NCL Epic Med Cruise: May 10, 2015 Review

[Trinnah]

A few months before we left for our cruise, I was on Cruise Critic & YouTube to look for tips on what to pack, what to do, and basically just to pick at the brains of those who have cruised multiple times and are full of knowledge and helpful tips. Because of these two websites, I was able to pack a few useful things and see the room before we even arrived. It also helped when we booked the excursions and our apartment as we arrived a few days early in the embarkation city and set out for some sightseeing. With that said, I’ve been on one cruise before with my parents and brother. That was about 14 years ago, on an entirely different cruise line, going to an entirely different destination. However, I attempted to tell myself that it probably won’t be too different, right? Granted, I was only responsible for myself at the time and now I have a 2 year old toddler to take with me. It is a vacation, away from work, but being a parent is also work that you can’t really take a vacation from — especially on a cruise line where judgmental and questioning eyes are all on you. I had read it all on Cruise Critic before we left. People questioning why parents even take their toddlers — attempting to mask their unfounded judgments with opinions that they present as facts. I’m a little long-winded, so my review might be longer than expected. However, I want to cover as many bases and infuse as many opinions as I possibly can.

 

BACKGROUND INFO:

I've been on one cruise before. It is my husband's and daughter's first cruise. My in laws 2nd also, as we had gone on the first cruise with them as well with my parents and brother. I tend not to complain too much because I understand what it's like to be on the receiving end of the complaint. I'm a nurse case manager at one of our local hospitals. With every situation, there's always a different way of interpretation. As a case manager, I listen to the patient & family, fellow hospital personnel, and the administration on what their opinion on a specific incident is -- and usually they all differ because of the bias of what is more important to each one of them. It's completely understandable. But when I feel very passionate about something, I do tend to ramble. :) So there's the intro . . .

 

 

I am posting these reviews on my website also, so that's why they were all edited a certain way. I'll try to update as much as possible, but since I've already gone back to work since we came back, it probably won't be as "daily" as I would like for it to be. I will probably update at my site first and then cut & paste it in here.

 

My site is http://ourstyleinprogress.com, if anybody is a little curious.

 

May 10, 2015: Sunday (Embarkation Day)

We were booked for Rm# 17001 in The Haven. After reading a few reviews of people who were also booked in that room, I was already prepared to get priority embarkation. We arrived via taxi from our apartment in Barcelona at about 11:45. The porters helped us carry our luggage and off through security we went. Once we passed the scanning machines, we were greeted by an NCL employee who held up the sign "Haven Guests." We walked up to her, and she asked for our information, and once it was confirmed that we were Haven guests, she escorted us to another area where we took pictures, checked in, received our number (9), and were escorted to what I assume was the waiting lounge for Haven passengers -- equipped with munchies and drinks. We didn't stay there too long. A few seconds after we put our bags down and picked our chairs, they told us that we were boarding the ship already. We arrived at the Epic Club, where our concierge personnel explained the boarding process to us. Afterwards, we were escorted on a tour of the Haven facilities and informed that our room would be ready by 1 PM. We decided to eat lunch, and once we finished, we were escorted to our room and introduced to our butler. We were taught how to use the coffee machine and advised on the room service menu. In a short amount of time, our bags arrived, and we started unpacking. The housekeeper who was assigned to our room arrived at the door to introduce herself, and she informed us that she would be setting up the second bedroom bunk bed if we needed it.

 

OPINION: I have no complaints regarding their embarkation process. I don't really remember how it was done with my previous cruise in comparison, but I can't think of any critiques for their protocol.

 

 

Cabin: RM# 17001

We had the two-bedroom villa, which is perfect for families. It had two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master bedroom had a tub that had an amazing view! Both rooms had TVs and a fairly large closet space. There was also a small dining area and a living area with a couch that doubled as a pull out bed. There was a solarium, which is basically a covered balcony with a small table and two chairs. There was plenty of space!

 

OPINION: I loved it. I especially liked the fact that the balcony was covered. I didn't want to worry about Mia hanging out there. I did give her strict instructions not to lean on the glass. (You'll never know if it becomes loose or cracks.) The window opened, so it was perfect for pictures of the ports!

 

Pictured Above: (#1) Cannes, France / (#2) Palma Mallorca, Spain

 

I hope I'm doing okay so far. Would love to hear from everybody!

[tel2]

I am following your review. Cannot wait for more installments.

 

Terry

[Trinnah]

 

May 11, 2015: Sea Day

After we became accustomed to our room, we decided to tour the rest of the ship. We visited The Haven Gym, where I ran on the treadmill with a view of the pool / hot tub area. Afterwards, we visited the pool area on Deck 15, which is accessible to everyone and also includes the Garden Cafe, so it was usually packed. There was a kiddie pool section with a slide that Mia just didn't like. So my husband took her for a swim in a bigger pool that wasn't too deep and then they went to the hot tub, where he just sat on the outside so that it was just their feet inside. In a matter of minutes, it became really packed, so we decided to check out The Haven pool. There were only about 4 people there at the time, and they were either asleep or reading a book on the lounge chair. One of the hot tubs was always available, so we ended up using it much more.

 

 

The Epic has a sports area, where they also have a slide, as well as full basketball court. My husband is a big fan of basketball, so of course, we had to check it out. When we arrived, there were some people playing soccer, so we sat down on the deck chairs on the side. Mia was asking about the slide, but she didn't make the height requirement, so we went back to sitting down on the deck chairs and watched the game.

 

After 15 minutes, they still continued to play soccer. My husband was getting impatient and said that we should just go back to the room. I told him, "No, let me ask them if they're almost done. We already waited this long, so maybe they're finishing up." So I went up to the one of the players and asked if they were almost done, or if they still had a long way to go. I don't know if he really understood me, but he said, "We can go now." I told him, "No, I'm not telling you to leave. I just want to know if you're almost done so that we know if we can wait or if we should just come back later." He said, "No, I'm tired, we'll be done in 15 minutes." So I sat back down and played with my phone until they finished. Once they did, we went inside and put the soccer goals back against the fence and shot around a little bit. There was also another person that was waiting for the court to be available, and he also wanted to play ball, so we went to one side and he the other.

 

 

After the swimming and the basketball, Mia was ready for her nap, so we went back to the room. Hubs was not quite ready to retreat yet, so he went to go check out the bigger slides. Sure enough, he ended up going down quite a few times because the line was not long at all. Most of the passengers were older - retirees, I believe - and if there were anybody in their teens or 20s, they were probably still asleep at the time because I could only count the number that I saw while walking around on both hands.

 

After Mia's nap, we decided to check out the dinner menu at the Epic Club. There were always tables available with no wait, compared to the other dining rooms on the ship (on the lower decks), so it was easier to eat there. We just go*down one floor and were usually sat down within seconds and served within minutes.

 

DINING / FOOD:

The Epic Club did not disappoint. I liked everything that I ordered. From the appetizer to the main course to the dessert. There were always plenty of choices, and we usually picked a different entree from the menu. The service was even better. I think we had 6 different waiters / waitresses every time we were there, but even when they weren't serving, they would usually stop by our table to say hi, especially to Mia. Everybody was friendly, and even when they were extremely busy, they would always have the time to see how we were doing -- which is what I like. I understand if you're busy, but just the fact that you come back to the table to reassure us that our orders will be out soon, is often enough. The Garden Cafe was also not bad. Although, I didn't like the food choices the first time I ate there. I hesitated to go back the next day, but my husband insisted, and I'm glad I did. The second time around was better! There was always someone available to pick up the plates once we were finished and ready to get seconds. It was extremely busy on the day we docked at Palma Mallorca, and we could not find a table. We felt a bit like vultures, standing around with our plates, waiting for someone to get up from their table. The minute someone even flinched, we pounced. In hindsight, it was our fault. We decided to eat at 12:00 noon, during a half sea day, when we were about to dock for a half day excursion on the island. I knew that everybody would be there.

 

 

Now, it's on to my rambling . . .

 

Mia Dining In The Epic Club:

The first night that we dined in the Epic Club, there were a few more people also in there. We sat in the middle (which became our usual table every time we would eat there), and there was a long table behind us with a family who also had children. Prior to going on this cruise, I had read several posters on Cruise Critic complaining about children eating dinner with them. Some even went as far as stating that children should be banned from cruises altogether. Some questioned why parents even bring their children on the cruise when they can just "leave them at home." (I'll address this later.) With this family, I understood a little bit why these comments were being made. The dining room has this ambience where the lights are dimmed, and while sitting at our table, I knew that low voices, if not silence, should be observed.

 

Not at the table behind us.

 

All I could hear was the toddler (maybe a few months younger than Mia) screaming and crying. I don't know if he/she was throwing a temper tantrum, or if that was the norm for that family. But as we were sat down at our table, I could see the faces of the other guests. They were very perturbed. A few of them kept looking back at the parents, hoping that their stares would somehow start a catalyst that caused the parents to pick up their child and leave the room - as to maintain the silence that was there before the crying started. When they saw us walk in and settle into our table, I could sense worry from the looks on the other guest's faces. I think in their minds they were thinking, "Oh no. Another one." Mia is pretty well behaved. We try. We definitely try to teach her manners and tell her what is proper behavior -- as much as a 2 year old toddler can understand. If that doesn't work, we have Peppa Pig on the phone as a last resort distraction.

 

A few minutes passed and the screaming continued. The parents were either oblivious to how it was affecting the rest of the guests, or they just plain didn't care. The servers and hostess were the ones attempting to diffuse the situation. Since we were the closest to their table (not that it mattered, the sounds echoed all around the room), the hostess asked us if we wanted to move to a table in the front. We declined. As a parent of a toddler, I understand how they can be. That's why they call it the terrible twos.

 

But also as a parent of toddler, I understand that I am the adult. If that had happened with Mia, I probably would have picked her up, retreated to the room, and ordered room service, so that she can continue her temper tantrum in the privacy of our room. When they brought our food to the table, I saw the toddler running behind me -- alone. It took a few minutes before an adult sat up and ran after the child. The screaming and crying continued, and finally, the child was taken outside. The rest of the family followed within minutes. I looked at the other guests, and I am 90% sure that most of the conversations were about what just occurred, as most of them had also watched it unravel before their very eyes.

 

Mia likes to role play now, so she was distributing our plates and giving us a piece of bread with butter. At times, she would raise her voice when she would say "Here you go, Mommy!" or "Tada!" At that point, I would tell her to please keep her voice down, and that there was no reason to be loud, especially when we are in public. I told her that there are other people around that she needs to be considerate. I like to think that my daughter understands the concept. She usually says, "Sorry, Mommy. I try not to." and continue eating.

 

When we finished our dinner, we stood up and made our way to the exit. We were passing by a couple who sat diagonal from our table, and the woman stopped me. She said, "I just wanted to tell you that it was an absolute pleasure eating with your daughter tonight." I was so stunned that I couldn't say anything. She followed with, "Do you speak English?" I stammered, "Um, yes. Thank you. So much. Thank you." She smiled. I smiled. In a daze, I walked out of the room and held my head up high.

 

At that point, I wanted to go on every post on Cruise Critic wanting to ban children from dinner, from cruises, from life in general -- like they were never children themselves -- and tell them: "Please stop generalizing. Not all children are brats. And not all parents are oblivious or lack respect. Some of us try our hardest."

 

When we reached our room, I told my husband what happened, and we both had a big smile on our face for the rest of the night. We tucked Mia in bed, and we went back to the Epic Club for a date night and drank some wine. We decided to go back to the room by 11 because we couldn't stay away from Mia Toots for too long. We ordered some dessert and then got ready for bed. Before we drifted off to sleep, we both hugged Mia as tight as we could without waking her up, thankful that even though it might be hard at times, all our efforts were validated by that woman's compliment that night.

 

*This is Mia Toots*

Edited May 22, 2015 by Trinnah

[Trinnah]

I am following your review. Cannot wait for more installments.

 

Terry

 

Thank you! I'm still getting used to the 6 pictures per post limit, so I will try to post more. :)

[Crazy planning mom]

I am enjoying your in depth review and your daughter is adorable looking.

[Trinnah]

I am enjoying your in depth review and your daughter is adorable looking.

 

Thank you so much! I appreciate it. :)

[Trinnah]

 

SHOW REVIEWS:

We attended three shows on the ship: Cirque Dreams, Burn The Floor, and Legends. I was really looking forward to the Blue Man Group, but when we called prior to the cruise to book it, they had told us that they were replacing it.

 

CIRQUE DREAMS: The dinner and a show was great! My food was good. My mother-in-law didn't eat hers because although she ordered well done, it was still bleeding. She's not the type to send things back, so rather than say anything, she just didn't eat it. I was a little worried about Mia because we sat in the very front. At first, she was scared and sat on her dad's lap, but then she was just as amazed as we were. She really enjoyed it! The only time she said anything was to ask to go to the bathroom. During one of the set changes, my husband took her to the bathroom. Rather than interrupt the show by coming in, they stayed outside until it ended, as she had requested to go towards the end. At this time, the performers would exit and enter from the same spot, so they were playing with her prior to performing.

 

OPINION: The food, for me, was an A. The show was an A+. Very entertaining.

 

BURN THE FLOOR: When I asked the NCL customer service representative to describe the show that was replacing Blue Man, all she told me was "Dancing w/ The Stars" type of show. We had priority seating with The Haven, but we arrived late, so the concierge personnel was already gone by the time we showed up. We stood in line, but my husband urged me to go see if he was in the front. I asked the girl if the concierge representative was still available inside, and she said, "No, but go ahead and come in." I felt a little bad bypassing the line, but I guess it's one of the perks. Most of the seats were already taken, but there were rotating seats near the bar that weren't filled yet. We sat down, and we just had Mia sit on our lap since there were only 4 chairs available. It was also good for a quick exit in case Mia wanted to use the bathroom again.

 

OPINION: The show was fun to watch also! I'm so used to watching my niece's hip hop competitions that at times I was a bit too harsh when they weren't in sync. Then I remembered that I can't possibly even come close to doing what they do, and I was brought back down to earth. My complaint was that there was a bar right in from of the chairs that made it hard to see, and when I looked at all the other similar chairs, a similar bar was absent. No wonder those seats were still empty. It blocked the people's views that sat on them! But no biggie. We just slouched or moved forward to see better.

 

LEGENDS: This was the last show that we attended. We finally arrived early enough to sit in the priority seating, which was in the very front. I kept looking for possible exits, in case Mia needed to use the bathroom. Sure enough, she asked to use the bathroom twice -- both were false alarms. I would carry her up the stairs, ducked my head, and ran up as to not block anybody's views and tried to do it during the times when they dimmed the light at the end of the song. She really loves music, so for the most part, she behaved and watched. At the beginning of the show, when the cruise director came on stage, he saw her in the front row and asked her for her name and age. Being the shy one, she whispered "Mia" and "2." The director then asked if it was her first cruise, and everybody laughed. He then told her a joke about Tigger and "Pooh." Mia just looked at him because she was the only one that didn't get it. During the show, "Gloria Estefan" came to the front row to touch her head, and when she asked for everybody to "get on their feet" and "make it happen," she danced, too! After the show, one of the guests who shared a bus with us on a previous excursion told my husband and I, "We saw this little party animal. If you need my shotgun for when she grows up, I can lend it to you." We all started laughing and once again, Mia just looked at us.

 

OPINION: The "Legends" really looked & sounded like who they were supposed to be. I loved Gloria Estefan because I knew more of her songs than I did Stewart & U2s. But it was a pretty good show. I kind of wanted more acts!

 

 

NAPLES, SORRENTO, CAPRI EXCURSION:

Our first excursion was to Naples, Sorrento, and Capri. I made sure to follow the instructions on the paper that was given to us, and we arrived 10 minutes early. Their protocol on how to assign us the bus and tour guide was very much in order. They made it clear that if we wanted to be on the same bus, to stay together so that we all get the same number. Our tour guide was very knowledgable of the area and of the history. You can tell that she really loved what she did. She was constantly giving us information, even on the drive to the sites. She also took her time with the walking, as it was an "Activity Level: 3" on the website for a 10 hour excursion.

 

Pompeii was a little hard for us because of the stroller because of the uneven ground, but I expected that after reading the reviews. Mia still likes to nap, so there was a point in time when she fell asleep and we had to push her in the stroller. It was good that this happened when we arrived in Sorrento. They provided us our lunch, which was pretty good, and Mia wasn't able to eat it at she was asleep. I asked if they could box it to go. At first, they said no, but I think one of the waiters felt sorry for her, so he said he could do it. He wrapped it and put it in a plastic bag.

 

We then did some more walking --- lots of and lots of walking --- and finally took a boat ride to Capri. In Capri, we road the cable car to the top and was instructed to return to the cable car at a certain time. We visited the shops, as we thought we had enough time, and sat down and ordered some food. Before we knew it, one of our excursion mates flagged us down and said, "We're late. We need to go. She gave us the wrong time. We're supposed to leave now. Half the group is already at the boat."

 

Panic set in, and we had to take our food to go. We were in such a hurry that my husband left the camera at the restaurant. As we were about to get on the cable car, the waiter ran after us and gave the camera to my husband. I appreciated that very much! As we were getting ready to board the cable car, we got split from my in-laws. There's a certain number of people that can be taken down by the "cable car" at a time, and there was a field trip with some students who took most of the number. The catch was that the chaperones were trying to get all the students together that none of them had put it in their ticket, so when the gates closed, there were 15 students by themselves on the other side. The teacher told them to wait, and a lot of the passengers left behind complained because we could have had 15 of us go instead. The conductor and personnel saw this and let one of the teachers go through, so that the students could go down with the group. When we finally reached the bottom, our tour guide was nowhere to be found as she was rounding up the rest of our group who thought that the meet up time was an hour from what it actually was. One of the missing members was my mother-in-law's friend's daughter. Her phone had ran out of battery, so we couldn't reach her that way either. As soon as we stepped out into the crowds, the other tour guide asked us if we were the Miras and gave us our ticket and told us to get to the boat ASAP.

 

We ran and ran and finally reached the boat and was reunited with my in-laws. About 10 minutes later, we saw our tour guide covered in sweat with the missing daughter right behind her. We arrived back at the boat just in time before it set sail again. Since we booked through NCL, I knew they wouldn't leave without us, but at the same time, that was way too much excitement for one day.

 

 

When we got back to the ship, we got ready for dinner and went back to the Epic Club, where they gave Mia ice cream with sprinkles and jello for finishing her dinner.

 

Afterwards, I was so tired that I passed out early.

 

I needed the energy for the Rome tour, which ended up being a whole lot of walking also -- but this time, a whole lot faster since our tour guide was younger. But I'll elaborate in the next installment . . .

 

Edited May 22, 2015 by Trinnah

[smartpeach]

Enjoying your review! Your daughter looks adorable. I just have some questions if you don't mind:

 

1. Do you remember what time you had to be back at the ship at the Naples Port? They recently changed the departure time from 7:00pm to 6:00pm, I believe. I'm just wondering how long I can arrange a tour with a private company.

 

2. Not really a question but a request: Is it okay if you can post the dailies?

 

 

Thank you!

 

:)

Edited May 22, 2015 by smartpeach

[Marion B]

Enjoying your in-depth review very much, especially the photos. It adds to my excitement about boarding the Epic for the first time, in the Haven.

Mia is just adorable!

 

Thanks,

Marion

[Trinnah]

Enjoying your review! Your daughter looks adorable. I just have some questions if you don't mind:

 

1. Do you remember what time you had to be back at the ship at the Naples Port? They recently changed the departure time from 7:00pm to 6:00pm, I believe. I'm just wondering how long I can arrange a tour with a private company.

I think we had to be back by 6:30. Most of our times were set for 6:30, so that they could sail by 7:00 pm.

 

2. Not really a question but a request: Is it okay if you can post the dailies?

I wish I could, but I don't have them with me, and I didn't get to take a picture of them. I think I only saw two of the dailies because we kind of forgot about it. :(

 

Thank you!

 

:)

 

Thank you so much for your feedback. I wish I could've helped more with the dailies. I'm going to have to remember that for next time. :)

[Trinnah]

Enjoying your in-depth review very much, especially the photos. It adds to my excitement about boarding the Epic for the first time, in the Haven.

Mia is just adorable!

 

Thanks,

Marion

 

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

 

I was the same way before our cruise, and when I was finally in the room, it was so much better. I'm sure it'll be better for you, too! They said that once you've been in the Haven, you don't want to go anywhere else, so we're definitely going to have to start saving for the next one. Cruising is a bit addictive. :)

Edited May 22, 2015 by Trinnah

[Mistizoom]

Great review, beautiful pictures!

[yyz1314]

Great review so far. We were on this but boarded in Rome on the 6th.

 

By the way, all aboard is always 30 minutes prior to sailing at all the stops except embarking day which is 2 hours for newbies and 30 mins for anyone who is on a port day.

 

Naples all aboard is 5:30 now with the revised port times. If you are on private tours let your driver know this they and will adjust their times accordingly. Our driver thought it was back by 4 but he was able to reschedule the day to use the extra 90 mins.

 

Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

Frank

[anandaindonesia]

Good writing style and beautiful pictures.

Thanks for sharing.

What view do you have from the Heaven bath tub?

[cruiseclues]

Thank You for your Very Good Photos & Your Detailed Review. :):):):)

[Trinnah]

** Addendum: It wasn't U2. It was Sting. Goes to show how much I paid attention.

 

 

May 13, 2015: Rome, Italy

 

After our Naples excursion, we thought we had a little bit more time in the morning, so we didn't arrive 10 minutes earlier as usual. Actually, I had to run down the stairs with the stroller while my in-laws, husband, and daughter waited for the elevator to finally come up from wherever it was coming from -- stopping at every single floor before it finally reached floor 17. Going down the stairs isn't so bad, so I arrived first. When I arrived, they were boarding the last couple of buses. In other words, we almost missed it. I asked one of the employees if they would wait for my family. She asked me where they were, and I told her, "Somewhere in the elevators." She just shrugged. I think it was her way of saying, "Well, they better get here soon."

 

OPINION: For such a large ship, they don't have a lot of elevators. I think there's one elevator that has a sign that tells you that it's for Haven passengers and will only stop on Deck 6 and Deck 16. Someone who was staying on the 16th floor said that they used to be able to put their key cards, and that it would take you directly to the Haven floors, which I think would have been great. It's just that whenever the concierge would ask us to meet at their desk on the 16th floor so that they could take us all together downstairs, we would often stop at every single floor before we finally reached the destination. A full elevator, stopping at a every single floor, and every time it opened, I also know how the other people waiting for an elevator feels. The door dings and you think you're going to finally be able to get on, but then really, it's just a full elevator wanting to get to deck 5. To make a long story short, for the number of occupancy that the ship has, you would think they would have had more elevators.

 

 

As you might have guessed, my family made it out of the elevator in time, and I ran down the stairs (with an NCL employee yelling "no running!" right behind me.) I felt like I was late for my next class, and the hall monitor saw me and threatened to give me detention. We boarded the bus and embarked on the 2 hour ride to our destination. When we arrived, we were introduced to our tour guide, who, I believe, was studying for her doctorate degree in history. Another great source of information! The headset system, however, had other ideas because for 1/4 of the excursion, it wouldn't work. She had to wait for someone to drop off another one that had a working microphone. This tour guide was a lot younger, so she was going full speed. I thought the first day had a lot of walking, but I think the Rome one took the cake. In case you were wondering, we took the Ultimate Rome with NCL, and although it took us to all the places we wanted to see, it was so fast paced that I didn't have time to truly appreciate everything until I reviewed the pictures after. Half the time was spent trying to make sure we didn't get lost from the rest of the group.

 

We also had an excursion mate who had heart problems who became diaphoretic and pale. I'm from South Texas so I'm used to heat, but even that day was just a prickling type of heat that could give anybody, let alone someone with heart problems, a heat stroke. When the tour ended, we met up with him at the train station. They had brought him there in a taxi, and he was able to sit and rest in an air conditioned area and was good as new! I'm just thankful. I kept worrying and asking the wife questions. My husband had to constantly tell me, "It's okay. They'll take care of him."

 

From what I heard from the tour guide though, I learned that the Italians borrowed from the Egyptians (thus, the pyramid), and that the Italians didn't like Napoleon because he "borrowed" from the Italians. I put that in quotations because I don't think she meant inspiration like the pyramids. I think she meant he literally stole from them and was not welcome to the country after. While on one of our "walking sprees," we ended up having to walk fast in order to beat protesting firemen from using the roads we wanted to use. According to the tour guide, since we were in the political district, it was not out of the ordinary to see a protest daily. And even though the armed policemen were overseeing the protesting, not once did it turn violent.

 

OPINION: The lack of public restrooms is time consuming. We had an hour break for lunch, and I used about 35 minutes of it waiting in line to use the bathroom. My bladder has no problems, but I have to make sure that my 2-year-old toddler uses the restroom at certain time frames or we're going to have an accident on our hands.

 

MISSED IT: The Trevi fountain was being renovated, and since we had to follow the tour guide, we didn't have time to go through the designated "tunnel" that they had in order to still throw coins and see what was open to the public. We were able to take pictures of the outside though, so it was a consolation prize.

 

 

May 14, 2015: Florence / Pisa, Italy

 

My favorite tour / bus guide had to be Carla! She was hilarious and constantly making jokes! I was laughing the entire time, and I didn't even notice how long the bus rides were because of her. She mentioned that even though the Italians have amazing woodwork and craftsmanship, all of that went out the window when an Ikea opened nearby. She said that even the carpenters were buying from Ikea!

 

We were really waiting for the leaning tower of Pisa because my husband and I had all these ideas of how we were going to take our picture. We had a plan on what Mia was going to do. Our plans were foiled when she fell asleep on the way there and didn't wake up until after we arrived back at the boat. We also lost my in-laws when they went to the restroom and spent half the time looking for them. I think "being lost" is a big theme during our excursions, isn't it?

 

No complaints or concerns with this excursion. The activity level wasn't too bad. Not too much walking, and I felt like we had more time at the sites that were on the list to visit.

 

 

May 15, 2015: Cannes, France

 

We didn't book an excursion in France. I received advice from Cruise Critic that after 3 straight days of full day excursions, we might need a break and just relax and go our own speed. That, and when we called to book the tour that we had our eye on, they told us it wasn't available because of the Grand Prix and the Film Festival. A blessing in disguise.

 

Since the port is small, we had to tender. I already knew this going in because of Cruise Critic (once again). We called our concierge and were escorted to the life boat without having to wait in line. (Yay Haven perk!) We were one of the first groups because we decided to go bright and early in order to be back in time for lunch. We asked for a map at the tourist desk, where Mia was given free sunglasses. We walked around and checked out the stores. We received quite a few of the magazines from the media outlets for the Cannes Film Festival. We also saw a lot of the tinted black sedans going in and out of the venues. We visited a few of the stores and did a quick run through in Chanel, Hermes, and Celine. Window shopping is what we like to call it.

 

All the window shopping got us hungry, so we checked out one of the restaurants. I got used to the fact that everybody in Spain and Italy spoke English, but it was not the case here. So I used my trusty iTranslate app. I'm sure my pronunciation was horrible, but I think it got the point across. We wanted to order garlic break, but she said we had to have called ahead of time to reserve. The only thing on the menu available for us were omelettes. When you're hungry, an omelette is amazing, especially when you tell yourself you're eating it in France, compared to the hospital cafeteria during your break.

 

OPINION: Cannes was expensive. I hadn't bought a lot of gifts for my family in Italy because I was thinking of getting it in France. Whoops!

 

 

The ride back was a little rough. We could already see the waves increasing, and the lifeboats had to take turns because if they traveled near each other, one vessel would make the waves bigger for the other. It got to a point where the waves were so big that we were getting sprayed when we would crash into them, so they had to close the doors. I didn't mind getting sprayed. Neither did the teenagers across from me, as they were hooting and hollering every time it did. But some people didn't look too pleased, so one of the staff closed the door. The ride back to the boat went a whole lot slower, and I completely understood. It's not easy navigating through the waves, and it was just as difficult attempting to "park" it at the entrance so we could get off to get back in the boat. I think they had to actually hold the ropes just so that it wouldn't move while we were stepping off. One false move and someone could have easily fallen into the water.

 

 

While we were eating lunch, we noticed the ship move. My husband mentioned that they were probably repositioning it so that we weren't in rough waters. I'm not an expert in that field, so I just went about with my business of eating my lunch. When it was almost time to depart, I sat in the solarium so that I could watch. However, an hour passed, and we still hadn't left. I wondered why. I kept thinking maybe it had something to do with how our trip was in the lifeboat back to the boat.

 

That's when a voice came on the intercom system and apologized for the delay. Because of the rough sea, movements, and repositioning, one of our anchors was bent. I guess they had a hard time bringing it back up, so it took longer than expected. I read somewhere else on Cruise Critic that someone mentioned something about the engine. I don't remember anybody saying anything about the engine, so she/he might have had some inside information that wasn't disclosed to the rest of us. Our scheduled time of arrival to Palma was supposed to be 1PM but because of the anchor incident, the captain estimated an arrival time of 2PM instead.

 

That night was the most horrible night out of the entire trip. I don't usually get sea sick. I grew up in the Philippines and rode boats (tiny, tiny ones) all the time. But this was different. I was so nauseous that I actually threw up twice and ended up taking Dramamine. I was just thankful that Mia wasn't affected at all.

 

When we woke up the next day, there was still some movement but not as bad as the night before. As soon as I walked out of our room, I was greeted by the ironing board. I looked at the solarium and all the furniture (and our luggages) were on one side, upside down. A glass had broken in the bathroom, and few other things were on the floor from the table. My husband told me that he couldn't sleep the night before. He was so worried that something might happen to us and since his mom and I both don't know how to swim, he kept coming up with scenarios in his head. (I laugh now!) He said he even called concierge to ask if this was normal. They told him we were having 20-25 foot waves and that they've had 30-35 foot waves before, so it wasn't a worry. They also said that the Captain knew about the weather and rather than disappoint people by not docking at Cannes, he waited it out to see if we could beat it.

 

OPINION: I'm thankful that he let us stop in Cannes. I'm thankful that he knew exactly what he was doing during that storm. And I'm thankful that we can out of that safely.

[Trinnah]

Good writing style and beautiful pictures.

Thanks for sharing.

What view do you have from the Heaven bath tub?

 

Thank you so much!

It was a much cleared and more open view of wherever we were headed and what was in front of the boat. :) It was nice to shower my daughter there and just look at the view while she played with her mermaid.

[Trinnah]

Great review so far. We were on this but boarded in Rome on the 6th.

 

By the way, all aboard is always 30 minutes prior to sailing at all the stops except embarking day which is 2 hours for newbies and 30 mins for anyone who is on a port day.

 

Naples all aboard is 5:30 now with the revised port times. If you are on private tours let your driver know this they and will adjust their times accordingly. Our driver thought it was back by 4 but he was able to reschedule the day to use the extra 90 mins.

 

Look forward to the rest of your review.

 

Frank

 

One the staff members had asked us if we were leaving already the night before we docked, so it must have been the day when your group was disembarking.

 

Oh thank you! I didn't know that. That must mean that the ship had to wait for us because we didn't get back at 5:30 on that first excursion day. Whoops. :)

[Trinnah]

Thank you for all your feedback and additional info. I'm definitely learning more and more for future trips because of this forum. :)

 

I'll try to update again soon!

[NLH Arizona]

Great review. I think most people would say that it would be a pleasure to dine with your daughter and your family.

 

BTW, she certainly looks like a little fashionista!!! She is so cute.

Edited May 24, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[OurDogCisco]

Great review. I just booked the 2 bedroom family suite in the haven on the epic for next summer.

 

Do you utilized the haven breakfast room. Do you have a picture of the food and/or menu? Did you think,it was worth it?

[anandaindonesia]

Thank you so much!

It was a much cleared and more open view of wherever we were headed and what was in front of the boat. :) It was nice to shower my daughter there and just look at the view while she played with her mermaid.

Thank you.

Is your balcony also facing the front of the ship? Is it open balcony or closed balcony?

[naagnel55]

Thank you for your review! We are traveling with a 1 year old on the same cruise in August so it was very helpful to see what you did for excursions with your little girl!

[drjochen]

Great review. We will be in the same cabin in a few weeks!