Mikey7989

You can also use your TV once you get to your stateroom, as well as the monitors throughout the ship where you scan your key card.

Wow, 6 cruises on the Epic? So excellently awesome!

 

A few weeks ago, we disembarked the Epic for the second time. Love that ship! Anyway, there was a woman in the Garden Cafe every morning welcoming everyone to "Garden" in quite a loud and happy voice. My husband and friends sailing with us absolutely loved her enthusiasm and the way she interacted with guests. You could tell she truly enjoyed her job. On port days, she would be dressed up in a theme for the port (e.g., sombrero when we were in Cozumel, dreads when we were in Jamaica). We still kick ourselves for not getting her name or indicating her as a Vacation Hero, but keep an eye out for her.

 

Have a great time, Don!

She was on our cruise as well, and I think I saw Johanine on her name tag. She really was very warm and welcoming everything we went to the buffet! "Washie, Washie, Happy, Happy!"

It took me by surprise that she was dressed as an officer on the last day that we disembarked in Miami. She certainly made a difference on our cruise (Feb 1 - 8, 2015).

Would you mind elaborating on this comment? I've never been there so I was wondering why you didn't like it and felt intimidated.

 

Thanks.

I got that same feeling in Ocho Rios at Dunne River Falls. You have to wind through the shopping area to get back to the bus, and we were already late. I didn't quite understand it, but each vendor who happened to be a man wanted to either shake his hand or fist pump and then look into his eyes with respect ??? I'm like, we're already late!

So glad to hear you had a great cruise! We are on the April 12th sailing and can't wait. Any favorites as far as food/restaurants? Did you find it difficult to find space on the pool deck?

On the first two sea days, it was very crowded on the pool deck. You can also take the elevator up to Deck 18, but that was pretty full as well. It's really no different than any other ship I've been on as far as crowds on sea days that are really nice & warm days! Our last sea day, Saturday, wasn't as favorable with the weather. We didn't venture up there, but I'm sure there were plenty of chairs available!

Armen was our Cruise Director as well, although I don't think I ever saw him in person but did hear him on the PA & on the TV's ship programming segments.

Cozumel is a nice port to walk around. I've been there several times, and you can also either walk or cab downtown, as well as take the ferry over to Playa del Carmen which is what we did on this cruise, $20 round trip through the Shore Excursions. There is also a public ferry as well, but I saw 360 pesos round trip which would come out to about $28.

There was always something good to eat on the buffet and in the restaurants. We did the Murder Mystery Lunch and the Cirque Dreams Dinner, and both were good.

In the Q&A with Blue Men, they didn't say anything that would indicate that they were leaving the ship anytime soon, so perhaps they will extend/renew their contract. They seemed to be quite happy on the ship.

My mother & I sailed the NCL EPIC last week, and we really enjoyed the cruise. Both of us have cruised many times before, but we found this one to be particularly to our liking in terms of the dining choices and the entertainment. We really enjoyed the Murder Mystery lunch, the Cirque Dreams and the Blue Man Group.

Any questions about the ship?

Thanks for the review! You did a great Job!!!

How is MDR service? The only other NCL ship I've sailed on was Pride of America, and we ate in the MDR the first night. There was only one server to wait on our group of 20+ people, so after that we mainly ate at the buffet. Is it any different on the Epic?

If your parents like Mexican food, Poncho's Backyard in the Los Cinco Soles building (downtown) might be an option. It's quite nice and rather entertaining. A salsa band plays at lunchtime.

http://www.panchosbackyard.com

LuLu

My Mom, sister and I went to Poncho's Backyard for lunch and it was great! The food was very good but I was really impressed with my Mom's "combo plate!" It was quite a creation!

Close enough that you can reach over to grab something off the top of the night table and whack the person in the other bed in the face.

 

Don't ask how I know this.

I've been on several cruises, including the NCL Pride of America, and there's not much space between the two!

On one cruise I wound up on the floor scared to pieces because my friend & cabin mate whose bed was just inches from mine shouted something in his sleep! We still laugh about it!

I called this morning and (re)booked into a larger room with a little bit of savings and some OBC.

Thanks for your help!

Does anyone know what NCL's policy is on rates dropping from the time of booking? I noticed that the fare I booked a few months ago has dropped about $100, so I'm interested in either upgrading or trying for an OBC for the difference. Any thoughts?

I was on the Epic in January and it was 2 sea days on Eastern Caribbean before we reached the first port of St Maarten

 

I enjoy those 2 sea days to really get into the cruise life

 

I am getting more excited about going on Escape next October and travelling with no ports of call...10 Sea Days!! :)

Sounds awesome!

There's so much to do on the epic you will appreciate the two sea days. :)

While I really enjoy cruising, I found myself bored in the afternoons on my last cruise because a lot of the activities that used to happen were no longer happening! However, it was my third time taking that ship and itinerary. I'm looking forward to the EPIC!

My wife and I will be on the Pearl in two weeks. Our cruise leaves Miami and has only one day at sea until we reach Montego Bay. Next day is Ocho Rios. We have only one day at sea from Ocho Rios back to Miami.

Maybe because its a charter, they're jammin' up the speed to get you there & back in five days!

Mikey, you'll have tons to do (if you want to) on the Epic. It's a really fun ship with a bazillion, maybe a bazillion and a half, things to keep you occupied.

Bazillion reminds me of an old joke about President Bush (43) but I forgot the punchline!

I'm looking forward to cruising on the Epic!

When I cruise I take with me:

2 or 3 outfits for dinner,

3 pair of shorts,

Swimsuit

4 t-shirts,

Dress shoes, sneakers, flip flops

...and not much else!

As Rick Steeves says: "There are those who travel light, and those who wish they did!"

I sailed on the Ecstasy a few years ago, and basically while you have your own balcony, you're quite visible from the decks below. They are small, but still nice!

The ship is NCL's EPIC, and it looks like its pretty standard for two sea days from Miami to Ocho Rios looking at other cruise lines. I'm finding all this very fascinating in how the cruise ship operates! Thanks for the info!

To get to Ocho Rios with one sea day would require about 20 knots for nearly 30 hours. With two sea days, it is more like 12-13 knots for 60 hours. Believe it or not, the slower, longer passage saves about 100-150 metric tons of fuel. At $900/ton that means $90,000-135,000 bucks.

That's quite interesting!

Who cares! Sit back and relax. Sit by the pool, have some cocktails, have a great meal, see a show and go to the casino. It doesn't matter how slow the ship goes your on vacation and at sea. It couldn't get any better than that.

Absolutely!

I noticed in the schedule that there are two sea days between Miami and Ocho Rios. I've been on a lot of cruises and usually there is just one sea day between embarkation and the first port of call. Does the ship go super slow?

Unless you really, really, really want to go to Disney and be in the midst of crowds of people, you won't be able to experience very much on that day. It gets so busy on those days that (1) they don't let the Disney Cast Members (employees) use their passes to get into the parks; (2) reroute pedestrian traffic behind the Main Street shops and (3) charge the highest rates for lodging.

That being said, Disney is awesome at Christmas! I love just walking around the resort hotels and seeing all of the Christmas displays, especially the full size Ginger Bread House at the Grand Floridian. The Osbourne Lights at Hollywood Studios and the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT are awesome!

Day 2 – Day at sea

 

for those Brits who don’t care for American style bacon keep your eyes peeled because they do have English style bacon but it can be difficult to find!

 

I didn't realize that there was a difference!

The Carnival Miracle was my first cruise in 2004, and since then I've sailed on Costa, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian & Disney, plus a few other Carnival ships.

My take on it is that since the recession hit in 2008, cruise TICKET prices really haven't increased that much. So, to keep the bottom line in the black cruise lines have increased prices on things that you always had to pay extra for such as drinks, photos & spa as well as started charging or eliminating things that were complimentary.

I was on the Carnival Legend last month, had a great cruise, but compared to the first one ten years ago its definitely a different scene. I still liked it, had a great time and ate well!

I got it for my last cruise mostly because my mother has COPD and CTSWH (carries a ton of stuff with her). We bypassed all the lines, went straight to our cabin and dropped everything off. It was such a relief not to drag everything around until the cabins were ready!

The best advantage though was when we tendered into Grand Cayman, and the lines were snaked down the hallways and up the steps. We were told to go to Guest Services which we did. One of the crew took us down the back way and we were on the next tender out within five minutes!

3 people for $50 = $16.67 per person. Easily worth it!