The EPIC Adventure of a Solo Fashionista

[mauilover2006]

Love those shoes!!! Super cute.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Great review, thank you for sharing!

[friskat]

Love the fashion, the pictures and the entire review. You have a great writing style and love your reviews. I sailed the Epic in January and glad to hear that it seems that you enjoyed her.

[jdvmd]

Another great review! Can't wait for the next installment!

[lara_lox]

Day 4 – Civitavecchia:

 

I had set my alarm this morning to make sure I was up in time for my NCL tour ‘Tarquinia and the Etruscans’. As much as I want to visit Rome I will one day go there for a long weekend when I have the time to explore properly. Plus I don’t want to spend several hours of my holiday getting to the city from the port, so I was looking to do something a bit closer. I had heard that there is not much do in the town of Civitavecchia itself, however several people said it was actually a really pretty and pleasant place just to stroll around.

 

After some coffee and orange juice from the Studio Lounge I went up to the Garden Café for breakfast. I had some fruit then a freshly made omelette from the eggs station which was really nice, I liked the way that although this was a buffet there were made to order options too.

 

My tour began at 9am so I had to be in the Epic theatre for 8.45am. It was very well organised by NCL and nice and clear which tour was being called and when. We shared our bus with the Tarquinia biking tour, and it was a twenty minute drive into the town. Once there, the two groups split up and we went to see the Etruscan Tombs. The guide told us a bit about them, then left us to wander round all the different tombs by ourselves. There were rather steep steps leading from ground level into the tombs itself so anyone with mobility issues would definitely struggle. There were information boards outside each tomb, with details in both Italian and English.

 

 

 

After the tombs we got back on the bus and went to the other side of the town to the Etruscan Museum. Here I thought we would be left to look by ourselves but our tour guide took us around. She was very knowledgeable and amusing and made the experience so much better, telling us things that I would have probably missed by myself. Here the information signs were in Italian only so I think I guide was probably needed. From the museum we had some free time to explore Tarquinia by ourselves. It was market day, however when I went to check this out, it wasn’t one the colourful, interesting markets seen in many of the Mediterranean cities but more like a jumble sale! There were just stalls with cheap clothes piled high and a strange amount of underwear for sale! So deciding that I really did not need to buy some second hand bras, I just sat on a bench in the sun to relax for a while. My friend Jim from the solo group found me (he was on the biking tour) and we laughed about the market together before I had to head back to the bus.

 

We were then taken to a nearby farmhouse to sample some of there local products. We sat outside in the lovely gardens and snacked on freshly made bruschetta, olives, prosciutto, pecorino cheese and a vegetable frittata, washed down with red or white wine. The produce was very tasty and the gardens pretty, so this was a pleasant way to end the tour. For this trip I wore a black and white sundress with flat silver sandals. I had no problems at all wearing this outfit, even though the ground was uneven and there were lots of steps. Loads of people seem to think that for excursions or when going ashore you HAVE to wear full hiking gear to be suitably attired for the environment! I appreciate that you need to consider your comfort and think about the activities you have planned, but realistically you are probably not trekking up a mountain! I got several compliments about my dress and see no reason why I can't look nice whilst exploring.

 

 

Once back on the ship, I still had a few hours to relax as the tour had only been half a day. So where else would I go but my regular haunt of Spice H20. I read there for the rest of afternoon.

 

I figured that tonight would probably be a rather quiet one, with a lot of people being tired after long excursions in Rome. As a result I decided to dress fairly casually in a black and white maxi dress and flat silver gladiator sandals.

 

 

When we met in the Studio Lounge, it appeared that everyone felt the same and we chose to forgo one of the more formal restaurants in favour of a beer and burger night at O’Sheehan’s. I had the spinach dip followed by a burger. Both were really good. The service was quick and the food hot and fresh. Today my new friends learnt a lesson – do not attempt to take food off me! I had seen on the menu that burgers and sandwiches came with a choice of fries, chips or coleslaw. Most people aren’t observant enough to read this so they just get fries, but I asked for coleslaw too. When the food arrived some of the guys were jealous of my coleslaw and rather asking if they could bring him some too, Andy tried to distract my attention and steal my coleslaw. With catlike reflexes, I grabbed it back with lightening speed he wasn’t expecting, causing him to knock my glass of red wine all over his food and clothes. So not only did he never have any coleslaw, he had to buy me a new drink, change his clothes and eat wine infused fries, haha! After this excitement Jase encouraged everyone that seeing as we were in a pub, we had to drink Shooters. Now I’m not a shot fan but what the heck, I am easily persuaded!

 

With a few shooters inside us, we headed off to Spice H20, where the little pool had transformed into a stage/dancefloor, to host the Epic Rocks show. With several musicians from the other acts, this was, as the name suggests, a Rock show. Elaine and I got up dancing to start the party, channelling our inner rock chicks! It was really fun and there was a great range of music from all eras.

 

 

After this we loitered round various bars unsure what we wanted to do. After a brief stint in Maltings I headed to Bliss to see what was happening. There was certainly a party going on but again led by the very drunk teenage set. This was the one place they didn’t seem to impose the 1am curfew for under 18s. It was incredibly hot and most of them were dripping wet with sweat, attractive! So we just sat at the bar, with a few more shots for company and watched in amusement. After a while I was just way to hot and feeling the effect of the shots so decided it was definitely time for bed.

 

Edited July 10, 2012 by lara_lox

[choirleader]

I am so enjoying your review and all the lovely photos of your clothes!

[Charliegirl1956]

Loving this review - you have a great writing style and I love seeing your outfits. I'm from the North West as well, and flying from Manchester when I do this same cruise. Did you fly with Jet2? If so, can you tell me what terminal I need to go to at Manchester please?

 

Really looking forward to the rest of the review.

[lara_lox]

I'm from the North West as well, and flying from Manchester when I do this same cruise. Did you fly with Jet2? If so, can you tell me what terminal I need to go to at Manchester please?

 

Yes I flew with Jet2, who are in Terminal 1 at Mcr Airport, but the check-in desks are on the lower level, not the upper main one. This is why I ended up running all over the place but now you know, hopefully you can avoid all that! Then it's T2 you need at Barcelona airport for the way home. Hope this helps :)

[Zhane's mum]

I notice you always travel to Barcelona on the day of the cruise, we have always been too scared we will miss the ship to do this, do you always book through NCL to make sure this doesn't happen?

 

Who is the cruise director on the EPIC at the moment? Thanks

[cruisinnancy]

I love this review, i'd actually love to go on a cruise on my own. I've been considering doing a weekend cruise and leaving hubby with the kids for a couple of days in the next few years. It just looks SO relaxing to be able to go and actually... relax! lol

[Sinppu]

Subscribing the thread! Need to read it properly when I have the time :)

[Cruise time]

I am loving your review! Thank you for taking the time to post it. I have especially enjoyed reading about your experiences with a studio cabin and the studio lounge. I have my first solo booked on Breakaway and will be staying in a studio. This will be my first time staying in an inside cabin, which I am a bit nervous about, but I was happy to read that you enjoyed yours :)

Karen

[thebooler]

Good review so far, and I'd agree with everything you've said till now.

 

Even the piece about Slam Allen!

 

A friend's comment to me on the cruise..............."He's good but he knows it. A typical big head". :eek:

[boopsahoy]

Loving your review and all your gorgeous outfits!

[lara_lox]

Day 5 – Livorno:

 

After my late night I had a lie in until 1030am. By the time I was up and about I had missed breakfast so when I went down to the Studio Lounge to get a coffee, I took one of the ham and cheese sandwiches from the fridge. They have small snacks available throughout the day that you help yourself to. As I was getting my sandwich, there was a staff member restocking items in the lounge. She asked me if I was taking my food and drink out with me, and as I hadn’t really thought about it, I said yes, maybe I would. She looked at me sharply and told me that I wasn’t allowed to do this, which I found very odd because of course I was! The food was even in small plastic take-out boxes for this reason. But when I thought about it I decided I would just eat it there in the lounge anyway. I then made my way to Spice to sunbathe my hangover away!

 

Today I had another excursion booked, ‘Tuscan Countryside and Wine Tasting’ through NCL. I thought I had better line my stomach properly for this so I headed up to the Graden Café for some lunch. I went to the pasta station where you choose your pasta, sauce and ingredients then the chef prepares it fresh for you. I had a creamy carbonara style, which was delicious and a million miles away from the drying, congealed pasta bake type dishes usually found at buffets. Stomach full, I went again to the Epic theatre to meet my friends Elaine and Terry. Elaine and I had already separately booked the excursion and I think Terry just wanted something to do as he isn’t even really a wine fan?! As you enter the theatre you are given a sticker with a bus number on and we realised that Elaine had a different number to us. She said that she would just see us there but then we asked a NCL excursion rep if she could swap just in case. In the end it was just as well she did because the two buses went to separate places. We drove through the Tuscan countryside with commentary from our guide before arriving at the farmhouse. The venue was not at all what I was expecting, it was more of an old manor house (which we didn’t go into) with the wine cellars and tasting room in outbuildings, and there were no vineyards there! But we were shown very briefly round one of the production rooms and one cellar before being taken indoors for the tasting.

 

 

Elaine unfortunately missed most of this as the combination of a bad hangover and the bus journey made her sick! She had one sip on wine then had to sit outside for the rest of the afternoon, oh dear! We tasted a white wine, and told a little bit about it and the food it would go with. Already laid out was a plate each with cheese, bread, salamis etc for us to eat. After this we tried two different red wines followed by a very sweet desert wine with biscotti. After two small glasses Terry had also had enough and so went to join Elaine. I just ate their food and made friends with the rest of our table! Now I can confidently say I am already an expert wine drinker and more than capable of doing this by myself! :D So I was hoping that this tour would have included more about the wine making process and more about how to taste the wines and what we were looking for in each one. Instead, after the initial glass of wine, the wines were just poured out for us and we were left to it. I did have a good time chatting to my tablemates but to be honest the excursion was a waste of money. We could have just found a nice restaurant or bar somewhere picturesque and bought a few bottles of wines and some snacks! The afternoon was definitely not what I had been expecting. We took a few photos at the nicest part of the farmhouse before getting back on the bus at around 6pm.

 

 

I quickly got ready, wearing black skinny jeans, an animal print vest with pink flowers on and pink strappy heels.

 

 

We met for drinks as usual in the Studio Lounge, where we had been joined by a couple of new faces. Although the Lounge was only for the use of the Studio guests, the Solo Travellers meeting was held there at 6.30pm every evening and this was open to all solos, whatever their cabin, and the door to the lounge was opened to let them in.

 

We went to the Manhattan Room for dinner, which I think was probably my favourite of the included restaurants. I had Italian sausage with aubergine, peppers and hummus, the broccoli soup, then salmon, spinach and potatoes. All were once again very good. The soup was a sneaky addition because all my friends had been raving about how good the soups were, so I asked our waiter if I could have one and I wasn’t disappointed.

 

 

Probably because I had drunk rather a lot of wine in the day, I was soooo tired tonight and kept yawning my head off at the dinner table! I wanted to go and have a look around the shops but decided I didn’t have the energy. Instead I had a quick night cap in Maltings where our new addition Richard amazed me with some card tricks. Then it was an early night with me tucked up in bed by 11pm.

 

Edited July 10, 2012 by lara_lox

[Charliegirl1956]

Yes I flew with Jet2, who are in Terminal 1 at Mcr Airport, but the check-in desks are on the lower level, not the upper main one. This is why I ended up running all over the place but now you know, hopefully you can avoid all that! Then it's T2 you need at Barcelona airport for the way home. Hope this helps :)

 

Absolutely, this is just what I needed to know, you have saved me a lot of time!:D

 

I'm interested to know how you managed to make sure your hair stayed looking so good each evening - did you spend hours styling it before you went out, or do you have a secret you could pass on? It looks really pretty on all your photos.

[lara_lox]

I notice you always travel to Barcelona on the day of the cruise' date=' we have always been too scared we will miss the ship to do this, do you always book through NCL to make sure this doesn't happen?

 

Who is the cruise director on the EPIC at the moment? Thanks[/quote']

 

I only fly out the same day knowing that it's just a short flight away to Barcelona, I would do this anywhere further. I always get flights that land by lunchtime at the latest, so still allow a good few hours leeway should anything go wrong. I have booked through NCL twice because if you do the ship will wait for you, but in January this wasn't an option so I booked a package with one of the main UK TAs who understand the urgency with a cruise and so do everything necessary to get you there in time. I was rather nervous though, especially with the unpredictable British winter weather!

 

The cruise director was Richard someone, didn't pay much attention to him really! In my next installment you will see a picture of me with him at the White Hot Party, he is wearing angel wings!

[JJSMaine]

Day 5 – Livorno:

 

After my late night I had a lie in until 1030am. By the time I was up and about I had missed breakfast so when I went down to the Studio Lounge to get a coffee, I took one of the ham and cheese sandwiches from the fridge. They have small snacks available throughout the day that you help yourself to. As I was getting my sandwich, there was a staff member restocking items in the lounge. She asked me if I was taking my food and drink out with me, and as I hadn’t really thought about it, I said yes, maybe I would. She looked at me sharply and told me that I wasn’t allowed to do this, which I found very odd because of course I was!

 

 

I bet she thought you were headed off ship with the food, which is a no-no.. like out for the day Vs out of the restaurant... but who know..

 

great report.. keep writing...

[lara_lox]

Absolutely, this is just what I needed to know, you have saved me a lot of time!:D

 

I'm interested to know how you managed to make sure your hair stayed looking so good each evening - did you spend hours styling it before you went out, or do you have a secret you could pass on? It looks really pretty on all your photos.

 

Aww thank you :) I just blow dried then straightened my hair most nights, which doesn't take too long but does last if I dry it properly. On some of the evenings where it was really hot it didn't hold up so well, such as in Bliss but maybe I didn't take photos then, haha! Or I just slicked it back in a bun, like in the pic where I have red lipstick on, the heat made my curls go insane lol! :rolleyes:

[soloadventurer]

‘Tarquinia and the Etruscans’

Lovely place to walk around - thanks Lara :)

[lara_lox]

Day 6 – Cannes:

 

 

Even though I had gone to bed early and sober, ready for a good night’s sleep, this just didn’t happen and I woke up tired at about 8am to ridiculously long tannoy announcements about the tender process in loads of different languages.

 

The night before Richard had asked if he could join me in my wander around Cannes. He suggested meeting for breakfast first which I declined, arranging to meet just prior to going ashore at 11am instead. Because as I said at the very start of this terribly long tale of mine, the nice thing about travelling solo is you can for once do what YOU want, not what anyone else wants. I didn’t know what time I would wake up or what time I would be hungry, and didn’t want to have to compromise for someone I didn’t know. That may sound a little harsh but it’s true.

 

I got myself an orange juice and coffee from the Studio Lounge (you can see I was making good use of these facilities!) to drink whilst I woke up. I couldn’t believe I had managed to miss so many shows so far so I used my TV to book the early Beatles show. It was a really easy system to use. The breakfast at O’Sheehan’s had been recommended to me, and seeing as I hadn’t tried it yet I headed up there with great expectations. I order the Country Platter full breakfast and told the waitress which kind of eggs I would like when she asked. She repeated my order to me so had clearly noted what I wanted. However, when my breakfast arrived, it was just the two eggs! I wondered of maybe the rest came separately or something? But it soon became clear that no it didn’t! :confused: I know I could have asked where it was, but the eggs were really good and plenty to eat so I just left it. Strange though!

 

After chilling out for while, I don’t remember where but no doubt it was by the Pool in Spice given my inner compass drew me back there daily, I went to meet Richard. I had decided to go ashore at 11am as this was when the tenders no longer required a ticket. I hadn’t wanted to pre book one as I wasn’t sure what my plans would be – this was more for the people with early tours. Richard was finishing off his breakfast, along with Mary, another of our friends who was staying onboard. Richard wasn’t ready yet so asked if I would wait there whilst he went to collect his stuff from the cabin. I agreed and sat chatting to Mary. I waited but there was no sign of Richard. I started to get annoyed and was about to just go ashore on my own when he finally returned at 11.30am. Had I not been talking with Mary, I would have just left him, as I didn’t want to waste my day in Cannes sat in O’Sheehan’s! I know, I know, what a cow huh?!

 

The tender into Cannes was on one of the lifeboats. We sat there for a few minutes, waiting for it to fill up. The boat was rocking very badly indeed and I’m sure that people who suffer any sea sickness would have felt really unwell, but luckily I was fine. The tender dropped us off and we had a walk round the town and looked at all the gorgeous yachts at the harbour.

 

 

 

 

Then it was down to the shops on the famous La Croisette, oh yes fashionistas, you would swoon! Unfortunately I couldn’t really go shopping as I still had Richard with me despite my hints, and every girl knows that you can’t shop properly in peace with a man hovering over you, especially a strange man you don’t know! As much as I am blunt and honest at times, I’m not rude and couldn’t be outrightly mean to someone so I had to settle for some pictures instead.

 

 

By this time I had worked up an appetite so we went to a street side restaurant. Although we were finally in a country where I understand and speak the language to some degree, all the shop and restaurant staff spoke perfectly good English. I ordered a pizza, which was delicious, and a white wine spritzer, which came to about E20 including a tip. Then it was time to hit the beach. I had already decided I wasn’t bothered about paying to use one of the private beaches, so I had come prepared with my bikini under my dress and a beach towel in my bag. I had intended to go to Plage du Midi which is to your left when you get off the tender, but I found a much less busy area next to fenced off areas of the private beaches to the right so we parked ourselves there. I chilled out for a while with my book before getting the tender back. There was water or lemonade and fresh towels provided by NCL waiting at the tender dock which I thought was a nice and welcome touch.

 

Once back aboard, I was heading back to my cabin when I saw the main core of my solo group friends at the main pool bar. As they waved me over I decided it would be rude not to join them for a drink so had a ‘Passionate Kiss’ cocktail which was yummmmmmmy! I figured I’d better only have the one though as tonight was the White Hot Party and after yesterday’s early night I was on form and ready to stay up dancing!

Edited July 10, 2012 by lara_lox

[lara_lox]

This evening I wore a pale lemon coloured lace dress with my killer pale gold heels. Ok, now I know that it wasn’t actually white, but when I was shopping for a white dress I found this one. It was so pretty and a really good price in the sale so couldn’t resist it. And let’s be honest, I was never going to wear some boring white tshirt when I could wear a dress!

 

 

It turned out the Elaine had also booked the Beatles show and Mary wanted to come too, so us ladies headed to the Theatre. Despite our TV bookings, neither mine nor Elaine’s reservations showed up. However, it was still no problem for the three of us to go in. We sat right on the front row to get in on the action! At the end of the show they asked everyone to get up and dance which Elaine and I happily did! The ‘Beatles’ were great! Really talented and made a good effort to look and speak like them too. We all thoroughly enjoyed the show and were glad we went.

 

The night before we realised we still hadn’t been to any of the speciality restaurants despite wanting to try some out, so we reserved a table for ten at Moderno’s for this evening. We met up with the rest of our group (having practically sprinted from the theatre at the other side of the ship, and you saw how high my heels were haha!) I have eaten at Moderno’s on the Jade and had been raving to everyone all week about how good it was so I was hoping this lived up to the expectation. And oh boy it did! The salad bar alone could have kept me going for hours, there was such a varied, fresh selection of meats, cheeses, fish, salads and vegetables. I purposefully didn’t eat anything filling like bread or pasta as I was saving myself for the good stuff! For those of you who don’t know, Moderno’s is a Brazilian Churrischaria, where you have a card on your table with one green side and one red side. The chefs bring out different meats on long skewers and you have whatever you want to try. If you are ready for more you leave your card on the green side, and if you are finished or just happy with what you have for the time being, you leave it red. There are sides of hot banana, garlic mash, refried chilli beans and buttered rice already on the table and you just keep accepting the the meat until you have had your fill. Now I know I have said that I like my food and can eat, but no-one really believes me until they see it… There were a few decent sized guys in our group and even they bailed out before me and looked on in amazement! But the food is just so nice; tender and moist despite being carted round on a stick. It’s really worth the $20 surcharge.

 

Whilst everyone recovered from their meat induced delirium, (I personally looked like I was about to give birth to a baby cow after the amount of steak I ate) we had a few drinks at Cascades Bar then Maltings. But then it was time for NCL’s famous signature party up at Spice H2O. Up on deck I was in my element!

 

 

The party was heaving and the tunes banging. The sweating teenage crowd had taken over the main dance floor but the ‘grown up’ party goers happily danced away round the rest of the deck.

 

 

I kept on with the party well after many of my friends left, with all different random strangers and staff members keeping me company. Then I bumped into the guys from the late night snack at O’Sheehan’s, who gave me that chicken wing! So I joined them for a bit of posing before we hit Bliss.

 

 

 

Bliss was great fun, I think the most the teenagers had tired themselves out as there definitely less of them tonight! I met up with several familiar faces from previous evenings and a lovely girl from the wine tasting and just danced the night away until finally stumbling to bed with very sore feet at 4.30am!

 

[thebooler]

Poor Richard. I wonder if he's reading this. :eek:

[lara_lox]

Poor Richard. I wonder if he's reading this. :eek:

 

To be fair I told him at the time everything I have said on here! I don't think you should ever say things about people that you haven't told them themselves.

Edited July 10, 2012 by lara_lox

[NYGirl1002]

Lara I love that you post pictures of all of your outfits! That's the best part of your reviews.

 

I love your clothes!!!