Barcelona Epic

Short review on our European cruise on the Epic.

A little about myself, I am an avid cruiser and usually cruise at least twice a year (this year 4 cruises). I've been on RCCL, Princess, Celebrity and NCL. Have to say the Epic is not one of my favorite ship (this was the 2nd time I've been on it), but I usually base my cruises on itinerary not ship. Sometimes I travel solo and other times with a friend. This cruise was with a friend. We are both retired and in our early 60's.

We arrived in Barcelona 4 days before our cruise. What an amazing and beautiful city. We not only did tours of Barcelona but also outside of the city. Montserrat was my absolute favorite. Sheer beauty!

Our cruise included stops in Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes and Palma. If you do not like a lot of walking, then this cruise may not be for you. It was exhausting but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Embarking was very easy - arrived around 11 and got right on. Rooms weren't ready so got some lunch at the buffet. Compared to other cruises I've been on, was not super impressed with NCL's buffet.

As I stated earlier I am not a fan of the Epic but a cruise is a cruise.

This cruise had only 1 sea day and after touring in and around Barcelona we needed it!!

All of my shore excursions were ship tours. You meet at a specified area on the ship and each tour is called separately. Sounds really drawn out but it really wasn't.

In Naples, I did the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. The Coast was gorgeous. The town of Amalfi was ok. Pompeii was the main reason I chose this tour. Pompeii was spectacular and very, very hot! Unfortunately, we did the Pompeii portion in the afternoon. I would have loved more time to look around, but given the heat it was adequate.

Rome - no words to describe the beauty. We did the Ultimate Rome tour which was expensive but so nice having a small group. We had one guide that stayed with us the entire time and we picked up the other guide in Rome. Just an FYI - it is about hour and a half to 2 hours to get to Rome from the port. This is a 10 hour tour so be ready to walk ALOT! We saw so much - the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. Also had free time to grap some lunch and walk around. It was exhausting. I could have stayed at the Colosseum all day!

Florence - by this time after all of the touring pre-cruise, Naples and Rome, the towns are blending together. I know we visited a lot of the town squares and a few beautiful church's. One church I will remember is the one where I missed a step, fell and smacked my head into a brick corner of the church. OUCH! The highlight of Florence was the Statute of David. You could stare at it for hours on end it was that beautiful.

Cannes - the tour we originally chose was a lot of walking up hill. The night before this tour, these two battered (my friend fell at the Trevi) old ladies went to the shore excursion desk to see if we could change our tour. I have tried this on other lines and I was told sorry but the deadline for cancellation has passed. Not so this time. I don't remember the man's name (he also was in the shore excursion meeting place in the morning). He told us no problem. We picked another tour and dropped our other tour tickets at the desk. He saw us the next morning in the theater and told us he received our tickets we returned. Have to say the tour we choose was horrible "Nice and the little train". A lot has to do with the tour guide and she was horrible. After getting off the bus she spent more than a half hour looking for restrooms which ended up giving us only 20 minutes to look around to get the train. The train ride consisted of this little train zipping up and down streets. Could not get any good pictures because of the canopy on the train.

Palma - again don't remember the name of the church but absolutely stunning. I really liked this little town. The tour guide was another matter. I asked her at one point if she could slow down her walking pace a little because a lot were lagging behind. She told me 'everyone knows where the bus is so they don't need me to guide them'. So much for her tip!!

Getting off the ship and getting a taxi were pretty easy.

I was impressed with the food in the dining room. I had heard a lot of negatives about it, but this picky eater had no problems. We only saw one show and I went to Howl at the moon one night. Sorry that I missed the Beatles show.

So, my short review turned into a long review SORRY.

Next adventure is Hawaiian cruise later this year also on NCL.