Epic - Western Med Review w/Pics from Barcelona 09-16-12 - AMAZING!

[LoraJ]

We are doing this cruise next September. What was the weather like and did people on the ship dress up or was it more casual. I understand freestyle and all but I am wondering if people got more dressed up in Europe. We are just home from a Bahamas cruise on the Sky and it was very casual. Almost too much so.

 

Just wondering what your experience was.

 

glad you had a wonerful trip and it is really making me even more excited about our trip next year.

 

The weather was hotter than I expected. Mostly high 70's low 80's F.

 

I felt under dressed in the evenings. Even people coming from the buffet were all dressed up. I stuck to resort casual.

[NJLVW]

This review so far is fantastic and with pictures makes it seem like I am there... Waiting patiently for all the ship stuff. We'll be on the Epic in 4 months and I am reading everything I can to pass the time. I can't wait to see the pictures from your room to the ship.

[LoraJ]

Got a cold on the flight home ;(

 

Still not feeling well but went back to work anyways, my boss is really nice but I took a two week vacatïon and they were missing me!

 

Keep your review coming so I won't have to do one! I have no idea how to post pictures!

 

Our last day was great, saw thousands of locals on the streets for La Merce! I am so glad we stayed one extra day!

 

I am jealous. I wish we had stayed. Hope you feel better soon. :)

[umpy10]

Hi Lora, great review and the pics are just fantastic. We're doing the 12 Day Med. next year from Barcelona and was curious about the VAT tax. How did it affect your time on the epic? Was it charged during your entire time on the Epic.

I have heard and read in some threads here that you're charged the VAT for services received while on the ship from start to finish because Spanish laws says the VAT must be charged for an entire trip that originally starts from Spain.

Any info you can pass along will be great thanks.

cheers...the Ump...:D

[mcmomny]

We are doing this cruise next September. What was the weather like and did people on the ship dress up or was it more casual. I understand freestyle and all but I am wondering if people got more dressed up in Europe. We are just home from a Bahamas cruise on the Sky and it was very casual. Almost too much so.

 

Just wondering what your experience was.

 

glad you had a wonerful trip and it is really making me even more excited about our trip next year.

 

We were on the same cruise as LOra and we have been on two other NCL cruises before and we felt under dressed also. My husband wore Docker pants and a button down and I wore sun dresses, much more dressed up then we normally do on NCL. We saw lots of dressed up people but this is also the first cruise we took where Americans weren't the majority, much more European.

 

We weren't refused serve anywhere but we felt uncomfortable. But with that being said I won't do anything different next time, we chose NCL for the casual style and we adhered to dress codes and I have no desire to being high heals and evening gowns on vacation!

[LoraJ]

Now time for THE EPIC!

 

EMBARKATION:

 

We left our hotel around 10:40am or so and arrived around 11am. I thought we wold check in and then be in the VIP lounge or whatever and then go to the duty free shop to buy some booze. Instead we were escorted immediately to the counter, checked in, got our cards and then were met with someone to escort us unto the ship. We were brought up to the Epic lounge and were soon greeted by our concierge Ryan who introduced someone who would take us on a tour of the Haven to kill time until our rooms were ready. I think we were finally able to go into our suite at around 1:30pm. Even though our bags had priority tags on them, and we had boarded so early, they did not show up until after 4pm. I know people who got on the ship after we did and got their luggage much earlier. No big deal. We decided to have lunch in the Epic lounge. Really enjoyed this restaurant several times and will talk about that more when I do dining reviews.

 

 

 

THE HAVEN

 

After our Haven experience it will be hard to go back to not having it. I would love to do it again on a more relaxing cruise with more sea days. I utilized the courtyard briefly a few times. I went to the sail away party at Posh for a little while. I went up there once to hang out but it was very crowded so just went back to the courtyard. There is a deck at the front of the ship with similar chairs that is open to all adults. A good alternative.

 

 

The lounge is a nice area but never saw much of a use for it since we had such a nice suite and balcony. Never really saw many people using it.

 

I just realized how few photos I have of the Haven. Weird, I thought I had more.

 

 

The Courtyard:

 

 

I was always able to find a chair there. They have my favorite kind of jacuzzis where it isn't just jets but all of the little bubbles everywhere. Same type all over the ship. A+

 

The Epic Club:

 

 

 

Wow, that's really all the pics I have.

 

I liked that they had a small fitness center in the area in case you want to work out and not go all the way to the one in the back, although if you want to exercise the extra steps would count. I regretted not bringing my workout clothes. I never saw the fitness center in the back to compare.

 

The Epic is so different than most ships. Where it is located is where other ships have the spa. A few times when standing by the elevators, I would see people coming up the stairs looking for the spa.

 

CONCIERGE:

 

We rarely used them, they even commented on how little we used them. I made a couple of dining reservations, asked a few questions, used them for tender access and for debarkation. We also could not get into the cabin one day and went to them for help. Turns out the battery in the door died. Didn't take too long to fix. I got a tipping complex though because doing research I didn't know what to tip the concierge. The thing is it isn't just one person, there was a staff of three and I saw the other two more than I saw our main concierge. I just handed them an envelope at the end of the cruise labeled to the whole team.

 

OUR SUITE:

 

We had suite 16023. The location was great, close to the courtyard and concierge lounge, elevator, and lounge. I had read on here prior to booking that some people heard noise from the buffet below in the form of moving carts in the surrounding cabins. I only heard this once and it was not much of a bother. The only annoying noise came from above in the form of a running child and a screaming one next door. Other than that, there was no noise in the halls.

 

Second bedroom

 

Second (my husband's) bathroom

 

Wish I had more pics of this bedroom. I don't think ahead. There was lots of closet space in here and we used it to store our luggage. I had to take the hangers out of one of the closets because they banged around when the ship moved.

 

Dining area

[LoraJ]

Hi Lora, great review and the pics are just fantastic. We're doing the 12 Day Med. next year from Barcelona and was curious about the VAT tax. How did it affect your time on the epic? Was it charged during your entire time on the Epic.

I have heard and read in some threads here that you're charged the VAT for services received while on the ship from start to finish because Spanish laws says the VAT must be charged for an entire trip that originally starts from Spain.

Any info you can pass along will be great thanks.

cheers...the Ump...:D

 

 

We were charged the VAT tax with every purchase. I really did not think much about it and forgot to look into the refund you can get, but I am not sure if we even qualified since much of the tax was on food and drinks. Did not purchase much else on the ship other than a few photos.

 

Hope that helps. :)

[November28]

Thanks for the dress code nfo. It will be helpful. I will not do heels and I am not a gown sequin type of gal.

 

What is the VAT tax? I have not heard of this before and it will be our first European cruise.

 

Another question did you do excursions through the ship or on your own. We are a group of 7 and would prefer to do on our own as it is cheaper, but not sure if safe or of any reliable sites to look at. Any infor would be wonderful. Thank you. Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

the suite looks wonderful but we only have a balcony.

[LoraJ]

More room photos:

 

Living area. My husband's favorite spot.

 

Bedroom

 

TV storage area.

 

My bathroom (the tub was my favorite spot. :) )

 

 

balcony (my second favorite spot)

 

While the balcony is small compared to other suites on other ships, I think the picture window in the bathroom made up for it. I loved soaking in the tub when we would set sail from port. Even though I was slightly paranoid people could peek in. But of course they can't.

 

We used our butler Fernando for breakfast room service a few times but not much else. He was helpful about explaining the espresso maker and the room lights when he came by to introduce himself.

 

Our cabin steward Milton was friendly and would greet us by name in the hallways when he would see us.

 

I actually have to say that the staff on the Epic that I interacted with was all very helpful and friendly. We had the best service that I have experienced on a cruise.

[LoraJ]

Thanks for the dress code nfo. It will be helpful. I will not do heels and I am not a gown sequin type of gal.

 

What is the VAT tax? I have not heard of this before and it will be our first European cruise.

 

Another question did you do excursions through the ship or on your own. We are a group of 7 and would prefer to do on our own as it is cheaper, but not sure if safe or of any reliable sites to look at. Any infor would be wonderful. Thank you. Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

the suite looks wonderful but we only have a balcony.

 

 

I can't really explain the VAT tax very well. If you do a search some informative threads should come up. It is basically an extra tax on just about everything and the percentage changes depending on the purchase. I believe it was less on drinks and food than on merchandise. Which is why I didn't really bother buying much merchandise. I purchased the souvenir DVD which was like $29.95 and when all was said and done it was like $36.

 

We did a mixture of both. We did the ships tour in Pompeii which was fine. For Rome we signed up for a private tour with others on our cruise critic roll call from Share a Shore Excursion in Italy: shareashoreexcursioninitaly.com I highly recommend them, especially for your group of 7. I would use them for everything you are doing in Italy.

 

I did not do any excursions in France so I cannot help out there.

[Nalagh]

I am really enjoying your review and I can't wait to read more!

 

Cherie

[LoraJ]

THE REST OF THE SHIP

 

While the ship is very large, I did find it it easy to navigate. If you are ever lost, there are some handy interactive maps by the elevator banks. I took a little video here:

 

 

Of course one small issue is the elevators are not plentiful. Two banks towards the front and two towards the back. The elevators where we were at the front were a lot more of a pain than the ones in the back. Having the buffet below us would cause problems. Many of the people there would ride the elevator up and it would arrive on deck 16 totally full or mostly full. You would squeeze in and then stop on that deck 15 again and then have to stop on every single floor as guests filed out to their cabins. Staying mid-deck can be an advantage if you like to take the stairs.

 

 

Deck Areas:

 

I am unable to comment on the availability of deck chairs and chair hogs since I did not wander out onto the main pool decks during peek times. But here is an option for adults, the front of deck 18:

 

 

You can access this by taking the forward odd side stairs to deck 18, walk outside and head towards the front. There also seemed to be plenty of regular deck chairs on the way there.

 

 

 

The waterslides: Cruise ship water parks keep getting better and better. I only went on the green and purple ones. The green one was great and the purple one was just okay. I chickened out on the tube slide one when I saw many people end up going down backwards. Not my fave thing in the world. I utilized the slides when the ship was in port in Cannes and did not experience any lines. There was a short line for the tube slide though.

 

 

 

Spice H20: If I did not have the Haven, this would be my hangout of choice, if I could get a spot. I have always loved sunning on the aft deck of ships. I never got a chance to sample the food here but I did attend a few deck parties here which I will touch upon when I review the entertainment.

 

 

The Epic had the best pool bar I have ever seen on a ship. Large with TV screens. This area at night became a little dance area although I never saw many people dancing.

[meltingmoments]

Loving your review and photos!! :)

Think you stood in the same place as me in The Sagrada Familia!! ;)

 

[willysgrandma]

Can you go into the church at Sagrada without buying tickets to the museum?

 

We will be doing a semi-private tour of Barcelona when we are there on the Epic departing Oct. 10 from Rome, but don't know how much time or when we will get to the Sagrada so we can't buy tickets in advance. I don't think we will have time to go to the museum,just time to see the outside and inside of the church.

[Sauer-kraut]

 

Another question did you do excursions through the ship or on your own. We are a group of 7 and would prefer to do on our own as it is cheaper, but not sure if safe or of any reliable sites to look at. Any infor would be wonderful.

 

November,

There is a GREAT area of Cruise Critic under the Ports of Call board. There you can read about people's private excursions, see pictures and get an idea of what there is to do in each of the ports. There are also recommendations for private tour operators there as well. Another resource is to JOIN YOUR ROLL CALL. There are often people on your cruise who are arranging tours and need to fill seats or a van to break down the cost.

 

You can look at online guides (i.e. Rick Steves) to see what to see in your ports as well. You can even download walking tours to do the city yourself.

[mcmomny]

Can you go into the church at Sagrada without buying tickets to the museum?

 

We will be doing a semi-private tour of Barcelona when we are there on the Epic departing Oct. 10 from Rome, but don't know how much time or when we will get to the Sagrada so we can't buy tickets in advance. I don't think we will have time to go to the museum,just time to see the outside and inside of the church.

 

 

The museum is included in the ticket to go inside the Sagrada, contact your tour company and ask them if they can pre purchase tickets for you or atleast if they can tel you what time you will be there.

 

We decided Saturday morning we were going, my husband went on line at the hotel and pre purchased tickets for 11 am. worked out perfect!

[LoraJ]

Game Room:

 

 

 

 

We went here once to play a friendly game of air hockey. We also ended up playing a few other games. Avoid the thing that is $5 for two people, we thought it was a game but it was a virtual ride that does nothing but slightly shake you back and forth.

 

They have a section where you can play games where you win tickets and then use those tickets to claim prizes from a vending type machine.

 

The Spa:

 

I do not have any photos of this area. I had heard about how fantastic the hydrotherapy pools were so one day I got a day pass for $30 to check it out. I loved it, but wasn't really sure how to properly utilize the different areas. There was no one around to show me. I had heard something about lying on pillow and rollers going up and down your back but I did not see this.

 

If I cruise on the Epic or a sister ship in the future I think I will definitely spring for the spa pass for the week.

 

 

 

The Atrium:

 

This area was used for different things such as movie, game shows and talks. Here we see a talk with head staff as they answer questions about running a ship:

 

 

 

 

Reception area:

 

 

I used them a few times and only once did I have a wait. I had an issue in Livorno where my credit card was declined for my rental car and I had to call the credit card company to straighten it out. Even though I called them prior to my trip, they still put an alert on my account because I guess the guy at the Apple store input the 3 digit code incorrectly. you can only make a collect call from the guest services desk.

 

The only complaint here is that there is no queue setup so it can become frustrating because a bunch of people will be standing in one line and then someone else will stand off to the side for a while and then they will get mad when they are told to stand in the line.

 

 

Photo Gallery:

 

The photo recognition worked perfectly for us. They have all of your photos in a binder with your cabin number. They are on the right track with offering digital services, but they are way too expensive if you only have a few photos.

 

 

Internet Cafe:

 

I mostly used the wifi in our cabin on my ipad and it worked pretty good most of the time. One day it was acting funky so i went to use the computers in the cafe and they are extremely slow computers so I think you would spend more minutes just waiting for things to load. I signed off so fast and went back to my ipad.

 

 

Art Gallery:

 

I did not use so cannot comment.

 

 

 

I appreciated the escalators that go from deck 5 to deck 6. There is also a staircase from deck 6 to deck 7 which is nice so you do not have to travel to the ends of the ship.

 

 

Fat Cats:

 

 

 

Everyone always raves about Slam Allen and unfortunately he was not performing when we were on board. I popped in a couple of times and once where one time a female vocalist was singing and she was great. The other night I popped in, I can't remember the name of the group but I did not stay long at all.

[mcmomny]

Thanks for the dress code nfo. It will be helpful. I will not do heels and I am not a gown sequin type of gal.

 

What is the VAT tax? I have not heard of this before and it will be our first European cruise.

 

Another question did you do excursions through the ship or on your own. We are a group of 7 and would prefer to do on our own as it is cheaper, but not sure if safe or of any reliable sites to look at. Any infor would be wonderful. Thank you. Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

the suite looks wonderful but we only have a balcony.

 

We were on this same sailing as Lora and using our 'roll call" we hooked up with people to share excursions for all three ports in Italy which worked out great for us, 8 passenger vans with a driver and so much cheaper then NCL tours.

 

We signed up for these tours not knowing any of these people, we meet most of them at the "meet and greet" and it all worked out great! Fun people in all three of our tours!

 

For Canne and Marseille we used Rick Steves waling guide and really enjoyed ourselves, we were so tired form the last 3 days that we wanted to take our time getting up and off the boat, we also wanted to be able to sit at a cafe and sip wine and watch the world go buy!

[Luanne]

Another question did you do excursions through the ship or on your own. We are a group of 7 and would prefer to do on our own as it is cheaper, but not sure if safe or of any reliable sites to look at. Any infor would be wonderful. Thank you. Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

 

We just got back a couple of weeks ago and used All Around Italy dot net. Fabrizio was fabulous! He lets you decide on things you want to see within the time frame and cities that you are touring. He will keep you on time also that you don't miss the ship! We had 8 people in a very comfortable mercedes minivan. If I were to go again, I would use him in all ports. We only used him for Pisa/Florence. If the prices were comparible to the ship (which I think they are cheaper), I would still do the private tour. This was our first time doing it and it is the way to go. NCL tours are huge buses that cannot even come close to the Leaning Tower, which means wasting time walking. In our vehicle, we just parked anywhere close to our sites and meant less time walking. Also, we found out that the person that you contact on the website lives in LA, so your emails are answered quicker, rather than the Italian time zone.

 

We used AP tours in Naples and it was pretty much the same as All Around Italy, but I think AAI had a slight edge. Maybe because Fabrizio was awesome!:D

[travelqueen555]

Another question did you do excursions through the ship or on your own. We are a group of 7 and would prefer to do on our own as it is cheaper, but not sure if safe or of any reliable sites to look at. Any infor would be wonderful. Thank you. Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

 

We just got back a couple of weeks ago and used All Around Italy dot net. Fabrizio was fabulous! He lets you decide on things you want to see within the time frame and cities that you are touring. He will keep you on time also that you don't miss the ship! We had 8 people in a very comfortable mercedes minivan. If I were to go again, I would use him in all ports. We only used him for Pisa/Florence. If the prices were comparible to the ship (which I think they are cheaper), I would still do the private tour. This was our first time doing it and it is the way to go. NCL tours are huge buses that cannot even come close to the Leaning Tower, which means wasting time walking. In our vehicle, we just parked anywhere close to our sites and meant less time walking. Also, we found out that the person that you contact on the website lives in LA, so your emails are answered quicker, rather than the Italian time zone.

 

We used AP tours in Naples and it was pretty much the same as All Around Italy, but I think AAI had a slight edge. Maybe because Fabrizio was awesome!:D

 

We also were on this cruise 4 weeks ago. We DID use Fabrizio at allarounditaly.net for all three Italy ports, and he I highly agree, he was amazing. He is so funny and has such passion for Italy. I am sure some of the other tours can take you to the same places, but having Fabrizio as a tour guide, was the high light of our entire trip. I will never forget him or our amazing time in Italy.

 

We also found other couples on our roll call to join us, and it worked out wonderful for all three ports. We met some really nice people we are still keeping in touch with. This ended up being much cheaper than going through the cruise ship.

[housepeepers]

It was 3 years ago that we went on the Med Cruise, but your pix of Barcelona bring it all back. We stayed near that Cathedral that you found in the Gothic area and it was phenomenal to tour...the courtyard was just gorgeous. Barcelona was my favorite of all the places we visited on the cruise!

[rocklinmom]

Lora, thank you so much for posting this great review!! I can't wait to read the rest of it. Especially waiting to see your food reviews. I am considering booking this exact same cruise, in the same type of 2 bedroom Haven suite, for summer 2014.

Thank you for all of your details! Keep it coming!! :)

[LoraJ]

Lora, thank you so much for posting this great review!! I can't wait to read the rest of it. Especially waiting to see your food reviews. I am considering booking this exact same cruise, in the same type of 2 bedroom Haven suite, for summer 2014.

Thank you for all of your details! Keep it coming!! :)

 

You're welcome! I will post more when I get home from work.

[LoraJ]

blurry photo of the photo and internet area:

 

 

 

The Casino:

 

 

I thought this video poker bar would be my husband's favorite spot like it usually is in any casino. However, being just outside The Manhattan Room, the seats would fill up with people waiting for tables, including small children. Is that even legal? All turned out well though since my husband had his biggest slots win to date.

 

While walking through the areas with machines, you could smell stale smoke, but ti really wasn't too bad. They kept the air purifiers running and they seemed to help.

 

 

 

O'Sheehan's:

 

This is what ended up being my husband's favorite spot. He enjoyed the bar and people watching and getting wings. We did not partake in the bowling though. This is a great area to hang out and you can sit on the stools at the atrium to watch the entertainment below.

 

 

 

 

 

Headliners:

 

I only popped in here once for the dueling pianos for a short while before heading up to a different show. Entertaining. This lounge is a nice size. I don't recall one comedian being here during the week. Too bad Second City doe not do the Med cruises.

 

The Epic Theater:

 

Much smaller than ship theaters these days, but as they explain it is due to having different entertainment options going on at the same time and doing multiple performances so you choose when you want to go. I really fell in love with this concept.

[LoraJ]

Barber Shop:

 

Didn't use but have a pic:

 

 

 

Shakers:

 

I meant to go here but never made it.

 

 

 

Ice Bar:

 

I think this would be a fun place with a fun group of people. I liked the concept and the drinks I had. The room was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. My husband did not enjoy this at all. He does not really drink fru fru drinks and he hated the cold.

 

 

 

 

Shopping:

 

There was a nice variety of shops, but I didn't see anything that I really wanted. I was disappointed in the selection of women's clothing. The men's clothing section had lots of shorts. I really needed a pair of shorts but there were none available for women.

 

There was always a section that had daily specials going on and they would have raffles.

 

 

 

Bliss Lounge:

 

There were a few events here I tried to attend but never made it to, like an 80's party and ShipnNDales. lol, very curious about that. There is also another bowling alley here. I liked the setup of the Bliss Lounge on the Gem better. But again, I did not see it when it was probably at its best.

 

 

Dear mom, if you are reading this, here is the layout of the suite - http://www2.ncl.com/sites/default/files/EPIC.COURTYARD_VILLA.R-wth-fp_0.jpg

 

 

Next Up: Entertainment.