It's EPIC! (The ship not this review) 11-26-2016

[RanchoDeluxe]

BTW I’d had a Mango Meltdown up at Spice. Very tasty and it is not premade.

 

After the party broke up we went down to Manhattan for dinner. If the restaurant cannot seat you right away they give you a buzzer for while you wait. Then you can wander. At Manhattan you can wander to the casino very easily, or the casino bar. We had several beepers during the week, but the wait was never very long and just gave us time for cocktails. I think this is the night we both had Steak Diane. It was cooked properly (ordered medium rare) and very good. Whichever night we had it, it was our best entrée for the week. Service was not a problem. I find it is never as quick as a restaurant where the staff wants to turn the table so they can get another check going, but we only felt like the meal dragged a little once or twice over the week.

 

After dinner we had our wander around the casino and also thru some of the public spaces, trying to learn the layout of the ship. It’s not too difficult. Make sure you score a couple copies of the ship map while you are in the terminal and carry it with you that first night.

[bjcruiser]

Loving your review. Our turn is Feb 18th. We are counting down the days!!!!!

[Tutontow]

Following, can't wait for more. We sail her in March of 2017.

 

We live in Plant City and you are right it is great having so many cruise port withing a couple of hours drive.

 

We have spent the night before in Port Canaveral a couple of times. The drawback to that is staying too late at the hotel bar and feeling like you know what when you board the ship.

[katiecat]

following

keep up the great work

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review. Following.

[RanchoDeluxe]

We hit the Spaaaah after dinner. The Epic Mandara Thermal Suite is so sweet. (yeah, I did that on purpose) The procedure to access the spa is to stop by the front desk, turn in your key card and get a spa key card. You are assigned a locker number for the visit if you want to leave items in the locker room. Now I can only speak for sure to the amenities of the ladies locker room. You key yourself in thru a hallway which then opens to a typical room of lockers and benches. There are towels, robes, hair dryers and a few amenities, like shower caps and q-tips. After the locker room you reach an area with showers, and toilets. The showers have body wash and shampoo, but no conditioner. We also had a good size steam room and smaller two saunas. One sauna is drier than the desert (maybe it’s infra-red) and the other had the hot rocks you can pour a little water over to control the humidity. Both the ladies sauna rooms have full ceiling to floor windows to the sea. The men’s only saunas do not; I asked DH and he grumped that their locker room was in the middle of the ship. Before you come to ladies only area exit there is a sitting area. Then you exit and walk out to Valhalla.

 

At the entrance the Thermal Suite (mixed-sex use area) are more towels (so you never run out), some cold infused water and hot tea. In front of you is ultimately the aft of the ship, but to get to the aft balcony area you have to walk past three rows of comfy padded loungers and two rows of the tiled, heated loungers. Out on the balcony are six more loungers and at each end a little day bed - very ritzy with throw pillows and blowy curtains that make you feel like you’re in 1001- Arabian Nights.

 

To the left as you walk out are the pools. One little not-so-hot tub in which you have to cycle the bubbles, so you can soak without bubbles if you wish. Then there is the giant thalassotherapy pool.

 

Stole this off the web.

 

 

 

ALL parts of this pool are good. In the back by the big circle on the wall, that is the rows of underwater loungers. Round bars make up the seats and these comforting bubbles surround you, kneading and soothing. On each side of the pool center are three alcoves to sit in. Strong jets hit you. The center fountain has three different massage showers; these pound your shoulders, neck, and back. Then there is the little circle offshoot pool in the front bottom of the picture with the steering wheel in the center. I heard someone refer to that as the massage pool. Well, all I know is you better hang on to the wheel.

 

There’s more but this is all we used that first night. After a while in the pool of bliss, not enough sleep, a long day and a full meal it was time for bed. Sometime during this day we had unpacked. It was before the spa because we didn’t go naked and I think we had changed for dinner. We did spend a little time on the balcony, we are stargazers.

 

Speaking of which the Geminid meteor shower is occurring. I need to go see if I can catch a falling star. Goodnight!

 

 

[akers123]

Great review - Can't wait for you to continue!

[lawnbowler48]

Love your review especially the sunset pics. Hope when we go (Feb 18) we get a nice sunset as well.