Live EPIC Mediterannean 11-Day Cruise from Marseille, France October 2, 2023-with pics!

[laudergayle]

Did you throw a coin?  You might need to buy some Cruise Next if you did. And if you threw two…well, you may need double occupancy on that cruise🤣

[graphicguy]

9 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Did you throw a coin?  You might need to buy some Cruise Next if you did. And if you threw two…well, you may need double occupancy on that cruise🤣

Three Coins in the Fountain!  Headed to Cruise Next today!

[graphicguy]

Can’t recall who asked, but there are OTC MEDS on board for purchase…

[graphicguy]

A neighbor outside of my balcony this a.m.

 

My 2nd favorite cruise line….

[graphicguy]

Atrium Movies….

[graphicguy]

I don’t know why, but seems there have to be a few jerks on every cruise.  

 

Found 3 last night in the Haven bar.  Don’t know if they were drunk or just jerks.  

 

A friendly group of us were discussing NFL games we were getting reports on via our phones.  Sure enough, this group of people chimed in to tell us how they hated that games were being broadcast into their country and actually played in their stadiums.

 

Fair enough.  Certainly their prerogative!  

 

Our group ignored them.  They insisted to ratchet up the insults.  Our group reorganized in one of the Haven Lounge couch/chair areas.

 

They followed and proceeded to huddle over their Chromebook showing some sort of video as loud as it would play, interrupting our discussion.

 

We moved back to the Haven Bar, and you guessed it, here they come.  This time to berate our EXCELLENT bartender in the way she poured beers and insisting on mispronouncing her name no matter how many times she and we corrected them.

 

Sadly, we moved our discussion out by the pool to get away from them!

 

Hope they stay away from the Haven Bar for the duration!! 

[Mommapadraig]

24 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I don’t know why, but seems there have to be a few jerks on every cruise.  

 

Found 3 last night in the Haven bar.  Don’t know if they were drunk or just jerks.  

 

A friendly group of us were discussing NFL games we were getting reports on via our phones.  Sure enough, this group of people chimed in to tell us how they hated that games were being broadcast into their country and actually played in their stadiums.

 

Fair enough.  Certainly their prerogative!  

 

Our group ignored them.  They insisted to ratchet up the insults.  Our group reorganized in one of the Haven Lounge couch/chair areas.

 

They followed and proceeded to huddle over their Chromebook showing some sort of video as loud as it would play, interrupting our discussion.

 

We moved back to the Haven Bar, and you guessed it, here they come.  This time to berate our EXCELLENT bartender in the way she poured beers and insisting on mispronouncing her name no matter how many times she and we corrected them.

 

Sadly, we moved our discussion out by the pool to get away from them!

 

Hope they stay away from the Haven Bar for the duration!! 

Wow! We have never experienced that in the Haven bar. I’m sorry to read you had to deal with this. 

[graphicguy]

21 minutes ago, Mommapadraig said:

Wow! We have never experienced that in the Haven bar. I’m sorry to read you had to deal with this. 

No big deal.  As in life, some people are just narcissistic posteriors!

 

Funny story….I made a suggestion that the suite light switches are not marked with their function.  There are 8-10 of them….no markings on what they control.

 

I made an off handed comment about it to the GM during the Capt’s exception.  

 

No fewer than 2 Concierges and my Butler want to put labels on my lite buttons.  Not necessary!  Funny, though!

[graphicguy]

Laundry sent out yesterday, back today!

[brookie848]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

No big deal.  As in life, some people are just narcissistic posteriors!

 

Funny story….I made a suggestion that the suite light switches are not marked with their function.  There are 8-10 of them….no markings on what they control.

 

I made an off handed comment about it to the GM during the Capt’s exception.  

 

No fewer than 2 Concierges and my Butler want to put labels on my lite buttons.  Not necessary!  Funny, though!

We were in a 2-bedroom on the Epic in February -- our third time in that exact suite. The first or second night my husband got up in the middle of the night and proceeded to turn on EVERY light in the master bedroom/bath -- all at once. I did a middle of the night yell-complaint.

 

For our next cruise, one of the musts is to figure out which light buttons can be touched in the middle of the night.

 

We had a great cruise in February with a great group. But we have definitely been on cruises with "those people" -- and do our best to avoid them.

[insidecabin]

When the epic was built the light in a lot of haven cabins were wired up wrong.

 

They also swapped the hot and cold on a lot of the showers(thermostats don't work when that is done).

 

Inaugural TA a lot of time was finishing off the ship.

 

The courtyard also got destroyed by the weather on the crossing.

[Sugar Magnolia]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Laundry sent out yesterday, back today!

Happiness is a basket full of clean clothes. Hopefully all underwear have been accounted for. 
 

[graphicguy]

28 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

Happiness is a basket full of clean clothes. Hopefully all underwear have been accounted for. 
 

Amen!

[Grimix]

Thanks for the pics and reviews! In the middle of post-cruise doldrums, and I think the wife wants to do this one next!

[graphicguy]

4 minutes ago, Grimix said:

Thanks for the pics and reviews! In the middle of post-cruise doldrums, and I think the wife wants to do this one next!

You will not be disappointed.  It has been grand so far!

[surfclam2003]

We can't wait for our TA and 10 day Italy/Greece in April on her!

[jsn55]

Reminder to always bring a nightlight to plug in.  Avoids turning on any lights at all in the middle of the night.  Learned this the hard way!

[MkeCruzn]

On 9/30/2023 at 11:48 AM, graphicguy said:

We think alike.  No Fanny Packs.  Passport card, credit card and a little cash in a wallet attached to my phone, which is ALWAYS in my FRONT pocket.

 

The rest, Passport, drivers license, cash, etc stashed in a very unlikely place.

It sounds like your "passenger" could have been someone working the gate areas and never planning to board your flight. It's a reasonable scenario - get to the airport way in advance, grab a few wallets while you're waiting, and then fly out later in the day. Or, they buy a refundable ticket so they can get into the secure area, work the departing passengers, then leave and get a refund on their ticket.

 

Front pocket is not always as safe as you would think. I could tell you a long-ish story, but you get the idea. Watch out for groups of 2-3 people walking together, and maybe not having a lot of hand luggage.

 

I've decided that I will take a duplicate driver's license on trips where I plan to rent a car. The rental car companies won't accept a copy, probably even one that came from the DMV in your state.

Also, I suggest more than one ATM card with different account numbers if you plan to pull cash from your account while you're gone.

[graphicguy]

11 minutes ago, MkeCruzn said:

It sounds like your "passenger" could have been someone working the gate areas and never planning to board your flight. It's a reasonable scenario - get to the airport way in advance, grab a few wallets while you're waiting, and then fly out later in the day. Or, they buy a refundable ticket so they can get into the secure area, work the departing passengers, then leave and get a refund on their ticket.

 

Front pocket is not always as safe as you would think. I could tell you a long-ish story, but you get the idea. Watch out for groups of 2-3 people walking together, and maybe not having a lot of hand luggage.

 

I've decided that I will take a duplicate driver's license on trips where I plan to rent a car. The rental car companies won't accept a copy, probably even one that came from the DMV in your state.

Also, I suggest more than one ATM card with different account numbers if you plan to pull cash from your account while you're gone.

Agreed!

 

Observed a young couple working the crowd at the Colliseum.  She asked to have her picture taken by some guy 4 people down from where I was standing. He agreed, she gave the cheap digital camera to the unsuspecting.  Tourist raised his arms to take the picture her boyfriends rifled the pockets.  Took 3 seconds and the camera was fake and left behind.

Edited October 9, 2023 by graphicguy

[graphicguy]

[graphicguy]

Had dinner at LaCucina….surprisingly good.  Chicken Cacciatore with veggies and polenta….excellent!  Gnocchi with pesto….little bland.  Arugula with parmesan shavings.  Tough to mess up a salad.

 

Restaurant is out of the way, though!

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Had dinner at LaCucina….surprisingly good.  Chicken Cacciatore with veggies and polenta….excellent!  Gnocchi with pesto….little bland.  Arugula with parmesan shavings.  Tough to mess up a salad.

 

Restaurant is out of the way, though!

Haha, you finally (re)discover La Cucina b/c most of your time aren't anywhere near the Fwd Garden Cafe, it was open during the TA for extra seating and acted as the Fwd Observation Lounge for steerage when the buffet was simply too crowded, and groups of pax turned into inside chair hogs, dawn to dust.  We had an amazing sunset dinner by the windows - service was excellent - can access the restaurant directly from Deck 14.  The tenderloin was excellent, cooked medium for me and the salmon was perfectly prepared.  Have you visited the Bridge Viewing Room yet - go find it & check it out (open on sea days) - I believe it's the only mega NCL ships designed with one.  

 

I can see that dress code, as expected, is resort casual - trying to remember if any of the specialty restaurant has a stricter & enforced policy on the Epic.  11 days will be gone before you know it - enjoy each & every day and those precious time.  They're amazingly fast with laundry turnaround time and you can probably do another load, just in time before disembarkation with nearly all fresh & clean clothing to wear for your land visits ahead.   

 

[GALSews]

9 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

  We had an amazing sunset dinner by the windows

 

Last year we watched a full moon rise behind a bridge while in Istanbul. La Cucina's windows gave us an amazing view. 

[lepidoptera]

That chicken cacciatore looks yummy. I keep debating trying La Cucina again and I think I might just give it a whirl next month. 

[laudergayle]

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Restaurant is out of the way, though!

Lol…yes, it is not intuitive at all when you look at the Deck Plan.  But you can’t beat the views!!