Epic review, April 2nd-9th, LONG with pictures

[nathand95]

Okay, I think I'll take the Epic Plunge (pun intended) and begin writing my first review.

 

Some background info.: I'm 15 and from Atlanta, Georgia, this was my spring break cruise with my parents who are 42 and 49. This was my 5th cruise overall and 3rd on NCL. I don't remember really anything from the first 2 NCL cruises, so we won't count those. I love cruising and do all the research I can before crusing. I was in charge of picking the cruise, since my parents could care less where we go. I picked the Epic because it is extremely new, had an itinerary with a new port for me, and because I've heard how modern and unique it is.

 

PREFACE

If you just want a simple answer of if I liked it or not I LOVED IT!!!!!! This review will be a very detailed account of the most EPIC cruise ever! This cruise was 6 months in the making and well worth every second spent waiting. Also, please do not let my age deter you from reading this. I may be young, but cruising is my passion. After going to college for engineering, as required by my parents, I really want to work on a cruise ship as a teen counselor. Okay, enough rambling. LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!

 

Before I officially begin this review, can someone please tell me how to add pictures? That is a very vital part of this review that I have not yet figured out how to do?

It's a little late to being a review tonight and I still have homework to finish:(. I think I'll officialy begin this tomorrow after school.

Just show me now that people are interested. If noone is interested, then I won't bother.

[cruiseman111111]

I don't know, but am bookmarking this to read yout review.

[LoraJ]

Looking forward to your review. What I did was open an account at photobucket.com and then upload pics there. When you upload the pics it gives you links to copy and paste to bb code forums. the code will have img between [ ]. I think you can post up to 4 photos per post.

[cruisin07family]

I'm booking the Epic tomorrow so I am interested. I'm booking the Western Caribbean but I'm interested in hearing about your ports even if Eastern and definitely all aspects of the ship itself. My Epic will not be until 2013 so I have a very long wait ahead of me.

 

As for posting pictures, they must first be in an online album. There are a few sites that allow this for free.

[escentialssoycandles]

I am going on Epic next year with my family along with tons of friends who have never cruised. My daughter will be 15 so I am looking forward to hearing your perspective!

[Tideone]

I can't wait to read your review..

[mtb242]

Before I officially begin this review, can someone please tell me how to add pictures? That is a very vital part of this review that I have not yet figured out how to do?

 

You must first upload them to a webhost. Lots of people here seem to use Photobucket, but my preference is Flickr.com. Once you upload your photo, you can go to the photo's webpage on Flickr and look for the small down arrow next to the Email/Twitter/FB icons just above the image. Look for the "Grab the HTML/BBCode" option (click on it to expand) and make sure the BBCode option is selected, not HTML.

 

It will look like this:

 

BBCode-example by hill_242, on Flickr

 

You'll need to put your cursor in the textbox with all the code and copy this text. Then come into the forum here and paste into your post.

[coffeebean]

I've been on Epic twice... Oct. 2010 and Feb. 2011. I LOVE the ship, the crew, the activites, the water slide, the aft balcony cabin, the entertainment, the food....just EVERYTHING. I'd love to read about your adventures on Epic and your perspective of this wonderful ship. Thanks.

 

PS...if you didn't say you were 15 years old, I NEVER would have guess it.

[Tazsamp]

I'm very much looking forward to your review and perspective. My kids are bit younger than you are (just turned 7), but they also love to cruise, so it will be very interesting to hear a 15 YOs perspective (that time will come for me VERY quickly!).

 

I'm also still torn about whether or not I would want to try the Epic, so hearing more details about the ship would definitely be helpful!

[atlasali]

Looking forward to your review....

[CruisinloversfromTexas]

I believe you can also do it from Facebook, I did a review on my last Cruise through Carnival and I uploaded mine to facebook. If you are 15 you are probably already on facebook.

[Jenner9]

I am very interested in reading your review and seeing your pictures. I love reading trip reports that include pictures. I've used photobucket in the past to upload pics to this site.

[nathand95]

Wow, thank you so much for the interest!

My 260 something pictures are now uploading to photobucket as we speak...er,talk.

I guess the best place to start is from the very beginning on Friday, April 1, before the cruise.

The morning of Friday,April 1,2011, began like any other morning with the rude awakening of my alarm clock at 7:00am, but today something was different. I arose in an atypical manner; normally I'm grouchy and hate being talked to, but today I jumped out of bed knowing that in 5 hours I was going to be out of school, heading to airport, and on my way to EPICNESS!.

After doing all the usual morning crap I have to do I was on my way to school. Okay, 1st period,French, great class, this will be a great way to start off my day. i love French, so the hour and half class period was nothing. Many friends said goodbye and to have a good vacation, and not get sunburned,uh, more on that at the end hehehe:p. By 10:00 I was in good spirits leaving French, but now came my history hell. World History, where we had a major test to take. The test consisted of two essay, which I suck at writing, However, after reading through the essays I realized I was good to go and wrote like a madman for the next hour and a half. By this time it was 11:30 and I was leaivng history. I was going to be checked out soon and at 11:37 the call came over for me to be checked out. Halelujah!!!!! I was finally free!!!!!! After a quick bite to eat at a local cafe and getting my plane bag together we left my house at 12:45 for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

We arrived at the airport around 1:30, with plenty of time to spare for our 3:00 flight, and went to Terminal South for curbside checkin at Delta Airlines. My stepdad is a gold member with Delta so we coudl check as many bags as we wanted FOR FREE! We checked all 5 pieces we had (3 big suitcases and 2 small suitcases,yes, I know we pack heavy!!!!) and ten headed to security. Strangely enough, secuirty is never an issue at ATL and we were throuhg within 15 minutes. We then arrived at teh gate and began the waiting process. One funny thing I did at the gate was talk about going on the Epic loudly with my parents in hopes of meeting someone who was also going on it. It didn't work out sadly. At 2:45 the incoming plane arrived and they said our flight was delayed due to the incoming aircraft getting in late. Ughhh, I just want to get to Miami already!!! Oh well, at 3:15 we began boarding. Since we were gold members we had priority boarding so we got on the plane early. By 3:45 we were pushing back from the gate and by 4:00pm we were in the air at our cruising altitude of 37,000 feet. At 5:13pm we landed in Miami and we heading to baggage claim,which would prrove to be quite the delima!

I'm going to stop for now. My pictures of uploading very slowly on photobucket and I would also like to upload my mom's pictures to p-bucket since she has wayyy more pictures than me. I'll hopefully do another post tonight about the night in Miami.

Off to a littel bit of a slow start, but it will go quicker once all my pictures are uploaded. If you have any questions about the pre-cruise stay feel free to ask. I love answering questions. I will be back late tonight for the next installment of my Epic adventure, so STAY TUNED!

Also, any feedback, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated.

[retiring soon]

HI all!

 

I'm looking forward to reading your review too but homework comes first!;)

Waiting patiently.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[dawnmariex]

Hi!

 

I was on the Epic in August and read many, many reviews. Yours has an interesting twist and I am looking forward to reading more. It has already made me smile quite a number of times! Also can't wait for the pictures! See you later!

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Lovin' the review so far!!!

 

Can't wait to see the pics, as we are on the EPIC for the first time this Fall!

 

:)

[russianmom]

Can't wait to hear the rest!:)

[Ruby124]

Me to Nathan! I can't wait to hear about your great EPIC adventure! My Dad and I won a free cruise on Christmas day 2010. We plan on booking The Epic to cash it in! Thanks for taking the time to write a review!

[cruisingbooboo]

I was able to upload photos right from mycomputer, no sharing site needed FYI...

You are a very articulate writer, can't wait to read more and SEE more... I'm on my way SOON:p

[All I Ever Wanted]

I'm going to be back to this page for sure!! :) Thanks for the review.

[apmecruise]

Nathan, my 14 year old daughter and myself really enjoyed your first post. Well done...we can't wait to keep reading.:D

[nathand95]

Lovin' the review so far!!!

 

Can't wait to see the pics, as we are on the EPIC for the first time this Fall!

 

:)

Thank you so much! I hope to see a review from you this Fall. i would love to cruise the Epic in Europe. That would be a truly EPIC cruise! lol

 

Me to Nathan! I can't wait to hear about your great EPIC adventure! My Dad and I won a free cruise on Christmas day 2010. We plan on booking The Epic to cash it in! Thanks for taking the time to write a review!

Oh wow! You are so lucky to win a free cruise! Definitely use it on the Epic! I hope my review will further influence you :p;)

 

Nathan, my 14 year old daughter and myself really enjoyed your first post. Well done...we can't wait to keep reading.:D

Thank you so much! Are you guys going on the Epic? I have the teen club schedule here. I had to type it all out since my scanner isn't working. Here is the teen club schedule for all those interested.

 

Epic Entourage Teen Club Schedule

Saturday-Miami

11:30am-3:00pm-Teen Crew Open House & Registration in Entourage (Deck 15 Aft

4:00-8:00pm-Teen Registration

8:00-What's the Scoop? Teen Orientation (DO NOT MISS!!!!!!)

8:30-Breakin' Ze Ice (DO NOT MISS!!!!!!!!!!!!)

9:00-Hunt it down,Wear it well

11:00pm-1:00am-Welcome Aboard Party w/ Munchies

 

Sunday-Sea Day

11:00am-Teen Club Hang out w/ Air Hockey,Fooseballl,Music, and Video Games

12:00-Flat Stanley-Get Yourself Flat

2:00-Need For Speed Knock Out

3:30-Bigger and Better Hunt

4:30-Air Hockey tourney w/ prizes

6:30 Fooseball Hero

7:30-Charades

8:00-Teen Dinner in the Garden Cafe

9:00-Teen Dodge Ball

11:00pm-1:00am-Ultimate Couch Potato Trivia and Chill Time

 

Monday-Costa Maya,Mexico

5:00pm-Video Game Time and Juke Box Jams

6:00pm-King of the Court

7:30-Crew Sing Along

9:30-Teen Rock Wall

10:00-Banana Split Banana Jam

11:00-1:00am-Pajama Movie Night

 

Tuesday-Roatan,Hondorus

5:30pm-Sports Time

7:00-Musical Quest

8:15-9:15-Teen karoake

9:30-Battle of the Sexes

10:30pm-12:00am-WHITE HOT PARTY!!!!!!!!!

12:00am-1:00am-Chill time

 

Wednesday-Sea Day

11:00am-Did you sign up for Assasin? Time to get your victim!

12:00pm-family Dodge Ball

1:00-get Enviromental w/ Officer Snook

2:00-Who's the Boss

2:30-Amazing Race

3:30-Stop the Bus

4:30-Family Pizza Making

6:00-Murder Mystery Dinner

8:30-15 seconds of fame

9:30-the great clown hunt

10:30-11:30-Late night slide time

12:00-1:00am-Casiino Royale

 

Thursday-Cozumel, Mexico

5:00pm-Games, games, games

6:00-Wii free play

7:00-Teen quest

8:00-10:00-THIRST-The ultimate teen party

10:00-1:00am-Vampire Night continues/chill time

 

Friday-Sea Day

10:00am-Family Pictionary

11:00-Lazy Friday Breakfast

12:00pm-Sports court takeover

1:00pm-Smuck the counselor

2:00-Art Attack

4:00-Art Insanity

4:00-Bigger and Better Hunt

5:00-Towel Folding w/ Kiki

6:00-Dress to Impress Dinner

8:00-the Dating game-Teen Style

9:00-11:00-Bon Voyage Farewell teen Deck Party

11:00-Facebook/Number/Email exchange

11:30-1:00am-Farewell teens Choice-Last chance to take over

 

Okay, that is the schedule! It is by no means followed exactly, but merely an outline of possible things. I was suprised how quickly time flew when I was with ym friends doing whatever. You will be surprised at how much there is to do. The counselors where awesome too! Their names were Fraggle and Kimberly from the U.S. and Kiki and Yoda from Mexico. It was a great place to meet up with friends and go hang out.

 

I will continue this tomorrow. I'm everyone has enjoyed this little "teaser" so far. One thing I just remembered is that I have quite a few food pictures too!!! :) I'll give those when they come up. I'm sure everyone is dying to know about the food.

[nathand95]

Okay, so pictures are still annoying me, but I'll just continue with the review and post the pre-cruise pictures whenever they decide to cooperate...

Okay,where was I, anways, we landed at 5:13pm and heading to baggage claim, which seemed like it was in the deserted part of the airport. Oh, Delta flight,from Atlanta atleast, arrive in Miami in Concourse H. So we were at bagge claim at 5:20 where we waited. First, at about 5:30 the carousel started, but bags from a flight that landed AFTER us were coming out. We told the baggage people and they talked to the mysterious people in charge of baggage handling and said they'd be out shortly. Fastforward 45 minutes to 6:15 when bags from our flight started coming out. Our flight was LIVID! Apparently, they lost our fliight's bags on the way from the plane to baggage claim. Miami Int'l is the worst airport I have ever been to. Everyone is so unorganized and doesn't seem to know anything.

Anyways, our bags were first off since we were priority and we went outside,waited in a <5 minute line for a taxi and we were on our way to our hotel,The Hampton Inn in Coconut Grove. Now we faced another dilema-Friday afternoon traffic. a 20 minute drive ended up taking 45 minutes. By this time, we were all cranky as it was 7:00pm and we hadn't eaten since 11:45am, and a bag of 5 peanuts does not count as a meal. I HATE all nuts,except pistacchios (those are amazing), so I didn't eat anything on the plane. The ice I did munch on apparently does not subside hunger unfortunately.

Okay, 7:00pm we arrive at the hotel. First off, I was put off at the area. It was tucked down some side street and the area was, for lack of a better word,sketchy. We stayed in Coconut Grove last year (Doubletree on the Bay-AMAZING area and AMAZING hotel), so I was surprised how opposite this area was. Nevertheless,the hotel had a nice,well-kept exterior and the interior even uped that. The lobby of the hotel was very modern,clean, smelled good:p, and was just surprising. The lobby looked like it would belong in a 4star hotel-well maybe not that nice, but it was nice for a Hampton Inn. The lobby in the Hampton Inn was 10X nicer than the Doubletree's lobby and the Doubletree was extremely expensive. (We got a great deal last year because it was the hotel FedEx pilots use in Miami and my stepdad is a pilot for FedEx, but they no longer use that hotel and my parents said we are not about to spend $400 on a hotel for one night.) Oh well, I missed the cookies, but The Hampton Inn was very nice.

The front desk clerk was very nice and welcoming. Then we went up to the 4th floor and walked in our room. This was another HUGE surprise for a Hampton Inn. The room was very modern and I'm pretty sure the T.V. was bigger in the hotel room than in my cabin, and bedroom at home for that matter... I immediately jumped on the bed to try it out.. Very soft and fluffy. Okay, passed my test. The furniture was a very light wood color,I prefer dark wood, but it looked clean and new. Oh, one thing I just remembered (this will happen alot), when we walked in it was very,very hot. We set the A/C all the down before we walked out. This is important for later. After a quick potty break in the bathroom, which like the lobby and room was very modern and clean, we headed downstairs where the front desk called a cab that would take 15 minutes. She called at abput 7:15-important point. LIES!!!!!!!!! We went outside to take some pcitures by some stupid plants and waited. While waiting we got a feeling of how sketchy the area was.

First, a homeless man (not 100% sure, but he seemed like it) walked into the lobby and got a cup of coffee and walked back out. Nothing was said which made me wonder how secure the hotel was. Also, I found it weird that had cmplimentary coffee and hot chocolate set up at 7:00pm when it's 80 degrees outside. Second, a rough looking man in his 50's pulled up in a white panel van across the street and sat there for abotu 5 minutes. He then got out and walked into the hotel, got a cup of coffee and walked out. (Again, what is with these people drinking coffee when it's 80 degrees!) After the van pulled away, my mom made the comment that his zipper was down. She then followe that with another comment that is far to inappropriate for CC-I'm sure you can make your own inferences of what she said. I was disgusted and thought it was quite plausible which made me even more unsure about the area.

By this time it was 7:45 and still no taxi. I was about to eat my arm off!!!!! (I'm in psychology right now and for those who get this reference-hats off to you!) My ghrelin and orexin levels were sky high!!! My stepdad went to the front desk and asked about the taxi. The lady said taxi waits can be unpredictable this time of day. But you said 15 minutes 30 minutes ago!!!!! Soon enough 8:00pm rolled around we asked where the nearest restaurant was in walking distance. We were directed to "Berries-in the grove". It was about a 5 minute walk through sketchville. By this time from waiting outside I had about 5 mosquito bites whereas my parents had none... We then got the restaurant and found it surprisingly crowded for 8:00pm.

I'll continue this in another post. I don't want to get too long winded and loose attention by the end.

[nathand95]

Okay, so we arrived a little after 8:00 and surprisingly there was no wait. One cool thing about this restuarant is that it's indoors, while being outdoors. In the main seating area there is a retractable ceiling, which was open while we ate which made the atmosphere more enjoyable. One thing annoying about Berries is that the tables were so clsoe together! My stepdad is a former college football player and was like a bull in a China shop trying to get to the table. This restuarant was also Italian if I didn't mention that earlier. We were then given a basket of bread. The bread was AMAZING!!!!!! My mom messed up mixing the oil and vinegar by making a vinegar-oil ratio of 10:1... We got a laugh since she is a bad cook (Love you Mom!!!!). Then we got menus and I was first surprised at the prices; they seemed to be kinda high for a restuarant we didn't even intend on going to. They were similar to that of olvie garden,maybe a little higher. I was then surprised at the selection. It was a huge menu. Pizzas,pastas,sandwhiches,paninis! It all looked so good. My stepdad and I decided to get 2 meals and share since we originially were going to order the same thing. We decided to share this wrap (spinach wrap with lettuce,tomato,guacamole,pico de gallo,onions, and other stuff) and a dolphin sandwhich.

Once we received the food it could not be described in words...but I'll try my best. It was OHMYGOSHTHISISAMAZING!!!!!!!!! The sandwhich was awesome! The fish was cooked perfectly,perfectly seasoned, break perfectly toasted. I am very selective when it comes to fish as I don't like most fish. Dolphin fish is my favorite and have had many times, but this was by far the best I've ever had/ Now the wrap! I am an avacado adict and will order anything with guacamole or avacado on it. This wrap was so good. It's making me hungry just thinking about it. The guac was better than some in most mexican restaurants. Oh, it had grilled chicken on it! The chicken was very juicy too! My stepdad and I were very pleased with this meal, but my mom wasn't. She is extremely picky and found the chicken dry and tasted "funny". I tried and found it also amazing. Now, i don't consider myself a foodie, but I do believe that I have am perhaps more critical than others,especially people my age. I love exotic food and food that tastes good. I just have higher standards than most.

One thing I forgot to mention was that you can smoke inside the restaurant which was less than desiirable. I'm farely sensitive to smoke and was a bit bothered, but I onyl saw 3 people smoking. Another thing was that a couple from our hotel, also going on a cruise, showed up at Berries. They said the taxi showed up 5 minutes after we left. Of course... We then left and walke back throuhg sketchville to the gas station across the street from the hotel to buy soda for the cruise. NCL is a pepsi line and that does not fly with people from Coke country!!!! We got a 12 pack of Diet Coke and were going to get a 12 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper, but they didn't have one. Diet DP is my mom's obsession so we got her 7,yes SEVEN, small 20oz (?) bottles of Diet DP/ We spent over $20 in soda...and I only got one can of Diet Coke on the cruise:(. We then walked back to the hotel went up to the room. When we walked in it was cooler than when we left. Instead of very,very hot it was only very hot. We couldn't figure it out,but my stepad refused to call downstairs. Apparently, in addition to setting the wall thermostat you have to push a botton on the wall A/C (and no it wasn't the ON botton!). We then cooled off, got into the very fluffy beds (2 double beds) and drifted off into a deep slumber filled with dreams of our upcoming EPIC adventure.

One other note is that the room was actually clean. I read trip advisor and heard some bad things so before getting in bed I checked the sheets. The worst thing I found was a hair. The beds were good to go! Oh, but when we walked in there were 3 toenail clipplings by the base of the nightstand. I was disgusted! That was the worst thing though, so it check out as an 8 out 10 in my book.

 

Okay, Friday(which was fun, fun, fun, fun.-who actually got that? The younger crowd should know what I'm talking about.) is done! I'll continue Saturday, April 2nd, maybe tomorrow. I'd like to get Friday pics uploaded before getting too far ahead. Any questions are always welcome throughout the review.

[jarz85]

Okay, Friday(which was fun, fun, fun, fun.-who actually got that? The younger crowd should know what I'm talking about.) is done! I'll continue Saturday, April 2nd, maybe tomorrow. I'd like to get Friday pics uploaded before getting too far ahead. Any questions are always welcome throughout the review.

 

We we we so excited, we so excited for our Epic cruise in a few weeks! (Hope you get that lol)

 

Good review.. can't wait for the pics