Just off Epic

[beerman2]

It was an OK cruise, not bad just wasn't overly impressed.

 

Service was slow at Taste and had some issues with getting our food correct.

Eggs at breakfast ( Taste) cold , must have sat for quite awhile.

 

Had same issue at O'Sheehans for breakfast.

 

Buffet food wasn't bad . For lunch the pizza, hamburgs, and Chix sticks were all very good, as well as the nacho's.

 

Bfast at the buffet was standard, we did get cooked to order eggs/ omlets that good.

 

Dinner at Garden Cafe was themed every night , we did the seafood, chilled shrimp were good, and oysters on the half shell Looked good not an oyster fan.

[beerman2]

Continued

 

Entertainment around the pool was very good, as well as Howl at the Moon and Legends in concert.

 

Patricia at Jazz/ Blues Club put on a very good show.

 

Most Bartenders seemed indifferent, with the exceptions being Santos ( Waves Pool Bar) , Goose ( shakers Martini Bar) and Anthony ( Maltings). Goose was leaving the ship to head home after our sailing.

 

We had the UBP and it was well worth it for us. Wish we would have gotten the UDP also.

 

Ate at 1 speciality restaurant ( Cagney's) and had a superb meal. The Filet was melt in your mouth tender and cooked to perfection. 3 of our group had the Filet. I had the Garlic Shrimp (9/10) of them. Very good flavor.

 

Apps no one complained. We had everything from soup to salad to shrimp cocktail to BBQ Chix wings.

[david_sobe]

What is the entertainment these days on Epic? Still Blue Man and Legends?

 

Welcome back!

[Dale's gal]

Thanks for the info. Will be on the epic in 28 days & it will be our first time on Norwegian .

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Roadsofa]

Goose was the man. I went to him every night for a Manhattan. I thought he was going to Getaway and was hoping he would be there for my cruise. I'm glas to hear he is headed home for a bit. I had fun every night at Maltings with him and his wait staff (Nick and I can't remember the girls name).

[beerman2]

Yes Blue Man and Legends are the shows.

 

Legends is Aretha , Adele , and jimmy Buffett!

[beerman2]

A couple of real negative issues:

 

Chairhogs yep we had them! It's almost laughable to what lengths people will go to to claim THEIR spot!

 

I swear when people go on cruises they lose all semblance of manners. The rudeness of some people is amazing. That's all you need to do is show some respect and pay attention to what your doing and your surroundings!

 

And NCL really dropped the ball , as far as showing the College Football Championship game, and totally underestimated the amount of people that wanted to watch it. It wasn't only Ohio State and Oregon fans that were crammed into O'Sheehans , before they decided there were way to many people that you couldn't move that they put it on the Atrium big screen.

 

Had to setup folding chairs and call in extra waitstaff just to accomodate everybody.Theire had to be 300-400 people watching it.

 

Very poor planning on NCL's end!

[electro]

And NCL really dropped the ball , as far as showing the College Football Championship game, and totally underestimated the amount of people that wanted to watch it. It wasn't only Ohio State and Oregon fans that were crammed into O'Sheehans , before they decided there were way to many people that you couldn't move that they put it on the Atrium big screen.

 

Had to setup folding chairs and call in extra waitstaff just to accomodate everybody.Theire had to be 300-400 people watching it.

 

Very poor planning on NCL's end!

 

Really? College football and NCL had it on at O'sheehans and when that got crowded they put it on the Atrium and set up extra chairs?

 

Sounds to me like NCL went the extra mile to accommodate the football fans, not "dropped the ball.""

 

Lois

[stowawaykc]

I agree Beerman, poor planning , but it did turn out OK in the end !

 

We had a great time on the ship, but did not really care for the layout of the top deck. We all thought that the music was WAY too loud around the pool deck.

 

Had some of the same issues with the food service, but nothing that would ruin the trip for us. I thought that the staff did a good job trying to make things right when there was a problem.

Overall, the food was very good, I can't think of anything I tried that I didn't enjoy.

 

I liked the freestyle dining concept, but strangely enough, some of the folks with us preferred the scheduled dinner at the same restaurant, and they missed that part of it.

 

There was plenty of entertainment throughout the ship, and always seemed to be something going on. We enjoyed the Blue Man group and the Blues/Jazz band Manhattan.

 

Kurt

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[beerman2]

Electro

 

It did turn out after the fact the game started and after trying to get situated in O'sheehan's.

 

The point is it was a major championship game that should have had some pre-thought not after you couldn't get another person in O'Sheehans.

[beerman2]

Kurt

 

We traveled with our adopted Fla. Family so we always have fun. It's just that the vibe was off a little and compared to our last cruise on RCI , which also happened to be our first on that cruiseline, so that's where I'm comparing it to.

 

To all we certainly didn't go hungry was just sharing our experience and I know everyone's experience is different.

 

 

Lois jammed into O'Sheehan's with No Audio , NCL had NO Choice but to do something, that's hardly going "The Extra Mile" , it's called reacting. Whereas they could have been proactive, especially after having talked to a couple of High ranking officers earlier that day. Those officers had the attitude that The Game wasn't that big of a deal.

[bluesea777]

What is the entertainment these days on Epic? Still Blue Man and Legends?

 

Welcome back!

 

Yes Blue Man and Legends are the shows.

 

Legends is Aretha , Adele , and jimmy Buffett!

 

Blue Man will disappear and get replaced when the Epic returns to Europe permanently in April.

[LrgPizza]

Those officers had the attitude that The Game wasn't that big of a deal.

Those officers would be correct.

[electro]

I think that college football is no big deal. it is not like it's the super bowl.

That fact that they had it on at all is going the extra mile.

 

Too bad hockey fans don't get such consideration. I would love for once to see one hockey game on a cruise.

Any hockey game.

in 16 cruises i only saw hockey once and it was in Europe on an Italian cruise line (MSC)

[beerman2]

Just trying to understand everyone else's opinion when they weren't there, they didn't have a conversation with the officers and given FALSE information, didn't actually SEE and EXPERIENCE the chaos in O'Sheehan's.

 

Then and only then did NCL act and if you think 300-400 people aren't a big deal watching the game .

 

Just stating FACTS of having been there!

[beerman2]

College football in the US is big. Add to the fact it was the 1st ever Outright champion makes it a historic event. The computers didn't decide it, it was decided on the field.

 

Being Canadian I realize how you embellish your Hockey, give us Americans some props for our Football wether it be college or pro.

[stowawaykc]

For the record, we were told prior to the cruise, that the game would be shown on the big screen in the atrium and also on the big outdoor screen on the back of the ship.

 

Then on game day, we asked at the customer service desk, and we're told that they did not have rights to show college football, and the game would only be shown at o'sheehans.

 

When the crowd became too large for O'sheehans, all of the sudden they had rights to broadcast on the big screen?

 

I agree that they did not plan for this, but did try to correct a problem when O'sheehans became unusable as a dining venue. The normal flow of the restaurant came to a screaming halt because instead of people eating, then clearing out, everyone ate and stayed for the game.

 

We stayed in O'sheehans because we had a large area in front of a television, and were not about to mess with the mojo because the game was going so well. :)

 

Kurt

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[saxgirl84]

I was actually a bit surprised how they kind of brushed it off at the M&G earlier that day, when it was made apparent that there would be a large group wanting to watch ( and our M&G group was a small percentage of the overall passengers, so if that many of us wanted to watch, I'm guessing that same % of the rest of the ship also wanted to watch...)

I went to the Blue Man show before the game, and then figured I'd head to O'Sheehans to watch since they told us that was the only place it would be shown. I walked down from the theater,saw the crowd and turned around and went to my cabin to watch! There wasn't a seat to be had anywhere, and being 5'1", standing wasn't doing much for me and actually SEEING anything...

[saxgirl84]

Those officers would be correct.

Maybe that is how you feel, however by the fact that they ended up moving the game to accommodate the people requesting to watch, more people have the opposite feeling then you... I personally ended up just going back to my cabin to watch the game when it was apparent I wasn't getting a seat anywhere... if I had known they did move it, I would have gojne back down and joined the crowd!

[Robert Peel]

I think that college football is no big deal. it is not like it's the super bowl.

That fact that they had it on at all is going the extra mile.

 

Too bad hockey fans don't get such consideration. I would love for once to see one hockey game on a cruise.

Any hockey game.

in 16 cruises i only saw hockey once and it was in Europe on an Italian cruise line (MSC)

 

As a fellow Canadian who enjoys watching hockey I agree with your point completely on no hockey being available on NCL, and the other cruise lines that we have sailed. Not even highlights, trying to get scores is hit and miss as well.

[beerman2]

For the record, we were told prior to the cruise, that the game would be shown on the big screen in the atrium and also on the big outdoor screen on the back of the ship.

 

Then on game day, we asked at the customer service desk, and we're told that they did not have rights to show college football, and the game would only be shown at o'sheehans.

 

When the crowd became too large for O'sheehans, all of the sudden they had rights to broadcast on the big screen?

 

I agree that they did not plan for this, but did try to correct a problem when O'sheehans became unusable as a dining venue. The normal flow of the restaurant came to a screaming halt because instead of people eating, then clearing out, everyone ate and stayed for the game.

 

We stayed in O'sheehans because we had a large area in front of a television, and were not about to mess with the mojo because the game was going so well. :)

 

Kurt

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

Thank you and to Sax girl. Exactly my point We were told a whole different story.

NCL reacted instead of being pro-active.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Cruisercl]

Thank you and to Sax girl. Exactly my point We were told a whole different story.

NCL reacted instead of being pro-active.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

That's too bad that you were disappointed about the airing of this football game. I guess I wouldn't have thought it was a big deal either especially since it was on ESPN and not even on one of the big networks.

 

It has been my experience that when you are on a cruise and any big sporting event is going on you never know whether or not it will even be aired. IMHO televised sports is not really a big part of cruising......again IMHO; but it is not important to me outside of cruising either. :p It really is all subjective.

 

Just off the Epic for the NYE cruise; loved it!!!

 

Hope you enjoyed the rest of the cruise!! :)

Edited January 24, 2015 by Cruisercl

[bmwman]

Those officers would be correct.

 

Whats college football? football is played with a round ball worldwide and College football with your hand in the states :confused:

[janpo]

We were on the Sky when that game was played. My husband wanted to watch it also. You could watch it in your cabin but who wants to do that?

 

He had a hard time finding a place that was showing it. Finally ended up in the casino at the bar playing video poker and watching the game. That ended up being an expensive game.

 

I wish they showed some US news instead of mostly international news or just politics.

Edited January 25, 2015 by janpo

[beerman2]

Here's a bit of a summary:

1) norwegian sent an email out promoting a party for the Game for30.00 . I'm pretty sure not many people signed up for the extra fee. Hence NCL thinking no interest.

 

2) when asked at the M&G about the Game , the senior officers there in particular the Hotel Director gave me a very curt answer. My wife look at me and just said wow that was kinda rude!

 

3) then we were told it was a Licensing issue with college football/ESPN.

 

4 activities director told us the 2 locations it would be on O'Sheehans and Waves with NO audio at O'Sheehans but Waves would have audio. They don't have audio at waves we were told by the bartenders when we asked.

 

If they have no licensing agreement how could they show it elsewhere?

 

If those of you that think being LIED to is not that big of a deal, I guess our morals don't quite match up then.

 

And if you feel the need to LIE to your customers make sure everybody is on the same page. NCL wasn't!

 

Yes it turn out extremely well in the end, it was all the other unnecessary BS that caused the Problem!