dogwalfal

What is the party like? I've never been on a cruise before. It sounds fun!!

Thanks for this. I'm also looking to do this but I have a teenager. Any other places nearby for that age?

Does anyone know if there is a nice beach near the port or a hotel that would sell a day pass? Just looking to relax and not have to go to far from the port. Thanks.

Great thanks!

I am not sure if you have the same promo as we do but when we booked our gratuities for the dining package was added on to our cost. You should not have to pay more since you already paid the SDP service charge.

From Livorno.

Orginal poster from which port ? Livorno or La Spezia ?

 

From Livorno Pisa & Lucca are nearest . Lucca is just magical . You can do all three from Livorno by train . Firenze is furtheest and therefore offers less time at the destination ,.

 

From La Spezia both Lucca & Pisa and doable . Firenze is getting a bit far ,. Again easily done from La Spezia by train .

How hard was it to get the bus to the beach in Palma? That's what I want to do.

It's been a couple weeks, but I wanted to give a quick review of our wonderful Epic cruise Aug 27-Sept 3. DH and I travelled without the kids. We are mid-40's and fairly seasoned travelers. We have been on more cruises than we can count, most being Disney with a few on some of the other lines (Carnival, RCCL, and Holland America). Haven't cruised NCL for many, many years.

 

Pre and post cruise:

We flew into Barcelona two days before the trip, intending to do some sightseeing. Unfortunately we had some flight delays and rescheduling which made us arrive 6 hours later than planned without our luggage. So, our sightseeing time ended up being consumed with "try to get our luggage here" time. We had to return to the airport the morning of embarkation to stake out the baggage carousels, but thankfully our luggage arrived! We spent the night at the lovely Hotel Duquesa de Cardona and enjoyed it very much. The room was lovely, the breakfast yummy and the location appeared to be on point, IF we had the chance to enjoy it! Moral of the story, ALWAYS fly in at least 24 hours ahead of your cruise, ALWAYS carry essentials on (I had a change of clothes and personal items, hubby had only the pair of his underwear I threw in with my clothes) and ALWAYS have trip insurance. If our luggage had not arrived, we were planning to go shopping before boarding the ship and our insurance would have reimbursed us. Upon disembarkation, we spent one night at the Hotel Europark. We were there by 9am and checked in. They stored our luggage and we did the Hop On Hop Off bus for most of the day. We had prepurchased tickets for the Sagrada Familia so we hopped off there and also at Playa Catalunya to walk down Las Ramblas. The hotel was fine. It didn't have as much character and charm as the Duquesa, but it was very nice, clean and much more inexpensive.

 

Embarkation:

There was a long line outside the terminal building but it moved quickly. We had lunch at O'Sheehans. Our room was a family balcony (14019) which we had bid on to upgrade from the inside we had booked. For a total of $300, we were happy with our choice. It was very quiet and having the balcony was lovely. The bathroom situation was fine for us as an old married couple, but I could see how it could be an issue for those traveling with friends. The perk we had chosen was the 250 minutes internet but chose to pay the $85 to upgrade to unlimited which we had to wait in line for at the internet desk. We were also happy with this choice as we were able to keep in touch with our kids at home easily.

 

Entertainment:

We found that the ship compared favorably to our experiences on other lines. We enjoyed the Beatles, and the Legends Live show, but our absolute favorite was Howl at the Moon dueling pianos. They are so talented and the show was hilarious. The magician was just ok. We found Priscilla to be overhyped. I wanted more humor and less social message. I would not take my kids to this show, not because of the content, but I really don't see the need to drop the F bomb on a cruise ship show. Your mileage may vary. We did not see Burn the Floor.

 

Food:

The only specialty meal we had was the Cirque show. My husband said his steak there was the best meal of the trip. The show was wonderful, so glad we went. Otherwise, we had dinner twice in Taste, three times in Manhattan, and once in Shanghai's. The atmosphere and service in Manhattan was the best. We had breakfast in the Garden Cafe every morning and were usually in port for lunch. The food was good, not great. I have no complaints but nothing was amazing. My favorite dish was probably the ceviche appetizer. We ordered a few mixed drinks before realizing that they were consistently low on the alcohol content. After that we stuck to beer and wine.

 

Ports:

In Naples and Livorno we used Italy tours. The Naples tour went to Pompeii, Sorrento and then to a panoramic view of the Amalfi coast. There were 15 on our tour which I feel is still too many. One lady was over 20 minutes late to a meeting point. This was frustrating as we were in lovely Sorrento and I would have enjoyed lingering a little longer rather than waiting on her....Pompeii was very interesting. It was hot and not for those with mobility concerns. We had lunch in Sorrento and loved the view of Amalfi. I would like to go farther along the coast next time. In Livorno, we went to Tuscany with two other couples and our guide Davide. This was our favorite day. We visited the cities of Siena and San Gimignano and stopped for a wine tasting. The countryside was breathtaking and the cities had so much character.

 

In Civitavecchia, Cannes and Palma de Mallorca, we used public transportation and did our own thing. This is my personal favorite way to travel. We took the train from Civi to Rome and had a pre arranged tour of the Colosseum. We then walked along the Roman Forum before visiting to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. We had a wonderful lunch along the way before taking the train back. Our train tickets were 12 euro each, MUCH cheaper than any tour and much more enjoyable for us. In Cannes we also took the train, to Nice and then to Antibes. We visited the flower market in Nice and walked along the promenade by the beach. Antibes is a beautiful little city. We had lunch here and walked around the shops and beach before returning for a stroll about Cannes. Finally in Palma, we took the bus to Playa Illetas . It was so nice to have a beach day after all of the touring and walking we had done. The beach was beautiful and we were able to get drinks at one of the several beachfront bars. Bus fare was 3 euro each round trip.

 

Conclusion: We very much enjoyed this cruise. The weather was picture perfect. A little hot, but we live in Georgia so it was no hotter than we were used to at home. The ship was very nice. It was in good condition and we found the staff to be consistently pleasant and the service good. We enjoyed the Spice H2O area a few times, as well as the uncrowded sun deck on Deck 18. We rode all three slides at the request of our kids and honestly found them to be pretty tame despite their appearance. We agreed that our kids would have enjoyed this cruise. Maybe one day we will take them :D.

 

Feel free to ask questions and Happy Cruising!

I have the dining package. do they add gratuities to what you get? If so can you use shipboard credit for that? Newbie here!

I'm trying to decide if we should do a tour to Pisa and Lucca or go to Florence instead? Any advise would be helpful.