NCL Epic Experiences - December 16, 2017 - Eastern... wait, no, Western Caribbean

[Oakman58]

We miss the Waterfront!

 

The Epic also doesn't have a public bar area near the forward sun deck, so it meant repeatedly going down to deck 15 to the buffet or pool bar to get drinks, then taking an elevator or three flights of stairs back up to the 18th deck. I suppose this is why people scramble to get Posh passes on the first day, which is a "private beach club" that does have beverage service. There are mixed reports as to whether this is now a Haven-exclusive area or whether people in steerage can still fight their way to Guest Services on embarkation day and secure a pass.

 

Continuing...

 

 

It has been 2 years since we were on the Epic so I guess it’s to be expected that things have changed. On our E. Caribbean cruise the crew would bring out a portable bar and set it up at the front of deck 18.

 

The first time I went up to deck 18 I thought I had stumbled into a private Haven area because the deck furniture was so much nicer than the rest of the ship.

 

You wrote a great review and thanks for taking the time to include some photos too.

[natefish95]

This was a great review. I was actually supposed to take this cruise, but a family obligation popped up at like 93 days out, so I switched to the Getaway in May. Looks like y'all still had a fun cruise. Loved your search queries. I ordered a Cesar salad once (on land) and the waitress asked me what kind of dressing I wanted. I was really caught off guard and was like, "uh...Cesar..."

[Victorious8]

In the evening, after a few adult beverages, we found that Bliss Ultra Lounge was a decent choice. No problems with acquiring drinks, and my wife participated in karaoke (it was offered most evenings) and absolutely nailed Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me." However, the musical genres selected by the crowd widely varied; besides "I'm On One" mentioned earlier, there was also a pretty good rendition of "Red Solo Cup" - and I'm not even a country fan.

 

There were quite a few people our own age there, and it's more of a low-light/loud music atmosphere if that's what you're looking for. They switched to EDM of some type after the karaoke, so it's not all just folks caterwauling and you can get your "uuntz uuntz wub wub" on.

 

Favourite places to drink were either the chairs and tables to the left side of Maltings (the side with the cigar lounge) or the booths to the left side of Shaker's (again, closest to the wall of the cigar lounge.) As long as you can get a server's attention - perhaps greasing the wheels with some USD - things went well.

 

 

 

Yes, that's an entirely reasonable critique. I clearly got less interested in the particular details of each day as time went on. One of the main reason I wrote these experiences up was for some friends who are sailing Epic in April on a European route - of course, the ports aren't going to be relevant, they're not necessarily interested in the finer details of what was served at the buffet on which day, or how long I averaged with my rear end in a deck chair on deck 18, plotted against the required number of trips down to deck 15 to refresh our libations. Although, come to think of it, that would make an interesting graph.

 

I'm happy to expand on things that I didn't mention, though - I definitely glossed over our dinners at Cagney's and La Cucina, and I didn't even get to the gentleman who tried to engage me in conversation about a "flat earth" theory (entirely unprompted) at the bar. Feel free to ask about a particular topic and I'll try and follow up as best I can.

 

Oh man any stories will do! I love reading really anything detailed especially when I am going to sale on a ship soon (3 weeks out from my Epic trip). You just write so well and I enjoy stories!

[reaton]

Kicking things off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once checked in, I opted to boo when this happened because frankly, take twenty minutes out of your day to learn how to drown less.

 

 

 

 

 

Continuing...

 

 

Oh this made me laugh out loud! Thanks for the review, as I will be on Epic this summer, and I love experiencing others vacations in preparation.

 

 

 

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[ev98]

Oh man any stories will do! I love reading really anything detailed especially when I am going to sale on a ship soon (3 weeks out from my Epic trip). You just write so well and I enjoy stories!

 

Okay, so the most obvious one to continue with, and the most disgusting, was the guy who was seasick (read: blackout drunk) at the left corner seat at Shakers on the first night. Face down, head on forearm, occasional groaning noises. He also had some buddies with him that were sort of keeping an eye on him, but pretty much in their own world of Bud Light.

 

I was sitting at the far right of the bar trying to eavesdrop on the bartenders' conversations about ship life and generally not be a nuisance (ordering bottled drinks instead of fancy cocktails), since they were very obviously closing at midnight. We got to talking about ship inspections since I'd read an article about a Carnival ship failing a recent one, and the bartenders claimed to have received a '99' on their previous one.

 

Interestingly enough... the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program reporting site says Epic was inspected officially on March 4, 2017 and received a score of 100, and again on December 18, 2017 with a 99, when the ship would have actually been at sea... so there might be a discrepancy in the report date, or I conducted this conversation a few days later than I thought. Either that, or they ran their own internal inspection drill. Maybe someone else knows if inspections often happen at sea?

 

Anyway, back to the main story. The bartenders kept trying to wake the passed-out passenger up, pass him glasses of water, etc. Didn't help much and he threw up all over the corner of the bar. The reaction from the bartenders was completely nonplussed, in the "ugh, call housekeeping" sense. At that point his buddies hauled him off and said they would take him back to his cabin.

 

I didn't actually see the hazmat team come out, since the bar was closing down anyway and I had to make my way over to O'Sheehans for some late night food. I've seen the cleanup scenario on other cruises where they red-tape everything off and send people out in radiation suits to put everything in garbage bags.

 

Now you've got me looking at the CDC inspections and corrective actions, though!

[SOPHIHEYY]

Wonderful review, thank you so much. I will be taking my first NCL cruise on the Epic in 2 weeks with a bunch of friends, and we are very excited! I was curious if you have anymore images of the menu's? Also did you notice if the buffet food during dinner has similar food to the MDR? And do both MDR's have the same menu or is it different? Thanks so much!

[ev98]

Wonderful review, thank you so much. I will be taking my first NCL cruise on the Epic in 2 weeks with a bunch of friends, and we are very excited! I was curious if you have anymore images of the menu's? Also did you notice if the buffet food during dinner has similar food to the MDR? And do both MDR's have the same menu or is it different? Thanks so much!

 

Sorry - everything I have that wasn't posted are blurry shots of bar menus only. More pictures are definitely in the cards for our next trip.

 

The buffet and the MDR had different evening menus - so for example, the buffet might have had Indian or Mexican food specials, as well as standard buffet items. The MDR would typically have different varieties of pasta, steak, fish and a vegetarian selection. In MDR they additionally had about four or five standard entrees that repeated each evening.

 

Both MDRs (Taste and The Manhattan Room) had the same dinner menu each night.

 

Taste had a very similar lunch menu each day - it was close enough that I didn't notice a difference between the first day and when we went there later in the cruise. The Manhattan Room wasn't open for lunch, if I recall correctly.

[SOPHIHEYY]

Sorry - everything I have that wasn't posted are blurry shots of bar menus only. More pictures are definitely in the cards for our next trip.

 

The buffet and the MDR had different evening menus - so for example, the buffet might have had Indian or Mexican food specials, as well as standard buffet items. The MDR would typically have different varieties of pasta, steak, fish and a vegetarian selection. In MDR they additionally had about four or five standard entrees that repeated each evening.

 

Both MDRs (Taste and The Manhattan Room) had the same dinner menu each night.

 

Taste had a very similar lunch menu each day - it was close enough that I didn't notice a difference between the first day and when we went there later in the cruise. The Manhattan Room wasn't open for lunch, if I recall correctly.

 

Thank you for the reply! Excellent to know. Another question- I heard there were themed parties? Did you attend these? If so how were they and did y'all dress up at all?

[ev98]

Thank you for the reply! Excellent to know. Another question- I heard there were themed parties? Did you attend these? If so how were they and did y'all dress up at all?

 

No themed parties for us this time. I do recall stopping by the "White Hot Party" in March 2015 on the Epic, and it wasn't my thing - that could have just been me being curmudgeonly though. Lots of "cruise director trying to get people to dance."

 

I'm definitely one of the people that appreciates the less restrictive dress code on NCL; I'm pretty much exclusively in shorts during the day, and jeans in the evening or if temperature requires it. I will wear a collared shirt to dinner and maybe khakis if it's a specialty restaurant, since I don't know what one means by "designer jeans". Kirkland Signature (Costco) employs designers, right?

 

One certainly wouldn't look out of place dressing up, though, for a "night on the town" type experience.

[Karenteach]

We are on the 17th sailing as well!