CJDepew

I will be on her in three days. I hope I get the same crew. Did any bartenders stand out?

Not particularly, but I only used the Waves bar on Deck 15.

You should have cruised Epic. I got off Saturday and every crew member I came in contact with all week was incredible. Smiling, happy and eager to please!!!

 

 

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I was on the same cruise and found the crew of the Epic wonderful.

The next stop in our itinerary was St. Thomas. It was a short day in port (7a-2p) so we didn't attempt to hit the beach. One couple in our group did go to Magen's Bay and said it was amazing. The husband and I did a little shopping and browsing at Havensight Mall. I hate to shop, but was impressed at how clean and nice everything was. Took these photos from our balcony.

This is a zoom of one of those yachts on the right side of the photo above.

And one last shot of the harbor.

From our balcony as we left Tortola:

Our taxi driver was kind enough to stop at a safe place on the side of the road so we could snap a few photos of Road Town. The roads on Tortola are the steepest and most windey that I've ever been on but the views were breathtaking.

The area around the pier was clean, and I didn't see any aggressive people trying to sell things.

We are going on the Epic on March 18th...thanks for posting!!

Question...did you book this excursion through NCL?

We haven't decided on anything for Tortola just yet but this looks great...

 

If you didn't book through NCL can you let me know the details....thanks again!

I contacted Myett's directly via their website and made my own arrangements. Kimmy and Cheryl are wonderful to work with. Their email address is thebeatgoeson@myetts.com

The answer to this one is easy: PORT AUTHORITIES have closed the port! They declined access not only to EPIC but to other ships and then they SLOWLY let each ship come inside one by one as fog was dissipating.

 

 

Honestly, everyone gets upset with the cruise lines and in 99% of the cases, fault is not with them. Besides, I'm pretty sure your vacation would have far worse start if ship was grounded due to reckless behavior. Captain and the crew just followed orders for everyone's safety.

I understand all of that. My actual question is with all of the technology available, why is fog still an issue? I was not the only one asking and I'm genuinely curious, and not disparaging any of the cruise lines.

More random shots of Cane Garden Bay:

Our days at sea were full of fun, adult beverages and good food, but I was anxious to see Tortola. I sure wasn't disappointed!

The port at Road Town was very easy to navigate, and our group was promptly met by the taxi driver that had been arranged by Myett's, in Cane Garden Bay, which was our destination for the day. We arrived before most of the crowds.

Myett's has a nice section of the beach and we had arranged for chairs and umbrellas to be set up, which happened as soon as we arrived. Food and drinks were available, reasonably priced and tasty. The music selection being played on the beach was entertaining.

The homes there are impressive.

Okay, I've got a few minutes free at work and didn't take any food photos so I'm going to discuss it here. To put it simply, the food was pretty darn good.

The Garden Cafe had just about anything you would possibly want in a buffet at every meal. The food was plentiful, the selection was wide, and the quality was wonderful. I'm almost crying now that I don't have unlimited bacon and fruit salad at home. I think my favorite item was from lunch during one of our early at sea days. The hand carved beef with horseradish sauce was delicious. The staff was friendly and polite, from the washy-washy sanitizer spritzer/greeter to the folks who were busing tables.

Our first night's dinner was in the Manhattan Room, where attire was still casual because some folks still had not had their bags delivered. They went out of their way to accommodate our group of 18. Again, service was fantastic and the food was delicious. The French Onion soup served on the ship was so good, my husband ordered two cups before each meal we ate at Taste later in the week.

Taste had the same quality of service and food we experienced in the Manhattan Room, but the attire was more relaxed. My only complaint was that on the last evening my prime rib was done way more than I'd asked for. But hey, I didn't have to cook it or do the dishes, so it was just fine with me.

Sorry I didn't take any dining pics, but if anyone has questions about what was served I'd be happy to answer the best I can.

:*

 

Finally meeting you and the rest of "Our People" was such a blessing!

 

From our perspective, it was great to experience the Epic firsthand to be able to dispel so many of the things we had read about on CC. But then again, I'm pretty easy to please for the most part. Have a great day at work, hah! XOXOXO!

Hahahaha! Yes, it was pretty darn awesome to finally meet.

Sorry for the delay...work beckons. Will post more from home tonight.

After checking out our balcony cabin (more about that later), we quickly went up to Deck 15, where our friends, and all the good stuff was.

At this point it wasn't too crowded yet, and it was pretty easy to move around and get drinks at the bar. We settled in to the smoking area, as several of our group are pretty attached to their smokes. We had a great bar waiter who stopped by in plenty of time to keep the UBP living up to its name. All the grumbling from the embarkation process was quickly left behind. It didn't take long for things to get pretty crowded though.

Drinks were flowing and we headed out for our adventure just a few hours late.

My head is still a bit fuzzy from the trip so I'm posting this review in chunks. We sailed the Feb 25 - March 4 Eastern Caribbean itinerary, and experienced the good, the bad, and the ugly that the Epic offers, but overall had a great time.

We drove from the Radisson at the Port to the port later than expected, because we were informed embarkation would be delayed since the Epic had returned to port two hours late that morning, due to fog. In this age of technology I'm not sure why that would happen, but maybe someone here will have an answer. Since there were three ships late to port that morning, traffic was snarled. This was our first view of the ship.

After sitting 45 minutes on the exit ramp alone, we were met by the porters who unloaded our luggage and hustled up the escalator, only to be stopped in what I called zig-zag hell. The room where the first load of passengers were processed sat full because they were not permitted on the ship yet, so the rest of us stood/sat in the room where you zig-zag through the line for nearly two hours. I hit the floor for a while, as it got really warm in there.

While folks were getting angry and frustrated, I also saw one of the kindest things I'd ever seen. A gentleman in a wheelchair noticed a man who was older than he starting to go into distress. He got out of his wheelchair and used his cane, even though it obviously was not easy for him, because he said the other man needed to sit more.

Once we made it through the metal detectors, we had our photos taken and received our key cards within ten minutes...but had to go through the process again for my husband because his newly issued key card did not work at the scanning port to leave that area. It was frustrating, but things could have been much worse. Once the newest, working card was in hand, we walked right on to the ship. Even though rooms weren't available yet, we took the elevator to our floor to find our way around and actually found the cabin cleaned and empty, so took a look. I have to hand it to the staff...they sure got things ready in a hurry and everyone we saw had a smile and a warm greeting.

Turn up at any time after the desks have opened and you will commence check in

Thanks!

Are the check-in times we chose for Port Canaveral strictly enforced? My edocs say you'll be turned away if you arrive prior to your assigned time, but we're cruising with a group and we weren't all able to select the same time.

Thanks. Tried searching,but ended up with a mish-mash of info that never really answered the question.

I am staying at the Radisson in a couple of weeks for our Epic cruise. I have yet to book transfers from MCO to the hotel. Which company did the Radisson use? Also how long did you have to wait for the shuttle after your flight arrived? TIA

We stayed at the Radisson in 2015 and are again next week for our Epic cruise. They use Cocoa Beach Shuttle. I suspect wait time depends on how busy the airport is. We arrived around 8pm the first time and waited about 20 minutes until the shuttle arrived and was fully loaded.

Leave your passport on the ship.

 

 

 

They aren't required for US citizens in Cozumel, in fact you don't even have to use a passport to cruise to Cozumel.

That's not the experience we had on the Carnival Conquest in March of 2016. We were told passports were required, so we used them. I would have preferred to keep them in the safe. I'm not arguing with you, just stating what we encountered.

No. We requested the vegetarian for 2 of our party when they took our orders. The vegetarian is eggplant parm, which was better than the steak and shrimp!

Thanks for that info! I'm a meatatarian but love eggplant parm, so will probably order that.

We have not needed passports in Nassau, Jamaica or Grand Cayman. Passports were required in Cozumel.

Thanks for the review. We're flying out of Pittsburgh on Feb. 24 to board the Epic the next day. Even if I find that huge ships aren't for me it will still be wonderful to get away from the grind.

Cruising the Epic in a couple of weeks. Bought two Brita filtered water bottles for $13/each. No bottled water, no problem.

Thanks, everyone!

Following...on the same cruise and it cannot come fast enough! :D

After doing some research here I was able to find out exactly how the CruiseNext program works in regards to applying the OBC. Wondering if anyone has had experience with booking their next cruise and what the additional free offer is they mention on the website?

If we like our first NCL experience in a few weeks this sounds like the best way to book for 2018.

Thanks

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