Epic Review- April 16-23....long

[apmecruise]

Today we are all dragging and wake up late. After a few minutes on our balcony enjoying the Caribbean blue we spend some time packing up and regretting that the cruise is only 7 days. Say Back to Back!! or even my friend cruised 9 days out of New York and loved the extra two days. Said she was ready to come off by then. Not sure I would be ready. I am just enjoying being taken care of too much. I like walking to dinner, walking to my room and walking to my entertainment. For fun I also like getting off the ship to new environments every few days.

 

I mean really, on a cruise you don’t have anything to worry about but getting up and deciding where to go next. It will be tough to do a land based vacation again. Cruising is basically stress free. I think the really tipping point for choosing The Epic is the entertainment. There is just so much to partake in. Also the dining is fabulous. We discovered late in our trip just how great the fee restaurants are. Later today we decide to try the Italian restaurant. In the coupon book we got with the cruise, two covers at LeBistro entitled you to one free cover at the Italian restaurant. That was the one restaurant I absolutely refused to go to at the beginning but tonight…we are giving it a spin and we are so happy we did.

 

Anyway, we get up and go to the Garden Buffet for breakfast. I wanted oatmeal and it looked good the last time I was up there. Martin wanted some eggs and Sarah...well she didn't much care she wanted to...yup…play basketball. She made friends with a group of kids and she had made plans for the last morning. Martin and I enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the Garden Café in the front room looking down over the front of the ship. Right out in the front is a small hot tub. I asked the waitress who used that, and she said it is the staffs hot tub...when they have time. I loved the windows all over the ship and all the things you could find if you looked carefully. In fact, last night at Le Bistro we had sat next to the window and watched a glorious sunset while we enjoyed our fabulous meal. Can you tell it was a special place?

 

We sit for along time just enjoying breakfast and talking about how much we enjoyed the cruise. Yes, I patted myself on the back for a while because it was MY choice. I did months of research planning this vacation to get even with our boys who seem to enjoy spending all our money traveling around for college. And it worked…they are so jealous. In fact, when I told my boys that I just booked another cruise for Sarah and I they were positively pissed. Thank YOU NCL!!

 

After breakfast we begin looking for seats on deck. How was it on the last sea day? Might have been a good idea to come out early and find our seats. By now Martin has gone down to gamble the slot machines some more…oh sounds so bad right…HA they are penny machines…he is too cheap to really gamble. The penny slots are a perfect risk for him. "God Jen, I just lost TWO dollars!"

 

I find Sarah and we begin searching for lounge chairs. Around and around the ship we go. Up and down and in and out of tight rows. People and seats are packed tight. I can’t even be upset about people who have ‘reserved’ seats because most people are up on the deck enjoying the sun. I never found the 18th deck or the free-style deck so I have no idea where to look other than the regular places. My big idea is to go up to the sports deck..that is a normally empty sundeck but even that is filled up. I didn't realize till later I could have asked a worker to bring me some chairs …there were plenty of places for lounge chairs. We wander around and I am about to give up and just sit in some upright chairs on the sports deck (they had plenty of regular chairs) when we suddenly find 3 empty lounge chairs up next to the basketball court.

 

YEAH!!! Sarah is pretty happy because I asked her hang with me a bit on our last day…and she knows finding chairs there means she can go play while I watch.

 

So I take the three chairs for us. Sarah wanders off and starts to shoot…”Just 10 minutes mom…I promise!” Martin is on his way up to find us. I settle down to get comfortable. I put a towel on the two chairs I am saving and lounge back with a book in mine. Suddenly out of the blue an older man comes and just grabs one of the chairs from me. He picks it up, tips it till the towel comes off and just stares me down and picks it up. Walks about 5 feet away and thumps it down next to another one he, took from someone else, he and his wife proceed to sit down and enjoy the sun.

 

I was pretty astonished but Sarah was happy…now she didn’t even have to pretend to sit with me. “Oh too bad…listen you and dad just lounge here and I’ll…..yup play hoop!”

 

We enjoy the deck for a few hours but soon its time for lunch. I mean what else do you do onboard ship but eat? We clean up and go to O’Sheehans for lunch. That was one place I thougth we would enjoy more than we did. I got the tuna melt…yummy and Sarah and Martin got the chicken pot pie and the burger. I think I liked my food best but we were all satisfied.

 

After lunch and some more packing and cleaning up, we went out and enjoyed some late afternoon activities while we wandered around the ship and noticed all the things we forgot to do. One thing we tried was the Paul Scully comedy show. NOT FUNNY! I just didn’t like him so we didn’t watch this for long.

 

Dinner tonight was at La Cucina which is found just below the Garden Café. We had a nice table near the window but our servers were nowhere near as good as last night. The food however was a pleasant surprise. Sarah was still looking for Vodka Sauce and we thought maybe…but no! Sarah had pasta with sauce (big surprise), I had the Osso Bucco with the most incredible polenta (I am still thinking of that stuff) and Martin had Tortellini that even Sarah thought was fantastic. Then to finish it all off we had Tiramisu which was fabulous, light and dreamy. We finished our last bottle of wine and even bought a carafe. I liked the carafe offered here and the price about 18$.

 

Our night was coming to a close. We went back to our room to finish packing and to put our luggage outside for pick up. We chose the latest disembarkation time so we weren’t worried about getting up early so after we finished packing up we each headed out again. Sarah went to…well…you can guess and us off to see Second City.

 

Second City was found in the same room as Howl at the Moon. We got there and got some seats and drinks and just settled back to be thoroughly entertained. My favorite parts were when they made fun of the size of the ship and the hand sanitizering that goes on all over. They did some skits and then adlibbed some others. We stayed awake (that about the gist of it) through about midnight and then had to call it a night. Again I wish I had seen some of these shows earlier because I definitely would have gone more than once!

 

The hardest part with so many choices is in the choosing. When you book one show, it closes out another...unless you can stay up all night and go to later shows.

 

After the show, we wandered back up to our room and said good night and thanked Henry for all he did to make our cruise fabulous. Curled up in bed we listened to the ocean saying good night and went to sleep dreaming about our next cruise.

[apmecruise]

Before we know it, it is time to leave. We are anxious so we are up and ready before 8am. Our disembarkation time was for 9 so we had plenty of time for breakfast so we head down to Taste for a sit down breakfast.

 

We fill up on some wonderful breakfast food. The staff is so friendly and helpful even though they only have hours between us leaving and the next group coming back on.

 

After breakfast we head down to our disembarkation place and get in a long line. This process did not go smoothly. People were grumbly and miserable but even though it was not smooth we were off the ship by 10. We called our SAS shuttle driver and they were right there.

 

It was a simple ride to Ft. Lauderdale where we made plans to stay at the W, a fancy four star hotel we booked through Mystery Hotel. I was so excited to see this hotel which was supposed to be right on the beach.

 

I was disappointed in the hotel. It was a giant grey modern building. They could check us in early if we gave up the balcony but since the hotel was ACROSS the street from the ocean I didn't really care. UNTIL we got in the room and discovered the balcony and cushiony loungers. GRRR.

 

The funny thing was that the european style bathroom was similar to cruise ship. All three areas separated by curtains from the main room. Very funny. The room was lush and comfortable but the hotel itself was ...just grey. We wandered to the pool deck on the 8th floor and it was like something from a movie. A DJ, large cushioned loungers and clear sea through pool, bikini clad waitresses bringing drinks. In other words...not a place I belong. It was like the cruise ship. Wall to wall people.

 

We decide to skip the pool and enjoy Ft. Lauderdale. It was nice we did our shopping that we never did on the cruise and enjoyed winding down after our cruise. It was pleasant and a nice way to end our trip.

 

Walking around the streets we run into friends from the cruise ship, the family we sat with for the murder mystery show...what a small world! We talk for about an hour on the street and relive our highlights. One of my favorite parts of the cruise was the people I met.

 

All in all, the cruise was wonderful and the experience incredible. We all decided we needed to do this again soon. Of course Martin didn't think soon would be in five months. I mean to be one of those 50+ cruise people and I have to get started.

 

Thanks for staying with me while I got this review out. It was due to so many of your wonderful reviews that I was inspired to create one of my own. Thanks! And look for my September review!!

[Jenner9]

What a wonderful review. I'm sorry it has to end!! I felt like I was right on the cruise with you. If you ever figure out how to post your pics I would love to see them. Try Photobucket or a similar site...very user friendly.

[apmecruise]

What a wonderful review. I'm sorry it has to end!! I felt like I was right on the cruise with you. If you ever figure out how to post your pics I would love to see them. Try Photobucket or a similar site...very user friendly.

 

Thanks. I will try to work with photobucket next and see if I can figure it out from there.

[fatty48]

Just like to thank you also for your Great Review, so clever the way you laid it all out.

Everyday another instalment of fun & advice.

We are really looking forward to our Epic Adventure Transatlantic (13 nights) in 5 months,

so hopefully we will have plenty of time to squeeze every ounce of fun the Epic has to offer.

Good luck loading the photos (no idea how you do it).

 

Thanks Again

 

Roger (Cornwall UK)

[medicalma'am]

I am sad it is over also! What a wonderful review, thank you for your effort, it was thoroughly enjoyed!

[apmecruise]

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. I enjoyed sailing again in my memories. If anyone has any questions let me know. I would love to answer to the best of my ability. There is so much negative press on the Epic. I wanted to make sure everyone knew how extraordinary it is.

 

Now not to get off topic but have you checked out the Oasis? That looks like a floating Island! I wonder what NCL has in store for their next giant!

 

I am excited to try a smaller cruise ship though...even though how do you consider several thousand people all on a ship...small?

 

To all of you transatlantic sailors. WOW you are living the dream. I could, no problem at all, travel for 2 weeks on the Epic. The woman in the spa who put on my summer toes (which besides from a broken foot, are mostly gone) chose to extend her contract just so she could go abroad and sail in Europe. I wonder if there is a language issue with European sailing?