Just Back from 8/28-9/4 Epic Cruise - Amazing!!

[DreamzTerra]

We are recently back from our cruise on the Epic of last week. I won't write a long review as I feel it will be mostly repetitive of a lot of what has already been written. That being said, we had a wonderful time and would definitely cruise on this ship again. I'm happy to answer any questions. :)

[coffeebean]

We are recently back from our cruise on the Epic of last week. I won't write a long review as I feel it will be mostly repetitive of a lot of what has already been written. That being said, we had a wonderful time and would definitely cruise on this ship again. I'm happy to answer any questions. :)

So glad you had a great time. How do you compare NCL (as a company and the Freestyle concept) to your Carnival cruise?

[DreamzTerra]

I have to say that there is really little comparison. However it's probably difficult to compare a new larger ship (the Epic) with an older smaller ship with less options than the new Carnival ships. That being said, we decided before the end of the week that we definitely wanted to book through NCL again. I had nothing but great experiences with the staff and absolutely loved the entertainment options on the Epic. The freestyle experience was really nice. Even though we did make reservations for entertainment, being able to decide when/where to eat and what to do each day depending on what you feel like was great!

[blendedmemory]

I'm glad you had such a good time!! :D

 

What was your favorite bit of entertainment? Did you do the rock climbing, spider web, slides or was that more geared toward kids?

[I.Like.Beer]

Did you find the ship smoky? I've heard mixed reviews about the cigarette smoke and was wondering your opinion on it.

[cruising ag]

I have to say that there is really little comparison. However it's probably difficult to compare a new larger ship (the Epic) with an older smaller ship with less options than the new Carnival ships. That being said, we decided before the end of the week that we definitely wanted to book through NCL again. I had nothing but great experiences with the staff and absolutely loved the entertainment options on the Epic. The freestyle experience was really nice. Even though we did make reservations for entertainment, being able to decide when/where to eat and what to do each day depending on what you feel like was great!

 

 

Glad to hear you had a nice time! :)

[DreamzTerra]

I have to admit that when possible I avoided going through floor 6, the casino floor because yes, there was quite a bit of smoke since the casino takes up the majority of that floor. Unfortunately, it's impossible to avoid that floor - there are entertainment venues, as well as O'Sheehans and the escalators to the Atrium. I guess there were a few other areas where smoking was allowed, but I didn't really notice it other than going through the casino.

[mitsugirly]

Great to hear you enjoyed yourself. I have 4 more days to go and I'm off on the Eastern cruise (hopefully). :D

[DreamzTerra]

mitsugirly - hope you have a great time! I know you will!! ;)

[mitsugirly]

mitsugirly - hope you have a great time! I know you will!! ;)

 

Thank you. I plan to have a wonderful vacation no matter what happens.

[sbark1]

For the record....just back from the same 8/28 sailing and we never found the casino smoky in the least. I was actually amazed at how little smoke there was....

[coffeebean]

For the record....just back from the same 8/28 sailing and we never found the casino smoky in the least. I was actually amazed at how little smoke there was....

That is good news and thanks for letting me know, however, I'm wondering if the smokiness of the casino and surrounding areas is dependent on the crowd on board. I had read there there is an enhanced filtration system in the casino. That information is just from one of the posters....not officially stated from NCL unless it is on their website but I haven't seen it.

[cruisinskier]

Glad you had a great trip. We were also onboard that cruise and I just posted my review. A good time was had by all!

[GigCrusier]

For the record....just back from the same 8/28 sailing and we never found the casino smoky in the least. I was actually amazed at how little smoke there was....

Are you a smoker or ex-smoker?

[sjbdtz]

Are you a smoker or ex-smoker?

 

 

I'm an ex-smoker, and other than 3 times when I politely asked people not to smoke directly behind my back, in the casino, it was barely noticeable.

 

I still think they should switch the non-smoking section to the main hallway, but otherwise it's not that evident.

[Ilivetogo]

I'm glad you had such a good time!! :D

 

What was your favorite bit of entertainment? Did you do the rock climbing, spider web, slides or was that more geared toward kids?

 

 

I can add my .02 cents here ... The rock climbing appeared to be enjoyed by all. There was a time slot for "teen rock wall", but plenty of time for everyone.

The spider web thingy is geared for kids. There is a 125 lb. weight limit. It was full of little kids when we were there checking it out.

The slides were definitely for everyone! And trust me, everyone enjoyed them. The line to wait for your tube (at the bottom where you "spill out") was always a total mix of adults and children. And everyone coming out was definitely having a great time - laughing, smiling, etc. It's fun! You'll want to do them many times!

 

.

[kjquilts]

For the record....just back from the same 8/28 sailing and we never found the casino smoky in the least. I was actually amazed at how little smoke there was....

 

To add to the record, we were also on the 8/28 cruise. We're non-smokers and love the slots and were thankful there is non-smoking slot area and that non-smoking was enforced. We spent way too much time in the casino.

 

However, our stateroom was deck 10 stern/aft and we used the aft elevators or sometimes aft stairs. It was often smoky by the cascade bar which has gaming machines and is located between the two banks of aft elevators.

 

At times it was VERY smoky around the table games which unfortunately are located in the center aisle way. This area got very crowded due to onlookers as well as players. Luckily it is not a huge area and lol i'd usually hold my breath while walking through. Pretty hard to avoid this area since it's between the non-smoking machines & the change machines, cashiers, O'Sheehans, escalator to deck 5 etc (almost everything is forward of the non-smoking slots). Aft elevators do not stop on 5 so you have to go to 6 and down the escalator.

 

The casino is huge. I wish they would move the table games to one side, and enlarge the non-smoking slot area to make the entire center aisle non-smoking.

[igitur]

To add to the record, we were also on the 8/28 cruise. We're non-smokers and love the slots and were thankful there is non-smoking slot area and that non-smoking was enforced. We spent way too much time in the casino.

 

However, our stateroom was deck 10 stern/aft and we used the aft elevators or sometimes aft stairs. It was often smoky by the cascade bar which has gaming machines and is located between the two banks of aft elevators.

 

At times it was VERY smoky around the table games which unfortunately are located in the center aisle way. This area got very crowded due to onlookers as well as players. Luckily it is not a huge area and lol i'd usually hold my breath while walking through. Pretty hard to avoid this area since it's between the non-smoking machines & the change machines, cashiers, O'Sheehans, escalator to deck 5 etc (almost everything is forward of the non-smoking slots). Aft elevators do not stop on 5 so you have to go to 6 and down the escalator.

 

The casino is huge. I wish they would move the table games to one side, and enlarge the non-smoking slot area to make the entire center aisle non-smoking.

 

Hi kjquilts! We're the family who share the SAS bus back to Lauderdale with you ; ) Hope you had a good trip home!

 

Deb

[DreamzTerra]

I'm glad you had such a good time!! :D

 

What was your favorite bit of entertainment? Did you do the rock climbing, spider web, slides or was that more geared toward kids?

 

We truly loved most of the entertainment, but for favorites we probably attended more of the Second City shows and Fat Catz everyday more than anything. We really enjoyed all of the live music on the ship, especially, Wes, the acoustic guitar guy. We enjoyed the Blue Man Group as well, but I have to say that the Second City kept us laughing all week between the Murder Mystery show to various other shows we caught. We did try all of the slides and kids/adults will love them, as well as the rapelling wall and climbing wall.

[DreamzTerra]

One other thing I wanted to comment on - I know there have been differing views on this Board, but one thing I felt made a big impact on our personal experience on the Epic, was the cruise director, Silas Cook. We felt he did a fantastic job and loved his high energy. We were able to meet him at the sail away party and ran into him at many of the activities throughout the week, all of which we felt that Silas, his assistant Michael, and the rest of the cruise staff did an awesome job at keeping us entertained!! Having him as the cruise director is probably one of the main reasons we chose to purchase the cruise rewards and hopefully cruise again on the Epic.

[Ronniewales]

I am doing a b2b in a months time and was wondering do i have to book the entertainment and the restaurants in advance or can i decide 48 hours before and book on board?

[DreamzTerra]

We booked everything in advance on the 45th day prior to sailing just to be sure we got everything in that we wanted. However, once on board, it seemed that the only thing that was really "sold out" was Cirque Dreams...it was sold out on the first day soon after everyone boarded. If you aren't picky about days/times you want for certain entertainment or dining venues, you can wait and book once you're on the ship. We were easily able to change times for dining venues and book additional shows throughout the week for everything (except Cirque Dreams and possibly the Murder Mystery) once on the ship.

[Clay Clayton]

Not to beat an already dead horse, but what was your opinion of the Wave stateroom and bath?

[DreamzTerra]

It didn't bother us at all. We had an aft balcony which we thought was furnished tastefully and really enjoyed it - especially the view. We found that for 2 people the small space worked fine. I can see how a 3rd person would make things a little cramped, but we really didn't spend much time in the room anyway. I thought it had everything we needed and the split with the bathroom really didn't create any issues for us either. Again, perhaps we'd feel differently with a 3rd person, but really the cabin was just a place to sleep for the most part, although we did enjoy the balcony and found that it was a little bigger than we were expecting (possibly because of the location). I can see where the bed was short, as I'm a short person and found my feet hanging off, but again that didn't really matter. We slept comfortably on it.