Semi/Live: an "Epic" TA, 15 nights NY to Barcelona 04/22/23 - 05/07/23

[mking8288]

Look, look up and see what I see. 

 

Pretty much what I already knew, no Starlink upgrade anytime soon and definitely not on this sailing or rest of the remaining journey. 

 

That's the MTN satellite dish, which became EMC, still in operational mode.

 

Oh well, still blessed that we had 95% score with WiFi at sea, and managed to make this report mostly live. 

 

I did "lose" about 100+ free data/WiFi minutes under FAS, 200 minutes was restored and I got some use out of that package but ... not going to make a big deal out of the "loss" since we had the paid unlimited plan on the other account. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Tomorrow's FSD ... while we still have a solid 5G signal, going to be a full sea day - next port of call, Cadiz on Wednesday

 

 

 

All abroad local Funchal time is 7:30 pm or about 5 minutes. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by mking8288

[bedfordmom]

6 hours ago, goldmom said:

Well, sometimes if a large table is the only one available for the 2 of us, if we see someone looking for a table we tell them they are welcome to join us.

But it does sometimes become a problem with no real solution unless they don't allow the "campers" to take over the tables in the buffet.

I do feel guilty taking a big table, but if that's all that's available that's what we have to do.

When I eat by myself in the buffet I often timed will ask a larger table with at least a couple of chairs open if I can eat with them and have met some really nice people that way

[EllieinNJ]

So. glad you enjoyed Funchal.  When we were booked on the 2022 Epic TA we were in a group that was going to do the Tobbogan (sp?) run through the town.  It looked like so much fun.

 

We will be in Porto, Portugal in June and planning to take the yellow hoho bus too.  I think they are run by the same company.  I wanted to book them in advance through Viator, which in turn I book through AA Aadvantage so I do not lose my miles which are expiring.  Unfortunately it got very bad reviews.  People said most of the translators did not work and if you got off anywhere downtown it took a long time to wait for a bus back to the pier.  Did you find this true on the bus you took?

[mking8288]

Tonight - we move the clock 1 hour again.  Already sailed about 75 nm from Funchal, with no pier runners to wait & all onboard, actually departed 5 minutes early out to sea.  Currently doing almost 20 knots, with about 500 nm to go - expected arrival is 6 am on Wednesday and depart at 6 pm.  Sunset is 8 am and sunset around 9 pm later today ... Cadiz will reach 81 degree F for our port visit ... should've packed less long sleeve (or none at all) and just 1 outer jacket plus 2 vest to layer ... oh well.

 

There was almost no line or wait tonight at Taste MDR around 7:45 pm, perhaps many that went ashore for the day came back tired & just packed the buffet again - and didn't bother with a sit-down dinner leisurely.  

 

Tuesday is our last sea day - rest of the week are busy port days ... at this point, not going to be troubled with the lack of onboard entertainment.  We sent out 2 more free bags of laundry today - will do 1 more load of mostly underwear & PJ's on Thursday, with regular/next day service & re-pack freshly washed & clean clothes to prepare to disembark early Sunday morning in Barcelona.  

 

Reconfirmed with BCN Day Tours today about our 2 half-day semi-private shared tours and will early check-in with our H10 Casanova Hotel toward the end of the work week.  

[mking8288]

3 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

So. glad you enjoyed Funchal ... We will be in Porto, Portugal in June and planning to take the yellow hoho bus too.  I think they are run by the same company.  I wanted to book them in advance ... it got very bad reviews ... Did you find this true on the bus you took?

Thanks & hi Ellie ... as you know (see above) we sailed past Porto Santo in the past hour, looking at Navigation channel (21) on the Epic.  We chatted with our taxi driver on the way back to the ship, as we deelacided to not use HOHO bus to loop around a 2nd time - the summer months are consider off-season with fewer ships calling, should be more relaxed & less crowded.  

 

NCL also contracted with the Yellow Bus, as we saw several of them parked idling right outside the fenced gate, next to the ship this morning - they're chartered by NCL to do shorex.  For our online or digital booked confirmation, we had to walk almost 2/3 of a mile, relatively flat & level sidewalk & pavement to reach Stop #1 for the Yellow Bus.  Had to wait about 20+ minutes extra due to island traffic (apparently, Monday was a Portugal holiday & many businesses and shops, stores weren't open) - at the designated Marina stop, there're 2 rep's on duty, one selling tickets on the spot & another going up & down the line to answer questions, handed out disposable earbuds for the onboard audio self-guide in multiple languages.  

 

With the expected surged in ship passengers lining up, they dispatched an additional bus & we got on, a third bus was 10 to 15 minutes behind us - normally, one bus every 30 minutes.  At several key & popular stops, additional agents were stationed and they seemed organized enough to us.  

 

All HOHO tour bus pax were dropped off near the cruise pier, we stayed on & continued back to stop #1 (after stop #27) and continued, past #3 for the cable car and the driver was bilingual & answered questions about the stops, etc. The audio guide were working & provided in multiple popular languages, along with the printed guide - does an adequate job pointing out where & what ... driver was a safe & good driver, not rushing.   

 

There was also a red HOHO bus, not sure how they compare on a competitve basis.  We wing this & book it online ourselves, and saved almost enough to paid for our nice seafood lunch in the Old Town.  NCL shorex has the advantage of pickup closest to the pier & much less walking - 20 minutes for us; but we saved about 60 to 65% against inflated ship deals, even with the $50 "credit" for the 3 of us.  Not something to sneeze at.  

 

Pack a hat, sun protection and bottled water for hydration, and if Sal is okay with the long walk - do it and enjoy the scenery, stop to rest & take pictures for memories ... like we did.  (especially if things are similar on your upcoming one at Porto)  I don't see any red flags or reasons to not use the Yellow Bus. 

 

Cadiz cruise terminal is just a 5 minutes walk to the center of town and easy to walk, and if we get lazy, will do another locally negotiated taxi tour again.  We did pretty well scoring on our January Getaway, as you recall our posts on that Semi-Live.  Will have more "field" reports from our cruise in the coming days.  

 

Best regards - Henry 

[mking8288]

12 hours ago, dexddd said:

So the SIL gets the stolen buffet chair?

Not going to invoke the Fifth.  Only guilty of motivating our busy room attendant, as he has to do 22 rooms daily, each taking 15 to 20 minutes (thankfully: very, very few children onboard) - to track down a surplus or stored chair from somewhere, not responsible for where it came from.

 

Besides, we didn't ask for 2 loungers and a bigger table for room service meals on the balcony.  Weather is getting warm - going to be nice to sit outside & watch for pier runners ahead. 

 

Haha, just realized your eagle eyes & spotted the extra "hardware" outside - should've use the smartphone's Magic Eraser function, it's really cool.  Try it - on all supported Pixel Androids, Samsung select series and even newer iPhones.  

[mking8288]

Good Tuesday morning, all.   (  With 3,900+ pax onboard plus crew, and approaching Spain off the northwest coast of Africa, satellite WiFi this morning is the slowest, thus far on this TA crossing - calm seas & no waves to speak of.  

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Day 10 - last night's MDR dinner at Taste ... roasted turkey and pork tenderloin were both very good. 

 

[dexddd]

20 hours ago, AtSeaAlways said:

Lovely town.  There are at least three bus services.  Yellow City Busses, and two 21 ish stop hop on hop off which start at 18 Eros.  We took the yellow HOHO which was packed and ran irregularly.  Go for the red one.  Pick up is well outside the port area - stop #1-  a good hike.  

 

We tried to eat at the Beer House by the port - they refused us service

 

A few blockd past that - end of the cruise dock and up the hill we found Cafe Funchal which was really good and on a nice square.  

Looks like in the first picture there is a couple having a heated discussion whether they should have bought 24 or 48 hour HOO ticket being Epic passengers.

[dexddd]

Calm seas today.

 

With as many hour forwards you have had, and based on Webcam, I'm sorry to think you may have entered the Twilight Zone.  Good thing you have unlimited wifi to keep posting for eternity.  But Epic did sail through the triangle so we are not relying on any cruise mapper sites.

 

Also see the burger on plate secret dish has not been discovered by Funchal but they have captured the upside down dead fish market.  Please don't share these food ideas with the GM.

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

 ... Please don't share these food ideas with the GM.

Dex, you might recall seafood paella was once available cruising NCL long ago ... Doubtful they can and will bring it back anytime soon, if at all - maybe at Ocean Blue.  GM will just punt it. 

 

The lunch mob is back, last sea day with it open - left is right (for the queue) for a pager, reversing the routine since day 1 ... now, right is for ... Priority seating does work, discreetly - 5 minutes wait instead of 15+ with a pager and hardly anyone noticed we skipped past them on a bypass. 

 

Whatever, imagine another 500+ souls onboard on a sold out cruise with several hundred restless youngsters. 

 

Walked past Le Bistro and the unmistakable tiles sound from multiple tables of MJ can be heard. Card room is a full house already.  Casino is half to 2/3 empty, not making money on this TA ... ditto, duty-free & gift shops with the limited selections. 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[AtSeaAlways]

Just now, dexddd said:

Looks like in the first picture there is a couple having a heated discussion whether they should have bought 24 or 48 hour HOO ticket being Epic passengers.

The line by the stern of the ship was so slow as each group wanted detailed attraction infomation vs. just tickets.

 

The satellite Internet has been fine all week except that brief planned outage.  I was able to be on a Zoom + video last night on the basic package. We got to witness a passenger ripping unfairly into the Internet Manager earlier in the Library.  The lines need "no sail" lists like Southwest Airlines has.

 

Several of us went up to 13 to watch a slow tanker crossing.  They were stand on and a long way ahead.  There were six bridge officers up there so it seemed well in hand.  We got a few slow rolls after lunch - a guess is the stabilizers are off - they use extra fuel I think.  Lots of topside mass aboard- pools, decks etc.

 

Lovely cruising  weather.  

 

We are like Pavlov's Dog waiting for the 1430 scones.  

 

The library needs a book donation / exchange shelf.  No you cannot get COVID from a book 😉

They need a crew talent show.  Minor stuff.  The bands are good.  Salsa lessons.  

 

 

 

[mking8288]

WiFi calling - having trouble calling out today on my Android and yesterday using SIL's iPhone XR, dialed out okay but failed to connect or ring thru ... just wanted to note & document this.  Using an alternate app, WhatsApp is okay and used Ooma, our home VoIP App - made a successful voice call that lasted 3 to 4 minutes. 

 

Will try Google Voice and cellular WiFi call with it's default settings again later. WiFi has been unreliable within the last 24 hours, iCafe notice posted about local interference ... 🙄🙄🙄  SMS & MMS seemed to work fine at the same time with friends in NY, go figure 🤔

 

Hence, always have a Plan B and a workaround or Plan C for contingency or secondary backup.

 

Picked up this 220v 2-pin outlet adapter with an on/off switch, very useful - apparently handy for ship crew in their shares cabins.  Just 2.50 Euro ...

Thus, even with the 220v Hamilton Beach 1-cup coffee maker plugged in, still have 2 other 110v outlets free for other gadgets. 

 

Notice the wear & tear with the 110v outlets after 13 years of service. 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

The new brand of coffee pod is supposed to make 4 cups, maybe 4 tiny 4 oz. cup & weak ones, based on my preference for a strong cup. I say it's good for 2 cups or 6  oz. at most.

 

The mini refrigerator was almost full initially.  Tupperware and/or ziplock bags for storage, maxi functionality as you can imagine - for your (in) convenience as you can't even fit a smaller 8" round plate in there. 

 

 

 

Note - additional slim storage in that space, it's warm with the refrigerator's motor, good for drying wet lingerie or swimwear without an iron or drying efforts. A packing tubes slipped right into that slot.

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

 

Send out our #2 and #3 load of free laundry yesterday and cheerfully returned by our room attendant to our cabin mid-afternoon today.  No charge, onboard account checked - will do a final load this Thursday before we disembark early Sunday - goosh, we passed the 2/3 milestone on this TA crossing ... oh, no - almost time to repack clean clothes again.

 

But, we aren't going home, not yet - Barcelona, here we come.  Hola, time to see how Google's Live Translate work 😀

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

5 hours ago, AtSeaAlways said:

... The library needs a book donation / exchange shelf.  No you cannot get COVID from a book 

They need a crew talent show ... 

Next door or inside that busy card room, I surely hope so b/c it's packed to full occupancy from dawn to & beyond dust, non-stop actions. No wonder I spotted a # of them wearing masks. 

 

Once upon a time, the CD plays a leading role in that funny all crew show on big stage, Fountains.  There was a crew talent show too, plus the farewell on-stage as part of finalle to the leading production show.  To the tune of the ... Norwegian way & NCL being the home away from home. 

 

Kindly help if you've seen widespread ?? distribution of mini Guest Comment Cards in the dining rooms or those Vacation Heroes Card to recognize outstanding crew members ... in going above & beyond.  

 

We shall see - cruise with an open mind is the buzz codeword these days.   

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

These were our last sea day lunch in Taste, served in oversized portion ... a fairly typical practice onboard NCL. 

 

We had several wait staff team over the past 10 days in Taste, all are very good to excellent, friendly & reminders of reasons to choose NCL ...

 

The fish cake sandwich, looked like a hamburger and I like it ... unlike the fish sandwich served in O'Sheehan's - which tasted odd as if it's stuffed with a mashed potato-fish blend.  DW tells me to either eat it or send it back & get something else, and stop being a serious critic on everything onboard 😳🫢😆 

 

Look at that simple salad, the dressing wasn't sodium loaded.  The desserts each of us had were just right in being sweet, not the sugar-free varieties.  

 

OMG, we actually saw and found bananas in the buffet this morning, they aren't out of them entirely or maybe just got them at Ponta Delgada or Funchal - could that be the special NCL Air Lift Command logistics catching up finally, stay tuned. 

[mking8288]

Tomorrow's FSD is out - Day 12

Arrive into Cadiz at 6 am and all abroad is 5:30 pm.  Garden Cafe will serve full breakfast starting at 5:30 am until 10, Taste from 6:30 (ending by 8:30 am) 

 

It's time for "Burn The Floor" again, an additional show, 7 pm only - maybe, I will go see it.  DW saw it 4 times and she like the one on the Epic.  

 

Another $29 Laundry Specials offered - we've done about $400's worth thus far, if itemized 😬😬😬 not bad with using the perks. 

 

Clocks not being fast forward by 1 hour tonight - 😹😹😹

 

Tomorrow night, approximately 10:30 pm - Gibraltar Strait Transit ... open decks

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[podgeandrodge]

Thanks mking for the live review.  Tech question------You mentioned at the outset that """""Pixel 7P accessing the mSD memory card via the USB-C Dongle, play video & output via HDMI""""""- I have the Pixel 7 Pro, but didn't think it had USB-C video output i.e. usb-c to HDMI cable wouldn't work to TV.  Is it that the USB-C dongle allows this function as it has a HDMI port on it? (I still thought only the Samsung's had the function!). 

 

 

Secondly, """"s Platinum & Sapphire or Diamonds, with 15 days at sea, we get 2 free bags of laundry done...""""" - good to know, the latitude rewards page doesn't state this or I couldn't find it anyway!

Edited May 2, 2023 by podgeandrodge

[mking8288]

Beatles show postponed earlier & rescheduled for tonight, apparently cancelled again due to a cast member's illness - #cough #cough 🤭 TBA as to a new date 

 

Tonight's scene outside Taste, wait time is 45 minutes... let's see how well priority seating get us. The Epic system onboard isn't quite flowing smoothly for dining crowd surges 

 

What do other CC'ers think, I have no further comments for now - do a post-mortem later. 

 

 

 

 

Seated in about 20-25 minutes instead, cut the wait time a little 😬

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[room with a view]

Thanks for all the photos and information. Enjoy the rest of your cruise ..flying out to Faro in the next hours.

[The P]

You tell him, Susan!!.........Hugs to you both from Sharon..........

[mking8288]

Outside our balcony tonight, a full moon, or almost. 

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Tonight's MDR menu is seen and use less often:

Pear & Apple Turnover 

 

Seafood Cioppino - like this one

 

 

 

 

Pearl & Apple Tart

 

 

Thai chicken noodles, not close to tasting like Pad Thai (A minus for efforts)

Edited May 2, 2023 by mking8288