Live(ish) Epic Transatlantic April 22-May 7

[Oakman58]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Green for earth day?

and yes these are extra short beds

 

 

Since you're 6'7" are there any cruise ship beds you fit in?  Actually you fit better than I thought you would on the Epic.

[stretchcruz]

I'm from the Viking Ocean board (for the past 6 or 7 years anyway) and know Clay from there. Is that a shower INSIDE the stateroom? And I'm 6 feet tall, the bed looks sad. Been on over 50 cruises, all mainstream until we discovered Viking. But I've never seen a shower in the room. Unless I'm seeing things?

[HUNKY]

You’re not seeing things the shower is in the room, as is the sink.

[stretchcruz]

Oh. Ick!

[AtSeaAlways]

4 hours ago, stretchcruz said:

Oh. Ick!

The big flaw in the design - the toilet room door is non soundproof.  This can be improved without tearing the ship apart- design a new door with a track vs a half inch opening at the top.  One of the boutique hotel chains has non soundproof sliding doors in some new builds - this is not a trend to emulate folks. 

On the bright side, she is a big sturdy ship.  No towering lobby -who cares.  A library without loud piped in music- magical.  The Manhattan Room was competently run.  The food has been decent.  Dinner @530- nice. 

[Hockeyump]

5 hours ago, stretchcruz said:

Oh. Ick!

I'm another Viking Ocean board person and exactly what I thought!

[room with a view]

9 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

So apparently we aren’t leaving on timear 7:30. It’s 7:41 as I type and we are still at the pier.  We had supper at O’sheenans-tasty fish and chips.  

Now on our Balcony on the port side with G,D,& S for sailaway. We are on starboard so will have a good view of Manhattan. The plan is to move to G&D’s on starboard when we get closer to Lady Libby.  

If we don’t soon get underway, I may not make it.  Fading fast! 3:50 am seems like forever ago. 
 

Last post for a while-hopefully will post in Bermuda on Monday. 

Hi , hope you have a fantastic cruise and thanks for the brilliant photos . 

Which deck are you on ?  We have just booked Epic for later this year .

thanks

[fabnfortysomething]

i think the reason Epic spends a lot of time on European cruises is the bathroom setup doesnt bother us on this side of the Atlantic

 

The shower is on one side and toilt on other- frosted glass so most you can see is a blurred outline and if you are travelling with your SO presumably youve seen it all before

There is however a curtain you can draw across for privacy

this leaves as sink within "room " area which is preferred by some passengers as can allow personal enhancement ie make up as the other cabin mate showers

we did this Epic transatlantic in April 2017 and still remember it fondly    

[PasadenaDave]

Clay and Mike, I am following you again.  Today I frequently doze off as yesterday we flew Amman-LHR-LAX.  We did Viking Nile on the Ra with pre cruise in Jerusalem and post in Jordan 

[Clay Clayton]

Day 1 

Despite the o’dark thirty wakeup, was glad we saved some money and flew in the day of embarkation.  Pleased with the ease of getting from JFK to the ship and the quick boarding process.  Of course it was still a bit crazed-folks don’t seem to understand that the ship isn’t going anywhere anytime soon so they rush the boarding doors. 

 

After our recent cruises on smaller ships, a bit overwhelmed with Epic’s size. Obviously, Viking Ocean’s ships at 930 passengers are waaay smaller but it feels gargantuan even compared to HAL’s Koningsdam which we sailed b2b last October (Alaska and Hawaii roundtrip Vancouver). We will certainly get our steps in without trying!

 

Our bags arrived were waiting when we got to the room so quickly unpacked (another benefit of packing light!) Despite the unusual bathroom layout, the room has a lot of storage including two big drawers under the sofa and hidden spaces behind the sofa back.  So we had no trouble efficiently finding space for all our stuff. The bathroom layout doesn’t bother me but both the toilet and shower could be a bit larger but not as tight a space as some ships I’ve sailed.  Now the bed is another matter!  This was the reason we almost didn’t book this cruise. It is indeed as expected relatively uncomfortable for me-time will tell if that is going to be problematic. 

 

We were all so tired we had dinner at O’Shennans. Tasty Fish & Chips!  The plan had been to watch sailaway from our port balcony then move to George & Doug’s starboard one to see the Statue of Liberty and then go to thr LGBT social but…..we all were so tired that our plan fell apart. It was helped by our as yet unexplained delay in departing (almost an hour later than scheduled.). So after watching us pass the Freedom Tower, in green for Earth Day ? I headed up to the top deck to see the big boned gal in the harbor. Then it was off to bed at 9:30.  So much for a late night!

 

[Clay Clayton]

Day 2

I awoke at 5:50 NYC time which was 6:50 Ship time. Unlike other lines, the little card telling us of the time change wasn’t left out and visible last night. Instead it was buried inside the Freestyle Daily along with all the sales propaganda- art auction or teeth whitening anyone? 

 

Despite wanting to sleep late, I could tell that wasn’t in the cards for me so I got up and dressed and am typing this in The Garden Cafe sitting at the bow facing windows after a cup of coffee and my favorite NCL breakfast of corn beef hash and over easy eggs. 

 

The short bed was definitely not my friend last night-difficult to get to sleep but I’m going to give the bed some more time before I move to the floor.  I got a blister on my big toe from my hiking boots (had to bring them for Iceland) I wore yesterday so that was hurting AND had leg cramps (likely because I didn’t drink enough water-damn you alcohol package!) So not sure it’s fair to blame the bed for my restless night.  

 

Had a well attended CruiseCritic get together with about a hundred attending to meet the Hotel Manager and the usual cast of officers.  They did stay to answer a few questions although as with a good politician they said good words without really saying much😂

 

Thankfully it appears we have made it out of the rain clouds so typing this as I sit at the Great Outdoors.  Unlike other NCL ships, this GO is located mid ship. Which isn’t a bad thing today as it’s protecting us from the wind. But like lots of places on Epic it means you don’t get a great view of the Ocean which is one of the things I like best about being on a ship.  The space at the stern that on most NCL ships houses The Great Outdoors is used here for Spice H2O, an adults only pool space with a big screen.  That huge screen blocks the view and on this sailing with only a couple of kids, the whole ship is basically adults only 😂

 

Via CruiseCritic and Facebook, I organized a sea day game of LCR/LeftCenterRight, a dice game that is pure luck, no strategy, and therefore perfect for just having fun. We had 20 folks participate at this first round and given the laughs and shouts taking place I suspect we will have at least that many next time.  We will play everyday at 4 so makes for a fun happy hour. 

 

George, Doug, Sam, Mike and I had dinner lat Cagney’s, NCL’s specialty steak restaurant. It was better than the last time we experienced it aboard Breakaway with Mike’s mom Lois. That time the service was pretty unspecial as were the steaks. That wasn’t the case this cruise. We had a very personable server and all of our meals were tasty albeit a bit salty. Glad none of us have salt issues. 

[Clay Clayton]

Just docked in Bermuda. About 3 hours late, only explanation has been weather, strong headwinds mostly. 🤔.  Anyway, has definitely shortened our stay here as they only extended departure an hour.   Oh well.  Just means we will have to come back!

[mapleleaves]

Pull the mattress away from the wall by 5-6 inches, fill the gap with blankets, then put your pillows on top.  The end of the mattress will be kind of floppy since it has no support but it's only for your feet, so it should be reasonably comfortable.

[Clay Clayton]

5 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Pull the mattress away from the wall by 5-6 inches, fill the gap with blankets, then put your pillows on top.  The end of the mattress will be kind of floppy since it has no support but it's only for your feet, so it should be reasonably comfortable.

Thought of this and about using the makeup stool at the end BUT that would mean it’s impossible to get around the end of the bed which would make the middle of the night bathroom runs no fun.  😢

 

Slept better last night but Mike just said he finds it too short even for his 6’-0” self.  

[Clay Clayton]

Had a nice walk around this tourist area of Bermuda with a stop for a shared lunch lunch of a Rum Swizzle, a local beer, a traditional fish sandwich on raisin bread, and Bermuda Fish Chowder (the best of the four).  Sorry we didn’t get to have the day we planned but just means there is more reason to head back sometime. 

[bluesea777]

3 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Pull the mattress away from the wall by 5-6 inches, fill the gap with blankets, then put your pillows on top.  The end of the mattress will be kind of floppy since it has no support but it's only for your feet, so it should be reasonably comfortable.

 

No, pull the BEDS away from wall - the whole beds do slide away from wall like the couch bed.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by bluesea777

[depplep]

Fish on raisin bread? How was that?

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, depplep said:

Fish on raisin bread? How was that?

Tasty  but frankly the raisin bread wasn’t as raisiny as I hoped so not much different than if it had been on any toasted bread. 

[like2cruise33]

The only food I do not like is the corn beef hash!!! I love their potato’s, hash browns, and fries. Currently on MSC meraviglia out/to Brooklyn. They are NOT doing made to order omelets since the ship has about 5000 passengers and they feel it would take way to long -bummer. Guess I have to wait for Epic. Later this year
 

[like2cruise33]

On 4/22/2023 at 8:23 PM, Clay Clayton said:

So finally at 8:21 we started pulling away from the pier.  No word on what caused the delay. 

I bet we both had a rough first night me heading to Orlando and you heading to Europe- bad storm in the Atlantic.

 

btw has anyone checked the lowest hand weights in the fitness center. On the MSC many of us brought our own since we are a round trip and the lowest is over 8 pounds. On most NCL the lowest is 10 or 5. Joy has 1 to10.

 

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, like2cruise33 said:

The only food I do not like is the corn beef hash!!! I love their potato’s, hash browns, and fries. Currently on MSC meraviglia out/to Brooklyn. They are NOT doing made to order omelets since the ship has about 5000 passengers and they feel it would take way to long -bummer. Guess I have to wait for Epic. Later this year
 

I LOVE their hash, not mushy.  My only issue is that they have reduced the amount of cornbeef innit. 

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, like2cruise33 said:

I bet we both had a rough first night me heading to Orlando and you heading to Europe- bad storm in the Atlantic.

 

btw has anyone checked the lowest hand weights in the fitness center. On the MSC many of us brought our own since we are a round trip and the lowest is over 8 pounds. On most NCL the lowest is 10 or 5. Joy has 1 to10.

 

I haven’t yet looked but will. 

[laudergayle]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

I LOVE their hash, not mushy.  My only issue is that they have reduced the amount of cornbeef innit. 

No way!

[Clay Clayton]

Day Three Bermuda

We were notified in the afternoon yesterday that we would be late arriving in Bermuda. They said likely to be 30 minutes to an hour or so.  By breakfast time, it had grown to two hours and that all aboard would be delayed an hour. In actuality, we weren’t cleared to leave the ship until around noon. So rather than 7 hours as originally scheduled we ended up with only 5 -yeah I know it’s really five and a half but trust me, I never want to be a pier runner so MY all aboard time is 30 minutes before the official one😂

 

To add insult to injury, the usual continuously running NCL provided ferry to St.George’s wasn’t available to us-all its runs had been reserved by NCL Pearl.  Given the shortened time and the ferry issue our plans to go to St. George’s for a wander and lunch before returning to Docklands to see the museum were trashed.  So we decided to wander the Docklands in search of the traditional Bermudian lunch our research (thank goodness for YouTube) had identified.  After one false start at the Frog & Onion (that’ll teach me to ask to see a menu before sitting down-we did have a local beer though)we ended up at Bone Fish where we shared a Rum Swizzle (strong but basically a rum punch), Bermuda Fish Chowder (the best of the dishes), and a fish sandwich on raisin bread toast. We enjoyed the opportunity to try these specialties and Mike found recipes for the chowder so I suspect we will be having it at home after we return.  The raisin bread didn’t add enough to the fish sandwich to make it worth buying a loaf special to make it. 

 

After lunch we wandered the pier area and Mike did his part for the local economy buying his Mom some earrings for her birthday which will be celebrated while we are gone. We then moseyed our way back to the ship. 

 

It had turned warm so made my first splash in the pool while the boys enjoyed the hot tub.  We then had a sailaway party on our balcony hoping to see some pier runners…really only one but it was funny to see the locals hollering “Run Forest Run” even though I don’t think he was in real danger despite arriving 15 minutes after all aboard. 

 

Dinner was in Taste and I was pleasantly surprised by the offerings, tastes, and temperatures. The best appetizer seemed to be the lettuce wraps.  My bang bang shrimp and chicken entree seemed to have lost its bang but was still tasty. Mike’s fish was a bit over cooked but Sam’s sliced sirloin and Doug’s strip steak both looked (and they said tasted) delicious. George had bbq grill which was a large plate-chicken, bratwurst, and a rib or three.  Service was reasonably quick and personable if not as correctly done as I would have liked-“Sir, can you move your appetizer plate so I have a place to put down your salad”. “You might want to keep your knife”#FirstWorldProblems😢

 

After dinner we attended the LGBTQ+ Meetup. Unfortunately it was held in the nightclub where the band precluded any real conversation.  It was agreed among those in attendance we would gather in another bar tonight no matter what the daily says!  

 

After an hour or so of being social, I returned for a nightcap on the balcony and then had a good night of sleep. 
 

I failed to take pictures of today’s Freestyle Daily. Sorry 

 

[Clay Clayton]

Remember I promised live ish, sorry no pictures and not as live as the other live thread on this cruise.  I don’t have unlimited internet and frankly I’m having lots of trouble uploading pictures.  So this one will be mostly narrative it appears.  If you want to see photos, I’ll be posting them when we are ashore on Instagram where we are at ClaynMike. I will also post the dailies for each day at our next port stop. 
 

The smallest hand weights at the gym are 1lb.

 

Here is my description of yesterday:

Day 4

Slept in and then had a leisurely breakfast at The Great Outdoors under a beautiful sky of sun and fluffy clouds.  Typing this portion of today sitting on our balcony where in just a second I intend to start reading.  It appears we have all quickly settled into our sea day routine, share a table at Breakfast, Doug & George go for their walk on the promenade while Mike does his by using the stairs to go to the Dining Room and take a picture of that night’s menu (Why isn’t that available on the app???). The texting through the app ($9.95 per person per cruise) works well so when one of us does something of interest  or decides we are headed to lunch we text it to everyone else. 

 

 If everyone in your group has iPhones you don’t need to waste your money on the app text feature. Simply connect to the ship’s wifi but don’t log onto the internet and iMessageing works almost perfectly (occasional glitches) both inter-ship and ship to shore! 

 

It seemed to get chillier throughout the day and the ocean a little rougher.  No issues yet but …it made our outdoor LCR game a bit uncomfortable especially for those of us wearing shorts. But all seemed to have a good time, had four more folks join us so the pot was $72 which was won by the wife of the guy who won on our first day.  If I hadn’t provided the dice myself I’d think there was some cheating going on. 😂

 

After LGBTQ + drinks we attempted to have dinner about 7:15 or so at Shanghai’s (Chinese/Asian) and at Taste but it was a 45 minute wait at both so we ended up in the buffet for Mexican Night.  Not NCL’s best effort.  I’m hopeful we won’t feel the need to eat dinner at the buffet very often. 

 

Clocks are being turned back again tonight so headed to bed relatively early which quickly became regular bed time when taking the time change into account. Had the balcony door open for awhile but had to eventually close it as it was too cold!