mking8288

LeBistro menu, note the selections & items with upcharge. Originally booked tonight at 6 pm, cancelled with the Latitudes gathering & will reschedule for a later date / time or dine elsewhere.

Epic's Bridge & Operations - senior leadership team as of April 28, 2023 zoomable for close-up view @www3traveler - FYI to re.post

We are almost 1/2 way thru our 15 nights TA and don't see value to pay a discounted $59 or $69 plus 20%, vouchers & dinner credits are associated with pax 1 and 2. With 2 remaining credits left, we will use it in one of the a la carte menu, and pax 3 will order just 1 entree from the menu. Even with 20% for our in.convenience - it's still less than the offered discount "deal" as there's no minimum spend amount to dine together 😁 We play the let's get smart against Norwegian hype game ... win.win, sort of.😹

Here's the digitally enhanced pix, zoomable. Please check & pay attention to the last ferry & especially to the last bus scheduled to return to Dockyard, it is used by locals and has 38 seats only. Some of the Sun pax on the recent TA barely got on, standing room only in Hamilton.

@dexddd 😊 Good morning to all, rise-and-shine at 11:25 am ship time, 7:25 am in NY 😎 Beautiful sea day, about 350 nm from PD with breakfast on the balcony. P.S. we packed along zip lock bags in our rollers, came in handy to "transport" and store certain items. Converters need export & transit certificates, so for NCL's convenience, not going to touch them. The blue exhaust hasn't been seen in last 2 days, that's a good thing. Latitudes reception ( with hundreds onboard, 2 decks invited at a time) being held in the Bliss Lounge indoors instead, Breakaway - Getaway - Escape were held in Spice H2O outdoors, the soot & particles might explain the change in venue. Incidentally, haven't seen any door decorations on our deck ... Notice in the FS Dailies on its prohibition ☹️ Wheelchairs & strollers aren't a problem blocking the corridors or egress, we only seen 3 younger children thus far and heard there's very few in tota - maybe just a handful toddlers & pre-schoolers.

FYI only - latest schedule posted at Dockyard earlier this week, during our shortened day stop on the Epic TA. We would've been on this sailing with you and hang out on the CC roll call, moved the booking to do the TA instead. Wish you all bon voyage & smooth sailing with calm seas. She wasn't there last year but has return ... cheers 😁

On the Epic, the foam mattress is partially recessed into the seat back - pull under & out to get full width use of the twin bed. Downside is that access to the closet and balcony is tight and challenging, and if that 4th bed that drop down from the ceiling as an upper bunk, there's hardly any room to move around. There is a good amount of storage but practical living space for 3, let alone 4 - not so much. It's fine for 2 adults, aside from the short/recessed main bed. Regardless, our combo sets of assorted size packing cubes do help a lot to keep everything clean, neat, organized and easy to store. The biggest - absence of USB or regular outlets by the bed, the LED adjustable reading lights can be easily upgraded to add USB charging ports, IMHO 🤔

Tomorrow is Day 7, tonight - we move our clock ahead by 1 hour again, "lose" another hour of sleep as we are now a day, 700 nm from Ponta Delgada.

As usual, there's a line outside the Manhattan MDR tonight around 7:45 pm, prime dinner time and they were out of pagers for the expected 45 minutes wait, unless one has a confirmed reservation - so much for the spirit of Freestyle Dining, which we know is gone with the wind upon the arrival of mega ships sailing near, at and above double occupancy. Epic, according to one of the asst. dining room manager, hasn't seen crowds this large until this TA, not even when it was sailing out of Old San Juan during spring break. If there was a separate check-in for Platinum & priority dining, it was gone but I asked upon reaching the hostess station, she said we'll still have to wait but ... In about 20 minutes, our pager went off & we got a nice table not far from the dance floor, not too noisy and can hear live music. Being Sapphire does help a little. Pork pate, grilled Mahi-Mahi and lemon creme brulee + fruit plate on the menu we're all good. The stage / dance floor was jammed pack once the duo singer resumed, 15 couples doing their Cha Cha - a few pairs stayed the whole 30 minutes doing their routines 🫢 good for them, not sure if the dining team mind a 3 hour turnaround. Our meal took about 70 minutes and when we left at 9:25 pm, several tables that were seated nearby 10 to 15 minutes were on their soup, salad & appetizer.

Ship navigational status & looking beyond PD toward Funchal next Monday

Memory lanes - old Bermuda pictures with the Norwegian Majesty and Crown, docking at St. George and the sail into Hamilton, and docked overnight before leaving ... still fond of those days, and getting tossed around in 20 to 30 ft. seas with a 42 or 43,000 ton cruise ship then. Still miss those fun roller coaster ride nearly 20 years ago. For those that didn't get the chance to see anything last Saturday, the old, unfinished church in SG -

The sun'll come out Tomorrow Bet your bottom dollar That tomorrow there'll be sun Just thinkin' about Tomorrow Clears away the cobwebs And the sorrow 'til there's none

Seas are really not choppy, a little white caps here & there, sitting out here on our balcony with iPad mini, watching Prime movie downloaded quietly on BT earbuds, and iced coffee in hand ... heavenly 😇 at peace, feeling blessed that we are doing this TA. Satellite WiFi is a bit sparodic today due to unspecified interference, magnetic solar storms ? Beats those VHF or HF signals, which is still in use by mariners around the world. No further words about what that medical code call last night was for, maybe one of the atriums lounge hog fall asleep or tripped up, or the mah jong players passed out from non-stop gaming since 8 am 😬😬

Visuals of our "late" MDR lunch, got in before closing time. Creamy mushroom soup (not pictured) was good, Cobb salad and stuffed potatoe as entree, with flan de coco to bring up the calories, and a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

@AtSeaAlways and @Clay, et. al. Just in case you aren't aware, as Platinum & Sapphire or Diamonds, with 15 days at sea, we get 2 free bags of laundry done, 2 of us would get 4 bags. The mini voucher isn't needed, just write it down on the laundry slip and if accidentally billed, notify Guest Services and they will correct it. We just sent out our 1st bag this morning ... nice to have clean & fresh laundry to disembark at the end and not worry about doing them at the hotel post-cruuse. 👍🤓👌 iCafe Manager's desk inside the Library on Deck 5 Fwd was very busy this afternoon - issues with WiFi and lost minutes. Alex is a young & nice tech person sitting behind the desk.

With the clock change overnight again, we sleep past MDR breakfast (open 8 to 10 am) and went to OSH for a leisurely but hot English breakfast, loaded plus juice & coffee, quick service & promptly served in a cheerful manner. No lines & no waiting, just fewer selections & they don't have salmon & bagel. Below on Deck 5, atrium filled up with folks for the next event. No seats available aside from above at OSH overlooking the giant HDTV screen.

I am leaving comments for the GM, perhaps if they open it up for sea day lunch - it will relieve the long lines at Taste with a nearly full ship and not opening the bigger Manhattan MDR. Very busy & crowded atrium lobby at midday. Thankfully, they did not add extra chairs for overflow, like the Escape (pre-Covid) with the lounge sofa hogs out in force.

That's a long way to travel to greet a stranger in the port of Seattle, we thank you for the kindness. Maybe when do have a coastal one stopping in Portland, that's much closer 🤗 for coffee & chatting in person.

Nah, perhaps the catalytic converters are missing 😁🙊😬 And, don't bust www3travelers' chops, maybe if we get on a NCL sailing with a stop in Oregon and if he isn't on a cruise, we can just do a quick meet & greet at the cruise pier and have coffee or high tea.

addendum - currently onboard the Epic (will have the pictorial update ASAP) Capt Rune is the master of the vessel. Chief Engineer Ivan

Good late evening (11:45 pm ship time - 2 hours ahead of NY, changing & moving the clock by 1 hour again tonight as we enter a new time zone) from the middle of the Atlantic, gentle rocking of the sea with a little sea swell and moderate waves, nothing serious - had much rougher crossing doing Bermuda, Caribbean & even Bahamas runs out of NY. Within the past 20 minutes or so, ship's PA system called out a Code, which I could quite make out & turn up the TV's volume fast enough, as it was repeated 3 times ... almost certain it wasn't an unannounced late night drill, since many passengers are likely in their cabin & asleep, including the other 2 behind me as I'm catching up email on the Chromebook. 10 minutes ago, this time, I heard it - Stretcher Team on duty, respond/report to Deck 5 ... oops, that's not good. That was likely Code Alpha earlier (for medical emergency) ... hope it's nothing serious & onboard medical team can promptly intervene. Epic's Medical Center is located on Deck 10 Mid, also designated and used by the crew as I passed by a sign while walking down I-95 during the brief BTS tour. If there's anything worthy of reporting, while respecting privacy, will post & update here. We are still about 2 days out from Ponta Delgada or 1,000 nm distance-wise, almost certain to be too far from any USCG or equivalent long-range heli-rescue. Up until this evening, it has been uneventful as far as hearing of any coded calls or announcements, and just 1 pier runner that wasn't really serious late and of possibly being left behind in Bermuda 2 days ago. Forecast tomorrow is cloudy, about 64 degree and more of the same on Friday. Saturday is port day, chance of rain and 62 degree - a light weatherproof hooded jacket should do it. Shorex plan - good question, as some of you know ... we play by ears & feel, going to wait & see and wing it. Getting late, almost 1 am under the new time zone - going to sign off for now. Got notes, impressions and observations that've been jotted down, will find them to share & post them here, FWIW.

Our friends were shocked & surprised when I WhatsApp them onboard of your disrupted journey, they - of course - felt blessed that it didn't happened in the mid Atlantic during their crossing, recognizing it is horrible for this to happen to any of us. We are sending our 1st bag of complimentary Platinum laundry tomorrow - using one of those Amazon shipping bag as a liner, sturdy & will stretch a bit inside those thin paper bag, to stuff it full & it's eco-friendly as those can be recycled ... sail & sustain. As long as they can provide fresh towels & linens daily, I guess paper napkins will be acceptable in the interim, until everything resume full & regular operations onboard. Go with the flow, sense of humor and make the best out of it all. PC crossing & re-po is on our bucket list in the near future, following ... Thanks for posting onboard, we are know the time & energy needed to set aside time from our "busy" at sea schedule to do these things. Regards

Indeed, we are and thanks. Fellow ex/current shareholders at CVG, perhaps ?? We are in the sixth corp ... It's among the best kept secrets around here. Take care & best regards.

Dan - just dropping in to say hi, typing on my Chromebook and signed out of the Pixel 7 Pro, which has work really work in general. EMC's satellite WiFi in my end of the Atlantic (middle of nowhere, currently about 1,000 nm from next port of call) still holding up - decent speed. You got great pictures, Alaska is one of those on our repeat / return to list, just like Hawaii but perhaps not POA again. Now that DW likes these longer cruises - going to be difficult to slot everything ahead without put a serious dent in (and going way over) our annual travel, leisure & vacation budget, haha. Being happily retired is a good thing with serious challenges. Going to scroll thru this thread later once we get back to our hi-speed Fios ... got plans for some of the ports but other stops en route, just going to wing it and "wake up" our best pal or buddy, name is okay "Google" and Hola, Live Translate. Best wishes & regards, looks like you are having a blast and getting pampered & showered with appreciations by the onboard management, good. Chat later !!

Currently on the Epic eastbound TA, en route to Ponta Delgada - gift shop and duty-free has been running sales since day 1 but not busy, lots of foot traffic walking thru as being on Deck 7, it's least crowded & congested. $10 t-shirt sales are long gone, wasn't on the Getaway this January either on the Caribbean run. Those flea market bargain special are now $15 each and 2 for $25, hugh markup - IMHO and not worth it, unless you got plenty of non-refundable OBC to burn up, re-pack & gift them for the holidays and/or as grab bag items, etc. DW and another CC joked that they're going on a bargain hunt last time on the GA and came out empty handed. Unless we see something exceptional and truly a nice find on clearance (i.e. 3 for $20 end-of-season NCL t-shirts) ... not going to be bothered with. Happy shopping & cruising !