Semi-Live NCL Epic: February 25 - March 3, 2024

[Sailing12Away]

9 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Unless you are requesting and have a butler who is good, you, other than the Bird, are really scoring great and many treats.  If we get two plates of any variety that is the norm.

We write a butler letter listing out some of the favorites we've had in the past. That helps ensure you get things you like.

 

But there always seems to be some misunderstanding about how many to bring. Going to try leaving a note that says "just one tray today please".

 

Since we're 3 in the cabin I can understand one sweet and one savory, but I don't need brownies and chocolate covered pineapple.

[Sailing12Away]

Still rolling with the punches, but more weirdness at Cagney's last night. We had spoken to the head sommelier the other day to preorder a bottle for dinner. Have done this on the joy and even prima without issue. Get to the restaurant and there's a note on our reservation and the already decanted wine is brought over with the empty bottle.

 

Last night we mentioned the wine when checking in and the hostess asked for our dining coupon. No, we're using a credit not the coupon. This wine isn't included, we're paying extra for it. She looked confused and brought us to the table.

 

Sit down and within 2 mins the restaurant somollier comes over and says he's been waiting for us. Great, at least someone knows what we're talking about.

 

Then he shows us the full unopened bottle to confirm it's the right one. Ugggg. It was supposed to already be open and airing out. It was just a $60 so we rolled with it and did we'd start drinking when the steaks came out. But if it was a fancier bottle I would have been pissed.

 

What was the point of telling you ahead of time? Not because we wanted an aerator at the table, we wanted it aerated ahead of time so it was drinkable when we sat.

 

Wedge salad has shrunk and barely had bacon which was sad, but still fine. Steaks were cooked well, mine was medium his was med rare. Shared just the one dessert because too much food overall.

 

But service was great (outside of the wine incident) and fixings for the baked potato cake faster than our wait in the Haven restaurant.

[Sailing12Away]

At the end of dinner the somollier comes over to return my room key. He tried handing me an orange card. I said that's not mine. Then he handed me a teal one, said that's not mine either. Look of panic on his face as he ran away.

 

Server came over to close out our bill and I told her we couldn't because the wine guy lost my card. She had some choice words for him and we gave her hubby's card instead. 

 

Wine guy comes back and admits he's given our card away to the wrong guest and he's going to have to go to guest services to cancel that one and issue us a new one. Never in my life....

 

I immediately knew it wasn't my card by the color. How in the world did these other people not know when they took it from him? Did they think they won a Haven lottery and got an upgrade on day 4?

 

It was a stretch to think they would comp the bottle at that point, but would have been nice. Didn't happen, paid my $54 after latitude/beverage plan discount and we went to the Haven to share stories with friends.

 

Turns out earlier before we got there a drunk belligerent man didn't have a reservation when he thought he did. He caused a big scene requiring security to come, so Cagney's was having a few issues last night.

[Sailing12Away]

Headed to the back area of the Haven lounge as there's better seating for a large group over there. We grabbed the 2nd bottle of port that we brought from home and asked them for a few glasses. 

 

Sat and relaxed sharing our Cagney's story with the group, and them sharing their own. Chatted about the different NCL ships and how your experience can be so very different depending on which one you go on.

 

Putu the bartender is nice, but not anywhere close to top that any of us have had. Lack of creativity or playful personality is one thing, but being afraid to tell us they are out of something and substituting on your own without warning is not ok. For me I give them lots of flexibility and just say "make me something refreshing", so I don't care what's in it.

 

But when someone says Kahlua & coke, you have to use Kahlua. And if you don't have it, ask for another preference and make sure you have it the next night.

 

The friends have made this trip fun, even if we only bump into them for an hour or two late at night. If we were just the two of us this trip would have been much worse. We would have been bothered more by the snafus and changes.

 

We're having fun messing with the folks in the FB group for this sailing (apologies now if any of you are in both). There was a discussion about towel animals (lack of) so when we all got them the other night made sure to post photos. The trouble maker of our crew also posted a photo of a regular napkin crumbled on the table and said "Janet on deck 8 is still learning, but getting better". Some took it serious and said we should complain. About a towel animal not looking good.

 

Are you kidding me. Some of you people need to remove the entitled stick from your bum before hopping on a cruise. Honestly a vacation is what you make of it. You can either go in with high expectations and be disappointed about something every day, criticize everything and walk around grumpy and nasty, or just be grateful for good friends, good weather, and someone else doing the adult chores for you.

 

Would we prefer things to be the "old way", sure. But it's still leaps and bounds better than some of the other lines (they're all cutting back), and so long as we get a good value for our room we'll keep coming back. But yes, having friends to cruise with is by far the best way to ensure a good trip regardless of what else is happening.

[HBCcruiser]

@Sailing12Away How was the wine? 

[Sailing12Away]

Wine was fine.... after it had time to breathe.

 

Made the mistake of trying to upload a video, so trying again without it this time. In the DR, Amber Cove. Walk and wander, no plans for today.

 

Heard some bad news on the job hunting front, so I'll be in a funk today.

[Sailing12Away]

Found a shady spot to sit near the pool and ordered a bucket of beers for $25. Swim up bar at the pool was charging around $11 per drink and $6 for beers. So the bucket is a good value if you've got some friends.

 

The dance crew from burn the floor is all sitting next to us in this corner. Told them the show was great last night, glad to see they are getting some free time to themselves.

 

Lazy river is about 4ft deep at it's deepest at the swim up bar. Had a guy offer us better loungers with an umbrella, pool floats, waterslide access, etc for $99. But since we only wanted shade are staying here for now for free.

 

Guy walking past from the zip line said it was $48 for an unlimited pass. He's already on his way back for his 3rd flight.

[Alatraveler1]

Planning on doing a trip report on our upcoming cruise on the Epic, hope to focus on the positives and go with the flow as you say as much as possible.  However, some of the issues you are experiencing while minor are concerning from a customer service standpoint.  These also deserve to be pointed out when considering the value proposition of cabin selection/class, included or extra charge dining preference and other optional services.  Thanks for writing about the positive and negative experiences when warranted.

[Yesimapirate]

I'll assume the stick up their butt comment was for me.  That's ok if it is.  Maybe I do.  To each their own.

 

However,  I'm certainly not suggesting yelling at any of the crew.  It obnoxious and simply won't resolve anything anyway.   But there are also some things that cross the line.  The sommelier losing the key card, no problem because it sounds like he resolved it.  Mistakes happen and that's ok, just fix it.   Pouring the wrong drink intentionally is not ok.  In fact,  in most places on land making a habit of that can cost you your liquor license.   Making policies up rather than finding out the correct answer is also not ok with me.  If you don't know, go take 2 minutes and get the correct answer.  That's very basic customer service.

 

As far as complaining about things,  where else are you going to actually resolve the problem if not there on the ship?  Would it be better to come here and rant?  To email customer service when I get home and demand compensation?  Threaten to never sail NCL again?  I strongly believe a polite conversation with the concierge,  F&B Manager,  etc explaining the issue and clearly stating what you would like.   In the OPs particular case, maybe something along the lines of "we really enjoy Kaluha and we're disappointed when something else was served to us.  Do you happen to have any other inventory of it on the ship that can be stocked at the Haven bar?"  No need to yell, get the bar tender in trouble or anything else.  Simply an easy resolution. 

 

I don't think having high expectations is wrong,  especially if they're reasonable based on the product being sold.  If I wanted to have low expectations and be pleasantly be surprised then I wouldn't have simply booked something outside of the Haven.

[Sailing12Away]

43 minutes ago, Yesimapirate said:

I'll assume the stick up their butt comment was for me.  That's ok if it is.  Maybe I do.  To each their own.

Nope, not at all. It was for the FB trolls complaining about "lobstergate" and lack of expertly crafted towel animals.

 

Food choices are limited here unless you want Nathan's or other American fare. We sent Lando on a quest to see if there's an areppa to be found on the island.

[Yesimapirate]

3 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Nope, not at all. It was for the FB trolls complaining about "lobstergate" and lack of expertly crafted towel animals.

 

Food choices are limited here unless you want Nathan's or other American fare. We sent Lando on a quest to see if there's an areppa to be found on the island.

Either way, I'm not offended:)

 

I really appreciate the time you've spent sharing your experiences with us.  

 

And please save us a little Kaluha!😁

[Sailing12Away]

Coming into Port if you go right there the pool with lazy river, kids water Park, Nathan's truck and a burger/Taco place.

 

If you go left instead there the shops, an empanada truck, and a restaurant with some slightly more authentic food. 

 

I was chatting with some friends from back home about the job situation and it put me in a dark place, so headed back to the ship a bit early. Don't feel like we got a true taste of the DR, but it's a decent stop for an inexpensive pool day.

 

This morning we asked the butler for only one tray of food, said it was too much. She brought two and we still have a giant plate of chips from the other day. So I'm having a pity party for myself on the balcony with my chips (crisps).

 

Tonight is Wheel of Fortune, so curious to see how that works. We still have a ton of non refundable OBC to go through, so hoping it can be used to pay for that. What we did in the casino does not count for the non refundable. TV sucks as it doesn't tell you how much is left. Went from saying $0 to now us owing $22 but still having $200+ of credits to keep track of.

Edited March 1 by Sailing12Away
I'm eating chips, not a child. Talk about a bad phone typo.

[Sailing12Away]

1 hour ago, Yesimapirate said:

Either way, I'm not offended:)

 

I really appreciate the time you've spent sharing your experiences with us.  

 

And please save us a little Kaluha!😁

No promises. Those folks from the UK are very particular. Something about bin dippers and scausers....

[Sailing12Away]

Internet is even worse today at sea than the other day.... so bear with me.

[Sailing12Away]

The misadventures of Wheel of Fortune….

 

We like the game shows. Maybe not in place of the Broadway shows, but when they’re executed well we’re fine with having them more on the ship. Prima had Price is Right and that was done really well. They swapped out the contestants after each round so there were many opportunities to be called up on stage to play the real games from the show. No charge to participate at all. Chance to win decent prizes (we saw a gent win $700 playing Plinko on our trip).

 

With Wheel of Fortune, it was a complete flop. The fact that it wasn’t advertised well in the daily should have been the first clue. It wasn’t on the main first page which is where I usually just look to see what’s happening, it was just squirreled away on the What’s Happening Today section.

 

Card sales started at 8:30, game started at 9pm in the theater. They didn’t tell you the prizes until after the game had started and until after you had bought your cards to ‘play’. We still have a lot of OBC, and based on what others have told us about bingo card sales and such being able to be used with non-refundable credits, we bought the 10 pack of cards for $50.

 

Whomp whomp…. Nope, can’t use those with the non-refundable. So again, still have a ton of non-refundable credits to go through with only 1 day left now and am racking up our charges in fees I owe back to them. I believe it was $25 for 2 cards, $40 for 6 cards, and $50 for 10 cards. The other thing they failed to mention anywhere until it was too late was that you need a smartphone to be able to purchase cards and participate.

 

You scan a QR code, or enter a website on your browser and get to the sign up page. No internet package needed, works on the internal NCL wifi I suppose. Enter your name, birthday, and cabin number and then pick your # of cards you want to buy. The cards were a combination of monetary values the contestants could spin and land on, and letters they could pick and choose. Each time they landed on your money amount or chose your letter, you got points. If you solved the puzzle on your own while watching the contestants play, you got additional points for that based on how fast you solved it.

 

They had to restart the game 3x because it kept freezing up. Cruise director finally said if it doesn’t work this time we’re giving up – so still lots of kinks for them on the IT side to work out, and the theater wasn’t even full. They were finally able to get 3 “random” names picked, you had to show them your phone as proof it came through to you, and those were the only contestants for the 4 rounds of the game. The wheel to spin to see your money amount was all electronic, so the odds of landing on the ‘free cruise’ square were virtually none. And when folks were racking up decent amounts of money – oh what luck, they landed on bankrupt.

 

So the 3 contestants are playing the real game, but the prize dollar amounts per letter were ridiculously low. Most were only $10 – 60. There was a single $100 square, a $150 I think, and the super skinny free cruise one between 2 bankrupts. The most any contestant won during a round was about $120 total. Whatever the grand prize winner of the 3 contestants won, they got in onboard credits (probably non-refundable with just one day to go). The other 2 got consolation prizes (never revealed, so probably just a koozie or keychain). Those of us in the audience, whoever was first to solve the puzzle on your phone won a prize each round (still have no idea what any of those were), and whoever had the most total points at the end of the game won a prize.

 

The first round I couldn’t even participate in. The game was locked and frozen on my phone, so even though we knew the answer to the puzzle I couldn’t ‘buzz in’ to be able to solve it. So already I was short 1000+ points from everyone else for not locking in the right answer at all. So there went my chance of winning anything from the get go. 2^nd round we knew the answer, but typing it in the keyboard kept jumping around, so we had a typo (THE became TIE when we typed it because the cursor moved back instead of forward and we didn’t catch it until after hitting submit). So 0/2 so far…. This game sucks. Even when we did get the puzzle right and what we thought was quick, turns out there were 10+ other people who got it minutes ahead of us when only 2 letters had been revealed. How, I don’t know, but at that point we hated the game and were pissed that we blew $50 on it, and doubly pissed when we found out it didn’t even come from the non-refundable credits.

 

So yeah, skip Wheel of Fortune. Or go, but don’t buy the cards and just play along in your head. Grand prize contestant walked away with around $300 total OBC, the audience member with the most points won a $500 credit towards something in the Effy shop (useless to us anyway), and each round there was someone who was fastest to solve – they won a “prize”. The guy who won the most points also won at least 1-2 of the individual rounds, so again, good for him but sucky for the rest of us. Price is Right – loads of fun and free, absolutely sign up and go. Wheel of Fortune – save your money and skip it.

[Sailing12Away]

For dinner we asked the butler to bring us the menu for the Shanghai Noodle Bar. It was the same one in the app, but we weren’t sure. Ordered a few things from there to be brought to the room so we didn’t have to deal with waiting for a table. By the time it got up here most of it was cold, but tasted good for a free meal that was different from everything else. After eating we did the Wheel of Fortune disaster, and after that went up to the Haven bar to chat with our group of friends.

 

The concierge kept screwing up some of their reservations as well, so not just ours. One of their meals was removed completely, and when they tried to get it added back on was told there were no more seats. Our friends went to Moderno themselves and got themselves booked for a 9pm time slot – so not sure why they could do it on their own when the Haven concierge team could not. Then the concierge kept trying to make all their reservations for a group of 4 instead of 2. They have 2 in their cabin. They happen to have a pair of friends also from the UK traveling on the cruise, but that doesn’t mean they automatically want to eat every meal together with them. Concierge kept booking every meal for 4 instead of 2, even when they repeatedly told them “they’re our friends, but we are not dining with them”. So that was a whole mess for them to keep sorting out at each meal.

 

Best Haven perk that has gone well this week was the priority elevators at ports of call. No local stopping at each floor when the lift is already full, just right down to disembarkation level. On the way back, skipping the line (again, sorry, not sorry) and once past security right into a priority elevator straight up to deck 16 in seconds. Our butler Janet has been good, so she’ll get a good tip. We’ll give the concierge team some money for those skipping the line bits, but not nearly as much as we originally planned. I need to go down to shore excursion desk in a bit to see if we can sign up for the Kennedy tour post cruise before the airport – concierge should be doing that for me but I don’t trust them. We normally expect to give out an additional $100-200 to the bartender crew up here based on how often we tend to be there, how late we tend to stay, and how funky our orders tend to be. Not this trip sadly.

 

If we can’t book the Kennedy tour with airport drop off, then I’ll need to hop on JetBlue to see if I can get us swapped to an earlier flight. Would rather pay $400 to move the flight than $400 to tour the space center just as a way to kill time anyway. We originally booked 6pm flights home because the only other reasonably priced flight was 11:15 which was too close for our liking based on one of our previous trips where we almost missed the flight. Flights around 1-2pm were costing double at the time, but we’ll see what options we have.

 

I’m 100% convinced we missed our behind the scenes tour and wines around the world tasting. Normally we get a card in the room telling us of the dates and times – nope. Concierge said he booked us and it would be the last sea day. Well, if it is, there’s nothing telling us where to go or when. And other guests have said they already participated in it the first sea day. So not a huge thing, but something we did want to use and now can’t because the concierge mucked it up.

 

In the dailies I do see a wine & chocolate pairing at 11:30, so when I head down to the shore excursion desk I may sign us up for that. Butler told us last night that we have to be out of our cabins by 8am tomorrow. We can sit in the lounge, but must be out by 8am. We weren’t even planning on waking up until 8, so that will be fun.

 

I’ll try to hop onto the wifi on my phone to post some photos from yesterday, but those may have to wait until tomorrow when we’re back on land. Videos are a definite no go, photos depends on whether I try the full size or just put a smaller screenshot. And aint nobody got time for resizing photos just to be nice right now.

[dexddd]

The wedge needs to be renamed salsa with some lettuce.  It is about a third of former self.  Very unappetizing.

 

I once had bartender give me someone else's card.  It had the name of the Enron CEO soon after the incident.  I ran to get a new one.

[Sailing12Away]

Lots of ships near us right now, but I can only see one.

[Sailing12Away]

Photos from wheel of fortune

[Sailing12Away]

More photos

[HBCcruiser]

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

because the concierge mucked it up

I hope that concierge isn’t onboard in October. Anyway to find out? 

[DGP1111]

On 2/23/2024 at 10:40 AM, Sailing12Away said:

 

Ok kids, the time is here for another adventure on the Epic. This will be our 3rd time sailing on her, but the first time since the renovations that were done during Covid, so we're excited to see the differences. 

 

 

 

I've just now completed my binge-reading of your review, and certainly benefitted from the content, so a sincere Thank You for doing it. I will be embarking in two weeks for my 16th time on Norwegian Epic. I was on the final cruise that successfully started/ended in San Juan before 'cooties' shut the industry down. I look forward to seeing the onboard changes that have taken place since then, and . . . although I'm definitely still excited about the return to a favorite ship, I've absolutely lowered my personal expectations about the overall onboard experience.  Your comments about several things seem to parallel those by others who've been onboard.  

Hopefully the willy-nilly assignment of beverage ingredients won't continue and diminish my Premium Plus purchase. I do anticipate the regular nightly confusion at the podium/table regarding if my FAS/Diamond is being applied for that particular meal (especially since you described the absence of the physical tear-off coupons).  Will do my best to get clarity on arrival.

You return tomorrow, so Welcome Back!!  Thanks, again, for the great info. 😊

 

 

 

Edited March 2 by DGP1111
grammar

[Seas2mountains]

Thank you again for the great live review! We will be on the Epic for the first time in December and will also be in the Haven. I have heard other say they really like the Haven on Epic but would love to hear your thoughts on it. Sorry to hear about the bar staff being disappointing and I would also be really frustrated if they substituted ingredients without telling people in advance. 
 

Enjoy your last day at sea. Hope the job situation gets resolved in your favor. There have been times in my career that the door closed on a job I wanted but later on I saw that it really was a blessing and something better came along. 
 

When we have a lot of non refundable OBC remaining at the end of a cruise, we spend it on expensive face or eye creams that are found  in the cruise shops and they don’t take up too much space in our luggage. 

[idocdlw]

Echoing others...thank you so much for investing your time & effort to share your adventure with all. It has been wonderful to not only have narrative descriptions of your journey, but also pictures that help us all look forward to our upcoming cruises. BTW...your pics are awesome...

 

Kudos Sailing12Away !!  

[idocdlw]

On 3/1/2024 at 7:10 AM, Sailing12Away said:

We write a butler letter listing out some of the favorites we've had in the past. That helps ensure you get things you like.

 

But there always seems to be some misunderstanding about how many to bring. Going to try leaving a note that says "just one tray today please".

 

Since we're 3 in the cabin I can understand one sweet and one savory, but I don't need brownies and chocolate covered pineapple.

Please divert your unwanted brownies & chocolate covered pineapple to my cabin please...lol