EPIC 7-Night Mediterranean Rome Roundtrip - Photo Review!

I can't wait to read more!!

After checking out our staterooms, we headed to - where else - the buffet. It wasn't crowded at all (I think the lack of crowds in the Garden Café were thanks to the many port days). Rachel and Mom started discussing that there were already so many things that NCL just handled better than any other cruise line.

Like the silverware in the buffet. On Royal Caribbean, you pick it up out of a basket and then have to juggle it and your plate since they no longer provide trays. On Princess, they bring you silverware after you sit down at the table. Which in theory is a good idea, except the turnover rate in Horizon Court was so fast that they couldn't keep up during peak hours. So you'd sit there without any silverware and had to wait on the crew members to not only wipe down the tables, but bring you silverware and drinks. NCL, however, had the perfect solution. The "duh" to all other cruise lines. The wire basket for condiments on the table also has a space for napkin rolls. So when you're seated, the silverware is already on your table. The crew members walk around and refill baskets that are getting low on silverware. Never did I sit down at a table and say, "Oh I forgot my silverware!" Or even worse - "Where's the silverware?" If only our dining halls did this....

The food selection at the buffet is very good. In our opinion, their buffet food totally knocks the socks off of Royal Caribbean's and Princess's. The selection was comparable to that on the Carnival Dream (which was very good), but the circulation of the space was much improved (that was my biggest complaint of the Dream - circulation). It's also noteworthy that the Epic had scooped ice cream (and soft serve) available in the Garden Café at no additional charge. And, sorry Princess, but you do not have the best pizza at sea because NCL's totally topped yours. So of all of the cruise ships I've been on (excluding the Disney Magic... I was a young child and don't really remember the buffet except they had Mickey Mouse pancakes which were AWESOME), I give the Norwegian Epic the award for best buffet.

After lunch, we explored the ship a little.

First time cruising with boys...

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

Then the boys were ready to hit the bar. They contemplated purchasing the Ultimate Bar Package, but after seeing what all it excluded, they chose not to. They were also worried that if they paid upfront for alcohol that they'd feel like they needed to get their money's worth and be plastered all week.

First we headed to the Atrium Café, which is more like a coffee bar. We had a drink there and moved upstairs to O'Sheehans. This is where the boys met their favorite bartender who taught them the Loaded Corona, Max's "drink of the summer."

This is the bartender's creation, though, so if you want to try it out yourself, here's how it goes:

1. Get a Corona (or Corona Light if you wish)

2. Drink down the neck of the bottle

3. Fill with a shot (or more) of Bacardi Limon

4. Cover your thumb over the mouth and slowly turn the beer upside down, then right-side up (or if you have baby thumbs like me, you can use the palm of your hand as long as you keep a lot of pressure on it)

5. Enjoy!

Sounds deadly, right? Well, it is extremely loaded. If you are a 6'+, 240lb+ male, three or four of these and you'll be feeling really good. :D

Am I the only one who after reading this in the first post

I knew that my family had invited my boyfriend to join us on our Mediterranean cruise a long time ago, and I learned that Rachel's boyfriend would also be joining us (which made the cabin arrangements much easier).

expected a different cabin arrangement?

But great review so far.

Am I the only one who after reading this in the first post

 

expected a different cabin arrangement?

 

But great review so far.

I'm not sure what you mean. But if it was only Max by himself, we wouldn't want him to have to pay for his own cabin (this was before I had even looked at the Epic, so I wasn't thinking about studio cabins)... though he is a working man, now (didn't know that when we were first planning our cruise, either!). So if it was just Max and the family, I didn't know if he'd be sleeping on the couch in the room with Rachel and me or if he'd room with my dad and Rachel and I would room with our mom.

If you meant that you thought we'd be sharing cabins with our boyfriends.... you must keep in mind that we are a very southern family. ;)

Am I the only one who after reading this in the first post

 

 

 

expected a different cabin arrangement?

 

But great review so far.

No you weren't the only one. :eek:

But then again i am british :D

Great review so far - haven't tried NCL myself but now I'm thinking about it.

I saw your 4 night review of the solo suites and the shower makes a bit of sense to save room. But am I seeing it correctly that the showers in the regular staterooms are very similar in that they are just in the corner of the room and not in a "bathroom" per-say? Kind of surprises me with it right next to the door of the stateroom. What were your opinions of it?

After checking out our staterooms, we headed to - where else - the buffet. It wasn't crowded at all (I think the lack of crowds in the Garden Café were thanks to the many port days). Rachel and Mom started discussing that there were already so many things that NCL just handled better than any other cruise line.

 

Like the silverware in the buffet. On Royal Caribbean, you pick it up out of a basket and then have to juggle it and your plate since they no longer provide trays. On Princess, they bring you silverware after you sit down at the table. Which in theory is a good idea, except the turnover rate in Horizon Court was so fast that they couldn't keep up during peak hours. So you'd sit there without any silverware and had to wait on the crew members to not only wipe down the tables, but bring you silverware and drinks. NCL, however, had the perfect solution. The "duh" to all other cruise lines. The wire basket for condiments on the table also has a space for napkin rolls. So when you're seated, the silverware is already on your table. The crew members walk around and refill baskets that are getting low on silverware. Never did I sit down at a table and say, "Oh I forgot my silverware!" Or even worse - "Where's the silverware?" If only our dining halls did this....

 

The food selection at the buffet is very good. In our opinion, their buffet food totally knocks the socks off of Royal Caribbean's and Princess's. The selection was comparable to that on the Carnival Dream (which was very good), but the circulation of the space was much improved (that was my biggest complaint of the Dream - circulation). It's also noteworthy that the Epic had scooped ice cream (and soft serve) available in the Garden Café at no additional charge. And, sorry Princess, but you do not have the best pizza at sea because NCL's totally topped yours. So of all of the cruise ships I've been on (excluding the Disney Magic... I was a young child and don't really remember the buffet except they had Mickey Mouse pancakes which were AWESOME), I give the Norwegian Epic the award for best buffet.

 

After lunch, we explored the ship a little.

 

First time cruising with boys...

 

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Then the boys were ready to hit the bar. They contemplated purchasing the Ultimate Bar Package, but after seeing what all it excluded, they chose not to. They were also worried that if they paid upfront for alcohol that they'd feel like they needed to get their money's worth and be plastered all week.

 

First we headed to the Atrium Café, which is more like a coffee bar. We had a drink there and moved upstairs to O'Sheehans. This is where the boys met their favorite bartender who taught them the Loaded Corona, Max's "drink of the summer."

 

This is the bartender's creation, though, so if you want to try it out yourself, here's how it goes:

 

1. Get a Corona (or Corona Light if you wish)

2. Drink down the neck of the bottle

3. Fill with a shot (or more) of Bacardi Limon

4. Cover your thumb over the mouth and slowly turn the beer upside down, then right-side up (or if you have baby thumbs like me, you can use the palm of your hand as long as you keep a lot of pressure on it)

5. Enjoy!

 

Sounds deadly, right? Well, it is extremely loaded. If you are a 6'+, 240lb+ male, three or four of these and you'll be feeling really good. :D

I'm so glad you were so positive about the food on NCL! I was on a thread a little while ago where everyone was saying how terrible the food was - and I was thinking but....but....but...:confused: Without a doubt NCL's food was the best I've tried on any line! Glad to know you concur.

What a fun review!

I can't wait to hear the rest :)

What a great review. Thank you so much. We are booked on the epic July 10 out of Rome in the same cabin. 13282. Our children will be in connecting cabin 13280.I hope they do connect on that side. We were told they connect. But now I am a little worried that they only connect between 13282 and 13284.was there a connecting door on the side where cabin 13280 was?

Can't wait to read the rest.

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

Thanks for sharing. We will be on the Epic in July. Glad to hear about the food, since I would rather save the money for excursions.

I'm not sure why some people feel the need to try to drag everyone else into their own moral viewpoint--not really appropriate for this thread.

What a great review. Thank you so much. We are booked on the epic July 10 out of Rome in the same cabin. 13282. Our children will be in connecting cabin 13280.I hope they do connect on that side. We were told they connect. But now I am a little worried that they only connect between 13282 and 13284.was there a connecting door on the side where cabin 13280 was?

Can't wait to read the rest.

 

Sent from my KFJWI using Tapatalk HD

Don't worry - I was wrong on my parents' cabin number! It was 13280, not 13284 - my bad! Your children will be in the connecting cabin.

Great review so far - haven't tried NCL myself but now I'm thinking about it.

 

I saw your 4 night review of the solo suites and the shower makes a bit of sense to save room. But am I seeing it correctly that the showers in the regular staterooms are very similar in that they are just in the corner of the room and not in a "bathroom" per-say? Kind of surprises me with it right next to the door of the stateroom. What were your opinions of it?

The shower was out in the open, but it was frosted, so you really couldn't see anything. You could pull a curtain between the bathroom space and the rest of the room if you wanted. The toilet area was also frosted glass which is kind of weird, but it didn't really bother us. We never had an issue with people at the door while someone's in the shower, but I did note how that could be a problem.

Alright, now that everyone has had the opportunity to analyze our sleeping arrangements (The reality is, that's the way the rooms came set up, and we didn't have any problem with it - you also might note that my family is the "perfect" family of 4, so when traveling, sharing a queen or double bed is the norm for my sister and me.), let's get back to our not-so-regularly scheduled TR.

Muster was only for guests embarking in Rome. They called us all in the Epic theater and explained how we would muster in our zones, showed us how to put on the life jacket, sounded the siren. Then our assistant cruise director, Richard, gave us a slideshow presentation with facts about the ship.

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

I think we also could've connected our balcony with our parents' because there was a door between ours, but we never bothered to ask the stateroom attendant to do it.

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

Thanks, Little Miss, I thought that might be the case. Your review is wonderful, I actually feel as though I am taking the cruise twice - once with your family and in July again with mine! keep the pics and commentary coming!

muster in the air conditioned theater ! woohoo - I knew embarking in Rome was a good idea!

enjoying your review and photos.

can you give me information on the rental apt... I will have my adult kids with me and their sig. others so there will be 6 of us also... if you could even email me here at cruise critic i would appreciate it.. thank you

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

We decided to go the more casual restaurant, Taste, because the guys didn't feel like putting on pants (and myself heels) - kind of nice to have that option, actually. There was a wait, so we were given a buzzer and vouchers for champagne from the bar. Nice!

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

May 8, 2013 by vshingl, on Flickr

The next day, we arrived in the port of Livorno. I had booked us a private tour with Rome in Limo, a company highly recommended on these boards.

I was already hearing the gripes of Rachel, Max, and Alec about having another tour. They really aren't fans of tours.

Our tour guide, Giovanni, suggested we go to Pisa first and climb the tower. He said if we headed there now, we would beat the crowds. We were on our way when Dad remembered that he forgot the vouchers for the Accademia tickets he had pre-purchased. Our tour guide stopped and called the Accademia to see if he could get more vouchers to print out. He had them email him new vouchers and he printed them while we were in Pisa.

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Alec spotted the Lamborghini police car below -

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Totally enjoying your review! We'll be going in August . . keep the information coming! Arriving on Sunday before the cruse. We're thinking of taking the train to Venice. Would this be reasonable?

Love your reviews, keep it coming! The promo videos for Breakaway have me debating giving NCL a try. Will be interested to see your overall comparison.

I think it's actually more difficult to walk down the tower than it is to walk up.

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Boy, are these shots a pain to line up!

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa by vshingl, on Flickr

Next came something of pure timing luck - a Lamborghini parade through Pisa! The boys were ecstatic. I believe it was the highlight of their vacation.

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr

Pisa Lambo Parade by vshingl, on Flickr