My Epic Trip Feb 17 - 24th

Epic, Feb 17 - 24

Well after spending a week on the Epic, I still haven’t changed my mind on it being a bad layout, weird room layout ship. I did also miss the wow factor of the atrium,that I got on the Dawn and Star. But none of this worth complaining about since at this point nothing can be done to change these things, And this did not impact my enjoyment of my cruise what so ever. Would I choose her again? perhaps if it fit my vacation criteria.

I will make a note here about my cabin. In a mix up of my cancelling / rebooking to get better deals, before final payment. The cabin and location I originally chose changed, I didn’t notice the new cabin number till a few days after my last rebook. I was quite concerned because the balcony cabin they gave me 14078, was under the pool deck and therefore worried me about noise above. I worried needlessly, only once did I hear moving of things above and it was later in the morning and not loud. However, anyone that books this row of cabins, please be advised if you do no like or want to walk a lot, do not choose one of these. Since it is not a direct walk from elevators to cabin, a few of us in this row of cabins,jokingly referred to our hallways to get there, as a mouse maze. It does show the hallways on the deck plans,but I completely missed it. This is just noted as a heads up for anyone that might find this annoying. I was fine with it, once I found my cabin on the first day, as the mouse maze is not well marked.

The lighting in my cabin sucked big time. Even with every light on in the cabin it still was dim and hard to read anything, unless it was daytime and I could open the curtains to the balcony. Anyone that wants to apply makeup or read in their cabin, may find this annoying.

I ate in the buffet, Taste, Manhattan, Modernos and O’Sheehans. I did have my personal favourites but all food was fine, delivered hot and our service was prompt. I wanted to eat at Cagneys, however, it was booked till 9pm and later every night before the first day of the cruise. I’m sorry I didn’t book it before my cruise but since this was my first time as a solo traveller and I didn’t know how the sign up dinners worked, I didn’t book. My mistake.

I read a lot of reports before going about the Epic of staff not delivering that high standard of friendly service. I did not experience this at all. My room steward was friendly and proficient,I did have to request he fill my ice bucket (which had always been done twice a day on previous cruises). Not a big deal, once I asked him to, it was done. I think they could use a few more walk around servers on the pool deck and Spice H2O, but when flagged down, the ones there were friendly and willing to get me whatever I asked for. The washy washy girls were a little less sing song than I’ve had on previous cruises, but still smiling and friendly. I didn’t find one staff member appearing unhappy, unfriendly or not helpful.

Solo travellers gathering: The solo co-ordinator was very friendly and tried to accommodate us. Unfortunately he doesn’t have much pull, so there was only so much he could do, with requests. He is allowed to book the solo travelling group in the large diningrooms only and if room allowed to book for the shows. I’m not even sure he has a key to the solo lounge, since when he came he knocked on the door to be let in. LOL Also when attending the gathering, if not in a solo cabin, I had to knock on the door to be let in.

I seen no evidence of wear and tear on the ship, as some previous reviews had stated. As a matter of fact I constantly seen workers in all areas, cleaning and painting. I had heard from a few other travellers about things like solo cabin closet doors removed or hanging. But did not witness any of this myself.

I upgraded from my free at sea internet to unlimited and for the most part worked well. I could even video PM with my daughter. She said on her end I paused a few times but no delay on my end at all. There were areas of the ship that were better than other areas to connect. The lower in the ship, the slower the connection or no connection at all. The i-consierge worked most times for looking up what was on etc. I did have a few times that it just wouldn’t connect. Although I wished it would have had a feature that allowed you to add from “whats on” to a favourites list. And it really should have a refresh. I cannot comment on the texting ability, since i was a solo traveller, I had no one to text with.

Smoking areas. There is seating for about 44 people on the port side aft of Waves pool bar on deck 15. Seating for about 60 on the starboard side in H2O deck 16. Promenade deck 7, I believe it was the port side, but the non-smoking side is well marked on the exit door. No seating at all available on the promenade deck. The casino when playing has about 75 slots (only about 35 regular slots, the rest are poker video slots) that allow smoking and about 160 for non-smoking. The smoking slots are set about ½ back in the 2 alcoves. The casino made numerous announcements regarding their smoking rules. The most popular slot games were in the no-smoking section. I didn’t even see the cigar bar in my travels, so I can’t even tell anyone where it is, let alone anything about it.

Tendering: I foundthe tendering process this time confusing and not well explained in the dailies,but this just could have been me.

Shows. The only shows I attended were Priscilla and Burn the floor. Priscilla was much as I expected and the costumes were great. I wasn’t a fan of burn the floor, but shows are subjective and YMMV.

All in all, I had a wonderful cruise and probably the most friendliest passengers of any cruise I’ve been on, from CC members, solo travellers group and just random people I met out on decks, in hallways or elevators.

Sounds like you had a good time thanks for the up to date review have a TA on her in 38 days!

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Thanks for taking the time to do a review. I enjoyed reading it and I’m glad you enjoyed your cruise. I had to laugh about your mouse maze comment. I felt the same way when we were on the Dawn in a very forward cabin on deck 8.

The cigar bar on the Epic is in an out of the way location on deck 7 near Shakers Martini Bar and behind Malting Beer and Whiskey Bar. It’s almost hidden so it’s not surprising you didn’t notice it.

Thank you for your review. I am glad you had a nice time. We will be sailing on the Epic in 10 days :)

Thanks for the detailed report.

Terrific review and report.

Keith

Thanks for your review. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

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Thanks everyone

Thank you for taking the time to report back! [emoji846]

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Thank you for the review. I have sailed her twice and loved it both times. My advice to anyone sailing her is to come here and research her so you know what to expect. She is a unique beast. A one of a kind. I agree with the mouse maze concept and my wife detests the lighting in the cabin. The staff, entertainment and food more than make up for it.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

We are sailing the Epic Nov and have the good luck of being in the Haven. Our last cruise was on the Star 9 years ago. So much seems to have changed. Thanks again to all of you for sharing, it's a great help!

Skubi,

Excellent review. It was great to meet you...great cruise...great new friends!

~Joanne

Skubi, thank you for your review.  We are sailing on this ship and we are in the same cabin as you were 14078 in less than 2 weeks.  we are very excited and can't wait to be on the ship.  Your review gave me some insight of things I might need to pack. ( Makeup mirror with a light.  LOL )

Do you have any pictures of the cabin?  Just wondering where the connecting door is located and what is missing because of the door?  and is the bed by the balcony?

Again thank you for your review.