NCL Epic Post Trip Report 7/10-7/17, Barcelona Embark

Thanks so much for your detailed review...I am going to read it over and over prior to my October cruise. By chance do you have copies of the Freestyle Dailies??? I can't find them for the west med 7 night anywhere!

Thanks so much for your detailed review...I am going to read it over and over prior to my October cruise. By chance do you have copies of the Freestyle Dailies??? I can't find them for the west med 7 night anywhere!

Found this on another thread:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g7mbp7vyv1cavky/AADY9WZrVxJiCmRoxARxbqiFa/Daily%20Freestyles.pdf?dl=0

Thanks for your review of your Epic cruise. We'll be on our West Med cruise in 10 weeks - the information you've provided is really helpful.

 

Cheers

No problem! :)

Also happy to answer any questions to the best of my abilities :D

Found this on another thread:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g7mbp7vyv1cavky/AADY9WZrVxJiCmRoxARxbqiFa/Daily%20Freestyles.pdf?dl=0

That looks similar to our Freestyle Daily. I just took a picture of the first page of ours...

Paris Day 1 - July 17

After the food onboard the Epic (dinner at dining room & supper at the buffet :p), we came to Paris to...eat...

My mom's friend met us at the hotel and drove us around Paris a bit before driving to Vincennes and having dinner at Le Chalet des iles Daumesnil which is inside the Bois des Vincennes. The food was alright, but the view is amazing.

We stayed at Hotel George Astotel, it's clean, quiet and have funky decor, and I later found out, have owls hooting, perhaps why some of their designs have owls? But one thing I don't understand is why there isn't any closet or drawers...

There were a lot of people inside the park. After dinner, we drove to Sacre Coeur. Do go for the amazing view of Paris.

Attached Pics:

First Pic - Bois de Vincennes

Second Pic - food!

Third Pic - Hotel breakfast area

Fourth Pic - Sacre Coeur view at dusk

Paris Day 2

Our hotel was near two metros: Pigalle and Saint George. We got Carnet tickets from the ticket agent - note that they do not accept cash :confused:, but the ticket machines do.

Today was the day we went to Louvre. We pre-booked tickets - this is a must after seeing the lines (otherwise, without tickets, I would suggest trying to get admission tickets at the lower concourse level when you exit the metro).

With all of the popular tourist sites (in Paris and on the cruise ports), if you want to get inside without the lines, pre-buying the tickets is the way to go. We did not do so for any of the cruise ports as I felt it would be too rushed to see say, the Vatican Museums in two hours, and we didn't feel like climbing Pisa Tower etc.

When we entered the Louvre, we made a beeline for the Mona Lisa as I know that would be packed very soon, and if there's a room full of people, I won't be able to take a good picture (with all the hands/cameras in the way).

Spent 4 hours at the Louvre, but could have easily spent more, but we had lunch plans again with my mom's friend at Laduree.

Yea, lunch involved only desserts :cool: I later found out Laduree had a shop in Terminal 2A after security. They had an amazing tea that tasted very flowery and aromatic, which I was able to get at the airport (I hope I got the right one as I didn't catch the name of the tea).

Afternoon we went to Notre-Dame, again lines so we did not go in. And went to Sainte Chappelle and Conciergerie. Sainte Chappelle is beautiful with its stained glass windows. Conciergerie was a combined ticket - I did not think Conciergerie is a must-see.

We went back to the hotel and after dinner (I forgot where, must have not been that great), we headed out to Eiffel Tower. They have the lighting of the tower after sunset every hour on the hour for five minutes. But it was not the usual yellow colour, rather it's red, white and blue.

There were a ton of people trying to lure you in with the guess the ball is in which cup game/trap.

We headed back late to the hotel as sunset in Paris was really late in the summer, it was a busy day.

Attached Pics:

Pic 1 - Louvre

Pic 2 - Laduree "Lunch"

Pic 3 - Notre-Dame lines

Pic 4 - Sainte Chapelle

Pic 5 - Eiffel Tower looks weird at this angle, but it was the only way to show the red colour

Day 3 Paris

Today was a visit various gardens. We found out Ticket+ allows one transfer from metro --> metro, bus --> bus, metro --> train and vice versa, but not from bus --> metro. Which was confusing to me. And even more confusing, the Paris metro had no air conditioning even on the newer trains. And somehow, the metros stank of urine...:eek:

We saw Arc de Triomphe first, then headed to Tuileries Gardens. Then it's Opera Garnier and Luxembourg Gardens (which is very scenic and quiet in the morning). We then waited around for 4:30pm before heading to Musee D'Orsay (after 4:30pm the tickets were on sale).

Was a hot and humid day in Paris - I cannot believe Paris was as hot as Rome in the days we were there.

I found that most Parisians spoke better English than the French cities/towns we visited on the cruise, not surprising. As Canada is bilingual I did learn some French up to Grade 10, which I gave back to teacher.. It did allow me to ask directions but did not allow me to understand the directions received back from people...:confused:

Pics Attached:

Pic 1: Arc de Triomphe

Pic 2: Tuileries Gardens

Pic 3 & 4: Luxembourg Gardens

Pic 5: Opera Garnier

Paris Day 4

Today was a Versailles day. We again pre-booked tickets to Versailles, and a 9:30am private apartments tour (which I highly recommend as the tour guides are very good and took you to places where you normally would not be able to go).

Inside of taking RER to Versailles, our hotel recommended we take the Transilien from Gare Saint Lazare to Versailles Rive-Droite, this train is easier to take as it takes less than half the time than RER and costs about the same. And it's starts at Gare Saint Lazare and terminates at Versailles Rive-Droite. But again, no air conditioning on French trains.

Versailles Rive-Droite was about a 20 minute walk to the Versailles Chateau. We first took the private tour, then went to the public places in Versailles i.e. Hallway of Mirrors, King's Public Apartments.

Then we wandered the gardens before heading to the Le Grand Trianon, Le Petit Trianon and for the life of us, cannot find Hameau de la Reine - their maps left much to be desired. We got the Visite Pass which allowed us to enter the Grand Trianon. The Trianons were less busy than the main chateau and is also very scenic.

And so concludes our last day in Paris.

Attached Pics:

Pic 1 - main entrance to Versailles

Pic 2 - opera inside Versailles as part of the private tour

Pic 3 - Hallway of Mirrors

Pic 4 - Gardens

Pic 5 - Le Petit Trianon

Last Day and to the Airport

We took the metro from Pigalle to Gare du Nord, and took the RER to the Airport, total time was an hour, and it costs 10 euros pp. Still cheaper than the Air France Shuttle (18 euros pp) or the taxi at 50 euros.

Finally a flight that was not delayed, we got to Toronto 5 minutes early! I was starting to think our flights were cursed with delays or something. So lessons learned: Air Canada is better than Air Canada Rouge and I shall limit my Air Canada Rouge travels...

That looks similar to our Freestyle Daily. I just took a picture of the first page of ours...

Thanks SOOOOOO MUCH Seininya!!!! I'm going to read your review more thoroughly. The only question I can think of off the top of my head is...did you bother paying the $50 for the "posh" area I think it is called. And if so, was it worth it?

Thanks,

Cheryl

PS: sorry if you already discussed this...I'm going to read through it this weekend...with a few others so I can start planning planning planning!! :)

Thank you for your review. I am going to try and fit in the Ferris Wheel in Cannes. I am looking at private tours of Monaco and Ezeso which hopefully will leave time for the Ferris Wheel which is a must do for me and the DH.

Thanks SOOOOOO MUCH Seininya!!!! I'm going to read your review more thoroughly. The only question I can think of off the top of my head is...did you bother paying the $50 for the "posh" area I think it is called. And if so, was it worth it?

 

Thanks,

Cheryl

 

PS: sorry if you already discussed this...I'm going to read through it this weekend...with a few others so I can start planning planning planning!! :)

Hi Cheryl,

I did not bother paying for the $50 for the "posh" area. This is I believe the quieter area with lounge chairs? My parents and I were able to find lounge chairs (out of the sun) the two times we searched for it, and took a little nap on the chairs, it also depends where you search for the lounge chairs, the area by the pool is obviously very loud and full, but further away is pretty quiet. And I think if you're in Haven, you get access to it automatically (based on previous discussion board posts).

And to give you an idea on the number of people on our sailing, guest services had a sign up that said "no upgrades, sailing at full capacity":eek:

Thank you for your review. I am going to try and fit in the Ferris Wheel in Cannes. I am looking at private tours of Monaco and Ezeso which hopefully will leave time for the Ferris Wheel which is a must do for me and the DH.

No problem! The Ferris Wheel for us was unplanned. It's just I saw it when we headed towards the beach and tender area. I just told my parents let's go as it will provide amazing view of Cannes (and it did :cool:). The cost was 5 euros per person and they loop you around twice (I thought they would let us off after first loop and thought it wasn't very value for money then, but with two loops, seems worth it).

I did also want to go to Eze but parentals weren't as interested. I do think a private tour of Monaco and Eze would be good (especially Eze as public transport seems to be few and far between).

Thanks for the info it means we will be able to ride the Ferris Wheel. In Seattle the day before we took the Pearl to Alaska the DH and I took a ride on the Ferris Wheel. Since we are 65+ and 70+ and I am afraid of heights it means an excuse to hold hands (like we need one...lol) ;)

Hi this was a really informative review.

Can I ask did you need to book the Manhattan restaurant in advance or do they talk walk ups ?

Hi this was a really informative review.

Can I ask did you need to book the Manhattan restaurant in advance or do they talk walk ups ?

Hi Bluemooner,

We went to Manhattan twice, we did not need to pre-book Manhattan both times, they take walk ups. Also, they show the restaurants' availability every day on the TV screens by the elevators, generally the ones that are booked are busy are the speciality restaurants.

Hi Bluemooner,

 

We went to Manhattan twice, we did not need to pre-book Manhattan both times, they take walk ups. Also, they show the restaurants' availability every day on the TV screens by the elevators, generally the ones that are booked are busy are the speciality restaurants.

Thanks for the info !