OH NO! Another Epic Trip Report w/pics

[Oakman58]

I want to take a moment at this point and give a heads up to anyone who uses a wheelchair or scooter for mobility and plan to cruise the Epic. The aft elevators on the Epic don’t have a stop for deck 5 where the Atrium, customer service, shore excursions, and a couple restaurants are located. Those that needed wheeled vehicles for mobility had to use the forward elevators to get to deck 5.

 

Nope, no button for deck 5 on aft elevators.

 

The strangest thing is, if you look at the deck plans on the NCL website it shows the cabins for disabled are located aft.

 

One more thing, the smaller ships we’ve sailed on had three banks of elevators, 4 forward, 4 mid-ship, and 4 aft (12 total) to handle the approximately 2400 passengers of those ships. The Epic didn’t have any mid-ship elevators and instead had 8 forward elevators and 8 aft (16 total) for 4100 passengers. That’s just 4 extra elevators for the additional 1700 passengers and the additional decks of the Epic. It was no wonder the elevators were slow and crowded on this cruise.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Oakman58

[mimmy52]

I always enjoy your amusing trip reviews, plus I chuckled at the title of your thread.

[coscab]

DH and I were on this same cruise with you, so far everything you have written about it is a ditto from us, DH had a hard time shaving by the dim light over the sink.

We had the Epic booked again for Mar. 2017 but I canceled it when we got home, I also already had it booked for Dec. 2017 as we are only 1 1/2 hrs from PC, hopefully by then we will have forgotten what we didn't like and give her another try.:)

[Tutontow]

For those of you taking a future cruise on the Epic don’t let any negative remarks I make about this cruise worry you. The Epic was a good ship but just not my cup of tea. For many folks the Epic is their favorite ship.

 

I'm working on the next day of our trip tonight. I apologize for how long it takes me to update this thread but words don't come easily to me and my keyboarding skills aren't the best.

 

You said a mouthful. To me every cruise is good. It sure is better than being at work or working around the house.

 

I have several friends that love the Carnival Dream. I call it the Carnival Nightmare. Different strokes for different folks.

[Oakman58]

I always enjoy your amusing trip reviews, plus I chuckled at the title of your thread.

 

Thank you, you're way too kind.

[Oakman58]

Day 4 December 11th Sea Day

 

I always wake up early when I’m on a cruise ship. I love to sit on the balcony and watch the ocean roll by as I sip a cup of coffee or while I wait for my wife to wake up. Not this morning though, when I opened our balcony door I was hit in the face with sea spray. WOW, it was incredibly windy and there were some serious looking whitecaps and waves in the ocean. As deep as our covered balcony was, there were water droplets all the way to the top of the balcony doors. It was that windy.

 

 

 

Once my wife woke up and had her morning cup of tea we headed up to deck 15 for the breakfast buffet. The Garden Cafe opened at 7 AM and we arrived there just a few minutes after it opened. The early risers buffet at the Garden Café had opened at 6 AM so I was expecting to have trouble finding a table but instead there weren’t very many people eating yet. There were a lot of food choices at the buffet and while both sides of the buffet had similar items, there were some marked differences in what was available on each side. By the way, be sure to try the sticky buns in the morning. YUM!!

 

After a leisurely breakfast my wife went back to our cabin to relax and read for a bit while I went off to explore the ship. Since we were on already on deck 15 I went outside to check out the swimming pools and adult area at the rear of the ship called Spice H2O.

 

The wind was really howling and the gusts could almost knock you off your feet. Not surprisingly the two main pools, the three huge water slides, and the rock climbing wall were all closed.

 

WOW!

 

What did surprise me was people were already using the hot tubs by the pools. No problem getting a lounger on the pool deck today. In the windier areas on deck 15 the loungers weren’t even put out.

 

 

 

Although Spice H20 was almost deserted, I was surprised to see the pool was open. Spice H2O was one of my favorite areas on the Epic. I think I liked it so much because you had a great view of the ocean, it was easy to get a drink, and they had a lunch buffet.

 

 

December 11th Sea Day to be continued.

Edited December 30, 2016 by Oakman58

[Linda the Book Lover]

I am so loving your review. The pictures are great. It is always nice to read another seniors take on a cruise. The security check story is classic. My DH always gets checked again because of one thing or another. The best comment the Coast Guard looking for your smuggler brother. Can't wait to read more.

[tampadee]

While that light wasn't bright enough for our liking, it might be too bright to use as a night light. Great question though.

 

I thought you were referring to a separate light from the regular light you turn on when you go into the bathroom. Some cruise lines have a night light in the bathroom.

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review, more please...

[ncklhaus]

The picture of the pool is incredible! It really puts into perspective how high the seas were. That you were feeling the motion didn't do justice to those pictures. Wow.

Looking forward to more.

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[txagfan]

We were on the cruise after you. The African American lady at Howl at the Moon was just awful. Probably the worst I've ever seen.

 

The other guy and the one in your picture had a much better rapport.

 

 

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[SuiteCruisin14]

Thanks for the review, following. We are on the Epic for a TA in April, looking forward to your review.

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review and nice photos.

[Oakman58]

December 11th Sea Day Continued

 

My next stop was to go down to deck 7 to check out the Bliss Ultra Lounge and then the outdoor jogging/walking track. The forward elevators opened right by the lounge so that’s where I headed to first. When I walked into the lounge I was shocked. It was roped off and filled with poker tables. The Bliss Lounge would be closed all week and used only for the NCL Poker Challenge. While it wasn’t the end of the world it did bum me out somewhat.

 

 

 

Well alrighty then, I’ll just go outside and check out the jogging track. Well no, I guess I won’t do that either since it too was closed due to the high winds.

 

 

I gave up my exploration of the ship and went back to our cabin. The room stewards were well into cleaning the cabins so my wife and I decided to head down to O’Sheehan’s to get a cup of hot chocolate. Once seated in the restaurant I decide to order some French Toast as well. I said there would be no food pictures but I did have to take this picture of the French Toast for two reasons. Reason one, I was expecting a bit more than one fat piece of toast cut diagonally and reason two, it was delivered to our table and I still didn’t have any silverware. If you look at the picture you can see we still didn’t have any hot chocolate yet either. As I unsuccessfully attempted to get the attention of various waiters the folks seated at the table next to us got quite a kick out of my dilemma. Eventually my tableware arrived along with the hot chocolate and we got quite a chuckle out of this.

 

 

Our next stop was the casino to play the slots and donate some money to NCL. True to form, we both gave up a little cash to the casino. The casino on the Epic is huge. In my opinion this was one of the few venues on the ship that increased in size to accommodate the larger number of passengers. Somehow I didn’t think to take a good photo of the casino. For that matter there were a number of areas of the ship that I thought for sure I had taken pictures but now I can’t find them. I’ve been known to accidently delete groups of photos on my smart phone due to my fat clumsy fingers.

 

We met up with J & M and had lunch in the Taste Restaurant. To be quite honest the lunch menu wasn’t much nor was the food. It was just OK.

 

After lunch we headed up to the lounge at Shaker’s Martini Bar and played Left, Right, Center until we tired of my sister winning all the games and taking our money. I think she was trying to build up a slush fund in case she might need to bail her husband out of jail in the future due to his propensity for smuggling. Hoping to change our luck we moved over to Maltings Beer and Whiskey Bar and played Uno.

 

Where in the World Trivia was scheduled to be played in the Atrium at 3:30 so we headed down to deck 5 to participate. It was a video trivia game with images of various locations throughout the world displayed on the large screen in the Atrium. We did OK and the game was fun but it was obvious we need to travel more if we want to be competitive in that trivia game. A quick heads up, if there is something scheduled to be played on the big screen in the Atrium be sure to get there early enough to grab a seat up front. The farther back you sit the less of the top of the screen you can see because of the low ceiling. The day I took this picture they were getting ready to play Deal or No Deal.

 

 

We ate dinner tonight at Shanghi’s Restaurant which is another of the Epic’s complimentary restaurants. I don’t remember what we ordered but I do remember we all agreed it was an excellent meal.

 

After dinner we were just in time to head over to the Headliners Club for the Newlywed Not So Newlywed game. This is always fun to watch and the show tonight didn’t disappoint. Of the four couples chosen to participate in the game the oldest and longest married couple won the game and also provided the funniest moment. The last question of the night was, “where’s the strangest place you’ve ever made whoopee?” The older couple both matched each other’s answer of railroad tracks. The MC of the show suggested that from now on, whenever we saw that couple on the ship we should raise our arm and pull the imaginary train whistle and go, “wooooo, woooo.” We made a point of doing just that. The funny thing is we bumped into that couple again at the Orlando airport so we gave them the woooo, woooo train whistle sound one last time.

 

We finished the evening with a nightcap at Shaker’s before retiring to our cabin. Next to our towel animal that night there was a reminder to set our clocks ahead one hour. Here’s a pic of our towel animal that night.

 

 

 

My wife has our social calendar filled today and with this being New Year’s Eve, you will probably have to wait until next year for the continuation of this report.

Edited December 31, 2016 by Oakman58

[Oakman58]

I am so loving your review. The pictures are great. It is always nice to read another seniors take on a cruise. The security check story is classic. My DH always gets checked again because of one thing or another. The best comment the Coast Guard looking for your smuggler brother. Can't wait to read more.

 

 

Thank you, I'm really glad you're enjoying my report Linda.

[Oakman58]

Enjoying your review, more please...

 

The picture of the pool is incredible! It really puts into perspective how high the seas were. That you were feeling the motion didn't do justice to those pictures. Wow.

Looking forward to more.

 

Thank you both. I'm sorry I'm so slow at getting each day posted but bear with me and I'll get it done.

[Oakman58]

Thanks for the review, following. We are on the Epic for a TA in April, looking forward to your review.

 

Just don't let my negative remarks about the Epic put you off. Many folks love that ship and cruise on it multiple times.

 

Enjoying your review and nice photos.

 

Thank you I appreciate that.

[katiecat]

Oakman- Thank you again for sharing your experience even though things weren't perfect. Happy New Year's!

[dexddd]

Thanks for the review. We looked at going on that trip with you but opted for the Gem. Looks like weather wasn't the best for you. We were in port with you in St Thomas and the next thing I saw is you were leaving at 2:30 p.m.

[Oakman58]

Oakman- Thank you again for sharing your experience even though things weren't perfect. Happy New Year's!

 

And a Happy New Year's to you.

[Oakman58]

Thanks for the review. We looked at going on that trip with you but opted for the Gem. Looks like weather wasn't the best for you. We were in port with you in St Thomas and the next thing I saw is you were leaving at 2:30 p.m.

 

Yes that was a short port day for our cruise. We followed the Gem into St. Thomas and docked around 7 AM and we were leaving by 2 PM.

[Toola99709]

Thanks for the fun report!

[DMH15]

Yes that was a short port day for our cruise. We followed the Gem into St. Thomas and docked around 7 AM and we were leaving by 2 PM.

 

 

How did that work out? We are on the Epic in Feb. what were the temps like? Beach day? We are still not sure what we will do.

 

 

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[luvcruises1105]

Thank you so much for your review, I love all of the tips and the photos are great! My husband and I are going on Epic in just 2 weeks, it will be our first NCL cruise and our first Mega ship cruise ! I am so glad I got our Inside cabin closer to the front elevators and stairs,I noticed the elevator situation right away , but we thought we should try a Mega ship at least once, you don't know if you like it till you try it, right? We are pretty positive and open minded. I do have a little concern about getting to the POrt and traffic etc... Also you are not the first person I have heard from about the not so great service in O'Sheehans pub onboard either. :( , hopefully this gets better , if not I will make the best of it , at least you have a lot of different choices as far as where to go onboard for a meal!

Thank you again for sharing your trip on EPIC with us! I greatly appreciate the insight and tips! Happy new Year to you and your family!

Pamela:)