Live from the Epic

[Kfamilycruise]

Beautiful photos! I went to Castel Saintelmo as well when in Naples. You can't beat those views!!!

 

I remember it being very easy to get there and back.

 

Thanks for bringing us along with you on your cruise!

[KeithJenner]

Been to Naples a couple of times but have never gone up to the Castel Sant Elmo, the views look stunning and it seems like it was a nice clear day as well. can I ask how did you get to the Funicular station and is it far from the port. Can't believe I am only finding out about this now

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

The station is about 5 minutes walk from the port gates. It is called Centralle Augusteo and is signposted.

 

At the top the Castle is also only 5-10 minutes walk and signposted, although we did manage to lose the signs at one point so walked a bit too far. Getting back, I followed the directions via my phone, which was much quicker.

 

It's well worth doing.

[KeithJenner]

It's hard work this cruising business.

 

After grabbing some lunch, we headed up to the pool deck. As luck would have it, our son made a friend and spent a couple of hours on the slides and in the pools with her, so we had nothing better to do than sit in the sun and have a few drinks. As more people came back from shore it got busier, but still there were plenty of chairs available and glasses were only ever empty for a minute or two (if ever getting to that stage) before someone offered to refill them.

 

We had dinner in the buffet, good without being great, as usual, and then our son headed to the Whacky Tacky party whilst we had a strenuous night in o'Sheehans.

 

Service was, once again, excellent. No need to ask for a drink all night, refills were there as soon as we finished a drink.

 

I'm on my balcony again, with the lighthouses flashing in the distance. Just finishing this and then I really should finish this bottle of wine.

 

Hope you're all having a great time at work this week. :)

[cc_rider]

....I have very mixed feelings about Naples. There is so much so see in the area, and it's an interesting city, but it certainly isn't easy on the eye. I always think that just a small amount of effort and a bit of litter picking would make so much difference....

Naples turned out to be to favorite port stop of the entire cruise. We were more interested in Baroque churches than Roman ruins, so we spent the day in the city. Loved it. Reminded me of Lower East Side New York, so I felt at home. Visited 7 churches and the Santa Chiara convent, and just wandered between the spaccanapoli and the Tribunali. Saw the laundry hanging from the balconies of the Spanish quarter Bought fresh babas and ate them in an anonymous courtyard while listening to "Ode to Joy" being played as part of a piano lesson from a room above. Saw the waiters dash about the streets, delivering food and drinks, putting it in buckets lowered from apartments above, then collecting their fee when the bucket is lowered again. Watched the military drilling on a piazza in front Baroque plague column, and children playing in one of the only treed spaces in the old city at the other end of the same piazza. Even manage to discretely crash a funeral at one of the churches.

 

Wanted to go up to St Elmo, but by the time we got to the

Piazza Dante an unexpected thunderstorm was rolling in. Heavy rain started as we were in the line to get back on board.

[KeithJenner]

Naples turned out to be to favorite port stop of the entire cruise. We were more interested in Baroque churches than Roman ruins, so we spent the day in the city. Loved it. Reminded me of Lower East Side New York, so I felt at home. Visited 7 churches and the Santa Chiara convent, and just wandered between the spaccanapoli and the Tribunali. Saw the laundry hanging from the balconies of the Spanish quarter Bought fresh babas and ate them in an anonymous courtyard while listening to "Ode to Joy" being played as part of a piano lesson from a room above. Saw the waiters dash about the streets, delivering food and drinks, putting it in buckets lowered from apartments above, then collecting their fee when the bucket is lowered again. Watched the military drilling on a piazza in front Baroque plague column, and children playing in one of the only treed spaces in the old city at the other end of the same piazza. Even manage to discretely crash a funeral at one of the churches.

 

Wanted to go up to St Elmo, but by the time we got to the

Piazza Dante an unexpected thunderstorm was rolling in. Heavy rain started as we were in the line to get back on board.

 

 

 

Can't disagree with any of this. It's a great place to visit, with plenty to see and loads going on.

 

However, it's still a bit of a dump. I don't mean that as a bad thing as such, but it isn't easy on the eye. It could be so much better is someone picked up the litter, and maybe just did something about the worst of the crumbling buildings.

 

I compare it a bit with Casablanca, which regularly gets slated on these boards. They are both interesting, bustling cities, but are also not particularly attractive and both have a problem with pushy street sellers (much worse in Casablanca). Given their locations, I'm surprised that Naples doesn't get criticised as much. Maybe it's just me.

 

It is certainly worth it though (as is Casablanca).

Edited May 31, 2016 by KeithJenner

[Jade Cruise]

Keith, thanks for your review. I've seen some reports on here about large numbers of rude asian tourists on board the Epic. Was that a once-off or is it still an issue?

 

We sail on Sunday, our first cruise

 

thanks:)

[KeithJenner]

Keith, thanks for your review. I've seen some reports on here about large numbers of rude asian tourists on board the Epic. Was that a once-off or is it still an issue?

 

We sail on Sunday, our first cruise

 

thanks:)

 

There are quite a lot of Asian passengers onboard, but I can't say that I have noticed any rudeness.

 

It seems that large groups are becoming more common these days on cruises. We had the issue on the first night at Spice, but haven't experienced any problem since.

[Seininya]

Wow, thanks KeithJenner for doing this very detailed review.

 

A quick question - do you know for Livorno, if Epic is still offering the shuttle from ship to train station? And if so, how much pp?

 

Many thanks!

[rsethnova]

Keith, thanks so much for the info. my wife and I are sailing in late June. my questions is- how are the specialty restaurants?

 

Rich

[fabnfortysomething]

It's hard work this cruising business.

 

After grabbing some lunch, we headed up to the pool deck. As luck would have it, our son made a friend and spent a couple of hours on the slides and in the pools with her, so we had nothing better to do than sit in the sun and have a few drinks. As more people came back from shore it got busier, but still there were plenty of chairs available and glasses were only ever empty for a minute or two (if ever getting to that stage) before someone offered to refill them.

 

We had dinner in the buffet, good without being great, as usual, and then our son headed to the Whacky Tacky party whilst we had a strenuous night in o'Sheehans.

 

Service was, once again, excellent. No need to ask for a drink all night, refills were there as soon as we finished a drink.

 

I'm on my balcony again, with the lighthouses flashing in the distance. Just finishing this and then I really should finish this bottle of wine.

 

Hope you're all having a great time at work this week. :)

 

glad to here the bar service has returned to its excellent standards.Our sub par experience on Epic in March was so unusual it was noteworthy!

[Diamonddec]

Enjoying your live review, Keith. I'm boarding in 11 days time on 12th June. I'm also "interested" in the situation regarding large Asian numbers on the ship. I read a review yesterday from someone that did a cruise on Epic earlier in May and he said that there were 3,000 Chinese on board and that it was to continue like that for a month or something. That is pretty much 3 out of 4 passengers. I was wondering if this is an on-going situation. Have you heard anything about it, or has the situation drastically changed?

[BamaVol]

Enjoying your live review, Keith. I'm boarding in 11 days time on 12th June. I'm also "interested" in the situation regarding large Asian numbers on the ship. I read a review yesterday from someone that did a cruise on Epic earlier in May and he said that there were 3,000 Chinese on board and that it was to continue like that for a month or something. That is pretty much 3 out of 4 passengers. I was wondering if this is an on-going situation. Have you heard anything about it, or has the situation drastically changed?

 

I was on the 5/15 sailing from BCN and I would estimate that 1/2 the passengers were Chinese. That would be more like 2,000. If I did my research correctly, this was an incentive trip awarded to cosmetic salespeople and yes, we experienced quite a bit of rudeness. It took the form of crowding, line-cutting, people reaching around you to fill their water bottles, rushing the elevators (in one instance, a crowd of them rushed around 2 people in wheelchairs waiting for an elevator and pushed the down button, leaving them waiting for the next one), crowding the aisles and other shenanigans. On top of that, Cantonese is the only language I'm familiar with that must be shouted so the noise level was extremely high. Most of it was harmless, if annoying. I did witness a fellow passenger get her drink spilled all over her dress as one of them ran through the casino and bumped her arm. At the time, she was complaining to me about some of them taking photographs of her teenage daughter in her bathing suit at the pool despite being asked not to. It all just needlessly raised tensions on what should have been a relaxing trip.

 

There were places where you could avoid them. Since English was not generally spoken, they avoided the shows. They were not in or at the bars either for the most part. They dominated the MDR's and buffet but reportedly avoided the specialty restaurants. I was a little surprised they hadn't taken over the casino. I found that by going down the stairs from the buffet (one of the specialty restaurants) at breakfast, it was a quiet retreat.

 

We didn't let it ruin our vacation but it was distracting, to say the least. I hope others are experiencing less of it than we did. I have no idea how many more of the group there are but there was a long line of them waiting to embark as we were disembarking so the next sailing may have been as bad as ours.

[Ramblin Wreck Cruiser]

I was on the 5/15 sailing from BCN and I would estimate that 1/2 the passengers were Chinese. That would be more like 2,000. If I did my research correctly, this was an incentive trip awarded to cosmetic salespeople and yes, we experienced quite a bit of rudeness. It took the form of crowding, line-cutting, people reaching around you to fill their water bottles, rushing the elevators (in one instance, a crowd of them rushed around 2 people in wheelchairs waiting for an elevator and pushed the down button, leaving them waiting for the next one), crowding the aisles and other shenanigans. On top of that, Cantonese is the only language I'm familiar with that must be shouted so the noise level was extremely high. Most of it was harmless, if annoying. I did witness a fellow passenger get her drink spilled all over her dress as one of them ran through the casino and bumped her arm. At the time, she was complaining to me about some of them taking photographs of her teenage daughter in her bathing suit at the pool despite being asked not to. It all just needlessly raised tensions on what should have been a relaxing trip.

 

There were places where you could avoid them. Since English was not generally spoken, they avoided the shows. They were not in or at the bars either for the most part. They dominated the MDR's and buffet but reportedly avoided the specialty restaurants. I was a little surprised they hadn't taken over the casino. I found that by going down the stairs from the buffet (one of the specialty restaurants) at breakfast, it was a quiet retreat.

 

We didn't let it ruin our vacation but it was distracting, to say the least. I hope others are experiencing less of it than we did. I have no idea how many more of the group there are but there was a long line of them waiting to embark as we were disembarking so the next sailing may have been as bad as ours.

 

BamaVol, we were on the same sailing as you. I would have estimated the number of Chinese to be about 2/3 to 3/4, but maybe it just seemed that way. I agree that there was quite a bit of rudeness. There was no concept of personal space, no concept of waiting in line and apparently no concept of weight load, as there would be throngs of people shoving each other to cram onto the elevators (I'm not even exaggerating. I was crushed, body-to-body, to the back of the elevator one time, before my sister cried "NO MORE!") You are right that they didn't attend shows and didn't hog the poolside chairs, so that was a plus. We had no problems getting into the main dining rooms, but we heard that it was impossible to get into the Chinese ones. The amusing thing to us was that they were perpetually taking pictures of themselves! They would take selfies, semi-selfies, glamour shots, group shots, you name it--literally for hours. I'm not sure they actually experienced the cruise, but they sure documented it! And I agree with their volume. My brother-in-law at one point said, "They must all be hard-of-hearing!" Lol. But, in the end, it did not impact our cruise at all, other than giving us something to chuckle about. After all, we probably annoyed/amused them with our customs, dialects, and habits. All-in-all, a great cruise!

[Diamonddec]

Thanks BamaVol and RWC. I hope that the "incentive trips" will be over by next week and that we get a varied and mixed crowd because I enjoy that.

[KeithJenner]

I'm rather confused about these big groups onboard. I have heard stories about groups of Asians and also about a cosmetic company and I am not sure whether they are the same.

 

On this cruise, the big group is from Jeunesse, who a web search showed to be some sort of cosmetic company. However, those who have seen are not Asian.

 

I was talking to someone from Jeunesse yesterday who was French and he had been given the cruise as some sort of incentive. He said that there are about 900 of them onboard.

 

They really haven't been a problem, other than the issue I mentioned above about not being able to get to the sports court. Other than that, I wouldn't have known they were onboard if it wasn't for the number of bags with the name on them that I have seen around.

 

There are a number of Asians around, but my guess would be about 10%. I've seen nothing to suggest that they are in any sort of group. Generally I've seen them just walking around, rather than being in venues.

 

A result of all the demographic on this cruise seems to be that restaurants and shows are quieter. Reservations are available almost everywhere, even in the evening, with some surprising exceptions. For example one evening, you could have got in everywhere except for La Cucina.

[KeithJenner]

I hope that nobody is waiting excitedly for stories of our trip into Rome yesterday. We have been to Rome a number of times and in my opinion it is best done as a short break. We have taken the train in from Civitavecchia a couple of times and I've always found it quite easy, if a long day. I'll try to answer any questions anyone has regardless.

 

Instead, we had what we have taken to calling "Family Fun Day", which consisted of a treasure hunt that my wife had prepared beforehand, some time in the pools and then we played card games for a couple of hours on o'Sheehans before rounding things off with a meal in Moderno.

 

All lots of fun. Moderno is my sons favourite, and it was excellent as usual. Other than the filet being rather overdone, everything was very well cooked.

 

I went to the late Graffiti Classics show. As I mentioned earlier, I've seen it a couple of times before and it is an enjoyable way to pass an hour. I also quickly visited the Cavern beforehand to see 10 minutes of the Beatles. Unlike Graffiti Classics, it was packed. The band were very good.

 

We're heading into Pisa today with Cirque booked tonight. It looks like it's raining.

 

The Norwegian Spirit is docked neck to us. Apparently the staff are playing basketball later (on the Spirit). I suppose we will have to support the Epic for this cruise. :)

[KeithJenner]

Wow, thanks KeithJenner for doing this very detailed review.

 

A quick question - do you know for Livorno, if Epic is still offering the shuttle from ship to train station? And if so, how much pp?

 

Many thanks!

 

 

 

Yea it is. $15 per person.

[KeithJenner]

Keith, thanks so much for the info. my wife and I are sailing in late June. my questions is- how are the specialty restaurants?

 

Rich

 

 

 

Very good.

 

I've mentioned those which we've already been to above and we will be going to Cagneys tomorrow, so I'll report back from there after that.

[KeithJenner]

Loving the review, do You know who the entertainment teams is. In particular I am wondering if Fernando is on board

 

 

 

Thanks

 

 

 

I noticed some pictures of entertainment staff around the box office and there was a Fernando there. I haven't seen him around, but as I mentioned earlier, I tend to blank them out a bit.

[KeithJenner]

Whilst I was at the show last night, by wife got a call asking to take our son to the medical centre.

 

It appears that someone has got chicken pox, so they are checking all the kids. I'm not sure, but she got the impression that they may not have let him off the ship today without him having been checked.

 

A bit of a pain, but I suppose it's good that they check these things.

[Diamonddec]

Excellent job Keith.. sounds like you're having a great time. Hope the chicken pox thing turns out to be nothing. I'll be interested to hear your view on Cagneys as we're booked in for 2 meals whilst on board.

[cookmg40]

Thank you for posting from your cruise. Your information is great.

How is the ship's wifi? Has it been upgraded yet?

Also, while the ship sails in Europe, is USD the currency used in the casino?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[KeithJenner]

Well, today hasn't really gone as planned. I mentioned earlier that it was raining, but that proved to be something of an understatement. It was absolutely chucking it down, and none of us fancied going out in it. As we had timed bus and leaning tower tickets, we missed them so decided to stay onboard. Instead, we've watched a film in the room this morning.

 

It's a shame about Pisa, especially as we had paid for the tickets, but we would have got soaked, and I'm not sure we'd have seen much anyway. We'll have to try again another time. We've been there before, so it isn't as if we're missing anything new.

 

It's clearing up a bit now, but it's still not a good day. The forecast is better for the rest of the week though.

Edited June 2, 2016 by KeithJenner

[KeithJenner]

Excellent job Keith.. sounds like you're having a great time. Hope the chicken pox thing turns out to be nothing. I'll be interested to hear your view on Cagneys as we're booked in for 2 meals whilst on board.

 

 

 

We've all had chicken pox before, so it shouldn't be a problem for us. It was just a bit of a pain them having to go yesterday.

 

We've been to Cagneys many times before, and it is probably our favourite. I expect it to be as good as usual.

[KeithJenner]

Thank you for posting from your cruise. Your information is great.

How is the ship's wifi? Has it been upgraded yet?

Also, while the ship sails in Europe, is USD the currency used in the casino?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

 

The wifi is as patchy as always. I think it's quicker than previously, but it does seem quicker when it works.

 

As usual, it is very reliable when we are in port but does jam up a bit when everyone arrives back and starts posting pictures and things.

 

We've tended to use the shore cellular service whilst in port as we can all be online at the same time, and rely on the wifi when we are at sea. That means that we are using it at the busy times.

 

I don't know any specifics about the casino, but dollars are used onboard for everything, regardless of the ships location.

 

I seem to remember mention of a specific machine that takes Euros, but I don't know whether that is correct.