Norwegian Epic Transatlantic April 2012

[On-the-Mark]

Originally Posted by Travelguy101

Getting close to our sailing and hard to concentrate anything else but this great trip. Had a very interesting time working with NCL res dept as I moved from studio to aft balcony. I knew more about the layout of the ship and cabins than most of their res staff. Could have easlily ended up with view of lifeboat or uncovered balcony and life boat view . Paid a bit extra but excited to have level 12 aft with large balcony!

Oh my goodness. You are right about the reservations department.

I had been booked on a balcony on deck 8, and according to most of the online reviews I could find, deck 8 has a great view of the life boats, and considerable noise coming up from deck 7. Today I decided to check the prices of the balconies on other decks online, and found they had dropped in price considerably from what they were. Of course, I couldn't make the changes on line and had to call the res centre directly to make any changes.

The first call I was told that there were no aft balconies left, when in fact there are many showing available on line. The 2nd call I was told that the price wasn't the same as posted on the website and that category B1 was in fact not a balcony cabin at all. I wasn't ready to give up yet so I tried again this evening, and finally on the 3rd call I was upgraded to an AFT balcony for the price of a few martini. WooHoo.

30 days to go, I can't wait.

[marcgoohs]

Originally Posted by On-the-Mark

Hey there Marc. The Barcelona city tour looks great. I had been on a waiting list with them as they were waiting for more people to join up before they could confirm. You must have been the ones we were waiting for because they confirmed with me on the weekend that they now had the required number of people to run the tour.

I am curious about the spa package. I have seen mention of it on the Epic roll call but I can't find any information from it on Norweigan website. What does the spa package include?

We were on the cruise back in October and the offered a limited number of "Spa Access" packages for $125 for the week for singles and $199 for couples. They didn't care if you were together or not so adding a buddy could save you the few $$$. I was concerned it would be overcrowded but it was really busy maybe 1 or 2 times right around a port departure - probably from aching feet from the daily walking.

The spa and fitness were some of the highlights aboard for me. It was very relaxing and we saw many of the guys from our "Friends of Dorothy" meeting there... so the hot tubs became an additional socializing spot.

Nice, heated, hot rock lounges, small, private aft deck, huge thermal spa and more. I recommend taking their tour when you first board the ship. Keep in mind they only sell limited number of access packages and by day 2 there was a wait list. Since there are no ports of call to speak of... I expect the packages on this cruise to fill up even faster.

Looking forward to meeting all of you...and having an awesome time next month.

Marc

[Dorothy's Friend]

Originally Posted by Travelguy101

Not clear about the Ice Bar hours and even if it will be open on the day of departure . Anyone know from past experience on Epic? I was thinking about the pub crawl as alternative but again not clear how that might work on first evening.
Hope we can organize a family meet and greet very early in the cruise . Any thoughts or info?

For sure there will be a LGBT/FOD informal get together in the Shakers bar listed in the Freestyle Daily for the departure day, probably for 19:00hrs. If not, then why don't we set our own get together for 19:00hrs in Shakers on departure day?

If my memory serves me correctly from my westbound crossing I did on the Epic last October the Ice Bar is open every evening including departure day, however I am not so sure it is still open at midnight. Seven of us went in one evening at 23:00hrs and I think we were one of the last time slots for that evening.

[ordnael]

Originally Posted by Travelguy101

Hi guys,

Booked in Studio for my first solo cruise not to mention first ship crossing of the atlantic. To cool!
47 year old gay man well traveled and fun adventurous guy looking for others on board for new friendships.
Also staying in Barcelona for 5 days solo and interested to forming our own Barcelona city tour when we arrive. I am on wait list for 4 hour city tour when we arrive on April 25th and need at least 5 other interested sightseers. Looks like a superiou tour to NCL's and will drop off at our hotels.

Check the tour out at
http://www.BarcelonaDayTours.com

Can't wait to relax, eat/drink and have fun and meet others of like mind

Mark

Hi Mark!
A quick tour of Barcelona sounds interesting. We are leaving for Paris at 12:50 on 4/25, but depending on when the tour ends, we might change to a later flight... Are you on the wait list for the 8:30am pick up?
4weeks to go!

[On-the-Mark]

Originally Posted by Dorothy's Friend

For sure there will be a LGBT/FOD informal get together in the Shakers bar listed in the Freestyle Daily for the departure day, probably for 19:00hrs. If not, then why don't we set our own get together for 19:00hrs in Shakers on departure day?

If my memory serves me correctly from my westbound crossing I did on the Epic last October the Ice Bar is open every evening including departure day, however I am not so sure it is still open at midnight. Seven of us went in one evening at 23:00hrs and I think we were one of the last time slots for that evening.

I found the dailies that someone has posted from last years Eastbound transatlantic, and it looks like last Spring there were daily FOD meetings including the very first day, although at FatCats and at 6 p.m. Nevertheless, we can decide at the FOD get together about a Titanic memorial. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1418570

[Mountainguy1998]

SOunds great but the ice bar is so small and very expensive last year I think just to get in was $20.00 Martini bar is great!! Al

[Dorothy's Friend]

It now looks as though I will be making it to Miami in time to do this cruise because for awhile it looked as though I may not. I was due to fly from Heathrow to Miami via Madrid with Iberia but then one of Iberia's pilots' unions announced strikes every Monday and Friday from April 9th to the end of July! Yesterday I went to Iberia's website and saw the flight cancellation list for the 13th had been published and both my flights were cancelled. There was a UK number for Iberia to call to make alternative arrangements but because I had bought my flights using ‘AVIOS’ I had to phone a number in Madrid. I phoned this number from the UK and spoke to the most helpful lady by the name of Paula who spent most of the 40 minutes (yes 40 minutes to Madrid) apologising for the situation and the fact she was not allowed to call me back. The poor woman had so many problems finding alternative flights for me despite coming forward as far as the 9th. Cutting 40 minutes of phone call short, in the end she got permission from her superiors to book me onto a British Airways direct flight to Miami on the 12th with no additional expense to me! I have now booked the Hilton Miami Airport for the additional night, which cost me £110 for the one night but I can’t complain as that is significantly less than having to book another flight.

So see you all at the first FOD get together on the 14th aboard the Norwegian Epic

[On-the-Mark]

With two G&L boards going for the same cruise I find I have been bouncing between the two boards, and it has been confusing trying to keep everyone straight. (pardon the pun)

I was trying to keep track of everyone and decided that I might as well make a list and share it, inspired by the general roll call for the sailing.

I went through both boards and gathered what information I could and compiled a PDF file and posted it on the other board. I will continue to update the list as needed and will update it on the other G&L board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...5&postcount=73

Seems like it has taken forever, but now we can start counting days rather than weeks before we sail.

[Travelguy101]

Way to go Mark, I think we made the right move! One week to go!

Mark

[On-the-Mark]

If you are talking about the cabin change, I agree. I think we made the right move too.

[Dorothy's Friend]

For those of you who do not know, the MS Balmoral was previously the NCL Norwegian Crown. A wonderful little ship that I had the pleasure of doing two cruises on.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17649500

[Dorothy's Friend]

Quote:
Originally Posted by On-the-Mark
I wonder if the Epic transatlantic has anything specific planned to acknowledge the event. Speaking of....I know there was mention of having a GL group meet at the Ice Bar, but there was some concern about the cost of the ice bar and whether or not it would actually be opened. I would be just as happy to meet at the martini bar instead. Since it is the first night and not everyone can make the first FOD meet we should probably make definite plans on a time and place for the 'Titanic Toast' before sail away.

It is a bit of a nuisance having these two threads for the same thing. I am sure I saw on one of them someone mention again about meeting in Ice Bar at 23:30hrs but I will need to a search for it. I would be happy to meet for a 'cold' drink at 23:30hrs in shakers but at the same time I am more than happy to fit in with other people's preferences.

[On-the-Mark]

Originally Posted by Dorothy's Friend

It is a bit of a nuisance having these two threads for the same thing. I am sure I saw on one of them someone mention again about meeting in Ice Bar at 23:30hrs but I will need to a search for it. I would be happy to meet for a 'cold' drink at 23:30hrs in shakers but I at the same time I am more than happy to fit in with other people's preferences.

I agree. Having 2 boards is annoying. A request can be submitted to Cruise Critic to have them combined but with less than a week to go (woohoo) it probably isn't worth the effort.

The initial plan was for an ice drink, in the Ice Bar, at 23:30, and then someone brought up the fact that there is a cover charge. I would hate to have anyone miss out on participating in a Toast to the Titanic because of a cover charge. Personally, I would be prefer to have the Titanic Toast in Shakers so that no one feels excluded, and then meet for drinks in the ice bar another time during the week. Anyone else?

[ordnael]

Hi guys!
Meeting at Shakers for the Titanic Toast works for us

[ordnael]

Originally Posted by On-the-Mark

With two G&L boards going for the same cruise I find I have been bouncing between the two boards, and it has been confusing trying to keep everyone straight. (pardon the pun)

I was trying to keep track of everyone and decided that I might as well make a list and share it, inspired by the general roll call for the sailing.

I went through both boards and gathered what information I could and compiled a PDF file and posted it on the other board. I will continue to update the list as needed and will update it on the other G&L board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showp...5&postcount=73

Seems like it has taken forever, but now we can start counting days rather than weeks before we sail.

Hi Mark!
Great idea creating the file.... I gave up trying to find out who was who and where...
My partner Alex and I, Andrew, are from Boynton Beach, FL.
5 days, 17 hours to go

[marcgoohs]

Originally Posted by On-the-Mark

I agree. Having 2 boards is annoying. A request can be submitted to Cruise Critic to have them combined but with less than a week to go (woohoo) it probably isn't worth the effort.

The initial plan was for an ice drink, in the Ice Bar, at 23:30, and then someone brought up the fact that there is a cover charge. I would hate to have anyone miss out on participating in a Toast to the Titanic because of a cover charge. Personally, I would be prefer to have the Titanic Toast in Shakers so that no one feels excluded, and then meet for drinks in the ice bar another time during the week. Anyone else?

If it's Shakers at 23:30h count us in... Marc, Ralph, Keith

[ctguy1960]

I'm traveling with two others, so I'll pass the word on to them. If the plan is to be at Shaker's @ 11:30, we'll be there! Can't believe there is less than a week to go - I thought this cruise would never get here.

[On-the-Mark]

It looks like the majority would like to meet at the Martini Bar at 11:30 (2330) and we can Toast the Titanic at the moment of impact at 11:40. See you there!

[Dorothy's Friend]

Hello Cruise Critic Thread Friends

I arrived home Sunday night having done the 4 night mini cruise after we all arrived in Barcelona. Those four nights could not have been more different from our Atlantic crossing. Double the number of passengers, mostly from Norway, Asia and Spain with a few Brits, French and Italians thrown into the mix.

If anyone is interested I have posted my photos on Facebook and you should be able to see them by following this link

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...3&l=a8b47ee452

Thanks!