EPIC Family Adventure 11.24.12

We are ready to set sail on another family adventure - this time on Norwegian Epic. If you have ever read my reviews - I cruise with my two girls - now ages 8 and 12. Some of you have been following them since they were infants onboard.

This cruise - Crusindaddy is going with us :)

We arrived on Thanksgiving Day in Fort Lauderdale and took a quick taxi ride over to our temporary pre-cruise home for the next two days:

Hollywood Marriott Beach Resort

We chose THIS hotel (because I obsessed over it) out of every hotel between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. And there was one reason.....the beautiful "Broadwalk" (yes Broadwalk - not Boardwalk).

We have stayed in so many beautiful hotels that had absolutely NOTHING for the kid to do. This time - we wanted a vacation before the vacation.

As soon as we arrived - the girls were so happy they ran and hugged a palm tree lol

There are parks all over the Broadwalk for kids to burn off some energy

And no trip to the Broadwalk is complete without a bike ride

We ate the past two nights at Florio's of Little Italy on the beach. YUM! Who knew we had to come all the way to Florida to find Italian like Grandma used to make. Lol

The Marriott Beach Resort is VERY nice. The rooms all have updated furniture, a refrigerator in every room, really nice bathroom. The only complaint if I had one was the small balcony. But it does have one and not every hotel does.

We leave in 10 hours to make our way to Miami to board Epic. More to come...

Congrats on the start of your trip! Have a great time!

Have a wonderful time! Your kids are so lucky to have a cruising mom, think of all the great memories you are making. :D

And thanks so much for posting so we can all cruise vicariously through your words. :)

Hope you have a great trip!

Have a great trip. Looking forward to all your installments. We will be on the Epic in just 9 short weeks. I can hardly wait. Please take care of her for us. Most of all enjoy your family time & your trip.

Looking forward to your review! I will be going on the Epic next November! Have a wonderful cruise vacation!:)

Oh yay- someone to feed my Epic obsession as I count down the days until we step aboard. Feed me lots of pics and details please.

Have a great time!! Looking forward to more!! :)

Enjoy your cruise. Your kids will love the Epic!

Bon Voyage!

Have fun and take good care of the Epic -- I board one week from today!

I think I remember you from the Carnival section of this web site. It looks like it's been a while since you cruised on Carnival.

We arrived at Terminal C at 9:45 a.m. and there she is!

We are scheduled for a Haven tour at 10:30 so we get in line at Terminal C and then race over to Terminal B. After a little bit of confusion - we are in the Haven for a quick look around.

And my 8 year old decides that she wants to live here.

Then it's time to take a look at what we have been waiting for all year long...the slides! We met an awesome crew member - Alberto - who was a member of the Activity Crew. He told us all about the water slides. We can't wait to try them out for ourselves! One piece of bad news - the bungee and the spider cage is closed for maintenance.

I cannot WAIT to hear your review! Wave to the haven for me - can't wait!!

Have FUN!!!! Hope the girls have a blast :)

We sail on her next week with our kids 6 & 8. We are so excited! Can't wait to hear more about the kids area. If there is anyway you can sneak the kid's dailies, that would be awesome. Anyway, I hope you have a marvelous time! I can't wait to see her all decorated for Christmas.

Robin

I'm so excited to follow along your family review of the Epic! I've been waiting for this. :D Have a great time!

We arrived at Terminal C at 9:45 a.m. and there she is!

 

 

We are scheduled for a Haven tour at 10:30 so we get in line at Terminal C and then race over to Terminal B. After a little bit of confusion - we are in the Haven for a quick look around.

 

And my 8 year old decides that she wants to live here.

 

 

Then it's time to take a look at what we have been waiting for all year long...the slides! We met an awesome crew member - Alberto - who was a member of the Activity Crew. He told us all about the water slides. We can't wait to try them out for ourselves! One piece of bad news - the bungee and the spider cage is closed for maintenance.

 

Did your E Docs send you to Terminal C ?

You all have a Super Great time!!!!!!

I love your reviews!! We're on the Epic in January and can't wait!!

If you get a chance, could you get a teen club daily please?

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Bonboyage!!!

What a spectacular day for sail away in Miami. Mostly sunny, blue sky, and cool, dry air.

Cant wait for the review!!!!!!!!

Hey Crusinmama, I just returned from the Epic today as you boarded. Hoping to get your take on the "New" Kids Club that they modified as of the Thanksgiving Day Cruise. Really curious if you have the same experience as I just had or if possibly they just changd because of the sheer numbers of kids during Thanksgiving. I generally don't cruise at "Prime" time.

I've cruised Epic now 3 times and for the first time cruising with NCL in the past 6 plus years, the Kids Club closed for a total of 4 hours during sea days. It really had a negative effect on the "freestyle concept" in my opinion.

I will say we still had an absolutely fabulous cruise, but had to pass up on some adult activities because I couldn't bring my 9 y/o to a wine tasing or participate in Mystery Murder Lunch for example and had to cancel Ice Bar with a group from Cruise Critic as I was mandated to give my child dinner at a set time unless he wanted to give up some kids club activity that he loved. Of course we made it work, and still had a great time, but disappointed in the NEW change that began on the Epic Thanksgiving cruise.

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Hey Crusinmama, I just returned from the Epic today as you boarded. Hoping to get your take on the "New" Kids Club that they modified as of the Thanksgiving Day Cruise. Really curious if you have the same experience as I just had or if possibly they just changd because of the sheer numbers of kids during Thanksgiving. I generally don't cruise at "Prime" time.

 

I've cruised Epic now 3 times and for the first time cruising with NCL in the past 6 plus years, the Kids Club closed for a total of 4 hours during sea days. It really had a negative effect on the "freestyle concept" in my opinion.

 

I will say we still had an absolutely fabulous cruise, but had to pass up on some adult activities because I couldn't bring my 9 y/o to a wine tasing or participate in Mystery Murder Lunch for example and had to cancel Ice Bar with a group from Cruise Critic as I was mandated to give my child dinner at a set time unless he wanted to give up some kids club activity that he loved. Of course we made it work, and still had a great time, but disappointed in the NEW change that began on the Epic Thanksgiving cruise.

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Kids are allowed in the Ice Bar and can participate in the Murder Mystery Lunch.

Kids are allowed in the Ice Bar and can participate in the Murder Mystery Lunch.

I know that very well, but there are some activities that some parents may not feel are appropriate for their children. Those to me are not "family" activities. JMO

I look forward to hearing cruisinmama's viewpoints and hope she has an awesome cruise as we did. I don't want this thread to be hijacked with a discussion on this point, PLEASE. I have posted in the family forum and will expand there. Just pointing out some major changes that I had not experience even in the recent past of this summer on other NCL ships

I know that very well, but there are some activities that some parents may not feel are appropriate for their children. Those to me are not "family" activities. JMO

 

I look forward to hearing cruisinmama's viewpoints and hope she has an awesome cruise as we did. I don't want this thread to be hijacked with a discussion on this point, PLEASE. I have posted in the family forum and will expand there. Just pointing out some major changes that I had not experience even in the recent past of this summer on other NCL ships

Imho this is not an email exchange exclusively between you and the OP. When someone posts on a forum it is perfectly acceptable for others to comment further. So, if you wanted to keep it private you maybe should have addressed it privately.

I can't wait to hear what your girls think of the Epic, Michele.

My daughter loved, loved, loved it. Her favourite things were the Ice Bar and the White Hot Party, believe it or not:D (the ship has a great kid's version but I did take her down to see the 'adult' version early in the evening).

Have a great trip. I'm looking forward to reading this review.

Imho this is not an email exchange exclusively between you and the OP. When someone posts on a forum it is perfectly acceptable for others to comment further. So, if you wanted to keep it private you maybe should have addressed it privately.

Aren't we a bit touchy. I agree this is an open forum and it is perfectly ok to post and exchange info. I've just witnessed many threads that get sidetracked on parenting issues, etc and was afraid that may happen when I mentioned that I felt that the ice bar and murder mystery were not appropriat for children. Sorry you didn't understand that in CC rules they ask that we don't hijack threads, that was my ONLY point! I did not mean by the comment that I wanted to have personal communication with the OP. I look forward to her review and opinions. She is an awesome contributor on this board and I've tended to agree with many of her observations in regard to kids programs on NCL as well as other cruise lines