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

[mking8288]

Waterfront, PD photos - 👌5G cellular signal 👍 time to stretch sea legs after 4 days and do some walking in town. 

 

Epic pax in a stretcher offloaded & taken by local ambulance, looks alert & okay from a distance.  Prayers that s/he is okay & can rejoin us later.

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Walk, baby, let's walk - sun is out & Google is our guide - 

 

[mking8288]

The poor, hungry, less fortunate, and perhaps homeless, sleeping on a mall bench outside - it's not just the Americas

 

[mking8288]

Historic old church, city centre shops & stores, cafe & restaurants, some opening at noon.  Very good & reasonable Euro prices for price fixed set lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

Our father who art in heaven.  Hallowed be thy name ...

pausing here for a silent prayer moment.

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[JIMESOPUS]

@mking8288 Thanks again for all the pictures, if all goes well we will be making a stop there in the fall on the Viva. 

[mking8288]

Looking for an ATM, I recognize this bank from New England, right.  

 

Lots of photogenic scenic stops, not just selfie's 

 

 

[mking8288]

Time to do a light lunch, mucho choices & inexpensive - many catered to ship passengers and off-duty crews. 

 

See no reasons to do additional Specialty Dining onboard 🤫😁🤗

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Found our spot to rest the heels 

 

[mking8288]

Last batch of pictures for now - 

 

Free WiFi ... follow the off-duty crews, see above 

Tour packages here ...

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[bluesea777]

4 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Last batch of pictures for now - 

 

We were on Epic there in 2011 & 2012 …

 

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your TA cruise!

 

 

[dexddd]

5 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Waterfront, PD photos - 👌5G cellular signal 👍 time to stretch sea legs after 4 days and do some walking in town. 

 

Epic pax in a stretcher offloaded & taken by local ambulance, looks alert & okay from a distance.  Prayers that s/he is okay & can rejoin us later.

 

Wow, I didn't know Prima was going to be there too.

[dexddd]

See you made it there safely via Webcam.

 

Thanks for the pictures.

 

Hard-boiled eggs and beans?  That's going to be interesting.

 

Most important question is there mozzarella sticks in O'Sheehans?

[mking8288]

4 hours ago, dexddd said:

Wow, I didn't know Prima was going to be there too.

That's a mini Prima, lookalike only - Greg Mortimer.   Jewels of the Seas was gone by the time we came back in the mid afternoon.

 

It has been dry all day, we got mislead again by the weather forecast. 

 

It's all quiet, that usually meant no pier runners to watch & wait for.  Should be underway in a few minutes from now (4:55 pm ship/local time)

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

It's 5 pm.  Pilot boat on the move and Epic bridge with side action, on standby - looks like any time now 😎 

 

 

 

 

3 short air horn blast at 5:08 pm ,- we are heading straight out to sea toward Funchal next, now 👍

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[www3traveler]

11 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

That's a mini Prima, lookalike only - Greg Mortimer.   Jewels of the Seas was gone by the time we came back in the mid afternoon.

 

It has been dry all day, we got mislead again by the weather forecast. 

 

It's all quiet, that usually meant no pier runners to watch & wait for.  Should be underway in a few minutes from now (4:55 pm ship/local time)

Captain and Staff Captain will be happy about no pier runners.  Captaain Rune is almost at the end of this contract.

[mking8288]

Google Pixel 7 Pro's digital zoom power not just at 2x or 5x, but 10x, 20x and up to 30x put to use for close-up.  A tripod or monopod would help steady the focus.  

 

We are already out of the protected harbor and away - just 10 minutes after leaving the pier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

F-591 is a Carlo Bergamini-class frigate, belongs to the Italian Navy. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, dexddd said:

... Hard-boiled eggs and beans?  That's going to be interesting.

 

Most important question is there mozzarella sticks in O'Sheehans?

DW and her sister went up 2 decks to bring back whatever they spotted in the buffet to bring back ... eat it, skip it or go get something else yourself.  Complaints not taken, period 😁😁😁

 

As for O'Sheehan's, menu options got butchered & uprooted entirely, even more simplified than a year ago ... either put up with things or shut up 🫢 

 

We ordered onion rings but ... And the beans were drowning in its own sauce and, not the wait staff's fault. I will check for you.  Maybe it's on the late night only ... for your (in) convenience.

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[depplep]

I'm freaking out over the peas on the meat dish. 🤮

[bluesea777]

 

 

Captain Rune Myre in his hey days ... (Captain of the Sun)

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by bluesea777

[bluesea777]

On 4/28/2023 at 2:25 PM, mking8288 said:

Epic's Bridge & Operations - senior leadership team as of April 28, 2023

zoomable for close-up view

@www3traveler - FYI to re.post

 

 

 

[QuattroRomeo]

5 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Found our spot to rest the heels 

 

What a terrific looking skillet of shellfish- limpets? Did you like them?

[YVRteacher]

2 hours ago, depplep said:

I'm freaking out over the peas on the meat dish. 🤮

I was freaking out about the meat on the pea dish!!🤣

[mking8288]

2 hours ago, QuattroRomeo said:

What a terrific looking skillet of shellfish- limpets? Did you like them?

It was excellent, enough to share among 2 to 3 ... garlic boiled limpets, very tasty, pinch of lemon.  Get a side order of local bread & cheese, icy Coke classic in a bottle or local beer/wine.  18 Euro only, other cafe near the port area as low as 15 or 16

42 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I was freaking out about the meat on the pea dish!!🤣

LOL, all packed & ready - have a great cruise 🛳️

3 hours ago, depplep said:

I'm freaking out over the peas on the meat dish. 🤮

 

It was all good, edible, nothing fancy - inexpensive, set lunch price of 8.50 Euro, including a choice of soda & cup of expresso. Island cooking, Portuguese style or whatever in a prime tourist area. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Tech geeks:

NCL's App-based Phone & Messenger option still available onboard, apparently usable & best for text messaging, per other activated users onboard the current sailing. 

 

While in Ponta Delgada, I checked the LTE cellular data speed, pretty good at 44 Mbps download and 9 Mbps upload. 

 

Late night onboard, seas are calm and smooth sailing toward Funchal doing 16 knots.  Onboard WiFi satellite speed is back up within the ranges, advisory still out about local interfere & possibly downtime and poor speed from surge usage.

 

Hardware  & devices of the end users can greatly affect these results.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Good morning, ship at an easy 16 knots heading toward Funchal. 

 

Dining room last night wasn't busy at 8 pm, and the crowd was smaller in the atrium, still no seating to watch the big screen movie.  Still had 2 or more mah jong table games going in the card room at 9:30 pm as we head back to Deck 13.

 

Dinner choice for us was on the lighter side - this menu rotation is used less frequently, 1 of the 21 for the executive chef to choose from.

 

Our dining room waiter said he prefer the larger ship, as he has a solo cabin instead of sharing, older & smaller ship has 4 crew to a cabin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by mking8288