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I really enjoyed your review, too, and have to echo many of your comments. I thought the cabins were adequate and I much prefer a full bed to a twin. The solo gathering is great and the staff really goes out of their way to make you feel welcome.

I do think that the Epic is better suited to your itinerary, though. I did a Caribbean cruise, with 3 sea days, which, for me, turned into almost 4 as my Ocho Rios Dunn's excursion had me back in port by 11am. (Since I wasn't too interested in buying pot, there wasn't really anything else to do other than go back to the ship.) I thought the spa was great, but the sundecks just ok. The main issue for me was the "jogging track". I think NCL is definitely making a smart decision by moving the Epic to Europe permanently. I'd probably consider a port-intensive trip on her in the future, but nothing with more than 2 sea days.

LOL! So am I!

 

(Actually, I'm probably closer to your mother's age, and so are they (50-60 years old)).

And there's nothing wrong with that in general, but some things, like tastes in music, are pretty generation-specific, so I'd rather it be a slightly narrower spread :p

For the OP, I realized that I wasn't very clear in my first reply...Regarding the ages, the majority were 40+, followed by early 20s, with the fewest around my age (late 20s/early 30s).

I'm a 30 year old woman, not single, but recently did my first solo cruise on the NCL Epic. I agree that it all depends on what one is looking for, but for me, NCL was a great choice. I am probably much younger than most solo cruisers, especially on this site, so some things that are appealing to me are not to them, and vice versa (e.g. the idea of gentlemen hosts horrifies me, + most of them are probably closer to my grandma's age).

I don't want assigned table mates, but I also don't (usually) want to eat alone, so the solo lounge/gathering concept worked great for me. There was always an option to join others for dinner, but it is up to you who you want to join and you're not stuck making small talk with people you have nothing in common with. I know other solos hung out during the day together, too. I prefer to do my own thing then, but that's still an option.

The age spread on my sailing was pretty good, though there was only one other person close to my age; there were more early 20s and then 40+. But we still had fun.

As for the cabin, yes, it is small. It was fine for me, but it may not be for everyone. Note that you don't need to stay in the studio to attend the solo gathering.

My only experience on HAL was not a very pleasant one, and a part of that was the requirement of having to dress up in formal attire to eat their (at best, acceptable; at worst inedible) food. It might just be me, but I felt foolish wearing an embellished dress to what was effectively a cafeteria quality dinner. The MDR food on my recent NCL cruise was only very slightly better overall (more evenly mediocre, I should say), but I have to say I enjoyed them more because they weren't trying to fake any sense of sophistication, which neither line has.

And I should add that I am not a slob. I still wore dresses to dinner every night on NCL, but they were more casual, jersey maxi dresses, not gowns.

To me, a great meal is one which I wouldn't have made any changes to if given the choice. And it certainly has nothing to do with the cost: I've had great Mexican food for under $5 and $50+ entrees that were just ok. One of my favorite restaurants is the purple pig in Chicago, because the dishes are unique and well-executed, and I am always able to get out of there for under $80/pp, including alcohol.

Cruise ships are at a disadvantage because they obviously have to play it safe, while feeding the same 5-10 dishes (often with no option to customize at all) to a few thousands of people every night. So in my (very limited) cruising experience, I've had a few good, but not great, meals onboard. A good meal to me is one that has nothing wrong with it objectively, while it may not be exactly to my own personal taste. All of these were at specialty restaurants. MDR food so far ranged from "fancy cafeteria food" to bad/unacceptable (regarding the latter: crunchy "risotto" on HAL, smelly scallops on HAL, "stroganoff" on NCL that looked like it came out of an instant microwaveable pouch).

I recently returned from my first solo cruise on the Epic and the studio/solo lounge/gathering aspect was great. The cost for the studio was significantly less than booking an inside for my sailing and I really liked the nightly gathering. I don't want to eat at the same time every day or be potentially stuck at a table with people I have nothing in common with for 7 days. It was great being able to join (some of) the other solos for dinner some nights or eat at a specialty restaurant alone when I didn't feel like socializing.

My experience on NCL is that you generally don't need reservations in the specialty restaurants (except for Teppanyaki). As a solo traveler I've never not been promptly seated when I just walked in without a reservation.

Agreed. No problem walking up and getting a table for 1 on the Epic, even during the Christmas week. I understand the need for reservations with large groups, but for 1 person (or 2), there's really no need.

Can someone recall if Blue Moon is offered on the ship and covered under the package? I do not recall it being on the initial PDFs I saw, however they are presumably outdated. I did see it on one of the spreadsheets, so I'm just curious.

They had blue moon on the epic during the Christmas week.

I just got off the epic on Sunday and while I preffered the large ship and the way Norwegian does things in general, my only major complaint, and the reason I would never consider her again, was the running/jogging "track". What a joke, especially for a ship of that size. Tiny, only one "lane" each way, so if there's someone walking, it is not possible to run at all. Lifeboats and some noisy machinery as the only views. The crew was constantly blocking the track while attempting to service the said machinery. It *may* be ok on a port-heavy cruise, but with 3 sea days out of 7, that was unacceptable.

May I ask what time you arrived to port to be in group 1?

Not the OP, but I arrived a little after 10 and was also in group 1.

I had the same impression until I realized I could walk up the stairs to the 2nd level. It was a lot breezier and more often than not, I was the only person there. The downside is the staff rarely makes it up there, so I had to get my own drinks, but I can deal with that.

In all seriousness, if they’re going to add all these partnerships they could at least get a STARBUCKS in there!! Now that’s a partnership I’d love to see happen and fully worth the costs. (I’m sure the New England Dunkin fans will disagree… LOL!!! :p:p)

Agreed! After a week on a HAL ship, with HAL coffee, I would have paid a lot of money for some starbucks. Haven't tried NCL coffee yet, but trying to not get my hopes up too high :p

I never seem to book during a sale. Is the 10% sale one of those things where they bump the prices up the day before? I have a future cruises cert burning a hole in my pocket...lol

For my cruise and cabin, it was actually the lowest ever (even without the 10%) since I started tracking it 6 months prior to sailing. It was past final payment for me, so I kind of wish I waited more to book, but oh well, I am ok with the price I paid, too :)

Someone posted dailies here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44823727&postcount=25

In the schedule, I see zumba, yoga, TRX suspension, spinning. Looks like zumba is free. Other websites say $12 for everything else.

I wanted to add that, based on multiple previous posts, virgin drinks are included in UBP, so if you want a frozen drink by the pool, it doesn't have to be with alcohol.

We did the math every which way. If you are a beer drinker, it is definitely not worth it. Unless you drink ore than 10 beers at day. If you like to drink martinis )$10 a pop), then it is much easier to break even or come out ahead.

I'm normally a beer drinker, but after having a look at the beer selection, I think I'm gonna have to become a martini drinker for the duration of my cruise :p

Run the numbers - if you come out in front with the UDP then you need to drink a fair bit (e.g. roughly 9 beers a day (@ $6.04 inc gratuity) - 9 G&Ts a day (@ $6.04 inc gratuity using basic gin) - Every day.

...

If you drink the cheapest stuff - sure (nothing wrong with that!). When I ran the numbers for myself in the spreadsheet, I came up with more like 6-7/day, which seemed reasonable enough, so I ended up buying it for my upcoming cruise. Whether it's worth it or not is TBD, but 6 drinks/day is within the realm of possibility for me, especially considering I'll probably have some soda/juice at some point, too.

I would be surprised if she met "solo" cruisers in her age group. She is more likely to just meet someone, may be with family, in their 20's but I doubt solo cruising. I might misunderstand the question but I suspect that most solo cruisers will be in their 40's up. Hope that she meets someone her age.

It happens. I am 30 and cruising solo over Christmas. There's a gal in her late 20s who just posted her review of the Epic on the solo board. I remember seeing a few others here, too.

I usually sign up for credit cards to get the bonus, then cancel them after a period. I do this quite a bit with hotel and airline credit cards (my credit score is still over 800, so I'm not worried about that).

The cruise credit card bonuses are not that great. RC has 17500 sign up bonus and NCL 10000 with a $50 gift card. The Carnival one is not worth mentioning. I did get the NCL card, just because I was already planning on taking a cruise with them, but I will cancel it as soon as I redeem the points for OBC.

If I keep any of the cards, it is due to perks. E.g. Marriott annual hotel stay certificate and American Airlines free first checked bag pay for the annual fee many times over. Cash-back cards are usually indeed the best deal, but I mostly use my AA card because they are the only airline that is convenient for me at our small regional airport and the customer support has been great so far.

I haven't done a Christmas cruise before, but I am doing the Epic one, so there will be at least one other solo there :p (I think there's a few others on the roll call as well).

I am preparing for many children and families. I'm planning on boarding early and buying a posh pass if they are selling them this sailing. And yes, it is more expensive than some other times, but since I am cruising because I'm getting time off work at that time, too, it is still better than sitting at home while my husband is at work all day (it is the busiest time of the year for him). The prices on this cruise are actually pretty reasonable IMHO, studios as low as 649 (+10% in OBC or UDP) a couple of days ago, though looks like they are back to 799 now.

When people say "c card", they mean open water certification, so 4 dives.

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What port does not have porters on weekends? As long as the doors are open, there will be someone there to take your luggage.

I could have elaborated more, I suppose. My bag is small enough to fit through the scanner no problem, but too large for me to willingly carry around for 2 hours. I know Carnival has limited porter service on 2/3 day cruises. My mother had an issue trying to check her medium sized bag; when she asked where she could drop it off, some employee told her she could just carry it on with her. I'm not sure if it was a language issue (both the employee and my mom spoke English as a 2nd language) or laziness or the fact that she arrived at the port really early, but she had to begrudgingly carry her bag onboard herself. That was also in Miami.

Edit: When I'm saying "a weekend cruise", I mean a 2-3 day short party-boat cruise. Not a weekend departure. That would be insane.

Thanks, good to know! I know it's not always the case with other cruise lines. My scuba equipment doesn't fit into a carry on, but coming later is always an option, too.

Specifically, Friday-Sunday on Majesty of the Seas departing from Miami? If not, is there a place on the ship to leave your luggage until the room is ready?

How do you do a reverse-image search?

support.google.com/websearch/answer/1325808?hl=en