An EPIC Spring Break 3/10-3/17

We returned from our trip yesterday, incredibly tired! We were home by 11:30am (we live in South Florida). I immediately climbed in to bed and napped until 2:30pm. Never have I been so tired from a vacation. Now I know what people mean when they say they need a vacation from their vacation.

My husband and I are both in our late 20s, we've traveled on a variety of cruise lines, with Royal Caribbean being our preferred line. DH has been eyeing the Epic since it came out. Secretly I was too ;) So we finally made it happen. I booked this one in January 2011 during a promotion that came with a nice amount of OBC and a free upgrade. My booking was also part of a "group" and therefore we were able to score even more OBC. This came in handy as we did spend considerably more than we ever would have on a cruise.

Cabin

We had a Category BB “Wave” cabin with the bed near the “bathroom” and the couch near the balcony. It was mid ship on port side. First cabin on the bump out. We had a huge space in the hall in front of our cabin because of the design of the ship and bump. There is a TON of storage in these rooms. Both of our suitcases fit under the bed as we try to do on every other cruise. The bathroom set-up was not a big deal for us. We just pulled the curtain when one of us needed privacy. The shower was big compared to other cruise line showers. The balcony was perfect, as we’re usually “insiders.” The only thing that didn’t make sense to us was that the couch was wasted space. It became a dumping ground for souvenir bags and laying out clothes to wear. You could not see the TV from it, we had to sit in bed to watch any TV. I loved everything about the location of our cabin except the long walk from the stairs/elevators. Really it wasn't a big deal because it helped us burn off an extra calorie here and there!

Dining

We were excited for Freestlye cruising. After all was said and done my DH said he felt so relaxed not having to dress up for dinner every night in the regular dining room. We never had a food issue in any of the places we ate. Everything was hot, edible, and flavorful. It was nice to see a menu that was different (I think I have RCI menus memorized at this point).

Manhattan Room

Eh, it was loud which poses a problem for my husband. He wears a Cochlear Implant and therefore any background noise is picked up and basically makes conversation next to impossible. There was a 40 minute wait at 7:30pm on night one. Which wasn't a big deal for us because we figured that was going to be the popular dining time. Service was fast and food was good.

Taste

We ate here once for breakfast, two times for lunch and three times for dinner. The lunch menu doesn't change, but that's okay because I was able to eat my yummy Cheesesteak Sandwich both times. :)

Every time we ate dinner we went right at 5:30 because we either had a show or some other appointment to make. This worked out well, it was never busy at this time. Service was fast, friendly, personal and yummy! I think the deserts are lacking chocolate choices. Seemed to be a lot of repetition of pies, custards, etc. I overheard many people complaining that the dinner menu didn't change, when in actuality it did. The right side never changes, but the left changes daily.

O'Sheehans

I'm pretty sure we ate here more than any other place. The wings were to die for :) I had the mild ones because I have been fighting an ulcer for over a year. They had just enough flavor and a tad bit of sweetness to them to make them delicious. Over the course of the week we tried almost everything on the menu. No matter what we ordered I always had some wings and DH always had a brownie sundae. I think we ate here 6 times between lunches, snacks, and late night munchies.

Cirque Dreams & Dinner

We purchased the Premium Seats because everyone said that the balcony seats were the ones that provided the best view. The line to get in to the Cirque Tent was already around the corner an hour and a half before the show! That being said we were still able to get balcony seats. In the end, I wish we had the Premium Seats on the floor. I found myself standing up frequently just to see the action down below. Only 15% of the show is aerial, the rest was on the floor. I enjoyed the show, I love acrobatics and aerial stunts. What I found to be distracting was balancing the show and eating my meal! I wanted to see the show but I didn't want my food to get cold.

Moderno

Yum! So much food, but it was so yummy. This is the "meat lovers" paradise. We were seated in a quiet corner. This made conversation easier for us. It was pretty packed that night. I have a slight obsession with Brazillian Cheese Bread now. Thankfully there is a Brazilian Bakery in walking distance from my house. I went there yesterday after my nap just to buy a few :)

La Cucina

We decided last minute to make a reservation here because it was only $10 a person. I loved the ambiance, my meal was alright. I think it was simply what I ordered, because my appetizer and DH's meal was great. I loved the bread with olives in it.

Garden Cafe

I think this is the largest buffet I've ever seen on a cruise ship. There was plenty of variety. A few things changed from day to day. Everything we tried was good, some even better than dining room food. My only disappointment was that on some days they were serving Breakfast until 11:59am. I despise Cruise Ship breakfasts, the eggs are always gross and I end up eating croissants and chocolate filled pastries.

Entertainment

Blue Man Group

We loved this show. We had reservations for the first night at 10pm. I had no idea what we were in for because we have never seen a BMG show before, just heard of them. It was so much fun! Later in the week we went to the Men Behind the Blue and met the guys and one of the musicians. After sitting through the event we signed up for another show for the last night. So we started and ended our trip with BMG.

The Second City

Honestly, we were completely underwhelmed by this. We went to a 7pm show toward the end of the week and though that maybe it wasn’t good because it was more “family friendly.” So we signed up for an 11pm show the following day and it was even less interesting than the family show. I guess situational comedy just isn’t our thing.

White Hot Party

We had a lot of fun this night. We aren’t big drinkers but this was the night that we chose to have a few and enjoy the night. I think we made our way back to our cabin by 2:30am. Interestingly the “adults” fizzled out of Spice H2O by 1ish. All the teenagers were left behind. We didn’t care though, we kept dancing and enjoying ourselves because the music was good. We wandered over to Bliss where the “after party” was being held. But they were only playing Latin music and I can only handle so much of that stuff before it just gets old. I like when there is a good variety of music instead of a DJ sticking to one particular genre.

Svedka Ice Bar

I have been in an ice bar once before. There is one in Orlando not too far from Universal Studios. This time was more fun. The bartender was great. He took all the pictures we wanted. The drink choices were pretty good too. I had a Russian Apple Juice and then something with orange juice in it. I don’t remember. This was the same night as the White Hot Party, so we had a few in us by the end of the night. The girl at the desk was sweet, she gave me two sets of gloves to wear. I think we lasted about 30 minutes.

Nickelodeon Slime Time Live

We went to this event because I happen to be a travel agent and have a few families scheduled to go on the Epic in the coming weeks for Spring Break. I wanted to be able to provide insight and information on the family friendly events onboard. I think it is great for kids. It reminded me of the old Nickelodeon, when they showed Double Dare and You Can’t Do That on Television. Stunts, sliming, and interactive games. The kids in the audience were going wild for it and most of the adults were too. DH hated it, but that’s because he sometimes likes to hid his inner child ;)

Legends in Concert

We had Steven Tyler, Madonna, and Elvis. “Steven Tyler” did a fantastic job of getting the audience hyped up and it was high energy fun! He did a great job at reinacting and singing. “Madonna” was horrendous. I have been to two REAL Madonna concerts and she sounded NOTHING like Madonna and was obnoxiously provocative. The woman that portrayed her sounded like the Chipmunk version of Madonna. She had a bizarre fascination with rubbing and touching her body and making “sex faces” as I will call it. The REAL Madonna certainly doesn’t take it that far.

Top Deck

Water Slides

DH loved the green one. I think we went on it 10 times. I liked the Plunge, although I’m light so I don’t get to go around as many times as most people. DH and I agreed that the purple one was a wasted space. It was completely dark, no major dips or turns and very short. Neither one of us got a thrill from it. The plunge always had the longest line. It was never that bad though. Even on a sea day the longest we waited was 30 minutes and that was because there are only so many tubes. The others had slim to no wait. I was shocked that there were not ridiculous lines. It was spring break and there were a ton of kids onboard.

Loungers

We did find it tough to find a chair by the pool or even on the deck for that matter. A lot of chair hogs were out. Lots of chairs with towels and never a soul on the seat. We were able to find two seats together after about searching for 20 minutes on one day. There was a waiter that would walk around with a water bottle with a spray top on it and he would spritz people to cool them down. I liked that.

Spa

DH’s brother and his wife bought us Mandara Spa gift certificates to use on our trip. We booked a couples massage for the day we were in Nassau. It felt great J We then paid $15 a piece to have access to the Thermal Suite for the remainder of the day. I really liked this area of the ship. Quiet, calm, and relaxing. I think we were, by far, the youngest people in there. The therapy pools were great. I felt amazing Friday night! I would never have spent the full $199 for a couple pass for the entire week, I think that’s a little high. The $15 wasn’t bad for the day. Most people were off the ship in Nassau so we were able to use it without there being an issue with crowding.

Fitness Center

My husband works out nearly every day at home. I work out here and there. This was the first time I used the gym regularly on a cruise. It was huge, clean, and quiet. Some other gyms are loud and this throws me off when I’m trying to exercise while on vacation. I loved being able to look out the huge expanse of windows and see the sea. The machines were in good working order.

Overall I would say this was a fabulous cruise. We had a lot of fun and I was VERY sad to get off the ship yesterday. We now have another cruise line that we will regularly consider for future cruise options. We truly enjoyed Freestyle.

I have a TON of pictures so if anyone is interested in seeing some snapshot just ask and you shall receive!

Welcome home neighbor. Get some rest. I agree the Epic will wear you out.

Great review!

I had floor seats for Cirque Dreams and would always get floor seats just because of the eye contact with the performers. But everyone always says the balcony is best. You are the first person to ever say they wished they were on the floor. Just a funny observation.

;)

Glad you had such a good time, thanks for sharing your experiences. :)

can you post come pics?

Thanks for the review, I'd love to see some photos!

we are booked on the Transatlantic in a few weeks....thanks for the review!!

would LOVE to see your pictures too!! :)

Marsha

Thanks for posting your review. I would love to see your pictures!! I enjoy looking at those just as much, if not more, than reading the actual review!

I am also interested in what you did at the ports of call. Any excursions. I don't sail until December but have been snooping at excursions to get some ideas.

Is there a cost for the Blue Man Group of so how much and any of the other shows on the Epic?

Thanks!

:) We agree, Epic rocks!

Is there a cost for the Blue Man Group of so how much and any of the other shows on the Epic?

 

Thanks!

M&A the only show with a charge is the Cirque show/diner.

http://www2.ncl.com/cruise-ship/epic/overview

The 360 virual tour on this page has lots of photos.

Is there a cost for the Blue Man Group of so how much and any of the other shows on the Epic?

 

Thanks!

BMG is included in the cost of your cruise so no extra charges. The same can be said for Legends in Concert.

Oops, just noticed that someone else answered your question already.

OP, nice review. Brings back some great memories. I'd love to see your photos.

Thanks everyone for the quick replies!

Great review!!!

I would love to see pics and also what you did at the ports.

January 2013 can't come soon enough :)

Glad you had a great time...I loved the Epic although its not for everyone..I can;t wait to go on her again....

Great review.

Sint Maarten- We walked to downtown Philipsburg and hopped on the local bus around 11am. We took the bus to Maho Beach/ Princess Juliana International Airport. The trip took about 40 minutes because there was some traffic. It is a local bus and we were the only tourists on it. The best part was it only cost $2 per person for the whole ride there.

This was one of the best "independent" things that we have done on vacation. Watching the planes come in over the beach and nearly blowing your eardrums out/ getting blown in to the sea was exhilarating. I made a video on YouTube but I cannot post it here because it is on my agency YouTube account.

We hung out there until 2pm and then grabbed another bus back which only took 20 minutes because there was no traffic.

St Thomas- We walked around Havensight and the new mall a little ways down with the designer stores. Then we got back on the ship, I had some work to do and since I was picking up 3G signal I hopped on my iPad and got some work done. I kept seeing the Screaming Eagle fly around our ship. Its a fast speedboat that takes some sharp turns and gives a lttle tour of the area. That is something I would like to try next time I am in St Thomas.

Nassau- Stayed on the ship and had our massages and used the thermal suite. We've been to Nassau at least 8 or 9 times previously so we don't get off the ship there. We used the waterslides as well this day because there was no wait.

As soon as my husband gets off my laptop I will gladly share some photos I took. Any specific requests??? I have MANY, pretty sure I have a photo of nearly every public space and meal :)

I have to second "Smileyperry" regarding St. Mararten and going to the beach with the planes. One of the salespeople in a jewelry store told us about this activity and we just thought he was making things up as it made no sense. But once we got there, it became totally clear and incredibly fun. The power of the jet engines just blows you into the water. Really fun and a great way to occupy yourself in St. Maarten.

BTW, my review of the Epic 3/3-3/10 is posted in the Reviews section.

Robert

My pictures may appear in random order as they are spread out in different categories on my computer!

O'Sheehan's delicious Brownie Sundae :)

O'Sheehan's Sweet, Mild, Tasty Wings!

My view from the balcony in the Cirque Dreams show. I had to stand up and lean forward on the glass to get this shot.

Here is a picture from Maho Beach in Saint Maarten. This picture really doesnt even do it justice. I couldn't get my camera to take the picture at the right moment. So this is the closest photo I have. The plane gets significantly lower and closer. This is a KLM Jumbo Jet coming in for a landing. If only you could see the video footage, that gives it a bit more perspective!

To give you an idea of how clsoe the runway is to the beach.... I am standing on the beach in this picture and you can see the runway directly behind me.

Here is a screen capture from my video.

Here is a night-shot of the pool deck & slides.

The therapy pool in the Thermal Suite.

Heated Thermal Loungers

The Thermal Suite balcony.

The Ice Bar.

I will add some more a little later. :)

Great pics! How the heck did you get a picture of the Spa balcony without it covered in people? :) It was fully all the time when we were on the Epic. I was dying for a lounger but none ever opened up.

Great pics! How the heck did you get a picture of the Spa balcony without it covered in people? :) It was fully all the time when we were on the Epic. I was dying for a lounger but none ever opened up.

We used it the day the ship was in Nassau. Nearly everyone was off the ship :)

We used it the day the ship was in Nassau. Nearly everyone was off the ship :)

We were on the western itinerary back when Epic sailed it, so there were none of those "avoid ports" like I consider Nassau. Good call on that one. :)