Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Epic Refurbishment

Single Cruiser

By Single Cruiser,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

CruisinMaterial

CruisinMaterial

Posted
Posted
Bowling at sea seems to have passed, as a trend. Maybe they will eliminate the Alice in Wonderland Bordello theme at Bliss. I would like that.

 

I will do a full report, as I'm on the ill-fated October 11--nope--October 18--nope--October 19 sailing from Southampton to Barcelona. :cool:

 

I agree the bowling at sea is a past-time. It was neat when it first came out but now you can do bumper cars at sea and go up in a some bubble to get a better view of the ocean. What's with all the gimicky stuff lately anyway? Cruising should revert to it's roots of meeting new people and relaxing. All these things hardly seem like a relaxing voyage and take up so much space which could be devoted to relaxing!

 

The Bliss Lounge on Epic was much like Maharini's on the Spirit. These two are the BEST nightclub / lounges in the entire NCL fleet. The BA/GA's Bliss Lounge was pathetic. The gimicky LED wall panels made the room trippy but the sheer size of the room and lack of comfortable seating made it limp. The new nightclub re-do on Escape is great, only it doesn't have a defined entry way and separate area so I'm more than sure the smoke from the casino will waft in there because they've yet to figure out how to get the smell out of that area.

 

I look forward to the new pictures though and thank you for offering to share your reports of them! I'm hoping for an increased dance floor on the Epic's Bliss and a new bar reconfiguration, although the center bar is great to hang at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruisinMaterial

CruisinMaterial

Posted
Posted
Ive never seen any kids use that area under the funnel. I think it's more to "de-Nickleodeonise" the area

 

Probably... those figurines have to disappear from all the ships now. Wonder who will end up with them? Hopefully they donate them to a water area in an inner city. It would be a nice gesture from NCL to do such a thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SwissLe

SwissLe

Posted
Posted
Probably... those figurines have to disappear from all the ships now. Wonder who will end up with them? Hopefully they donate them to a water area in an inner city. It would be a nice gesture from NCL to do such a thing.

 

NCL won't have a choice, if NCL had their way they'd remain on board. Rights dictate the removal and destruction.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
CruisinMaterial

CruisinMaterial

Posted
Posted
NCL won't have a choice, if NCL had their way they'd remain on board. Rights dictate the removal and destruction.

 

NCL paid to have them made for their ships. While they are characters under contract to be there, they shouldn't just be destroyed. I would think someone somewhere would use their head and put them to benefit. :cool:

 

But alas, you are right... corporate America doesn't think much. :( Truly sad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
travelpeon

travelpeon

Posted
Posted
http://www.letelegramme.fr/finistere/brest/port-de-commerce/norwegian-epic-le-chantier-se-prepare-31-08-2015-10755937.php

 

A short article about the preparations and a pic of a new and wrapped engine (in French, oui le langage de Bistro!).

 

From Google Translate

After a last cruise, it will land its passengers in Southampton, England, and will make the crossing to Brest, its board, its 1,500 crew members. A few days before, a container ship will unload containers loaded with about 200 booths of furniture, bedding, mattresses and sanitary equipment. Another big piece, 30 km from carpet to replace those currently laid. They will be processed by a thousand technicians to complement the staff of Damen Shipyards, prime contractors of this major project that will continue in principle until October 18. Other important work is also planned, with the replacement group arrived yesterday and the usual painting and audits, usually performed as part of the technical stops.

 

© Le Télégramme - Plus d’information sur http://www.letelegramme.fr/finistere/brest/port-de-commerce/norwegian-epic-le-chantier-se-prepare-31-08-2015-10755937.php

 

New furniture, bedding, mattresses, and sanitary equipment in addition to new carpet. Should mean that cabins will come out looking quite nice, though work "will continue in principle until October 18"... Should I hope this is just a different approach to the principle of a deadline as one of the "Oct 18, no 19th" cruisers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
time2cruise1

time2cruise1

Posted
Posted (edited)
She has just come into Southampton this morning, so we will going after work to see her, [emoji2] not seen her in nearly a year can't wait.

 

 

Better hurry. She left this afternoon before 5:00 heading to dry dock.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

Edited by time2cruise1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Single Cruiser

Single Cruiser

Posted
  • Author
Posted

This mornings disembarkation was the worst I've ever experienced! Walk off was due to start at 8AM. By 9AM the floors were grid-locked with people waiting. People were going down to deck 5 in lifts no room getting off so travelled back up and down. We ended up queuing down stairs lumping suitcases.

 

We'd cleared immigration onboard the day before so no one could understand why. Until I eventually after half an hour reached the exit. Instead of a flat gangway, it was angled at 45 degrees! And people were sliding, being dragged down by their wheeled cases. Took all my strength to hold the rail with one hand and case in the other without flying down on my backside!

 

It looks like NCL neglected to tell port authorities passengers getting off as the main terminal was closed as no one was getting on! Apart from workmen on this service gangway!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sha32

sha32

Posted
Posted
Better hurry. She left this afternoon before 5:00 heading to dry dock.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

 

 

I was there from 15:00 then waved her off [emoji137][emoji137], then drove back to Portsmouth and watched her go through the Solent, a great sight [emoji4]

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ulster-cruiser

ulster-cruiser

Posted
Posted
This mornings disembarkation was the worst I've ever experienced! Walk off was due to start at 8AM. By 9AM the floors were grid-locked with people waiting. People were going down to deck 5 in lifts no room getting off so travelled back up and down. We ended up queuing down stairs lumping suitcases.

 

We'd cleared immigration onboard the day before so no one could understand why. Until I eventually after half an hour reached the exit. Instead of a flat gangway, it was angled at 45 degrees! And people were sliding, being dragged down by their wheeled cases. Took all my strength to hold the rail with one hand and case in the other without flying down on my backside!

 

It looks like NCL neglected to tell port authorities passengers getting off as the main terminal was closed as no one was getting on! Apart from workmen on this service gangway!

 

I was on this sailing too and I agree that the disembarkation was bad. Despite announcements over the PA to not proceed to the gangways people continued to do so resulting in the atrium being full (literally no space to move). People continued to use the escalator from deck 6 down to deck 5, and then people couldn't move at the bottom of the escalator meaning there could have been a bad accident at the bottom as there was nowhere for the people to go (thankfully someone pressed the emergency stop bottom). After queuing for about 45mins we finally go through the queue to find a 45 degree slope ramp to get off the ship. NCL had staff there to help each person down one by one with their cases which was helpful. I'm not sure if we can blame NCL for this one, I think this might have been the fault of Southampton port which is a bad showing from them.

 

 

On the sea day when we had to get passports checked by UKBA there were also long queues and waits, but again I don't think this was the fault of NCL... People didn't show up at the correct times causing long queues at the later time slots!

 

I thought these few minor incidents were due to the fact that this was a unique situation for this ship!

 

All in all I had a great trip once again on the Epic and would like to see her after her dry dock. The weather was great, food was good and entertainment was good as usual! Yes the Beatles were a different band from when I was on in July, I preferred the previous band but I thought this band was still good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...