Epic and Costco

[westlorne]

My wonderful Wife always wanted to sail on one of the larger ships. My preference is ships such as the Sun, Jewel, Spirit, Star......So, we booked a cruise on the Epic.

 

Forgetting the registration process and the trip to the gangplank to board the ship.....Felt like lemmings heading for the cliff......The first impression of the Epic going through security on the ship was not a great start to the vacation. We entered on level four, along with the luggage and the provisions, ushered to an elevator which was packed, rumbled up to level 15, pointed toward the Garden Café and told NOT to go to cabins until 1PM.

 

I felt chastised.

 

Anyway, AFTER 1PM we were able to walk down to level 8.....Elevators were full.....Find our cabin, 8169. Opened the door and first thing I saw was the "head"....To use a nautical term.... on my left, the shower enclosure on the right....

 

"Sue" I said, " I can't believe it! An outhouse in the middle of a Minnesota forest has more privacy!"

 

"Oh come on....The sliding doors are frosted."

 

"That makes me feel better.....Oh look...There's a curtain too. The ships I like aren't like this..."

 

Had to throw that out there.....

 

Anyway the cabin itself was nice but the bed too short and, it being a mini-suite....We are getting closer to a suite.... the balcony was somewhat larger then regular balcony. Lots of storage space, which Sue liked and good sized TV which I liked.

 

"Doug, " My Wife was quick to point out, " TV is much bigger than on the other ships we were on."

 

I let that pass....

 

After a couple of hours of rest we decided to explore. First thing I looked for was the advertised jogging track. That's what we needed after a long flight a good jog! Well, found the "jogging track." Now, on the ships I like the jogging track goes AROUND the ship. On the Epic you run toward a wall, turn around and run to another wall. 3.8 of these equals 1 mile. On level 7. Basically enclosed by lifeboats.....Whoever came up with that idea was probably someone who has no idea what a jogging track should be as I was quick to point out to Sue.

 

So, we headed for the Garden Café, which turned out to be one of MY favourite places. Food was not bad, staff great and lots of ice cream available. And desserts. That said, they have no idea how to cook Chinese food. Other than that no complaints. Wait a sec....I do have a complaint. We did figure out that going for breakfast at 7:30 - 9AM was not the best time to go. It was so crowded and finding a table was like discovering gold in your cabin. One can wander around with a tray of food trying to find a table like a lost soul. We finally decided to (a) go earlier (b) go later or © load up with vittles and go back to our cabin and enjoy breakfast seated on our balcony. Same goes for lunch and dinner. Actually we went for dinner after 7PM because many folks were off seeing shows.

 

As for getting some sun during the day it was basically impossible to find lounge chairs that were not either occupied or had books on them and towels as people were saving them. It was so crowded it was like shopping at Costco on a Saturday without the shopping carts. So, we would go back to our cabin and our balcony. Spent a lot of time on the balcony.

 

We finally discovered the fitness centre. Lots of equipment and no problem finding a treadmill or an elliptical to use. Staff was friendly and the centre was well maintained.

 

Sue, who loves playing bridge, joined up with the bridge groups who played every day at 1PM. As for me, I am good at fish but that's about it. So,while Sue was off playing bridge, I was off trying to find the deck that goes around the ship. I spent so much time getting lost that I gave up. Ended up at the Garden Café which was my safe haven. I finally asked our cabin steward and he told me there isn't any. I couldn't wait to tell Sue......

 

On day eight of our trip we both came down with the flu. That curtailed much of our activities on the Epic and we spent most of the remainder of the cruise in our cabin feeling sorry for ourselves....Well I did but, as usual, Sue sees the bright side. We have a balcony, we can see the sea and it could be worse.

 

So, overall we enjoyed the cruise as we love the ocean, but really missed the deck around the ship, found it very crowded at certain times of the day and would probably not book another cruise on the Epic.

 

Sue is now talking about the Breakaway. I'm silently thinking the Sun.....

[punkincc]

Most every negative mentioned you could have been forewarned about with a little research beforehand. Like the unusual layout of the cabins, for instance. Staff like to helpfully point you toward the buffet on boarding, maybe becuase they tire of hearing "Which way to the buffet?" 3,000 times. But you are not required to go. MDR and probably one other dining room is open upon boarding as well as O'Sheehans, which is also a great place for breakfast as well as other meals.

 

I think you'll probably like the Breakaway better, with its traditional cabin design, Waterfront areas. But do some research beforehand to make sure it's the best choice for you.

 

By the way, this is the game plan for DH and myself for any meal in the buffet. We first find a table to our liking. Someone is assigned to sit. The other brings a drink back to the table for the sitter. Load up a plate and return so the sitter can get their food. I am a really slow eater, so DH is usually the sitter. He can easily catch up, finish first and go back for seconds even with my head start. Anyway, this eliminates the lost wandering with heavy trays looking for a table.

[Da-Painter]

Thanks for confirming out thoughts, we have no interest in cruising on the super size ships.

Like you, a jogging track and a deck that walks around are of interest to us, uncrowded public areas, but that is not going to happen on these ships.

Visually, they are ascetically quite ugly, in my opinion.

But they are just huge cargo ships for passengers.

Love the Spirit, and the smaller ships, that will be the limit to our cruising.

Thanks for your review. :eek:

[easyboy]

We do encounter certain issues on every ship we sail. But we don't let it spoil the fun in cruising.

Thank you for your honest review.

 

 

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[Quilting_Cruiser]

Thanks for confirming out thoughts, we have no interest in cruising on the super size ships.

Like you, a jogging track and a deck that walks around are of interest to us, uncrowded public areas, but that is not going to happen on these ships.

Visually, they are ascetically quite ugly, in my opinion.

But they are just huge cargo ships for passengers.

Love the Spirit, and the smaller ships, that will be the limit to our cruising.

Thanks for your review. :eek:

 

 

Some people feel that way about the Epic and others love her. She seems to be one of those ships--you either love her or hate her. I'd never sailed on a mega ship when I boarded the Epic in March. I was hesitant to sail on a ship that large, but I was pleasantly surprised.

 

As punkincc said, a little research beforehand and the OP would have known pretty much everything that surprised him or her. I did miss having easy views of the sea, but I knew going in that the Epic's design is a little unusual. As far as the tables in the buffet, I've experienced that on every ship I've sailed--going at peak times means you may have trouble finding a table no matter the size of the ship. The rest of the public areas didn't feel any more crowded to me than they do on the smaller ships.

 

I enjoyed the Epic so much, that I'll be on her again next year. She's actually one of my favorite ships. :D

[Two Wheels Only]

Breakaway/Getaway/Escape would probably solve most of your issues with Epic.

 

All 3 have a Waterfront which mostly surrounds the ship.

All 3 have "normal" restrooms.

All 3 have VIBE for a guaranteed crowd-free/kid-free sundeck.

 

Even without VIBE, there are usually plenty of loungers away from the pool. People tend to huddle in certain areas which makes the ship seem crowded but there are areas with little to no crowding.

[Aaronmaissell]

I did a lot of research, and found out about the bathrooms, ship layout, and decided to go on Royal caribbeans Freedom of the sea! So glad that I did!

 

 

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[FreestyleNovice]

I did a lot of research, and found out about the bathrooms, ship layout, and decided to go on Royal caribbeans Freedom of the sea! So glad that I did!

 

 

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Hi, welcome to the NCL board! ;)

[cruzincurt]

We have sailed the Epic and knew about the cabin layout before boarding. Not our first choice of layouts, but we lived with it. They have not repeated "that" design. All one has to do is look at the floor plans in the brochure or on the web. We always do so before picking any cabin on any ship, as we want cabins above and below us.

 

Apparently some don't, and book blind, no doubt through a poor TA. I followed a couple out of the Lido deck lobby once on the first day and heard "Look Marge, they have a pool". Really? Spend thousands of dollars and don't know what you bought?

 

The Epic was fine otherwise but we felt the interior decor was "dark" and seemed out of place in the Caribbean.

 

The Escape was much better. What does COSTCO have to do with your post title?

Edited November 21, 2016 by cruzincurt

[chisoxfan]

We also had high hopes for the Epic but were generally underwhelmed for same reasons you mention,,,bathroom layout, a dark feeling. layout were you seemingly had to pass through the casino to get anywhere, but mostly a small and overcrowded pool area.

We had booked Getaway as our next NCL cruise but were deterred by the grats added to supposedly 'free' offers. Additionally, remained concerned over a crowded pool area despite addition of Spice.

 

Anyway, changed it up to a more traditional ship HAL Eurodam with two pools and a cabana booked in advance.

 

Happy sailings.

[DMH15]

My wonderful Wife always wanted to sail on one of the larger ships. My preference is ships such as the Sun, Jewel, Spirit, Star......So, we booked a cruise on the Epic.

 

 

 

Forgetting the registration process and the trip to the gangplank to board the ship.....Felt like lemmings heading for the cliff......The first impression of the Epic going through security on the ship was not a great start to the vacation. We entered on level four, along with the luggage and the provisions, ushered to an elevator which was packed, rumbled up to level 15, pointed toward the Garden Café and told NOT to go to cabins until 1PM.

 

 

 

I felt chastised.

 

 

 

Anyway, AFTER 1PM we were able to walk down to level 8.....Elevators were full.....Find our cabin, 8169. Opened the door and first thing I saw was the "head"....To use a nautical term.... on my left, the shower enclosure on the right....

 

 

 

"Sue" I said, " I can't believe it! An outhouse in the middle of a Minnesota forest has more privacy!"

 

 

 

"Oh come on....The sliding doors are frosted."

 

 

 

"That makes me feel better.....Oh look...There's a curtain too. The ships I like aren't like this..."

 

 

 

Had to throw that out there.....

 

 

 

Anyway the cabin itself was nice but the bed too short and, it being a mini-suite....We are getting closer to a suite.... the balcony was somewhat larger then regular balcony. Lots of storage space, which Sue liked and good sized TV which I liked.

 

 

 

"Doug, " My Wife was quick to point out, " TV is much bigger than on the other ships we were on."

 

 

 

I let that pass....

 

 

 

After a couple of hours of rest we decided to explore. First thing I looked for was the advertised jogging track. That's what we needed after a long flight a good jog! Well, found the "jogging track." Now, on the ships I like the jogging track goes AROUND the ship. On the Epic you run toward a wall, turn around and run to another wall. 3.8 of these equals 1 mile. On level 7. Basically enclosed by lifeboats.....Whoever came up with that idea was probably someone who has no idea what a jogging track should be as I was quick to point out to Sue.

 

 

 

So, we headed for the Garden Café, which turned out to be one of MY favourite places. Food was not bad, staff great and lots of ice cream available. And desserts. That said, they have no idea how to cook Chinese food. Other than that no complaints. Wait a sec....I do have a complaint. We did figure out that going for breakfast at 7:30 - 9AM was not the best time to go. It was so crowded and finding a table was like discovering gold in your cabin. One can wander around with a tray of food trying to find a table like a lost soul. We finally decided to (a) go earlier (b) go later or © load up with vittles and go back to our cabin and enjoy breakfast seated on our balcony. Same goes for lunch and dinner. Actually we went for dinner after 7PM because many folks were off seeing shows.

 

 

 

As for getting some sun during the day it was basically impossible to find lounge chairs that were not either occupied or had books on them and towels as people were saving them. It was so crowded it was like shopping at Costco on a Saturday without the shopping carts. So, we would go back to our cabin and our balcony. Spent a lot of time on the balcony.

 

 

 

We finally discovered the fitness centre. Lots of equipment and no problem finding a treadmill or an elliptical to use. Staff was friendly and the centre was well maintained.

 

 

 

Sue, who loves playing bridge, joined up with the bridge groups who played every day at 1PM. As for me, I am good at fish but that's about it. So,while Sue was off playing bridge, I was off trying to find the deck that goes around the ship. I spent so much time getting lost that I gave up. Ended up at the Garden Café which was my safe haven. I finally asked our cabin steward and he told me there isn't any. I couldn't wait to tell Sue......

 

 

 

On day eight of our trip we both came down with the flu. That curtailed much of our activities on the Epic and we spent most of the remainder of the cruise in our cabin feeling sorry for ourselves....Well I did but, as usual, Sue sees the bright side. We have a balcony, we can see the sea and it could be worse.

 

 

 

So, overall we enjoyed the cruise as we love the ocean, but really missed the deck around the ship, found it very crowded at certain times of the day and would probably not book another cruise on the Epic.

 

 

 

Sue is now talking about the Breakaway. I'm silently thinking the Sun.....

 

 

Doug, I am on Epic in 96 days. My fave is the Sun. Love that ship. At least in the Haven with spa passes too will help us avoid the masses, chair hogs, etc. But man, I wish I was in the sun on the Sun.

 

When NCL cancelled our Jade trip twice they offered us Epic or Dawn. Not a fan of Dawn I pulled the trigger on Epic.

 

If you cruise the Sun again, splurge on my corner aft penthouse and you won't ever want to leave that balcony.

 

 

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Edited November 21, 2016 by DMH15

[BirdTravels]

Thanks for confirming out thoughts, we have no interest in cruising on the super size ships. Like you, a jogging track and a deck that walks around are of interest to us, uncrowded public areas, but that is not going to happen on these ships. Visually, they are ascetically quite ugly, in my opinion. But they are just huge cargo ships for passengers. Love the Spirit, and the smaller ships, that will be the limit to our cruising.

Thanks for your review. :eek:

 

We love the Epic and have sailed on her 6 times. We've been to many boutique hotels in the US with open bathroom layouts. In addition to the Epic, we have been on the Breakaway, Getaway, and Escape a total of 6 times. We love the large ships (and small ships too).

 

Westlorne obviously did no research about what he paid a bundle of money for.

Edited November 22, 2016 by BirdTravels

[Zippeedee]

We love the Epic and have sailed on her 6 times. We've been to many boutique hotels in the US with open bathroom layouts. In addition to the Epic, we have been on the Breakaway, Getaway, and Escape a total of 6 times. We love the large ships (and small ships too).

 

Westlorne obviously did no research about what he paid a bundle of money for.

 

Exactly.