An EPIC Cruise to the Canary Isalnds with Walking Difficulties

[trinitytrees]

We came home healthy, but did have a teenager hacking away at the computer next to us while we were printing up boarding passes. We plan to submit a review soon. All in all , it was a great cruise. Loved the entertainment, food and ports. I believe we were lucky because the weather was good and the outside areas of the ship could be utilized most of the time. As usual NCL, treated us royally, can't say the same for the passengers. Lot's of line cutting at the buffet, and the bar at spice h2o was every man for himself. I have calmed down so I will leave it to avoid controversy.

 

I too am intending to do a review, my experience at spice h20 was the same every man for himself, being a woman.....I couldn't get served,I kept being ignored by bar staff, when I eventually spoke up the bar man ridiculed and embarrassed me, needless to say I was not a happy bunny!

 

More staff were needed in that area, I was talking to a fello passenger who had been onboard for the previous cruise and she. Said she noticed a big difference in service this crew as the ship was full.

[SuiteCruisin14]

Our last day I woke with a very husky voice and sore throat-great!

It was overcast and a bit cool so only a few brave kids on the pool deck

 

Decided needed local anaesthetic for the throat and so to the atrium bar for a few rebellious fish

 

With it being so cool outside the atrium was busy and the venue for trivia and fruit carving demo.

 

Lunchtime we met up with fellow roll callers for a farewell lunch in the Manhattan room and a good sociable time.

 

Then a final Thermal Spa visit.

 

That afternoon was first time sun was actually on our balcony so had an hour out there reading

 

Evening headed back to the atrium bar and to fill out a few vacation hero cards

As previously mentioned this is the first time have not done so for at least one bar worker but Hari from the atrium bar deserves an anti vacation hero award.

 

The atrium was very busy that day but he seemed to deliberately ignore people at the bar obviously waiting for a drink-ourselves included. Dont know what his problem was but a few people were getting impatient and tapping their keycards on the bar which made the atmosphere a bit tense.

We gave up and headed to another bar but there is definitely a lack of good attentive bar staff which is not our usual NCL experience.

 

We headed back to bed for a nap as was coughing well by this stage and noted that many others on the ship were doing the same. I did manage to revive and head out for final night with the Starlights

Sasha the female vocalist was absent-another victim of the sore throat/cough virus

 

It was a good final night marred by another example of poor parenting and poor bar waiters.

 

About 11pm a couple of pre schoolkids dressed in their pyjamas were sat with their parents next to the dance floor .Kids were obviously tired and kranky and one kicked out and knocked his glass over which smashed onto the floor

 

Bearing in mind the kids had bare feet the parents were a bit laid back but not as much as the bar waitress who had to be told 3 times by the bartender to clear up the broken glass[we were sat at the bar so overheard the conversation]

 

Bid farewell to Cornel after getting email address from him so 6 could send some of the photos he’d taken

He obviously liked the one of him in rock star pose on stage as we noted he’d added it on facebook!

 

 

Enjoyed your review, as always. We have not done the Epic and will meet up with you and 6 next April.

 

Lynda

[cclarke12]

Clocks forward 1 hour again and woke to a cloudy and cool day with 5 foot waves so not a calm seas sunbathing day

 

They were selling off half price NCL sweatshirts and t shirts at the Marketplace so bought a bright pink hoodie

The on board shops seem to have stopped selling such practical items that you might actually need to buy if the weather conditions weren’t what you packed for. However the expensive high end clothing on sale in the boutiques didn’t exactly seem to be flying off the shelves!

 

Anyway armed with my hoodie 6 and I headed up to deserted Spice H2O and made the acquaintance of the bar waiters there .Rebellious fish by this time was our cruise cocktail so we indulged.

 

After the post rebellious fishes nap at 2.30 it was time for my third and final hot stones massage and got caught up in a locker mess up

 

When you hand over your keycard at the Thermal spa reception they give you a specific locker number with key card to access spa and they store your room key card in a numbered slot so can quickly identify your card on leaving-simple system eh-what can go wrong?

Well when someone chooses to randomly pick a locker other than that assigned!

My allocated locker was in use and locked and when I informed the staff they suggested I use an adjacent free locker-OK but isn’t that going to compound the system failure even more?

Spoiler alert it caused an issue the next visit!

 

After my wonderfully relaxing massage I headed to the Cavern Club as 6 had intended to take part in the second name that rock tune quiz

As I walked in 2 women said “you’ve just missed him”-OK we must have made an impression on fellow passengers for recognition mode!

 

I found him back in the cabin ever so slightly bitter that his solo effort had been beaten into second place by another team-however still an improved score than when I had “helped “ him the previous time

 

I provided 6 with a cut price facial exfoliation and moisture mask using my own treat products and left him snoring quietly as I headed for my 7pm reservation for Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

 

6 doesnt “do” shows and I have learned from bitter experience that it is much better for me to attend solo than suffer his obviously bored face.

Fortunately I have a daughter and friends who do appreciate theatre so at home have plenty of company to choose from but on a cruise ship it is just so easy to do solo stuff.

 

I found a seat right down at the front just behind the wheelchair guests reserved seats and to the side so had uninterrupted view of the stage

I have seen the show in London West End and on regional tour so knew that the advisory that not suitable for children or the easily offended was accurate.

 

However despite 3 announcements in the 30 minutes before the show started where the above warning was stated lots of kids remained

Even with the cast member announcing at start that “kiddies should grab their floatties and head back to Splash Academy” they were still there!

 

Earlier in the cruise we had been chatting to a lady who was chaperone to the two 10 year old boys who share role of the supposed 6 year old in the play

She was on “free time “ as they were in kids club but she said that during the show she keeps them in the dressing room whilst not on stage-which actually is 90% of the time so they aren’t [supposedly] aware of the adult content so NCL are doing their protective role

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the show but it really isn’t suitable for children and as for the crying baby at the back.............

 

 

After the show I found 6 in the Cavern club listening to the Starlights and discovered Cornel had rescued him from a predatory female during the break by coming over to talk to him about guitar stuff

See I have such a movie star looks husband I need to be there to protect him!!!!

 

This cruise corresponded to British school Easter holidays so expected a lot of children on board

We didn’t notice a lot of them during the day as we avoided the main pool decks and the kids clubs were popular

 

However late at night was a different story

Apart from too young audiences at Priscilla there were a lot of kids at Howl at the Moon late at night including after the posted 11pm adult theme time

In fact one night 2 kids were in the front row with their parents and kids were playing games on their phones.Obviously uninterested in the show but taking up prime audience viewing space[a lot of pillars in headliners mean a lot of restricted viewing spots]

 

O Sheehans also had a lot of kids running wild late at night especially in the arcade area and 6 walking stick was required a few times to plant himself and give stability to avoid being knocked over by an overtired excitable child

 

OK perhaps am an old fashioned parent but we kept our children to a bedtime routine so they weren’t overtired and if we didn’t arrange a babysitter we had a quiet night

 

OK rant over

 

You've solved a mystery for me. We've just got off Epic and my 10 year old told me there were two boys at club that were living and working on the ship. I took it all with a pinch of salt, but it was obviously true.

 

Sounds like we perhaps had better service. We didn't find the wait for drinks any longer than a pub at home. If the pool bar was busy I always popped into the buffet bar which never had a queue. Bar service in Headliners was excellent and I also noticed quite a few people using the bar between Moderno and Cagneys which always seemed to be a quiet spot for a drink. Bar service in the restaurants was considerably more efficient than on Jade last year. I didn't really like O'Sheehans - always seemed dark and packed out.

Edited April 17, 2016 by cclarke12