AzStyle

Our cruise just last month I decided to try those packing cubes, I decided it would be nice to put all of my shorts together in one cube. Got on the ship went to change into them and no shorts cube. Unpacked everything and they weren’t there. Thankfully I had a couple pair of capris, but I searched for shorts in 3 ports to find none. Well we found some but the super short short ones (not going to happen!) and a cute pair at the Guy Harvey store in Grand Cayman but not for $70. Those 2 pairs of capris got a lot of use that week! Came home found that shorts cube sitting nicely on the end of my bed! How did we not see that, no clue

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A few pages back someone mentioned Harley's. There is currently a club on board. Many parked in the atrium today, on display and getting cleaned and polished

 

 

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That’s awesome

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I was on a Celebrity Caribbean cruise a few years ago with a motorcycle group aboard. I talked to one of them and he said that it was a package deal--price included storage for cycles. We were up on a hill in one port and watched them roar out of the ship. Very Cool!!

That would have been cool to see!

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Epic is my favorite NCL ship so far. Saw it in Grand Cayman the other day and blew it kisses from Escape.

So did we!!

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I've been wanting to cruise NCL and EPIC is the most convenient ship for me. However, all I read on cruise critic is how awful the ship is. Too many people, poor design, long waits, no pool chairs and so on. Does NCL just not know how to "cruise big?" I read good things about the smaller NCL ships, but everything EPIC is negative.

 

 

 

I've sailed several times on RC Oasis class ships, which are much larger than EPIC (size and passenger count) and never once did I feel like there were too many people, or it was crowded, or I couldn't find a pool chair. I like the big ships. Does RC just do a better job at planning these "mega-ships?" I can't help but wonder if NCL realized they had a loser on their hands based on the fact that there is no sister ship. It's very odd for cruise lines not to have sister ships, especially ships less than 10 years old.

 

 

 

That being said, I'm getting the vibe that my first sailing on NCL should maybe be on Sun or Sky...

I had the same thoughts as you about the Epic, I read those negative reviews before our very first cruise which was booked already on that ship. We went, had a blast! Loved the employees, the boat and the casino. We have since sailed the Escape twice the getaway and the breakaway and still our favorite by far has been the Epic. We will be sailing again this year and will do that ship again. Ida in vibe was the best! We highly recommend this ship. No matter what you choose I hope you have a blast!

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We did Dunn’s river falls a few cruises ago when our port was Ocho Rios and had a blast! We purchased water shoes when we got there which cured the slippery rock issue and it was well worth it. This time I think we are horseback riding still have a bit more research to do...

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We were failures in escaping the tent last cruise, it was hard! Good luck! One hint, not all puzzles are included in your Escape :)

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I'm going to take some shots of Bailey's back to my room for my morning coffee in the room on the balcony in the morning. I will make sure to try the Mojito in Sugar Cane! See you on board AZ!

Ohh that's a great idea! I go to the casino in the morning for coffee and sometimes the servers are had to find hmm guess I'll just bring my own! Oh on our last cruise my favorite drink ended up being a Miami vice, strawberry daiquiri on the bottom pina coloda in the middle and blue curaçao on top, very patriotic drink that makes the colada not so sweet. ;)

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Thank you for the extremely fun morning Read! I have a friend from work on your cruise and hopped on to see if the storms had caused any problems with the cruise. So glad I did! We will be on the Escape for the 2nd time in Feb.

If you enjoy specialty coffee's as I do love a Baileys coffee order your coffee and a shot of Baileys on the side and it's included in the UDP.

I know you said you don't like sugary but might I suggest a Raspberry Guava mojito from Sugar Cane, they are so delicious! Enjoy! Can't wait to read more

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We were lucky enough to get posh passes last year on the Epic and loved it! Worth every penny for us to be away from the crowds. Awesome view of all the goings on on the main deck. We did order food, our favorite server Ida offered it to us each day. We never asked for a menu just told him what we wanted. We even brought a bottle of wine up that our steward had given us and they chilled it for us to enjoy that evening. When you get on the ship run to guest services! I really hope you get the passes, enjoy your cruise!

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We had a two-bedroom suite on the Pearl Nov. 26, got the e-mail to bid last week and disappointed to find the upgrade to Haven two-bedroom suite was $600 pp even though only one of the eight rooms have sold. But I made the mistake of showing my mom a video of the Pearl's Haven pool and she insisted we still try and make the bid. So we bid $605.

 

Then I saw the prices had dropped on the main NCL site. I wasn't too hopeful because we booked through Casinos At Sea and our experience has been that their upgrade rates are fixed, regardless of any price drop on the website. Well I called anyway and was quoted a price of $961 (total) to upgrade. Certainly cheaper than the $1200 bid! When I told the CAS rep that, she said she would verify the price with her supervisor. Unfortunately, while she was away I had to end the phone call because my ride home was waiting. So I texted my mom on the drive home about the (possible) new price.

 

So she calls this evening, and the price they quoted her was ... $80. Not per person: Total. Needless to say she jumped all over that and now we're going to become Haven Snobs!

 

(Although now she wants me to keep checking in case one of the Garden Villa rooms frees up!)

Thanks for the post, I have been wondering about how it works when you book through the Casino at sea line. We booked through them and got what I think was a great discount to book our 2/3/2018 sailing on the Escape. We were offered a free inside room but wanted the Haven and was able to book a Haven spa suite for a good discount, so I had been wondering if we would even get an offer to upgrade. Actually we love this room and the included spa passes so not sure we would upgrade to a larger room for the 2 of us.

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Really enjoying this post, Thank you!

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So that's an interesting question - if I bid on a balcony and get upgraded to a spa balcony, do we get spa access? I didn't even consider the spa balconies, but a search just showed a decent amount available on my cruise. (Still plenty of time to book up, but still got me wondering)

On our last cruise just before the bidding for upgrades started we were emailed several times and finally took a H9 Haven spa balcony for an additional $500 per person and yes we did get the spa package plus kept our previous offers from the reg. Balcony we had purchased. The only thing we didn't get was the extra on board credit. But, now I kinda wish we didn't see how amazing the haven was..now hubby won't cruise without it! So we are back in another H9 for Feb.

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As I was trying to read through this thread to see what the different statuses mean in the portal, I was notified that I had been upgraded. Here's my information for those who might find it helpful:

 

Booked an MC on the 9/16 Escape Western Caribbean itin through my TA. Out the door with taxes and insurance and my perks taxes/fees, it was ~$2600.

 

Received my upgrade offer on 8/30.

 

I bid on H5 for $800, H6 for $1150 and H7 for $850 per person.

 

When I clicked the link for the upgrade bids earlier this morning, my H5 and H6 bids had shown as Expired and the H7 was shown as Processing.

 

I received my email a few minutes ago for the H7 upgrade (9706) for the $850/pp ($1700) total. My new total for my cruise for sailing in the H7 is $4365.98.

 

Current price for an H7 is $6141.58 and a few days ago it was up around $6500 when I originally bid.

 

Overall, this will be a great surprise for my wife and I as this is our first vacation without our DD since she was born (4.5 years old) and we were just excited to get away.

 

Thanks for all the helpful posts.

Congrats on the upgrade! Thanks for the great info!

Just wanted to say about the coffee, in our experience we always filled out the door card for breakfast in the morning and on the coffee line we write 6 or so even if there is 2 of us that way we get plenty of coffee. I enjoy after dinner coffee and it has always been included in my UDP but I learned from a waiter at Cagneys that if you order a Baileys coffee you will be charged extra as it is concidered a "specialty" coffee BUT if you order a coffee with Bailys on the side it is included and you just pour it in yourself. I have also purchased iced coffee and latte's at the little coffee place and they are very good. Starbucks type prices but worth it. There is also free coffee and some pretty good pastries in the casino every morning. Hope you enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the review! Glad you had fun!

We got a 11 o'clock check in time and arrived much earlier, for our cruise on the same ship last Feb. I don't think they paid any attention to it really. Have a great cruise!

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Great review, now I'm even more excited for our cruise in Feb! We were on the Escape last year and Bong was our favorite bartender although he was at the mojito bar then. All of his crazy puzzles made it a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the haven!

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Great review. I've just read to see some current dailies as we are back on The Epic soon for the 4th time. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

Good to see young couples enjoying cruising. We first cruised when I was 35 and my wife 33 and we regret discovering it 'so late' in life. We are making up for lost time though. [emoji16]

 

 

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Us too! But we started even later 41 and 42, After our 1 st cruise I was angry we had not done one sooner..of course we have done one every year since but we missed out on so much.

The Epic was our first cruise and we loved it!

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We tendered there on our last cruise with pretty rough seas. We were on the Breakaway, but I think if the seas are pretty quiet there should be no problem with a walker and those sand chairs are neat! But if it's a rough sea day you may want to go down and check it out for yourself before having her come down. Hope you have a great trip!

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I think everyone has already answered your questions but I have to say, we were on the Epic for our very first cruise. I too read the reviews after booking with our friends who made the ship choice. The reviews scared me that we had booked a bad ship! We were bringing both of my daughters 23 and 18 for there graduation gifts 1 high school 1 college so I wanted it to be perfect for them. Well, I worried for nothing they had an absolute blast! In fact I had a hard time getting them to meet us for dinner as they were doing one thing or another. They had several things scheduled for 18 to 21 year olds age group which my other daughter actually joined in on.

We have been on the Epic, Escape and Breakaway and are going back on the Escape in Feb. But the Epic is my favorite by far. We are only back on the Escape because the casino offered it to us although it is a great ship also.

Hope you have a great time, you picked a great ship!

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Yes, I usually have a pitcher of iced tea and a pitcher of ice water in the mini fridge. Sorry, don't drink coffee, so I can't answer your other questions.

Thanks! I'm glad you said pitcher of iced tea, I didn't know we could do that..I am a huge tea drinker and before the rule changed I would bring my own, last cruise I drank way to much soda!

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One of the best ways to learn is to take advise from those who.

 

 

 

 

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Not everyone knows that the concierge usually has VIBE passes. Haven guests who cannot take advantage of priority boarding might appreciate the information.

 

 

 

 

 

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Ok I'll probably get yelled at for this and I know it's off topic but can you or anyone give more info on this?

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153 I believe until was board the Escape for the 2nd time! But I'm actually at 146 until our vacation actually begins..we are going to Disney for a week before we board. So very excited but it seems like an eternity away.

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I have to say we have booked our 4th Ncl cruise the first being aboard the Epic and by far that is our favorite ship. Before our first cruise I was all over reading reviews of the ship. We didn't choose it we were joining some friends that had already booked it. After reading the reviews I have to admit I was a bit worried. Until I started to read posts as ridiculous as "the ship was horrible because the carpet wasn't stretched properly and there were wrinkles"! Yep read it on cruise critic..I think negative people will find anything to feed there need to complain.

Did we have a rude staff member on the cruise? Yep we did, a rude bartender did it ruin my cruise? Nope, it gave me an extra $5 to use in the casino lol

Yep there was even a wrinkle in our carpet which we found pretty funny. Bathrooms were different not my favorite but they were nothing to complain about as I had been reading others do.

Food at the buffet we thought was good, not awesome but nothing to complain about..

Shows were great, staff all except the one guy was really nice and helpful. We were amazed at how quiet the rooms actually are, we also experienced some high seas one evening and except for the metal hangers hitting the back of the closet very minimal creaking noises. It was actually kinda fun!

I truly hope anyone thinking of sailing on the Epic and reading reviews experience the ship for themselves and the 99 percent of people will have a great time!

Oh and sorry to those who lost in the casino, that to is my favorite casino so far.

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