Epic - 3/3/12 Review

[GorillaPaper]

DH & I were on the 3/3/12 sailing of Epic.

 

We arrived at O'Hare airport super early (we are usually early people) for our 8:30am flight. Got through security in a decent amount of time and went to find our gate and breakfast. After having breakfast, we were just chilling waiting for our flight. We then found out our flight was delayed. It started at 1 hour, then went up to 2 hours, then they weren't sure if it might be canceled. It was all due to a hail storm the night before in St. Louis where our plane was coming from. DH went to the counter and got the last 2 seats reserved for the 12:30 flight just in case. Then, they announced that the flight was cleared to go and would be taking off from St. Louis shortly. Yay! While we were waiting, Chris and Allen came by - we had been conversing through email/our roll call and knew we'd be at the same airport within 1 hour of each other. They had seen that our flight was delayed and thought they would come see if they could find us (easy since our Gorilla traveling companion was along). It was really cool to meet them before even getting to miami and knowing we would be on the same cruise!

 

Finally about 2 hours after our scheduled departure, we were able to board the airplane. It was a full flight and there were already people who would be unable to make connections, so everyone was pretty anxious but happy to be boarding. After take off we were advised that we would have a bit of a bumpy ride for a while and that the flight attendents would be arround for beverages later after we passed the turbulence. Bumpy was not the word - I had never experienced anything quite like it. VERY Turbulent. We dropped rapidly at one point and many people screamed. A while after that we got up to 39,000 feet and the rest of the flight was pretty calm. Many people waiting to board the airplane in Miami to go back to Chicago asked us how it was as they had been waiting for the delayed plane on their end. We wished them a smoother flight.

 

After claiming our luggage very easily, we grabbed a taxi and headed to South Beach! We checked in to our hotel (Albion) and freshened up, then took a walk over to Ocean Drive and to the Clevelander for Happy Hour. We had a Cruise Critic happy hour get togeth scheduled with a group from our roll call and we were getting there early with our gorilla to get a table (Gorilla so everyone could find us!). Had a nice time and met several people (Hi Everyone - so nice to meet you all!) from the roll call. After a few hours we decided it was time to head out to a restaurant for dinner. We went to Espanola way which is just my favorite little stretch to have dinner. It was delicious! Then back to the hotel to get some sleep before beginning our Epic adventure.

 

We arrived at the Port around 10 or 10:15am. Got into security line in the terminal which was almost to the door already! Once the line started moving it went pretty quick though. Through security and right to the counter to get our account set up and get our key cards. This was a very efficient process and moved quite quickly. We then were sent to wait until we could board the ship. After probably 30-45 minutes we were able to start boarding (by rows - or columns as they say). There were a few people who decided they should just get up as we walked by. This was kind of perturbing as we took extra care to be early to board the ship as early as possible to try to get Posh Passes (more on that to come). If I could arrive later like these people and just decide to get up with those who were there earlier I would have gladly done something else rather than stand in line. But, there's always a few right?...

 

We weren't interested in the embarkation photo (this is where they do the face recognition stuff too, so don't skip if you plan to purchase any of the photo's they take of you) so we just walked on past it. Usually they kind of hound you about it, but it was a little chaotic at the moment so i dont think anyone even noticed.

 

We entered the ship in the casino on deck 6. I watched you tube videos and studied deck plans so I would know just how to get down to guest services quickly. So, down to deck 5 and Guest Services we went. We waited in line (yep, there were already several people down there) for a minute or two and then got to request our Posh Passses. We were the 3rd (and 4th) out of 20 passes for the week. Yay! We did it!

 

After that we went up to check out the pool area as DH is a sun worshipper and the most important part of vacation for him is to do his sunbathing. Even though we knew we had Posh passes, he wanted to check out what the pool deck would be like anyway. We went to the Waves Pool Bar and had a couple drinks and wait for our cabin to be ready. Very friendly bar tenders at the Waves bar.

 

After a little while (I dont know, maybe 2 hours) an announcement was made that the cabins were ready. Off we went to find ours and put our "carry on" bags inside.

[GorillaPaper]

After checking out our cabin and unpacking (OMG there is so much storage, more than we could come close to using!) we thought we'd check out Posh. Up to the 18th deck we went. We tried both of our key cards and What is this? They didn't work! Uh Oh, Back down to Deck 5/guest services we went. We were issued new cards and then one of their "IT" guys or something rode the elevator up with us to make sure they worked. In go the cards and ta da! this time they worked. (I wish I could remember the guy's name but, my memory fails me) Anyway, he told us to enjoy the Posh area and he would take our cards and check to make sure they worked in our cabin as this apparently is an ongoing problem. After a few minutes he came back up and informed us that our cards did not work for our cabin now so he was going to take care of it. He said we could go ahead to the safety drill and he would find us afterwords with the cards all fixed.

 

Off to the short safety drill we went...

 

 

Ok, thats all I have time for now, more to come. :)

[Warmer Climes]

So far, so good! Keep it coming.

[phyzz]

what is a POSH pass ? and how do you get one ?

[GorillaPaper]

I should probably note that our cabin was a mini suite - 10093. We had the set up where the bed is near the balcony. No problem with space or anything, yes, it is narrow at the end of the bed, but why two people would need to be there at the same time I dont know. The sink didnt splash no matter how hard I tried. We had a tub and shower set up. We never used the tub feature. We did have a little problem with water leaking out of the side of the shower door a couple times. It was pretty easily remedied by turning the shower head in a little. It wasn't a lot of water, easily cleaned up with a towel.

 

We did need some additional hangers and our cabin steward Marilyn brought them right away. One nice touch about the closet is that when you open the door the light inside turns on. Very handy.

 

Speaking of lights, there was a "spare" or dummy card in the slot of by the door so the lights stay on and you don't have to have your room key in there. (you can operate via the various switches as long as the card is in the slot). There are reading lights on each side of the bed which was also very convenient.

 

The glass doors on the toilet and shower that everyone seems to complain about were not an issue for us. You couldn't really see through them at all except maybe you could tell someone was in there, but you couldn't actually see anything.

 

Bed was very comfortable - even for DH who has a pinched nerve in his back that sometimes causes a lot of problems with sleeping. We liked the "curves" of the room a lot although I heard a lot of complaints from others about it. There is set of outlets in th under cabinet below the coffee pot/tv area. We brought a mini travel strip so we could plug in additional itesm for charging, etc. Only two negatives about the cabin really come to mind - 1) the fridge is not cold no matter what you turn it to. if you want anything cold, use ice. 2) Lighting for applying makeup etc. is not very good. I made due though without major issue, just a minor inconvenience. Hair dryer wasn't bad though.

 

That covers the cabin, now back to the safety drill. Our drill location was inside headliners comedy club. No life jackets needed. The most annoying thing about these drills is that it feels like you wait forever for everyone to get there who is supposed to be there. If people could just get it together and get there without food and drinks etc. it would make it so much more efficient for all. Anyway, that is not a fault of NCL, just other cruisers.

 

Right after the drill, the "IT Guy" found us right outisde the comedy club with our key cards all set to work at Posh and our room now. DH mildly complained about the inconvience and we later that night got a call that we would be receiving a complimentary bottle of wine for the inconvenience. We later got a card in our room that could be redeemed at any bar or restaurant on the ship for the bottle of wine.

 

Also, upon arrival to our cabin, we had a letter confirming the meet & greet I had set up with NCL for our roll call participants (with business cards for event coordinators) and tickets for the shore excursions we had previously arranged through NCL. We also had an invite for a cocktail party the next night (latitudes thing I think?). We ended up not making it to the party, but it was nice to have the option.

 

We went back up to the pool deck for sail away and drinks at Waves. The bbq wasn't on big grills or anything like I had seen before on sky, basically it was just the outdoor buffet. We grabbed a quick snack as we had reservations later in the night for dinner.

 

Saturdays drink of the day is "going coconuts" and I enjoyed a few of those. DH is a beer drinker and he stuck with Sam Adams for the week. I usually had the drink of the day without the souvenir glass. Unless you want to keep those plastic cups, you can order the drink in a regular glass for $2 cheaper.

 

We then went back to our cabin to freshen up for dinner.

[3DBeach]

Loving your review so far...looking forward to reading more.

[GorillaPaper]

We had made reservations for Teppanyaki for the first night. Previous vacations we had found this type of restaurant a great way to meet people. We did meet some nice people on this cruise that we said hi to later in the cruise, but no connections as far as getting together with those people during the cruise. The chef was pretty entertaining and the food was pretty good too. I think most of our whole table had seafood. Very fresh and hot. We didn't stay for dessert.

 

We dined at two specialty (upcharge) restaurants - Teppanyaki and Moderno. Moderno was delicious. I'm not a huge meat eater but enjoyed it none the less. The salad bar is great. The servers and gaucho's were exceptional. They brought my husband two desserts. He's a skinny guy so maybe they were trying to fatten him up, lol.

 

We had dinner in the manhattan room once. I can't remember what I had there. DH had strip steak which he said was just ok. There was a short 10-15 minute wait to get in there (after BMG) and they gave us pagers. This was not an issue for us as we are used to waiting to get into restaurants. We actually prefer it so we can have a drink before dinner. They gave us a coupon for a free glass of champagne. That was nice! Dessert was tiramisu for both of us and it was yummy!

 

We ate in the Taste main dining room twice. I had mushroom ravioli in cheese sauce and the second time chicken breast with mashed potatoes. DH had spaghetti with marinara sauce both times. He also loved the cheesecake. I had apple pie with ice cream once and just vanilla ice cream another time.

 

We had the buffet at dinner once and the quality of the food was good. I prefer not to eat at the buffet, especially at dinner time, but we tried it once and it was not crowded for dinner at all. The buffet is huge! It gets pretty crowded at breakfast though and that is a slight turnoff. However, they have pretty much any breakfast food you can imagine - including turkey sausage and my favorite, the grilled tomatoes. All of our breakfasts and most lunches were at the buffet. It was just easy for us to do that so we didn't have to change clothes, just put on cover ups over our swimwear.

 

We ate a late lunch once and a late dinner once at O'Sheehans. Had the grilled chicken sandwich both times. That chipotle mayo makes it! DH also tried the wings. He said they were pretty good, but he isn't a fan of the breaded and fried wings. O'Sheehans was our favorite bar inside the ship. We also loved the Waves pool bar and the bar at Posh.

 

In general as far as food, it is a subjective thing, and we didn't have anything that was in-edible. I had one dessert at the buffet I didn't eat - It was a sugar free butterscotch brownie type thing. Not so good. Other than that we enjoyed the food.

 

We didn't get to try the Noodle bar or the Sushi place, so maybe next time around we'll get to those!

[GorillaPaper]

We reserved Second City Improv for Sunday evening at 7:00pm. We arrived a little early and sat in the front row. We just thought it was ok. They have several different shows throughout the week but this is the only one we went to.

 

Monday we went to Blue Man Group. I was excited about this because I had heard great things about BMG for quite some time. Never really knew what it was though, and I guess I still don't. I just don't get it - its kind of stupid in my opinion. I did enjoy the Blue Experience drink though! :) It wasn't that the show was bad or anything, just not my thing I guess.

 

We also went to Legends in Concert on Thursday evening - we saw Steven Tyler, Madonna and Elvis. We really enjoyed this show. Very entertaining.

 

Didn't make it to Howl at the Moon - maybe next time around.

 

DH did participate in the "So you think you can dance - Epic?" contest and that was pretty fun. It was held in the atrium and shown on the video on the TV's and you can buy the dvd of all the different things that went on throughout the week.

 

The last night we had fun at the Quest. It was very crowded but hilarious!

 

More to come...

[chicail16]

Thanks - patiently waiting for the next installment.

[GorillaPaper]

I forgot to add in my "entertainment section" that we didn't go to the Cirque Dreams show, so I can't comment on that, however there were some long lines of people waiting to get in. It tended to "clog" the hallway in that area a bit but I don't think the lines lasted too long.

 

Meet & Greet

I had arranged with NCL for our CC Meet & Greet and as I mentioned above, they left confirmation in our cabin for when we arrived. It was in the Bliss Lounge on Sunday at 11:00am. They had pastries, juice, water, etc. Very nice of them. Cruise Director Andy and several officers attended. They gave us cards with their contact information on them. The Hotel Director (I don't have my card with me, so I am going to guess on spelling his name) Koj (like Koi) also talked to us for a few minutes. It was a very nice set up.

 

By the way, the Bliss Lounge is beautifully decorated - maybe a little gaudy, but all different kinds of comfy chairs, beds, and I love the gold floor on the way in.

 

Casino

We aren't big gamblers so I can't comment too much on this area. We just play some penny slots here and there. It can get a bit smokey especially in the evening when its more crowded. We generally stayed in the area where there were "non-smoking" slot machines. We had the coupons (found online - if anyone needs the site let me know and I'll see if I can find it) where you get $50 slot play for $25. Easy process to get it credited, you just have to transfer over a little at a time because whatever you transfer to the machine you have to play or lose, They give you instructions and its simple. The only bad thing here is that there wasn't a lot of help at the casino services desk. There was only one person it seemed who could do the cards and she was running a slot tournament which we sort of interrupted. Well she was taking a break and kindly took care of us and called someone else to take over the tournament. Anyway, DH lost all of his and I won! Yay! A couple of different occassions I had smaller wins and then the last day I hit a progressive jackpot of $860 - so i came home with $950 towards the next trip. Yay for me!

 

Well, work calls so thats it for now, more to come...

[Jackie52]

Hi Gorilla Paper,

We enjoyed reading your review. We shall be going on the Epic in Oct. I have lots of questions and would like to thank you in advance for any answers.

1) Could you please tell me where you can find the onlinr coupons for the Casino. Every little bit helps.

2) can you let me know the approx prices of the add on restaurants you attended.

3) how long in advance can you place reservations for entertainment- BMG etc.

4) we are still not sure what POSH is ??

 

Thanks

 

Jackie and Tom

[gelo7]

Enjoying your review.

[GorillaPaper]

Hi Gorilla Paper,

We enjoyed reading your review. We shall be going on the Epic in Oct. I have lots of questions and would like to thank you in advance for any answers.

1) Could you please tell me where you can find the onlinr coupons for the Casino. Every little bit helps.

2) can you let me know the approx prices of the add on restaurants you attended.

3) how long in advance can you place reservations for entertainment- BMG etc.

4) we are still not sure what POSH is ??

 

Thanks

 

Jackie and Tom

 

Jackie and Tom;

Enjoy your cruise!

1) Casino - slotplaycoupons.com. You just find the Epic under Norwegian cruise line and you can purchase your coupons and print them out. The website explains how it works. Once you register at the casino on the ship they will give you a little slip of paper that explains the procedure for adding to the machines.

2)Restaurant Prices - Teppanyaki was $25 per person. Moderno was $20 per person. As a side note, I didn't mention so far in my review, there is a coffee bar where coffee, pastries, tea are free of charge, but if you want a specialty coffee drink like a latte or whatever, there is a few dollar charge for those. Other pay restaurants ranged between $10-$25 per person and a couple ala carte depending on what you order (like the Noodle Bar).

3) You can do your restaurant and entertainment reservations 45 days before you sail. Definetly do the entertainment ahead so you get in to the shows you want.

4) Posh is a sun deck with cushioned chairs and a bar that is free of charge for those staying in suites. They sell a very limited amount of them each week for those not in suites. The cost is $59 per person. As an alternative, the other side of deck 18 from Posh is not very crowded and has loungers but they aren't cushioned. There is also the adults only Spice H2O area on Deck 15. You CAN get chairs by the pool but you would need to be out there pretty early.

Enjoy your cruise - hope this helps!

[GorillaPaper]

As far as port stops, we didn't do a lot. St. Maarten we took the water taxi to Phillipsburg and walked a little along front street. Kind of disappointing. We then walked on the boardwalk and had a guavaberry colada then back to the ship.

 

St. Thomas we had scheduled turtle cove snorkeling trip. The guides were great, snorkeling not so much. The waves were too high at turtle cove so they took us to Shipwreck cove. Still kind of big waves for snorkeling and it rained a little too. We stayed on the catamaran most of the trip. Rum punch was provided on the way back. Overall not a bad excursion.

 

Nassau - we didn't plan anything here as we had been in Nassau a few other times - just went to the straw market for a souvenir or two then back on the ship.

 

Debarkation

We did the self walk-off option. Got off the ship around 9am. No problems really except for crowding of elevators. Its very frustrating when every elevator that opens (when it finally opens) is full of people and luggage! Many people took the stairs. It was too far for us with be heavy luggage to go from 10-6 by stairs so we waited and finally got on an elevator.

 

So there you have it - any questions let me know. We really loved our epic trip and in fact we are book for next year!

[chicail16]

Really enjoyed it!

[GorillaPaper]

Really enjoyed it!

 

Thank you!

[Cruisegirl2004]

It was really fun reading about your trip!

 

We hope to get our hands on the Posh passes as well. My mom and aunt are in an owner's suite, so they will be hanging out there for free - so we are hoping to be able to enjoy it with them.

 

You mentioned that you got to the port at 10:15? Our time says 12:00, and not to show up any earlier than 11:00. Was it different for your cruise, or did you just chance getting there a bit early.

 

How was the meet and greet that you set up. Did lots of people from your role call show up? I'm looking forward to ours.

[GorillaPaper]

It was really fun reading about your trip!

 

We hope to get our hands on the Posh passes as well. My mom and aunt are in an owner's suite, so they will be hanging out there for free - so we are hoping to be able to enjoy it with them.

 

You mentioned that you got to the port at 10:15? Our time says 12:00, and not to show up any earlier than 11:00. Was it different for your cruise, or did you just chance getting there a bit early.

 

How was the meet and greet that you set up. Did lots of people from your role call show up? I'm looking forward to ours.

 

Enjoy your cruise and good luck with the Posh passes.

 

It wasn't different for us - said not to get there before 11, but we chanced it and we were far from the first. However, you would then have to STAND in line waiting for security to open. If you arrive later you will probably be able to go right through without standing around.

 

We had probably about 30 show up from our roll call out of 50 - not bad. It was nice to meet and talk to everyone but it wasn't a very lively group. NCL does a real nice presentation of officers and really seem to genuinely appreciate CC groups.

[conandrob240]

Can you buy a Posh pass For a teen? We are 2 adults and a 13 yr old ( who pays full adult rate to cruise, BTW)

[GorillaPaper]

Can you buy a Posh pass For a teen? We are 2 adults and a 13 yr old ( who pays full adult rate to cruise, BTW)

 

I'm not 100% sure on that. I know at least parts of Posh are adults only but it might be the upper deck only. I never saw kids there of any age though.

[woody73]

Nice review.

 

Woody