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Review from first cruise on Epic

Jade Cruise

By Jade Cruise,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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Jade Cruise

Jade Cruise

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Hello again, back to posting, had to go back to work since last post, (at the moment employment is the only option in order to pay for the next cruise ;).)

 

Day 4 for us was Civitavecchia. We decided to see the Colosseum on our own. We had a much earlier start this time, dragged the teens out of bed at 7am and after breakfast in the Buffet we were leaving the ship shortly after 8am.

There was a free shuttle bus to take you out of the port, with just a short waiting time. The bus takes you straight to another set-down point where you can get another public bus to the train station. Tickets for the train station are just €2 and you buy them at a little office there, it is well signposted, have small value Euros ready. Again there was not much waiting time and we were in the train station at about 8.50am. It was all very well organised and easy to do.

 

Although it is not necessary, we had pre-booked our seats on a fast train at 9.18am, you can do this on the Trenitalia website. It cost us €22 per adult return, and the 14 year old was free as we were able to avail of a 'bimbi gratis' option - applies to children aged under 15. By doing it this way we were able to pre-select our seats both ways, as we were a little apprehensive that the trains might be very crowded and that we might have to stand for an hour to Rome. As it happened, the train was relatively quiet and we had a very smooth journey to Roma Ostiense, arriving about 10.20. From there you just follow the 'M' sign to the metro, which you can do without leaving Ostiense station, and take the metro to Colosseo, which is only 2 stops. Metro ticket was €1.50pp. Once you emerge from the metro the Colosseum is right in front of you.

It was very crowded at the Colosseum and there were long lines everywhere. We were immediately targeted by multiple guides selling tours. We had pre-booked our entrance tickets on the official coopculture website and we went first to pick them up at the ticket office, where there was just a short wait. It is possible to use the 'print at home' option for tickets booked on line, but because our u18s were free except for a €2 booking fee, we had to go to the ticket office to pick up the tickets. They didn't ask for ID for u18s, but we had heard that they sometimes ask for proof of age and had brought it along anyway.

 

We picked a tour randomly from one of the many who were offering, it was €13pp and covered both the Colosseum and Capital Hill. Even with tickets already purchased there was still quite a bit of waiting in line for security, but we eventually made it into the Colosseum.

Unfortunately the guide was not nearly as good as the one we had in Herculaneum. She took us to the first meeting point at the iron cross and gave a short introduction and time for photos, and then to a further point about 100m away, where she gave more info. That was it!! about 40-45 mins in total. She gave us instructions for how to find the guide for part 2 of the tour at the other location. We all agreed it was a poor tour and we opted not to do part 2 with them. We had downloaded Rick Steves audio guide, which is free and we listened to it and did some more investigation on our own. If I was doing it again I would probably try to get an official tour or source a company with a good reputation, the one we had was definitely not great. The underground and third tier tours are highly recommended, however the tickets only seem to go on sale at specified times and sell out very quickly on the official site - we were not able to get any when we tried back in March. It seems that the tour companies snap them up and then sell them on to you at a premium.

 

For me, our visit was not ideal, I would have liked more time with a better guide. If you are particularly interested in the detail and the history it would be worth doing a bit of research and getting a good tour guide. However, one of the 'joys' of cruising as a family is that the teens had very different interests and were more than happy to cut short the cultural tour! As a first time cruiser this was one lesson I learned, - you will not please all of the people all of the time, particularly when you go ashore. On the ship it is easy for everyone to do their own thing but once you go ashore you really need to be agreed on the itinerary because splitting up is not an option.

 

After visiting the gift shop we left the area and went for lunch nearby. We had plenty of time to get back to the train, via the metro and again it was not crowded and we had pre-booked tickets. We were back in Civitavecchia by about 5pm. The orange bus to the port was right outside the train station, which took us back to the free shuttle bus meet up point, with no hitches at all.

 

The adults ate at O'Sheehans, where it was 'prime rib' theme night, the kids had made arrangements to have dinner with their friends. The portions of meat in O' Sheehans were ridiculously big, one portion would easily have fed 2-3 people. We had prime rib with baked potato and corn, but we sent back a lot of food. We were a bit uncomfortable about all that waste. Afterwards we wandered through the bars and listened for a while to the pianist, the Manhattan band and the guitar player Paolo.

 

That was our day in Rome. Bye for now:)

Edited by Jade Cruise
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Jade Cruise

Jade Cruise

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Another instalment, while I still have a little of the weekend left!

 

Day 5 was Livorno. The late nights and partying had got the better of the men and they were in no hurry to get up. Daughter and I decided to go ashore and have a girl's day out, with nothing in particular planned. We got the ship's shuttle to the train station for €15 each return, it left from just outside the ship, and there was a desk in the terminal selling the tickets, which are charged to your room. We got the train to Pisa, which was only €2.60 each way. Unfortunately it was raining heavily. From outside the train station, across the road, we got the 'Red Line' bus to the Leaning Tower, which is just a few stops. There is more than one red line bus, so you need to ask someone at the bus stop to make sure you're on the right one. We could probably have walked it but the rain was quite heavy. The vendors were doing a strong trade in plastic raincoats and umbrellas. When we got there the rain had eased off and we visited the tower for the obligatory photos, but we didnt climb it. If you want to climb it you can book online in advance.

 

After that we wandered through the little streets and did a bit of shopping. Pisa is a nice place to visit. There were some lovely good quality leather bags, at fairly reasonable prices, (as well as a lot of tatty souvenirs!) Daughter managed to wrangle a few late birthday presents, as it had been her 14th birthday a few days before we sailed. We had a nice leisurely lunch in a pizza place in one of the side streets, so that she could have some more authentic Italian pizza, and access the all-important WiFi. It was easy to get the bus and train back and the NCL shuttle was waiting where we had been left off. We probably could have taken a local bus but it was reassuring to know the shuttle bus would bring us right back to the ship in good time. It was a relaxing day, very light on sightseeing, and a pleasant way for the two of us to spend a few hours.

 

We had booked Teppanyaki for that evening, for about 6.00 or 6.30pm. It is quite a small restaurant. You sit around the grill and each chef cooks for up to 8 people right there in front of you, while doing a witty commentary and performing some tricks. Our chef started off by juggling a series of very dangerous-looking knives and cleavers. I tried the Wasabi cocktail, which was good. There are set courses of Miso soup and seaweed salad for everyone, these were not very inspiring. There is a choice of main courses, with a number of shrimp, scallops, steak and chicken options and combinations. I had a different soup because of needing gluten-free and the chef cooked my food before the others, without soy sauce, to avoid gluten. The chef kept up a funny commentary throughout and performed a few tricks while preparing the food. The mains he cooked were delicious. The NCL photographer came around at the start and we had a group photo with the chef, which we bought for $24, (a bit pricey, but it was one of the few photos we had of us all together on board and it looked good!). Dessert was again a set course for everyone, a green tea cake with green tea ice-cream, which tasted of nothing much. The main courses were very good food, the other courses were just ok, but the dinner overall was fun because of the performance element and we all enjoyed it.

 

The teens went their own way after Teppanyaki to meet their friends and take part in the Entourage activities. We went to the Martini bar and had a few drinks, while listening to the pianist.

 

We had pre-booked Priscilla for 10pm that evening, for the adults. Even though we had met some people who said the shows were all booked out, it turned out that there were lots of empty seats, so anyone who hadn't pre-booked could easily have turned up and got a seat. There were floor staff taking drinks orders in the theatre right up to curtain-up, which was handy as we could stay in the very comfortable seats and have the drinks brought around.

The show was preceded by several warnings that the show was not for children or the easily offended. I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was an excellent production, with high quality singing, dancing and extraordinary costumes. While there are certainly adult themes and some coarse language, IMO it was relatively tame by comparison with what can be seen on both TV and cinema at home, even in the early evening time - I've seen and heard much worse. Mature teens could have attended IMO. My other half was not so taken with it and left before the end even though he likes music and entertainment generally, said it was not for him. You probably know already whether its for you - if you think already that you might be offended you probably will be. For what its worth I would highly recommend it - for me it brought day 5 to a close on a high. Next up, Cannes.:cool:

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mking8288 "Live from...." Rare

mking8288

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uploading of photos working again for some reason - here's two from Day 5, leaning tower and Teppanyaki:

Reasons - there are type-specific size limits on your uploads, you will have to re-size them to smaller scale to post them here on CC, which can be time-consuming.

 

If your originals are on a smartphone or tablet, try using Tapatalk's mobile app to post the pictures, it will upload & scale/resize for you easily - assuming you have a good WiFi connection. Been posting reviews & uploading lots of pix easily this way and they are reformatted perfectly for desktop & mobile browsing/reading - take a look at our recent Breakaway review links under the SIGNature line, both times using Tapatalk.

 

Otherwise, to make some of the pix readable & zoomable for others, you will need to use a photo storage site or cloud storage, many are free like Dropbox (works on multiple desktop/mobile platforms - Linux, Windows & Androids) & Photobucket (from AOL) - along with MSN & Google's cloud services. For better identity protection, consider using an unique & different username or sign-in screen apart from your "main" email address/account while linking them together.

 

Each post here on CC is allowed up to 6 pictures that meet the format/size/type requirement - including the use of icons or emoji/graphics. Give it a try.

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Jade Cruise

Jade Cruise

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Hi again, our day in Cannes:

 

As you probably know the ship doesn't come right in to the port in Cannes and you have to take the small boats (tenders) to get ashore. If you want to go ashore up to about 10.30am they require you to pre-book your tender, which you can do on the TV in your room. By the time we went to pre-book all the earlier times were already booked, but that was fine, we were on vacation, we had a few rituals like the gym to take care of, and we're not early birds anyway;). If you were on an excursion it would probably be advisable to book your tender early in the week. We booked for 10.30. Once it gets past 11am it seems you can just walk down and take the next available tender.

 

When we went to get our tender there was a massive line spread over 2 decks. There was quite a long wait in line, and for the first time in our NCL experience, it didn't seem too well organised. There were people skipping the line and others getting irritated with them, and the pre-booked times didn't seem to count for much. Bring your patience. Once we were on the tender it was very straightforward, it only took a few minutes to get ashore and its a good chance to get a nice picture of the ship.

 

Cannes is such an easy port because it isn't large and industrialised like many of the others, and you are practically in the town once you get ashore. There is a beach just beside where you disembark, which I believe is free, but we didn't use it. The teens were not interested in doing any cultural highlights, so we just had an easy day wandering around together, taking in the atmosphere and taking pictures of how the other half lives!

 

We took the petit train tour which leaves just past the first car park you pass through after reaching the pier. It was €10pp and lasts about 45-50 minutes with an audio guide but no stops. We had a wait to get on board but it was nice and sunny so we didn't mind. It just goes along the shoreline, to the Film festival place, up through narrow streets to an elevated site where you get a nice overview, and back to the starting point, pointing out along the way the hotels where the rich and famous frequent. It was a pleasant enough way to spend an hour, but nothing to rave about. Kudos to the driver who negotiated very narrow streets expertly in a very unorthodox vechicle.

 

Our 16yr old son who knows his cars was entertained by the endless flow of very upmarket cars that drove past regularly. After the train we strolled along the shore and admired the millionaire's yachts. We went back to see the filmstars handprints at the film festival building and got some nice souvenirs in the official Cannes shop there. Then we had lunch at Ma Nolan's, which was coincidentally an Irish pub, just off Rue D'Antibes, which is one of the main shopping streets, it was a good spot.

 

After lunch the ATM, aka Mum, dispensed some cash and the teens went shopping on Rue D'Antibes, where there were plenty of stores to interest them and they picked up a few things. Again the cars passing along the street were a constant source of amazement. As the last tender was scheduled for 5pm we headed back to the pier about 4pm and were welcomed back by some very smiley NCL staff doing the 'welcome back, washy washy' rap. The tendering process was very smooth and we were back on board with no hitches well before 5pm.

 

We had a complimentary dinner at Cagney's from our travel agent so the adults availed of that while the teens once again went off to hang out with their friends. The older boy had discovered the chicken wings in O' Sheehans and went back there frequently.

 

I had pre-booked gluten-free options with Kent the night before, and I had a very good crabcake, surf n turf and a raspberry Creme Brulee. Hubby had scallops, beefsteak tomatoes and also surf n turf. His steak was cold and we had to send it back for reheating, but otherwise everything was good and we had a lovely table by the window. He tried the Cagney's signature cocktail - cant remember what it was called but it was some serious liquor and definitely not to my taste. I tried strawberry daiquiri which was much more palatable. Having the drinks package meant we could try things we would never normally try. After dinner we again did a mini tour of the music options, piano bar music, Paolo on guitar and we saw a little of Christian Miro the magician, unfortunately we missed most of his show, but the bit we saw seemed good, we never got back to see the full show. We would have liked to see the Supreme Dream girls too, but we never made it to them in the end. Hubby saw the Beatles but was not overly impressed with them.

 

On night 6 the jewellry shops seemed to be really ratcheting up their sales pitches, they were offering pretty big discounts (but their prices were pretty big to begin with). We didn't partake.

 

Discovered on Day 6 that the teens had only used the waterslides a handful of times and hadn't used the climbing wall at all, which was a bit surprising, since those items were part of why I picked this ship. It turns out once they had company that they were happy with they could have been anywhere and the amenities didn't really count for that much. The Entourage meeting on the first night proved to be a good move, they linked up there with other kids and were able to keep themselves entertained all week.

 

They were initially impressed with the novelty of the buffet and the unlimited food, but after a few days they just went back to having fairly standard plain meals, much as they would at home. They had the soda package but they didn't use it much, there was always a selection of juices and water available in the buffet and they tended to go for them. For anyone who likes their Breakfast tea, there is PG Tips tea available in the buffet.

 

So thats about it for Day 6. At this stage the little 'holiday nearly over' clouds were starting to gather and we were starting to think about packing for leaving :eek:

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BamaVol

BamaVol

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So thats about it for Day 6. At this stage the little 'holiday nearly over' clouds were starting to gather and we were starting to think about packing for leaving :eek:

 

You have a way with words. I shed a tear for you (and me as well) as I read this.

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Jade Cruise

Jade Cruise

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Hi you said the last tender back was 1700.

So presumably as long as you are at the quayside before 1700 even if there is a queue you will get back ok. Stupid question really.... They aren't gona leave people behind, are they!

 

I would assume your interpretation is right, but I've no experience so I can't tell you for sure! Maybe a more experienced cruiser will 'row in' here (- no pun intended!) and let us know. They have lots of tender boats so it would make sense for them to send as many boats as are needed to get everyone who is on the pier at 5pm.:)

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BamaVol

BamaVol

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I would assume your interpretation is right, but I've no experience so I can't tell you for sure! Maybe a more experienced cruiser will 'row in' here (- no pun intended!) and let us know. They have lots of tender boats so it would make sense for them to send as many boats as are needed to get everyone who is on the pier at 5pm.:)

 

We took the tender back at around 4 but I was sitting on the balcony when the last of them returned to the ship and it was past 5, maybe as late as 5:30.

 

I wouldn't tempt fate but there might be a water taxi service available if you miss the last one. It takes a few minutes to secure the lifeboats after the last one returns. Maybe if you knocked on the door politely they would let you in. :D

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