EPIC Transatlantic Crossing - Review & Pics!

[eroller]

345 Ship Pics:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eroller/sets/72157652080085499

 

Freestyle Dailies & other printed materials:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/eroller/sets/72157652476021502

 

 

I'm recently back from an 11-day transatlantic crossing on NORWEGIAN EPIC. We departed Miami on April 19th with one stop in Funchal and disembarked in Barcelona on April 30th.

 

Sailing on EPIC was something I never thought I would do. I visited the ship in Miami one afternoon when she was brand new and I didn't care for the ship at all. In fact I canceled a future cruise I had booked on her. I felt the ship was too closed-in and dark feeling, more like a Vegas casino than a Caribbean cruise ship. Some of my initial observations proved true, but overall I really enjoyed EPIC and would certainly sail on her again.

 

In January I sailed on NORWEGIAN GETAWAY and absolutely loved the ship and experience, so this would be my benchmark for EPIC. Overall I definitely preferred GETAWAY but there were some aspects that were superior on EPIC. I'll start with those. The outdoor deck space by the pools and the pools themselves are much better designed and more spacious on EPIC. The same goes for the fitness center on EPIC which is one of the best I've experienced on any ship. The spa as well is gorgeous but so is the one on GETAWAY. EPIC has a wonderful outdoor seating area of the buffet called The Great Outdoors. GETAWAY lacks this feature. Although I was not staying in The Haven, having toured it on both GETAWAY & EPIC it's superior on EPIC. The restaurant and lounge are larger with better views, and the pool is larger and better equipped as well. Lastly EPIC has a larger and nicer Bliss nightclub. The one on GETAWAY almost seems like an afterthought. Food and service were equal on both ships, and I found it to be excellent especially in the complimentary restaurants. Maybe my expectations were low, but at every meal I was impressed with the quality of the cuisine, presentation, and service. The speciality restaurants were also good, but they didn't blow me away like they do on some cruise lines. The Garden Cafe buffet restaurant was well laid out with great choices, and I'm impressed that NCL offers hand scooped ice cream with toppings! I love NCL's pretzel bread as well. Needless to say you won't go hungry! Entertainment was good on EPIC, but better on GETAWAY. Blue Man group had left EPIC by my sailing, and in its place was Burn the Floor. I very much enjoyed it, but the production was better on GETAWAY. The shows were not identical which surprised me. I also enjoyed Cirque Dreams in the Spiegel Tent one night, but again felt the Illusionarium show was better on GETAWAY. The main thing I found lacking on EPIC is The Waterfront. This is the outdoor promenade on GETAWAY loaded with restaurants, lounge areas, and bars all with incredible sea views. EPIC's main indoor venues seem very closed-in and most lack windows to the sea. Why you would design areas like the casino and internet cafe with the best sea views when they don't need them is beyond me. Instead I would have rather seen Shaker's Martini Bar and Malting's Bar & Lounge in those areas. Overall GETAWAY just felt brighter, more spacious, and fitted-out to a higher standard than EPIC. Even the elevator foyers are nice and open on GETAWAY, where as on EPIC they are divided up and closed-off feeling. Neither EPIC or GETAWAY provide the WOW factor that say the new ships of Royal Caribbean or Celebrity do, but they are very comfortable and offer a lot of options. I actually preferred GETAWAY over Royal Caribbean's newest ship, QUANTUM OF THE SEAS. No one was more surprised by this than me. I would choose QUANTUM over EPIC though.

 

My cabin was 11002, the most forward inside cabin on Deck 11. It turned out to be a great location and very quiet since there was little foot traffic up there. The Studio cabins were sold out so I occupied this standard inside cabin at the same rate as a Studio. I was well taken care of by my cabin steward and quite liked the cabin with a couple exceptions. The first being the lighting. I've never been in such a dark cabin before. Even with every light illuminated it was dark. How women would ever apply make-up in one of these cabins is beyond me. I would often open the closet doors as the lighting from there provided some minimal additional illumination, but not much. The other puzzling design feature is the sink. So tiny that it looks like it belongs on an RV. By far the smallest and least practical sink of any ship I've sailed. I didn't mind the shower and toilet set up, but I might were I sharing the cabin with someone. Otherwise the cabin was extremely comfortable, well laid out, functional, and spotless.

 

The weather was great on this crossing, and while afternoon temperatures could be cool it didn't stop many from working on their tans. Our single port of Funchal was a pleasure as always and after 8 days at sea I think the crew and most passengers were happy to see land. A couple more very pleasant sea days and we were in Barcelona.

 

Overall this was one of my all time favorite cruises. The combination of sea days, great weather, wonderful food & service, a very pleasant ship, and fantastic fellow passengers all contributed to a fantastic vacation! Even though EPIC has some downfalls, the ship provided an excellent experience and I enjoyed my time spent on her. I met a great group of new friends onboard and got reacquainted with some previous ones as well. There was a large LGBT group on this sailing and NCL did an awesome job accommodating us. We organized a few of our own activities and NCL supported those with flying colors. It's one reason I've been so keen on NCL lately, because I've been extremely impressed with their treatment of the LGBT community onboard. That goes a long way in creating loyalty in my book even with some of the absurd changes NCL has recently announced. I'm happy to say that on this cruise at least, room service was still free and there were no issues with bringing food back to your cabin. Drink prices also seemed the same as they were in January but I have noticed them creeping up (this is true on every line). I'm Platinum with NCL so I enjoyed dinner for two in a speciality restaurant along with a bottle of wine. Le Bistro was fully booked so I opted for Moderno. The chocolate covered strawberries were nice too. I didn't take advantage of the free laundry as I brought enough clothes to last the entire voyage.

 

In closing I will say I've only recently rediscovered cruising on NCL. Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Cunard, and Disney have been getting the lions share of my business. After my GETAWAY cruise in January I was so impressed with NCL that booked a cruise on the PEARL and then this cruise on EPIC. All three were wonderful and I have to credit the former management team headed by Kevin Sheehan with NCL's turnaround. Now NCL is under new management and they seem to be implementing multiple policies which are not customer friendly in an attempt to increase revenue. I'm not ready to jump ship just yet and look forward to sailing on the new ESCAPE, but I'll be watching closely and won't hesitate to take my dollars elsewhere if these new policies (and those not yet introduced) negatively impact the experience too greatly. Hopefully they won't.

 

Enjoy the pics and let me know if you have any questions.

 

Ernie

[eroller]

Some previews of pictures from my photo gallery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[david_sobe]

Welcome home Ernie

Glad the Epic exceeded your expectations. If you could magically add the waterfront to the Epic, the Epic would be the best ship in the world.

Not sure how you say the spa is almost equal between Epic and Getaway. The comparison is not even close IMHO. Besides being larger, the saunas with picture windows to the sea are out of this word.

Thanks for sharing!!!

Edited May 9, 2015 by david_sobe

[eroller]

Welcome home Ernie

Glad the Epic exceeded your expectations. If you could magically add the waterfront to the Epic, the Epic would be the best ship in the world.

 

Well I wouldn't go that far but a big improvement for sure! ;)

 

 

 

Not sure how you say the spa is almost equal between Epic and Getaway. The comparison is not even close IMHO. Besides being larger, the saunas with picture windows to the sea are out of this word.

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

 

You know I loved the spas on both ships. For me they were equal. On GETAWAY I loved the full forward facing view, which made the spa nice and bright. I was also always able to get a nice tiled lounger with that great forward facing view. I even liked the Salt Room! LOL

 

On EPIC of course the spa is aft facing, but never once could I get a chair on that balcony. They were occupied opening to closing so that was disappointing. The sauna view was great, but I'm more of a steam person myself so I didn't go in there too often. I could get tile lounger on EPIC but the view was somewhat blocked by the chairs on the balcony.

 

So they each had their plusses in minuses but in the end I felt they were equally enjoyable. I will say without question the fitness center on EPIC is far superior to GETAWAY. Actually superior to probably just about any other ship sailing today. On GETAWAY it's way too small and also split up in two sections. I hope the small size is corrected on ESCAPE. I don't know what NCL was thinking.

 

Glad you enjoyed the mini-review and pics!

[david_sobe]

Great pictures as usual Ernie

I forgot how big and open the pool deck is on Epic compared to Getaway. I remember when Epic came out and lots of people freaked because they said it was cramped and had no flow ;)

What did you think about Spice on Epic with a swimming pool and tiered seating?

[portofrome]

Thanks for posting the freestyle dailies and review.

Your photos are fantastic!

[LrgPizza]

I miss Epic already.

[meltingmoments]

Thank you so much for your positive review! We were beginning to feel a little unsure about our up-coming (second ) trip on the Epic, what with all the negative reviews about her. Your review .......and amazing pictures.......has me all excited once more and remembering just WHY we booked her again! Thank-you! :)

[meltingmoments]

Had to come back to say, I particularly loved your aerial photo of Sitges!

 

One of our main reasons for cruising from Barcelona is it's proximity to Sitges. We will spend 10 days there after our Epic cruise. Have you visited Sitges eroller?

[eroller]

Thanks for posting the freestyle dailies and review.

 

Your photos are fantastic!

 

 

You're welcome!

[eroller]

Thank you so much for your positive review! We were beginning to feel a little unsure about our up-coming (second ) trip on the Epic, what with all the negative reviews about her. Your review .......and amazing pictures.......has me all excited once more and remembering just WHY we booked her again! Thank-you! :)

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the review and pics! While not perfect (no ship is), there is plenty to like about EPIC. I hope you have a great cruise!

[eroller]

Had to come back to say, I particularly loved your aerial photo of Sitges!

 

 

 

One of our main reasons for cruising from Barcelona is it's proximity to Sitges. We will spend 10 days there after our Epic cruise. Have you visited Sitges eroller?

 

 

So many from the crossing were staying in Sitges after the cruise. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them. Looked gorgeous from the air and I certainly hope to plan a future visit.

[SissasMomE]

Thanks for the pics, Ernie. I miss the Epic! The pool deck is so much bigger and better than Getaway. I will truly miss that ship!

[cb8]

Great review and the pictures are great.

[jodieh12]

Loved your pics, what type of camera do you have?

 

Jo

[cruiseblues2013]

Great Review! We took the Epic last year for the TA, because of scheduling reasons we ended up on Celebrity this year. We had a nice TA but really missed the entertainment and great service on the Epic. We will absolutely do a TA next year on NCL, no comparison and we have cruised all lines. Your review was fair, positive and informative. I am really getting tired of "critics" complaining of one bag of laundry and room service charges, and bringing it into every new post. We paid $48 for a laundry special on Celebrity....we didn't complain....or beat the subject to death. Thank you again....good job.

[CruisinMaterial]

Eroller - Thank you for the great review. The EPIC is the next ship I'm sailing on for a Canary Island run. All of what you said about the ship comparing it to Getaway were spot on. The Bliss Lounge on the Breakaway class was cool because it had the LED lighting BUT the space was a complete after thought. The Bliss Lounge on Epic was by and far the best Bliss Lounge NCL has ever done. It didn't have corners and caverns to hide in. You could see the whole room from wherever you're chilling in there.

 

I just wish there was some way they could add more windows to the Epic to connect her to the sea more. I'm staying in a studio and did the studios first on the Epic. Her studios were magnificent and I loved the multiple light features which got scrapped for the Breakaway and Getaway. Cost cutting in design perhaps? However, the EPIC did a lot of good things for the cruise world and too bad the larger Spice H20 concept on Epic did not resonate to the newer Breakaway class!

 

Thanks again for your review and all those photos!

[eroller]

Thanks for the pics, Ernie. I miss the Epic! The pool deck is so much bigger and better than Getaway. I will truly miss that ship!

 

 

You're welcome. Yes the pool deck is far superior on EPIC compared to the Breakaway Class. I'm hoping the ESCAPE will be a compromise. The ship is slightly wider and looks like they have done a bit to clean up the clutter of the pool deck, but I think EPIC's will still be superior.

[eroller]

Great review and the pictures are great.

 

 

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed.

[eroller]

Loved your pics, what type of camera do you have?

 

Jo

 

 

I've actually been leaving my good Olympus camera at home, and using my iPhone 6 Plus for all my ship photos on the last few cruises. I've been very happy with the picture quality and interior photos especially seem to come out better. I never use a flash for any of my photos.

[eroller]

Great Review! We took the Epic last year for the TA, because of scheduling reasons we ended up on Celebrity this year. We had a nice TA but really missed the entertainment and great service on the Epic. We will absolutely do a TA next year on NCL, no comparison and we have cruised all lines. Your review was fair, positive and informative. I am really getting tired of "critics" complaining of one bag of laundry and room service charges, and bringing it into every new post. We paid $48 for a laundry special on Celebrity....we didn't complain....or beat the subject to death. Thank you again....good job.

 

 

 

No cruise is perfect and I've never had a bad cruise, just some better than others. EPIC was an especially great cruise. It was just a combination of so many awesome things I love. Was it perfect? No. But nothing that even remotely spoiled my vacation. Celebrity is actually a favorite cruise line of mine, so hopefully you enjoyed it. They each seem to offer something don't they?

[eroller]

Eroller - Thank you for the great review. The EPIC is the next ship I'm sailing on for a Canary Island run. All of what you said about the ship comparing it to Getaway were spot on. The Bliss Lounge on the Breakaway class was cool because it had the LED lighting BUT the space was a complete after thought. The Bliss Lounge on Epic was by and far the best Bliss Lounge NCL has ever done. It didn't have corners and caverns to hide in. You could see the whole room from wherever you're chilling in there.

 

I just wish there was some way they could add more windows to the Epic to connect her to the sea more. I'm staying in a studio and did the studios first on the Epic. Her studios were magnificent and I loved the multiple light features which got scrapped for the Breakaway and Getaway. Cost cutting in design perhaps? However, the EPIC did a lot of good things for the cruise world and too bad the larger Spice H20 concept on Epic did not resonate to the newer Breakaway class!

 

Thanks again for your review and all those photos!

 

 

So glad you enjoyed the review and pics, and you're upcoming Canary Islands cruise sounds wonderful.

 

Yes the lack of windows and outdoor promenade deck will prevent EPIC from being an all-time favorite ship of mine, but there were a lot of things to like that is for sure. I would not hesitate to book another cruise on her. The Studio Complex does seem superior on EPIC. The Studio Lounge is larger and yes the lighting feature is really cool. Perhaps it's expensive and cumbersome to maintain and that is why it was omitted on the Breakaway Class? Not sure really. I liked the extra space in my standard inside cabin compared to a Studio, but I think I would have traded it for the Studio for the better normal lighting, and the different lighting moods that were available. Such a cool feature.

 

Enjoy the EPIC and Canary Islands!

[ilovetotravel1977]

Thanks for the pics, Ernie. I miss the Epic! The pool deck is so much bigger and better than Getaway. I will truly miss that ship!

 

But the pools are just soooo smalllll.

 

Thank goodness for the pool at Spice!

[eroller]

But the pools are just soooo smalllll.

 

Thank goodness for the pool at Spice!

 

 

They are even smaller and fewer of them on the Breakaway Class!

 

When it comes to pools, Royal Caribbean is tops in my book. They are much larger and there are more of them. The Oasis Class has four full size pools (well full size for a cruise ship) and another adult style pool up in the Solarium plus the Aqua Theater performance pool all the way aft. The four main pools are themed for kids, sports, family, and beach. Sure beats the two small pools on the Breakaway Class for just a thousand less people.

[meltingmoments]

So many from the crossing were staying in Sitges after the cruise. Unfortunately I wasn't one of them. Looked gorgeous from the air and I certainly hope to plan a future visit.

 

 

 

We were recommended Sitges by a friend as we didn't want to come straight home after our first Epic trip and we didn't fancy a week in Barcelona.

That was in August 2012....we've been back 6 times since....with 2 more trips planned! It's safe to say we love it! I hope you get to give it a try! :)