Norwegian Epic Transatlantic April 2012

[Dorothy's Friend]

Copied from the other LGBT thread for this cruise.

 

If anyone is interested in dining together please let me know. I also think the first day in the late afternoon after sail away we should meet at a designated bar or area of the ship to meet and mingle. This would be a perfect time to get to know each other.

 

See you soon

 

Mark

 

Hi Mark!

 

NCL are very good at arranging 'meet and mingle' get togethers for both LGBT and single travellers on their ships. For sure there will be a get together for the single travellers in the Studio Lounge probably at 17:30hrs and another informal gathering for LGBT travellers at about 19:00hrs in another bar venue on the dy of departure.

 

I did the Epic Westbound TransAtlantic last October and both these events were very well attended every day. NCL have a Single Travellers Hostess on the Epic who comes to the get togethers in the Studio Lounge and helps organise group dinners and activities for those who are interested. The LGBT informal gatherings were so popular that there were several second gatherings later in the evening in the Bliss Lounge.

 

So I will be happy to meet at the LGBT/Friends of Dorothy get together shortly after sailing on the 14th April and if you want we can dine together along with any others who may be interested.:)

 

Kevin

[Travelguy101]

Just changed from Studio to Balcony so won't have access to lounge to easily meet other single cruisers but hope that other LGBT can meet up on the ship. You all probably know that we depart on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster and was thinking the Ice Bar would be a great place to remember that event.

I am also trying to get a group of LGBT and friendly to populate a 4hr city tour of Barcelona when we arrive on April 25th. If you want to join my group please go to www.BarcelonaDayTours.com and add your name to the EPIC tour list.

BARCELONA HIGHLIGHTS --- half day private tour

- Date: April 25, 2012

- Reservation name/code: Mark Garrett 0425

- Number of visitors in your party: 1 person

- Total number of visitors in the group: 4-12 persons

- Pick-up point: Barcelona Port

- Ship: Norwegian Epic

- Pick-up time: 8:30 am

- Drop-off location: Hotel Barcelona Universal

- Duration of tour: 4 hours

- Price: 59 Euros per person for a semi-private tour of 4-12 persons

They will pick us up with all our luggage and after the tour drop us at our individual hotels. Reviews for their service are very good so hope you will join our group.

Can't wait to cruise with you all :cool:!

Mark

[Dorothy's Friend]

Just changed from Studio to Balcony so won't have access to lounge to easily meet other single cruisers but hope that other LGBT can meet up on the ship. You all probably know that we depart on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster and was thinking the Ice Bar would be a great place to remember that event.

I am also trying to get a group of LGBT and friendly to populate a 4hr city tour of Barcelona when we arrive on April 25th. If you want to join my group please go to www.BarcelonaDayTours.com and add your name to the EPIC tour list.

BARCELONA HIGHLIGHTS --- half day private tour

- Date: April 25, 2012

- Reservation name/code: Mark Garrett 0425

- Number of visitors in your party: 1 person

- Total number of visitors in the group: 4-12 persons

- Pick-up point: Barcelona Port

- Ship: Norwegian Epic

- Pick-up time: 8:30 am

- Drop-off location: Hotel Barcelona Universal

- Duration of tour: 4 hours

- Price: 59 Euros per person for a semi-private tour of 4-12 persons

They will pick us up with all our luggage and after the tour drop us at our individual hotels. Reviews for their service are very good so hope you will join our group.

 

Can't wait to cruise with you all :cool:!

Mark

 

So many Marks on the two LGBT threads for this cruise.

Do not worry about not getting access to the Studio Lounge because you have moved from a Studio to a balcony cabin. When I was on the westbound transAtlantic last Oct/Nov there was a Singles Get Together in the Studio Lounge every afternoon at 17:30hrs for single travellers whether they be in a studio or not. It was the only time non Studio guests had access to the Studio Lounge.

 

And of course there was the FOD/LGBT informal cocktail meeting in Shakers every evening at 19:00hrs.:)

 

See you there!:)

 

Kevin

[ctguy1960]

I "officially" booked this cruise yesterday. Staying on Deck 10 port side with my best friend. Another friend of ours is on the cruise as well; he has booked one of the studios. Hope to see you all at the GLBT get-togethers! We took a trans-Atlantic cruise last May and attended the GLBT happy hours most every day and met some very nice guys. Can't wait until April 14th! Al

[TunaPiano]

My name is Craig and I've booked a solo cabin. Will spend five days in Barcelona and Sitges before taking the RCI Voyager through the Suez Canal to Dubai. Looking forward to a great voyage with all of you!

[marcgoohs]

Hey guys,

 

Glad to see more activity on the thread. We are getting excited and ready for a great time next month. My partner and I are on deck 9 balcony and another friend is in a solo studio suite. I think we are staying 2 nights in Barcelona after we dock. At least 2 of us might be really interested in the Barcelona City Tour. I sent them a message at http://www.BarcelonaDayTours.com

 

We are staying at the Axle Hotel. It came very highly recommended by my friend/work partner who runs an interline travel company.

 

Definitely planning on booking the spa access package while onboard. When we sailed in October a 7day pass for a single was $125 and a couple was $199. However, guys who met up at the 1st meeting were going in together to save the few bucks. I'm not sure at what number they cap it but they do sell out pretty fast and don't allow several hundred to book it.

 

We are also planning on trying out most of the restaurants. Cirque dinner, Brazilian steakhouse and Japanese for sure. French isn't our favorite and we never heard anything great about the italian...but might be fun to get a small group to book a time and restaurant together.

 

I was pleasantly surprised how many guys we met on the last cruise. At least 8-10 showed up at each meeting. And many other guys we met at the White Party who had no idea the meeting were happening. And still others throughout the week who we thought, "Now why are they at the meeting?" LOL - It was a great time and we usually ended up seeing each other a lot in the spa (go figure) :roll eyes:

 

We are definitely going to need something for coding all the Mark's onboard. I'm another one :p so that makes at least 3 maybe 4 just on this thread. I told my friend Steve who sailing with us and he's already channeling Olympia Dukakis from Steel Magnolia's... Any Ricks we know of yet? LOL

 

Looking forward to meeting and hanging out with you all in about 40 days. Maybe together we can find a meeting spot of our own onboard for the disembarking.

 

Marc

[On-the-Mark]

Hey there Marc. The Barcelona city tour looks great. I had been on a waiting list with them as they were waiting for more people to join up before they could confirm. You must have been the ones we were waiting for because they confirmed with me on the weekend that they now had the required number of people to run the tour.

 

I am curious about the spa package. I have seen mention of it on the Epic roll call but I can't find any information from it on Norweigan website. What does the spa package include?

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on hotels in Miami? I arrive in Miami around midnight on the 13th, and would like to find someplace close to the airport. Not looking for anything swanky as I will be there just to grab some sleep after a long flight, actually 3 flights.

[amspinner]

There will be another 4 sailing to Barcelona. David (me), my partner Peter, my cousin Joe and his partner Derald. Peter and I live half of the year in Amsterdam and will catch a plane from BCN to AMS. The 4 of us will stay with friends in BCN and Sitges for 4 days before heading to the land of tulips. Look forward to seeing everyone on board.

[Dorothy's Friend]

There will be another 4 sailing to Barcelona. David (me), my partner Peter, my cousin Joe and his partner Derald. Peter and I live half of the year in Amsterdam and will catch a plane from BCN to AMS. The 4 of us will stay with friends in BCN and Sitges for 4 days before heading to the land of tulips. Look forward to seeing everyone on board.

 

Welcome to this cruise and to this thread. At last this thread and the other LGBT thread for the same cruise have started to get busy. I look forward to meeting you and everyone else on the two threads in just over 5 weeks time.:D

[Dorothy's Friend]

Now I know the departure of this cruise is getting closer, two days ago I received my NCL cruise booklet and baggage labels through the post from London:D

[Travelguy101]

Getting close to our sailing and hard to concentrate anything else but this great trip. Had a very interesting time working with NCL res dept as I moved from studio to aft balcony. I knew more about the layout of the ship and cabins than most of their res staff. Could have easlily ended up with view of lifeboat or uncovered balcony and life boat view :rolleyes:. Paid a bit extra but excited to have level 12 aft with large balcony!

Please join me in the Ice Bar around midnight April 14th if you want for a toast to honor Titannics 100 Anniversary! I think we sail within 400 miles of its final resting place in 12000 ft of water off of New Foundland. Anyone know for sure about our route? Looking forward to meeting many of you as a first time solo cruiser :D.

[On-the-Mark]

I think a midnite toast in honor of the Titanic is a great idea. Count me in.

 

Mark in Canada.

[ordnael]

I like the idea. Count us in also... But don't we have to book in advance to enter the ice bar?

[Travelguy101]

Reserve when you board ship. I'll look for you guys around midnight! Its 20 bucks and a cool memory (lol)! Sure been halarious reading the broad range of reviews for Epic out there :rolleyes:. See you all soon!

[Travelguy101]

Not clear about the Ice Bar hours and even if it will be open on the day of departure :mad:. Anyone know from past experience on Epic? I was thinking about the pub crawl as alternative but again not clear how that might work on first evening.

Hope we can organize a family meet and greet very early in the cruise :D. Any thoughts or info?

[On-the-Mark]

Getting close to our sailing and hard to concentrate anything else but this great trip. Had a very interesting time working with NCL res dept as I moved from studio to aft balcony. I knew more about the layout of the ship and cabins than most of their res staff. Could have easlily ended up with view of lifeboat or uncovered balcony and life boat view :rolleyes:. Paid a bit extra but excited to have level 12 aft with large balcony!

 

Oh my goodness. You are right about the reservations department.

 

I had been booked on a balcony on deck 8, and according to most of the online reviews I could find, deck 8 has a great view of the life boats, and considerable noise coming up from deck 7. Today I decided to check the prices of the balconies on other decks online, and found they had dropped in price considerably from what they were. Of course, I couldn't make the changes on line and had to call the res centre directly to make any changes.

 

The first call I was told that there were no aft balconies left, when in fact there are many showing available on line. The 2nd call I was told that the price wasn't the same as posted on the website and that category B1 was in fact not a balcony cabin at all. I wasn't ready to give up yet so I tried again this evening, and finally on the 3rd call I was upgraded to an AFT balcony for the price of a few martini. WooHoo.

 

30 days to go, I can't wait.

[marcgoohs]

Hey there Marc. The Barcelona city tour looks great. I had been on a waiting list with them as they were waiting for more people to join up before they could confirm. You must have been the ones we were waiting for because they confirmed with me on the weekend that they now had the required number of people to run the tour.

 

I am curious about the spa package. I have seen mention of it on the Epic roll call but I can't find any information from it on Norweigan website. What does the spa package include?

 

We were on the cruise back in October and the offered a limited number of "Spa Access" packages for $125 for the week for singles and $199 for couples. They didn't care if you were together or not so adding a buddy could save you the few $$$. I was concerned it would be overcrowded but it was really busy maybe 1 or 2 times right around a port departure - probably from aching feet from the daily walking.

 

The spa and fitness were some of the highlights aboard for me. It was very relaxing and we saw many of the guys from our "Friends of Dorothy" meeting there... so the hot tubs became an additional socializing spot.

 

Nice, heated, hot rock lounges, small, private aft deck, huge thermal spa and more. I recommend taking their tour when you first board the ship. Keep in mind they only sell limited number of access packages and by day 2 there was a wait list. Since there are no ports of call to speak of... I expect the packages on this cruise to fill up even faster.

 

Looking forward to meeting all of you...and having an awesome time next month.

 

Marc

[Dorothy's Friend]

Not clear about the Ice Bar hours and even if it will be open on the day of departure :mad:. Anyone know from past experience on Epic? I was thinking about the pub crawl as alternative but again not clear how that might work on first evening.

Hope we can organize a family meet and greet very early in the cruise :D. Any thoughts or info?

 

For sure there will be a LGBT/FOD informal get together in the Shakers bar listed in the Freestyle Daily for the departure day, probably for 19:00hrs. If not, then why don't we set our own get together for 19:00hrs in Shakers on departure day?

 

If my memory serves me correctly from my westbound crossing I did on the Epic last October the Ice Bar is open every evening including departure day, however I am not so sure it is still open at midnight. Seven of us went in one evening at 23:00hrs and I think we were one of the last time slots for that evening.

[ordnael]

Hi guys,

 

Booked in Studio for my first solo cruise not to mention first ship crossing of the atlantic. To cool!

47 year old gay man well traveled and fun adventurous guy looking for others on board for new friendships.

Also staying in Barcelona for 5 days solo and interested to forming our own Barcelona city tour when we arrive. I am on wait list for 4 hour city tour when we arrive on April 25th and need at least 5 other interested sightseers. Looks like a superiou tour to NCL's and will drop off at our hotels.

 

Check the tour out at

http://www.BarcelonaDayTours.com

 

Can't wait to relax, eat/drink and have fun and meet others of like mind ;)

 

Mark

 

Hi Mark!

A quick tour of Barcelona sounds interesting. We are leaving for Paris at 12:50 on 4/25, but depending on when the tour ends, we might change to a later flight... Are you on the wait list for the 8:30am pick up?

4weeks to go! :)

[On-the-Mark]

For sure there will be a LGBT/FOD informal get together in the Shakers bar listed in the Freestyle Daily for the departure day' date=' probably for 19:00hrs. If not, then why don't we set our own get together for 19:00hrs in Shakers on departure day?

 

If my memory serves me correctly from my westbound crossing I did on the Epic last October the Ice Bar is open every evening including departure day, however I am not so sure it is still open at midnight. Seven of us went in one evening at 23:00hrs and I think we were one of the last time slots for that evening.[/color']

 

I found the dailies that someone has posted from last years Eastbound transatlantic, and it looks like last Spring there were daily FOD meetings including the very first day, although at FatCats and at 6 p.m. Nevertheless, we can decide at the FOD get together about a Titanic memorial. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1418570

[Mountainguy1998]

SOunds great but the ice bar is so small and very expensive last year I think just to get in was $20.00 Martini bar is great!! Al

[Dorothy's Friend]

It now looks as though I will be making it to Miami in time to do this cruise because for awhile it looked as though I may not. I was due to fly from Heathrow to Miami via Madrid with Iberia but then one of Iberia's pilots' unions announced strikes every Monday and Friday from April 9th to the end of July! Yesterday I went to Iberia's website and saw the flight cancellation list for the 13th had been published and both my flights were cancelled. There was a UK number for Iberia to call to make alternative arrangements but because I had bought my flights using ‘AVIOS’ I had to phone a number in Madrid. I phoned this number from the UK and spoke to the most helpful lady by the name of Paula who spent most of the 40 minutes (yes 40 minutes to Madrid) apologising for the situation and the fact she was not allowed to call me back. The poor woman had so many problems finding alternative flights for me despite coming forward as far as the 9th. Cutting 40 minutes of phone call short, in the end she got permission from her superiors to book me onto a British Airways direct flight to Miami on the 12th with no additional expense to me! I have now booked the Hilton Miami Airport for the additional night, which cost me £110 for the one night but I can’t complain as that is significantly less than having to book another flight.

 

So see you all at the first FOD get together on the 14th aboard the Norwegian Epic:D

[On-the-Mark]

With two G&L boards going for the same cruise I find I have been bouncing between the two boards, and it has been confusing trying to keep everyone straight. (pardon the pun)

 

I was trying to keep track of everyone and decided that I might as well make a list and share it, inspired by the general roll call for the sailing.

 

I went through both boards and gathered what information I could and compiled a PDF file and posted it on the other board. I will continue to update the list as needed and will update it on the other G&L board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=33221795&postcount=73

 

Seems like it has taken forever, but now we can start counting days rather than weeks before we sail.

[Travelguy101]

Way to go Mark, I think we made the right move! One week to go!

 

Mark

[On-the-Mark]

If you are talking about the cabin change, I agree. I think we made the right move too.