Just Back From the Epic

[Oakman58]

Just back from our trip on the sold out Epic cruise and…

 

I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again.

 

 

I think I'll go back to land based trips.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Oakman58

[SquishTheWhale]

Thanks for the constructive criticism.

[Oakman58]

Thanks for the constructive criticism.

 

I won’t have time to write a report until after the holidays but…a quick comparison.

 

The Jade had 4 elevators located at the bow, mid-ship, and aft (12 total) for the 2402 passengers.

The Epic had 8 elevators located toward the bow and aft (16 total) for the 4100 passengers. That’s just 4 more elevators for an additional 1698 passengers. That was ridiculous. And by the way, the aft elevators didn’t have a stop on deck 5 where the Atrium is located. The elevators were probably the biggest issue for most of the passengers.

 

The Star Theater on the Jade had a seating capacity of 1042 for the 2402 passengers.

The Epic Theater had a seating capacity of 680 for the 4100 passengers. On a positive note, the seats on the Epic were way more comfortable than those on the Jade, Star, and Dawn.

 

I didn’t bring a tape measure but our balcony cabin seemed smaller than what we had on the Star, the Dawn, and the Jade. Perhaps it was due to the extra storage but I know one thing the bed was shorter because my feet were hanging off at the bottom and I’m only 5’10”

 

The Internet Café which is located in the Library had only 4 computers for the entire ship.

 

I could go on, and I will when I take to the time to do a full report but for me, the negatives far outweighed the positives of the ship. I have to stop now and start wrapping the Christmas gifts I bought for my wife. Wrapping gifts is a slow cumbersome project for me.

[citizenfrank]

I won’t have time to write a report until after the holidays but…a quick comparison.

 

The Jade had 4 elevators located at the bow, mid-ship, and aft (12 total) for the 2402 passengers.

The Epic had 8 elevators located toward the bow and aft (16 total) for the 4100 passengers. That’s just 4 more elevators for an additional 1698 passengers. That was ridiculous. And by the way, the aft elevators didn’t have a stop on deck 5 where the Atrium is located. The elevators were probably the biggest issue for most of the passengers.

 

The Star Theater on the Jade had a seating capacity of 1042 for the 2402 passengers.

The Epic Theater had a seating capacity of 680 for the 4100 passengers. On a positive note, the seats on the Epic were way more comfortable than those on the Jade, Star, and Dawn.

 

I didn’t bring a tape measure but our balcony cabin seemed smaller than what we had on the Star, the Dawn, and the Jade. Perhaps it was due to the extra storage but I know one thing the bed was shorter because my feet were hanging off at the bottom and I’m only 5’10”

 

The Internet Café which is located in the Library had only 4 computers for the entire ship.

 

I could go on, and I will when I take to the time to do a full report but for me, the negatives far outweighed the positives of the ship. I have to stop now and start wrapping the Christmas gifts I bought for my wife. Wrapping gifts is a slow cumbersome project for me.

 

It is obviously a shame when any ship, of any line fails to meet the customers expectation. So please take no offence but this just proves that every ship is not for every passenger. Personally I love the Epic, though in reality I can find faults if I put my mind to it!

[ilovetotravel1977]

It is obviously a shame when any ship, of any line fails to meet the customers expectation. So please take no offence but this just proves that every ship is not for every passenger. Personally I love the Epic, though in reality I can find faults if I put my mind to it!

 

I loved the Epic too!

[cdngooner]

We will be going on Epic in March, our first time in a mega-ship. The elevators do not worry me as taking stairs is the preferred way to go anyway. I do fear:

a) not being able to easily get seats in the theatre;

b) having a hard time finding a table at the breakfast buffet;

c) chair hogs taking up all the deck chairs; and

d) having to walk forever to get away from the crowds on Great Stirrup Cay.

Our last cruise was Disney Wonder at about half the size and we loved it. Can anyone allay our fears about Epic?

[SquishTheWhale]

I do agree it's odd that the lifts (elevators) didn't go down to 5! Oh well, we took the stairs all the time anyway. But I can see it might be an issue for someone in a wheelchair etc.

[csiknitter]

a) not being able to easily get seats in the theatre;

b) having a hard time finding a table at the breakfast buffet;

c) chair hogs taking up all the deck chairs; and

d) having to walk forever to get away from the crowds on Great Stirrup Cay.

Our last cruise was Disney Wonder at about half the size and we loved it. Can anyone allay our fears about Epic?

 

 

Was in the epic last week and can truly say all my fears over what was posted on the boards were for naught.

You do have to make reservations for shows in the big theater but the couple times I forget I was able to get in on standby. The elevators were only really busy returning from port and embarkation day so we just took the stairs.

 

The buffet was crowded but we were always able to find a table .You can also eat at the LA cucina dining room tables but we never did

 

We were always able to get chairs at the pool. We got there on the early side though so if you go in the afternoon you may have had an issue.

 

Great stirrup cay was lovely. I wasn't planning on getting off the ship but decided to go over and poke around. We walked maybe 5 mins past the main chair and area and found a group of chairs under some palm trees next to the lighthouse bar. For a couple hours there was no one else in the chairs and we had the bar pretty much to our selves. I will say the tender process was annoying but it usually is. They were only able to use 2 tenders on the aft of the ship due to weather so it took quite a while to get people over.

 

My family had a wonderful time.

[scottbaty]

Is there a captain's dinner and for a Western Caribbean, which day is it?

[MACUQUI58]

Just back from our trip on the sold out Epic cruise and…

 

I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again.

 

 

I think I'll go back to land based trips.

Obviously you do not know how to cruise

[Oakman58]

We will be going on Epic in March, our first time in a mega-ship. The elevators do not worry me as taking stairs is the preferred way to go anyway. I do fear:

a) not being able to easily get seats in the theatre;

b) having a hard time finding a table at the breakfast buffet;

c) chair hogs taking up all the deck chairs; and

d) having to walk forever to get away from the crowds on Great Stirrup Cay.

Our last cruise was Disney Wonder at about half the size and we loved it. Can anyone allay our fears about Epic?

 

Keep in mind that this was a sold out cruise but there were always deck chairs available on the sundecks of 18 and 19. In the afternoon finding a deck chair by the pool or on deck 16 could be problematic.

 

Priscilla and Burn the Floor are the shows in the Epic Theater and reservations can be made on NCL’s website before the cruise. Between those two shows they take up 4 nights of the cruise.

 

You should be able to get a seat at the breakfast buffet and keep in mind that you can order a breakfast in O’Sheehan’s Restaurant as well as the Taste Restaurant. Weather permitting there is seating outside and a buffet at the Great Outdoors.

Edited December 19, 2016 by Oakman58

[detroitlions]

Everything you complained about do not seem like real issues.

I enjoyed the Epic there were a few things I did not like. Not having a walk around area was not cool.

 

But Elevators Balcony size theater size these seem really petty.

I take the stairs when I can.

I see chair hogs on every ship I have ever been on and its always hard to find the good seats on sea days so I go some where else.

If the food is good the drinks are good and I have fun on the ship and on the stops everything else is no big deal.

 

Also I don't under stand why some folks wait to get on the ship to book restaurants and shows. I book them all 90 days before I get on the ship and everything works out well.

[xkritter]

I do have to agree that the elevator situation is awful - or at least on the Thanksgiving cruise it was. And, of those 16 elevators only 4 go to the Haven area.

 

Stairs for a couple flights - ok. But for 11 flights - or more when coming back from a port - no thank you.

[Oakman58]

I'm 71 years old so elevators are not a petty issue for me.

 

Sent from my SM-G935V using Forums mobile app

[Oakman58]

 

Also I don't under stand why some folks wait to get on the ship to book restaurants and shows. I book them all 90 days before I get on the ship and everything works out well.

 

I'm not a fan of reservations on a cruise ship and to see most of the shows on the Epic it's highly suggested you get reservations.

 

I personally think reservations actually fly in the face of NCL's so-called Freestyle Cruising. You know, do what you want, when you want.

 

BTW, Priscilla was the best stage production I've ever seen on a cruise ship and is a must see for anyone going on the Epic. That so was outstanding. I also suggest renting the movie, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert so you have an idea of the subject matter. There were more than a few passengers that walked out of the theater once the show started.

[ready2cruzagain]

We will be going on Epic in March, our first time in a mega-ship. The elevators do not worry me as taking stairs is the preferred way to go anyway. I do fear:

a) not being able to easily get seats in the theatre; We never had one problem finding a seat.

b) having a hard time finding a table at the breakfast buffet; Never had a hard time finding a table at the buffet even on debarkation day which is usually a nightmare on some ships.

c) chair hogs taking up all the deck chairs; and The Epic is the first ship I have been on that we could find a chair by the pool anytime of the day. This was at the main pool, didn't care for H20's setup. Chair hogs were not a problem. Our cruise last week on the Carnival Sunshine had way too many chair hogs and finding a chair by the pool was not easy.

d) having to walk forever to get away from the crowds on Great Stirrup Cay. Loved GSC and the crowd didn't bother us.

Our last cruise was Disney Wonder at about half the size and we loved it. Can anyone allay our fears about Epic?

We were on the Epic for 14 days and just got off the ship 2 weeks ago and can honestly say, we LOVED the Epic and are planning to sail 2 weeks on the Epic again this next year. This was the first time we had sailed NCL in over 10 years due to not liking the Freestyle dining.

 

I can honestly say NCL is our new cruise line.

Edited December 19, 2016 by ready2cruzagain

[Oakman58]

Since I was accused of being petty, I’ll give you one of the petty issues that bothered me. While the bar in the Bliss Lounge was available to everyone, the lounge itself was roped off and being used for an NCL Poker Challenge. The entire lounge was filled with poker tables for the entire cruise. That was just one more thing that ticked me off.

 

 

 

[Sissaaaaaa]

You aren't being petty. Some people just forget that this is a public message board, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion ;)

[travelgma]

There were many great things about the Epic. The entertainment was great.

The staff were terrific and the ship was very clean. Lots of things to like.

However, I would not go on this ship again. We had terrible weather with 60mph winds. All outside decks were not able to be used for a couple of days and so the inside decks were extremely crowded. The elevators were not crowded just on embarkation and debarkation, they were always crowded.

It is no easy thing to walk up 8 floors. Often elevators would have to pass as they were already full. I spoke with many people who felt that there was just something lacking in the design of this ship. I have been on the Oasis and loved it. So it is not just Mega ships.

[david_sobe]

I don't know why some are jumping on the OP. We just had a very detailed Epic review from a very loyal NCL cruiser who also mentioned the crowds, lines and some very poor service. Not sure if this is a temporary thing since the Epic just came back from Europe and there are Christmas cruisers or this is another sign Del Rio is ruining a good brand.

Calm down and lets hear from the OP. The Epic is my favorite ship so I am curious to learn more.

It does suck when you cruise there is a large party NCL caters too. The gaming poker party closing Bliss the entire cruise would also frustrate me. Once there was a singles group who cruised Valentines week. They sold out Cagneys and no one could get a reservation that night or wherever the group decided to eat.

Edited December 20, 2016 by david_sobe

[Sissaaaaaa]

I don't know why some are jumping on the OP. We just had a very detailed Epic review from a very loyal NCL cruiser who also mentioned the crowds, lines and some very poor service. Not sure if this is a temporary thing since the Epic just came back from Europe and there are Christmas cruisers or this is another sign Del Rio is ruining a good brand.

Calm down and lets hear from the OP. The Epic is my favorite ship so I am curious to learn more.

It does suck when you cruise there is a large party NCL caters too. The gaming poker party closing Bliss the entire cruise would also frustrate me. Once there was a singles group who cruised Valentines week. They sold out Cagneys and no one could get a reservation that night or wherever the group decided to eat.

 

That is not cool at all. I have also been on cruises where they close off an entire area to cater to a group. It's not right at all.

[poffles]

Just back from our trip on the sold out Epic cruise and…

 

I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again. I will never cruise a mega-ship again.

 

 

I think I'll go back to land based trips.

 

 

Not sure if it's the mega-ship but if you were to reword that to say "I will never cruise the Epic again." you could add a few more of those lines for me. I definitely felt same way about that ship. I wouldn't let that sway me from trying another mega-ship that might be better designed for the capacity. The Epic seemed designed to force the crowds together and by then end of the cruise passengers were pushy and rude which I suspect was a result of frustration. Don't even mention the elevator nightmare ... how many can we shove in those things.

Edited December 20, 2016 by poffles

[Red-Sol]

We were on the Epic for 14 days and just got off the ship 2 weeks ago and can honestly say, we LOVED the Epic and are planning to sail 2 weeks on the Epic again this next year. This was the first time we had sailed NCL in over 10 years due to not liking the Freestyle dining.

 

I can honestly say NCL is our new cruise line.

 

I was pretty sure you were going to like it! :) I think Epic is still my favorite ship as well...but Breakaway, Getaway, and Escape all also have some very nice amenities. The oceanfront boardwalks on those ships are really very nice! If Epic had one of those I might not ever sail on anything else! ;)

[Wedgie Wedgie]

We were also recently on the Epic. We were upgraded to a Haven 2BR villa the Monday before the cruise. The Haven insulation from the masses made for a comfy cruise except:

 

1. The Haven elevator which just goes from floors 16 & 17 to 7 was out of service half the cruise. And when it was working folks unaware that it was the Haven express would get on and push their floor button, it would light up and then the light on the button would go out. So they'd push their button again, each time opening the door and the elevator going nowhere. I had to ask them to stop pushing the button and explain it was a Haven express- I would get a dirty look and then they would finally get off. It needs to be marked "HAVEN ONLY".

 

2. The 16th floor had sewage issues. Our toilets had flushing problems and then backed up and flooded the #2 bathroom. Sewage smells in the hallways most days.

 

3. The Haven pool was drained on day 3 and it seems they were going to resurface it. It was dry the rest of the cruise.

 

Not a Haven dilemma but LeBistro has been our fav on 7 previous cruises. LeBistro on the Epic was laughably bad and they were only half full- poor service, terrible mussels, goat cheese salad and the duck was like a stringy pot roast.

 

The Haven restaurant was excellent as was LaCucina, which was another nice surprise. So LaCusina and LeBistro changed places on our personal prefs for dinner.

 

Getting on and off the ship was a breeze, in fact I was starting our car at 7:00am on disembark day.

 

If you are driving to Port Canaveral you will see large electronic signs along the way telling you each cruise line's terminal- either A or B. That is, except NCL which was not mentioned. We could see that the Epic was next to a Disney ship so we followed the Disney pax into Terminal A and guessed correctly- 50/50 chance.

 

I'm siding with the OP and also taking a break from cruising for awhile. Next trip will be fly in to Italy.

[07alloygt]

We were on this same week, it started badly with waiting on the road 25 minutes to get in to the port to park, walking up to the check in area for the port and there being no signs, or any real help from the port workers on where to take bags to, and then being told that we were arriving early, when in reality we were 20 minutes late because of the backup getting into the port.

 

Once inside the port the NCL park of check in and boarding went smoothly.

 

As I was in the poker tournaments and not a big lounge person the Bliss lounge closing did not bother me.

 

The buffet on Epic was a very dismal 2nd place compared to the escape in April. The amount of seating although we never had a real hard time finding a seat but the real disappointment was the food. the variety not only from day to day, but also during each meal, on the escape there was way more choices during each meal not the same things at each station. The theme nights were a joke for the most part, like grill night, no steak.

For those that say if I wanted steak then go to Cagneys, We went there one night, ok steak, nothing to rave about. Not way overpriced, would have paid more for an excellent steak.

 

After sailing on both Ships, we would definitely prefer the Escape over the Epic, the rooms are nicer on the Escape, not that we had any issues with the setup with the bathrooms in the Epic, but the round beds were a little short, and no usb plugs by the beds.

 

The spa was great on both ships, could not say one was better than the other.