Brief thoughts (and Freestyle Dailies) - Epic 19-26 May 2013 Western Mediterranean

Hi. I'm Vic. Long(ish) time lurker, first time poster. :o

Just got back from a trip with family members on the Epic a few days ago, and while I'm still pretty landsick, I'll give my thoughts on this boat. This won't be a full blown review with pictures and stuff, but just some semi-random thoughts and all the Freestyle Dailies for the week.

If you just want the Freestyle Dailies, they're in my shared Box.com folder:

https://www.box.com/epicdailies-2013-05-19-26

The files are in PDF format and are sorted by day.

As for my cruising background, I've only been on two cruises before: The Celebration on Carnival way back in 1997 and the Caribbean Princess in 2008.

Now, onto my thoughts...

The Room

We got inside rooms on this trip, since we don't spend much time in the room aside from sleeping, showering and all of that stuff. The shower and bathroom stalls have been discussed to death, but personally, the sliding door for the toilet was the most disconcerting part for me. The beds were comfortable enough, which meant fighting off the jet lag was a little easier. Loved the fact that there was plenty of storage space. Two suitcases and its contents all fit easily in the wardrobe storage area.

The Entertainment

I didn't see everything there was to offer, but my thoughts on the ones I did.

• Blue Man Group - First time seeing a BMG show live, and I certainly enjoyed the quirkiness of the show
  
• Legends In Concert - The three acts on this cruise were "Tom Jones", "Adele", and "Tina Turner". Don't expect spot-on impersonations (Tom Jones seemed to change speaking accents every other sentence), but the performances themselves were reasonably energetic.
  
• Graffiti Classics - Bored me to tears. Didn't care much for the comedic antics, which I found more distracting than amusing. Frankly, the only reason I stuck around was because one of the performers was rather cute.
  
• Maestranza Spanish Ballet - I remember the boat was moving quite a bit during this performance, but the group didn't miss a beat. I won't claim to know if this was anything close to an actual "Spanish ballet", but I did enjoy this performance.
  

The Food

We only partook in one specialty restaurant: Moderno, aka "Vegetarian Hell". None of us really ate enough meat to make it worth our while, but the meats themselves I found quite tasty, especially the lamb chops. Normally, I can't stand the taste of lamb, but the chops there were really well prepared. As for the non-meat part of that dinner, the salad bar wasn't terribly remarkable, and the desserts I did try were hit and miss; hit for the mango rice pudding, miss on the coconut flan.

I had one dinner and most of the breakfasts at the Garden Cafe buffet. Buffets at lunch/dinner are typically unremarkable in general, and the Epic isn't an exception to this. That being said, it's your best option if you want a salad, as I found the salads in the dining rooms to be overdressed (I suppose I could have asked for dressing on the side). Of course, salads are far more flexible at the buffet, too.

On the other hand, I found breakfast at the buffet to be far more convenient. Sure, there are some things I can't get at the buffet that I can get at Taste, but I'm an easy guy to please when it comes to breakfast. As long as get my omelet, bacon, fruit bowl and juice, I'm typically happy...

That being said, I'm not sure where NCL sources out their streaky bacon, but the bacon on the Epic was probably the absolute WORST bacon I've ever had in my life. The sausage links and ham weren't much better. Fortunately, there was tons of smoked salmon to be had at breakfast, so I basically subbed out the bacon for the smoked salmon.

The free coffee was also quite terrible. Ended up shelling out some dollars for espresso at the Atrium bar each day I wasn't in Italy.

Only tried two items at O'Sheehans: The wings and the chicken pot pie. Both were reasonably tasty.

Overall, I did like the food, but nothing stood out as amazingly good. I may have enjoyed one too many bread puddings on this trip, mind you.

The Excursions

I would have liked to have done the ports on my own or through a third party, but I was overruled on this one in favour of the ship excursions (insert groan here). That being said, I think they learned their lesson.

We did the Flavours of Sorrento and Pompeii tour at the Naples stop. A good tour guide can make all the difference in the world, and our guide was fantastic (I think her name was Rossana). Enthusiasm can go a long way, and although I suspect some other people on this tour found her over the top, I think she did a great job in educating the group. Didn't care much for the shopping stops aside from the washroom break, of course. Also, limoncello is awesome the day of, but terrible the day after. The farm tour was unremarkable, but the mozzarella was tasty.

Rome was another story. We did the Rome and the Colosseum tour, and it was a mess. Complete disconnect between the tour group leader and the Rome tour guide. Most of the group was completely confused as to whom to follow, and there was a couple with limited mobility who quickly found themselves having great difficulty keeping up with the tour guide, who quite frankly made no effort to make sure the group was reasonably close together. That being said, Wednesday is probably the worst day to do a Rome excursion, especially to St. Peter's Basilica, which was absolutely packed. And don't forget there's a dress code for St. Peter's. A few people had to get creative with the wardrobe to get in because they forgot about that.

Didn't do Florence or Pisa, as we had toured there extensively only two years prior.

We did the Marseille City Highlights and Avignon tour. Avignon was quite frankly a waste of time. Marseille was nice, but just do the shuttle bus in and enjoy a nice lunch at a local brasserie. Great views at Notre Dame de la Garde, but the church itself wasn't terribly impressive.

In Palma, we did Palma In Depth. We had a great tour guide again, but this is another port you can easily do on your own, and by this time, the rest of the family got the idea.

The Waterslides

The tube slide with the funnel was the most fun. The green one HURT!! I could feel every pipe seam on the way down. Not pleasant. The purple slide also had the same issue, but the feeling was less harsh.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the trip. I'd definitely do some things differently in retrospect, but I'd do this same itinerary again in a heartbeat on the Epic.

Hope I was able to contribute just a little bit. :)

Thanks so much for the information! Cruising the Epic to the Western Mediterranean next year! :)

Hi Vic

Thanks for the "thoughts" :)

We have cruised several times before but never NCL and of course never Epic. We are excited to be on Epic this July!:D

It's nice to hear all opinions!

We both love to to DIY our trips ad will of course continue to do so.

Glad, overall, you had a nice vacation.

Jo :)

Thank you so much for posting the dailies. I noticed that Lost Locos Ole were part of the entertainment. We really enjoyed them last year. Yes, they were off color, but they played mean guitars.

Did you see them?

hi if you can please post menus

thanks

why was Avignon a waste? We were debating between the Aix and Avignon tour or just Aix.

why was Avignon a waste? We were debating between the Aix and Avignon tour or just Aix.

My wife did a ship tour off the EPIC in middle May. We went to both places and we actually liked both towns. Neat roads to walk, amazing church in Avignon, great places to eat near the theater and in Aix, we found a place called Crepes to Go, it was in an underground walkway near the main fountain and it was great. Overall, loved the tour.

Hi. I'm Vic. Long(ish) time lurker, first time poster. :o

 

Just got back from a trip with family members on the Epic a few days ago, and while I'm still pretty landsick, I'll give my thoughts on this boat. This won't be a full blown review with pictures and stuff, but just some semi-random thoughts and all the Freestyle Dailies for the week.

 

If you just want the Freestyle Dailies, they're in my shared Box.com folder:

https://www.box.com/epicdailies-2013-05-19-26

The files are in PDF format and are sorted by day.

 

As for my cruising background, I've only been on two cruises before: The Celebration on Carnival way back in 1997 and the Caribbean Princess in 2008.

 

Now, onto my thoughts...

 

The Room

We got inside rooms on this trip, since we don't spend much time in the room aside from sleeping, showering and all of that stuff. The shower and bathroom stalls have been discussed to death, but personally, the sliding door for the toilet was the most disconcerting part for me. The beds were comfortable enough, which meant fighting off the jet lag was a little easier. Loved the fact that there was plenty of storage space. Two suitcases and its contents all fit easily in the wardrobe storage area.

 

The Entertainment

I didn't see everything there was to offer, but my thoughts on the ones I did.

 

• Blue Man Group - First time seeing a BMG show live, and I certainly enjoyed the quirkiness of the show
  
• Legends In Concert - The three acts on this cruise were "Tom Jones", "Adele", and "Tina Turner". Don't expect spot-on impersonations (Tom Jones seemed to change speaking accents every other sentence), but the performances themselves were reasonably energetic.
  
• Graffiti Classics - Bored me to tears. Didn't care much for the comedic antics, which I found more distracting than amusing. Frankly, the only reason I stuck around was because one of the performers was rather cute.
  
• Maestranza Spanish Ballet - I remember the boat was moving quite a bit during this performance, but the group didn't miss a beat. I won't claim to know if this was anything close to an actual "Spanish ballet", but I did enjoy this performance.
  

The Food

We only partook in one specialty restaurant: Moderno, aka "Vegetarian Hell". None of us really ate enough meat to make it worth our while, but the meats themselves I found quite tasty, especially the lamb chops. Normally, I can't stand the taste of lamb, but the chops there were really well prepared. As for the non-meat part of that dinner, the salad bar wasn't terribly remarkable, and the desserts I did try were hit and miss; hit for the mango rice pudding, miss on the coconut flan.

 

I had one dinner and most of the breakfasts at the Garden Cafe buffet. Buffets at lunch/dinner are typically unremarkable in general, and the Epic isn't an exception to this. That being said, it's your best option if you want a salad, as I found the salads in the dining rooms to be overdressed (I suppose I could have asked for dressing on the side). Of course, salads are far more flexible at the buffet, too.

 

On the other hand, I found breakfast at the buffet to be far more convenient. Sure, there are some things I can't get at the buffet that I can get at Taste, but I'm an easy guy to please when it comes to breakfast. As long as get my omelet, bacon, fruit bowl and juice, I'm typically happy...

 

That being said, I'm not sure where NCL sources out their streaky bacon, but the bacon on the Epic was probably the absolute WORST bacon I've ever had in my life. The sausage links and ham weren't much better. Fortunately, there was tons of smoked salmon to be had at breakfast, so I basically subbed out the bacon for the smoked salmon.

 

The free coffee was also quite terrible. Ended up shelling out some dollars for espresso at the Atrium bar each day I wasn't in Italy.

 

Only tried two items at O'Sheehans: The wings and the chicken pot pie. Both were reasonably tasty.

 

Overall, I did like the food, but nothing stood out as amazingly good. I may have enjoyed one too many bread puddings on this trip, mind you.

 

The Excursions

I would have liked to have done the ports on my own or through a third party, but I was overruled on this one in favour of the ship excursions (insert groan here). That being said, I think they learned their lesson.

 

We did the Flavours of Sorrento and Pompeii tour at the Naples stop. A good tour guide can make all the difference in the world, and our guide was fantastic (I think her name was Rossana). Enthusiasm can go a long way, and although I suspect some other people on this tour found her over the top, I think she did a great job in educating the group. Didn't care much for the shopping stops aside from the washroom break, of course. Also, limoncello is awesome the day of, but terrible the day after. The farm tour was unremarkable, but the mozzarella was tasty.

 

Rome was another story. We did the Rome and the Colosseum tour, and it was a mess. Complete disconnect between the tour group leader and the Rome tour guide. Most of the group was completely confused as to whom to follow, and there was a couple with limited mobility who quickly found themselves having great difficulty keeping up with the tour guide, who quite frankly made no effort to make sure the group was reasonably close together. That being said, Wednesday is probably the worst day to do a Rome excursion, especially to St. Peter's Basilica, which was absolutely packed. And don't forget there's a dress code for St. Peter's. A few people had to get creative with the wardrobe to get in because they forgot about that.

 

Didn't do Florence or Pisa, as we had toured there extensively only two years prior.

 

We did the Marseille City Highlights and Avignon tour. Avignon was quite frankly a waste of time. Marseille was nice, but just do the shuttle bus in and enjoy a nice lunch at a local brasserie. Great views at Notre Dame de la Garde, but the church itself wasn't terribly impressive.

 

In Palma, we did Palma In Depth. We had a great tour guide again, but this is another port you can easily do on your own, and by this time, the rest of the family got the idea.

 

The Waterslides

The tube slide with the funnel was the most fun. The green one HURT!! I could feel every pipe seam on the way down. Not pleasant. The purple slide also had the same issue, but the feeling was less harsh.

 

Overall, I definitely enjoyed the trip. I'd definitely do some things differently in retrospect, but I'd do this same itinerary again in a heartbeat on the Epic.

 

Hope I was able to contribute just a little bit. :)

Thanks for your posting Vic. Can you let me know who was the cruise director.Many thanks