Epic Ebarking After a TA and Haven Questions

[Keith.W]

Hi All,

 

Have booked the first  Epic sailing out of Barcelona April 25th 2021 all going well it goes ahead, the ship arrives after a transatlantic so i am wondering what happens.Long waits, crazy port etc.

I have sailed out  Barcelona  3 times on the Epic so i am familiar with the process but think things will be different after a TA

This time we have only 3 nights booked and sailing in the Haven so should board smoothly but i am just wondering will things be rather hectic and should we avoid early arrival. Usually we like to head to port early and start our vacation early. 

 

We have paid a nice sum for the Haven but not much extra comparing to 2 cabins and as its a present for big birthday we thought what the heck!  After  a bad year we think a little luxury will be nice.We have sailed the Haven on the Getaway so familiar with the process but do you think we wont get the full experience being Haven as the focus will be on 7 night cruisers.

 

We have Cabin 16001 a 2 bedroom villa , any tips or tricks we should know.

 

Pre cruise we intend to have 3 nights in Barcelona and 2 nights in Rome.

 

Thanks

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

[complawyer]

having stayed in haven suites before, i see no reason why your next haven cruising experience should/would be any different.

 

dont worry, enjoy your cruise, bon voyage

 

by the way, although it does not have a haven, we are booked on the aft cabin deluxe masters suite on the spirit april 8th, and the only problem i anticipate is ncl cancelling this cruise.  fyi, suite get the same perks as the haven, but not the use of the private pool area

[david_sobe]

I was in 16001 and its several feet wider than the other 2 bedroom suites. LOVE this suite.  Its like a mini owners suite.  Could not have made a better choice.

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, Keith.W said:

Hi All,

 

We have Cabin 16001 a 2 bedroom villa , any tips or tricks we should know.

 

Pre cruise we intend to have 3 nights in Barcelona and 2 nights in Rome.

 

Thanks

 

Keith

 

The forward facing 2BR is our favorite stateroom on the ship. We love the solarium balcony with 270 degree views,,, spectacular.

 

The Haven on the Epic is the best in the fleet. Large dining room. Large outside dining room. Super large lounge space. Access to the Posh Club (Vibe Club on other ships). Private gym in the Haven. Both sauna and steamroom in the courtyard. Super nice. One downside is that there is no roof on the courtyard, so you are subject to Mother Nature. 
 

The following is a video of 16001. 

 

 

[bmwman]

30 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The forward facing 2BR is our favorite stateroom on the ship. We love the solarium balcony with 270 degree views,,, spectacular.

 

The Haven on the Epic is the best in the fleet. Large dining room. Large outside dining room. Super large lounge space. Access to the Posh Club (Vibe Club on other ships). Private gym in the Haven. Both sauna and steamroom in the courtyard. Super nice. One downside is that there is no roof on the courtyard, so you are subject to Mother Nature. 
 

The following is a video of 16001. 

 

 

Agree about Haven but 17035 was just the best!

[Sea saw 56]

We sailed a TA on the Epic April/May 2019 ending in Barcelona in the Haven DOS.  

We disembarked shortly after 5:00 am, which was the scheduled time for the cruise to end.

Barcelona's disembark times are the earliest we've experienced, and we are experienced NCL cruisers.  

Embarkation times should be comparatively early IMO, other than COVID protocols that we did not experience.

[Keith.W]

Thanks everyone for the wonderful reply's, looks like a great cabin. The Epic Haven sounds great, although we would love 7 days we are happy with 3 nights of pure Haven Bliss

 

 We have done Epic in the Med 3 times already we cant wait not to rush around Rome as it is really a long day on a port intensive sailing so an extra 2 nights in Rome on debarking will be the icing on the Cake.

 

Thanks again

 

Keith

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Keith.W

[Sailing12Away]

We were in the 2br Haven on the Epic last January for an 11 day around the Southern Caribbean. It was fabulous. My hubby spent every night at the Haven bar, the bartender knew us by name and our drink of choice was in hand within 60 seconds of sitting down with our preferred snacks as well.

 

Even when we went to non-Haven restaurants, some of the staff recognized us and said hello by name (didn't realize they worked all over the ship and not just in the Haven areas). Night and day different to our first Haven experience on the Jade. 

 

You will love it.

[SAPMAN]

I am in a Haven suite in Apr Transatlantic.  

 

A question:   Is there a sun deck area within the Haven?   Or do we share a private area such as the Vibe?  Or to lay out in the sun, just go the regular deck chairs around the ship?    Also on any of these, do they have sun umbrellas for shade?

 

Thanks.  Hoping COVID gone by April. 

[Sea saw 56]

SAPMAN - The Courtyard in the Haven is open air, you can usually find a sunny spot around the small pool area, but it is loud due to the fans/ventilation in the area.  

Just two floors  up is POSH, which is free (at least it was in April/May 2019) to Haven guests.  They have portable sun umbrellas and lots of comfy lounge chairs.  The days we went up, a bar attendant brought a sun umbrella over and skewers of cold fresh fruit, he came around frequently for drink orders.

I hope your cruise sails.

Edited October 11, 2020 by Sea saw 56
stated wrong floor

[SAPMAN]

Thank you for the info.   SAPMAN

[Yinster]

If you are embarking after a TA then expect longer than usual queues even if you are in the Haven. The reason is that they need to disembark everyone off the ship and then those who are staying on will be the first to go back on. They also have to process all the staff and clear customs into Europe. 

 

You also have to wait in the queue with everyone till you clear security. Only then you can access the haven queue.

 

It happened to us on our last Med cruise. 

[ighten]

We were on board the last Epic TA from Barcelona to San J - Boarding was an avoidable nightmare and this included Haven as we were in line with a US cpl in the Haven..  Weirdly if you were EU and in the HAven you could skip the line because they had split the check in procedure into EU & Not EU and the EU side was empty.. If they had moved all EU to a separate line they could have solved half the problem instantly, here's hoping they learnt something  from the day...

 

S.J. disembark was also a disaster but this was more due to the Epic berthing at an unsuitable dock - she couldnt get alongside due to the cranes proximity and the way the Epics lifeboats jut out - so a temp pontoon had to be built for the forklifts to take the luggage off.

 

Other than that the trip was superb (even though it was the EPIC 😉 )- full report here  https://notesfromthebarn.blogspot.com/2020/01/ncl-epic-transatlantic-2019-bareclona.html