EPIC 1/29-2/5/11.. a review of all I could do in a week

[niiaka]

My Epic Review 1/29/11-2/5/11

Embarkation- Terminal C.. Very impressed with the fast and effortless embarkation process. We were standing in line and receiving our Ship cards less than 5 mins.. Only spent about 20 mins upstairs waiting to board before they let us in.. We entered through the casino… and this is where I lose my DH for the next 7 days..

Cabin- BB Balcony 14090- Now, originally I did not care where my cabin was, as we were using a Casino’s at Sea Comp for this room. However, after walking up and down hallways for 30 mins looking for our cabin, no where to be found.. we finally discovered a hidden corridor with mazes of at least 5 hallway passes we had to make to reach our cabin.. Do not book 14054-14096 Cabins… The deck plan will seem as though you are close to the Fitness room and Spa, but you can not be further away. The bathroom situation is ridiculous. I tried to get used to the open concept, but there’s a reason we have been happily married for 20 yrs… its because we have a bathroom door at home! Other than that the cabin is comfortable.

Speciality Restaurants

Modernos- If you like meat, this is a MUST. The men in our group fell in love and were very happy. Everything is delicious. I prefer my beef to be well done, so I passed on a few of the rarer options, but the men tried everything and loved it! $18 per person and for the amount of food we consumed, worth every penny.

Cagney’s- $25 per person.. Again, very good. But we’ve done Cagney’s before so we could have skipped this one. Saw lots of jeans, tshirts and ball caps in the restaurant. I wish they would enforce a dress code for upscale dining.

La Cucina- Italien- $10 per person.. very slow service- we waited 45 mins for our appetizers, but could have been just a bad time to go there (the last night of cruise). Food was ok…I had the Penne Rigate with meatballs and was not disappointed.

Teppanyaki- $25 per person- always just a fun time. Good food and our Chef was very funny and entertaining (which is what you’re really paying for anyways).

Cirque Dreams and Dinner- $20 (standard, $30 premium)- word to the wise.. $30 premium- everyone is buying the premium seats and standing outside the theater for 45+ mins to get a decent table. $20 standard seats, we walked in 10 mins before show and was given a booth on the floor. Wasn’t the greatest seats but we didn’t miss anything. I could reach the guy next to me and he paid $30 for his seat. Personally, besides the stunts and acrobrats, the show is not good. It is really lacking in the vocal and storyline.

Murder Mystery Lunch -$20 Spiegel Tent- Lots of fun. We enjoyed our lunch and the show. Iceburg Wedge salad, stuffed chicken breast, rice and a dessert. Performed by the Second City cast with participation by the audience.

Free Fare-

O’Sheehans- we ate here quite a bit. Standard pub fare: chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, hot dogs, hamburgers. You can also get Chicken Pot Pie (very good). Cabbage soup, Meatloaf and Mashed potatoes, and Fish and Chips. Desserts were good! You can get Breakfast here too. You can also get milkshakes for a fee. 3 Lanes of Bowling is inside the pub and on the other end are pool tables.

Taste- dining room- we went here 2x. average food. Nothing to complain about, but also, nothing to write either.

Room Service- BIG SHIP= LONG WAITS.. we ended up just canceling our order and never used room service again. To wait 1 hr seemed ridiculous when the buffet is just upstairs. Pizza costs $5 to order. (at any time of day. It was said before that they charge for room service after midnight. Not true, they just charge $5 for pizza 24/7.

Garden Café- Buffet- never disappointed us. We had breakfast here 1 morning and was average but lots of variety. We ate at the buffet usually after coming back from a long day at Port. My DH liked to stop and get the bread pudding flavor of the day.

Bars/Lounges- we stopped in at a few over the week. Holy Moly the beverage charges are high. $13 for 1 bud light and 1 rum and coke. BTW, $50.20? for 7day pepsi pass.

Shows- 1 mention on Epic Theater- every seat is a great seat, so don’t worry about how high up or where you are. Great design on this theater.

Blue Man Group- awesome and a lot of fun. I didn’t want to go originally but it turned out to be the best show on the ship. Just go and enjoy it. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

Cirque Dreams- like a mentioned above- food-blah and average, storyline needs to be clearer or not at all.. acrobats were entertaining.

Murder Mystery- fun. Go and participate

Jeff Hobbs- again, I don’t want to spoil the show, but he is “Entertaining” and frankly quite refreshing. Comedian/Magician

Legends in Concert- 3 acts only is disappointing. Janet Jackson was right on. Neil Diamond, needs to be replaced, Aretha Franklin… that woman has god given talent and I want to thank her for sharing with us passengers on NCL. Wow, don’t understand how or why she ended up on a cruise ship but greatful she did. Spoil alert- Elvis never even enters the building.

Headliners Club- Second City- Improv Comedy. Both Family and Adult shows offered. Very funny people. Doug a cast member will always be seen getting an ice cream from the Garden Café . I personally saw him 5x last week.

 

Lido/Waterslides- do it! Lots of fun and the lines were never longer than a few mins to wait for a tube. But watch out for that Green slide.. it doesn’t look evil, but wow. Largest sports complex I have ever seen onboard. Full size NBA court, rock climbing wall, Trampoline jumping and climbing, lots for everyone to do.

Photo System- LOVE LOVE LOVE their new photo system. No more searching endlessly up and down for your face among 2,000 other people.. all computerized and easy to use. BUT, 8x10 prints are $20 each

Spa/ Fitness Center- More expensive than usual. And more push for you to buy their products at end of session. Spa is designed very nice and I enjoyed it, until I saw the bill. No Charge for Fitness center. Always seemed to be plenty of open treadmills, elipiticals and bikes.

Casino- largest casino at sea I have ever seen. It goes on and on,. I was very disappointed in the slot machines. We kept looking for the 5cent machines that offer bonuses.. we finally found some but impossible to get on as there are 8 of them. (4 on each side of bank). As a casino at sea invited guests, we received 2 free drink cards for casino. Good luck using those as you will wait about an hour to get someone to serve you. Point system has changed and you do not earn as many points as you did before. Its based on time at machine.. so don’t jump around from machine to machine..

 

Disembarkation- fast and easy. Just follow your Deck color coded tags and listen for instructions. From our cabin to outside in Taxi line took 20 mins. That’s impressive for a massive ship like EPIC.

All in all, she’s gorgeous and 1 to be envied. However, I was missing some of that personalization that you can only get on the smaller ships. After 7 days of trying to do everything, I still feel like I missed more than ½ of what Epic has to offer.

[debt]

Thank you for the review. Would you book another cruise on the Epic?

[NengEuis]

Thanks for the informative review!

[Kancruze]

Wow!! That's a great review...very informative. Thanks for the heads up on a lot of things.

[sdmike]

Sounds like you had a great time. And some people say there's not enough to do. :)

[erdoran]

My biggest complaint about Epic is that there is so much to do you can't possibly do and experience more than a small fraction on a weeklong cruise! I've now cruised her for two weeks and have yet to get to a bunch of activities!

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.