Live from the Epic

[cc_rider]

I go the other way. I enjoy the planning almost as much as the trip. The planning lets me know about all of the alternatives and options. I even walk the possible routes on google street-view so when I get there I’m already somewhat familiar with the neighborhoods.

Even with all of the planning, we stay flexible. When we actually get to the place, we can pick which alternates we want to actually see and do. Or if a different opportunity appears we might go with that.

Last month, we had planned to use Girona as a base to visit Figueres from. But after seeing Girona we fell in love with the town and spent the two days there instead. Those were the best days of our entire vacation. Figueres will be a future trip, and we want to visit Girona again.

 

Very much agree that you shouldn't over extend yourself. Do only what you are able to only as long as you are enjoying it. When it turns into a "death march" it is time to stop.

 

Yes, it's a lot different from us, compared to those of you who don't have as much option for just relaxing.

 

I'd certainly recommend avoiding planning too much though. I've seen people who are basically walking round like zombies after the three Italian ports. Don't plan too much and ruin it for yourselves. You can't do everything.

Edited June 3, 2016 by cc_rider

[KeithJenner]

To clarify, I meant don't plan to do too much.

 

I'm very much a planner myself, making sure that things are still able to be changed if necessary.

[Seininya]

I think it may be that you pay for those shuttles either in cash or with your room card. You don't book them ahead. If an NCL agent sitting in Florida looked at the excursion list it would not appear. They would then perhaps assume that there was none.

 

You could also get a shuttle to Pisa, stay for 2 hours and then get back again. If you just want to look around the Tower area and go into one of the museums it would be enough time.

 

Thanks for the info!

[Don23]

Do you reserve the tenders when you first get on board?

 

 

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You are assigned a time (at random?), but this can be changed through the i-TV, by selecting a different time. Tenders are scheduled approx. every ten minutes. Note that some times, especially the early ones, do get full, so if you need to get an early tender, change it on the first day.

[fatherlu]

As Keith is finishing up his general review of the Epic, I invite those of you interested in a current Haven review of the Epic to also visit this new thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2363804

[KeithJenner]

I blame the fireball.

 

We went to Cagneys last night. It has always been our favourite restaurant on NCL, but the last two times I have been, I've not felt all that well on the night that we went, so haven't enjoyed it as much as we should.

 

No such problems yesterday and the meal was truly exceptional. My wife had lamb chops and I had the surf and turf, and both were excellent.

 

It's all a bit of a blur after that I'm afraid. My wife decided to stay in the room whilst I went to see the Beatles. They were very good and afterwards I went to o'Sheehans for a quick drink. Another couple at the bar suggested fireball, which is always dangerous. As there are no receipts these days I have no idea what I drunk and have no memory of going back to the room. I woke up this morning fully dressed and with a vague feeling that I didn't make any friends when I returned. My wife confirmed that for me this morning. :)

 

We had considered going into Marseilles this morning, but when it came to it we voted for the pool. It's going to be another lazy day I think.

[LrgPizza]

Haa! Well done.

 

 

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[FreestyleNovice]

LOL! :D

 

Well, at least you didn't woke up in a trashed room with a stolen tiger in your bathroom (The Hangover). :D

[crazy4cruzin]

Keith, I'm loving all the information that you are providing. Can you tell me if there are ATM type machines that provide Euros on board the ship. There were on other cruise lines when I did the Med cruise three other times. I know the exchange rate wasn't as good as on land but it did make it easier for us. Thanks again for all your great information!!

[DisLauraT]

Thanks for the review!

 

I will be on the Epic on June 15! I can't wait!

[KeithJenner]

Keith, I'm loving all the information that you are providing. Can you tell me if there are ATM type machines that provide Euros on board the ship. There were on other cruise lines when I did the Med cruise three other times. I know the exchange rate wasn't as good as on land but it did make it easier for us. Thanks again for all your great information!!

 

 

 

I didn't notice one. There is an atm in the casino, which I assume gives dollars. I didn't see any others around.

[KeithJenner]

So, it took me a while to get going yesterday. Nothing exciting to report during the day really.

 

I had accidentally booked Teppenyaki for the evening. We hadn't planned to go on this trip, but our son said that he wanted to go and, when checking availability on iconcierge, I went too far and confirmed the booking. We decided we may as well go along.

 

I've been to Teppenyaki a couple of times on other ships, but it was new for my wife and son. Everyone really enjoyed the meal. Our chef was pretty good and put on a decent show for us, and the food was excellent. Our son particularly enjoyed it, and I think Teppenyaki has now been added to Moderno as the restaurants that we have to take him to on each cruise.

 

Now, I'm sitting at the airport waiting for the flight home. I had been a little concerned that taxis may not have been as easy to find as Harmony of the Seas was also in port, but there was just a 5 minute wait when we disembarked at 8.30.

 

So, overall impressions. I like the changes to the ship, and was pleasantly surprised that there was no noticeable change in the service levels. I have heard comments from others saying that the service hasn't been so good recently, and this comments are from people who I would trust, so I have no reason to doubt them.

 

I must make a special mention for Jovana in o'Sheehans, who really was exceptional. Anyone who is on the Epic in the coming months, please say hi from us. Our son had a balloon flower from the kids club, which we obviously couldn't take with us, so last night he took it down to Jovana to say thank you for all the smoothies she made him. :)

 

I'm sure some people will have been a little disappointed with the lack of reports from the ports. We have done these ports too many times really, and during the cruise we made a decision that we will try to avoid them in the future, which is a bit tricky when doing Western Med itineraries. We are likely to make a booking on the Epic doing Civitavecchia to Barcelona with a number of new ports for us next October. That will also give us opportunity to spend a few days in Rome pre cruise, which is really the way to do it.

 

My next few journeys should be a little more interesting for those who are looking for port information. Join me again in 9 weeks in Copenhagen when we will set off for the Baltics.

[Kfamilycruise]

Get home safe! Thanks for the review and notes on the Epic. Can't wait to hear about your Copenhagen trip!

[suron]

I too look forward to your Baltic trip review - son and family (based in Dubai) are keen to do a trip there in 2017 and had hoped to combine it with the Norwegian Fjords but there does not seem to be a way to combine the two. We will keep going through the various options with various cruise lines in the hope we might strike lucky but their first choice would be the Baltics, especially if there was one which stayed overnight in St.Petersburg (from personal experience two days are really needed to see most of this port of call)

 

Have a great cruise

 

Suzanne

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Thank you, Keith! It certainly was a strenuous cruise fro you, wasn't it!? :p

 

I would love to have heard more about the ports (all will be new to me except Barcelona). Nonetheless, I enjoyed virtually cruising along with you and your family. :D

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I too look forward to your Baltic trip review - son and family (based in Dubai) are keen to do a trip there in 2017 and had hoped to combine it with the Norwegian Fjords but there does not seem to be a way to combine the two. We will keep going through the various options with various cruise lines in the hope we might strike lucky but their first choice would be the Baltics, especially if there was one which stayed overnight in St.Petersburg (from personal experience two days are really needed to see most of this port of call)

 

Have a great cruise

 

Suzanne

 

I did a Baltics cruise three years ago and every single one of them that I looked at spent two days in St P. I think that's pretty standard.

[MarkCheshire]

Keith

 

Thank you for all the information you have provided and for also answering the questions posted on here for you.

Much appreciated

 

Cheers

[jenng1976]

Thanks for your trip report! We are doing the Barcelona to Florida TA in 2017 so I've started reading up on NCL and the Epic! Looking forward to trying out a new cruise line. [emoji4].

[twallo]

Thanks Keith for the live review!

 

We just booked today for the June 26th sailing and I am glad to hear all your positive comments from your cruise. It's made me much more excited about trying the Epic again.

 

Hope you had a safe trip home.

[Burgmeister]

Well, we have just returned from this cruise and, overall, had a brilliant time. A quick thank you to Keith for all of his information before the cruise - it proved very helpful.

 

We actually ventured out into the deluge at Livorno to take the bus to Pisa. First point to mention is that the 5Euro bus to town didn't chrage us for our 12 year old, which was a pleasant surprise. The second point to mention isthat the square where you get off of the port bus and catch the citysightseeing bus was absolute chaos! It wasn't helped by the fact that there were 6 cruise ships in that day. Accoridng to the citysightseeing rep on our bus it was their busiest day of the year. Apparently they usually run 3 buses a day but on this particular day they ran 12.

 

Anyway, apart from the chaos in Livorno the trip went pretty well. The roads around Livorno did a passable impression of Venice and the bus dropped us off at the main coach park in Pisa. There was an Information booth in the car park but, this being Italy, it was closed. I had read that there was a shuttle bus from the car park to the Square of Miracles (or whatever it is called) and so when a "bendybus" turned up and a load of people got on, we just jumped on and hoped for the best. The bus drove us off, made a stop, everyone got off - so we joined them. Fortunately, it took us where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, we had no idea where to catch the bus back or how to walk back to the coach park. We were later to find out that the Italians don't go big on useful direction signs!

 

The rain stopped whilst we were in Pisa, which was a bonus, and it actually became quite warm. The square was really worth the trip. After a while looking around all of the beautiful buildings we decided to head for the coach park for our return journey. Ah. No signage. No idea where to go. My wife made a decision to head down a particular street and, with no better alternative plan, we all agreed. This was a mistake. After a while walking down the street I asked one of the ubiquitous "looky looky" men whether we were heading the right way. Alas, we were not. We were well on the way to the train station. A quick conversation (mainly consisting of an amusig game of charades) later and we were on the correct path. Not a single sign pointing the way for the thousands of tourists that visit the place daily.

 

Anyway, sorry about tha I have over-elaborated. I really only wanted to say that the trip using the citysightseeing bus was fairly easy and would have been much more straightforward with fewer ships in port and no deluge to contend with. One more point on eth bus. My wife reckons they were charging 38 euros for passengers turing up without a pre-paid ticket. So, if you definitely want to do this trip book ahead as it is way cheaper.

[KeithJenner]

Thanks for the info. I'm glad that you managed to get into Pisa and that the weather improved.

 

Sorry we never got to meet, but it sounds like you had a good time, which is the main thing. :)

[Diamonddec]

Thanks again Keith for all the info and it sounds like you had an excellent holiday. We are going aboard this Sunday (12th) and your reports and info have been invaluable. Once again, thanks very much.

[Laura44]

What was the cost of the taxi from the port in Barcelona to the airport?

[KeithJenner]

It's a fixed rate of €39

[Kingmaker_inc]

Keith:

 

I know you are no longer "live from the Epic"... and I'm sorry for you that that is the case, but please indulge me one more question.

 

I believe that there is both a Haven Restaurant and a Haven Grill. I have the menus for the Restaurant, but I am wondering what is served at the Grill. Is it hamburgers, hot dogs and fries... or is there more? Do they have the various cookies and gummy bears that we enjoyed in the Haven on the Gem?

 

Basically, what is the Haven Grill all about?

 

Thanks!

Edited June 6, 2016 by Kingmaker_inc