Epic European Adventure -Trip Report 7/1-7/11/16

[Midwest_Traveler]

Hi everyone, I haven’t written a trip report before so I apologize in advance if I ramble. Reading others’ reports before we left was so incredibly helpful that I thought I would give it a try. I know a few others have posted recent information about the Epic so I hope this isn’t too duplicative. We didn’t do any ship excursions and did mostly DIY city tours so I thought this might be helpful for other folks who want to do the same. I’ll go into some detail into how we got to the train stations, what tour companies I used, etc. in case that is helpful for others. If you’re not into long posts, this is not the review for you. I also entered in grades for random NCL perks/activities based on our group’s thoughts. Let me know if you have questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

Background

 

Who:

 

Me - I’m in my late 20s and an admitted overplanner and workaholic. I work as a lawyer in “Biglaw” and work essentially 24/7/365 so I very much look forward to vacation. No Internet access is a huge bonus. I’ve previously been on several Disney cruises, have lived in Siena, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland and have backpacked through Europe, Turkey and parts of Asia on several occasions. Before law school, I worked for Walt Disney World (hence the Disney connection). I’ll provide some comparisons between this cruise and the Disney cruises in the Caribbean.

 

Oh, and two months before the cruise, I injured my foot running a half marathon. I think I initially got the stress fracture in my 5th metatarsal during a training run but decided that it would be fine to still run the half. Spoiler alert: it was not, and I’ve been in an air cast/boot contraption for 3 months. I was lucky to be off crutches for this trip. Trust me, nothing says I can’t wait to explore Europe in the middle of summer like a black, padded boot that goes up to your knee. ::eek:

 

Mom - My mom has also been on several Disney cruises with me. She’s a personal trainer and mom extraordinaire. We like to travel together, but she hasn’t been to Europe other than one trip to London that we took over 10 years ago. She was most excited to see Italy.

 

J - The other mom on the trip, a family friend who is also a mom extraordinaire. J has also been on a couple of Disney cruises (sense a theme here?) and had been to Europe several times before. She hadn’t been to any of the stops on this trip and was very excited about the whole plan.

 

C - My brother who will be a senior in HS (to answer the usual questions: yes, we do share both parents and yes, I have no other siblings). He had never been on a cruise and had never left the country. C was very excited to go to Europe. My main goal of the trip was not to throw C overboard (kidding) (kind of).

 

D - J’s daughter who will be a junior in HS. She’s also been on a few Disney cruises and had been to London/Paris with her mom. C & D get along really well so they often went off to work out or have dinner alone away from the boring women of the group.

 

The respective dads/husbands weren’t able to come on the trip due to work (or bc they were scared of so many ladies in such a small area). Regardless, the group worked out really well.

 

As a note, I don’t plan to post any pictures of us for privacy, which is also why I’m not using real names. I’ll try to upload photos of the ship and places as I go along.

 

How this all happened:

 

I decided in February that I wanted to go to Europe this summer. Then my mom said she was interested. And then J had already been looking into traveling with a tour company, so she combined plans with us as well. We looked at a lot of different options but decided that the Western Med cruise on the Epic best fit what we were looking for. I then immediately started researching the ship and had some serious reservations based on the reviews. Epic was getting, at best, mediocre reviews straight out of dry dock, but the other option, Harmony of the Seas, was more expensive and significantly larger. I wasn’t sure how I felt about 2000 more (!) people on board.

 

And then I discovered the Haven 2-bedroom suites.

 

For less than $800 more per person for 2 balcony rooms (and still less than balcony rooms on the Harmony), all 5 of us could share a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom suite with concierge service and a butler. Plus, by using an online travel agent, I was able to get $1000 in OBC that then covered the DSC, tips and some additional meals. We also got the 4 meal plan (great), drinks plan (awesome!), 250 minutes of internet (worthless) and some excursion credit (worthless).

 

It was pretty easy to convince mom and J that this was the way to go. We booked the cruise and I immediately started (over)planning, which culminated in an 8 page itinerary plan and color coded folders for each adult. I almost wish I was joking.

 

We started our countdown and were SO excited to be staying in the Haven. None of us had ever stayed on a concierge level before so this was very exciting.

[CRAustin]

I'll be taking this cruise out of Barcelona for the 2nd time in Oct. Looking forward to your trip report.

[Midwest_Traveler]

Before anyone asks, I did keep the daily freestyle flyers and have attached them to this post. I also scanned in the Haven informational sheets about the Haven restaurant and priority disembarking.

 

For convenience, I've attached the Haven menus as well. These are not mine - I found them on Cruise Critic. These are accurate as of early July and I thought it might be helpful to have them all in one place.

 

OK, the files are apparently huge, so I've created a dropbox folder. Hopefully this will work.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/g7mbp7vyv1cavky/AADyjhwpOBM1YrLfNkD6BftJa?dl=0

[Midwest_Traveler]

[I’ve seen this debated on these boards a few times, but I always feel better having some euros upon arriving in Europe for cabs, etc. I bought €200 before leaving at my local bank and didn’t end up needing any more cash. Credit cards were accepted almost everywhere and my Visa doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee, so that was the way to go for me.

 

We flew Aer Lingus through Dublin to Barcelona because it was significantly cheaper than any other airline. I was a bit disappointed that there were no direct flights from Chicago-Barcelona, but Aer Lingus and a Dublin layover seemed fine. Everyone else lives in Indiana so they drove up that morning. We took the L to O’Hare, arriving 3 hours prior to our flight.

 

Side note: If you visit Chicago, I highly recommend taking the L (Blue line) into the downtown area if you arrive at any time around rush hour. It is significantly faster than driving to downtown (about 40 minutes) and only costs $5 per person ($2.25 if you’re going from the city to the airport). A cab will cost $50ish and an uber will be $30+. If you’re worried about safety, it’s generally fine - just keep an eye on your bag and phone - and sit in the first car closest to the conductor. That’s the car that is the furthest from the airport exit at O’Hare and also statistically has the least crime.

 

My mom had been worried about the security lines, but it took us 17 minutes to check in, drop our bags and get through security. It was incredibly quick. We then had plenty of time to get dinner and get to our gate. Our plane arrived and everyone was happy (other than the fact that the airport was FREEZING). Then we noticed that they didn’t start boarding on time.

 

Finally, they made an announcement that they were doing “routine maintenance” on the plane and that we would take off 3 hours late. That then slipped to 4 hours. We did eventually take off 5 hours late. The pilot told us that the plane had been struck by lightning on the flight there, which is why they were conducting some not so routine maintenance that involved a man on a cherry picker with a flashlight. Fortunately, we were all too exhausted for that news to scare us :eek:

 

Luckily, we had booked a flight with a 9 hour layover in Dublin and didn’t miss our connection to Barcelona. I had hoped to get into Dublin, go to a real pub and maybe sightsee, but that was not to be. We did have some really yummy fish and chips in the airport while I looked/felt like a complete zombie because my body thought it was 4 am. But I am happy to confirm that fish and chips and a Guinness make an excellent early breakfast.

 

Our flight to Spain went smoothly and (hallelujah) our bags were waiting for us at the Barcelona baggage claim. :D We easily hopped into a taxi van and went to our hotel near Las Ramblas. I do think we got overcharged even though I tried to watch, so definitely be aware. I was just too tired to argue over 10 euro in my broken Spanish.

 

We stayed in Hotel Curious for the first night. It was close to Las Ramblas and came highly rated. It was also cheap for a triple room and a double room. The rooms were very basic (also very European), but it did have AC and a cute balcony overlooking a tiny Spanish street. I would recommend it for a short-ish stay in Barcelona.

 

Our triple room at Hotel Curious

 

We were all starving when we got to the hotel. There was a guidebook recommended pinxtos (tapas on toothpicks) place about 2 blocks away that we walked to. It was called Irati Taverna Basca, right off Las Ramblas, and it was delicious. It cost 2 euros per toothpick of food and they had lots of seafood options. I don’t eat meat and Spain can be very pork heavy, so I was thrilled. The restaurant was closed (I think it was after 11 pm), but we could eat standing up at the bar. It felt very Spanish. We also had some sangria (too sweet) and cava (amazing). And then we all went back to the hotel and passed out. It had been a long day (2 days? who knows?).

Edited July 22, 2016 by Midwest_Traveler

[mal&jason]

I very much look forward to the rest of your review! We are on the same cruise in September and also staying in a Haven 2br suite. Thanks for taking the time!

[Midwest_Traveler]

I had a hard time sleeping that night even though I was exhausted due to the jet lag. I felt like I had hardly fallen asleep when it was time to get up around 7:30 am. No time to sleep in for us - there are places to see! The hotel provided a nice free breakfast, which most importantly involved coffee and Nutella (although not together). We had breakfast, checked out, left our bags with the front desk and headed over to La Sagrada Familia. We ended up having to take two cabs because we weren’t able to find a van and the Spanish cabs were very strict on the passenger limits.

 

The Nativity Facade

 

La Sagrada Familia (LSF) is amazing. I had seen photos but seeing LSF in person was another thing altogether. I had booked us 9:15 am tickets to climb the Passion Tower with an audioguide tour (€29 euro each). I booked these through the official website about 3 months in advance to make sure I got the earliest time possible. I had read that LSF and the towers get progressively more crowded as the day goes on so I snagged the earliest time available on a Sunday. We were the first ones up the tower and the only ones on the viewing point while we were there, which was amazing. Also, as a note, we did not need to cover our shoulders/knees to enter LSF.

 

The Passion Facade

 

The Passion Tower has an elevator up and then (very windy) stairs down. Those stairs were super fun in a boot. The views were very nice but they did not compare to Park Guell, which we saw the following week. What I really enjoyed was the audio tour. There were only 7 stops throughout LSF and it provided an amazing overview of this incredible building. It’s supposed to be finished in 2026 and I would love to see the completed project. I could have stayed there for hours but everyone else was not quite as enthused so we compromised and ended up spending about 1.5 hours there exploring.

 

Inside LSF

 

Amazing stained glass windows - cool colors face east to catch the sunrise and warm colors face west to catch the sunset.

 

After LSF, we took the Metro to the Diagonal stop to do the Eixample walk from the Rick Steves Barcelona book. A tip I had read online that saved us a bit of money was to buy the T10 ticket for 10 euros. The T10 is 10 rides and saves you about 1 euro per ride and multiple people can use the same ticket. You can buy it from the machine, which has a helpful English button (British flag).

 

We walked down the beautiful Passeig de Gracia, passing several other of Gaudi’s buildings. The cab driver earlier had told us that even the lamp posts were designed by Gaudi and I could believe it - they were lovely. We stopped in a few stores and generally just enjoyed the walk and the buildings.

 

A lightpost with La Pedrera, a Gaudi building, in the background on Passeig de Gracia

 

We then did a portion of the Las Ramblas walk from that same book. I really enjoyed the walking tours that Rick Steves suggested. We skipped some of his stops, but overall it was a nice way to see portions of the city with some information on the history. We stopped the walk once we got near our hotel and went to a chocolate store/bakery called Chok for a nutritious lunch (aka AMAZING donuts/kronuts). I highly recommend stopping by for a sweet treat. It’s right off Las Ramblas for a quick touring detour.

 

Chok's display of goodies

[Midwest_Traveler]

And then it was time to head to the Epic! Our hotel called a van cab for us, which dropped us right in front of the ship. A porter whisked our bags away to be seen later that day. We got to the port a little after 1pm and it was super crowded inside. The friendly greeter tried to give me a number (18) to wait to be called to be checked in, but then I said the magic words “we’re in the Haven”, showed my check-in documents and we were promptly led to a check-in desk. Boy, did I feel special!

 

Check-in was very smooth and we were able to attach multiple credit cards to the account. Once we checked in, we were escorted to the “VIP Lounge”. This was a sad little room with hard chairs, some depressed looking cookies and water. We asked if we could just get on the ship instead of sitting there and they immediately escorted us on board and up to the Haven lounge. The whole process took about 15 minutes.

 

Priority Check-in: A+

 

A butler took us on a quick tour of the Haven and Posh, then we went back to the Haven lounge to see if we could have lunch. We had to wait maybe 10 minutes for a table in the Epic Club. Once we were seated, service was painfully slow (a sign of what was to come). We all ordered sandwiches or a salad, with two appetizers to share, and lunch took over an hour. The food was fine, but not great, and the wait time when everyone was starving was not ideal. They also didn’t promptly refill our water glasses, which was a bit of a downer on a hot day.

 

Epic Club Lunch: C-

 

Once we got done with lunch around 2:30, we went to our stateroom. We were in 16006, just down the hall from the Epic Club. The room location was perfect. It was always quiet, we never heard anyone above us or in the hallways and it was close to everything.

 

Main living/dining room area

 

Bar in the main room

 

The room itself was a little odd. The layout is nice - you walk into the large living/dining room area, with the smaller bedroom/bathroom off to the side and the master off the living area. But the room was decorated in shiny wood that showed fingerprints, Asian artwork (why is that on an American company’s ship sailing in Europe?) and had a huge bar but not much table space. The master bedroom had mirrors everywhere (including a frosted mirror ABOVE the bed), a padded headboard and neon pink lights above the bed. What on earth was the interior designer thinking??

 

Master bedroom in all of its neon lighted, mirrored glory.

 

\

Master bathroom

 

However, there was plenty of storage space. There was even enough storage room in the 2nd bedroom for two women. And the master bathroom was stunning. The shower with the glass window over the sea was amazing - definitely my favorite feature of the cabin. The balcony was a good size. 4 adults could comfortably stand out there and there were two chairs and a table. Also, the stateroom comfortably fit 3 adults and 2 teens who are adult sized for a whole week. That alone was impressive.

 

Second smaller bedroom

 

Second bathroom

 

Another very nice perk was the free on-demand movies on all 3 TVs in the cabin. Both of the kids really enjoyed watching the new releases and there were a ton to choose from. If we hadn’t been so tired from our days in the ports, I think we all would have watched a movie at night.

 

Stateroom (overall): A-

 

The teens and I explored the ship a bit before the muster drill and walked through the gym and around the pool deck. The gym was very nice. Both of the teens spent quite a bit of time there and in the smaller Haven gym this week. C and D are both varsity athletes at a competitive school (as in, better than some college level teams) so they are very serious about keeping in shape. They both said the gym was pretty good so I’ll rely on their assessment. Broken foot over here did not work out on the cruise.

 

Gym: A

 

By that point, it was almost 4:30 so we walked back to the room to gather the moms. Most of our bags had arrived by this point and I think the last two were in our rooms after the drill. Our meeting point was in Bliss, which was super crowded. The main leader just kept yelling at everyone that we needed to be quiet or we would have to repeat the drill. The announcement didn’t play until about 4:45, or roughly the 20th time he had yelled at us. The announcement was relatively useless and repeated in 3 languages. Definitely not the same focus on safety as Disney. We were finally allowed to leave and we tried to rush to the elevators but they were already packed. I finally squeezed into one (with a broken foot, I couldn’t do 9 flights of stairs) and everyone else climbed up the stairs. The crowded elevators were another theme of this trip.

 

Muster Drill: D-

 

We headed up to Posh for the sailaway party. Posh was lovely and ended up being one of my favorite spots on the ship. The sailaway party consisted of passed appetizers, fruit punch and some champagne. We watched some of the entertainment down on the pool deck, which looked like a zumba class made up mostly of kids. We stayed at Posh until we actually sailed away from Barcelona, then headed downstairs to unpack. That was also when we learned that Posh closes at 6 pm, which seemed ridiculously early. It was light until close to 9 pm and Posh had the best view of the sunset. There were a lot of places that had really weird hours, but this was the saddest for me.

 

That night we had tickets to the Cirque show. We received a note on our bed that the show had been moved from 9:30 to 8:30, which was fine by us because everyone was exhausted. We met at the concierge desk at 7:45 and he lead the group down to Cirque where we got seats right by the “stage”. Dinner was fine. I think the non-vegetarian items were better than my sad eggplant dish. However, the show was very fun and most of the performers were incredible! I was so impressed that they were able to balance and perform on a moving ship. C even got picked as a “performer” - he rang some bells at one point, which everyone except for him found hysterical. I really could have done without the bathtub water in my dessert though. The show was also almost 2 hours long and we were all fading fast by the end but that was from jetlag and not due to the show at all.

 

Cirque Show: A

 

I think we all finished unpacking and collapsed into bed at that point.

[Midwest_Traveler]

A few more pics from embarkation day:

 

View from the master bathroom shower! It was a little unreal.

 

The Cirque show "stage" before the show began

[Midwest_Traveler]

I slept like the dead and woke up in a panic at noon (!!). I couldn’t believe I had slept that long and was worried I had missed sailing in between Sardinia and Corsica. I threw on a swimsuit and sunscreen and flew up to Posh, where I found my mom. Everyone else was still in bed. She had gotten her time zones mixed up and thought it was 10 am (not after noon) and was letting us sleep. She then woke everyone else up. The adults got lunch from the buffet and the kids went to work out and then get lunch. They tried to go to the Noodle Bar, which was the first of 4 attempts to eat there. It was never open and they tried two different days at lunch and twice at dinner. The hours also weren’t posted outside and the Freestyle guide didn’t seem to line up with reality. Not a huge fan of the weird hours, NCL.

 

We ate our salads up on the Posh deck. I can’t really remember what we did that afternoon, so I’m assuming it involved a whole lot of nothing. I do remember getting cool cloths, fruit kebabs and a melty popsicle at different points, which were all nice perks. My one complaint was that the bartender was incredibly unfriendly. He never said hello or smiled or tried to be at all pleasant the entire week. I might have overlooked that but he also wasn’t a very good bartender. Several of the drinks that he made from the menu weren't right at all. We did sail through Sardinia and Corsica around 2 pm, which was really cool.

 

Posh: B (Would be higher if it stayed open past 6!)

 

Main pool deck from Posh, with Sardinia (or Corsica, I'm not really sure) in the background

 

Corsica or possibly Sardinia

 

At some point, I talked C and D into going on the water slides with me. We waited maybe 10 minutes for the funnel slide and less than 5 for the other two slides. We all agreed that the slides were fine but not quite fast enough. Both D and I got stuck “circling the drain” on the funnel slide. This was the only time any of us went on the slides during the week. I think that these slides would be a lot of fun for the older kid/pre-teen crowd.

 

Water Park (for Teens/Adults): B

 

That evening was the Captain’s Reception in the Haven Lounge. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it seemed like all of the ship’s senior officers were waiting to greet us as we walked in. They passed around appetizers and had free drinks for everyone. What I found amazing was that the Captain (not sure of his name now - he’s Norwegian) actually came and sat at our table area and talked with us. He was incredibly nice and that was a very special touch.

 

The kids had dinner at Moderno, which they loved. The rest of us had dinner in the Epic Club. It was very good - I had an ahi tuna poke salad, some sort of salad and lobster. The meal took well over 90 minutes though and maybe 5 tables were full. Ugh. We did get to see the sunset through the windows of the restaurant (beautiful!).

 

Moderno: A+ (according to C, who was stuffed after that meal - a true accomplishment)

 

After dinner, everyone went to bed early (or tried to) because we had our first port day the next day - Naples!

Edited July 22, 2016 by Midwest_Traveler

[Midwest_Traveler]

We all got up around 6:30 and had breakfast in the Haven dining room. The little breakfast buffet with fresh fruit, pastries and parfaits was a big hit. C and I ordered waffles, which were really tasty, but they took over 30 minutes to arrive. Everyone else left us at the table to finish getting ready before the waffles ever appeared. It was a little crazy because there were only 2 other families eating. Don’t worry though - C and I rose to the challenge and wolfed the waffles down.

 

For Naples, I booked a private driver through Mondoguide, which was the highest rated tour guide on TripAdviser. It cost €530 total (or $119.24 per person), which is significantly cheaper than the NCL group tour. It also included a private 2-hour guided tour of Pompeii. We arranged a meeting time at 8 am and Marcello was waiting for us in the parking lot after the port building with a sign with my name on it. We went to Positano first and opted to take a longer route along the sea (about 1.5 hours). Marcello stopped in two locations so we could get pictures from above Sorrento and above Positano. It was stunning.

 

Stop #1: View of Sorrento from above

 

Stop #2: View of Positano from above

 

Positano is an absolutely adorable fishing village that is now a tourist destination. I’m so glad we stopped there first because the teeny streets (alleys? they were tiny!) were getting very crowded by the time we left. We did a little shopping and walked down to the beach. It was just so quaint and colorful. Positano was J’s favorite stop of the cruise and ranked pretty high among all of the adults. I could have spent all day wandering around but there was much more to see!

 

A street in Positano

 

View from the beach in Positano, looking up at the village

 

After an hour or so in Positano, we hopped back in the car and asked Marcello to take us to an authentic Italian restaurant in Sorrento. This is where he sadly did not shine. He did take us to an Italian restaurant and it was in Sorrento...but it was a block from a high tourist area and the menu was in English. Oh well. The food was fine but definitely overpriced. It also wasn’t homemade pasta, which was a bummer. We wandered a bit through the streets of Sorrento after lunch and tried limoncello (yeah, not for me) and were happy to hop back into the van for some A/C. Sorrento was nice but lacked some of Positano’s charm.

 

View from a bridge in Sorrento

 

A street lined with shops in Sorrento

[Midwest_Traveler]

From there, we went on to Pompeii. I think everyone took a short nap on our ride there - we had done a lot and it was a hot day! Pompeii ended up being my favorite part of the day. I was worried about going to Pompeii in the middle of the afternoon because of the heat but Carmine, our guide, was honestly the best tour guide I’ve ever had. He provided fascinating information about the city and made sure that we saw all of the highlights (including the infamous brothel) in the short amount of time that we had. He also kept us in the shade whenever possible. Honestly, I had only booked Pompeii because I knew C would like it and this ended up being one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. If Carmine hadn’t been our guide (or if we didn’t have a guide at all), I don’t think we would have appreciated Pompeii nearly as much.

 

A street that was lined with stores about 2000 years ago in Pompeii

 

For reference, admission to Pompeii wasn’t included in the price of the tour and was 13 euros for everyone other than D, who was free because she’s under 17 and had an ID card.

 

The forum in Pompeii. There was a modern art exhibit in Pompeii while we were there which is why there's huge statues. Also, that's Mt. Vesuvius in the background.

 

Following our fantastic tour, I had asked Marcello to drop us off in Naples near an authentic Napoli pizza place. I had researched some places online (traditional margherita pizza is a serious business) but then forgot the sheet of information on the ship. Marcello dropped us off near a fast food pizza joint that had an English name. Um, what? That is literally as authentic as going to Dominos in NYC (sorry Dominos fans). And then, once he picked us up, we didn’t have time to go to the recommended pizza places because it was rush hour in Naples. So with that somewhat disappointing end, we got dropped back off at our ship around 5:30, well before the all aboard time of 6:30.

 

As a note, we did tip all of our guides - generally around 20-30 euro total depending on how long the tour was. I’m not sure if that was enough/too much but it was what we went with.

 

Mondoguide: Marcello: B+; Carmine: A++

 

Mt. Vesuvius. I took this picture at the very front of the ship on the sundeck on deck 18. This seemed like a nice, quiet place to sit out if it wasn't too windy.

 

Back on the ship, the kids went to go work out and the rest of us got cleaned up and went to dinner at the Epic Club. Dinner was good once again (I got the sea bass this time) and it still took way too long (over an hour for an appetizer and an entree each). The kids got there about 30 minutes after us and they still finished before us somehow... After dinner, we ordered some room service chocolate cake from Moderno to share (yum!) and called it an early night.

 

This was also the night that we discovered we had a bit of a miscommunication with our butler, Manolito. He was incredibly nice but I don’t think he understood me very well. I had called the night before to request a mattress topper for the couch and the 2nd bedroom. They hadn’t appeared so we asked again. When we got back from dinner, we realized that we had received not 1, but 3 doorstoppers. It turns out that Manolito thought we were requesting doorstoppers not mattress toppers - oops! We all got a big kick out of him thinking that the crazy American women were requesting more doorstoppers than they had doors in the cabin :)

Edited July 22, 2016 by Midwest_Traveler

[cookmg40]

Great trip report! My sister and I (the moms) are sailing on the Epic soon with our 6 adult children (ages 24-29). I am happy to read about the trip from your point of view and will share it with the kids. They are all health conscious and will use the gym and one is vegan, so this review will be very helpful. We are boarding in Rome and spending 3 nights there before the cruise.

 

I am watching the prices of the 2 BR suites and am hoping we can make the switch affordable from our balcony cabins. We would need 2 suites [emoji51].

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Clarea]

Enjoying this, excellent photos!

[jimbri]

Beautiful photos. I especially like the one of the view in Sorrento!!

[Kissfan44]

Looking forward to the rest of your trip review. We are sailing on the Epic out of Barcelona in September of 2017.

 

 

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[ollienbertsmum]

Hi everyone, I haven’t written a trip report before so I apologize in advance if I ramble. Reading others’ reports before we left was so incredibly helpful that I thought I would give it a try. I know a few others have posted recent information about the Epic so I hope this isn’t too duplicative. We didn’t do any ship excursions and did mostly DIY city tours so I thought this might be helpful for other folks who want to do the same. I’ll go into some detail into how we got to the train stations, what tour companies I used, etc. in case that is helpful for others. If you’re not into long posts, this is not the review for you. I also entered in grades for random NCL perks/activities based on our group’s thoughts. Let me know if you have questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

Background

 

Who:

 

Me - I’m in my late 20s and an admitted overplanner and workaholic. I work as a lawyer in “Biglaw” and work essentially 24/7/365 so I very much look forward to vacation. No Internet access is a huge bonus. I’ve previously been on several Disney cruises, have lived in Siena, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland and have backpacked through Europe, Turkey and parts of Asia on several occasions. Before law school, I worked for Walt Disney World (hence the Disney connection). I’ll provide some comparisons between this cruise and the Disney cruises in the Caribbean.

 

Oh, and two months before the cruise, I injured my foot running a half marathon. I think I initially got the stress fracture in my 5th metatarsal during a training run but decided that it would be fine to still run the half. Spoiler alert: it was not, and I’ve been in an air cast/boot contraption for 3 months. I was lucky to be off crutches for this trip. Trust me, nothing says I can’t wait to explore Europe in the middle of summer like a black, padded boot that goes up to your knee. ::eek:

 

Mom - My mom has also been on several Disney cruises with me. She’s a personal trainer and mom extraordinaire. We like to travel together, but she hasn’t been to Europe other than one trip to London that we took over 10 years ago. She was most excited to see Italy.

 

J - The other mom on the trip, a family friend who is also a mom extraordinaire. J has also been on a couple of Disney cruises (sense a theme here?) and had been to Europe several times before. She hadn’t been to any of the stops on this trip and was very excited about the whole plan.

 

C - My brother who will be a senior in HS (to answer the usual questions: yes, we do share both parents and yes, I have no other siblings). He had never been on a cruise and had never left the country. C was very excited to go to Europe. My main goal of the trip was not to throw C overboard (kidding) (kind of).

 

D - J’s daughter who will be a junior in HS. She’s also been on a few Disney cruises and had been to London/Paris with her mom. C & D get along really well so they often went off to work out or have dinner alone away from the boring women of the group.

 

The respective dads/husbands weren’t able to come on the trip due to work (or bc they were scared of so many ladies in such a small area). Regardless, the group worked out really well.

 

As a note, I don’t plan to post any pictures of us for privacy, which is also why I’m not using real names. I’ll try to upload photos of the ship and places as I go along.

 

How this all happened:

 

I decided in February that I wanted to go to Europe this summer. Then my mom said she was interested. And then J had already been looking into traveling with a tour company, so she combined plans with us as well. We looked at a lot of different options but decided that the Western Med cruise on the Epic best fit what we were looking for. I then immediately started researching the ship and had some serious reservations based on the reviews. Epic was getting, at best, mediocre reviews straight out of dry dock, but the other option, Harmony of the Seas, was more expensive and significantly larger. I wasn’t sure how I felt about 2000 more (!) people on board.

 

And then I discovered the Haven 2-bedroom suites.

 

For less than $800 more per person for 2 balcony rooms (and still less than balcony rooms on the Harmony), all 5 of us could share a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom suite with concierge service and a butler. Plus, by using an online travel agent, I was able to get $1000 in OBC that then covered the DSC, tips and some additional meals. We also got the 4 meal plan (great), drinks plan (awesome!), 250 minutes of internet (worthless) and some excursion credit (worthless).

 

It was pretty easy to convince mom and J that this was the way to go. We booked the cruise and I immediately started (over)planning, which culminated in an 8 page itinerary plan and color coded folders for each adult. I almost wish I was joking.

 

We started our countdown and were SO excited to be staying in the Haven. None of us had ever stayed on a concierge level before so this was very exciting.

 

I have not looked any further but I am completely in love with your vacation planning approach. Why have I always relied on black and just allocating different fonts to each passenger???

[Midwest_Traveler]

Thanks for the kind comments all! I am hoping to finish the report this weekend. I'm trying to get through the close to 1400 photos we took and pick the best ones for each stop.

 

For the photos, I have to give all of the credit to my new camera. I bought a Canon G7 earlier this year and it takes absolutely amazing photos. It's also small enough that it is very easy to travel everywhere with. It's an investment but I highly recommend it for travel photography.

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review. The pics are very nice.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

I was on the Epic in March for the Morocco and Canary Islands itinerary and loved it. I'm booked on the Epic for Sept 2017 for the Western Med, so I'm enjoying your review! Kudos to you for doing this in a boot!! I've had two foot surgeries in the last couple years and spent about 15 weeks total in a boot, so I have a good idea of what you faced traveling in a boot!

 

You've commented a few times on how long meals were taking, and I see there's only one cruise in your signature so it appears this is your first cruise...?? If so, just so you know, getting out of a restaurant on a cruise ship in only one hour is pretty amazing! For some reason on cruises dinners are typically at least 90 minutes to two hours! It's one of the things I don't like about cruising, TBH.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for sharing about your days in port. I'm very excited about the ports on this itinerary. I'm boarding in Rome and spending some time there before the cruise so can't wait! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your vacation with us!

[Midwest_Traveler]

Rome was the day I worried about logistics the most before getting on the cruise. We didn’t have very much time in the actual city and there is a LOT to see there. The Ports of Call board were really helpful with figuring out travel logistics (thanks all!). We also made the decision as a group to skip the Vatican. I’ve been twice before and think that the museums and the Sistine Chapel are amazing, but we didn’t have enough time to properly see the historic center and the Vatican. Also, as it is Jubilee Year and July, I knew it would be super crowded. We heard from others that the museums were like being on a conveyor belt where you couldn’t stop and had to keep moving due to the crowds. My mom is claustrophobic and couldn’t cope with that level of crowds.

 

Even though we were skipping the Vatican, we still had to get on as early a train as possible to see everything. I had read on these boards that the NCL shuttle buses don’t start running until 6:30 am sometimes and that they don’t drop you off at the train station. I did a lot of google mapping and discovered that, if we docked in 12B in Civitavecchia, the shuttle bus to city bus route would take 40 minutes (and possibly more if we had to wait at all). Walking from the ship to the train station would take just under 30 minutes and so we decided to walk.

 

Once onboard, NCL provided none of this information. If I hadn’t read the Italy board before boarding, I would have had no idea where the shuttle bus went or that the train station was within walking distance. It would have been helpful to at least provide some basic information on the port.

 

The view from our balcony

 

We woke up at 5 am and had room service breakfast today to get as early of a start as possible. I had checked with the concierge the night before to make sure we could get priority disembarkation at 5:50 am. The info sheet in our room said to arrive 10 minutes at the concierge desk before the arrival time and the concierge the night before confirmed they would be waiting for us. Guess what? No sign of the concierge that morning. We waited around a few minutes and then headed down on our own. We still were the first ones off the ship but that’s only because no one was crazy enough to disembark at 6:05 with us...

 

The walk is pretty straightforward. To get to the train station, you head straight out of the port. Once you pass the fort on your left-hand side, turn right and walk through what looks like a guard station. The train station is about another 8 minute walk and will be on the left side of the street, up a slight hill. It took us almost exactly 30 minutes and we did not see a sign of ANY buses (ship or city) or any other cruise ship passengers the entire walk or on the train, so walking was definitely faster.

 

At the train station, we bought a BIRG ticket as numerous people had recommended. It cost €13 each and covered regional trains to and from Rome and the Roman metro, which was a great deal. Be sure to validate your tickets at the machines on the wall that kind of resemble a pay phone before getting on the train. Having an ticket that's not validated can result in an immediate fine.

 

Due to our walk, we were able to catch the 7:02 am train to Rome. We got off at Ostiense (8:07 am) and took the Metro to Colosseo. We went to the bathroom at the train station for 80 cents each. Italy is somewhat lacking in public restrooms but the small charge does mean that they’re generally cleaned. It’s very easy to catch the Metro - just follow the signs - and then it was only two stops. We went above ground and there was the Colosseum. It was a pretty cool view.

 

The Colosseum

 

Around 8:40 am, we met our tour guide in the meeting area near the Metro station. There were 11 people total in our tour this morning. Our tour guide, Seraphina, was great. She provided a ton of interesting information, but also tried to keep us in the shade when possible and provided plenty of time for photos. The Colosseum is stunning to see. I definitely recommend going in if you get a chance and also taking a guided tour. Our whole group, including me, learned a lot from Seraphina (and this was my third time taking a tour of the Colosseum!).

 

From the Colosseum, we headed off into the Forum. We walked with the group for a while and listened to some of the info about the Forum (main area of Rome for commerce and government, etc) before we left the group to strike off on our own. That tour ended at Palatine Hill, which was the opposite direction of where we wanted to go next so we had always planned to cut out a little early. This worked out really well because I think we had hit our ruins limit. This tour was C’s favorite part of the trip.

 

Overome Tour: A

 

Some ongoing excavations at the Forum

 

After the Forum, we took a self-guided walking tour of Rome. Here’s the map that I used to plan out the walk: https://goo.gl/maps/xKV4Yu3XCL32. We started out walking by the Camplidoglio, went through Piazza Venezia and saw the window where Mussolini would give his speeches and stopped by the cat sanctuary. There are Roman ruins in the middle of an intersection where stray cats now live and are cared for. It’s one of my favorite stops in Rome because it is so bizarre.

 

We got a little lost trying to find Campo dei Fiori (street signs are HARD to find and read), but quickly got back on our way with directions from a helpful stranger. Our lunch was at Il Forno Campo de’ Fiori. It was traditional Roman pizza, sold by weight and not by slice, and was delicious. Unfortunately, there is no seating so we somewhat awkwardly stood in the shade on a side street and snarfed down the pizza. I definitely recommend this place!

 

From Campo dei Fiori, it was a quick walk to Piazza Navonna, which my mom immediately recognized as the place where they tried to drown Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons :) It is a beautiful piazza with 3 fountains. Normally it’s filled with people trying to sell you things but the intense sun and heat that day seemed to deter most people that day.

 

Piazza Navonna

 

After that, we were off to the Pantheon, which everyone found very impressive. It is an amazing building and the oculus in the center is fascinating. We also enjoyed being in the shade and sat down on the pews to rest for a minute. The kids both promptly fell asleep - their “narcolepsy” happened so often it became a running joke of the trip.

 

The oculus in the Pantheon

 

[Midwest_Traveler]

We sat for a few minutes before we continued on to the Trevi Fountain. I love the Trevi, especially at night, but this experience was totally different. They were getting ready for some sort of fashion show and they had completely blocked access to the Trevi. They did allow small groups of people by the fountain for a quick picture but no throwing coins :( We got into what we thought was the line to get near the Trevi but it turns out there was no real line and you had to shove your way to the front. Oh, how I love queues. We did eventually make our way down, took our quick photos, and promptly left the madhouse that was the Trevi Fountain.

 

A recently cleaned Trevi Fountain

 

After the Trevi, we walked through the high-end shopping area to the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, the Spanish Steps were also closed for repair work (or something. They were definitely closed but it was unclear why.) We did get some water from the fountain at the bottom of the stairs which supposedly has the sweetest water in Rome. We stayed well hydrated that day because of the many fountains in Rome. You can fill your water bottle up anywhere that doesn’t have a “Non-Potable” sign and the water is really good - cold and fresh.

 

The Spanish Steps (possibly being renovated?)

 

It was then around 2:45 pm, so we ended up having time to go over to see the Vatican and St. Peter’s even if we didn’t go in. We got on the Metro at Spagna and went to Ottaviano where we walked to St. Peter’s. We stopped by a fresh gelato place and had some delicious gelato. I had strachiatella and Bacio, one of my favorite combos.

 

Pro tip: If the gelato is piled really high in the container, its filled with air and isn’t freshly made. You want gelato that comes out of a container like ice cream and isn’t neon colored (aka fake) for the freshest taste.

 

By this point, I will admit to being a little grouchy. We walked over 12 miles on our Rome day according to my Fitbit and my foot (even in the boot) was killing me. I do not recommend cobblestones on a stress fracture. Gelato helped my mood, but I was done with walking. We did continue on to see St. Peter’s and the piazza out in front, which was beautiful, but the line to get into St. Peter’s was much too long. We’ll have to go back on another trip to see the Pieta.

 

Piazza in front of St. Peter's

 

Fortunately, the St. Peter’s train station wasn’t too far away. We went and sat down on the platform to wait for the 4:32 train. And we waited. And continued to wait.

 

To provide us with an authentic Italian traveling experience, that train never came. I have no idea why the train didn’t show - they never displayed any information on the boards and the announcements were all in Italian. I do know it didn’t come to that station on that day because all of the Italians going to Civitavecchia were also still waiting with us. Thankfully, we figured out that the train would never arrive and bought tickets for the express train that left at 5:09 pm. This got us back to Civitavecchia at 5:39 pm. BIRG tickets do not cover these express trains. It was a very nice train and I loved not having all the stops, but the tickets were an additional $20 per person.

 

St. Peter's through the pillars

 

The kids had dinner reservations at Le Bistro and wanted to work out beforehand, so they left us behind at the train station. My mom, J and I slowly walked back to the ship so I didn’t re-injure my foot too much more. Even with my slow pace, we were back on the ship around 6:10, well before the all aboard time at 6:30. I did ice it that night and was generally fine the next day. We decided that what I (we) really needed were some adult beverages to help my foot and headed to the Haven bar when we got back on board. Tom, the bartender at the lounge, was a great mixologist. He also had a heavy hand with his pours :)

 

Given the wait for food the nights before, we opted not to go to the Epic Lounge that night for dinner. We wandered around for a while and tried to go to O’Sheehan’s, but they had a 20 minute wait. The Noodle Bar, unsurprisingly, was closed. By that point it was around 9 pm and we were all pretty tired. We ended up eating at the buffet instead, where I discovered the make your own crepe station outside near the pool (yummo!) and the spicy Indian food. We all agreed the buffet food was actually really good. D was a huge fan of the soft serve machine and sprinkle selection throughout the trip.

 

Buffet: A (it would be an A+ if there was more salad options)

 

When we got back to the room, the kids were back from their French dinner and were watching a movie. They liked Le Bistro but said they preferred Moderno overall. I think the food might have been a little too fancy for them.

 

Le Bistro: A-

 

Once we were back in the room, I think I fell asleep while trying to look through the hundreds of pictures we had taken that day. It had been a big day and we had almost as big plans for Florence the next day.

[Midwest_Traveler]

On Thursday, we got to “sleep in” until 6 am. We ordered room service breakfast again and I was able to get a waffle delivered, which made me a happy camper. We wrote in our orders on the card. The room service card was a little limited, but our additional requests were always delivered except on Rome day because the kitchen wasn’t open that early.

 

We planned on taking the train into Florence. I had read on the Ports of Call board that we needed to be the first people off the ship to make sure that we got a taxi because once again, the shuttle bus and public bus was not quick enough to catch an early train. We were at the concierge desk at 6:50 am (10 minutes before the 7 am time) and the concierge seemed surprised to see us. He did eventually escort us down to the 5th floor, but then left us in the weird art gallery. A huge group of people joined us, including a tour group. Finally, one of the NCL folks started a line. We were at the front of the line, but that was only because we were the first people to arrive - not due to the “priority disembarkation”. We still weren’t the first people off the ship because one family cut the entire line and other people went down to deck 4 to wait. By going directly to deck 4, they completely bypassed the huge line on deck 5. It was very un-Disney - Disney is all about the lines and being organized. This morning was a free for all. I was thankful that we had gotten there early to wait. If we had arrived downstairs at 7 or later, we would have been at the end of a huge line.

 

The ship was not cleared by customs until 7:20 am, which wasn’t NCL’s fault, but it did put us behind in our plans. We rushed through the port and past the picture people and were able to get into a taxi right away. The taxi driver seemed determined to make up some of our lost time. We made it to the train station, bought our tickets and got on the 7:43am train. The taxi cost 25 euros for all five of us and it took about 10 minutes to get to the station. The train was 9 euros each one way.

 

After a 90 minute train ride through the Tuscan countryside, we arrived in Florence (9:24 am). We rushed off the train and hurried to meet our tour guide. Florence is a very walkable city and if we had slightly more time, I wouldn’t have booked a tour guide. The benefit of a tour guide was to skip the line at the Accademia and (in theory) the Duomo. I booked a private “Original Florence Walking Tour” with ArtViva and specifically asked to see both the Accademia and the inside of the Duomo. We were about 15 minutes late for the tour, but because the tour was just our group, it ended up being fine.

 

A street in Florence

 

Our tour guide with Corinna (sp?), an English expat. She was lovely and clearly loved Florence and knew a ton about the history of the city. Her tour focused on the medieval origins of Florence and how the Renaissance shaped the city. It was fascinating. We spent about 2 hours seeing different buildings and small churches around the medieval parts of town. We did walk through most of the main areas of Florence.

 

Courtyard of a medieval palace

 

Uffizi and the long, long line outside - be sure to buy tickets in advance if you want to get in!

 

While this was great (it was C’s favorite tour of the trip), it meant that we didn’t have time to see everything I had hoped to see. My mom and I had asked Corinna at the beginning of the tour to make sure that we would have time to see the David and the Duomo and she assured us that we would. We fortunately did have time to get to the Accademia (we waited in line about 10 minutes). The David is incredible. Pictures truly do not do the sculpture justice - you have to see it in person. My mom was skeptical but she agreed with me after seeing it.

 

The David

 

After the Accademia, we did walk by the outside of the Duomo, which is spectacular. We unfortunately did not have time to go inside. That was a pretty big disappointment. The dome is so impressive and we had went to the extra effort to bring scarves, leggings and some pants to be able to get in while modestly covered. The line to get into the church without a tour guide was much too long for the few hours we had left in Florence.

 

Duomo

 

Front of the Duomo

 

Art Viva Tour: B: Corinna had so much great information to share but she was horrible at time management. We ran out of time to see the Duomo and had to rush through the Accademia.

[Midwest_Traveler]

Corinna dropped us off at Veni e Vecchi, where we had reservations for lunch at 12:45 pm. If you have the chance, eat at Veni e Vecchi! This was, hands down, my favorite meal of the trip. The restaurant is on a side street, near the Uffizi and town hall, and is pretty small - maybe 10 tables total. The menu is all in Italian, but at least one waiter can speak English. We had heavenly caprese salad and I had the best homemade ravioli with pesto. I also had a glass of house red wine. Both C and D got a homemade pasta with ragu (meat sauce) and my mom and J both got homemade spaghetti with a tomato-based sauce. For dessert, I had a raspberry tiramisu that was more like a raspberry trifle (yuuuuum) and my mom had a meringue cake that was her favorite food of the entire trip. We all shared the desserts and none went to waste. The bill for all of that food was right at €180, including the cover charge. Everyone loved this meal and were glad we had taken the time for a sit down lunch that day.

 

My ravioli, covered in pesto and stuffed with potato

 

Once we stuffed ourselves, we were on a mission to find authentic leather goods. Leather is sold everywhere in Florence but very little of it is actually produced by hand in Florence. We went to the leatherworking school behind Santa Croce. You can actually watch the students working with leather here so you know it’s the real deal. It’s also in a beautiful courtyard connected to the church. I recommend stopping by just to check it out. Of course, these items are more expensive than those sold in the markets but these are truly high quality. I had stopped here as a student and hadn’t been able to afford any of the items, so I was looking forward to going back. I ended purchasing purse and a wallet for €190 and was able to get my VAT refunded. Everyone in the group got some form of leather goods - C got a new wallet, D got a bracelet and my mom picked up several smaller items including a leather bound journal for my grandma.

 

Santa Croce

 

Courtyard where the Scuola del Cuoio is located

 

We left Scuola del Cuoio around 2:30 and walked towards the river. We took some pictures of the Ponte Vecchio from the bridge up the river and then walked down the tiny sidewalk to the Ponte Vecchio. We stopped there for a few more pictures before we headed on to a market. There is a market in a small square on the same road as the Ponte Vecchio. It’s named after the statue of a wild boar located on the side and has the normal kitschy tourist stuff. We looked at some of the stalls there but it was about 500 hundred degrees at this point in the day, which really killed any desire to shop, so we decided to keep moving. There is a water fountain at this market, which was one of the only two public fountains we found in Florence - the other was on the side of the town hall building opposite the Uffizi.

 

Ponte Vecchio

 

By this point in the day, we were starting to get hot and tired. We made our way back to the train station, stopping for a few photos. We caught the 4:28 pm train from Santa Maria Novella. This train may or may not have had A/C. According to the info board on the train, it was between 84 and 87 degrees Fahrenheit the entire ride. We were all sweating by the time we got off in Livorno (5:48 pm).

 

On the Ponte Vecchio (with 5 million of my closest friends)

 

At the train station, we walked right off the train and got into another van cab. It was €25 on the way back for all of us as well and this driver was even crazier. At one point in time at the port, he veered into the other lane to try to pass a line of buses as a bus was coming straight at us. We joked that C would make an excellent cabbie in Livorno.

 

We were back on the ship a little after 6 pm. It took forever to get an elevator that night! There was a true shortage of elevators on the Epic. Yet again, the kids went to go work out before dinner. The rest of us got cleaned up and decided that we would try O’Sheehan’s for dinner that night. There was no wait around 8 pm for dinner and we had the BEST server at O’Sheehan’s. He was friendly, efficient and very knowledgeable. Way more personable than any of the servers in the Epic Club. I highly recommend the fish and chips as well.

 

As we were about to finish our meal, C and D came up to the table. They had worked out and then showered and changed clothes. They tried to have dinner at the Epic Club but was told there was a dress code and no tank tops were allowed. C was in a "nice" tank and shorts and D was wearing a dress without sleeves. This seemed very suspicious as two nights before they had been allowed to eat in their workout clothes and the first night we ate there I saw a girl in a strapless romper that barely covered the important bits. I think the hostess didn’t let them in because they were teenagers, which didn’t seem right.

 

C and D didn’t want to go back and change or try to argue, so they ended up joining our table at O’Sheehan’s. Our fantastic server had no problem with them joining the group and immediately took their orders. They both had burgers and approved of those as well. We all really enjoyed the food at O’Sheehan’s.

 

O’Sheehan’s: A+

 

Following dinner, we went back to our room and considered collapsing into bed. But I had read the Freestyle that morning and knew it was 90s night at Bliss at 10:30. I am a true 90s kid and really wanted to stop by. I convinced everyone to go with me and we headed down to Bliss. Bliss seems to be modeled after a 1970s disco, but the music was great! There were a lot of people there, including a fair number of small children, who were politely asked to leave once it turned 11:00. We didn’t stay too much later after that because we were all exhausted.

[Midwest_Traveler]

I was on the Epic in March for the Morocco and Canary Islands itinerary and loved it. I'm booked on the Epic for Sept 2017 for the Western Med, so I'm enjoying your review! Kudos to you for doing this in a boot!! I've had two foot surgeries in the last couple years and spent about 15 weeks total in a boot, so I have a good idea of what you faced traveling in a boot!

 

You've commented a few times on how long meals were taking, and I see there's only one cruise in your signature so it appears this is your first cruise...?? If so, just so you know, getting out of a restaurant on a cruise ship in only one hour is pretty amazing! For some reason on cruises dinners are typically at least 90 minutes to two hours! It's one of the things I don't like about cruising, TBH.

 

Your posts were some of the ones I read to help me plan for this trip! I would love to try the Canary Islands itinerary. We really enjoyed the Western Med cruise, although I do recommend foregoing the boot ;)

 

I've been on a few Disney cruises before and dinner there did take a long time as well. But on the Disney ships, dinner is usually accompanied by a show or some sort of effect taking place in the restaurant and the waiters do silly things like perform magic tricks or give you brain teasers to help pass the time. I had hoped in a smaller dining room like the Haven we would be able to have a quicker meal time but that wasn't the case. Oh well. At least the food was good!

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your report.

 

Keith