The Ma'am's '8 Days a Week' Epic Review with pictures

[medicalma'am]

Two Ma'ams were on this Epic 8 night adventure: Medicalma'am and Screenma'am and our DHs. I say 'adventure' because all along the way we chose to think of it as that. We had a rocky start to our vacation that we had booked about ten months before, planned for and dreamed about. We were set to leave to Houston at 8 pm on Thursday February 23rd to stay the night at Screenma'am and Bullitt's house. We had a Southwest flight the morning of the 24th. But the weather was turning cold with snow starting to gently fall.

 

 

I received a text as I was leaving work at 7 pm, that our flight had been cancelled. This had never happened to me before and I thought we could just rebook and be on our way. I got home and called the number I had been given to rebook and was basically told that they could get me on a flight that landed in Ft. Lauderdale 30 minutes AFTER final boarding time on Saturday! I turned it down and asked if there were any flights out of Dallas if we drove there. She said no because we had booked with Southwest points we had to fly out of the original airport. "Is there anything else I can do for you" she asked at the end of the call. Really???? They could offer NO explanation as to why our flight had been cancelled.

 

We talked to Screenma'am and decided we would have to drive to Miami. We arrived at their house in Houston at 11 p.m. and at Midnight we were ready to leave on our "adventure".

 

 

We made it to Lake Charles LA by 3 a.m. and sat at the bottom of a bridge for three hours. We could see traffic coming over the bridge from the east side, so we assumed that they were salting or sanding the bridge. Finally we saw online that the 'loop' was open, so we followed other cars to go over that bridge. It was slow going and we still slid at the top of the bridge for about 10 scary seconds. When we got to the bottom of it I said that it was time to stop, find a hotel and rest. We had all been up for 24 hours.

 

We ate breakfast and slept for 5 hours. When I got up I turned on the weather and it was not good news I was seeing. Much of I-10 all the way to Mobile Alabama is elevated because of the wetlands. Miles and miles of Interstate 10 was CLOSED. We met in the lobby and decided that we had to go north. We drove north to Alexandria.

 

 

 

The roads were mostly clear north of Alexandria.

 

 

We made it to Monroe, Louisanna by 5 p.m. We got on Interstate 20. We were finally going east!!!

 

 

All of our stops were orchestrated carefully. We got gas, food and used the facilities when we stopped. We drove straight through from that point on. We honestly did not know that we would make Miami until 4 a.m. on Saturday morning when we got on I-10 again just east of Mobile Alabama. We celebrated then and when we got into Florida. We purchased a Sunpass so we could use the tollroad to make better time.

 

We had a hotel booked downtown Miami for Friday night that we were too late to cancel, so we lost $250 for each of two rooms. When we started out, we knew we had a 17 hour drive and thought we would make the hotel by 6 p.m. on Friday evening. We missed having dinner on Friday evening at Bubba Gumps with our Cruise Critic friends. We had the expense of gas, the Sunpass and some food on the road, not to mention the anxiety and lack of sleep, driving in bad weather and the fear that we would not make our cruise that we had paid for.

 

But we kept up our good spirits and continued on or 'adventure'. I had a private fear that we could arrive at the port to see that the Epic had left that I kept to myself. Never mind all the nightmares that I had in the previous months that I got to the pier without necessary documents. This was a different kind of nightmare and I couldn't believe that it was happening!

 

We arrived at the port at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday. We decided to just park at the port to save time driving around town looking for a lot. We were not able to get our wine to take on board as we had planned. We had packed for the airlines, so I had to move things from my suitcase to my carry on. When we actually got into the terminal I was ecstatic. I took this picture of a banner and sent it to Planma'am, who could not be on this cruise with us.

 

 

So, continue on with me on our journey, and hear of the rest of the twists and turns of our 'adventure'!

 

 

[medicalma'am]

We checked in and got boarding group 11. We sat in the lounge area for about 45 minutes when they started calling groups. In 15 more minutes we were getting on the ship.

 

 

I thought "now I can finally relax" and took this picture.

 

 

We went to Taste main dining room for a relaxing lunch. On our way, we stopped at the reservation desk and made reservations for the Chef's Table. The Daily said that it would be held on St. Kitts day. We told the gentleman that and he said "We don't go to St. Kitts on this cruise". Uhhhhhhhh, yes, I think we do. He made a call and told us The Chef's Table was to be held on our St. Thomas day. So the Daily was wrong on this point.

 

I had my favorite Portobella Mushroom and Goat Cheese appetizer in Taste!

 

 

I will cover the room differences next.

[anandaindonesia]

Wow!

What a start!

Please continue...

[medicalma'am]

The biggest difference in our rooms was the closets. We had two hanging clothes closets, one of which was very small.

 

 

 

The sink was across from the couch.

 

 

Storage above the sink

 

 

There was ample room to pass between the couch and sink even when someone was standing at the sink.

 

The balcony was really large!

 

 

Next to our balcony door was the smaller of the two closets.

 

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

This small closet had room for only about ten hangers.

 

 

 

Next to it was the counter with a cabinet with baskets under it.

 

 

Just above this was where I kept each current Daily with a magnet.

 

 

Then there was the counter with a stool under it. The mirror was here and the hair dryer was hanging underneath. We had this plug and our hair dryer was hard wired and hanging under the counter. That plug you see is the coffee maker. I used the other for my straightner. I could unplug the coffee maker and charge my phone or camera battery.

 

 

Then the end of the counter just before the bigger closet.

 

 

The cabinet above this end counter had the safe in it.

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2014 by medicalma'am

[js4rq]

Loving your review so far! :D

[medicalma'am]

Here is our big closet. It was floor to ceiling.

 

 

There was a cabinet above the bed on the balcony end. This was hard to reach or see into for me as it was so high.

 

 

I liked that the curtains had velcro to keep it attached to the end of the window. This assured that it was truly dark in the mornings.

 

 

And next door.....

 

 

The opposite set up with the couch by the balcony

 

 

The sink was opposite the bed and there was no room to pass if someone was standing at the sink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

Next to their balcony was a big half closet with drawers beneath.

 

 

 

 

 

Next to that was a closet that was floor to ceiling!

 

 

Those were the basic differences in the rooms. The bathrooms were really not a problem for us. The lighting was easy to figure out, and we settled in for the week.

 

It was almost time for sail away. I detected no movement after our mandatory lifeboat drill.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2014 by medicalma'am

[Willowmina]

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[russianmom]

Phew, you had me sweating there for a moment! Glad you made it, can't wait to read the rest!

[graphicguy]

Thanks much for this. So very glad you made it. I've always had a plan "A", "B" and "C" when getting to the particular port I'm sailing out of. The last one, plan "C", is to drive. That's the least desirable option. It sounds like you took it in stride and soldiered on.

 

Can't wait to read/see more. The Epic as my favorite cruise, so far.

[medicalma'am]

Nancypaz - Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

Thanks, glad you are joining me!

 

russianmom - Phew, you had me sweating there for a moment! Glad you made it, can't wait to read the rest!

 

Not as much as we sweated I bet!

 

graphicguy - Can't wait to read/see more. The Epic as my favorite cruise, so far.

 

I always thought that we would NEVER be cancelled due to weather (if that is what it was) and a "B" plan was never much of a worry. From now on when we have to fly to a port, we will arrive TWO days in advance! We may never cruise again in January. Time may soften those memories though!

 

I have to say that the Epic grew on me and I hated to leave at the end of the week.

 

[medicalma'am]

We were off to sail away at Spice H2O. We had discussed with our CC friends to meet there at the bar. We easily found a table and ordered a bucket of beer on the top level. I was amazed that the water in Miami is a beautiful blue, unlike Texas coast water. It was a beautiful day and we were still pinching ourselves that we had made it. I must say that I was so thankful all week to be on board that ship - we had worked so hard to get there!

 

 

We texted the kids and told them we were leaving. Screenma'am's daughters had been surprised to see my Facebook post on Friday morning that we had decided to drive. One of them was about to call and see if we had made it to the airport, turned on her computer and saw that we had changed our plans! They thought we were crazy. I had kept my kids updated on what we were doing. Then I messaged Planma'am to let her know we were moving. She had been cheering us on all along our adventure thus far.

 

We looked around and I saw no one who was wearing Mardi Gras beads (we had forgotten ours at Screenma'am's house in all the excitement of driving and packing the car. We had thought that this would be a great way to recognize each other.

 

So we enjoyed our beers and watched the Miami skyline get smaller on the horizon.

 

 

What a beautiful sight. I just cannot say just how tired we were at this point. We would not have been good company probably. The fatigue was just overwhelming. We had all had only 5 hours of sleep in the last 40 hours.

 

We wandered through the Garden Cafe and got a small snack. That just warmed up the guys appetite and they decided to go to O'Sheehan's for a real meal. The ladies wanted to check out the Spa.

 

Edited February 10, 2014 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

The Spa and the Fitness Center are on deck 14 aft. You exit the aft elevators in to the Spa lobby.

 

 

It is HUGE. I see this as a waste of space on a ship, but it is due to the orientation of the elevator banks, as they face each other. There is a hallway that leads to the to the Fitness center lobby, which is much smaller.

 

There is a winding hallway to the Ladies locker room.

 

 

There are bathroom and shower facilities.

 

 

There is a steam room and sauna on the ladies side also.

 

 

This is a relaxation area in the ladies locker room. I am thinking that this is all someone who is getting a spa treatment sees, and they are not allowed into the Spa wet rooms.

 

 

The sauna has exterior windows so you can enjoy the vista, but it does not photograph well in the dark!

 

 

[BlueJai]

OMG, So glad you made it! We travel in from Toronto and are always worried about missing the ship and always go in a day ahead of time. This year even 1 day isn't enough with some of the weather we have had. We had a similar experience getting to the Epic in January - flight was cancelled but we were fortunate enough to have be able to get on another one. It wasn't until we were landing in Miami that I felt we were actually going to make it on board!

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review and sharing the adventures! Thanks for taking the time to share!

[medicalma'am]

There are many relaxing chairs in the wet area. There are red ones with foot stools and the famous heated tile loungers.

 

 

The Thalasotherapy pool is interesting.

 

 

It has several personal cubbies

 

 

The lounge bubble area that looks to seat about 8 adults

 

 

And the hot tubs times 2

 

 

There is another quiet room for relaxing that is shut off from the wet area. I imagine that this is nice for those who are bothered by chlorine odors. It looks out into the wet area.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2014 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

Thank you BlueJai. Lesson learned on our part that TWO days are necessary.

[medicalma'am]

This is the closed off relaxation room. It has very comfortable chairs, some of which were over-sized.

 

 

There is a balcony off the wet area that we sat on for a time. It has that aft view and sound that we have enjoyed from our aft balcony and suite cabins in the past. The aft is our favorite cabin on a Norwegian ship!

 

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Looking into the wet area from the balcony

 

 

We sat and talked about whether we wanted to do the Spa Pass this cruise like we usually do. They had told us that there were 11 passes left for the week when we came in. We knew that there were 4 ports and 3 sea days. We also knew that there were so many other things to do on this ship. We finally decided that we had our balconies to enjoy, the pool and slides, and the quiet adult area (Spice H2O) and that we would not use the Spa enough to warrent the $199.00 for the week. That decided, we headed out.

 

Part of that winding double Z hallway leading to and from he female area.

 

 

Back in our cabins we unpacked, took care of some reservations on the interactive TV, and and checked out the iConcierge for our phones. We checked into it at the information desk but were still confused as to whether you could use the app on you smart phone to talk to each other during the cruise without any charges. Before we left home the info I got online indicated that we could do that for a one-time "nominal fee". But now we were being told that there would be a charge each call and we had to be logged into the wireless on the ship.

 

I think that NCL might want to put more information 'out there' about the app and just what you CAN do with it once on board. I am curious if anyone else has used this service and just what it can do. It seemed that we just kept getting conflicting info each time we inquired about it. They need a 'tech support' person on board if they are going to have these services (tech support for dummies?) :o

 

 

 

[bluesea777]

Thank you BlueJai. Lesson learned on our part that TWO days are necessary.

 

Yes, two days ....

 

Last month's cruise, we booked to go to Miami 3 (three) days early to shop and sightsee before the cruise.

 

It is the first flight out of Bermuda in the morning - the plane comes in the evening before and stays on land overnight (crew overnight at nearby Grotto Bay hotel).

 

Well, the evening before our departure I checked online and saw the plane arrived on island okay at 7pm - yippee, we're set to go .... then I received email at 10pm to say our morning flight had been cancelled :eek::confused::confused:

 

Five mins later we got email saying we got rebooked on the following day flight - no problem.

 

Then the plane "disappeared" from radar... when we got to the airport the following day we asked why ... plane had to immediately return to USA with a special cargo.

 

We did shop but had to miss the sightseeing part.

 

If it had been one day before cruise :eek: ... luckily we booked 3 days before and lost one day but still had 2 days in Miami.

 

It was so courageous of you all 4 to drive all the way to Miami and still make the cruise!! We would, but we live an air-hop away. The alternative for us would be via JFK or on another airline. When there are big storms here, all flights are cancelled and we are SOL.

 

We spent 44 days total on Epic and loved her, so I'm so interested in your review and your takings about the Epic after cruises on older ships.

Edited February 10, 2014 by bluesea777

[firsttimeVA]

Good thing you were up for an adventure!! Im hoping by March this crazy weather in the south is over cuz I don't want to to drive the 14 hour trip. Can't wait to read more!

[medicalma'am]

The guys told us how much they had enjoyed O'Sheehan's and we decided that we were hungry. I needed some comfort food to soothe me for a good nights sleep, and maybe a little dirty Tanqueray martini. ;)

 

We went to deck 6 and were quickly seated. This is a noisy place with the opening to the Atrium below and bowling alley. But it is one place on the ship where you don't have a cramped feeling.

 

One thing we noticed upon first exploring the ship is that the ceilings are very low. The ship seemed so very crowded everywhere on this first day. It gave me a really claustrophobic sensation.

 

I ordered the wings, which were crispy and delicious. I had the chicken pot pie too. It was wonderful also. Before our food arrived, I went to the bar to order my martini. I have learned in the past to order it myself and watch it being made. I saw him finish off one bottle of Tanqueray and open a second to make my drink. Then he went to the other end to add a smidgen of vermouth. Then it was time for the olives and juice. He added the juice and then.......with his bare fingers....... pushed the olives onto the swizzle stick. If this wasn't bad enough, he dipped his fingers into the jar and got out more olives to add to the swizzle stick. Take note NCL: NOT a good idea. Then it was shaken, poured into the chilled glass and the olives placed on top of the glass. Well, I'm not swizzling with that stick! :eek:

 

We were beyond tired and I returned to the cabin and DH was in bed fast asleep. I fumbled around and turned on the balcony light. This gave just enough light to find my way around. Soon it was lights out and I was asleep in minutes.

 

Tonight I will continue with day two, a sea day. It is my day off and there are chores I just get done!

[Love my butler]

Glad you made it! What a dreadful feeling thinking you might miss the ship. Driving sure makes one feel better knowing they control their own destiny instead of relying on others.

[BritChickBN1]

Another ma'am review so soon?? YAY!!!!!!!!:D:D:D

[Planmaam]

OK, third Ma'am here; the one that couldn't be on this cruise.

 

I want you to know that I sweated bullets along with my sisters! Medica'ma'am's paniced call after work on Thursday just after she got the text about their flight being cancelled called me into duty, too. I went to a website to check flights for all flights out of Houston, and found there were some, if they wanted to pay over $800.00 each to fly to Miami last minute. And waited with baited breath for news from them every mile of their journey. I talked to them when they had cell service throughout the trip, and was watching the Port of Miami webcam as they were boarding, and again at their sail away time.

 

I mean really, they promised to wave at me from Spice H2O! :)

[meltingmoments]

Oh my!! I am SO glad you made it to the ship! What a worry. I admire the way you handled it.....I'm not sure I could have! :o

 

Looking forward to the next instalment.....thanks for sharing. :)