Ben & David Epic

[ErLee]

We sailed the Epic in 2023 and had a great time! The cabin is a little weird, but we actually ended up liking it, and our large balcony category indeed had a LARGE balcony.  I would never design the strange bathroom set up, but it didn't impact my enjoyment of the trip LOL.

 

We experienced very good service, no issues with ship cleanliness, plenty of entertainment, and average to good food like on any cruise line we've been on lately (except for Virgin Voyages, their food is really good!)

 

It seems hard to believe the ship could have gone downhill that much that quickly, but maybe? 

 

If the itinerary were right, I would book the Epic tomorrow.

 

 

[david_sobe]

I hate to resurrect an older thread but the drama continues.  They have uploaded their Epic balcony cabin review. I wont post it here but if you are curious go and check it out.  I hate to ruin the plot but they hated it, got trapped in the shower, poked by the lights, and claim they both cannot get ready together in the cabin.  The balcony cabins on Epic are definitely narrow and the couch does take up too much room.  However that couch also serves as a bed to sail with 3 people.  There are no bunk beds that drop from the ceiling and the couch serves as 2 functions.  When Epic was built there was a focus on cabins to have lots of storage.  Epic probably has more storage than any ship at sea.  It has a row of cabinets above the bed, shelves, hidden compartments, and a large wardrobe cabinet. 

[cruiseracer]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

I hate to resurrect an older thread but the drama continues.  They have uploaded their Epic balcony cabin review. I wont post it here but if you are curious go and check it out.  I hate to ruin the plot but they hated it, got trapped in the shower, poked by the lights, and claim they both cannot get ready together in the cabin.  The balcony cabins on Epic are definitely narrow and the couch does take up too much room.  However that couch also serves as a bed to sail with 3 people.  There are no bunk beds that drop from the ceiling and the couch serves as 2 functions.  When Epic was built there was a focus on cabins to have lots of storage.  Epic probably has more storage than any ship at sea.  It has a row of cabinets above the bed, shelves, hidden compartments, and a large wardrobe cabinet. 

 

Nope. I tried to watch and couldn't get past the beginning. The drama is over the top from the beginning. Too much to be thankful for on the Epic.    

[Ellis1138]

They overdramatized the fact that their toilet room door had broken, with the wheel for the slider track no longer part of the door. I would have hoped they would call Guest Service for mainentance on that. I mean, if my husband and I packed a toolkit (which we don't), we'd be able to fix that in like 20 minutes.

 

That said, the room layout and style does happen to be awful. I hate when there are translucent bathroom doors and windows when I'm in a room with my husband or someone else. If I do wind up having to take the Epic, I'll go in the Studio Cabins. 🙂

[david_sobe]

I've been around this board since before Epic launched.  The curtain thread for Epic started months before the ship debuted and continued on for about a year after its release.  It must hold the record of most replies ever.  It was on the main page here for about 2 years. No joke.  If a curtain bothers you then dont book the ship.  What always bothered me about the curtain complaints is people made like the curtain was the bathroom door.  It's not.  Both the toilet and shower have their own doors.  The curtain is only used if plan to change in front of someone.  It gives privacy.  That's it.  The amount of silly complaints of a room steward walking inside the cabin seeing people naked were endless.  The same situation could happen to you on any ship or in any cabin if someone just barged in the room.  Yet for some reason this curtain really brought the insanity out in people.  This is a European design, no?  I know it was built by the French but did they design it too?  If you remember there were endless complaints about the sink too.  It freaked NCL out so much that they replaced all the balcony cabin sinks a few months after it debuted.  However that still did not stop the complaints.  Epic has quirks no doubt.  Some of the quirks are really cool and but not functional and other quirks dont make sense.  For example in the penthouse the phone is in the bathroom.  I personally loved the round beds even though only one could walk around them.  IMHO sometimes I like something cool and different rather than functional.

Edited Sunday at 07:06 PM by david_sobe

[Oakman58]

It's obvious from their video that the Epic is in desperate need of the upcoming refurbishment.  Personally, I think the bathroom layout would work much better if NCL would replace the translucent glass with solid panels.  Regardless, I think the wave wall makes the cabin feel smaller than it actually is, a rather dumb design.

[Eno]

I thought that the room that they had must have been some strange discounted category but I looked up the room layouts - why why why would you not have a door to the bathroom.  That is just a gross layout - sorry don't want to watch someone washing up or brushing their teeth with the sink in front of the bed.  And to dry off from the shower in front of the cabin door.... words can't describe it.  I am booked on the Aqua for 2026 and quickly checked the balcony room layout - looks like just the Epic has this.  Glad for the videos as would never have thought that such a strange layout existed.  

[Barb Nahoumi]

We were on the Jade last month, which is a bit older than the Epic.  Everything on this ship was well maintained, crew members were constantly cleaning, and painting,  One ladies bathroom had two toilets that didn't flush, and I noticed that they were attended to  later on.

 

I heard that NCL pays attention to what is posted here on Cruise Critic.  Maybe that is why they never built a second ship like the Epic.  Many people said that they would not book a cruise on it, including me, but others do like it.

 

If NCL is going to build more mid-sized ships, they should make exact copies of the Jewel Class ships.  They do have fewer venues, but they are large enough to accommodate people, so reservations are not necessary except for the Specialty Restaurants.  The pools are larger than those of the megas and newer ships.  They shouldn't try to cram too much, because the venues will be smaller, and reservations will become necessary.  When I'm on vacation, I don't want to be tightly scheduled. 

[dhanakorn]

Judging from the amount of people here who love the Epic, if I were NCL management, I wouldn’t invest a lot of capital for the ship improvement. Next year dry dock is probably just for required maintenance. New carpet — maybe 2027? New cabin bathroom layout— forget it, not gonna happen. Despite all these issues Epic is still sailing at full capacity. The ship holds over 4,000 passengers, even with deep discount fare, I think NCL still makes pretty good profit from Epic. The ship already has bad reputation and is never gonna be a favorite, so why wasting money. 

[graphicguy]

Mentioned, was in her last year.  She was in great shape.  Hard for me to believe she has suffered large degradation since then.

 

Also hard for me to lend credence to reviewers who put their filming priorities over the enjoyment of other guests (as they did with the MSC review).  I quit following them after that incident!

 

Some folks don’t like the cabin layout.  I liked being able to brush my teeth or shave when my GF was taking a shower or using the commode and vice versa by using the separate sink in the room!

 

Having sailed Epic twice, once fairly recently, I wouldn’t hesitate is sailing her again tomorrow!

[Maria63]

10 hours ago, Eno said:

I thought that the room that they had must have been some strange discounted category but I looked up the room layouts - why why why would you not have a door to the bathroom.  That is just a gross layout - sorry don't want to watch someone washing up or brushing their teeth with the sink in front of the bed.  And to dry off from the shower in front of the cabin door.... words can't describe it.  I am booked on the Aqua for 2026 and quickly checked the balcony room layout - looks like just the Epic has this.  Glad for the videos as would never have thought that such a strange layout existed.  

 

We spent 14 nights in this kind of cabin back in 2022. The bathroom design is certainly very awkward, and one issue is that once you step out of the shower, you will inevitably make the entrance floor wet, unless you make sure to arrange towels to step on. We were lucky to have a cabin with the bed close to the balcony and the sofa next to the sink, and I would highly recommend that you pick this configuration. There´s slightly more space to move around and the bed is not quite next to the sink.

 

Seems that every now and then, ship designers decide that it would be fun to play around with the bathroom and come up with new ideas. It seldom works out well in the end. For instance, the major Italian line Costa cruises (part of Carnival) has two fairly new mega-ships, the Toscana and Smeralda. These are great in many ways and have premium cabins with an extra outdoor space that is fantastic - but they have replaced the bathroom wall with a semi-see through glass panel, covered only by a curtain that is operated from the bedroom side.

[YVRteacher]

On 9/15/2024 at 4:53 PM, graphicguy said:

Mentioned, was in her last year.  She was in great shape.  Hard for me to believe she has suffered large degradation since then.

 

Also hard for me to lend credence to reviewers who put their filming priorities over the enjoyment of other guests (as they did with the MSC review).  I quit following them after that incident!

 

Some folks don’t like the cabin layout.  I liked being able to brush my teeth or shave when my GF was taking a shower or using the commode and vice versa by using the separate sink in the room!

 

Having sailed Epic twice, once fairly recently, I wouldn’t hesitate is sailing her again tomorrow!

I value your opinion! I have avoided the Epic because there were reviews that said the design of the ship and casino location made the ship smell like cigarette smoke. Was this your experience?

[graphicguy]

6 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

I value your opinion! I have avoided the Epic because there were reviews that said the design of the ship and casino location made the ship smell like cigarette smoke. Was this your experience?

I think it was an issue.  The "Ocean 678" area seemed to trap the cigarette smoke from the casino when I first sailed her.  

 

Either there were fewer smokers on board when I sailed Epic in October, or they have better filtration systems, but it wasn't near the issue it was when I first sailed her over a decade ago.  Come to think of it, I don't recall the smoke being nearly as noticeable even when I walked through the casino.  It was there, just not nearly as pungent as it was previously.

 

I think the Breakaway and Getaway have cut down on the cigarette smoke quite a bit, too.  It used to be present all around "678".  Now?  Not nearly as bad.  And, I've sailed each multiple times (getting ready to sail the Getaway again in December).

 

Again, I think the general decline in smoking overall has contributed as much as anything else.  That, the better filtration, and the restrictions on where you can smoke have been tightened.

[cruiseny4life]

6 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I think the Breakaway and Getaway have cut down on the cigarette smoke quite a bit, too.  It used to be present all around "678".  Now?  Not nearly as bad.  And, I've sailed each multiple times (getting ready to sail the Getaway again in December).

I must have missed this. You're heading onboard Getaway? That's awesome! I'm glad you'll be back in cruising ship (which is honestly just a ball that rolls around from trough to trough)....anyway, can't wait to hear your impressions since a few of us will be on in early February! 

Where you headed? Are you in the Haven? Will you have anyone in tow? (Apparently I ask a lot of questions).

[graphicguy]

2 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I must have missed this. You're heading onboard Getaway? That's awesome! I'm glad you'll be back in cruising ship (which is honestly just a ball that rolls around from trough to trough)....anyway, can't wait to hear your impressions since a few of us will be on in early February! 

Where you headed? Are you in the Haven? Will you have anyone in tow? (Apparently I ask a lot of questions).

Yeah......postponed some medical procedures.  Confounded NCL threw a 15% off coupon in my account, but I had to sail this year to get it.  They forced my hand.

 

Itinerary is the same as we've all done before....Costa Maya, Harvest Cay, Roatan, Cozumel....  But, it's going out of New Orleans, which I love.

 

That discount coupon, plus CN cert made Haven relatively cheap (in the $3K-ish range).

 

Solo (which it seems I'll be doing from now on).

 

As I'm want to do, will probably start a live thread somewhere around Thanksgiving, or thereabouts.

[cruiseny4life]

40 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Yeah......postponed some medical procedures.  Confounded NCL threw a 15% off coupon in my account, but I had to sail this year to get it.  They forced my hand.

 

Itinerary is the same as we've all done before....Costa Maya, Harvest Cay, Roatan, Cozumel....  But, it's going out of New Orleans, which I love.

 

That discount coupon, plus CN cert made Haven relatively cheap (in the $3K-ish range).

 

Solo (which it seems I'll be doing from now on).

 

As I'm want to do, will probably start a live thread somewhere around Thanksgiving, or thereabouts.

Ahh, same itinerary I'll be going on in February! That's awesome! I'm so looking forward to my first trip down (and up) the Mississippi. I suspect I'll be asleep for the up portion of the trip, but plan to sit on my aft the entire down section. 

 

No coupon here, except for that lousy Bliss sailing. 

 

Glad to hear we'll be reading all about it!

[PhillyTravelBug]

On 9/15/2024 at 2:52 PM, cruiseracer said:

 

Nope. I tried to watch and couldn't get past the beginning. The drama is over the top from the beginning. Too much to be thankful for on the Epic.    

same here! They fell into the clickbait trap to gain more views and followers and the dramatics are unwatchable. 

[MSUjohn]

On 9/17/2024 at 12:03 PM, PhillyTravelBug said:

same here! They fell into the clickbait trap to gain more views and followers and the dramatics are unwatchable. 

all (or most of) the cruise tube videos are now are either negative trip reports or negative "cruise news*" segments

*guess what? bad things, sometime very bad things happen on cruises every week. with 32,000,000 passengers a year "bad things" are bound to happen BUT with 32 million passengers it is VERY rare.

however, people don't or can't think like this.