quercus alba

32 minutes ago, TSUmom said:

We are actually thinking of a relaxing beach day pre-cruise so a hotel near a beach would be fantastic.  

If you look at my review in my signature from last December, there's some suggestions for Isla Verde.

23 minutes ago, TSUmom said:

We have stopped in San Juan as a port stop and enjoyed our time there.  That being said with our cruise beginning in SJ we are looking at flying in a day early and just booking a hotel either in Condado or Isla Grande.  Any thoughts on which would be better and a preferred hotel are appreciated.

We've enjoyed Isla Verde, closer to the airport, on both of our visits to San Juan--really nice beach.
But if your main objective is to be able to go to OSJ on your pre-cruise day, I'd probably pick something (hotel or Airbnb) in Condado just because of our experience with the traffic jam last time. 

If you look at a map, you can see why it's such a problem. Old San Juan is essentially on an island, separated from the Pan American Pier by a bridge that also is its main connection to the rest of the island (and also connects to another bridge bottleneck that connects to the Condado region, where a lot of luxury hotels and beaches are.) It's a traffic jam waiting to happen at anytime of day, any week--and none of it is NCL's fault. We got stuck in traffic there for over an hour just trying to get to dinner in OSJ the night before a cruise.

There's also only one road (NOT a good one!) in or out of the pier terminal, which is pinned up against the bay by the small local airport.

It's a mess...plan accordingly. 

(Other than that--we love San Juan!)

Mrs. Quercus & I are fortunate enough to subscribe to a Broadway touring series here in MSP, so we we've seen a few live shows the past few years, and missed them when they all went dark for COVID. We have a close friend who has toured internationally with companies of Kinky Boots and Annie, among others, and I was talking to him last night about seeing Hairspray this weekend. It reminded me just how much work it takes to put these shows on--and for every person you see on stage there's like 2-3 more doing something to get them there--and they all need to be paid, and if on tour (or on a ship!) fed and housed...etc. 

I don't know if you folks have noticed this where you are, but folks are flailing right now in all the service and hospitality industries--everyone is getting asked to do more with less--I watched a single server try to manage orders and the bar for probably 40 patrons at a BWW last night--with a playoff game going on, no less. What kind of management does that?  How do you deliver quality service if you aren't able to staff better than that?

Anyhow...it's all part of the same situation...need to be a little more patient, tip a little better, whine a lot less.

The Real ID and TSA issue was (and maybe still is!) state by state for awhile, since the state DMVs issue the driver's licenses. Our state was a Real ID holdout for awhile so I just gave up wondering whether I had the right thing and would always just my passport as ID for air travel.

On 12/17/2022 at 11:23 AM, recruiter 28 said:

Our 11 day Greek Isles cruise on the Dawn in October 2022 was excellent. Being a smaller ship we had access to the Greek ports.  The crew was eager to please and very friendly. The food was everything we wanted and we would book this ship again. Our balcony cabin was well maintained. We definitely prefer this size ship...fewer people and very comfortable.

 

 

@recruiter 28 You wouldn't happen to have reviewed that itinerary would you? Not finding a lot here...
We just booked a 10-day on Dawn this November (Trieste to Istanbul) around the Greek Isles, and were looking for folks with recent experiences.

21 minutes ago, Ohio boomer said:

Answering these questions has been like a scavenger hunt and yet on

e more reason to visit every…… single….. bar.

 

...

All we can say is "Thank you for your service and noble sacrifice, soldier."
Here is a gold star, and a purple heart, in case you had to drink any of that Bud Light stuff...
💜🌟
Prayers for your safe return!

11 hours ago, Ohio boomer said:

Crander - The Epic has very few options for a “decent pint”…. few draft options and what you will find are an uninspired (think Heineken or a light beer of some type).  I was able to find a Goose Island IPA at O’Sheehan’s.  I will personally attempt to sample each beer…… just for you…. And report back.  There is no brewpub or microbrew on board….. lots of bottle options though. 

Speaking of personally sampling each beer--don't forget to check out each of the islands' individual offerings. We were on this (very similar) itinerary on Epic a little over a year ago, and I made the audacious claim that Curacao's offerings were the best. (I think Carib may have climbed in the standings a bit because I was still under the influence of several of them when I made the list.) 😅
 

Every island has its own signature brewery--My ratings:

1) Montana Black Beer, Curacao

2) Carib lager, St. Kitts

3) Montana Blonde, Curacao

4) Piton pilsner, St. Lucia

5) Balashi pilsner, Aruba

Don't agree? Conduct your own tasting!

On 12/22/2022 at 3:52 PM, MoCruiseFan said:

Like all other US bills they clearly state on them "this note is legal tender for all debts public and private".  Anyoen who tings a $2 is fake is highly ignorant of the US monetary system.

Or they were born since, oh, 1995, and has hardly ever used cash or checks to complete transactions in their entire life.

On 3/2/2022 at 6:29 AM, dexddd said:

I believe Epic is sailing out of the Pan American Pier like most NCL ships leaving San Juan use.

 

Most NCL ships doing a port stop are usually at piers in OSJ.

 

Have a great rest of your trip.

Saw on another thread that they use the Pan American Pier for the cruises which "home port" in San Juan for the sake of fully fueling and provisioning at that area of the harbor vs the more touristy OSJ.

Had a great trip on Epic in December here.
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2820051-epic-review-southern-caribbean-rt-san-juan/\

9 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

Quercus - not all Viking FCVs are created equal. OP is insistent that he can’t get a cash refund and must cruise, so I am assuming that part is correct. Regardless, when Viking cancels a cruise, an immediate cash refund option is offered for a short period of time after the announcement of the cancellation.

I assumed so—was merely quoting mine directly.

14 hours ago, Squawkman said:

I believe when you accepted the 125% you gave up your option for a cash refund.

• "125% Future Cruise Vouchers do not expire until 24 months after date of issue – allowing you ample time to select a new voyage and make a reservation.

• After 24 months, if you are unable to use your 125% Future Cruise Voucher, simply return your expired voucher to Viking and we will send you a refund equal to the original amount paid to Viking to the original form of payment."

We had a 2020 Christmas cruise cancelled by Viking and have been holding onto the 125% credit, but as COVID drags on, and now with the prospect of Eastern Europe being disrupted by Mr. Putin's saber-rattling, I may just cash in the 100% instead and do something completely different. Maybe save the river cruising for 5-10 years from now, if we're all still around...

Also, follow the San Juan Ports of Call forum (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/80-san-juan-pr/), especially posts by @Aviator of the Seas who has been keeping the ever-shifting PR entry requirements updated.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2820051-epic-review-southern-caribbean-rt-san-juan/

2 hours ago, KathyJL said:

What time was your departure time from SJ? Ours is 7pm and we were wondering what time we'll be allowed to start boarding.

You choose a check-in time when you complete your eDocs final registration 3 weeks before sailing.

I think the earliest ones were for noon? No--I see folks reporting in on (other social apps) that they were in line for testing around 1100-1130...
We scheduled at 130 pm--got to the pier a little after 100, and spent ~2 hours going through the transfer to the Sheraton, testing, waiting, return to terminal for check in, and boarding as described above in posts #4 & 5 . We were walking up the gangway at 330 pm. Drinks in hand by 3:50. 😁🙃

13 hours ago, Goldconnection said:

Apparently everyone disembarking in San Juan is automatically enrolled in Sara Alert. All cruise lines are required to supply their passengers contact information. We boarded the ship on 12/5 in New York and disembarked on 12/26 in San Juan of course. We started receiving emails from Sara Alert the second day of our San Juan stay (we stay in San Juan three days post cruise). We had no advance warning from NCL about being monitored. We are still receiving daily emails asking that we complete the daily report. Not sure how long we will be monitored. I have attached the daily email and the daily report we are ask to complete. Both my husband and my report reminder comes to one email address since we only provide NCL with one email address.

Yep—this is from PR Dept of health and has no connection to NCL. 
As I said above, I honestly reported my headaches, fatigue, and ibuprofen usage for them and was treated to a 5 minute phone call from a lovely DOH rep. Since Mrs. Q has been consistently symptom free, she is no longer getting the report requests (14 days post return) on our joint email, but they still ask me every morning. I’ve been back to work this weekend in a hospital teeming with COVID, so when they asked me if I’d been in contact with anyone…geez. 
Anyhow, I thanked them for their vigilance, put on my masks, and keep on curtailing my social life. Sure am glad we got to cruise when we did!

1 hour ago, sseknichols said:

Great review!  We are booked on similar itinerary in March.  

 

This will be our first cruise with NCL and thus the Epic.  Any suggestions or pointers from the OP or anyone else?

Relax.

Don't get bent out of shape about the small stuff.

If you can't decide between two starters on the main dining menu, don't be shy about asking for both--they'll usually be happy to give them to you. 😄  Same with dessert, if your spouse will let you. (Don't like the dessert choices on the menu? There will be more options up in the buffet if you look there, too!)  

Martini flight tasting--if you're not sure of your drinking capacity, you can share a flight with your spouse...(or a new friend, but don't tell your spouse! 😜)

The better coffee is in the machines in the Great Outdoors, port side, next to the pool bar.

The fishes on the carpet all swim toward the front of the ship. The buffet (Great Outdoors) is at the front --Deck 15. Main dining rooms are aft. 

Enjoy.

2 hours ago, cruiser123! said:

Thank you!!

 

A few questions for you.    Did you have to test to leave the ship?  We'll be flying back to lovely ol' MSP ourselves.   I wasn't sure if PR is considered part of the US for covid related testing (ie not needing to test to get back in).

 

Do you have any of the dailies?

 

and of course.... did they bring the towel animals back ? ; -)

 

 

 

You do not have to test to leave the ship or return to the US mainland. Or I should say WE did not have to. Seems the guidelines are changing weekly! Hopefully by the time you sail, omicron has burned itself out? Good luck.

Interesting story--as you'll find out, PR requires you to register your negative test and vaccination status before entry. Since our return 10 days ago, we've had daily emails from the PR Dept of Health to report any symptoms. Well, I’ve been answering them honestly—holiday headaches and fatigue, taking ibuprofen and tylenol as usual... So I was treated to a nice long phone call follow up yesterday morning from them inquiring about my status! Well now the thing is,  I’m back to work on a hospital unit with COVID + patients all around me now, so if I test + next week I doubt that I caught it from Epic or SJU!

I do have Dailies, but since the itinerary seems to change each week, I don't think it's that beneficial to scan them all. If you have a couple of specific questions, I'll answer. I will say--watch for Don Juan's performances, Sabor Latino if they are still on board, and Priscilla, of course--but I'm not sure if the experience of our week will be the same across all the Southern Caribbean itineraries.

No towel animals, sorry. I suppose you could talk your steward into making you a couple if it's super important to you, though. I just was happy to have clean towels all the time. 🙂

(Since you're local --or maybe just connecting thru MSP?--feel free to reach out privately if you like: saoakman at gmail dot com)

On 12/14/2021 at 6:37 AM, Turtles06 said:

I hope those folks never see “Hamilton” in a theatre. 

I'm sure they'll just LOVE "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" on Epic, too...you know, that famous historical drama about Cleopatra's little sister? Fine family entertainment!! 

😁

Ship - Epic

Deck - 11

Stateroom # - 11121

Stateroom Category – BB

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – yes

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - no

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. –

No obstructions

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal

Was wind a problem? - No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? -

Any specific problems with this cabin? - Standard Epic balcony cabin

Any other comments? - Closer access to features at front of ship (Garden Cafe, Spa, Pool deck, etc.) than aft, if  that matters

15 hours ago, LarBear said:

Wonderful review, very detailed! We're scheduled on the same cruise leaving January 23rd, this review is extremely helpful.  Thank you so much for taking the time, it is very much appreciated.

My pleasure--always works out to be something of a travel journal for myself, too. 

Disembarkation Day--San Juan again

Well, let's wrap this up. This was definitely a successful cruise for us because it was actually almost devoid of the Dreaded Post-cruise Buzzkill. 

The San Juan terminal was again having its issues, and things were getting backed up, so we took our time with self disembarkation. Still, we were queuing up at 9:00 to leave, and elevators and stairwells were pretty clogged. Once we got out though, we breezed right up to a cab, and went back to Isla Verde. I called our pre-cruise hotel from the ship and asked if I could store bags there, and they didn't hesitate at all to allow that once I identified myself as a previous customer. We unloaded there, and with about 4 hours to spare before needing to be at the airport (which is only 10 minutes from there) we walked back to the beach, and found the hotel's beach attendant quite willing to lend us a couple of lounges in the shade for a tip. Relaxed for a couple of hours, walked back to a local family-run Puerto-Rican place (Mi Casita) that we knew for lunch, and back to the hotel to retrieve bags and change clothes for the trip home.

Flight (Delta non-stop to MSP) was delayed about an hour from original schedule, which was nothing compared to what a lot of people had to experience at SJU that day. I guess all 3 cruises departing San Juan were delayed due to late arriving flights, and a lot of our fellow cruisers missed connections around the east coast on their way home. Heard some real horror stories! But for us, we just got home a little late, one kid picked us up, and the two who were home even seemed glad to see us and stayed up and talked for awhile. The dogs of course were ecstatic to have us home.  Going back to work Monday wasn't even too bad. It must have been a good vacation! Maybe we'll do it again before too long...COVID willing.

Day 7--St. Kitts

And now we come to our final day, and final island--St. Kitts.

Waking up, I was greeted by the most beautiful sight I've seen on any cruise, with the sun rising over Nevis to our southeast as we sailed into port. I probably spent half an hour on the balcony just trying to capture the right picture. My favorite of the many will be attached below. 

We departed from our morning routine by going together to Starbucks for her coffee, so Carter finally got to meet Mrs.Q in person, then we went to the buffet for breakfast before heading out to meet our excursion. We'd been told from the start that the only way to be allowed to leave the terminal here was with a ship's excursion. We settled on the Nevis Sailaway, since nothing I was reading about the island on land was intriguing me that much. Best. Choice. Ev-ahr! 

We were escorted to a waiting catamaran--at first it looked far too small for the group that was queued up, but there was plenty of room, especially as we spread out to the "trampolines" in front. As with the previous trip, we were promised open bar after snorkeling was done, although juice and soft drinks were currently available. They sailed us south toward Nevis, stopping at a secluded reef area on the southwest shore of St. Kitts for the promised snorkeling. All equipment was furnished. Mrs. Q had never snorkeled before and she did fine with basic instruction. At first it didn't seem like there was much there, but with a bit of patience a wide variety of fish and corals were visible in the short time we had. Wished I'd prepped a bit more as to what some of the species might have been, but I had to be content just to watch and not know the names. Still very enjoyable. The bar was opening, and lunch being served as well as we came back on board, and dried out in the sun, and the Carib beer and rum punch began flowing! The catamaran took us further on, across the strait that led to the Atlantic, and beached us on a nice little spot in Nevis (Pinney's Beach, I believe) for swimming and sunning. The bar was also landed with us, and loungers were included with the beach site. Ice cream and other things were available for purchase if desired. Everyone reboarded for the fast sail downwind back to Basseterre, our crew ensuring that no one left their ship sober unless they absolutely had to! Mrs.Q's BAL had progressed past the "dancing with tour guides" stage yesterday onto the absolutely uncharacteristic stage of "talking with strangers". (We've been detoxing this week, but she's just as delightful sober, I promise you! 🥰)

Got back aboard Epic, she cleaned up and relaxed on the balcony a bit, I hit a hot tub for a couple of minutes, and we got ready to meet another couple for a nice meal at Moderno. (We'd already reserved Cagney's for that night, but had been enjoying getting to know these folks on the past two excursions, so tried getting our reservation changed to 4 to include them--but got hit with the excuse of no room. It didn't *look* that busy, but Moderno was acceptable, so we enjoyed a leisurely salad and meat fest instead.) Finished the evening off by one last trip to Shakers for a Rum Cake martini and some Don Juan, and went to bed overall quite happy with our vacation choices.

Day 6--St. Lucia

St. Lucia was in sight as I woke up and went to visit Starbucks on Mrs.Q's behalf. We were cautioned several times to not get too antsy about disembarking, and between St. L's port authorities and some pesky rain showers, our excursion times kept getting pushed back. When we did finally get cleared, another set of showers came through, and they kept us queued up on Deck 5 for a while rather than have us crowding the doors or soaking on the pier. They also distributed commemorative NCL rain ponchos when we did get to the pier and had to fend off yet another shower as we waited to file through a Health Department building for a temperature/COVID check. 

Our excursion for the day was the Soufriere by Land and Sea through NCL. We were led to a spacious two-level excursion boat near the cruise ship pier and headed south along the coast from Castries toward Soufriere. The weather was perfect almost immediately, and we didn't see another shower until later in the afternoon. There was open bar--but we were told that the the beer and rum were not served until after swimming. Fortunately, swimming was the second stop, after a short sail-thru of lovely, expensive, Marigot Bay. We had a short time at a quiet semi-private beach cove, then reboarded for our rum punch and sailing past the Pitons. A good time was had--music and, yes, dancing (thanks to the rum punch) and numerous photo ops. Our time to leave the boat behind at Soufriere came too quickly.

The Land portion was interesting, and lovely at times--the island is so lush--but the bus riding over rugged winding roads was less pleasant than the sailing had been! We stopped first at the Morne Coubaril plantation for some demos about the history of sugar and cacao processing on the island and then had a light Creole lunch of fried chicken, rice, salad, and fruit punch, with opportunities to sample and purchase local rum and other products. Then the buses took us to the Toraille Waterfall

and those who wished could get a good cold drenching before continuing back overland the rest of the way to Castries. We had a couple of too-brief photo stops at the side of the road, but the guides were feeling pressed to get us back. Might have liked a bit more time to appreciate what we were driving past.

Went to Manhattan for dinner again, then made sure we got to Cavern Club in plenty of time to get a seat for Don Juan's Queen Tribute show. He's amazingly talented, and really does make it a tribute to Mr. Mercury and team, not an imitation (like the Beatles show). It's kind of a personal labor of love for him, and it's cool that NCL has supported it. As he and the others get more time to play together it's going to be tremendous! 

By this time, I'm almost to the point that I'm liking this cruise enough that I'm tempted to call my boss, take next week off, and stay on board for a back to back. But there will be other times...