MITSUGIRLYS EPIC CRUISE--2nd time around-1st from Port Canaveral

[mitsugirly]

Also something else I wanted to mention is that there has been a huge debate on whether or not NCL is still giving out Latitude ship pins. A lot of people have stated that they were discontinued. We went to the Cruise Next Desk to inquire and yes, I did get one. (I think I might have mentioned this earlier in my review, but if I didn't...I'm mentioning it now). They ask me how many and I received three. Later in the week, my kids would go to get theirs and they were out. So, if you want a pin, my suggestion is to go early in the cruise.

 

 

 

We all ran around the ship doing last minute things with packing, getting luggage tags and customs forms (our room steward never did bring our forms and we had to go get them at guest services), making our last minute purchases we wanted to take home and then headed to the MDR for our last dinner.

 

 

 

The kids couldn't decide what luggage tags to get and I tried to figure up the time that they would need by calculating getting off the ship, customs, 1 hour to the airport, check-in at the airport and security and getting on the plane. We figured 9am was a good and safe time and they picked up the tags and we all headed back to the room to get our luggage weighed and out the door for pick up by our room stewards. We said our good nights, see you in the morning, and headed to bed.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Our last day on our beloved Epic and it was bittersweet.

 

I had set the alarm for 7am and knew we would have plenty of time to get ready and breakfast and kind of hang out for a little bit before getting off the ship.

 

Of course I was the first one up and I headed out on the balcony to see if we had docked and we had. This was our view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked down and started seeing the most amazing site...

 

 

 

Do you see them? (There's two in this picture)

 

 

Dolphins were everywhere and I mean everywhere.

 

To the left, to the right, out further, real close. They were just everywhere swimming. Wow, what a site.

 

 

I yelled for Sakari to get up and she was so excited.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I texted Kendra and Courtney to let them know and they were standing outside my door in less than a minute.

 

 

 

One of the dolphins had a baby and Sakari yells "Mommy, it's a calf". The baby was a really light gray in color and almost a pale white. Sakari said the babies are lighter, but I don't know if that was true or not. It was so fun to watch the mother and the baby. I tried over and over to get pictures of them both, but it just didn't happen.

 

 

 

It was so hard to get pictures of the dolphins because there were so many and we just kept going back and forth with the cameras because you didn't know when they were going to pop up and where. They were just everywhere and so many of them.

 

 

 

 

Kolin was busy being goofy.

 

 

 

At one point, Kolin goes, "Why are they not jumping up out of the water high like you see in the movies?" I told him you usually only see them jumping if they are playing, like in the wake of the ship or a boat or just playing with each other and we would probably never see them do that. I figured they were there to eat since the ships are coming in and stirring up everything. About that time, one of them jumped up out of the water! Kolin was able to catch it on video on his phone, but it was on snapchat and of course that is only on there for 1 day and I didn't get a copy of it. Darnit.

 

Then there was another video that Kolin did that a dolphin came up out of the water and had a fish in its mouth and it would throw the fish and then go get it, throw it, go get it...over and over. It was fun to watch. I can't seen to locate it either. Ugh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We gathered our things and headed up to the buffet for some breakfast and then we would just sit and wait for them to start calling colors.

 

They were really late on calling the priority tags and it was well after 8 and I know usually they start calling way earlier than what they say the will.

 

We waited and waited and would hear them call tags or self assist every so often. It was around 9am and they were just now starting to call the regular luggage tags. There was a real back up and they told everyone not to come down to deck 7 and clog up the area until you were called.

 

 

We waited and waited and it was now really super late. We were starting to get worried now. Kendra had an early flight at 1:15 or something like that and I was beginning to wonder if she'd make it in time. Our flight wasn't until 4:35pm and knew we had plenty of time.

 

A little after 10 (I believe it was) we decided we were going to head on down and see what was going on. Well, we soon found out that they were on a color that was past Kendra's 9am colors and they had stopped making announcements outside on the pool deck. YIKES! Why would they do this? There was still people up there waiting.

 

We grabbed our things to ding out and then Kolin was stopped. They said he owed money on his bill still and pulled him aside. He owed $12.85 and he needed to pay to get off. How can this be???? He used his credit card for the room. I don't understand. His entire bill was less than $500 and his card limit is $15k with a 0 balance on it when he left the house. They just said that there was a balance and he needed to pay in cash. So, that's what he did, frustrated, and then we headed off the ship.

 

 

 

Once we got outside, we headed to the left to figure out where we catch our shuttle we had booked. It was a MAD HOUSE! There was no direction, no signs, no nothing. I approached an officer and he pointed and said that private shuttles where "this" way. I found a shuttle that had "Stylus" on it and approached them. The driver said there was a lady running around with a clipboard and we were to give her our names. We found her, gave her our names and the amount in our party. She didn't look us up on a list, she just jotted on a paper, real lightly, our last name and an "8" beside it. Um ok...this didn't look very professional to me and how did she know we had actually booked with her? She didn't ask for any confirmation or look us up.

 

 

She motioned for us to stand "right here", which was where we were standing. She said there was a huge charter bus coming and that's what we would get on. We would wait and wait and wait. I would see a huge Stylus charter bus pull out on down from us and the Stylus van in front of us was still just sitting there. We booked with GOPORTCANAVERAL and their directions said that it was Stylus, so that's where I'm getting this info from.

 

I decided to ask the driver in front of us what was going on and he said that he was a "local" driver and didn't go to the airport. He also told me "see that huge group down there at the end? They are also waiting on the bus, but I don't know if you are supposed to go there or not". Say what??? Seriously? All those people were waiting??? Yikes. I walked down there to inquire and the guy down there said, "Yes, that's what they are waiting on but if she told you to wait down there, I would do that".

 

I was SO CONFUSED and aggravated at this point. Kendra was going to miss her plane...I was just sure of it.

 

I found the lady again and ask where to be and how long and she said "Just stay here and I don't know what those people down there are doing because I didn't tell them to wait down there and they are probably standing there because that's where the last charter bus pulled out of."

 

Ok then...wait we would...then we would see the charter bus start to pull into the pick up area. It was a very LONG wait. One by one they pulled in and would have to wait for someone to leave to get a spot.

 

Once again, getting nervous if we were standing in the right place, I ask the lady about where to be. She told me she was going to see if they could have the bus pull around to the other side and load. I ask if we should move and she said "no".

 

Well, once that charter bus passed the huge waiting group at the end, there was a sudden tornado of people running toward the other side and down where we were. It was a mad house. I was pissed. If she didn't tell those people to wait down there, did they even check in with her? Are they even supposed to be on this bus?

 

The bus pulled up and I told Kendra "I don't care if we get on this bus or not, but I'm going to make d*amn sure you guys are on it. Give me your luggage" and I managed to squeeze my way through the hoard of people with their luggage and present it to the person stacking the luggage under the bus. Well heck, I'm in a good position where I was at and I wasn't about to give it up and at that point, we had an assembly line going with all 8 of us rolling the luggage down to each other and ending with me. Remember we had 8 people and lots of luggage and at one point he said "Were you living on the ship?" I told him we have 8 people and I was giving him all of our luggage (he could only see me).

 

Once that was done, I got out of the way (people were getting pissed that he was only taking ours and we had filled up a big portion of that side) and we headed for the stairs to the bus only to be stopped. They said "We have to check to make sure that we have enough room" SERIOUSLY? This was such a cluster fluck! I told them "If you don't have enough room, then you might want to stop the guys from putting more luggage under there and our luggage is in there so either we are getting on this bus or you are going to take the time to pull out all the luggage until you find ours and return it to us and I can guarantee that they are buried under everyone else's. You are NOT pulling away with our luggage on the bus if we are not on it."

 

She got on the bus, did a seat count and let us on.

 

 

 

There were a few more seats and then the bus was full. Once again, no one took our names or anything. It was the biggest mess I have ever witnessed.

 

 

 

We pulled away and left a huge crowd still standing at the port and they were very unhappy.

 

 

 

Our driver apologized for the wait and then proceeded to be funny with his commentary. He also stated "This bus has a maximum speed of 72 and that's exactly what we will be going...72!" Everyone cheered and we were off.

 

We arrived at the airport and once I seen Kendra's luggage I rolled it over to them and told them "run" and run they did. They were out of site in no time. We took our time.

 

I WILL NEVER, EVER, EVER, NEVER use goportcanaveral for transportation again. I will not use them, I will not recommend them, I will tell everyone I know if I have to. Terrible company. It was the most unorganized chaos I had ever seen or been a part of. No direction, late on the way to the cruise, super late at the pier, not enough buses, no direction or organization, and I'm still left scratching my head on how they actually knew that all the people on that charter was actually supposed to be on it with no verification from anyone, no checking names off a list...nothing. Why did they take our name or the amount of people we had? What good did that do? They weren't calling off names for people to board the bus. They weren't checking off of a list of people who checked in with her. WHY WHY WHY? Terrible company. Don't ever use them!

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We checked our luggage in and caught a glimpse of Kendra and the family headed toward security. They really wasn't much further along than we were and I was super worried.

 

We headed outside for awhile and just sat around waiting to hear from her and the status of whether or not they made their flight.

 

Snapchat passes the time away and Sakari and I was playing. It was hot outside and I was receiving word that it was snowing back home. Yikes Not here, it's a hot 78 degree day in sunny Florida.

 

 

 

I would take this picture to save and post as we were ready for take off.

 

 

 

 

We were getting hungry and decided to head in and find something to eat. We would discover that all of the good food places were inside the terminal so we went through security and ....I had forgotten that you had to catch the monorail thingy to get over to the terminal. Oh gosh...I'm still worrying because that's added extra time that Kendra would need to make it to her flight.

 

 

 

I had messaged Kendra with her status with no response. I was hoping that was a good sign that she had made it.

 

 

 

Once at the terminal, we immediately knew we wanted Chipotle. I'm addicted to this rice!

 

 

 

We found a pretty cool table and took over.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

It had built in charging stations.

 

 

 

 

This airport in Orlando is so pretty!! They even have a hotel in it and the balcony rooms go out to part of the inside of the terminal. They are pretty neat.

 

 

 

We still had a few hours and Sakari decided to pass the time away doing her favorite thing...

 

 

 

FINALLY...I got word that Kendra had made it, was on the plane, and she teased that she would be home before we ever even left the airport for our flight. But that was ok...as long as she made it. I didn't mind hanging out for a few more hours.

 

When we got to our terminal, it was nothing but families and kids and loud as can be. Now remember how I paid the extra $$ ($15pp) to get early bird check in? Well that early bird check-in got Courtney and Kolin in the A section and us in the B section. Crap. So what does this mean you might ask? Well, that means that after everyone from the A section boards, they ask everyone WITH CHILDREN ages 5 and UNDER to get on BEFORE the B and C boards. (And just so you know, this was a completely full flight and there were so many people that the sections never even made it to "C"...it only went B35!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does that tell you anything? We were B 6, 7, and 8...meaning that there were only 27 people behind us at this point.)

 

Well.......that meant the ENTIRE PLANE! Oh geesh. I have never in my entire life seen such a long line of families to board after the A people. We were doomed. Seriously doomed. This line went from the entrance to the hallway to the plane, down that hall, then circled down the regular hall. It was crazy.

 

It's hard to tell in the picture, but if you see the "109" in the picture, the line is below that and to the right (a small ways) is the hall to the plane. Then it goes out and down and to the (left in the picture) and down that hallway and out of the site of the picture.

 

 

 

At that moment, I vowed to NEVER fly into Orlando again. There has to be another way to get to PC other than Orlando or driving. Otherwise, I was never cruising from there again. Mickey has me emotional at this point.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After calling all the families to board, it was finally our turn. I felt like I was walking the walk of shame, with my head hung low, not very hopeful at all.

 

Once on the plane we headed to the very back and spotted Kolin and Courtney. We managed to snag 3 seats together (thank goodness) a few seats back from them and 3 seats from the very back of the plane. Hey, I'm not complaining and I really don't care where we sit as long as it's together.

 

Ok...ready for take off...

 

 

 

Up we went for our 2 hour + flight home and we would arrive around 6pm.

 

 

The sun was interesting, as always, but these huge puffy, "snow" clouds probably, made things appear super cool.

 

 

 

We landed with no problem...well, maybe one problem and that was that it is freezing in Ohio and we had packed our coats.

 

We headed down to grab our luggage, but for some reason the hubby's luggage never came. Kolin spotted it sitting in the security area and we walked over to see what was going on. We would learn that his luggage decided to hitch a ride on Kendra's plane earlier and came in with her. LOL Oh well. At least we got it.

 

We headed to the airport shuttle, made it to the truck....and we were soon home and getting back to normal.

 

~~~~~.....the end.....~~~~~ (well unless I end up finding something else that I might have missed...or that dolphin video).

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the review. I will do a follow up on my thoughts...but I'm off to do a few things around the house now. I'm still sitting in mye pj's because I vowed that I would not move today (other than an occasional potty break and refill of pop), until I got this review completed. I haven't even had breakfast yet and it's 3:25pm. Now that's motivation! :D

[Laszlo]

Fantastic review once again! Sorry about your issues with Orlando. That airport along with Tampa are my favorites for getting around, never been delayed.

[julie3fan]

Kim, this is the first review I've read of yours, and I've enjoyed every word and every picture. Thank you for the time you spent on this. I have a B2B on the Epic in March, and your review has given me a lot to think about while I finish up my plans.

 

One thing that's concerning is your experience with goportcanaveral. I also have them booked for my transportation, and I'm happy I have a late flight. Now that you're safely home, have you thought more about that whole debacle? Do you think any of the issues were things they would have seen as needing to be changed, or do you feel that is their normal way of doing things?

 

Thanks again, and I plan on finding your other reviews to read while I wait until March!

[pghsteelerfan]

I just finished your review and sorry to see it come to an end. I just love your reviews and your writing style and find myself cracking up several times.

 

So glad you all got to go scuba diving and the pictures you got were out of this world. I only hope that there is some way you'll be able to continue with it but realize that there are some glitches that may prevent it. I think I mentioned to you on your Fascination review that my eardrum ruptured when I was 6 months old, so don't know if it healed or if there is a hole, I guess almost the same situation as your DH's, but without the mess he had with the fluid and all. If I dive to a certain depth, I can't clear it and I definitely feel pressure. However, when we were in St. Kitts last year on Liberty, I was "free diving" for a sand dollar and a conch shell and I'm pretty sure it was deeper than 10 or 12 feet there and I had no issues, so who knows.

 

When you mentioned being on a cruise with a lot of sea days and just wanting off the ship, we are the same way. There have to be at least four ports and we know it's always possible to miss one, which is exactly what happened on our first Liberty cruise in 2014. I love Carnival Liberty, but that was one cruise that I was happy to get off the ship. We're an hour and a half drive from Baltimore and Carnival Pride, but two things are holding us back. Only 3 ports, although we love GT and HMC and have never been to Freeport. Then there's the cost, it's more expensive, so what we'd save on airfare would go right back into the cost of the cruise. So we definitely have to think that one out. And thank you for bringing up the crowding factor on the larger ships. I'd love to try one out, but for right now, we are more interested in the ports and are happy to cruise on the smaller ships. Me and huge, unorganized crowds just don't mix. Would love to try Fascination on the itinerary out of San Juan, even though we've done it twice recently since there is so much to see and do.

 

Thanks again for doing a review of your cruise and as always, I love your beautiful pictures. So sorry the ones in Tortola didn't come out as you wanted, but some of the ones you got were just spectacular. Oh, we call it "pop" too, even though most people from this area call it soda. We're from western PA, so not too far from Ohio. Friends and I used to go to the first exit when entering Ohio on I-70 for fireworks. :D Thinking that was only an hour and a half.

[SuiteTraveler]

Do you know if the bathrooms are the same on the Divina as they Epic?

 

Having sailed on Divina - the bathrooms are conventional cruise ship bathrooms and the staterooms are squared off - not wavy at all. The only unique thing is that the shower has a glass enclosure which can be folded back against the wall like an accordion to make the bathroom more spacious when the shower is not in use. The inside of the ship has a large atrium where the chandelier would normally be. The 2 MDR's are aft - not like on Epic. The theater is forward. The casino is outside of the theater - so MSC rearranged the ship. Of course, there is only one slide, no rock climbing wall or mini golf. There is a spa pool indoors and 2 other pools outdoors. The Yacht club is forward - top 2 decks with a private pool and 2 hot tubs on the top deck for Yacht club guests. The Yacht club restaurant is aft and overlooks the aft pool which has an interesting infinity edge. Hope that helps.

[SuiteTraveler]

The other thing I meant to mention about Divina is that the thermal suite is steam rooms and sauna's and a relaxation room - no thalisotherapy pool, hot tub or whirlpool unfortunately. (I hope MSC changes this on Seaside.)

[spencercoop]

The MSC Divina is not the 2nd Epic class cruise ship. The Divina is the 3rd ship in the MSC Fantasia class of cruise ships and is slightly larger than her other 2 previous sisters.

[spencercoop]

Kim,

 

Great review like always. I love reading them. When's your next cruise coming up?

[SuiteTraveler]

Kim,

Thanks for another great review! I'm so glad you got to try out scuba. I, too, hope your DH can do it. That would be great for your whole family. Some of the best scuba around is in Belize btw. If you pursue scuba you might consider going there.

 

Once again, a great review! Thank you for all the effort you put into it!

[DGP1111]

There were 2 NCL employees out on the pier and they were taking all kinds of pictures of themselves and both of the ships. They would run up and down, in different spots, and take pictures. I just knew they had to be "newbie" employees of one of the ships and they were so excited about it.

 

Kim, I didn't leave the ship at all while in Nassau, and enjoyed watching the Epic crew basically do the exact same thing. Some were almost giddy watching Escape arrive and 'park' next door. Lots of selfies being taken.

There were more passengers on Escape balconies than I ever remember seeing on any ship arriving into Nassau (as many are often already lining up to get off the ship). And a surprising number of cabin stewards sharing the balconies with them as they pulled in.

 

Seems it was the first time these two ships were in a port together, and not scheduled to do so again anytime soon. I considered myself fortunate to see that happen.

 

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[janpo]

Having sailed on Divina - the bathrooms are conventional cruise ship bathrooms and the staterooms are squared off - not wavy at all. The only unique thing is that the shower has a glass enclosure which can be folded back against the wall like an accordion to make the bathroom more spacious when the shower is not in use. The inside of the ship has a large atrium where the chandelier would normally be. The 2 MDR's are aft - not like on Epic. The theater is forward. The casino is outside of the theater - so MSC rearranged the ship. Of course, there is only one slide, no rock climbing wall or mini golf. There is a spa pool indoors and 2 other pools outdoors. The Yacht club is forward - top 2 decks with a private pool and 2 hot tubs on the top deck for Yacht club guests. The Yacht club restaurant is aft and overlooks the aft pool which has an interesting infinity edge. Hope that helps.

 

 

Thank you so much for that information! It was very helpful.

[janpo]

I have to say Kim, I'm very disappointed in this review.

 

I'm very disappointed that it's over......I came here every day to read. Now what do I do????

 

Thank you once again for a fantastic trip report.

Edited December 3, 2016 by janpo

[OCEANCATS]

Great review! In an early post you mentioned where you book your hotels through but it got deleted. Would it be possible for you to email me the info? I am always looking for ways to make our travels better...

 

cj3204@yahoo.com

 

Thanks in advance and no big deal if you don't get time.

 

"Our hotel information:

 

We booked using [deleted]. Those not familiar with them, I learned about them several years ago, from these boards. They are a family that is a third party booking agent that prearranges accommodations geared toward cruisers that combine packages such as hotel, transfer, and parking while on a cruise. They usually have some pretty good deals and their package includes everything they have listed on their site for that hotel. The price you see is the price you pay. No additional charges or taxes.

 

[deleted]

 

We ended up booking Doubletree Hotel at 5555 Hazeltine National Drive in Orlando. It was 2 miles from the airport and of course included airport to hotel shuttle. If you were driving in, it included 14 days of free parking, but we were flying. They did offer cruise port shuttle, but at $40 pp, it was not cost effective. The price of this package was $117 for up to 4 people in the room. Since we had a total of 8 people, we booked 2 rooms and it suited our needs well. "

[bunnyette]

Kim,

 

Great job, so many others start and never finish. Despite your very busy career (my mom was a nurse), you still provide us with a great review - a gold medal one at that[emoji1]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[mitsugirly]

Kim, you have another fan here! Love your reviews! So much that while waiting for new installments, I've gone back to read previous reviews!

I'm an RN in Ohio as well that was in nursing school as an *cough* older student at the exact same time as you - well, it's definitely made me feel like I was right there with you guys!

We are going to Nassau on the Breakaway in March as our first family cruise and have been going back and forth between expensive beach day or Junkanoo and spend the money on fun stuff. What are your thoughts now that you've done both?

 

Sent from my SM-N900V using Forums mobile app

 

Aww, thanks so much. You are so kind and glad you like them.

 

Hello fellow "older" RN in Ohio. How cool is that. Are you close to Columbus? What did you decide to do after graduating (like hospital or ??).

 

Well...my thoughts would be I would probably not return to Junkanoo unless I was going and just couldn't spend any more money and needed a "free" day (because you know I'm not going to just stay on the ship or just hang out in port shopping or whatever). If I return, I will head to Balmoral to check it out...just to go, whether I like it or not. But if you are willing to pay, I would definitely find a nicer place. Not that this place was bad or anything, it's just not your beautiful place to go when you think of "Bahamas". It's exactly what it appears...it city beach.

 

We enjoyed Blue Lagoon and we also thought Melia was going to be absolutely beautiful when they were done remodeling (which of course they are since it's been a few years since we were there). Gorgeous pools and beach. :)

 

Hey Kim

If your using an iPhone it has a pretty good time lapse feature. Here is a link to one of mine. I need to upload a few more

 

 

https://vimeo.com/133282301

 

Yes, I have an iphone. I have never tried this time lapse feature before. How do you stabilize the phone when you take the pictures? I can't imagine trying to put my phone on the balcony rail to take them. I would be too afraid that I would have an accident. With my cameras, I always have the wrist strap on tight so no accidents.

 

Man your video was really super cool. How long were you there taking that? I seen to have so many issues with my phone and not much memory, so I'm constantly deleting pictures and taking the other pictures from the phone to my computer so that I can make room for more. I'm not sure what's going on with my phone. I have had problems for over a year now. (And when I say my phone tells me it runs out of room, I'm talking like only having 50 pictures or less on it). :(

 

 

Here's a few more. I used a suction cup mount on the balcony sliding door

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtvqUirC2AA

 

In Costa Maya.....hand held https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEe0K8nRT40

 

Ok, I did not like that first one...oh my talk about dizzy. lol

 

 

The second one was AMAZING and I loved it.

 

The third was kinda cool and almost funny. lol

 

So, do you start and stop this on your own? I'm definitely going to have to try this.

 

 

Fantastic review once again! Sorry about your issues with Orlando. That airport along with Tampa are my favorites for getting around, never been delayed.

 

Thank you and yea, it sucks that we had such a crappy experience with all the families and seating. But, I guess what can you expect when you are at the King Mouse Airport. I do like Tampa myself too.

 

Kim, this is the first review I've read of yours, and I've enjoyed every word and every picture. Thank you for the time you spent on this. I have a B2B on the Epic in March, and your review has given me a lot to think about while I finish up my plans.

 

One thing that's concerning is your experience with goportcanaveral. I also have them booked for my transportation, and I'm happy I have a late flight. Now that you're safely home, have you thought more about that whole debacle? Do you think any of the issues were things they would have seen as needing to be changed, or do you feel that is their normal way of doing things?

 

Thanks again, and I plan on finding your other reviews to read while I wait until March!

 

Hi there and I guess I broke you in with this review huh? Sometimes my reviews can be pretty overwhelming and lengthy.

 

Well, my opinion of GPC is not a good one. There were a LOT of complaints being mumbled around on the bus when we were on it and I can also tell you that others that booked them from my sailing had came on and said what a mess it was. Here's my thoughts...they are not a new company and they should have this mess down pat to a tee! It should never be this way. I did overhear the lady that was holding the clipboard say to the driver "we must have a meeting on this soon"....Soon? I think they are long overdue. I would honestly go on the port board and ask around and see what others think. I would like to think that since this place was recommended to me that it hasn't always been this way?

 

I just finished your review and sorry to see it come to an end. I just love your reviews and your writing style and find myself cracking up several times.

 

So glad you all got to go scuba diving and the pictures you got were out of this world. I only hope that there is some way you'll be able to continue with it but realize that there are some glitches that may prevent it. I think I mentioned to you on your Fascination review that my eardrum ruptured when I was 6 months old, so don't know if it healed or if there is a hole, I guess almost the same situation as your DH's, but without the mess he had with the fluid and all. If I dive to a certain depth, I can't clear it and I definitely feel pressure. However, when we were in St. Kitts last year on Liberty, I was "free diving" for a sand dollar and a conch shell and I'm pretty sure it was deeper than 10 or 12 feet there and I had no issues, so who knows.

 

When you mentioned being on a cruise with a lot of sea days and just wanting off the ship, we are the same way. There have to be at least four ports and we know it's always possible to miss one, which is exactly what happened on our first Liberty cruise in 2014. I love Carnival Liberty, but that was one cruise that I was happy to get off the ship. We're an hour and a half drive from Baltimore and Carnival Pride, but two things are holding us back. Only 3 ports, although we love GT and HMC and have never been to Freeport. Then there's the cost, it's more expensive, so what we'd save on airfare would go right back into the cost of the cruise. So we definitely have to think that one out. And thank you for bringing up the crowding factor on the larger ships. I'd love to try one out, but for right now, we are more interested in the ports and are happy to cruise on the smaller ships. Me and huge, unorganized crowds just don't mix. Would love to try Fascination on the itinerary out of San Juan, even though we've done it twice recently since there is so much to see and do.

 

Thanks again for doing a review of your cruise and as always, I love your beautiful pictures. So sorry the ones in Tortola didn't come out as you wanted, but some of the ones you got were just spectacular. Oh, we call it "pop" too, even though most people from this area call it soda. We're from western PA, so not too far from Ohio. Friends and I used to go to the first exit when entering Ohio on I-70 for fireworks. :D Thinking that was only an hour and a half.

 

Glad to hear I was able to give you a laugh or two.

 

I was really concerned on whether or not I would personally be able to do a dive and clear my ears myself. When I jump off a diving board at the local pool and go down any depth, my ears kill me. If I'm snorkeling and I dive down any deeper than around 6-8 foot...ouch! They never pop. So I had my doubts...but absolutely no problem with me. I didn't even realize they were popping and completely forgot about it.

 

I know what you mean about cruising out of Baltimore on the Pride. We really loved the Pride and Baltimore, but man that cruise was probably the most expensive cruise to date. I thought it was just because it was Spring Break...but maybe that's not the case?

 

The MSC Divina is not the 2nd Epic class cruise ship. The Divina is the 3rd ship in the MSC Fantasia class of cruise ships and is slightly larger than her other 2 previous sisters.

 

See, that's what I'm reading as well. So I'm confused.

 

Kim,

 

Great review like always. I love reading them. When's your next cruise coming up?

 

My next cruise won't be until Spring Break for Sakari next April. It's going to be a LONG 4 months. :p I'm trying to decide, but I'm thinking of booking the Conquest out of FLL to: Aruba, Curacao, Grand Turk, and La Romana. That will be 4 port days and 3 new ports for us!

 

 

Kim,

Thanks for another great review! I'm so glad you got to try out scuba. I, too, hope your DH can do it. That would be great for your whole family. Some of the best scuba around is in Belize btw. If you pursue scuba you might consider going there.

 

Once again, a great review! Thank you for all the effort you put into it!

 

Thank you for the comments. I really appreciate it. Scuba was amazing and I will definitely continue to at least do the Discover Scuba. I hope the hubs can figure his situation out as well. I will definitely consider Belize. I hear it's amazing. I wonder if they do any type of Discover Scuba there?

 

 

Kim, I didn't leave the ship at all while in Nassau, and enjoyed watching the Epic crew basically do the exact same thing. Some were almost giddy watching Escape arrive and 'park' next door. Lots of selfies being taken.

There were more passengers on Escape balconies than I ever remember seeing on any ship arriving into Nassau (as many are often already lining up to get off the ship). And a surprising number of cabin stewards sharing the balconies with them as they pulled in.

 

Seems it was the first time these two ships were in a port together, and not scheduled to do so again anytime soon. I considered myself fortunate to see that happen.

 

That's really cool that you were able to watch the Escape come in and get those awesome pictures. How cool. Yea, since Epic has been away for awhile and Escape just came out, first time for them to be together and such an amazing event. Everyone was excited. I loved when they kept blowing the horns back and forth. I was just sitting there enjoying it and now I wish I would have recorded it.

 

 

I have to say Kim, I'm very disappointed in this review.

 

I'm very disappointed that it's over......I came here every day to read. Now what do I do????

 

Thank you once again for a fantastic trip report.

 

So sorry to disappoint you. :p Four more months and there will be another. :)

 

 

Great review! In an early post you mentioned where you book your hotels through but it got deleted. Would it be possible for you to email me the info? I am always looking for ways to make our travels better...

 

cj3204@yahoo.com

 

Thanks in advance and no big deal if you don't get time.

 

Yes, I believe there was a misunderstanding about who I booked with and the mods emailed me and said they deleted the information (versus deleting the entire post) because of the rules against mentioning a TA. However, what I don't think they understood is that this is NOT a TA. It's a fly/stay/cruise place to book the hotel/parking/transportation packages. This company is mentioned all the time on the boards (especially over on the port boards for looking for a hotel). So, I believe there was a misunderstanding about this place/service because it's definitely not a TA. I would never try to post anything that would cause a problem or against the rules.

 

Kim,

 

Great job, so many others start and never finish. Despite your very busy career (my mom was a nurse), you still provide us with a great review - a gold medal one at that

 

Thank you so much for your kind words. It's a lot of work but I was able to work on this one a lot more because I'm out of school until January on winter break. Lucky me hehe

[mitsugirly]

ONE OTHER THING I HAVE TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL....

 

I believe I might have mentioned stalking all the pictures on the Coki website all the time and looking at all the things that they seem to see when diving. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see much in the lines of fish and such.

 

 

LOOK WHAT THEY JUST POSTED THE OTHER DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EEK!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I would have used my built in nose purge valve in my mask multiple times that day from all the tears of joy from crying if this would have happened to us....

 

 

[Zippeedee]

Do you know if the bathrooms are the same on the Divina as they Epic?

 

No, they made a lot of changes, I assume because the Epic was originally so controversial. The Captain and Chief Engineer were talking about the Divina during their technical talk onboard. That's really all they said, the hull was sold and redesigned as the Divina. It was cool to see them docked side by side in Nassau.

[carolinagalcruise2011]

Thank you for your review! I enjoyed all the beautiful pictures from your scuba dive and now may have to try it myself if I can get my hubby to go also!

[ncklhaus]

Your review was fantastic as usual!

 

Wanna know why you saw so many Barracuda in Nassau? Because they think Mermaids are yummy. :D