Epic - 2nd Timer Compliments of casinos at Sea CAS

[valuemkt]

We were on the inaugural voyage of the Epic from London to NYC. It was a shakedown cruise in many aspects, so quite a few things (including the Epic Theater) weren't ready at launch time. Being Princess veterans, we enjoyed the experience with NCL, but had already made plans to try Oceania next year for an upscale cruise and then go back to Princess, or try Celebrity..

 

this summer, to our surprise, my wife was offered a "free" inside cabin from Casinos at Sea. During our transatlantic cruise, we both spent some time at the casino (really, i dont know what you would do on the epic without being at least a part time gambler), but had not bet or lost anything remarkable. So we said whta the heck and booked the 12/8 eastern caribbean voyage.

 

So realizing that evryone has a differing opinion on food quality, entertainment and the like, I'll give a few impressions:

 

The embarkation process in Miami was a breeze. From cab drop off to ob board lunch sit down, it was less than an hour .. The separate CAS line was a nice touch. Disembarkation was even quicker .. Pick the color of your off board luggage tag, which corresponds to your time, and youre out of there . Color coordination in the bag hall makes finding the luggage easier.. BTW, if you have luggage that cant be carried on an airplane, dont be a moron and carry it yourself off the ship .. you just slow everyone down.

 

On the ship, I think service has improved all around. We ate at Taste, Manhattan, Cagneys, Moderno, Bistro, La Cucina, Sheehans and the Feeding Trough known as Garden Buffet, but there only rarely. We had exceptional meals at Cagneys and La Cucina and Manhattan, good ones at Taste, bistro and sheehans, and poor experiences at moderno and the buffet.

 

Given our dislike of the buffet, most of our breakfasts were sit downs at Taste, and lunches mainly at sheehans and taste.. I heard some people rave about moderno, but having experienced very upscale brazilian places in atlanta, raleigh, rio, and aruba, the meat quality at moderno was sub par, almost ponderosa like. sausages were tasteless, meat very tough and dry ..

 

But I must say that the staff in all of the venues tried very hard to please.. The floor manager was visible every where .

 

Entertainment: For a ship the size of the EPIC, the entertainment continues to be lacking. Again, people have differing likes, but I find Blue Man andthe Cirque to be a waste of time and money. We tried the luncheon murder mystery, but that was int he same venue as cirque .. cramped uncomfortable seating, very poor mass produced food, and in the end, a very unentertaining experience. It was my fault for not knowing that the stars of the muder mystery were the second city troupe, which was just as unfunny on the second cruise as they were on the first .. The improv just doesnt do it..

 

Legends, on the other hand was enjoyable, with "donna summers", Jimmy buffet and whoopi goldberg giving about an hour of fun .. The comedian / magician that followed at 11pm, however, was really bad, although hampered from his normal late night routine by a front row of ten and unders .. The first cruise ahd a much superior magician.

 

It seemed like the whole ship was on a comp cruise form CAS. We knew what to expect from the inside cabin size and bathroom layout and made do. We had chocolates delviered one day and cookies another, compliments of CAS. We spent a fair amount of time at the casino, and let;s just say we walked away happy and ended up better than a fully comped cruise...withmy wife and I having fun and success at blackjack, craps, paigow and the texas hold em tournament. The dealers were friendly, but at no time did anyone from the CAS staff (if there is anyone) or management, attempt to greet or contact us.

 

The craps tables were some fo the most active ive seen on a ship, and certainly the energy that brought made playing fun .. and there was a mix of 10, 25 and 100 dollar players on the craps table intermingling well.. there was one 5 dollar blackjack table, a couple of tens and 25s ..

 

and bingo is ridiculously expensive vs the payout .. must be one of the big profit centers on the ship..

 

If you get off at St Martins, have a nice lunch at Escargots.. it was our second time there .. If you stroll into the many jewelry shops, you will drop some serious money somewhere.. take their first discounted offer and go down another 30-50% and if they dont take it walk to the enxt one

 

If you stop at Nassau, try the dolphin encounter .. its expensive, but a lot of fun ..

 

So to net it out .. Epic is much better than the first time, and Casinos at Seas made the second one possible .. and of course a bad cruise is better than a good week at work, and this was a good but not great cruise ..We would do a comped cruise again .. but will most likely gravitate to repeating Princess or trying some of the other lines ..

[jdvmd]

Thanks for your comments!