Epic Haven? One Word: Awesome

[DrDetroit]

Hello,

 

This is my first post on CC. Just got off NCL EPIC with my family and really enjoyed the Epic. Loved the Haven experience.

 

Who: Family of 5 including DW (37) , DD (7) , DS (6), MIL, and myself (40).

Why: My kids wanted to go on a Nick cruise. I wanted to experience the suite life; especially the haven. Never have been in a suite before.

When: March 24th - March 31st

What room: 2-bedroom Haven villa

 

Here are some of our observations of the ship and of the Haven Experience.

 

1. Easy embarkation and disembarkation thanks to VIP service.

2. The concierge, Adrain and Elvina, were excellent. They were always friendly, smiling, accommodating, and professional. They would escort us to the shows so we could get the best seats.

3. Our Butler, Melani, was excellent. She would make sure that all our needs were met. She made sure that our kids either had chips or gummy bears at nighttime. She provided fresh fruits for us adults.

4. We had very good cabin stewards. Our room was always spotless.

5. We enjoyed the 2-bedroom suite. The smaller bedroom easily accommodated 3. My children thought the pullman was comfortable. My DW and I enjoyed the master bedroom and the master bathroom with the glass shower.

6. We loved the haven pool which was very convenient. This pool was used more often than the regular pools. The whirlpools were warm. The pool was never over-crowded. The lounge chairs in the haven were often taken by mid-morning but the POSH area was always open.

7. DW and I really enjoyed the seclusion of the POSH area. The lounge chairs are very comfortable.

8. The Epic Club and Grille was used often for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The food choices were the same each day however they did have dinner specials. We often asked for items from the MDR or buffet which the staff easily accommodated.

9. My DW and I loved the spa. It cost $199 for the 2 of us for the week. I loved the lounge chairs facing aft. The thermal pool was very relaxing. We would definitely do it again whatever the cost.

10. We all loved the slides; especially the big yellow epic plunge.

11. We really enjoyed the shows: BMG, Cirque & Dreams, and Legends in concerts. Steven Tyler was dead on. Madonna and Elvis were entertaining. Madonna actually picked my DD to dance with her. My DD loved it.

12. We tried the MDR once and thought the service was very good. The food was tasty and warm. Absolutely no complaints.

13. We went to the Garden Buffet often and thought the food was top notch. The best buffet we have experienced compared to Celebrity, Princess, or Royal Caribbean.

14. The DD and DS loved the kids club. I would have to pry them away from the kids club. Amazing staff. The largest kids club of any cruise ship.

15. The casino was large and not smokey as others have noted.

16. We went to O'sheehans once and thought the food was excellent. I loved the corned beef sandwich. MIL enjoyed the meatloaf. My DS liked the mozzarella sticks.

17. We did not need to try any of the specialty restaurants because the food in the MDR, Epic Club, or Buffet was that good.

18. My children enjoyed the various kids events including the Nick breakfast, Family white hot party, Kids talent show, and Who's the boss.

19. We did not do any excursions for St. Maarten, St. Thomas, or Nassau. We went to Maho beach in St. Maarten (where the planes fly over the beach), Blackbeards castle in St. Thomas, and stayed on the boat in Nassau.

 

In conclusion, we already miss the EPIC HAVEN. We will not be going back to another cruise line in the near future due to our positive experience on the Epic. We loved NCL EPIC and especially the Haven experience. The staff were ALWAYS friendly whether in the Haven, Spa, Dining rooms, or any other part of the ship. The Haven is perfect for families and the 2-bedroom suite is a no brainer if you can afford it. We are already looking to book the Haven again. It was that amazing.

 

I hoped this review helped. I have never felt the need to post before because no other cruise experience warranted it. This time was different.

 

David.

[DrDetroit]

I will try to post some pictures. Still learning about posting on CC.

 

David.

[DrDetroit]

Here are some pictures of the Haven 2-Bedroom Suite:

 

1st picture: Entry into suite

2nd picture: Picture looking at master bed

3rd picture: Master bathroom

4th picture: Master glass shower

5th picture: smaller bedroom with pullman.

[DrDetroit]

Here are some pictures of the Haven/Posh area:

 

1st picture: View of Haven pool from the sauna

2nd picture: View of the POSH at the front of the ship

3rd picture: View of the haven pool from above

4th picture: Haven Sauna with window out to pool

5th picture: Small fitness section at the Haven

[DrDetroit]

Here are some pictures of the food. Notice the presentation of the food:

 

1st picture: Butler brought some goodies to our suite

2nd picture: Dessert at the Epic Club

3rd picture: Filet at Epic Club. We had the filet on multiple occasions. Always very delicious.

4th picture: Prime Rib double cut from the Epic Club. This was offered only once during 7-day cruise. Very good.

5th picture: More food our butler brought to our cabin

[DrDetroit]

Here are some pictures of the slides and SPA on the Epic:

 

1st picture: View of the slides from Haven area.

2nd picture: View of the slides at night

3rd picture: Mandara spa - heated tile lounge chairs

4th picture: Mandara spa - cushion lounge chairs

5th picture: Mandara spa - View of the thermal pool

[sdmike]

Great stuff! Glad you had a wonderful time. We loved the Epic!

[dlynn0366]

I also returned today from the Epic, loved the ship along with the whole Haven experience!!

[jrj972]

EXCELLENT REVIEW... we board the EPiC this summer and appreciate your review and pictures... we're staying in The Haven as well :D

 

Thanks again!!

 

JJ

[Nalagh]

Thans for the review! I can not wait for our trip in January in our 1 br villa. :D I am happy to hear that you all had a wonderful time.

[NJLVW]

Great review. Wonderful pictures. Thank you fo sharing. Makes my time go by so much faster when I read reviews and look at peoples pictures. We do not go on the Epic until January. I can hardly wait. Glad we made the decision to go on this ship. It seems most of what I read and see it will be a fantastic ship and vacation for us.

 

Norma

[Still Dreaming]

Great review!! Love the pictures!

[david_sobe]

Welcome home and thanks for the review

Curious if you thought 5 was crowded in your suite. I am traveling next year in a 2 bedroom and we may bring 1 or 2 guests. But was wondering how crowded 5 people were.

[K L B]

thanks for the review! We're in the same category room in January and love hearing the positive reviews to confirm our choice was a good one!

[DrDetroit]

Re: 5 people in 2-bedroom haven villa?

 

The master bedroom will comfortably sleep 2 people.

 

The smaller bedroom with the pullman will comfortably sleep 3 people (depending on their height and weight). The pullman will sleep 1 person but I do not know the max weight allowed. The sofa-bed was actually quite large and was able to sleep 2 easily (DD and MIL) in either direction.

I suppose it always depends on how tall the people are. My MIL is 5'2" and my DD is only 7 years old.

 

The sofa-bed was large enough to sleep my MIL, DD, and DS if needed.

 

There is also a couch in the family room which I believe will fit 1 person (however we never used it so I am not completely sure).

 

David.

[DrDetroit]

Here are some of the events for the 6-9 year olds:

My kids did the bolded events.

 

Again, there is so much to do and just not enough time to do everything. That is what is so great about NCL Epic. My kids loved the kids area and met a lot of new friends. The counselors are very professional and great with the kids.

 

Ball Game Blowout

Parachute Pandemonium

Tween Room Takeover

Family Who's The Boss Gameshow

Family Charades

007 Spy Training

Dramarama!

Around the World in 2 Hours

Slime Time Live

The Great Egg drop

Family Dodgeball

Penguin slide and Emu Races

Parachute Party Part 2!

Family Pizza Making

Silent Speedball and Four Square

Tween Room Takeover & Jellyfish Fields!

Happy Un-Birthday!

The Quest! Family Style

Kids Crew Dinner & Movie featuring Cars 2

Kids vs. counselors!

Under Sea Adventures Featuring Officer Snook

To the Outback! Survivor Challenge

Family Pictionary!

Pirate Plunder Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Kid's Crew Talent Show

Snack Time! It's Cookies & Milk

Family Lego Building

White Hot P-A-R-T-Y

Sports Court Challenges

Farewell Pajama Party - Wear your favorite PJ's

Pillow fight

 

They also have freestyle free play where the kids all play together.

[valleyvillage]

OH, DOCTOR! Thank you so much for your generous review, and welcome to Cruise Critic! I think it's so nice when members post such comprehensive reviews and pics, too!

[DrDetroit]

You're Welcome.

Here are some more pictures:

 

1st: Buffet. There are many stations including make your own Wok dish, specialties, pasta, dessert, etc.

2nd: Picture of the Spiegel Tent for Cirque Dreams & Dinner event

3rd: Concierge area

4th: Water Balloon contest on the main deck

5th: SpongeBob and Patrick dancing during the sailaway party

6th: Green slide. This slide was fast and fun.

7th: Epic lounge outside the Epic club in the Haven area

8th: Plane landing at Maho Beach in St. Maarten

9th: Miami beach as we were leaving Miami on Day #1

10th: Rock wall climbing

[DrDetroit]

Here are my final pictures. Hope you are able to see these pictures. I had to minimize them all to fit into CC allowable space.

 

Picture #1: Nick characters in the Spiegel Tent for the Nick Breakfast

Picture #2: Venus and sunset at Nassau

Picture #3: Leaving St. Maarten. Picture taken from Spa

Picture #4: Leaving St. Thomas. Picture taken from Spa

Picture #5: Sunset at Nassau. Picture taken from Spa

Picture #6: Family White Hot Party. This occurred 1 hour before the adult White Hot Party. Another sign that NCL is family friendly.

 

I enthusiastically enjoyed the Mandara Spa. The pictures above (#3, #4, #5) were take from the lounge chairs at the back of the Spa. Every time I lied down on these chairs I would fall asleep. It was that relaxing. There is just something about the sound of the water and looking out into the ocean that made me so relaxed that I would doze off.

 

David.

[sdmike]

Awesome, David! If you want to post more, and larger, pictures you can use a free service like Fotki.com and then paste the image paths. They'll show up bigger and better.

 

You have some neat shots that I didn't see before, like the spa at night. Very nice!

[yasbindmd]

Great review. We are taking the same cruise next year in the same suite. Question for you: did you pre book the shows or did you have the concierge do it when you were in board??

Thanks.

[DrDetroit]

We actually pre-booked the shows.

 

However, I have full confidence that Adrian (the concierge) would have been able to get anything accomplished. He was that good. We just did not need to use his services that much since we pre-booked our shows and did not need to go to the specialty restaurants.

 

David.

[kerrytens]

Thanks David for bringing back some great memories! I love the Epic:D

[wahine56]

We loved it too. That's why we've been on the Epic twice now and are already booked on the Breakaway!!

[jlbentley3]

Thanks for the review. We have DOS 17007 booked out of Barcelona on May 13th and cant wait. We have only booked the Cirque show and figure i can book everything else i need once on board. Hopefully this is a good assumption based on everything else i have read.