Epic Western Caribbean - Thanksgiving Cruise 2014

[LrgPizza]

We just returned from a fabulous vacation on the Epic. I absolutely LOVED this ship, and it sucks that it is leaving the USA, where I'd have easy access. I'm not much of a review writer. These are going to be some very random thoughts, observations, comparisons with my recent Getaway cruise, and info about the Epic. We had both the UDP and UBP. Please let me know if you have any questions. We sailed the Getaway out of Miami on 5/31/14, and this time sailed the Epic on 11/23/14 from the same terminal.

 

Boarding and embarkation stuff:

We arrived at the port around 9:30 and were ushered right into the building without having to show any documents. (With Getaway we DID have to show documents.) We were not allowed through security until 10:30, whereas for Getaway they let us through promptly at 10:00. Our key cards did not have our UBP stickers when given to us, like they had on our previous cruise. I inquired about this, and the check in girl assured me that they NEVER put the stickers on pre-cruise, which obviously I knew was wrong, but it didn't matter. I just wanted to know where to get it once I got on the ship. She said she didn't know, I'd have to ask on board. None of this was any big deal, and check in and boarding went smoothly. I think we were onboard around 11:40ish in boarding group 1.

 

Once on board it took about 30 minutes to get our stickers. We found the right table, but the staff member was missing her list of those who had purchased the plan, so we were unable to get our sticker until someone brought her the printed list. I definitely liked it better on Getaway when it was already on there!

 

I ordered the drink of the day (Cherry Lime-Aid) 3 times while still in port from the Waves bar. All 3 times I was charged a different price. (I have the receipts and will scan and post them at some point.) Since we had the UBP I didn't care, but it was kind of funny and something that others might want to keep an eye on. Since we had beaten most of the crowd, we went ahead and headed to the buffet, and it wasn't crowded yet. We shoveled in some quick food, then went to explore the ship. We stopped at the slides, and my son went down the toilet bowl one several times over and over, since this is the only time the entire cruise that there were no lines.

 

At some point we made our way to our cabin. We had a balcony cabin on the port side near the aft elevators. Plenty of others have discussed the bathroom situation, so I won't go into it. I will say that the cabin seemed much more crowded to me than our balcony cabin on Getaway. Last time we had bed by the closet. This time bed was by the balcony. I definitely prefer the bed by the closet, and will be careful to do that on future cruises.

 

Recently someone posted about "paying it forward" or leaving something in cabins for the next arriving guests... Well, our shower came complete with a sticky, wet, used mini-soap in the soap dish. In turn, I made sure to leave one sitting there for the next guests. I sure hope the room steward didn't clean the shower and throw it away! ;)

 

Ports

We stopped at Ocho Rios on Wednesday. We elected to do the Dunn's River Falls excursion through the ship. We picked the one that simply goes straight there in the early morning, then straight back to the ship. We were the very first people to climb the falls that day. We were finished and sitting at Margaritaville near the dock by 10:30 am.

 

We were supposed to dock at Grand Cayman on Thursday, but we missed this port due to high swells. This was not the ship's decision. The port closed due to the danger, and no ships at all were allowed to stop. Bonus sea day!

 

On Friday we went to Cozumel. We docked a couple hours early since we had missed Grand Cayman and had extra time to arrive. There were 7 ships in port. We did the ship's excursion to the small ruins on Cozumel, followed by a beach break. The excursion was supposed to last 4 hours but lasted 5.5 instead. The ruins don't compare at all to those on the mainland, but they were better than I had thought they would be. The beach was a rocky mess on the far side of the island. It had a decent restaurant which we enjoyed.

 

We never had to show any form of picture ID at either of these ports.

 

UBP

I have answered questions before regarding how on Getaway we were allowed to run tabs and pay our drink bill using one single card as long as we showed the bartender that we both had UBP stickers, or after he recognized us. He would then ring up the drinks on one card, so we only had to sign one ticket. This was NOT the case on Epic, not at any bar or even in the specialty restaurants. We had to pay separately for each and every drink. This created quite a bit more work for the bartenders, and really slowed down the process of getting drinks, especially at busy times. It didn't bother me at all since it takes a second to scribble on a paper, but I really felt badly for them.

 

iConcierge

Once again, this worked flawlessly for us. We even used the calling feature to call home from the ship for $.79 per minute through the app. On Getaway, when we signed our son up for Splash Academy, they asked us if we used iConcierge, and we gave them our contact #s, and they stated that was how they would contact us. On Epic, while signing up our son, I asked them if they wanted our iConcierge #s, and she looked at me like I was crazy, and asked, "Why?" I said in case they want to contact us. She said it doesn't work like that. (Again, just sharing differences between our experiences on the ships.)

 

Splash Academy

My son was in the Dolphin group (ages 10-12). Once again, he LOVED it, and wanted to be in the club every single moment of the cruise. Other than attending Blue Man Group and Cirque, he was disappointment any time he had to be with us and not in the club. They must be doing something right, or else he just thinks his parents suck. On Getaway, all the kids practiced for a kids' circus to be performed at the end of the cruise to all the parents (or whomever attended) in the theater. On Epic, they also practiced all week, but the performance was merely done in the club for the other kids and club counselors. That was kind of a let down.

 

Pool Deck

This is the main thing that made me decide I really love the Epic more than I loved the Getaway. The pool deck on Epic is just light-years better than Getaway's. It is so big and open! I could sit in a lounge chair that had a view of the ocean, both pools, the exit of the slides, the band stage, the bar, the Great Outdoors... All this from one single lounge chair. On Getaway the pool deck is sectioned off into many smaller spaces. This is just one giant open area. I loved spending my days there. I never had a problem finding a chair. There were the typical chair hogs, but you'll have that anywhere. One day I sat reading at 7am in an area where others had already put towels on chairs. When the owner came to sit (around 9:30), she asked me when I got there. I told her, and she said, "See? We have to get here early to get good spots!" I told her that I had gotten there early, and her TOWEL had gotten there early, but she hadn't. She didn't talk to me much after that.

 

Unfortunately we had a very windy, rocky cruise. For this reason the toilet bowl slide was closed most of the time because it was deemed unsafe to be carrying the floats up the stairs. The pool was even closed one day due to the motion of the ocean.

 

Thanksgiving

I'll post more about dining at some point later, but I wanted to mention for those considering booking Thanksgiving cruises. First of all, the MDR did have a traditional full Thanksgiving meal. I also know the buffet was serving Thanksgiving food at both lunch and dinner. The ship was sort of decorated with paper cut out pictures of pilgrims, turkeys, and pumpkins. It looked like someone had filled a cart at Party Time supply store as an afterthought. It looked like a giant floating Kindergarten classroom. (I have some pictures that I will share later).

 

For the record, I can't tell you how many times I heard a staff member say "Happy Thanksgiving" to a passenger, and the passenger, instead of saying "Thank you," would repeat it back. Thankfully some of the crew members were not too shy to point out to those passengers that they don't celebrate it because it's a US holiday only.

 

Entertainment

We really enjoyed Cirque Dreams and absolutely LOVED Blue Man Group. My husband had seen BMG in Las Vegas many years ago, and he said the performance was absolutely identical - not the slightest little difference whatsoever. He didn't mind, though. We would see it over and over again. We tried to do Legends, but ended up getting bored and walking out before it was over. It wasn't bad, it just seemed so cheesy that we felt like rolling our eyes the entire time.

 

I want to mention to Haven folks - the section that is reserved for Haven guests are definitely NOT the best seats in the house, if that makes a difference to you. If you want to get a really good seat, you might want to wait in the lines to pick your seat like the steerage - especially for Blue Man Group.

 

We spent a lot of time in Howl at The Moon, which happened on 4 of the nights. As always, this was a lot of fun. Unlike the land venues, there isn't much room to dance, but a large crowd got up and made the best of it anyway! We also went to Second City once. I usually am not a fan, but I actually enjoyed it. We usually miss most of the game shows and such, but we attended The Perfect Couple game show. This was an absolute riot. WARNING: This really isn't for kids, although lots of people brought them. :eek:

 

I have a lot more to say, but I didn't get home until after 2am, so my mind isn't firing well. Ask any questions please. I did save all the dailies, but it looks like someone posted them last week already, so I am off the hook. I'm sure I will jump in here to add more.

[LrgPizza]

One thing I wanted to mention - Teppanyaki was open for lunch on at least 2 of the sea days for the regular $25 cover charge or as part of UDP.

[Mikey7989]

Thanks for the review! You did a great Job!!!

 

How is MDR service? The only other NCL ship I've sailed on was Pride of America, and we ate in the MDR the first night. There was only one server to wait on our group of 20+ people, so after that we mainly ate at the buffet. Is it any different on the Epic?

[LrgPizza]

Thanks for the review! You did a great Job!!!

 

How is MDR service? The only other NCL ship I've sailed on was Pride of America, and we ate in the MDR the first night. There was only one server to wait on our group of 20+ people, so after that we mainly ate at the buffet. Is it any different on the Epic?

Thanks!

 

Since we had UDP we didn't end up eating in MDR for dinner. We ate there twice for lunch, and the service was terrific. We were in and out quickly, the food was served hot, and they were able to accommodate my picky son's special requests without batting an eye, e.g. "May I please have another order of waffle fries for my dessert?"

Edited December 1, 2014 by LrgPizza

[darkprayer]

One thing I wanted to mention - Teppanyaki was open for lunch on at least 2 of the sea days for the regular $25 cover charge or as part of UDP.

 

Oh man! Sounds like you had an awesome time but the weather wasn't being to kind to you.

 

Thanks for your review. I'm really excited but nervous now with weather issues you had. With the pools and slides being closed sometimes plus missing the Grand Caymans. I'll be bummed if that happens to us. :( Had the same issue with weather on our Alaska cruise! Pool was closed most of the time and we missed Ketchikan.

 

Thanks for the tip on Teppenyaki! (pun intended) :cool:

[brookie848]

Glad you had a nice cruise.

 

How was disembarkation the last day? We have early afternoon flights out of FLL and I'm wondering how concerned I should be about this. I know every sailing is different, but I'm just trying to get a feel for how smoothly things went at the end.

[LrgPizza]

Glad you had a nice cruise.

 

How was disembarkation the last day? We have early afternoon flights out of FLL and I'm wondering how concerned I should be about this. I know every sailing is different, but I'm just trying to get a feel for how smoothly things went at the end.

I'm glad you asked this! It was odd... On Getaway, we had sat on the balcony and watched us arrive in Miami. We then packed up, ate breakfast, and walked off the ship at 6:50. There were no people lined up, no announcement had been made, and we barely saw another person.... Maybe we weren't even supposed to go yet?

 

On Epic we also decided to walk off with our luggage. We ate breakfast at O'Sheehan's, and there were HUGE lines filling the entire casino area (deck 6). We hustled up to our room and grabbed our bags, then joined the line. We were weaved all over deck 6, and imagined it would take forever. The line was just starting to move as we got there, and we heard someone say her husband had lined up at 6am to save a spot! BUT from the time we got in the line until the time we stepped off the ship (at 7:45) was a grand total of 20 minutes. Once the line started moving, only a handful of people got in behind us, so you could say we were toward the back of the line for the walk-offs. I hope that helps.

[LrgPizza]

Oh man! Sounds like you had an awesome time but the weather wasn't being to kind to you.

 

Thanks for your review. I'm really excited but nervous now with weather issues you had. With the pools and slides being closed sometimes plus missing the Grand Caymans. I'll be bummed if that happens to us. :( Had the same issue with weather on our Alaska cruise! Pool was closed most of the time and we missed Ketchikan.

 

Thanks for the tip on Teppenyaki! (pun intended) :cool:

 

Overall the weather was great. On that Cayman day, it was dark & cloudy and pretty cold out on the decks. People were bundled up in sweatshirts and such. By late afternoon it started to clear up, but it remained windy and we were rockin' and rollin' pretty much the rest of the trip. Considering it's the rainy season in the Caribbean this time of year, we got pretty lucky, and had mostly sunshine the entire trip. The pool was only closed part of that day, and not soon enough. I watched a few kids get thrown completely out of it before someone finally got everyone out and put the net on it. It was an injury waiting to happen.

 

[moosecrouse]

The companies new policy of having to sign for each drink if your on the UBP is a hassle & slows down the bartenders. Slower bartenders = less drinks and that affects NCL bottom line. Guessing they have to many problems with people "sharing" their packages.

 

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[brookie848]

I'm glad you asked this! It was odd... On Getaway, we had sat on the balcony and watched us arrive in Miami. We then packed up, ate breakfast, and walked off the ship at 6:50. There were no people lined up, no announcement had been made, and we barely saw another person.... Maybe we weren't even supposed to go yet?

 

On Epic we also decided to walk off with our luggage. We ate breakfast at O'Sheehan's, and there were HUGE lines filling the entire casino area (deck 6). We hustled up to our room and grabbed our bags, then joined the line. We were weaved all over deck 6, and imagined it would take forever. The line was just starting to move as we got there, and we heard someone say her husband had lined up at 6am to save a spot! BUT from the time we got in the line until the time we stepped off the ship (at 7:45) was a grand total of 20 minutes. Once the line started moving, only a handful of people got in behind us, so you could say we were toward the back of the line for the walk-offs. I hope that helps.

 

Thanks for this. I'm trying to decide if we should self-disembark or just trust our Haven priority disembark to get us off the ship the regular way. Our earliest flight is 12:35 at FLL and I plan on getting a private shuttle for us. The shuttle is the last major part of our vacation I need to figure out.

 

Thanks again!

[puddles99]

Loving your review - thank you! Did any of the speciality restaurants stand out to you on this ship as being better than their counterparts on other ships (either in food quality, service, or ambiance)? Did Howl at the Moon have "kid appropriate" times before going fully "18+" on Epic? On Breakaway & Getaway, they seemed to stay PG13 before 10:30 or 11pm, which was great for my music-loving 12 year-old.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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[LrgPizza]

The companies new policy of having to sign for each drink if your on the UBP is a hassle & slows down the bartenders. Slower bartenders = less drinks and that affects NCL bottom line. Guessing they have to many problems with people "sharing" their packages.

That's exactly the reason that the bartenders told us. They said too many people sharing. To be honest, I was impressed that absolutely everyone, no matter the bar, restaurant, waiter, etc. stuck to this rule like glue. However, many of the bartenders commented on how much it slowed them down. Where my husband and I might sit at Spice H2O on our last cruise and have a total of 8 drinks and sign one ticket, they now had to run a card 8 times and print 8 tickets.

 

Thanks for this. I'm trying to decide if we should self-disembark or just trust our Haven priority disembark to get us off the ship the regular way. Our earliest flight is 12:35 at FLL and I plan on getting a private shuttle for us. The shuttle is the last major part of our vacation I need to figure out.

 

Thanks again!

You are very welcome! I would say that whether or not you use the Haven priority, you shouldn't have a problem making a 12:35 flight out of FLL. After our Getaway cruise, we were at FLL with bags checked and checked in for our flight by 9:45. We used SAS shuttle for that.

[LrgPizza]

Loving your review - thank you! Did any of the speciality restaurants stand out to you on this ship as being better than their counterparts on other ships (either in food quality, service, or ambiance)? Did Howl at the Moon have "kid appropriate" times before going fully "18+" on Epic? On Breakaway & Getaway, they seemed to stay PG13 before 10:30 or 11pm, which was great for my music-loving 12 year-old.

 

Thanks!

 

We really liked Le Bistro on Epic and weren't big fans on Getaway. On Epic, there is actually a view of the ocean and it's much larger and spacious. On Getaway, it is like a small closet with tables on top of one another, and no view of the water.

 

Also, I have gone on and on about how much we hated La Cucina on Getaway - it was easily my least favorite meal EVER at sea. However, I always give things one more shot, and this time it paid off. The location on Epic, right at the front of the ship, is wonderful. We were in a table at the end of the restaurant, where we could see out the front, back, and starboard side of the ship. Last time I hated the pig fat pizza and the shrimp risotto. This time we had the chili marinated beef pizza and I had the meat lasagna. I loved both dishes! The lasagna was HUGE! I commented to the server that it was so ginormous. He said, "That is the smallest piece! I told the kitchen to give you the smallest piece since you already had the pizza!" (which I had shared!). I accused him of calling me fat. :D Then I bet him that he couldn't even lift my piece of lasagna with one hand. Somehow he managed, but I'm sure it was a struggle.

 

Just like on Getaway, the servers really seem offended, and downright nasty and angry if you don't want dessert. It always baffles my mind, but they do. We are not dessert people. In Shanghai's, we insisted repeatedly that we did not want dessert. When she finally agreed to bring our check, she brought us both dessert anyway! We left it sitting there. I'm not sure why this is such a problem on both ships.

 

Regarding Howl at the Moon... The performers on Epic were very careful when there were children present. On the other hand, the dailies mention that the show is for adults after 11, and it's nice for all the other customers if people would have their kids out of there by then. Some families simply wouldn't leave, and it was kind of frustrating for the other passengers and performers to have to continue to edit song lyrics and such. Also, on our Getaway cruise, we commented on how none of the performers ever drank while performing. On this Epic cruise, it was total opposite. They did nonstop shots and drank toasts and got totally hammered while playing. It was definitely more of a bar/adult party atmosphere regardless of the time. I'm sure this varies a lot, since the performers change so regularly at Howl.

Edited December 1, 2014 by LrgPizza

[LrgPizza]

More dining stuff while I'm at it...

 

We had 5pm reservations for Teppanyaki on the first sea day. We arrived on time and were seated at a table with 2 other people, for a total of 5 of us. Since the tables seat 8, the server informed us that they would not begin our meal until they could fill our table. When it reached 5:25, we flagged down the server to inform him that we had specifically scheduled the early time because we had show reservations, and we really couldn't afford to sit and wait any longer. He went ahead and took everyone's order. Shortly after, others were seated with us, and they hurried them through to catch them up with us. In order to make sure we got to the show on time, the cook seemed to hustle through the show, leaving out a lot of the little tricks that are usually done at Teppanyaki. To me, it wasn't a big deal. I do think, however, that if you have a set reservation, they should probably figure out a way to get you started close to on time.

[puddles99]

We really liked Le Bistro on Epic and weren't big fans on Getaway. On Epic, there is actually a view of the ocean and it's much larger and spacious. On Getaway, it is like a small closet with tables on top of one another, and no view of the water.

 

Also, I have gone on and on about how much we hated La Cucina on Getaway - it was easily my least favorite meal EVER at sea. However, I always give things one more shot, and this time it paid off. The location on Epic, right at the front of the ship, is wonderful. We were in a table at the end of the restaurant, where we could see out the front, back, and starboard side of the ship. Last time I hated the pig fat pizza and the shrimp risotto. This time we had the chili marinated beef pizza and I had the meat lasagna. I loved both dishes! The lasagna was HUGE! I commented to the server that it was so ginormous. He said, "That is the smallest piece! I told the kitchen to give you the smallest piece since you already had the pizza!" (which I had shared!). I accused him of calling me fat. :D Then I bet him that he couldn't even lift my piece of lasagna with one hand. Somehow he managed, but I'm sure it was a struggle.

 

Just like on Getaway, the servers really seem offended, and downright nasty and angry if you don't want dessert. It always baffles my mind, but they do. We are not dessert people. In Shanghai's, we insisted repeatedly that we did not want dessert. When she finally agreed to bring our check, she brought us both dessert anyway! We left it sitting there. I'm not sure why this is such a problem on both ships.

 

Regarding Howl at the Moon... The performers on Epic were very careful when there were children present. On the other hand, the dailies mention that the show is for adults after 11, and it's nice for all the other customers if people would have their kids out of there by then. Some families simply wouldn't leave, and it was kind of frustrating for the other passengers and performers to have to continue to edit song lyrics and such. Also, on our Getaway cruise, we commented on how none of the performers ever drank while performing. On this Epic cruise, it was total opposite. They did nonstop shots and drank toasts and got totally hammered while playing. It was definitely more of a bar/adult party atmosphere regardless of the time. I'm sure this varies a lot, since the performers change so regularly at Howl.

 

 

Thanks for the info - hugely helpful. I agree in taking kids out when shows are clearly marked as inappropriate. But I suppose some parents might not care what their kids see / hear.

 

 

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[LrgPizza]

Thanks for the info - hugely helpful. I agree in taking kids out when shows are clearly marked as inappropriate. But I suppose some parents might not care what their kids see / hear.

At about 11:20, a little girl who looked about 6 or 7 walked up a request for that stupid Frozen song. The player looked at her and said, "That isn't gonna happen." Ha!

[SissasMomE]

Glad you had a nice time! So far, the Epic is my favorite ship.

[lelder1]

Thanks for this. I'm trying to decide if we should self-disembark or just trust our Haven priority disembark to get us off the ship the regular way. Our earliest flight is 12:35 at FLL and I plan on getting a private shuttle for us. The shuttle is the last major part of our vacation I need to figure out.

 

Thanks again!

I recommend Jiffy Jeff - we were on the Epic last week and used him and he was GREAT!

[SissasMomE]

Thanks for this. I'm trying to decide if we should self-disembark or just trust our Haven priority disembark to get us off the ship the regular way. Our earliest flight is 12:35 at FLL and I plan on getting a private shuttle for us. The shuttle is the last major part of our vacation I need to figure out.

 

Thanks again!

 

I would use the priority, since it's available to you. Either way, you should have plenty of time to get to FLL. I use limos dot com for private car service.

[lelder1]

Just got off the Epic and want to second LrgPizza's comments that BMG was AWESOME! We have seen them in Las Vegas before too. We had reservations for Monday night, then went to the "meet and greet" with them on Saturday (room was packed - we aren't the only ones that loved them), then did standby for the Saturday night show so saw it twice. It was really interesting to hear about the audition process and their answers to all the questions people asked. I highly recommend you go to this show and the meet and greet too.

 

I would also recommend the cabins we had (10193 and 10195) - it was super quiet and there is nothing across the hall so very little traffic in the area.

[LrgPizza]

Just got off the Epic and want to second LrgPizza's comments that BMG was AWESOME! We have seen them in Las Vegas before too. We had reservations for Monday night, then went to the "meet and greet" with them on Saturday (room was packed - we aren't the only ones that loved them), then did standby for the Saturday night show so saw it twice. It was really interesting to hear about the audition process and their answers to all the questions people asked. I highly recommend you go to this show and the meet and greet too.

 

I would also recommend the cabins we had (10193 and 10195) - it was super quiet and there is nothing across the hall so very little traffic in the area.

We wanted to do that meet & greet on Saturday, but when it came time, we spaced out and forgot. Too many frozen Dirty Bananas by the pool that morning, I guess. I wish we would have done it!

[DavyJoneses]

Sorry to hear about Grand Cayman. Maybe next time.

[LrgPizza]

Sorry to hear about Grand Cayman. Maybe next time.

Yeah. We've been there a couple times before, so we were okay with it. Our son was bummed because we'd had a fun excursion planned. It happens.

[meatball_nyc]

Really nice review. Sounds like you and your family had a great cruise.

Thanks for sharing :)

Happy Sailing!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

2014 July Breakaway

[kenlyn]

It's so nice to read a review where things were clearly not perfect yet instead of complaining you managed to have a great time! We are waiting our turn on Epic February 8th and I admit I will be bummed if we miss a port because we are not good sea day people. We also have been to all of these ports several times but our dd and son in law are bringing my 5 year old grand son and all will be new to them!

Thanks again you did a great job hitting all of the important topics!