Epic Western Mediterranean (June 15-22) review

We just got home from our sailing on the EPIC in the Western Mediterranean June 15-22). What an amazing trip we had. Yes I have jet lag but I am sure I will catch up on my sleep one day!

Background:

My husband retired from the military after 28 years of service last October. We had planned to take this trip last summer as part of his military retirement vacation. We booked the cruise but then within 30 days I chickened out. I didn't have the time or the energy to do research on the different ports so we changed and cruised Alaska instead on the Sun. This is our 3rd NCL cruise and I have been pleased each and every time we have cruised.

I am a preschool director and have a pretty demanding job. The planning stages for last year came during my busiest time of the year and the end of school ending. I knew for Alaska I didn't have to plan too much.

Honestly I am glad we waited a year. We have 2 teenage girls, age 16 & 14 and this years planning I was able to get them involved. So in January 2014 we booked our cruise leaving out of Barcelona. I am a planner! :)

We have cruised on the Pearl & the Sun with NCL so the EPIC seemed like it was going to be huge. I wasn't sure how I felt about a large ship. The Pearl was my favorite going into our cruise and it is still my favorite even after the EPIC.

We watched airline prices for a long time and prices weren't going up or down so we decided in March to book our airline. We actually booked through another website and was able to book our hotel for one night in Barcelona and our airfare together.

We did a direct flight out of Charlotte on Saturday, June 14th and landed in Barcelona on Sunday morning.

More to come later!

Looking forward to reading more. We will be doing this cruise next May except Rome/Rome.

Thanks for the report!

Thank you for your report.

Keith

Looking forward to the rest of your review :)

WE got on the plane at 6:30PM in Charlotte, NC. The US Airways lady was very rude. I can tell she hates her job or she had had a really bad day. I mean she slammed down our passports after scanning them and she told us that we could only check in 2 bags for free since my husband was retired military. We each had a bag but 2 of them we were checking in and the other two were carry ons. She made 3 luggage tags and acted like it was our fault. We had already said that we were going to carry on the others. But she insisted since she made the other tag we had to check it in. Going through security was a breeze.

This picture is of us before leaving our house. The drive to Charlotte is 2 hours. Our flight was 8 hours so we took the red eye. Of course we didn't get much sleep at all especially with all the excitement!

Our flight was the smoothest flight ever. From take off to landing. The best I have experienced in a long time. We arrived at 8:30 and no one warned me about the wait to get your passport stamped. Man that line was the slowest and longest. You had every person coming off the plane going into this area and it doesn't help you are tired. After an hour we finally made it through and got a taxi to the port.

We walked right in and checked in. We were zone 3 and within 15 minutes our zone was called. We headed straight to the ship and upstairs to the Garden Cafe. I am glad I didn't plan anything for this day now because we were really tired!

Our first view of the EPIC from the taxi. (Sorry it is blurry but the taxi driver was going 100 MPH).

Ashlee was so excited to see the EPIC. She loves cruise ships and follows them out of Miami. She can almost tell you which ship is in port on which day.

We are entering the ship!

Looking forward to reading more. We will be doing this cruise next May except Rome/Rome.

They announced about 1000 people get on in Rome, 3000 in Barcelona and 40 in Palma. I think if I had to do it again i would get on in Rome. With Barcelona your day at sea is the first day as to where when getting on in Rome you have it before Naples.

Are you spending any time in Rome?

They announced about 1000 people get on in Rome, 3000 in Barcelona and 40 in Palma. I think if I had to do it again i would get on in Rome. With Barcelona your day at sea is the first day as to where when getting on in Rome you have it before Naples.

 

Are you spending any time in Rome?

Yes, we arrive on Sunday the 10th and board the ship on the 13th so we will have a few days to explore.

I can't remember which deck we entered on. It all happened so fast! I do remember the staff was there to greet us and directed us up to the Garden Cafe where they were serving lunch already. We walked out of the elevator and I was amazed at how big the pool area is.

We got something eat and I realized how tired I was. While we were eating they announced our staterooms were ready. I had never been so glad to hear those words. :) We finished eating and heading to the 9th floor. We had 2 inside cabins and found them real quick. When I booked our rooms the only 2 rooms available side by side was a handicap room. We requested that if we needed to move rooms we would move so that we wouldn't occupy a room made for a handicap. I didn't get any pictures of the rooms. I forgot!!!

I forgot to take a lot of pictures of the different areas on the ship. The Spice H20 was all decked out for the World Cup Games. They played the games every night on the big screen. Some nights it was so cold they provided blankets to those who wanted them.

Definitely looking for more. I will be on this cruise on July 6th.

Enjoying as well Shannon!

This is great, Shannon! Looking forward to this cruise in September!

Aw, spice was my favorite spot two weeks ago. I'm addicted to the World Cup and would love to watch it there, with people from all over the world, what fun!

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Will be doing this cruise on July 16th. Exciting to see your pictures! Look forward to reading the rest of your reviews! Thank you!!

Once we checked out our room we took a little nap. It was much needed. I think we slept about an hour and then back up to the pool deck. We had the muster drill right on time! I am glad we saw them screens and heard the announcements because we had no idea where to go for our station. We were in the Manhattan Room. After we finished we went back upstairs for the sail away party.

There were 4 cruise ships in port that day. We were the next to last to leave. Queen Elizabeth was still in port.

Our view of Barcelona from the ship! It was a beautiful day.

More of Barcelona

Sponge Bob Square Pants was on stage during the sail away party

We took a tour of the spa and went to the raffle to see and hope we had won anything. We didn't win anything.

For dinner tonight we ate at O'Sheehan's. We had wings since it was Father's Day. Our waiter was very friendly. We were so tired and if we sat for a long period of time we would almost fall asleep. My oldest went to the teen club to check it out and the rest of us walked around to check out the ship. We walked out to the back of the ship to see this beautiful view.

Monday was a day at Sea. I was so looking forward to a relaxing day since it was the only day we had to spend on the ship without being rushed. I woke up early at like 6AM. We walked upstairs and guess what it was raining. Not just raining but pouring. I went back down to the room to grab my rain jacket. Thank goodness I brought it on this trip. Our room was at the back of the ship and Garden Cafe was in the front so we decided to walk outside in the rain. The rain had let up some and as we were walking across the pool deck I see this beautiful rainbow. Of course I left my camera in the room! (I learned to bring it with me at all times).

Now let me back track some to my Carnival cruise: We had taken our first cruise on Carnival and our first day at Sea there was a beautiful rainbow. You could actually see the whole rainbow across the Atlantic or Caribbean (not sure where we were). Well that cruise turned out to be the worse experience ever. It stormed the whole entire time on our 5 day cruise and it really turned us off from cruising (until we decided again a few years later).

So seeing this rainbow I thought Oh crap here we go again. Well honestly it didn't turn out to be the worse cruise ever. Thank goodness. But it rained most of the day! If it wasn't raining it was a little chilly for any pool time. Since we were on a large ship there was so much to do.

Michael and I sat in the Garden Cafe and enjoyed the quietness and enjoyed our coffee. It wasn't busy at all and I think everyone was still asleep. As it was getting busy we decided to go wake the girls for breakfast. By the time we came back it was extremely busy. That was probably the busiest I saw it at breakfast time.

After breakfast Michael & I went to the Port Presentation. It was mostly on the shore excursions being offered but I learned a lot. We had one shore excursion for Naples but that was it. The rest was on our own.

The waves!

Outside the Garden Cafe they will have a table with what the theme will be for the night for the buffet. Tonight was Seafood night so we decided we would eat in the Garden Cafe.

I gotta tell you Shannon your doing a great job with the review. Good pics; sorry about your rain, but you still had a great time.

I will have to tell you and give a little advise here. No matter what the weather says ahead of time don't believe it. We usually always pack long pants or at least a lite jacket with us. We did pack our rain coats but I didn't pack any jeans and I left my light jacket at home. It was really windy during our week and the wind made things really chilly. I searched the stores but I couldn't find them until later in the week. Boy did I feel dumb! The girls went to the teen club for most of the day and we didn't see them much. Michael & I decided to do the martini tasting at the Shakers Bar. It was really good. While enjoying our martinis Ashlee came up and found us. She wanted to check out the Ice Bar but I wouldn't let her. It was on my list of things to do but we never did it. She did manage to get her picture made in front of the sign and that made her happy!

I have to say when I first saw the casino I thought it was extremely small for such a large ship. Then I realized it is spread out all throughout several floors. It is really strange. I guess I was expecting the same casino as the Sun and the Pearl. Some nights some of the games can cause a traffic jam in the area. We decided to hit the penny slot machines and of course didn't win much.

For dinner we went to the Garden Cafe for seafood night. My girls tried lobster for the first time and of course didn't like it. I am just glad they tried it especially since I have one picky child.

After dinner we went to the Blue Man show. I have to say I was impressed with the show. It really kept you into it. Aterwards they will come out and you can get a picture with them.

We went back to the Garden Cafe for dessert while the girls went to hang out in the teen club. This is our sight for the evening.

The storm is brewing ahead over us. Oh gee I knew seeing that rainbow wasn't a good thing.

As soon as we got inside it started raining. I got my plate of fries and some kind of dessert and was walking to the front of the Garden Cafe when I looked out. I stopped dead in my tracks and asked my husband what in the world is that in front of us. This is what I was looking at.

Thank goodness I had my camera with me. I learned that lesson from this morning.

Now I am from SC and have never seen a water spout or even experienced a tornado before. Good thing we had an awesome captain who turned us away from it. Of course we didn't feel him turning but when you look at the TV of the route you can see when he veered off course & then went back on it. That was the wildest thing I had ever seen in my whole life!

I was glad to see the above picture where it was doing away. Back downstairs to turn in for the night. This is our animal for the night.

Enjoying your review and great photo's. Looking forward to more.

I am so enjoying your review. We are embarking on Epic in Rome, in September. Getting so excited!

Enjoying your review we were on this cruise the first of June. Looking forward to more. We live in Fl and lived on the beach when I was a child. We frequently saw water spouts but they never cease to amaze me. I would love to see one at sea!

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My family & I were on the same cruise - that waterspout was incredible! We filmed it from our balcony but my husband left his phone in the taxi on our return trip to the Barcelona airport - he took nearly all the pix for our family:(

I'm loving your report! Without many photos I doubt I'll post a review. We had an AWESOME time!