Kaya4114

^_^ Thank you all for your responses. Even the negative ones I will take everything with consideration.

I agree about trying different lines. That is the reason that I am doing NCL. I may have 3 on RCCL, but compared to some posters on CC I'm just a baby in experiences. I have a lot to see, and I plan to travel a lot.

I am up for more vacation this coming October and believe me, you can guess what I plan to do with it. The question is, though, where and which line do I want to try.

I will be sure to report back with my personal findings once this trip is through, but I know that I will have fun.. I live in Canada for heaven sake lol, ANYTHING is better than this freezing cold snow where I actually have to MAKE my own food and buy my own ingredients to do so lolol :P :P ;) Also if I tried to go swimming right now, I'd have a hard time diving through that ice. :P

Thank you all for the well wishes.

Yes, the post was on point. If someone on CC wants information rather than "opinion", that person should ask for information and not for "opinion". Opinion reflects the responder's attitudes, values, etc. and logically must be seen as biased. It is rare enough for people to give information without putting a personal slant to it .

Then I guess what I should have put was "I would like opinions from people who have actually experienced it and are not giving an opinion based off of what they decided without trying it for them selves."

I also did want info as well, which many nice people here have provided me with. I appreciate them all for that.

Treating your mother? Lucky Mom! I'm sure you'll have a great time.

 

I have friends from NYC going on Epic for their second honeymoon cruise (the same one you are taking), and they've taken NCL before. My family and I have cruised with RCL and Cunard many times before.

Oh nice. :) I have always wanted to go on Cunard, but I have never had the money for it. I heard the food on the Queen E is amazing.

How does one give an unbiased opinion?:) Opinion, a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.:)

I guess that's true, but what I meant by that was, I was hoping for responces from people who wouldn't be like "I have never done NCL, they are not as good as _____" or whatever, because I have read a lot of reviews that were people comparing without experience, any/much etc.

Thank you all so much for the info. ^_^ All of your comments have been very helpful to me and I am indeed looking very forward to my trip. (OMG 2 days to go YAY)

I originally had booked an inside cabin for my self and my mum whom I am bringing for her birthday, my treat. However my father wanted to come too and shelled out some extra cash to upgrade the room to a balcony, so I am happy to hear that there is actually a lot of space.

From what I have been told, the "impractical" part is due to the bathroom being sparated into 2 places or something, where the shower is in a different room than the toilet or sink or something(?) Never experienced it before, so we will see how it goes.

It sounds like I am gonna like the food, from what a lot of you have sad. Sad there's no chocolate night however from what I have gathered, its not that much of a loss, as the volcano dessert in the MDR is better than a what would be there for the chocolate event thing.

Sad the pools are small, but it's not too big a deal. Our ports include Grand Cayman which I have been to a few times, so I know I'll get some good swimming in at that port.

I have seen a few things about the beds being small. I am a tall girl at 5,11" so I hope my feet don't hang out the end of the bed.

I will be sure to get back to everyone with my review. :D Thank you all so much.

Thank you Kurt for the story. I do not intend to get off hungry. I appreciate the honesty and I know what you mean by how it sounds is not 100% a reflection on how much fun you had.

The saying goes "a bad day on a cruise is still a million times better than a good day at work."and I welcome the comments.

I have my own to share about Oasis and Freedom of the Seas, as those are my two most recent trips. Voyager I remember well, but I was also a kid, so things from that trip may not be present to how things are now.

Anyone else with stories?

^_^

:D I still look forward to trying it though. Magma or not. <3 chocolate <3

Thank you. ^_^ I am certainly looking forward to the trip. Hard to believe it's just 5 more days.

:P Thank you all for the many opinions and comments. About the Pizza, I don't expect authentic Italian fair, or even that of NY. I am glad they have something pizza like available for free.

Food is my biggest concern here, as I am quite a foodie and love a stake as rare as it can be. I also have quite the sweet tooth, so if they have good desserts that's a big plus for me. The only ship I ever went on that had disappointing food was Oasis of the Seas, but the MDR food made up for that ten fold. (Seriously, everything besides Sorrantos was terrible, so I found my self saving room all day for dinner. They have NO idea how to make a cheese cake, yeeeuuughhhck, but the food in the MDR was amazing.)

Yay for ice cream! I am glad to know they have that available to me. Kinda disappointed the pools are only 5 feet, as I am almost 6 feet and I like deep water, but it's not a huge deal, as I am sure I will be able to get my share of treading deep water at Grand Cayman and a few other beaches.

I live in Canada in a place where I can get almost any type of cuisine pretty easily, and I tend to gravitate to Italian and Asian food the most, so I am glad to hear they have good Asian dishes on Epic. I don't much care for Indian food at all, so curry may not be something I'll eat, but I may give it a try just to see what it's like.

Any and all experiences on NCL ships be it Epic or in general is welcome. ^_^ Thank you everyone.

Thank you very much for the information. ^_^ No deep pools huh. Ah well. Also no chocolate night. Boo. Still, it's sure to be an adventure. I am really exited to go. Thank you for the info about the staterooms, and I will look up the arcade. ^_^

Will do. :) I am actually quite excited. ^_^ I am keeping an open mind. What I hear about chocolate night sounds absolutly amazing. One memory that sticks out in my mind about RCCL back in the day (they don't do it anymore) is the Midnight feast.

They had a feast at midnight with ice scupture swans and chocolate labs(life size) of actual chocolate and tons of food in the main dining hall. I was only 14 at the time, but that memory stays with me of how awe struck I was when I saw the spread. I never saw anything like it again, and was disappointed when I returned on Oasis and was told they stopped doing that.

This chocolate night sounds similar to what I remember and I am a chocoholic so this is gonna be amazing if they do.

So I am going on Epic in 6 days and I have never cruised NCL before.

How many restaurants are free and how many do I have to pay extra to go to?

Also, what's all this I hear about Chocolate night or something? How does it work and are there really whole statues of the sweet treat posted on display along with all the food? Is there a time limit?

Side question: How deep are the pools?

Is there a pizza place like Sorantos on RCCL? (if yes) Do you have to pay extra?

Hi. So, I am new to Cruise Critics, but not that new to cruising. I have been on several Royal Caribbean Cruises and am now going on another cruise in 6 days, the Norwegian Epic.

I have read many reviews online and watched several videos, and I have an idea of what it'll be like to "cruise like a Norwegian", but I also have some questions and mild concerns regarding activities and also price of food.

I ask for an unbiased answer here as I have only found what looks like biased opinions so far. (IE people that have never done NCL or have only done one or two and say its bad without having done it/are loyal to another brand with having 30 with one brand and 2 with the one in question)

So anyways, on with my extremely long winded questions:

I am a bit of a gamer and love dancing games like DDR (The game with the arrows that you step on to music) and ITG (Same kinda game). I know many of you are adults and don't really indulge in activities like this, but I was wondering if the arcade on this particular ship had any such game.

I know on most of RCCL ships they have it, (although price and quality of the machine varies widely from ship to ship as I have experienced) Not a big deal if they don't have one on NCL Epic, but it would be kinda cool.

I was also a little concerned with the whole Nickle and Diming that I have heard Epic does. I read a lot of reviews that said that.

Brief history of my cruising:

I have been on Voyager of the Seas (my first introduction to cruising back in 2002) and almost everything was included back then. I am aware that times have since changed,(you can't just go to Johnny Rockets anymore without a sur charge now) but when I returned to cruise of Oasis of the seas back in 2013, (my first cruise that I payed for my self, and I took my parents, rather than them taking me as they did in 2002) I found they nickel and dimed almost everywhere. There was a sur charge for almost everything, and the free stuff was kind of sub par.

The ship it's self was beautiful, and the Pizza at Sorrantos was good as always, but there wasn't as wide a selection of other snacks. The food in the Prominade cafe was actually quite terrible. (Their idea of cheese cake seems to be an undersweetened half jelloish cream cheese flavor thing, blehhh worst dessert ever-- and I love cheese cake.) and I found I only really ate in the main dining room at night, and saved room all day for that, as the rest of the places were sooooo bad. Mind you MDR food was outstanding and really worth not eating all day for it. <- I may do a full review later if anyone cares lol.

When I went on Freedom of the Seas just this past October (was Oct 26th-Nov 1st) that was leaps and bounds much better than Oasis.

I didn't feel nickel and Dimed anywhere,(in comparison) and Sorrantos had quite a few snacks in addition to their amazing pizza. The food in the Cafe Promenade actually tasted good, and the Windjammer was as well. MDR was decent, but Oasis was a fair bit better, but honestly, the trade off I prefer Freedom. (They actually know how to make cheese cake properly)

Another problem I had with Oasis was their pools were way to shallow. No deep water, and the adult pool was more of a sprinkler than a pool. I liked the difference with one salt water and the other normal fresh water, but I just wish I could have actually done some proper swimming, as I could touch the bottom even in the "deep" end.

Freedoms pools actually had deep water, so I liked them a lot better. I digress, as I am getting off topic here..

Basically my question:

How is the food on Epic compared to the average RCCL ship? How many free restaurants are there, and will I have mirco transactions everywhere like Oasis, or will it be more like Freedom where there are some paid things but plenty of free stuff too, (that is not sub par).

How are the pools? I know there's a water slide, but I more than anything would like to do swimming. A slide is ok, but a pool with proper deep water is more my style.

I read about a Chocolate night, where they have a set up with chocolate statues and all kinds of amazing desserts ready for people to eat. Something about a 2 hour time limit to gorge your self. (Sounds amazing)

And state rooms I have read are really small and impractical. If anyone has any information I would greatly appreciate it. ^_^

I am sure I'll find out for my self, but if you've sailed with both plenty of times, I would like to know your pros and cons list.

Thanks for reading.

-Kaya4114