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Epic Review - November 16-23


soccersharon
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Sharon & Mike’s Epic Adventure!

 

Brief introduction: Sharon and Michael, from Montreal, Quebec. Previous cruises: 4 with Carnival (and loved each one!)

 

This cruise was originally booked for my mom, Carol and I. After losing my grandmother earlier in 2012, my mom and I decided that we needed some dedicated mother-daughter time together. As we both love cruising, this would be a perfect vacation – just the two of us.

 

We chose the Epic as neither of us had cruised with NCL prior – and the Epic looked awesome! I had seen the Epic in POM as we returned from one of our Carnival cruises in March 2012. At that point, I decided I wanted to plan a trip on that ship! This special cruise seemed like the perfect opportunity.

 

As it turned out, NCL was offering a half-price deposit special, and $100 OBC. We’re in! We doubled our Latitudes points for this sailing, as we booked at least 9 months out (more like 15 months, but who’s counting?).

 

We booked this cruise on August 18th, 2012 – a mere 418 day wait. I’m the planner, researcher, and acting TA for this trip. And so it began early.

 

Fast forward to a month prior to sailing…

 

My mom started complaining of chest pains on Thanksgiving Monday, and was immediately brought to the Montreal Cardiology Institute. After some tests, she had a stent inserted into one her main heart arteries. All went very well and she reported feeling great! Sadly, after speaking with her doctor, she would not be able to sail. We were so relieved that my mom was well, which was our most important concern.

 

What to do about the cruise! I considered going solo. My mother had purchased NCL travel insurance, so she would be reimbursed for her cruisefare. But to keep my cabin, I would have to pay the solo supplement. After a quick phone call and a couple of texts to my TA, I was relieved to hear that we could change mom's reservation, and that my husband, Michael, could join me! I quickly made flight arrangements for hubby, and everything was set!

 

Pre-stay hotel:

 

I had originally booked the Hilton Double Tree downtown. We opted for a 2 double-bed room, complete with a balcony to enjoy the view. The plan was to grab a taxi to Bayside, do a little shopping, and have dinner. Well, unfortunately, this was changed too.

 

I ended up booking the Best Western Plus in Hollywood for $104.99 (plus tax) on Priceline. King bed and breakfast included. We had previously stayed here, so we knew what to expect. I changed our SAS pick up, so we were all set.

 

Nice room for the price:

 

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Pre-cruise reservations:

 

We hit the 45 day mark on October 2nd (finally!). We decided to book Cagney’s for our first dinner aboard the Epic. Getting spoiled our first night sounded great! We didn’t mind missing the lobster in the MDR J We also reserved the Blue Man Group, as they were a “must see” for us.

 

Excursions:

 

On our last trip to St. Thomas, we really enjoyed Sunny Liston Tours, so we decided on his “Sightseeing and Beach” tour. 6 fellow roll callers joined us!

 

We hadn't visited St. Maarten since 2008, and have read good reviews about Bernard’s Tours. We had 26 folks from our roll call booked for the same tour. We nicknamed our bus “the party bus”.

 

Nassau. No real plans.

 

Roll Call:

 

Great group and very active! Really helps to pass the time (especially booking 418 days out!). We had quite a bit planned: informal meet ‘n greet, slot pull, cabin crawl, formal meet ‘n greet, and gift exchange. We were fortunate to have some seasoned NCL cruisers on the RC. They were always helpful – and we appreciated all the valuable information. Made some great friends!

 

Friday, November 15th

 

A fellow roll call member suggested a local Cuban restaurant for dinner. Las Vegas Cuban cuisine is located on Stirling, almost right across the street from the Best Western. We enjoyed our meal. Service and atmosphere was great! We ate dinner, and headed back to the hotel to get a good nights’ sleep.

 

Saturday, November 16th – Cruise Day!

 

SAS picked us up, on time, at our hotel. As luck would have it, some our fellow roll call members were also staying at the same hotel, so we all piled into the van together. After a quick ride to POM, we were dropped off, and handed our luggage to the porter. He was very friendly and welcoming, so we tipped a little extra. We made our way over to Terminal C. Went through security, had our embark picture taken, and waited for about ½ hour to board.

 

There she is!

 

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First impressions of the Epic…beautiful, modern, tasteful, and very grand!

 

Our cabin was not ready, so we headed to O’Sheehan’s for our first meal. Not sure why, but we could not order any alcoholic beverages, so we opted for iced tea instead. We started with the warm spinach and artichoke dip. Mike had the chicken pot pie, and I had the fish and chips. Decent meal and we’re off to a good start.

 

Bowling alley:

 

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Soon came the announcement that cabins on deck 10 were ready. Our first impressions of the cabin – awesome! We were very pleased with the amount of storage space and lovely colours of the cabin. Mini-suites offer extra cabin room, and we snagged a cabin with the bed by the balcony door. (Thanks to SDMike for all the information regarding bed placement and everything else Epic!). We absolutely loved the cabin, enjoyed our balcony and the layout. Did not miss the Carnival orange Naugahyde one bit!

 

No issues with the funky bathroom layout, either. I only wish there had been a little more light over the vanity area. No biggie, though!

 

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(Had to borrow this photo of cabin 10082 from Cruise Deck Plans. Michael has the cabin pics on his phone).

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After unpacking, we explored the ship. We felt like newbies again, as everything was brand new to us.

 

Spice H20

 

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Water Slides

 

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We really liked the pool area and enjoyed many of our meals from the Garden Café “al fresco”. We appreciated the shade the awnings provided.

 

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View of Miami

 

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Our roll call informal M&G was after our safety briefing, at the Waves Pool Bar. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of our gang. We all wore leis and boas, and had a great time dancing and chatting. We had a great time!

 

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After our M&G, and a few drinks, we decided to head back to our cabin to get ready for dinner at Cagney's.

 

Again, didn't take any pictures of either Cagney's or our food. But wow! Our meal was fantastic. My husband ordered the bison, and I had the filet mignon. It was the best steak I'd ever eaten. I was literally sad when I finished the last bite - and I'm not a big meat eater. Wonderful service and ambiance. Would highly recommend this dining venue to anyone.

 

The rest of our evening was spent exploring the ship. We headed to bed early, and looked forward to day 2, our first sea day.

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Thanks for your review Sharon. I was in a hurry of seeing it since you and I were on the same cruise. I can't wait to see the remaining of your review...

 

I did my review as well, in the member reviews, but it's not posted yet. Cruise Critic has to revise it before it gets posted out.

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Thanks so much for your review...looking forward to the rest of it! We're on the Epic in January and it will be our first-ever cruise, so I will be anxiously reading your review for any tips!

 

You're welcome! I'll do my best, although, I'm already a little foggy on details :)

 

Enjoy your cruise - I think you'll love the Haven. I have pictures, and I'll be sure to post them a little later in my review.

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Thanks for your review Sharon. I was in a hurry of seeing it since you and I were on the same cruise. I can't wait to see the remaining of your review...

 

I did my review as well, in the member reviews, but it's not posted yet. Cruise Critic has to revise it before it gets posted out.

 

Hi Eric!

 

Again, so sorry we weren't able to meet in person. I'm looking forward to reading your review as well. Hoping your review will fill in a few blanks for me. I really should have taken notes :p

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First Sea Day

 

The first thing I do every morning, is head out to the balcony. I just love seeing the ocean...

 

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View directly under our balcony:

 

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I knew the lifeboats would be visible, but they did not impede our view in any way.

 

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The seas were a little rough this morning, and I did feel seasick. I have to say that I've experienced rougher seas in the past, without issue. I heard the same from some members of my roll call as well. This of course, would not deter me from enjoying my day. A ginger Gravol tablet and some water did the trick!

 

I used the coffee maker in our cabin, as we had not ordered room service. (We later found the room service door hanger in the package by the side of the bed, closest to the patio door). I would not make in-cabin coffee again.

 

We ate our breakfast at the Garden Café. Very good, with a variety of offerings: pastries, eggs, bacon, sausage, and juices. Great way to start the day!

 

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Roll Call Meet and Greet

 

I had never attended a formal M&G on any of my Carnival cruises, so I was really looking forward to this one. We had 98 members on our roll call, and was looking forward to finally putting faces to the wonderful people I'd been chatting with over the months leading up to our cruise. I admit that I was still feeling a little seasick, but, a party awaits!

 

Fellow roll call member, Popsec, contacted NCL about 30 days out to arrange our M&G. It was held in the Bliss Lounge at 11:00 AM. We enjoyed a good turnout.

 

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Norwegian Staff and Department Heads

 

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We also had a gift exchange for anyone who wanted to participate. Would definitely do this again. Great fun!

 

Following our M&G, we held a slot pull, also headed up by Popsec. This was another first for me, but was great fun. Thanks in part to some last minute wins on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine, we all walked away with a little over $10.00. OK, we took a $5.00 loss each, but we had a ball cheering each other on!

 

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Edited by soccersharon
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After our slot pull, I headed back to the cabin to check in with Michael. he ended up leaving our M&G early, as he is prone to seasickness. A rest in our cabin helped, as did the patch.

 

I believe this is the day we decided to try Taste for the first time. (Note to self: take notes next time! I "thought" I'd remember most of the details - but they are a little hazy now!)

 

I'd like to preface this part to say that we are not "foodies". Food is such a subjective topic. That said, our lunch was OK. We each started with the chicken soup. The broth looked a little more like beef broth, but no problem. It hit the spot. For our entrées, I tried the penne bolognese and Michael had a club sandwich. Michael enjoyed his sandwich, and I thought the penne was OK. Service was decent. We were in and out in about 45 minutes.

 

We spent the rest of our day wandering the ship, as there is a lot to see, and the weather was not cooperating with our outdoor enjoyment. I must admit to missing mid-ship elevators. It did take us a while to get used to the layout, but we always managed (after a few hits and misses) to get where we wanted to be. I ended up carrying around the deck plans, which helped a lot.

 

I did find the casino set up interesting. Instead of having all the machines and tables grouped together, the casino sprawls along deck 6. A few times, we'd see minors sitting at a machine. We did watch some folks play the Key Game, which was pretty entertaining.

 

We decided to eat at Taste once again this evening. We gave our names at to the hostess, and since there was about a 30 minute wait, we were given coupons for sparkling white wine. We walked to the Atrium bar, and ordered our wine. The Manhattan Band was playing. We really enjoyed listening to them and sipping our wine.

 

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Please excuse the blurry pictures :)

 

When our pager went off, we proceeded to Taste, and were seated right away. I don't recall all the items on the menu, but it did seem a little limited. In the end we chose the greek salad, and for our entrées we both chose the mushroom ravioli in cheese sauce. We enjoyed the salads (lots of feta cheese), but we both found the ravioli a bit lacking in flavour and seasoning. Our waiter, while very polite, was not overly friendly. This would be the thing we missed most from our previous Carnival cruises. The upside to formal dining times, is that you get to know your waitstaff - and they get to know you. By no means is this a deal-breaker, but we did miss it.

 

Nothing really appealed to us dessert-wise (we are not big sweet eaters anyway). We set off the explore the ship before our Blue Man Group performance at 10:00 pm.

 

We loved the Blue Man Group performance. For us, this was the entertainment highlight of the cruise!

 

We came back to be greeted by this little guy:

 

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Edited by soccersharon
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@Sharon: I looked at your pictures on Photobucket. I was looking to see myself maybe somewhere... I only see my balcony on your ship AFT view picture. The balcony to the corner left on the 10th floor was mine.

 

I managed to get 2 lounge chairs on my balcony (10$ tip to the maid did the trick)... Honnestly, I enjoyed so much my aft-view. Amazing! I never had such a better view in all my past cruises!

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Second sea day

 

The weather started to clear up for our second day at sea. Even so, I had to fight off seasickness, again! Must be the height of the Epic, as the wind really had her way with the ship. Not sure if the stabilizers were deployed to lessen the movement, but we sure did feel it!

 

We ordered coffee, pastries, and fresh fruit from room service this morning. Would be the last time we had room service coffee on the ship. The pastries were good, and the fruit was fresh.

 

After showering and getting dressed, we set out for our day. To be honest, this day is kind of a blur :) We did meet up with some of our fellow roll call members by the pool area. After chatting for some time, we decided to have lunch at O'Sheehan's (affectionately known by some in our group as Shenanigans :)

 

We tried the mozzarella sticks and country style soup. Both were tasty and flavourful. Hubby had the Old Fashioned Meat Loaf and I had a tuna sandwich. Both good.

 

After lunch, we headed back upstairs to the pool deck for the "Mr. Sexy Legs" contest. The sun had finally decided to make an appearance, which made for a very agreeable afternoon of fun. We had met a very nice couple from Michigan during our safety briefing in the Spiegel Tent. We bumped into Carol and Brian several times over the course of our cruise, and became fast friends. Carol tried to convince hubby and David to be contestants in the contest. Both declined. Guess they thought their legs weren't sexy enough? Our fellow roll call member, Jerry, participated as well. I was very impressed!

 

The contestants were asked to perform various "feats". Now, anytime the splits are involved in anything (unless you're in great shape, and ready for such a thing), someone inevitably gets hurt. Such was the case for poor Brian. I didn't actually see it myself, but Brian managed to do the splits, and be seriously hurt in the process. He dislocated his hip (which he said "popped right back in") and tore his quadriceps muscle. He ended up spending the rest of his cruise in a wheelchair. Major disappointment. In the end, a young guy won the contest, but I thought Jerry did very well :)

 

We had dinner in the Garden Café on this night, and were very surprised at both the variety and flavour of the food items offered.

 

We spent some time listening to the Manhattan Band over a coffee from the coffee bar. We missed the FABBA dance party, but did have a nice evening nonetheless.

 

Early to bed as tomorrow, we'd be visiting St. Maarten!

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St. Maarten

 

We visited St. Maarten back in 2008 on our first cruise aboard the Carnival Valor. Since we spent the day at Great Bay, and didn't see the island, we opted for a tour with Bernard's Tours. As I mentioned earlier, 26 of our fellow roll call members also booked. We could not all be together, so we were split up on multiple buses. We did bump into one another at various stops along the way.

 

Carnival Conquest and the Epic - side by side

 

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Hubby

 

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Disney Fantasy

 

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Port Area

 

 

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We met Bernard at the Information Center for a little before 9:00 am, and we led with the rest of our group to our bus for the day.

 

Junior was a wonderful host

 

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Our first stop was the iguana farm

 

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Also met this big guy

 

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And this guy

 

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Now, I did mention that we nicknamed our bus "the party bus" and for good reason. After we left Oyster Pond, Junior broke out the goodies! Rum Punch, beer, soft drinks, and water were in abundant supply - and delicious. Sure did liven up our bunch even more!

 

Our next stop - Orient Beach

 

We set up on the "clothing necessary" (well, bottoms anyway) side of the beach, to the left. Further down to the right, is the "clothing optional" area.

 

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My apologies for the blurry picture. Thought this was pretty cool!

 

The water was warm

 

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After a couple of hours of beach time, it was time to head to Marigot. Junior offered more punch, beer, water, and soft drinks. Yes, please!

 

Marigot

 

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It was my intention to get to Serafina's, but the wait time was too long (over 1/2 hour) and we did not have much time here. Instead, we opted for lunch at a local restaurant. Sorry, no pictures - but the curry chicken, plantains, red beans and rice, and salad was fantastic!

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KLM ready to take off!

 

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There she goes!

 

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Unlike some brave (?) souls, I was not willing to hang on to the fence or stand on the beach directly behind the aircraft's' jets, as this inevitably happens:

 

Time to head back to the Epic

 

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Great Bay

 

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We enjoyed a wonderful day in St. Maarten!

 

Edited by soccersharon
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Around the ship

 

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We had intended on going to the "Rewind, Remix 80's party" but never made it :rolleyes: After a full day in the sun, and all the beer and rum punch, we were content to drop a couple of dollars in the casino, have coffee, and listen to the Manhattan Band.

Edited by soccersharon
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St. Thomas

 

We had visited St. Thomas twice previously, and really enjoy this island. Originally, I had planned a Sunny Liston tour for my mom and I. Thought she'd love Sunny. I decided to keep the tour, and visit Coki Beach. We had visited Sapphire twice before, and we were ready for a change. We were 6 roll callers on this tour - and we had a blast together!

 

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Coki Beach

 

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