ROLL CALL - NCL EPIC TransAtlantic - May 7th, 2011

[outbound09]

This will be my 4th TA and first with NCL. I originally booked because of the studios but when the price on balconies dropped I rebooked to give myself the extra bit of room as well as the view to the outside world.

 

All the news about the single cabins led me to look at NCL and find this cruise, but when I saw the price for the balcony, I did the same thing you did. Can't beat that!

[jpa34]

Hi guys, and Welcome Dave and gfinct!!

Darrell and I just returned yesterday from a 7 night Exotic Western Caribbean trip aboard the Spirit! Beautiful weather and a wonderful sailing, just got us more in the mood for the transatlantic coming up in May!!!

Caught a glimpse of RCCL's Allure of the Seas while we were in Cozumel. What an inpressive ship!!! Hopefully the Epic will be equally as impressive!!

Can't wait to board her (and that's not a term I would generally use!! )

Dave, when we booked our tickets on the Epic the Mini Suites were only 10 bucks more than the balcony (which at the time were a decent bargain) so we're spoiling ourselves this time.

Normally we're in inside or oceanview cabins but on the Spirit we splurged on a balcony and now have the mini-suite coming up. I'm now afraid that the inside cabins might be a thing of the past for us!!

3 looooong months now to wait!! My tan is going to fade!!:eek:

[outbound09]

I'd be delirious if I had a mini-suite! No wonder they have such a bargain on balconies...everyone got the minis, no doubt. This is my first balcony so I'm very excited about it. And it's big enough for one, even better with two ;)! You did catch good weather for a tan...been very warm here these past couple of weeks. Hope it continues for our crossing and re-emergence of your tan lines!

[D2D]

Hello everyone,

What a great thread this is! My partner and I booked on booking.com. Of course, we are taking a chance but always look for adventure and ways to save money and are staying off the Ramplas. Having done transatlantic before and with many days at sea to enjoy the ship and all the amenities, we're anticipating meeting some of you as well.

David

[D2D]

Cruises

Dec. 2008 Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas 2 back-to-back Western Caribbean

March 2009 Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas 2 back-to-back Bahamas

May 2009 Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas Transatlantic to Southampton, England

August 2009 Carnival Paradise Mexican Riviera

December 2009 Carnival Imagination 5 back-to-back Caribbean

March 2010 Norwegian Star Mexican Riviera

September 2010 Carnival Victory Southern Caribbean

December 2010 Norwegian Jade Eastern Mediterranean from Barcelona

Scheduled:

March 2011 Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas Southern Caribbean

May 2011 Norwegian Epic Transatlantic to Barcelona

December 2011 Norwegian Spirit 2 back-to-back Caribbean from New Orleans

[D2D]

Allen,

For Dec. 2011, we've booked on the Spirit leaving out of New Orleans. While aboard the Jade this December, the cruise director made comments about the Spirit being the smallest of the fleet and the rooms and public spaces being "tiny." Sounds "cozy" to me. But what were your impressions?

David

[Mtim42]

Just making enquiries now - looking at studio cabin.

Will be flying from Uk if I go ahead.

 

Michael

[jpa34]

Allen,

For Dec. 2011, we've booked on the Spirit leaving out of New Orleans. While aboard the Jade this December, the cruise director made comments about the Spirit being the smallest of the fleet and the rooms and public spaces being "tiny." Sounds "cozy" to me. But what were your impressions?

David

 

Hi David,

 

Welcome to the thread!! We too are looking forward to a bunch of great guys to spend time with on this crossing.

As far as The Spirit goes, it is the smallest ship in NCL's fleet.

We had a balcony room on it and found the space to be "adequate".

The room was large enough but it lacked a sofa, instead it only had a larger style chair as well as a small desk with chair. The bathroom in our cabin did impress us as it had a private watercloset room within the bathroom space. Also the shower had a sliding glass door and was around twice the size of other showers that we have had on other ships. No cold, wet shower curtains sticking to your butt when you showered!!

As for the public areas on the ship we did find it rather "cozy".

There are five speciality restaurants onboard which in my opinion takes away from what could be more open, public spaces.

The pool deck lacked spaces for lounge chairs, squeezing in a row or two into the walk way from the cabins to the buffet restaurant. Above the pool deck is the running track where, again, they managed to squeeze in a row of lounge chairs with not a lot of walk around space. The back of the ship, on this level, had an open space for tanning.

Lots of outdoor eating areas off of the buffet, for el fresco dining!

Alao at the back of the ship is a too large children's water play area, again taking away from more open public spaces.

All in all public spaces are tight but we still enjoyed our time aboard The Spirit.

The theatre was a little different then others as well as you enter from the front of the theatre , walking by the stage and then up the stairs to your seats. Beautiful theatre with individual movie theatre style seating.

The two main dining rooms , The Garden Room and Windows, each offered a beautiful selection of dining options, that to us, was some of the best tasting meals we have had on ships.

We went often to Windows as we found it to be an extremely attractive area to have dinners in. The windows at the back of the room, as well as the tiered roof gave a sense of opulent space. The Garden Room is smaller in scale and we only ate there once as we were rather uncomfortable. The chair height/table ratio is off and we found the table to be sitting to low to get comfortable on. Didn't try any specialty restaurants as we were satisfied by the main dining areas.

 

Hope that helps? Any thing else you would like to know about it, or the ports of call, let us know.

 

Allen

[jpa34]

Just making enquiries now - looking at studio cabin.

Will be flying from Uk if I go ahead.

 

Michael

 

Welcome Michael,

 

We hope you decide to go ahead and book this cruise! This'll be our third Transatlantic and we have always had wonderful times on board!

 

Allen

[D2D]

Thank you, Allen, for the helpful information about the Norwegian Spirit.

And it will be a pleasure to meet all who have posted here. What a nice group. We are staying over in Barcelona for three days after the cruise.

David

[jpa34]

Thank you, Allen, for the helpful information about the Norwegian Spirit.

And it will be a pleasure to meet all who have posted here. What a nice group. We are staying over in Barcelona for three days after the cruise.

David

 

We haven't decided yet on staying over in Barcelona or carrying on to another European city to spend a few nights in. We haven't spent any time yet in Barcelona so that may be a good option for us.

I do work for an airline which will make getting to other cities in Europe a breeze (money wise) so the continent is ours to choose from. Just now checking on some hotel options in Barcelona. If anyone knows or a great place, in a good area, at a terrific price please pass it on to us. It would be appreciated!

Allen

[D2D]

Allen,

In searching, we found that the site www.booking.com handles most European countries and lists places from very expensive to the lowest in cost.

While we are taking a chance, we've booked the Plaza de Goya because of cost and location. Several posts on another thread (for Med. cruises) mentioned the Axel as one of the best for GBLT travelers.

David

[jpa34]

We just booked a 2 night, post cruise, stay in Barcelona.

Found a good (for Europe) rate which included a buffet breakfast each morning at 4Barcelona, at c/Doctor Trueta 164.

It's to the north of the cruise terminal about 3 kms from Las Ramblas. We are only a few blocks from the metro system which we plan on using extensivly while we are there so the location of our hotel was really not an issue. It is very close to the beaches (one being a gay beach) and not too far from the port. Seems like there will be a lot to do in Barcelona to fill up a couple of days! Looking forward to seeing a city where we know very little about.

[Panzano]

Hey Dave,

We met on the TA Windsurf 10 years ago (a great cruise). I just booked the TA on the Equinox and saw that you were on that. I was looking forward to reconnecting.

Looks like you changed and are on the Epic.

 

I'm now living in FLL full-time. Would enjoy meeting for drink and dinner. My email is Panzanonyc@aol.com

 

Bob

[pablo5116s]

Hey, everyone,

 

We've made our final payments and secured vacations, so this TA is a go for us.

 

This is our first TA, but have been on NCL before, including the Mediterranean on the Jade in 2010.

 

We are staying 5 nights in Barcelona, and used www.ebab.de to find a place. We used them last year, and were satisfied with the room, price and location.

 

Anyone spending any time in Miami before the trip?

 

Paul & George

Chicago

[JAYYJAYY]

Hey guys Ill be joining ! This is my 2nd TA love the sea Days .. and Barcelona is one of my fav cities,, staying there at the end of cruise for 4 days ...

:)

[jpa34]

Hey guys Ill be joining ! This is my 2nd TA love the sea Days .. and Barcelona is one of my fav cities,, staying there at the end of cruise for 4 days ...

:)

 

Hi JayyJayy...and welcome to the thread!!

Hopefully now that we're getting closer to departure that there will start to be a bit more activity on this post!

Looking forward to meeting you onboard! It's going to be a great trip!!

Allen

[JAYYJAYY]

Thanks! I usually sail Royal carribean , Definitely excited to experience Epic for so many fun days at sea,, my fav part of cruising... Ive never used the message boards on cruise crtic. Itll be fun to say hi and have a drink with all the guys posting on here :)

[Denman]

Hey everyone...just wanted to let you know that my friend Derek and I will be on board too! I imagine we will all meet up at the first F.O.D. gathering?

Looking forward to all these sea days!:) David and Derek

[Denman]

Hey guys...where are you all planning to stay in Barcelona, if at all?

Repositioner, I'd be interested in learning about bidding for a place on Priceline. Obviously, you would have no idea what part of BCN they would put you in, right? We are spending 3 nights after the cruise and would prefer to be very central or near the more gay areas. Any thoughts on what to do?

Thanks, guys!

David

[JAYYJAYY]

Barcelona is one of my fav cities,, depending on your tastes and budget If youd like to be near the gay area , and want a trendy very hip gay hotel , there could be no other choice than Hotel Axel ,,, Ive stayed there a number of times and always have a blast,, if youre looking for something cheaper than you can google hotel axel and look for something nearby , in the Exiemple area

Jeff

dont miss Dietrich , for a fun bar , and metro if ya like cruisey dance club

[Denman]

Hey guys...

The mainstream group on CC organized a cabin crawl but they have too many people so are not accepting more crawlers. Anyone here interested in doing a smaller cabin crawl? I'm not sure what variety of cabins we all have, but we are certainly willing to show a standard balcony! Would love to see one of the studio cabins if anyone has booked one of those!

[cc&jp]

Hello,

 

it's very interesting to see what are the different kind of cabin. We made a cabin crawl last june on the Epic. The studio cabins were a very nice surprise. The tour was crowdy too. Good idea to try to do something lighter !

 

We have a S4 in the courtyard, and we would be happy to share the visit !

 

cc&jp

[Denman]

Thanks CC&JP! What kind of cabin is that? Love to see it. If nothing else, it's a good way to hang out and meet other guys on board! Does anyone have a studio cabin or inside or mini suite, etc. that they would like to show us?

[AirSea&Rail]

Hello Guys, My name is Keith. I just wanted to introduce myself. I will be joining you on the Trans-Atlantic as well as the 4 night Med. Thanks Bob for the link. I will be traveling solo and I always look forward to meeting new friends as well as seeing old ones. I currently live in Michigan, Metro Detroit. I am looking forward to exploring the Epic during the sea days.