An Epic live adventure crossing the Atlantic in November... Let’s go!!

[Scotsguy31]

Great blog thanks for sharing. I was on this cruise as well, had an amazing time. It was a shame you missed the Glow Party was definitely a highlight for me. It seemed like half the passengers were up on Spice it was heaving and a great atmosphere. I thought the same about the Azores too very dull and boring place and only real downer on what was otherwise a fantastic cruise.

 

I agree with you about the shambles on the final morning disembarking. Our estimated departure time of 11:20 actually ended up being 14:35 due to waiting ages for a wheelchair for mum. We were the last group to get off. Get to the baggage section and all the porters had left to go to help the passengers for the next cruise and there were no trolleys so had to struggle through with 4 cases and just about make the coach to catch our flight home. While the delay was mostly due to not enough customs staff at the terminal, NCL could have been more helpful in arranging assistance for the many disabled passengers getting off the ship.

[maja651]

Thank you for your review/live posts! I very much enjoyed reading it and following along on your cruise. :)

[alysonofagun]

We’re home and the washing machine is going full pelt... As promised, a few of my final thoughts on the past two weeks...

 

Cabin -

* I was glad we managed to change to a cabin with the bed by the balcony instead of the bathroom. I loved lying in bed and feeling the fresh air rather than the whoosh of the toilet ;)

* The bed though was very short and a topper would’ve been nice to stop the gap between the two mattresses.

* The weird bathroom set up did not bother us in the slightest - perhaps as we had both been in studios before so were used to it? I felt the curtain would afford as much privacy as a normal bathroom wall/door would.

* The lighting is TERRIBLE. Full stop.

* Who actually uses the couch to sit on? It’s not comfy and you can’t view the TV particularly well. Became nothing more than a dumping ground for us.

* Storage! Storage overload! I loved it.

 

Being Aft-facing

* The views were nothing short of phenomenal.

* It was noisy, but in a constant background noise way so you could block it out.

* Balcony felt very private, probably in part due to the noise of the wake.

* We had a couple of rough sea days, but even on calmer days I felt a lot of movement in the cabin. Particularly lying in bed - I would describe it as bumpy like plane turbulence.

* Juddering into port early morning was a horrific wake up call.

* I didn’t ever find it a long walk to the elevators or stairs.

* Looking over the balcony and down into the wake (particularly at night) made me feel super anxious. Made me constantly question what would happen if someone went overboard?!

 

Dining

* Service in the MDR at dinner was great, but breakfast and lunch were both appalling. Slow and disorganised - almost as if there were too many servers, but none of them knew exactly who had done what and when, so they didn’t do anything?

* Would’ve been nice to be able to get breakfast in the MDR later than 9:30.

* I enjoyed our breakfast at a shared table and think this would be a nice addition to freestyle dining - a “would you like to share? are you willing to wait 10 mins for other diners?” kind of service.

* O’Sheehans was quick and filled a hole, even if it wasn’t always the best food.

* Speciality dining won it for me this trip, well worth the money, especially Cagney’s and Teppanyaki. La Cucina was a real surprise and I would definitely go back.

* The buffet was always busy and got old very quickly, despite the mass of choice.

* Room service on the whole was good and quick, although a couple of orders did come with wrong sides or extra sauces missing.

 

Entertainment

* We really didn’t participate in any of the activities on offer - either because a lot were aimed at an older audience, or they had an upcharge, or we were too busy snoozing or being drunk to remember them - but there was always lots on offer.

* Our Cruise Director (Scott) was the same as on our NYE trip - I didn’t like him them (very poor solo coordinators/activities) and this trip hasn’t changed my mind - I just don’t find he has much of a presence on board?

* There were lots of shows that we would’ve seen but many were “sold out” the entirety of the cruise. Life is too short to wait in a standby line so we just never bothered. Personally I don’t think you should be able to pre-book shows more than 24hr in advance unless you’re a large group.

* For me, a lot of the time it was a very different atmosphere on board compared to the Med/Caribbean - there were a couple of nights that seemed completely dead, whereas I am used to 24/7 party party. But I guess that’s the beauty of not having to fit it all into a 1 week cruise..?

 

Everything else:

* Photographers were hit and miss - we had some that were very particular on posing, adjusting small details like ties or necklaces, and others that were more point-smile-shoot. Needless to say the awkwardly posed pics usually came out the best.

* Sometimes service at the bars (in particular the main pool bar and Shakers) was super slow, and when you did get served they took 3 orders at once and you felt like your drink was thrown together and thrown at you.

* I loved Priscilla but don’t understand why the cast waltz around and are treated like royalty on board?

* The early closing of our account was annoying, wasted our time and the response to it lacked the apology we would’ve expected.

* Internet service varies from old-school slow to non-existent and was bad particularly bad in our cabin. We complained and got 2 days refunded.

* OH wants me to add that, whilst he knows he fell for an upsell, he went in for $15 beard trim and came out with a $200 bill that was ridiculous compared to the original price - he thinks he should’ve at least been shown the menu with prices on before the hot towel was slapped on his face.

* I was impressed with the hairdresser in the salon, although for $80 I felt I could’ve at least been offered a glass of water (or a frozen margarita, same same).

 

Soooooo... before I finally end this...

 

Are TAs just for “old” people? Hell no. Although I’m not sure I personally would sail solo on one.

 

Would I TA again? Absolutely. Most relaxing trip I have been on for a very long time. I loved forgetting (and not caring) what day it was!

 

Would I sail NCL again? Without a doubt - we already stocked up our cruise next certificates [emoji1362]

 

Sadly though, while she will (literally) always have our hearts, we’re both now done with the Epic - bored of her and her insides. A lot of the trip I did find myself thinking “this would be much more fun on the Escape” (my only comparison); I think the lack of any outdoors bar the pool areas really showed on sea days when the weather was bad, or not nice enough to lay out.

 

Is anyone interested in the dailies? I brought them home with me but they’ll be going in the bin rather than back to England next week.

 

Still haven’t sorted out videos but I’ll add them at some point, and in the meantime will leave you with this thought - is it really only a month till Christmas?!

 

 

 

 

 

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[Niffernay]

Your review has been wonderful. Thank you so much. I'm now even more looking forward to our cruise in a couple weeks. Especially our aft-facing cabin (even with the shaky-wake-up calls ;p).

[FLAHAM]

Dining

 

* I enjoyed our breakfast at a shared table and think this would be a nice addition to freestyle dining - a “would you like to share? are you willing to wait 10 mins for other diners?” kind of service.

 

On the Epic TA, I ate at a shared table in the MDRs for nearly all meals. All you had to do is ask the hostess to seat you at a sharing table.

[alysonofagun]

On the Epic TA, I ate at a shared table in the MDRs for nearly all meals. All you had to do is ask the hostess to seat you at a sharing table.

 

 

 

Didn’t even know it was an option! Will bear in mind for future, thanks [emoji1373]

 

 

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[smedley_odwin]

Just read back through this, fun memories! Our transatlantic cruise was entirely similar to yours, I swear my liver is going to take weeks to recover :D.

 

I wanted to add that we probably wouldn't bother to participate in the meet and greet/gift exchange with such a big group again (the look on your other halfs face when we came back with our gifts!) as it took ages and really how many people did you meet?

 

We wondered where you were for the pub crawl! It was good fun, but it looks like you totally made up for it.

 

I'd definitely cruise NCL again, but I'm not sure Epic was really the ship for us, we too missed the outdoor spaces etc.

 

Make the most of that sunshine you've got left it's bleedin freezing here at home lol

[fredflint]

We were on the cruise too, we really enjoyed all the different dining options. Due to the fact that we were on vacation we managed to miss both shows due to being engaged in interesting conversations with fellow travelers. The only time we stuck to any kind of time was for the 4 nights of specialty dining. Otherwise we just decided to do something and checked the schedule. A true relaxing vacation, never once did we feel we missed something, we just did something different. Such as chat with a wonderful couple from England where the wife won big on their version of the TV show Deal or No Deal..

 

Getting off was bad for 2 reasons, poor co-ordination between the cruise ship and customs as to how many people to send down at a time.

No separate line for US citizens and others.

 

I have just started writing my review and it is 3-4 pages long before we even boarded the ship !

[Tyskie]

 

I have just started writing my review and it is 3-4 pages long before we even boarded the ship !

 

 

 

Looking forward to your review!!

 

 

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[cruisequeen4ever]

Just love your British wit! Thank you for blogging, and please keep the blogs coming! Hope you get your ring! [emoji183]

 

 

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