Family cruise on NCL Epic

Ship Review - Epic

Just wanted to leave our thoughts and findings re the Epic, as we have just got back from the 7-night western med cruise from Barcelona.

A little bit of background info: we are a couple in our mid thirties, with 4 children aged 2, 8, 13 and 16. We have sailed with RCCL three times before, and this was our first time with NCL. I've tried to include as many tips as I can for mums/dads with toddlers so get a pen/paper handy!!

Embarkation:

Lovely, quick and easy. The mandatory drill once on board was held in public indoor areas which was great! Ours was in the Manhattan restaurant where we just sat at tables and watched a demo of how to use a life jacket. Nothing like the 'stand on deck in lines with registers' that we have experienced in RCCL.

Cabins:

We booked 3 inside staterooms between the 6 of us, on deck 9. We split up the rooms with myself, hubby and 2 year old in one room, my 13yo and 8yo in another room and my 16yo in the remaining room.

Please note: NCL will let you book children into cabins without an adult in the room, as long as there is an adult (in your party!) in the cabin next door or opposite. We booked through a TA and we couldn't book the rooms like this online as it wanted an adult in every room. She called NCL directly to confirm this child policy however, and the rooms were then booked over the phone.

This was the cheapest way for us to travel, and really worked out quite well. I was quite shocked at how nice the inside cabins were... Nicer than RCCL. I personally loved the bathroom 'split' and there was so much storage space it was unreal!

Quick tip: if using a 'pack and play' crib from NCL, take one of the bedside tables out, put the bed up against one wall, put bedside table next to other one on the same side and then slide the cot up the gap at the side of the bed. We did this and it meant the cot didn't take up any entry walking space at all.

We didn't really see our stateroom attendant much, but the room was always clean and tidy with plenty of fresh towels.

I booked the 'birthday party' package for my hubby's 35th and the room was decorated beautifully with balloons and banners and a birthday card and cake etc!

Restaurants:

We went to:

Manhattan - lovely atmosphere, good food, and great to eat with the band playing!

Taste - more intimate, similar if not the same menu, lower ceilings and more rustic feel

(Tip: with the MDRs, if you want a romantic meal for 2, get there early and ask specifically for a table for 2 by the window. We did this and always got a table on our own but if we had gone later we would have ended up sharing a table)

Shanghai - (also complimentary, I wasn't sure before we left if it was free or not) awesome food!

O'Sheehans - didn't gel with this at all. Basic/greasy/fried food options, disinterested staff, no child meal option, lacked atmosphere.

(Tip: if travelling with a baby and you need warm milk (cows not formula) for a baby bottle at night, O'Sheehans is the place to go. They will heat milk and fill a baby bottle for you quite happily. We went there every morning and night for this. Beware of temp though... Warm seems to mean scolding hot to some staff!)

Garden Cafe: good food, good selection.

Outdoor garden cafe: very repetitive! Good if you just want a burger/hot dog.. But I had a half cooked burger one night and spent the night vomiting so beware!

Pools:

Not too busy. Always a deckchair available (and we went during summer hols!), water slides were amazing!!

(Tip: the green/purple slides can hurt your back/bum as you go over the 'joins'. The rubber ring ride is awesome, but can be long queues to get the rings during the day. If you go between 8-10pm it's dead!! We did this a few nights and just kept getting on/off straight away!)

The baby splash zone was amazing for our 2yo... She absolutely loved it!

Entertainment:

Sadly, we only managed a little as we found nightlife on board hard with a 2yo. We are used to the RCCL nursery for a couple of hours in the evening and really missed this. We had a fab 'family cruise', but our evenings as a couple were lost really.

We did manage a few hours in Fat Cats (teenage babysitters!) which was awesome, very interactive and the band came to chat to us... and we managed the circus which is a MUST! Totally awesome! The menu is set: tomato/mozzarella salad to start, steak/prawns for main and trio of deserts. Really high quality and talented entertainers!

The only difference between standard/premium seating is that standard sit at tables on the ground floor, and premium sit around a bar on the balcony. Personally I think being at a proper table is nicer for a dinner show! If you're a party of 1-3 you're likely to be sharing a table, but there are cosy 'booths' for parties of 4-5 which are lovely! Plus it's guests on the ground floor that get dragged onto the stage so it's worth it for a bit of fun!

Drinks:

If you're into cocktails, try the Mango Meltdown (it's not on the menu inside the ship, I noticed it on deck but they will make it anywhere on the ship), it's like a mango and strawberry frappucino - (but with alcohol!) soon became my daily drink!

Port stops:

Love the welcome back to the ship at ports... Cool cloths, glasses of squash/water, parties even!! We had the staff singing and dancing and getting the crowd involved when we got back on board in Palma! Really got us all in the spirit :)

Spa:

Between my daughter and I we had the following treatments:

Scalp massage, facial and foot/ankle massage trio for $89

Fire and ice pedicure for $70

Gel manicure and polish for $45

All lovely!! My husband also had a shave in the barbers for $45 which he also loved.

I also loved the fact that there was no 'hard sell' for beauty products. I hated this in the RCCL spa. On the Epic it was offered as an option but very softly and when I declined it was all smiles and the conversation moved on. No pressure at all.

Kids clubs:

My 8yo used splash academy 'seals'. It was huge! Good facility and resources but staff always busy, distant and disinterested. Some days he wasn't interested in going at all (not like him). Def not in same league as RCCL.

My teenagers used Entourage a bit.. My 16yo was getting a bit old for it I think as they mix the 13-17yo's all together, so you tend to get a lot of 13yo's all excited at being in the teen club (like my 13yo!) and the older ones can feel a bit beyond it iykwim.

Such a shame there isn't a nursery - did change our holiday from an evening perspective. Hubby and I always loved a little time to do the entertainment and relax on RCCL and NCL are really missing a trick here.

Room service:

There is a charge for this!!

But if you want a continental breakfast they will deliver this for free. Tea/coffee/hot chocolate, croissants/pastries, juices etc.

(tip: if travelling with a baby, order warm milk on your breakfast list (even if you don't want breakfast!) that way you have warm milk delivered to the room in the morning. We ordered coffee and warm milk every morning so that that I could have a caffeine fix and our little one could have a warm bottle before we got up for breakfast).

Disembarkation:

For this itinerary, you can disembark at 5:30am (earliest) and 9:15am (latest) but you have to be out of your stateroom by 8:30am.

You choose your time and go to guest services a day or two before to book your slot and get luggage tags. If you prefer to avoid the 'luggage reclaim' you can 'self disembark' between those times and just leave when you want with your own luggage.

We left room at 8:30, went to the garden cafe for breakfast, then disembarked at 9:15 :)

Other tips:

Keep an eye out for the movies of the day in the dailies... There is usually a good family film on around lunchtime in the atrium on the big screen. Fab comfy chairs with a coffee shop and bar behind you. We had a lovely afternoon here with the kids watching 'paddington' with lattes and cake!

Download the NCL Concierge app! You can keep track of your bill 'real time' onboard... I found this really useful so I always knew what we had spent to date. Also bear in mind if you pay by card, they take random 'payment authorisations' which means your bank 'holds' that amount on your card which reduces your balance and doesn't get released again for a few days. In other words... Whatever you budget for your spending money... Make sure you have at least 50% more than that available on your card for these 'pre-authorisations' to avoid a bounced final bill! I read this in the small print when I gave my card details on check in and made sure I transferred extra money into the account I was using to cover this. The last thing you want is hassle on disembarkation!

If you have little ones, take a portable DVD player! Awesome for flights, and when they are a little fractious. We got one for £39.99 before we left and bought a few £2 DVDs. It was a lifesaver at times.

Take a tiny blow up splash pool if your lo doesn't like showers... We bought one and it slotted in perfectly in the shower cubicle. We just turned shower on as normal to fill it and then bathed our 2yo in that. (Tip: it also slides perfectly under the bed for storage to avoid a cluttered room).

Overall, a fab holiday! Loved the ship, I've bought in to NCL as a contender for future cruises. I think RCCL has added 'gloss', but for the difference in price I would do NCL again! (Only when she is 3+ though!)

Hope that helps somewhat.. Feel free to throw questions if I can answer anything else!!

(Please note all of the above is personal opinion so I'm sure others may have different views!)

NCL's newest ship, the Escape, is adding a nursery. I don't know if Norwegian plans to retrofit their existing ships with nurseries the way RCL has done.

I hope the RCL nurseries are profitable and will be adopted by other lines - we have a 3 month old, and we are limited to sailing with lines that offer child care for babies and young children.

We always had free on board credit with RCCL which we used to pay for nursery so viewed it as 'free'.... It does make such a difference!

Very nice review.

Keith

Just a FYI, none of NCL's ships have splash zones for diapered children.