hoping this does not cause an issue tomorrow at GSC.  It seems like seem to have "bad weather" conditions after these delayed embarkations.  Just looking for other opinions and experiences. Thanks

I just got off Epic today.  We had no issues with our embarkation last Saturday and we enjoyed a great day in GSC!  Fingers crossed for you.

[myjillian]

Going on The Epic in jan.  she has had so many "incidents" lately I'm almost ready to" put book" on what kind of adventure she will find herself into next😍

[Jerseygich]

Got off the Epic yesterday. Embarkation: arrived at port 10:15. At 11:00 announced a delay and heard they’re were still passengers on board. We were in SpiceH20 with drinks in hand at 12:30. I think if got to pier later there was more of a wait. Left port on time.

Disembarking: Left the Buffett at 8:15 to wait in public areas to be called for our 9:00 am departure. Was in our car leaving the parking lot at 9:03 am. Appears they figured out the facial recognition process.

We were considered cleared thru customs before got off the ship. Just had to pickup luggage and go. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by Jerseygich

[Jerseygich]

Got off the Epic yesterday. Embarkation: arrived at port 10:15. At 11:00 announced a delay and heard they’re were still passengers on board. We were in SpiceH20 with drinks in hand at 12:30. I think if got to pier later there was more of a wait.

Disembarking: Left the Buffett at 8:15 to wait in public areas to be called for our 9:00 am departure. Was in our car leaving the parking lot at 9:03 am. Appears they figured out the facial recognition process.

We were considered cleared thru customs before got off the ship. Just had to pickup luggage and go. 

[houtxaj]

Thanks for all the above feedback. If anyone has more experiences to share, please do. 

Does anyone know if NCL monitors these boards in order to improve itself?

[ConnieTact]

On 4/6/2019 at 8:46 PM, spanishguy1970 said:

Well honestly our nightmare disembarking from the Epic has always been at Port Canaveral. We are going the other way in 3 weeks, Port Canaveral to Barcelona, so i am hoping disembarking will be better. 🙂

We have disembarked at Barcelona a few times and have never had any issues.

we are on TA later this month and end at Barcelona and don’t expect any issues.

The only issue we have is that we are booked on NCL airport transfer and I heard yesterday our flight is delayed a few hours.

Im not sure how long those shuttles continue for? We want to stay on ship as long as possible, lots of breakfast (!) then go to airport to wait around! 

If anyone has recent experience I’d be happy to hear.

We may just stay as long as possible and if the buses have all gone...just get a cab. We’ve don’t this before (but hadn’t got transfer included that time).

[spanishguy1970]

4 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

We have disembarked at Barcelona a few times and have never had any issues.

we are on TA later this month and end at Barcelona and don’t expect any issues.

The only issue we have is that we are booked on NCL airport transfer and I heard yesterday our flight is delayed a few hours.

Im not sure how long those shuttles continue for? We want to stay on ship as long as possible, lots of breakfast (!) then go to airport to wait around! 

If anyone has recent experience I’d be happy to hear.

We may just stay as long as possible and if the buses have all gone...just get a cab. We’ve don’t this before (but hadn’t got transfer included that time).

We are on the TA as well on the 27th. It will be second time doing the east bound never had any problems with disembarkation. We will be taking the transfer from the port to Barcelona airport, and like you we like to take our time, have breakfast etc :-)...When we arrive at MCO we will be taking the NCL transfer to the port. We arrive around 8:30 am so i am sure we will have to wait a while.

[ConnieTact]

5 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

We are on the TA as well on the 27th. It will be second time doing the east bound never had any problems with disembarkation. We will be taking the transfer from the port to Barcelona airport, and like you we like to take our time, have breakfast etc :-)...When we arrive at MCO we will be taking the NCL transfer to the port. We arrive around 8:30 am so i am sure we will have to wait a while.

We arrive the day before so will be staying at Orlando Crowne Plaza over nite and have private transfer the next morning. 

If you’re arriving early in the morning I wonder if you can check in your bags and then find somewhere to go for breakfast nearby to save the long wait.

Hope to see you onboard! We’re looking forward to it. We’ve cruised a lot but our first TA.

[Bryan5150]

Just got off the Epic today (4/6 embarkation) and all is well. The embarkation was seamless — arrived at 11:15am and on the ship at 12:00pm in the Haven Restaurant having lunch. Today was equally easy with the Facial Recognition Customs programs working fine. Left the Haven Restaurant at 8:45am and at the curb with luggage in hand by 9:15am. 

 

Good ship and great cruise.

[ollienbertsmum]

I have done three self disembarkation in Barcelona from the Epic.  All have been within an hour of our 6 am arrival - we had an 8:30 am train booked and I didn’t want to miss it.  Each time it was as if we were the only ones on the ship.  So smooth.  

 

Perhaps when the arrival time is later more people are up and breakfasted.  Thus more are ready to leave at the same time.   

[BirdTravels]

On 4/10/2019 at 10:03 AM, spanishguy1970 said:

We are on the TA as well on the 27th. It will be second time doing the east bound never had any problems with disembarkation. We will be taking the transfer from the port to Barcelona airport, and like you we like to take our time, have breakfast etc :-)...When we arrive at MCO we will be taking the NCL transfer to the port. We arrive around 8:30 am so i am sure we will have to wait a while.

The one time we did an NCL transfer from MCO, they waited a long time (even though there were several buses of people waiting) before dispatching the buses for the [long] drive to the port.