****LIVE from the 2014 Epic Transatlantic****

Day -2

A quick introduction for those who don't know me. I'm a late (how'd that happen) 40's woman with an amazing husband and twin 16 year olds. I've been running my own business for 26 years and I still love it, and it along with my amazing staff, allow me to cruise often. Normally weekend and 7 day cruises, but a couple of years ago, I decided to do a transatlantic, and now it's an annual thing for me. Two years ago I was on the Epic travelling solo and met so many amazing people. Last year it was the Star in the Garden Villa with some of the friends I met on the Epic, and here we are heading back to the Epic for another go. This time I'm traveling with my good friend Judy, who was in the GV with me last year. Judy and I have been friends for many years, but have become very close over the last year. Our adventures in the GV are documented in last year's "Live From" blog.

I'm going to do yet another blog, and those who followed the others know my style, and it may bore you to tears, so if you're not interested in the play-by-play, you're on the wrong thread!

Currently I am on the train from Ottawa to Montreal to catch my flight. It's been a very rough week in Ottawa with the young soldier killed guarding our War Memorial, the gunman in Parliament Buildings, thankfully taken down by our top security person, and us coming out on the right side of the gunfight. As I waited for my train, I along with the dozen or so people in the small lounge watched the ceremony as Cpl Nathan Cirello's remains were returning to his home. Here in Ontario we have a freeway known as the "HIghway of Heroes" and all along this highway for 5 hour drive to get him home, Canadians are lined up on all of the overpasses Firefighters, Police, Military and regular civilians there to pay tribute to him and to show support for his family. It's been a very difficult time with schools locked down, and mostly a fear that we're losing our innocence.

I'm having a tough time with all of these conflicting emotions but I'm trying to settle into holiday mode and get ready for my flight.

We've had a very active roll call and another group on the site that must not be named. I'm very excited to see some of my friends from the 2012 Epic crossing as I haven't seen them in two years.

I have many new friends that I'm excited to meet as well. I was at a party at my brother's place in August and telling a friend about the upcoming TA. A woman that I'd met earlier, who was married to a childhood friend of my brother, perked up and asked me what transatlantic I was going to be on. I said "Epic" and she said "Oct 26th?!!!" and I said "YES!" Well wasn't she also going on this trip. What a crazy small world. She asked me if I was on Cruise Critic and I said "Yes, I'm Suitecruiser" and she said "I'm Froufie!!" and we hugged and hugged. We'd been chatting with each other for months online. I couldn't believe it! Turns out our kids are classmates too. I look forward to seeing her too.

Well, this concludes the train portion :) I'll be arriving at the Dorval station soon, with a transfer to the Montreal airport. I'll check in later.

Already a fun start. Imagine meeting another cruise critic member like that.

Getting back to the events in Canada, my prayers are with all concerned. These are such troubling times. You deserve a nice holiday.

Enjoy your trip and thanks for sharing.

Looking forward to your review and I like your words about what happened. I was on a bridge today along with many others to support the family of our fallen soldier.

I hope you are able to enter vacation mode and have a fabulous time.

Waving to you from Dorval :)

Indeed, a very disturbing week for our country. We will come through this stronger and more unified than ever.

What a small world! Would love to cruise with Froufie some day!

Enjoy your vacation. I'll be coming along (virtually) for the ride.

Sent from my phone. Typos are inevitable.

Enjoy your trip and bring the Epic home safely. Looking forward to my trip in January. :D

Hi, I followed your two other TA' blogs and your other cruises. I will definitely be tuned in again as I enjoy your stories and your writing style. I really have to convince my DH to get on a plane so I can go on one of those TA crossings. Well for now I will enjoy it through you.:D

BTW, are the two Eric/k's coming?

Safe trip to Barcelona,

Lita

Thanks for the kind words everyone :)

Thanks for standing on the bridge along the Highway of Heroes today Bluejai I was there in spirit for sure.

Cruitenn, the Eric(k)s are not on this trip as far as I know, they kind of fell of the face of the earth a while ago, but you never know! Scott and Allen aren't with us this year either, as they just couldn't swing it. I've seen them a couple of times this year, and they are due in Ottawa for a visit in December. It's amazing the bonds that you form on these longer cruises, I highly recommend them.

Day -2 Continued....

I arrived at the airport with no issues. Quickly through security and then to the Maple Leaf Lounge to,await my flight. At 5:20 PM I check my email and one of my staff has sent a message saying a client wants changes to their financials and once they're one, wants to review and send changes and have the new statements for 9:30 Saturday morning. This request came in at 4:55 on a Friday,

I scramble to do what I can in the hour I have until I board. Thankfully I have full access to my work computer through my iPad, but my staff member has a couple of credit cards bills to post, so I send him an email with instructions and try to walk him through what he needs to do, and otherwise cross my fingers. It's the first time he's doing this but I'll be on a plane the whole time, so I have to trust it will be okay. The fact that he's willing to work so late on a Friday isn't lost on me.

Needless to say I'm not yet in vacation mode and definitely stressed.

The flight is good, we're currently on our descent into Frankfurt. Flying Business Class on points, which is lovely and for the first time in my life I actually got a couple of hours sleep on a plane :) Yay!

It's reading 1:18 AM on my iPad, 7:18 local time, so crazy that I'm getting ready to get up and go to a connection. Hopefully all is well with the next flight and I will be in Barcelona at noon and having a snooze by 12:30.

Judy will be joining me at the hotel, she's been in Barcelona for a few days and I felt I couldn't take the extra time off, so I'm flying in the day before the cruise. We're staying at the W, which is away from Las Rambla, but is on the Med and is a beautful hotel.

There is an Italian restaurant that I love at the base of the Hotel overlooking the Med. I can already taste the pizza and wine that I'll be having tonight :)

Ask the cruise director who her replacement is going to be and please post it. I am looking forward to reading your review of the Epic as I am going to be on it in 35 days.

Thank you so much for your live review. I'll be on Epic in three weeks but taking her back across the pond in April so I'm extra interested in your trip. I'm also interested in the name of that Italian restaurant in Barcelona.

Day -1

Connection to Barcelona was good, lots of time, unlike the last time when my connecting flight had left 45 minutes before I got to the gate. Flight was unremarkable (read good) and arrived in Barcelona a few minutes early. Suitcase was one of the first on the belt, and onto the Taxi line (they have their own escalator at the airport - very easy).

Arrived at the W around 1:00 and they had a room ready, which was great, and it looks out to the port, which is what I prefer. I want to wake up through the night and look to see if the ship is in yet :)

I crashed for a bit, and then Judy arrived and we chatted for a bit, and she headed down to the pool, and I went back to sleep until around 5:00. Judy came back and we hung out a bit, then headed down for dinner to my favourite Barcelona restaurant along the Boardwalk. It's called Mamarosa, though I still think of it as Gabriel's - he was an awesome waiter that I had the other two times I was there. His ex-girlfriend served us tonight and she was great too. They are very kind and we ended our night with Lemonciellos on the house once again. Pizza was as wonderful as I remembered.

Judy bought a bottle Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and we're now lying in bed drinking it and being decadent :)

So excited that we'll be onboard tomorrow! It's the end of daylight saving time over here, so we get an extra hour to catch up on our sleep tonight.

Look forward to reading all about your trip. My sister Miriam is traveling with you. Have a wonderful voyage across the pond.

Kath

Day -1

 

Connection to Barcelona was good, lots of time, unlike the last time when my connecting flight had left 45 minutes before I got to the gate. Flight was unremarkable (read good) and arrived in Barcelona a few minutes early. Suitcase was one of the first on the belt, and onto the Taxi line (they have their own escalator at the airport - very easy).

 

Arrived at the W around 1:00 and they had a room ready, which was great, and it looks out to the port, which is what I prefer. I want to wake up through the night and look to see if the ship is in yet :)

 

I crashed for a bit, and then Judy arrived and we chatted for a bit, and she headed down to the pool, and I went back to sleep until around 5:00. Judy came back and we hung out a bit, then headed down for dinner to my favourite Barcelona restaurant along the Boardwalk. It's called Mamarosa, though I still think of it as Gabriel's - he was an awesome waiter that I had the other two times I was there. His ex-girlfriend served us tonight and she was great too. They are very kind and we ended our night with Lemonciellos on the house once again. Pizza was as wonderful as I remembered.

 

Judy bought a bottle Cava (Spanish sparkling wine) and we're now lying in bed drinking it and being decadent :)

 

So excited that we'll be onboard tomorrow! It's the end of daylight saving time over here, so we get an extra hour to catch up on our sleep tonight.

Have a great cruise! I am not sure, who the captain will be for this cruise! If it is Captain Frank, please say hello from Lita and Tom, if you get a chance. If it is Captain Sverre, say hello from us too.:)

Smooth sailings and enjoy!

Looking forward to hearing the rest of your trip. My wife and adult children will be on the Epic in three weeks. Enjoy your TA and we'll see you when you land in Miami.

engineer

I enjoyed your last review. Looking forward to the rest!

Can you please let me know if any of the bars carry Fireball Whiskey, I will be boarding Nov 9th in Miami.... many many thanks in advance!

Have a great cruise! I am not sure, who the captain will be for this cruise! If it is Captain Frank, please say hello from Lita and Tom, if you get a chance. If it is Captain Sverre, say hello from us too.:)

 

Smooth sailings and enjoy!

It is Captain Frank Jullianssen just back from vacation

Day 1 - It's finally here!!

We woke around 8:30 and lounged around for a while until we couldn't stand it any longer :) Packed up, checked out and in a cab on the way to the port. From the W, there are breakwaters that almost connect to the port area, so you could walk there, if you were willing to swim about 400 yards. We had our luggage, so decided a cab was a better idea ;). Cab has to go all the way around so it ended up at 16 Euros which includes a 3.50 Euro access to the port.

When we arrived there were people filling most of the seats in the terminal and we asked and were pointed to the priority lounge as the check in wasn't open. We waited a short time as everyone left to line up, thinking it would open soon. it was another 25 minutes in line. Check in was smoothe, then back to the priority lounge and within minutes we were boarding.

There is a wine shop that was open and lots of people seemed to visit it as it's after the security scanners. We were in the first group boarding, so were led directly onboard, but anyone with a bag after us seemed to be directed to a different line where they went through their bags and removed the bottles or charged corkage.

We came in on deck 6, were led to an elevator and taken up to the Haven Lounge. We went on a tour as neither of us had been in the Haven on Epic, and then back to the lounge where we spent 20 minutes trying to get our UBP stickers. Apparently we weren't on their list, and even though we produced our paperwork, they thought we should just sign another slip that authorized 2 x $959 (the onboard price) for the package and they would reverse it. We didn't think charging 2K as a formality was a great idea, so went to chat with the Concierge, David, and he had us on the list, and were good to go.

While we were waiting for our inaugural drinks, (Pisco Punch,very yummy drink full of fruit and could be dangerous because it didn't taste too boozy) Jason, Chad and Alessio (Chad's husband who I hadn't met) arrived. I met Jason and Chad on my 2012 crossing and we screamed and hugged and I was so happy to see them. We've been keeping in touch on the site that can't be named, and have been looking forward to hanging out with them. We finished our drinks and headed into lunch in the Epic Club. The five of us all enjoyed our lunch. I had the shrimp cocktail and the french dip, Judy the turkey burger, Jason the flounder milanese, Chad had the asparagus and Alessio the fettucine. Everything was really good and we had most dishes from the menu, so it's a good sign for things to come. We also all had a couple of glasses of wine, and as people would come in, we would get up for hugs and it was like it was a big reunion. So many folks from the 2012 crossing are on for this one too.

Our cabins were ready after lunch, so we went and had a look around. We're in a 2 bedroom family suite and Judy is occupying the small room and I'm in the big room. It's very nice, the decor is lovely and the room spacious. We unpacked our carryons, and then headed out to tour the ship a bit. We walked through decks 7,6 and 5 and then headed to our muster station a bit early. We were in Bliss at the back, so grabbed some comfy seats and 25 minutes later, we were clearing out. We headed up to Posh for the Haven sailaway. We picked some of the cushy chairs and soon filled up the whole section with friends of Jason and Chad who we will see a lot of, I'm sure. Champagne and then more wine, and then Judy and I headed to Spice H2O to meet some of our roll call folks for a sailaway party. On our way through the pool deck I lose Judy. Apparently someone called out "Miss Sally, Miss Judy", so I turned around and it was our casino waiter from the Star TA last year. He asked if we were having mimosas and vodka clamato :) Too funny, great to see him and amazing with the number of people he sees that he remembered us and what we would drink. He asked about Scott and Allen and we told him they couldn't make it this year, unfortunately.

We continued out to Spice, where I saw Kim (SteelerNation), Scally and new folks that I hadn't met. I then saw Froufie and her group of friends who are travelling together for the 2nd year and visited for a while with her. Met more folks too, but I don't remember their screen names.

Back to Posh and a woman came up to us and said, I'm going to take a guess here. Are you on Cruise Critic and I said "Yes" and she said "are you SuiteCruiser?" Apparently she's been lurking and had read my blogs. She said she loved my writing style *blushes* and had already read my first 2 entries on this blog. Her name is Ava and she's lovely. Had a nice chat with her, and I'm sure we'll see her again.

We went back to the cabin, our luggage was there, so unpacked, chilled out a bit and then headed to the casino. It was already open and there were 3 people at our table already.

I ordered a margarita with my "Hot" card from the casino and was told I couldn't have a margarita as it isn't a "house drink". I almost fell off of my chair! I had been on the Sky a month ago and drank margaritas all day long. A friend of mine had told me that on the crossing to Barcelona on the Epic he couldn't get any of his drinks with the card and I thought there must have been a miscommunication. Nope. On the Epic, you can get a tequila with lemonade, but not a basic margarita. One of our favourite casino supervisors from last year is on Epic, she couldn't believe it and said she would take care of it for us, but we told her not to worry, it was just the principle of the thing, as we had the UBP anyway. Judy started ordering top shelf margaritas since they were covered :)

A woman approached the table and we stared at each other and screamed. It was Linda who had been a regular at our Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em table. At the end of the 2012 crossing, she left in a wheelchair, very ill with bronchitis. Great to see her again. We played for a few hours, did horribly and then went to O'Sheehan's for a quick dinner, back to the table. By 10:30 I was exhausted and my neck killing me so decided to play two more hands and won a full house and a straight, so wasn't allowed to leave, so I ordered another margarita and we ended up leaving at 2:00. Up $50 for the night which is a bonus. Met some new UTH folks Robert and Ewr and as usual we were all loud crazy high fiving and being the livliest table in the casino.

Slept very well and woke to Judy poking her head in to see if I was alive. That was at 11:00. We're currently in Posh with Jason, Chad, Alessio, Linda, Ray and BJ (friends of Jason) and having mimosas and fruit skewers and bein pampered. The woman in front of me is crashed out on one of the beds and had a wardrobe malfunction and didn't realize, so we all giggled like schoolgirls.

Off to lunch shortly. Having an amazing time already and it's only Day 2.

Can you please let me know if any of the bars carry Fireball Whiskey, I will be boarding Nov 9th in Miami.... many many thanks in advance!

Yes Yes Yes :) Haven't had any yet, but certainly will!

As someone who's considering a TA... I'm looking forward to your journey immensely :)

Day 2

Spent most of the day in Posh, went to lunch at the Epic Club and had a burger, Judy had the steak which she reports was good, but too big for a lunch.

Had lots of laughs with the boys, Jason was recounting funny stories from work, he's a flight attendant, and we made good use of the UBP with wine, cocktails and mimosas. We made a plan to book a whole section of Teppanyaki so we have 22 people going on the 30th. We invited one of our casino friends, Rob, along and the boys have the rest of the group covered.

It was Norwegian's Night Out, so we got a bit spiffed up and headed down to the casino around 5:00. Our table was full, so we played a bit of 3 card and lost some money, was glad when our table opened up. I was up and down, but we were still having lots of fun.

We decided on Shanghai and shared calamari and spring rolls and orange peel beef and kung pao chicken. All was good, the chicken was my favourite.

Back to the table, and lost a few hundred, but I'm still playing with their money from my last cruise, so all's well. We tried some 3 card for about 6 hands and Judy was dealt three 6's. She was playing Sally's rules, that if you see a King or an Ace, you don't look any further because you'll play it anyway. Same goes for if you see a pair, don't look at your third card. Much more fun to be surprised with the 3rd one. We all celebrated for her, and then things went downhill. Onto roulette for a few minutes and Linda starting winning like crazy, she may still be there! We were tired, so headed out around 1:10, decided to stop for a snack at O'Sheehans, then popped into Bliss for a few hugs and kisses from the boys. Saw Ian, Jason, Chad, and met a few more of the CC and other site group.

Walked out with one of the guys (I won't mention any names!) and he'd been putting his UBP to very good use, and was trying to get to his cabin on deck 12 by going down from Bliss on deck 6 :) We helped him to his deck and went to our cabin, it was 1:30 and there was the lovely card telling us to put our clocks back. Woo Hoo! It's suddenly 12:30. I love these 25 hour days!

Slept like a log, lots of rocking and rolling, but that just makes me sleep better. I've been dealing with vertigo for the last couple of months, so sometimes I'm not sure what is the vertigo at night, or the ship :)

Thanks for the replies, everyone. i really appreciate them. I have not found out who the new CD will be,but I will ask.

Yes Yes Yes :) Haven't had any yet, but certainly will!

Thank you so much for the info, hope you have a great time!

What was it like crossing through the straits of Gibraltar ? Did you see it?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Day 2

 

I have not found out who the new CD will be,but I will ask.

The new CD for Epic is Pedro Serra. He is currently on the Jade that we just got off. He was the CD on the Star in Jan 2012 and was delighted to see us again. He said he will join the Epic in March 2015.

Can you please let me know if any of the bars carry Fireball Whiskey, I will be boarding Nov 9th in Miami.... many many thanks in advance!

Norway has gotten rid of Fireball right when Norwegian finally gets it. Ha!