back for 8 days now from epic

[swymnwymn1]

Miss being on the ship quite a bit.

 

Haven't had time to put together a decent review

 

Some of our favorite things (in no particular order)

 

---fitness center. Was near our room on 14th floor. We upped to a spa mini when prices came down a few weeks before our cruise. We really liked the spa area nearby too. I was pretty impressed they had kettlebells to work out with. Nice view of the water from treadmills. Also really liked the "cold towels" they had by the free weights in the fridge, was nice to use to cool off.

 

---spa area (included with our room. We tended to use this before getting ready for dinner most nights when we had time. I didn't think my DH would necessarily use it that much but he was a big spa addict by the end of the cruise just like me!)

 

---a few special favorites we liked in garden café -- nutella crepes, pizza (DH liked this), cobb salad made to order for lunch one day.... eggs benedict cooked to order, etc. We enjoyed sitting in the front of the ship, lots of tables there and nice view overlooking the front of the ship/water.

 

----chefs table. Food/presentation/wine all great. Conversation at table with all the other attendees was fun! Nice to run into the other CT people later on the cruise too!! :)

 

----we brought on some wine/prosecco - sipping prosecco at sail away time from watching the view was a fun lasting memory

 

-----excursion in ocho rios - Courtney Taylor trip to secret falls/blue hole - was our favorite excursion on the cruise

 

----scuba diving in coz/snorkeling at almaplena in costa maya

 

----le bistro (ate there 2x; hubby really liked the lobster tail)

 

----epic slide was pretty fun - the one where you ride on the tube and go down the bowl - lines not too bad at any time on our ship

 

----liked the shows we saw overall; dancing with the epic stars was a nice ship entertainment presentation too - congrats to the newlywed guy cruiser who was the winner!

 

-----tv tune game is always a hit with us - we actually won somehow!

 

Also a shout out to the others from cruise critic on our sailing and the other people we met all over the ship. Somehow it seems like we kept running to the same people again and again even with it being such a big ship!!

 

I am wishing we could sail Epic again sometime but doubt the Europe itinerary will work for us with the added travel time!!!

Edited February 25, 2014 by swymnwymn1

[sdmike]

Glad you had a nice time!

[getaway4fun]

Thanks for your "favorite things" review and glad you had a good time!

 

One question: do you remember what the dive site was in Cozumel? DH and DS have done lots of sites in CZ, but they have some that they enjoy more. Just hoping that this will be one of their faves.

 

I love the fact that you kept running into people you knew from CC or had just met. Proves the theory that we live in a small world (even on a big ship!). :)

[swymnwymn1]

Hello! Thanks for the notes!

 

Never dove at Coz before....very good viewing there...In follow up -- the dive sites we did were Palancar Reef (horseshoe) and La Francesa Reef. Saw quite a few things esp. on second dive...including a nurse shark and moray eel at La Francesca Reef.

 

I should have titled my thread favorite things of the Epic! Oh well :)

[2boyzmom]

Thanks for the upbeat review. We also booked the blue hole tour- looks great!!

[getaway4fun]

Hello! Thanks for the notes!

 

Never dove at Coz before....very good viewing there...In follow up -- the dive sites we did were Palancar Reef (horseshoe) and La Francesa Reef. Saw quite a few things esp. on second dive...including a nurse shark and moray eel at La Francesca Reef.

 

I should have titled my thread favorite things of the Epic! Oh well :)

 

Thanks for the info. I will pass it on to DH and DS.

 

You can use that title for your next "Epic" adventure. :)

[NSinMG]

We are considering going to Almaplena in Costa Maya and I would like to hear a little more about that.

 

Was the snorkeling good? How was the food and drink service? Did the same cab that dropped you off also pick you up?

 

Thanks for any details you can give.

[Karencruiser43]

What night and time was the White hot party!!! Thank you!!!

[swymnwymn1]

Hello! In reply to the ?'s....Karen I looked at our dailies and looks like White Hot party was Fri night (Cozumel night)....JWinKC from our cruise scanned the dailies and posted them as a thread here somewhere, also there is a week at a glance page if you want even more details. The Chef's Table was Thurs night (not Wed which I think was printed in one of the dailies).

 

To NSinMG....Mitsugirly posted a really nice review of Almaplena which I found on these boards somehow; I think she has a review a few pages back of a recent Jewel cruise with links to her Almaplena stuff; I think I found the Almaplena stuff under the Costa Maya ports of call section. Anyways, she put more info/pics in it than I could ever start to put together. We told our cab a return time so we took the same cab back. It was not very crowded there which we liked. We had a nice snorkel and honestly I wish I probably would have picked a little later return time, the time just flew when we were there just sitting on the beach or swimming etc. We had mostly bottled water, coke lights, some beer, and pina coladas. Our waiter was apparently there for his first day and we thought he took good care of us. The chips/guac was my favorite. I filled up from that and didn't eat much of the tacos but DH thought the tacos were good.

[NSinMG]

Thanks for the helpful information about Almaplena swymnwymn1. Sounds like a place we will enjoy.

[ALadyNCal]

-----excursion in ocho rios - Courtney Taylor trip to secret falls/blue hole - was our favorite excursion on the cruise

We are booking w/CT and seriously considering the blue hole. Is it good for non adventurous (adults)? I don't think that many in my group will be jumping from rocks or swinging from a vine.....so is it still worthwhile? One even had knee surgery in December and another is not a strong swimmer. Thanks :)