The Ma'am's '8 Days a Week' Epic Review with pictures

[N747KT]

Why was the Epic Plunge closed?

[medicalma'am]

It was weather related or they just didn't have enough staff for all three slides. It was open other days during the week.

[ShannonSC2]

Great review! The pictures are great. I will be on the EPIC in June.

[HardHeadedWoman]

Great review! I was just looking up the Epic's Med itineraries and loved the ship! How was the weather this time of year in the Caribbean? I grew up in Miami but now live in NYC and my definition of "cold" has changed drastically...

[IluvZ]

I read the updates on CC while you were attempting to get to the ship so it's good to see you made it. We are contemplating a TA on Epic next year in Haven. We love the classic and Jewel class ships and don't know if we'll love Epic. Looking forward to the rest of you review.

[medicalma'am]

Thanks Shannon and IlovZ. How nice that others were following our saga as it was going on!

 

HardHeadedWoman, the Epic grew on me and I would not hesitate to sail on her again.

[medicalma'am]

Let's see.....St. Maarten.

 

We had booked the Golden Eagle Catamaran. We met our tour group and walked to the dock. It was a very nice boat with shade and sun areas. The shaded area had benches and tables. We had to leave our shoes in laundry baskets and got on the catamaran barefooted.

 

 

 

We made a 15 minute ride to a snorkel area. The water was very rough and they warned us to be careful. We were told where we would find the best viewing of the sunken boat and other things. Entering the water was easy via a stairs.

 

 

The water was cold at first but you got used to it quickly. They provided vests and snorkeling equipment. It was a lot of work to swim to the area where they said the snorkeling was best. I got absolutely worn out. We were there for 45 minutes. We could not see the 30 foot bottom.

 

 

Screenma'am and I

 

 

We booked through the ship but this is them.

 

 

The crew was great.

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2014 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

We then moved to a beach. They anchored out from the beach and you could swim to it. It was steep and we were a long way out.

 

 

They had a dingy that would bring you back from the beach.

 

 

They hoisted the sails.

 

 

 

We were supposed to go to Maho beach then. The description of the excursion said that we would be able to watch the planes land right over head from the water. I assumed that this meant we would actually dock there and watch a couple of landings. We didn't. They just pointed out the beach on the way back.

 

 

This is as close as we got.

 

 

After we snorkeled they brought out drinks: beer, cokes, and rum punch, and they had sub sandwiches.

 

[medicalma'am]

We got back to the dock and retrieved our shoes and walked back to the ship.

 

 

We saw this docked near our ship and wondered who owned it. That is a helicopter on it!!!

 

 

What do you think was open when we got back?????

 

 

What a wild ride!!! I love the Epic Plunge!!!

 

 

The bowl was awesome.

 

 

We all went on it many times. What a blast.

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

We got back to the ship and were early enough for lunch in Garden Cafe. We sunned and played on the slides until 3 and headed to our cabins to rest.

 

We showered, changed and rested. I watched a fuel barge unhook from us and pull away. I was reading on the balcony and found myself just looking out at the view more than reading.

 

We got ready and had dinner in Taste. We went to O'Sheehan's for a drink and headed to Legends show. First was Elvis, then Katie Perry. They were OK, and just so so. Then came Stephen Tyler! Wow, what a show! He could have fooled me any day. His voice, talk, moves and looks were dead on. After the show you could have your picture taken with them. Thank goodness I bought a picture because DH kind of missed this one!

 

 

After the show we dropped into Fat Cats to hear Bart Walker, Christopher Alexander and George Simon play a couple of sets.

 

 

To our cabins at midnight and to bed for an early day in St. Kitts. What a great day.

 

[medicalma'am]

We awoke at 6:30 and got ready. We headed to Garden Cafe for breakfast and then waited in the Marketplace to debark. We were to meet Beulah Mills with Welcome Tours at 8:15 "sharp" at the Smoke and Booze shop just outside of port. I could see that we were docked and the gangway was out at the aft.

 

 

I kept checking and checking. I just could imagine that the officials were taking their time reviewing documents as NCL usually doesn't visit St. Kitts. I learned later on the boards that we had trouble docking due to the wind. Whatever the cause, we did not get off the ship until 9:10 a.m. We were told that we would have one hour longer in port due to the delay.

 

 

We had arranged to go with another member of our CC Roll Call on a tour of St. Kitts and Nevis "Two Islands, One Paradise". We got to the meeting place and had to rush to a van to make it to the ferry by 9:30. We were given ferry tickets and we had to ask who would meet us on Nevis. We were told to look for "Teach". He had a sign when we got to Nevis about 30 minutes later. The ferry was very nice and we were in the comfortable inside section as stated on our tickets.

 

Teach was a retired teacher and a delight. He had a large comfortable van with leather seats and air conditioning. He gave us a tour around the island that included three former plantations that were now exclusive hotels.

 

Montpelier was the first, and was where Princess Dianna chose to stay with her boys a couple of years before her death. The employees were not told that she was coming until the day she arrived.

 

 

We enjoyed the grounds and toured the inside and pool area.

 

 

The vistas were beautiful.

 

 

We were just asked not to take pictures of the guests.

 

 

[medicalma'am]

The accommodations were very private.

 

 

 

The next place was Golden Gate. It was recently bought by a NYC decorator who changed everything and painted the fences, doors and shutters red. It was really ugly in my opinion. It had been a sugar plantation. Teach showed us the grounds and was able to point out and name many of the native plants.

 

This was a water purifier.

 

 

Inside was a stone. They poured water into the top and it filtered through this stone and dripped down to e collected for drinking and cooking.

 

 

The pool area was small.

 

[medicalma'am]

More of the pool area of Golden Gate

 

 

This is the roof of the 'once upon a time' kitchen, now a bar area

 

 

This was also the place where Teach pointed out the "Teddy Bear Tree". It was so soft and fuzzy.

 

 

The next place was the Nesbet. This was a much bigger resort and again once a sugar plantation.

 

 

It was on the beach and the grounds were expansive

 

 

It also had a pool

 

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

The last place we went was the Four Seasons

 

 

It was large and felt less personal and more like a run of the mill resort. It had a huge pool, which seemed to be the center of focus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stormynow]

The Attessa IV is a 330 mega ship owned and refurbished by Dennis Washington a construction and mining tycoon worth an est $5 billion. Many think Bill Gates owner cause he is on it at times.

[fpebbles]

Really enjoying your review! Have friends and family soon to embark on Epic and happily collecting tips/info for them.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share--

 

Great pics!

[medicalma'am]

Thank you stormynow, I had thought about researching it online and just not gotten to it.

 

fpebbles, thanks for joining me. CC boards being 'down' yesterday really threw me off. Now where was I?

Edited February 13, 2014 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

After the Four Seasons we were taken to the beach. We were dropped off at a restaurant "Sunshine's" and Teach said he would be back in an hour and a half. We were seated at a large table flanked by comfortable couches with ample pillows for comfort. Lunch was included in the price of our tour and we each could spend $15.00. DH and I ordered cheeseburgers. I ordered a beer and he ordered a "Killer Bee". Teach had warned us only to have one or maybe even two of these because they really sting after that! I had a taste and it was really good, but I don't like sweet drinks. Our meal was fabulous and we had plenty of time to visit and relax.

 

Teach was so personable and knowledgeable and entertained us with riddles along the way. He told us that if we got them all right, we would have a free tour on our next visit to the Island. We were getting them all right. Then he asked us what an animal was that we kept seeing. Goats! Goats! We all answered enthusiastically. No, they were not goats. He let us have more time. Later seeing them again, all we could come up with was Goats! No, not goats this time either. Finally he told us that they were sheep without a heavy coat! They do not grow a coat in their warm weather. We saw sheep, goats, and cattle all over the island. He said that they roam freely all day and return 'home' at night. There are no fences for them and they know where they live! The locals raise them for the meat.

 

Soon Teach was back to continue our journey. I must have run my camera battery down because I have no more pictures of that day. Maybe that is a good thing! Now, we had paid cash at the ferry dock for our excursion, been given the ferry tickets to Nevis and told to look for Teach when we arrived there (this was after we asked how would greet us). Mind you, it was a really nice passenger ferry over there. But Teach had mentioned several times during the day that we would be taking a different "faster" ferry back to St. Kitts. He even pointed out that 'over there' is where our ferry back would dock. We never dreamed what we were in for.

 

He took us to a dock where there was "ferry" that looked like what would have landed at Normandy in 1944. He paid the owner for our ride over and left. It was for vehicles, but had a ladder to an upper area with wrought iron benches tied to the railing with twine. Hmmmmm....like twine would keep them there. A couple of them did have welded chain. On the way to the ladder I noticed the three life rings hanging on the insides of the boat and made note of where they were. Let's see, there were 6 of us, two crew that I could see, and a couple of other local passengers joined us. Then there was the guy driving the dump truck :eek: and one driving a car, and one in a truck. That makes about 11 of us scrambling for the one live preserver that would not taken by crew!!!!!

 

We waited about 45 minutes more for vehicles I guess which never showed up and we took off. The ride, Teach said, would take about 5 minutes. He was wrong. It took the same 25 minutes that it had taken us to get to Nevis on the nice passenger ferry. It was a ROUGH ride to boot! I kept watching that dump truck and hoping it was centered really precisely on the ferry. I also watched the guy in the regular truck napping the whole time and that calmed my fears a bit.

 

We arrived at a deserted dock and there was Beulah to greet us with another nice van! This was a deserted area of St. Kitts where a billion $ is being invested by 5 five star resorts and a yacht club she said. There is nothing there now, maybe I'll come back in 20 years!

 

We traveled to two lookouts that were spectacular, and were told of the history of the island. She took us to a beach resort with a restaurant that was empty, a bar that no one was attending, but restroom facilities that were very nice. It was a nice place but there were only people on the beach. We arrived safely back at the port where we did some shopping and got back on the ship.

 

I showered and then relaxed out on out balcony with my book. Now remember, we were late getting off the ship so we were staying longer in port. A Costa was the only other ship in port and I noticed their bridge officers with binoculars looking down the dock from their flying bridge, probably for late arrivals. I went in and got our binoculars to have a look for myself. Sure enough, there were about 5 officers, one with the binoculars watching for runners!

 

Now I have read about pier runners but never have seen one. Soon I heard cheers rising up and looked to see a man carrying a backpack running towards their gangway. The cheers got louder and louder! When he handed the crew his cruise card, the crew looked at it, turned it over to see the other side and turned it over again. He handed it back to the poor fellow and pointed to our gangway!!! Well, his cheering crowd really got a laugh out of this! He just threw his hands up in the air and walked over to our gangway and was welcomed onto the Epic! He had plenty of time.

 

For about 15 more minutes then kept watching with their binoculars and we did see more 'runners'. They finally untied and prepared to leave. Then I saw one of their bridge officers bring a big 'hand' to the window and 'waved' to our bridge officers as they set off! I had to wonder if the bridge officers can communicate by radio to each other. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall and heard the chat back and forth for that last hour.

 

We had dinner at Le Bistro that evening and I took pictures with my phone.

 

 

We had ordered a bottle of wine (now that I we had been to two wine tastings and knew what we liked of the NCL wine list) and had what seemed like the fastest dinner of the cruise, but it was actually 1 hour and 45 minutes! We visited with the restaurant manager who was from India. He told us of his life and family at home.

 

We were so full and turned in early.

 

Next up is St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

 

[medicalma'am]

It was another early rising day. I went out on the balcony to see the lights of St. Thomas and approaching the dock. There were yachts and sailboats in the bay.

 

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We got ready and headed to the Garden Cafe for breakfast. We left the ship and found our tour line. Then we were sent to another line, then finally the right line. We were doing "Discover St. Thomas and Magens Bay" through NCL. We were counted off and led to buses. We were in a comfortable blue Ford with Raymond as our driver. He took us up some winding cliffs to two overlooks that were spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

The beach where we were going.

 

 

 

 

There is no reason to do the tram if you take this tour. We had time to get out and take pictures at each one. We then went back down the hills and headed to Magens Bay beach. We got there at 9:30 and it was not crowded at all. We found a table in the shade and started exploring.

 

[medicalma'am]

The beach is a mile long.

 

 

 

The water was beautiful. I experimented with my camera underwater.

 

 

The water was cold and we had to ease in slowly!

 

 

They had chair rentals for $5 and lounges for $12. They had clean bathroom facilities and a foot shower outside.

 

 

Changing rooms

 

[medicalma'am]

Showers

 

 

bathroom was very clean

 

 

 

Bromelades growing in the trees

 

 

Food service is available

 

 

The bar

 

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

We had a bit less than three hours on the beach when Raymond was back to pick us up. We headed to Blackbeard's Castle, which is not much but the tower they used as a lookout.

 

 

You could climb the spiral staircase and see out the tower.

 

 

Then it was time to start down the 99 steps. These I had pictures very differently. They were a few steps and a few steps there and not hard to handle.

 

 

There were dwellings to see as we descended the hill.

 

 

 

The views along the steps were beautiful.

 

[medicalma'am]

All of the dwellings on this hill had the best cross breeze and I can imagine that they were comfortable even in the hottest weather.

 

 

 

 

 

Then there was a museum with statues that described the history of many of the Caribbean pirates.

 

 

 

just more proof that crime doesn't pay!

 

 

[medicalma'am]

There were bathrooms and pretty places to sit and rest along the way.

 

 

 

I had to snap this picture of the Nurse Licensure Board

 

 

At the bottom was the town square, open air shops (with things I am sure made in China), and lots of taxis to take you back to the port. The transportation back was not included in the price of the tour but nominal.

 

 

 

We got back to the ship in time to get a light lunch in the Garden Cafe. Then I relaxed on the balcony looking at all the mega yachts. I was able to get internet service and check up on things at home.

 

On one of these I counted two hot tubs and a pool!

 

 

A view of ruins on St. John as we pulled out of port.

 

[IndyKat]

Great review Robin as always. Don't think I ran in to you on the ship, but probably passed you at some point.

 

Look forward to reading the rest when you have time to finish.:)

 

Kath