Epic in the Med--First-timer impressions

A bit about us, so you get the flavor of where we’re coming from. We’re Midwesterners and this was our big 25th anniversary getaway. We’ve done very little travel without the kids the past 19 years. She said "let's go to Europe", but we weren’t confident to make our own arrangements entirely. This was a first cruise ever for both of us, my first trip to southern Europe, her first trip to Europe. I found this itinerary, and chose it based on it being places we wanted to see. Our main interests when we travel, with this trip especially, are more about history & culture than fun, games, or shopping—so YMMV.

I had Two MAJOR Disappointments on this cruise: the first when we had to leave the ship in Barcelona, and the second the next day, leaving Barcelona to fly home. :(

But other than this, it was a great vacation for us—one we’ve waited a long time for, and hopefully won’t be putting off as long again.

I had one minor disappointment: the quality of the everyday coffee on the ship just isn’t up to my home standards. We also experienced one “glitch” with the ship that was inconvenient, and took almost two days to resolve—a malfunctioning phone in our room. This prevented us from getting a wakeup call on an excursion morning, prevented friends from contacting us, and also prevented room service from contacting us prior to bringing breakfast. NCL’s staff was reasonably responsive, even lending out a spare portable phone, but we had some anxious moments because of it.

As far as topics usually addressed here--In general food was great (except the coffee). Quality was better than we expected, with good variety and quality even in Taste and Garden café. It was especially nice to be able to order more than one appetizer apiece! For the specialty restaurants, the quality of Le Bistro befitted a special night out, and La Cuchina was much like our local Italian establishments in service and food quality as well.

“Nickel and diming”—we were well prepared to pay the extra cover charges for the food, drink and treat options we chose, as well as the daily service charges and automatic gratuities. But here’s one we weren’t expecting—Spanish VAT (value added tax). (“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition”?) Although one can get refunds for this on items purchased on board over a certain amount (~$90 for you big jewelry shoppers), be prepared for yet another additional 8% on drinks and restaurant charges over the above. I expect to hear more outcry on this forum about this issue, as it kind of appeared out of nowhere to us. But I wouldn’t say it slowed us down or changed our plans. We didn’t buy any spa services, nor do we gamble, so that wasn’t an issue.

Layout—a true open air jogging track would be nice, and I think we would have enjoyed a true promenade deck in the late evenings if it existed. Hopefully that will be fixed on the new ships in process. We had minor problems keeping aware of our location at times—we got the port and starboard thing thanks to the color codes, but we had the dangedest time remembering what features were fore and aft sometimes! Somehow I got it stuck in my head the first day that Garden Café was in the back, and I was screwed up the rest of the week!

Smoking—honestly we were more bothered by this on the streets of Barcelona than on the ship, and we’re pretty sensitive to it. Occasionally we’d catch a whiff of someone smoking below or forward of us on our balcony, but nothing more than a whiff. Even walking through the casino, it would be briefly noticeable, but gone once we moved on.

Entertainment—as I said, we usually aren’t big on the song and dance. We did take in Blue Man, which was a fun diversion, enjoyed a set of Slam Allen, and occasionally stopped to listen in on other live music around the ship. We also took in the short ~45 min performance of the Spanish Ballet, which was colorful and energetic, but seemed poorly suited for the Headliners space. We passed on Cirque, Legends, and Stephen Sorrentino, and unfortunately didn’t manage to get to a Howl at the Moon engagement.

Itinerary and ports—other than Palma, there’s not much to be said for the immediate ports of call—Livorno, Civitavecchia, and Naples are all huge industrial ports. Interesting to watch, but mostly something to get away from as quickly as possible. One thing we noticed, especially in Rome, was how overwhelmingly crowded these places get with 3-4 cruise ships in port at once. In Italy we docked next to Carnival Magic every day, and their 4000 guests seemed to want to be in all the same places as our 4000 guests. Might have been nice if there was some effort to stagger their timetables, but that might be collusion or something.

All in all we loved the ship, and especially loved Barcelona as a home port. The final night of our cruise was the big Manchester United vs. Barcelona European Cup match, which NCL valiantly worked to get up on the big screens in Spice H2O and the Atrium. Even with a choppy signal, it was exciting—and Mrs. Quercus and I got a special bonus! Hanging out in Barcelona the next afternoon, we noticed streams of people headed for one of the main avenues near our hotel. We followed the sea of fans wearing the familiar red and blue stripes and were lucky enough to get caught up in the Victory Parade as the team came through town in a pair of tourist buses. What a great spectacle! I just enjoyed taking pictures of all the kids who had turned up in team colors to worship their heroes. It really summed up the energy and vitality of that city. More about Barcelona in my daily chronicles—but it was a great experience.

Enough for one post...just got home, need to unpack, and oh yeah…back to work tomorrow…

Thanks for a great post.

This is great - keep it coming as we're doing this itinerary in August (can't wait!) and would love to know more :)

We go a week on friday and can not wait.. .can you clarify the 8% tax i am confused....

Thanks for the review. You certainly went big for your first cruise. :)

The 8% VAT is added (I assume) since they're sailing out of a European port. I should have known it was coming having lived in Europe previously, but the first time it showed up on a receipt it did catch me by surprise. We didn't bother with the paperwork to try and recoup it since we didn't spend much onboard during the 4-day trip.

I'm curious what your experience was debarking. We found getting off the ship was a breeze, though we did leave as late as we possibly could have.

Thanks for the review. You certainly went big for your first cruise. :)

 

The 8% VAT is added (I assume) since they're sailing out of a European port. I should have known it was coming having lived in Europe previously, but the first time it showed up on a receipt it did catch me by surprise. We didn't bother with the paperwork to try and recoup it since we didn't spend much onboard during the 4-day trip.

 

I'm curious what your experience was debarking. We found getting off the ship was a breeze, though we did leave as late as we possibly could have.

Disembarking was no problem at all--except that we had to because our cruise was over! THAT was my big disappointment...

OK, I can understand that disappointment. We have the same one after every cruise. :)

It's almost as lovely to hear your comments on our cruise as it was to meet you both! As you might expect, we mostly share your opinions and are looking forward to hearing more.

Thanks for your awesome review. I have two questions- were there many children on board and what time did you disembark? I am thinking about taking my 13 and 9 year old sons on this cruise next fall. I have also wanted to cruise the Med and think my children may finally be old enough to appreciate some of it.

Very happy to read it all went well.

Thanks for the European review....we loved the Epic and have to admit the coffee on the Epic much more palatable than on other cruiselines...even other NCL ships.. Coffee on cruise ships is not one of their strong suits....

Im glad you had a great time...

Thanks for the review!

Does the 8% VAT only apply to the Spannish waters or during the whole cruise?

Thanks for the review!

 

Does the 8% VAT only apply to the Spanish waters or during the whole cruise?

I just got the Welcome Aboard-folder, EU edition, and on page 19 it says:

"Please note that in order to comply with Spanish tax regulations we are required to charge Spanish VAT on applicable retail items purchased on board on cruises from/to Barcelona as well as on all other cruises whilst the ship is in Spanish waters."

My interpretation of this is that med. itineraries embarking from Barcelona imply an 8% Spanish VAT on all applicable purchases throughout the cruise, whilst other itineraries visiting but not starting or ending in Barcelona will only be hit by this tax while actually inside Spanish waters.

This came as a surprise to me as well; living in Norway, where there are steep taxes for everything, this one is new to me. I went on a cruise embarking from Oslo, Norway, last year, and RCCL did not charge Norwegian VAT (up to 25%) for anything bought on-board. Norway is luckily not a member of the EU, by the way :)

My family are embarking on the June 19th cruise on Epic - can't wait to head south!

Cruise Day Zero--As I said above, it’s been awhile since we've traveled. I haven’t left North America since 1982, and none of my domestic flights have been long on amenities. So I was pleasantly surprised by our experience in coach on a Delta non-stop MSP to Paris flight—blankets & pillows provided, complimentary wine & beer, not so much of the “packed-in” feeling. We got to Paris in the AM, had time for espresso and a croissant, and transferred to a short Air France flight to BCN.

When we got to Barcelona we we cabbed straight to the 3-star Regencia Colon we had booked. "It's your lucky day!" the desk clerk greeted us. They were overbooked, and moved us to the neighboring (across the narrow street) 4-star Colon. Both hotels have a wonderful location and classy staff. Clean, comfortable, safe, relatively quiet for a badly needed night’s sleep, but also a fine base for exploring the city. Room wasn’t ready at first, so we stored our luggage and went in search of a drink. Didn’t have to look far, had a beer & tapas down the street. Felt insecure a bit as we’d heard the horror stories of thievery and we were still carrying around a lot of stuff that we would normally have left in the room safe. Nevertheless, got safely back to the hotel, got in a hour’s nap and went back out, travelling much lighter. We decided to take the Runnerbean “free” walking tour that met at 4:30 in Plaza Real. Had no trouble finding them and enjoyed the Gothic Quarter tour. (They also have a Gaudi tour at the same time.) We needed the 2 hours of walking, and had a very pleasant, knowledgeable, and enjoyable guide.

After the tour we went in search of dinner (one doesn’t have to look far for food, mind you—but DW had her mind set on a couple of Catalan dishes our guide had mentioned, and we had to read a lot of menus before we found a café that exactly fit). There was a constant stream of street musicians asking for tips, but they weren’t too pushy. After dinner we figured out the Metro route to get to Plaza Espana to see the Magic Fountain show. Here we met a snag—there was an auto show going on, and the route through the square to Montjuic was barricaded. Guards kept directing us “around—up there”, and it took some faith and determination to keep climbing the side streets until we came out at quite some distance above the fountain. Had nice views of the city, but were a bit disappointed that the music was right out of the Disney songbook. We’d done Orlando with the kids last year! Made our way back down, successfully found our way back to the hotel via Metro, and went to sleep.

Day 1--Sunday morning--Embarkation Day. We slept until 10, and not having to check out until noon, walked down to the Ramblas and had a morning snack, then came back and watched the dancers in the square for awhile. A quick cab ride to the Moll Adossat, and there was the Epic waiting for us. We were arriving about 2 pm, so the early rush was over and check-in was quick and smooth. We were also able to go right up to our cabin, though our bags weren’t there quite yet. Our steward, Marissa, met us immediately and urged us up to the Garden Café for lunch. I didn’t think it was too crowded, but my wife was a bit turned off by a couple of folks who weren’t paying attention to others around them. We walked around the pool area a little, then sat up on the Deck 18 sundeck to call home one last time before putting the phones in airplane mode. We explored some more and found our muster drill location—the Martini Bar—more about that later! Got there a few minutes before the drill was announced, so stayed through that.

We returned to our stateroom, on Deck 13, a “Family Balcony” (B3)—“family” by virtue of having the ability to connect to the neighboring room, I think. Enough has been said here about the cabin style—we were not surprised or disappointed. Sink, shower, toilet, bed were all as advertised and none of them posed any problems for us. Thank you Cruise Critic for your excellent advice about bringing an outlet strip, though! Moving around each other to unpack was a bit challenging, but there was plenty of living space for two, and it was great to sit on our balcony. Suddenly we noticed that we were moving! We could hear the party music above, but we were comfortable where we were and quietly watched Barcelona recede behind us. What to do now? We decided to start off with Le Bistro. I called down for a reservation, which was dutifully taken—though after we’d freshened up and walked down, it was clear that there was no need for it. The restaurant was less than a quarter filled. Our waiter, Avlon, was quick to welcome us and told us to order as many appetizers as we wanted. OK—possible mistake. Everything looked so good! We had escargot and and onion soup and grilled asparagus and the filled cornets and WAY more butter than we usually eat in a month. And our entrees hadn’t arrived yet! The beef filet was absolutely heavenly, we also had the swordfish loin, and were almost too stuffed for dessert. But we weren’t going to let the crème brule go unsampled. I was excited to see the French press coffee pots coming out with dessert but…yuk. Either not a good roast or not steeped long enough or something. It was way below expectations. I mentioned it to the Serbian Assistant Maitre’d and she looked horrified---wanted to make me a new pot—but we were really done with dinner by that point, and I wasn’t going to belabor the point. We managed to make it up to bed to settle in for our first night at sea. Neither of us had ever slept on a ship before so there was some disequilibrium that night. Between that and all the butter and the jet lag, we had a somewhat restless night, but the bed was comfy. Our first cruise was well underway.

It's almost as lovely to hear your comments on our cruise as it was to meet you both! As you might expect, we mostly share your opinions and are looking forward to hearing more.

Great to spend time with you guys too! Please drop me an email or FB request so we can share pictures soon--once I get them organized.

Day 2--Sea Day. We slept in, then decided we wanted exercise. I went up to Pulse to use the treadmill, while she went to the Deck 7 track. I enjoyed seeing a few dolphins below me as I jogged—can’t do that in Minnesota! I went up to the pool deck to cool down and noticed that there were no lines on the Plunge. Well what the heck—my jogging shorts will dry. Had a quick cooling slide down the giant--umm, drain-- then went back to shower for brunch. We decided to pay for some upcharge coffee at the Atrium Cafe and then it was time for our Meet & Greet! After that we walked around awhile, then enjoyed a short nap. I went to the martini tasting and had a GREAT time--had to desperately call my wife to come down to help me finish the sweeter offerings, then we staggered to Manhattan for a quick dinner before Blue Man Group. It was “Dress up or not Night”, and we chose Not, but I had on shorts and was turned away. We were going to try Taste, but they weren’t opening for another half hour, and we had the show coming up. I dashed up to the cabin and switched into khakis so we were deemed presentable for Manhattan. After Blue Man, we went to O’Sheehans for our postponed dessert before ending this relaxed day at sea.

Day 3—Docked at Livorno. Here’s where we discovered the glitch with our phone, so after waiting too long for our ordered room service breakfast, we dashed to the Garden Café for a quick continental breakfast and hurried to rendezvous with the other 3 couples we were travelling to Florence with. We’d decided to skip Pisa, and found out about “Share a Shore Excursion in Italy” through our roll call. I set up a “Florence on your own” round trip, and the others joined online. Our driver was a cute older man—a competent driver, but not all that fluent. It was clear from the pre-trip communications with this company that we should not expect a guide, just a driver, and he was fine for that—dropped us off at the Doumo at about 9:30 (ahead of many of the tour buses), agreed to pick us up there at 3:30, and off we all went. Mrs. Q and I decided to climb the dome, and in Rick Steeves’ guide I’d read about a “Terraces of the Cathedral” tour for just a few Euros more (It’s 8 to enter and climb vs 15 to take this tour). You have to go to the Duomo Museum to purchase the tickets, and it’s limited to about 20 or so people. For the extra Euros, we skipped the lines, got a petite, “geeky cute” guide to show us all the details of the cathedral, and got to go on some scary exterior terraces (NOT for the acrophobic!) on our way to the interior dome climb. Great views all the way around. After this we hurried over to the Accademia to see the David, --had bought advance reservations online, so didn’t exactly skip the line, but did get into the shorter line. After that we strolled our way to the Arno and found a café for lunch. Had just enough time to pick up a gelato on our way back to the van, and our day in Florence was over. Giancarlo got us back to the ship in good time, and I hit the slides and hot tub again for a quick cool off. We met two of our new Roll Call friends for dinner at Taste and a great time was had by all. Before going to bed we decided to try placing another room service order, though the phone was still not working. I went to Guest Services and they lent us a “handy phone” for the night and promised to get it fixed in the morning.

Day 4—Rome. Well this morning our breakfast arrived with a knock on the door before our wakeup call or alarm. Phone still glitchy, so let the steward & guest services know. We ate on our balcony overlooking the industrial port of Civitavecchia. Our daughter texted us, so we called her back and gloated about the delivery of our breakfast. “You suck”, she says. We know she’s just jealous. When we get home we’ll show her how it’s done so she can start bringing it out to us on the deck every morning. Our roll call had worked out another private tour for Rome today, this time with “YourTourInItaly.com”. They sent a very gentlemanly, formal driver/guide, Peter, for the trip to Rome. We started out at the Coliseum, and started our process of navigating the crowds of tourists. My wife gets approached by a muscular Roman in a gladiator uniform, who talks her into posing for pictures. Yeah it’s a scam, but she’s getting attention from a suave and handsome Italian, so we hand over a few Euros for the privilege of being shamelessly flattered. We stopped a random tourist couple to ask for a picture of our own, and found out they were also from Minnesota—cruising on the Carnival Magic, also in port. Everywhere we went that day was crowded. Peter did a great job of getting us around side streets, stopping off to tell us historical details—he was an accountant, but obviously knowledgeable about his city, and with pride. He showed us the Forum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, arranged a nice lunch spot, and finally dropped us off at the Vatican. Here we were met by Dennis, another guide who led us through the throngs to the Sistine chapel and St. Peter’s. It was incredibly crowded. With only 8 we could move a bit more easily—I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like in some of the groups of 30+ we saw with guides. It was nice to get out of there—even if we emerged into some light rain. Peter met us again for the drive back to the ship. We decided to do Taste again. It seemed a bit noisier there this night, but food was fine. We decided to skip dessert there, but checked out the ice cream in the Garden Café and took another quiet walk around the pool deck. There was a pretty good 60s tribute band playing in Spice H2O to a very small crowd, but it was actually a bit cool up on deck.

Day 5—Naples. Phone works! Breakfast is on time! Coffee is still lackluster! But we’re going to Positano and Pompeii today. I eat breakfast in the shadow of Vesuvius. How cool is that? We’d arranged with another group of eight to tour with “YourTourInItaly.com” again. We meet on time and proceed out of the terminal together, but oops—no driver. Fortunately other groups had YTII drivers, who called our guy and confirmed he was on the way. He was worth the (short) wait. Dominic weaves us through the traffic to Sorrento, where I FINALLY get the perfect café Americano. My brain works again! We slip into a deli and buy a quarter-kilo of local ground coffee to brew in our room for the rest of the cruise. Dominic drives us along the breathtaking Amalfi coast, with another shopping stop in Positano and a family style lunch at Ristorante La Tagliata, with lots of wine and limoncello. My dear wife is struggling a bit with motion sickness—driving on hills is far worse than wave motion for her—but even she is enjoying the day. After lunch we head to the Pompeii ruins, and just as we arrive—downpour. Fortunately it only lasts a few minutes, and actually it’s a bit of a relief to cool off the afternoon. We tour the ruins with another private guide, again surrounded by lots of larger groups being led in many different languages. All in all, I think this was my favorite day—the company of cruise critic friends, coffee, and being in a place that’s fascinated me since childhood. We head back to the ship in another shower, but rain brings rainbows, and there’s one off the starboard bow as we leave port. I have time to jacuzzi my tired legs before we meet up with our group again at Taste for another fun dinner of socializing. After that we catch Slam Allen at Fat Cats and end another intense day of touring.

I think I’ll add that these were three amazingly busy days in port. I’m glad we did the small tours—in groups of eight they’re less expensive than the ship’s tours, and I think you see more with less stress than with the big groups. I know that we never would have done these without the input and reviews on this board though—so thanks again cruise critic! I also have become an undying fan of Freestyle. I can’t imagine having to return from days like this and have to put on a tie, or wait for my DW to get ready with her formal gown or whatever. I so enjoyed being able to show up when and where we wanted, eat what we wanted, and do what we wanted.

(Well--I'll try to finish this up tomorrow--the clock says 9, but the body says 4 AM!)

Why do you put your phone in airplane mode?

Why do you put your phone in airplane mode?

Because when the ship is out of port, the cell service goes up to $2.49/min, as opposed to the $0.99/min charged on our international roaming plan.

Thanks for your awesome review. I have two questions- were there many children on board and what time did you disembark? I am thinking about taking my 13 and 9 year old sons on this cruise next fall. I have also wanted to cruise the Med and think my children may finally be old enough to appreciate some of it.

There were some, but not a huge number of kids on this sailing--maybe too early for school holidays most places? What kids there were seemed pretty normally behaved.

For boys 13 & 9--depends on the kids, and you know their interests best. Our 9 & 6 y/o boys would probably not have tolerated all the hustle & bustle of the shore excursions, and would've just hung out at the pools & slides all day*, though I imagine they would've enjoyed Pompeii and the castle in Palma. I know I would've approached the cruise differently if we'd had them along--but we didn't plan the cruise for them this time! ;)

*Now that I think about it--they would really LOVE the Epic itself, I think. I'd definitely cruise this ship with them, just probably not this itinerary.

Thank you for the details in this review. I still have 15 months until we cruise the Med on the Epic, and I've been waiting for these kind of details. Interestingly enough, it will be my first cruise and European trip, too, to celebrate milestone birthdays, so your perspective is right on point for me. My Traveling Companion is a seasoned cruiser and traveler but I'm the more compulsive planner of the two. (She gets a kick out of my hour-by-hour spreadsheet plans that we never seem to use.)

How easy was it to arrange to be part of a group of 8? Did you do that through the various tour companies or through CC?

And also, I was curious about your choice of Delta. I've been trying to figure out how to choose (there are many options from the East Coast where we live), and while planning on traveling coach, price won't be the only deciding factor.

Thanks again for the positive and informative review. Can't wait to hear the rest.

We stayed at the Hotel Colon on our pre-cruise night in Barcelona and were also upgraded to the fancier digs on the night we returned from the cruise. I thought the location was fantastic, the Cathedral is gorgeous and the proximity to so much food and fun was superb. I am still thinking about a bakery down the street behind the Cathedral :)

Because when the ship is out of port, the cell service goes up to $2.49/min, as opposed to the $0.99/min charged on our international roaming plan.

And I am most definitely not paying to download my usual tweets and facebook etc every few minutes. I will be turning mine to airplane mode at Heathrow and back on again when I come home. If I am needed urgently those who need to know will know how to contact me, otherwise it can all wait until I am home.

There were some, but not a huge number of kids on this sailing--maybe too early for school holidays most places? What kids there were seemed pretty normally behaved.

 

UK kids are off school all this week and then go back until mid/end of July for those who may be interested. The July holiday is 6 weeks until early September.

...How easy was it to arrange to be part of a group of 8? Did you do that through the various tour companies or through CC?

 

And also, I was curious about your choice of Delta. I've been trying to figure out how to choose (there are many options from the East Coast where we live), and while planning on traveling coach, price won't be the only deciding factor. ...

The tours were suggested on our roll call thread. Various people took the initiative to set them up and it seemed like groups of 8 quickly filled. YourTourInItaly.com and ShareAShoreExcursionInItaly.com were most common, though RomeInLimo was also suggested.

"Choosing" Delta is a matter of semantics when it comes to MSP, as they occupy the vast majority of our gates. :rolleyes: That said, I've been mostly OK with their service the few times a year that I fly.