West Med on the Epic - FYI

[Noodlesoup]

We have just returned from a 7 day West Med cruise on the Epic- Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Livorno, Cannes, Marseille. There are so many things to say about it and most have already been said so I thought I would jot down some handy hints. I notice a lot of reviews and forum discussions are around excursions, the Haven, Posh, butler services.... didn't do any of those, so if you want info on those you need to look away now!!. We went in an inside cabin, walked to all the venues ourselves, without help, and did all our own trips- it really is quite easy!

Here goes:

1. Book your evening entertainment on the NCL website before you go if possible or failing that as soon as you get on board. The easiest way is through the TV in your room. They book up very quickly and you may end up not being able to go to anything. We went to Blue man group and Legends of Rock which were both entertaining - and free!

2. Book your Cannes tender through your TV if you want to have a longer day or spend the morning in Cannes. You have to book to get of the ship before 11am but after that you just turn up. The tender is free.

3.Book your speciality restaurants if you like to eat after 8.30pm as they tend to get very busy then, before that you can usually just turn up on the night.

4. The complimentary places to eat are Taste , Manhattan, O'Sheehans, the Garden Cafe and the poolside grill.

Taste and Manahattan get very busy after 8pm and you often have to queue to reserve a table and then return when your pager goes off which can be up to 45 mins wait. They give you a voucher for a free glass of sparkling but it's annoying if you are in the mood for eating or if you have to get to a show for 10. Just try and get there before 8pm if you want to avoid this. The food and water is free but alcohol and coffee are chargeable. The menus are fantastic and as delicious as they sound.

The Garden Cafe is always busy and it can often be hard to find a table. There are 2 sides to it and often there is different food on the other side so it can involve a lot of walking around before you find what you want. Its also easy to forget where you came in and end up going out the wrong way. The coffee is quite dreadful btw.

All the food on the ship is delicious and cooked very well.

O'Sheehan's is basically fries, burgers and chicken wings etc. I have no problem with this kind of food but I found the food pretty awful in there.

5. Speciality restaurants. We tried La Cucina- Italian and Moderno Churrascaria which is basically a posh BBQ. They were both wonderful and nice peaceful havens compared to the complimentary places. The meat in Moderno was fantastic, they come round with huge skewers and slice meat off etc- the pieces are small and not too much and you can eat as much as you want. We booked La Cucina on the website before we went and then we just turned up at Moderno on the night.

6. Learn the names of the ships areas- Aft, Mid, Foward. It will help hugely when trying to find your way around. Odd Staterooms are blue- everything is blue- carpets signs etc. Even is red.

Cabin numbers go up from the front of the ship to the back- Forward to Aft to help you know which direction you are going in.

Deck 5, 6, and 7 are the main public areas with staterooms from 8 to 13. Public areas and decks from 14 to 19 (parts of these are suites and private/paying areas)

It is an embarrassingly huge ship and is easily spotted in the ports!

7. Sunbathing - the main poolside deck on 15 can get very busy, noisy and crowded due to the pools and waterslides and loud music. Great fun if that's what you like - children are well entertained here. If you want something quieter there are sun decks on 16, 18 and 19. Admittance to Posh is with registration and payment of 59 dollars each. The other public sun deck is H2O at the back of the ship. This is adult only during the day. There is a small pool and 2 hot tubs which are also open in the evening. There is also bar/waiter service here.

Sun beds tend to be taken by 10am but it depends on which port you are in. On the sea day and Marseille they are full by 10 but there are usually beds free on the other days. There are also beds in shady areas if that is preferred - this obviously depends which way the ship is heading!.

More later.

[CrazyCanucks]

Excellent review thank you. My wife and I will be boarding in Marseille on Saturday. We cannot wait.

[Noodlesoup]

You will have a wonderful time. We didn't get off at Marseille as we had already holidayed in that area years ago and quite frankly we were ready for a bit of a rest!! At your next port Barcelona you will find that everywhere closes down on a Sunday but the sight seeing buses are still in operation as is the Metro so unless you only want to shop in Barcelona you should be fine. More on Barcelona shortly.

[boopsahoy]

Enjoying your review and looking forward to more!

[Jodie1990]

Thank you so much for this review! I'm taking this cruise on Sept. 2. So excited!

[hyrokin]

Thank you for your rewiew, espesially the points on when the mdr are busy.

 

Did you go on your own to Pompeii?

I am doing the Epic on 30th of september and planning on doing Pompeii on our own. I am trying to figure out how to get from the ship to the trainstation. From ther I know my way...

 

Karin

Denmark

[smk730]

Thanks for this review. We are on the Sep 2nd from barcelona. Very excited!!

 

@Jodie1990 - come join the roll call

[Jodie1990]

@Jodie1990 - come join the roll call

 

Hi smk730. I actually have made a few posts in the roll call, but my mom and I ultimately decided to do all the ports on our own instead of joining excursions, so I haven't posted in a while.

[nyyhoneybee]

I am in Barcelona now and boarding on Sunday! I can't wait!

[Noodlesoup]

Thanks for your comments. I think you will all have a slightly cooler time than we did but it didn't spoil anything.

8. Clothing/what to wear- the ship is very informal. I was concerned that it would be too informal as I do like to at least wear a dress and be waited on but you just wear whatever you want to wear. There are no captain's dinners or formal attire evenings but I have to say most people made an effort in the evening especially in the main restaurants. Certainly through the day anything is fine to wear on board. I understand that if you go in some of the cathedrals etc you may need to cover up more but that never applied to us. The most important thing, to be honest, is footwear during the day as you can be on your feet for a long time. We both tended to wear those sports sandals which are supportive and comfortable. I also went into the sea at Capri in mine as the beach was very pebbly.

9. Evening entertainment- apart from the bookable shows there is usually something going on each night. The Beatles are on Saturday and Sunday nights- they are in H2O and are excellent. They are also the band who do the Epic Rocks evening which is again at H2O - another good evening.

The DJ at H2O plays a lot of club music which is not to everyone's taste which is a shame. Bliss Lounge have some interesting evenings- 70s/80's nights etc. There is piano player and guitarists and a great duo called Twice as Nice which are worth seeing. They tend to play in the Atrium, apparently he used to be in the Commodores. Films are also played in the Atrium on the huge screen and are worth looking out for. It just depends what you enjoy doing. I would say that there is something for everyone. There is also an Ice Bar which was pretty popular.

10. Smoking- we don't smoke and I was concerned about smoke from the casino but it is really not that bad at all and doesn't stick to your clothes at all. It doesn't drift to any other parts of the ship either. Children are not allowed round the tables. Don't ask me anything else about the casino as I only ever walked through.

At H2O in the day time you can smoke on the left hand side where there are ashtrays- don't be afraid to remind people about this if they try to light up in the wrong area- sometimes they don't realise. Most people were pretty good about it.

11. Excursions- these start at about £69 each with most of them being much more. On our last cruise, excursions were about £34 so we thought this was just too much. We did not go on any excursions and decided that the holiday was to enjoy ourselves and not try to see everything. We wanted a taster so that we could then come back and do things in more detail. Everyone is different and you must do whatever you want to - this was just our point of view.

12.Barcelona- this is where most people embark/disembark so if you get on anywhere else just remember that. Apparently everything on board shuts down so it's probably best to spend the day in Barcelona. It is also a Sunday when most of the shops are shut- they haven't embraced Sunday opening there. On La Rambla there are kiosks mainly selling souvenirs and there is a small shopping centre at the marina over the bridge at the end of La Rambla, past the Columbus monument. Barcelona is absolutely tops when it comes to public transport. There is a train or the Aerobus from the airport. The metro is easily accessible and tickets easy to purchase- we got the T10 which last 10 trips - depends how long you are there. I think most people tend to stay in Barcelona before or afterwards. Maps of the city are free at all the hotels which helps hugely. Renting bicycles is very popular and there are loads of cycle lanes and paths. Most cyclists just go on the pavements with the pedestrians, especially down by the marina. They are hired out all round the city. One useful place to know about is Locker Barcelona where you can store bags till up to 10pm . Its on Estruc 36, Plaza de Catalunya and right by the Aerobus. They also hire out bicycles which looked in really good order and foot scooters and roller skates. Access to the port is via a taxi or by the port bus. I'm not quite sure where you get the bus to or from as we made the mistake of walking from the nearest metro station to the ship. It was very hot and it was a long sticky walk especially with suitcases- definitely not recommended. We got a taxi when we disembarked, we weren't making that mistake again- very easy- there is a policeman sorting out the taxis to prevent mayhem. There are loads of them waiting outside. The cost of the taxi to the Lockers on Estruc was 15 euros - this included a cost for the suitcases. If you are staying in Barcelona overnight there are some good restaurants at the top of the old Bullring at Plaza Espanya. The views are fantastic. At 9.30pm on certain nights the fountains outside the National Gallery light up and change colour. It gets very, very busy and can get a bit scary with everyone pushing and shoving the nearer the fountains you get. In hindsight I wish we'd just watched from the top of the Bull Ring. If you do go to the fountains, buy a fan for 1 euro from the street vendors. They are the cheapest around at 1 euro and I used it for the rest of the holiday- best euro I ever spent. The sight seeing buses all run on the Sunday - we just tended to use the metro or walk. there is so much we didn't see but had a wonderful time.

13. Naples- I had read that we were going to be stopping at Salerno not Naples but we did actual stop at Naples. The port is very close to the town, ferry and train station so no excessive walking or extra transport required here. Our original plan was to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum and I had sorted out all the train times from Salerno. However after the heat of Barcelona I was dreading it as I had read that there is very little shade at Pompeii. We had a quick think about it and decided to go to Capri as someone had recommended it to my husband. The ferry is to the left of the port- about 5 min walk. We had to queue up for about 1/2 hour in the hot sun for tickets and then wait for the 11.10 ferry but otherwise it was quite painless. The crossing to the island lasts 45 mins and it is inside seating only. Capri is a bustling little island with a very busy harbour. There is a small pebbly beach which gets very crowded and restaurants and shops along the harbour. There is a funiculore up to Capri Town or you can walk up the steps. Again we chose to walk - can you spot a theme here???- it was a nightmare. I have never sweated so much in my whole life. We weren't the only ones - there were loads of us making the pilgramage! Once at the top which seemed to take forever there is a lovely town with designer shops, restaurants and very picturesque squares. We decided to go down the funiculore as I refused to walk another step in the heat. Lunch on the front at Ristorante Augusto - lovely salad, pizza and beer - just the job and very friendly service. We then had a dip in the sea to cool down and caught the 4.30 ferry back to Naples. Sorry, Hyrokin I don't know where the train station is - I did initially find info on the journey to Pompeii before I thought we were going to Salerno from the Port reviews but I think I threw it away. I don't think it is far from the port.

More soon.

[ttnc4me]

Thanks for taking the time to write. It is much appreciated! I look forward to hearing more.

[hyrokin]

Thanks anyway.

 

Karin

[Noodlesoup]

Civitavechia/Rome- The day we went was a public holiday so we were told that quite lot of the sights were closed for admission. There was also some controversy on board as to whether you would get back on time due to the holiday. A lot of people opted for the Rome on your Own and I think a stopping off place was the Colloseum. Our intention that day was to see as much as possible to get a feel for Rome rather than visit any of them in depth so it was not a problem if places were closed. In the end it was actually very easy. The ship provides a shuttle bus to the port gates. Civitavechia is a lovely little place with a lovely beach, harbour and market. Just outside the port gates is a ticket kiosk for public transport and information. We bought our train tickets there. There is a special train laid on for cruisers which leaves Civi at 9.30 and takes 30 mins to get into Rome- the regional train takes over an hour. The train returns at 6.40 from St Peter's station just by the Vatican. The tickets did not need punching and when you get to the station there are staff specially for guiding you on to the right train , travelling with you and then meeting you to get back to the right train- amazing service. I have no idea who these people were or who employs them but they were fab. The cost was 15 euros each return. It is only then a short walk to the St Peters Square. Our plan was to then jump on the sight seeing bus .You can buy this with your train ticket at the ticket kiosk and that would be one of the green buses but I had pre booked tickets for City sight seeing tours (red buses). After I booked I checked on Trip Advisor and they had an appalling review but it was absolutely fine. While we were in St Peters square we saw about 4 go past whilst we were taking photos and I was concerned there wouldn't be one for ages but we hardly had any wait. The stop is directly in front of St Peters Square- you will see all the buses stopping there.The audio was fine and we saw loads of fantastic sights- this cost £16.50 each. We got off at Piazza Venetzia which was amazing and walked up to Trevi Fountain. We had previously bought a map of Rome which was invaluable and were actually asked directions several times!!! The bus does get very hot when it stops and there is a half hour stop at Termini station - unless you want to get on the bus in from - this is sometimes full so you may have to stay on the bus. Rome is not a difficult city to walk round - the distances between sites is short but I would not recommend trying to walk too much of it in one day. We had a lunch at a restaurant between Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Lots of shops along here. From the Pantheon we walked to Piazza Navona and then to the bridge across to Castle Sant Angelo. It was then a short distance to St Peters and the train station. I felt we managed to see quite a lot and it got my taste buds wetted for a long weekend in the future. There were long queues for most of the day round the square but we noticed on our return to the square at 3.30/4 ish the queues were much much shorter.I'm not sure what was open as we had been warned a lot of places were shut for the day. The worst part was waiting for a shuttle at the end of the day when we got back to Civi as so many people were heading back at the same time.

Livorno- The main places to visit from here are Pisa and Florence. we decided that we would stay local and visit Livorno as thereseemed to be a long train ride otherwise and I would prefer to see both places for longer than a day. There is a Port shuttle bus from the ship to the centre of Livorno. From there you could walk to the station or catch a bus to Lucca or other local towns. Livorno itself is not really a tourist town although they have done a good job of promoting it in their town guide that you get given. There are several canals, a market and reasonably priced shops.We stayed about 3 hours and then returned on the shuttle bus.

In hindsight it might have been better to have done an excursion or sorted out a day trip ourselves but it did give us a very pleasant relaxing afternoon on the ship.

Cannes- as stated before you need to book the tender as son as you get on board otherwise you will have to wait until after 11 and queue with everyone. You are separated into your booking times and taken to specific points on the trip- we met in the Manhattan restaurant. When we were all there we were all marched to the front of the ships and down to deck4 where we then got onto the lifeboats. They carry over 200 people! There are plenty of seats and although the journey to the sure was calm the one coming back was very choppy and bouncy!!! Cannes is a lovely place and I was surprised to hear people saying it was boring and that there was nothing to see? Its not like Rome or Barcelona certainly but it is very picturesque. There is a lovely walk through the old town to the left of the dock and up to the old watchtower with wonderful views- the Epic looks huge and definitely dominates the view!!! There is then a long road of shops called Rue Meynadier plus loads of designer shops. You can then walk along the front towards the Pompidou centre or hire a space on the private beaches and sunbathe. The marina is a must see with all the large yachts. The Pompidou centre has hand prints of the stars, round the corner from the red carpet area. We then collapsed on the free beach just by the port and went into the beautiful cool sea! Again we were only on shore for about 3 hours and then had a late lunch on board.

Marseille - we didn't get off here as we were happy to just relax for the day. We had previously visited the area a few years ago and did not feel we needed to see Marseille. The Shuttle bus was 12 dollars each.

We actually sunbathed until 12.30ish and then went to the Atrium to watch Puss in Boots on the big screen in lovely comfortable chairs whilst drinking a lovely Cappucino. Another late lunch followed by siesta and out on deck again later for Beer o'Clock.

Fab holiday all round. Go on, dive in, you'll love it.

[housepeepers]

We tried the walk to Capri back in 2009 and although we are both pretty avid walkers we gave up after about 20 minutes or more of walking up the side of the cliff (or so it seemed). We still talk about that walk...maybe we were almost to the top? It was lovely once we walked back down and then took the funicular up and had lunch overlooking the bay :)