EPIC Dining advice please.

[dd likes to cruise]

We are doing Transatlantic Port Canaveral to Barcelona, April 1st and just looking for dining advice. Been on 5-6 cruises, never Norweigian, and we normally do MDR's.

 

Is one of MDR's on Epic, better than the other?

Are the menus similar?

Are the other complimentary options worth trying?

Or Easy to get in?

On A 13 night cruise, do menus get repeated?

 

Any info from Epic experts greatly appreciated. Even if not dining related. :)

 

1st TA also, but have been on 10 night cruise, so length should be okay.

[BirdTravels]

We are doing Transatlantic Port Canaveral to Barcelona, April 1st and just looking for dining advice. Been on 5-6 cruises, never Norweigian, and we normally do MDR's.

 

Is one of MDR's on Epic, better than the other?

Are the menus similar?

Are the other complimentary options worth trying?

Or Easy to get in?

On A 13 night cruise, do menus get repeated?

 

Any info from Epic experts greatly appreciated. Even if not dining related. :)

 

1st TA also, but have been on 10 night cruise, so length should be okay.

 

Been on the Epic 5 times. The Manhattan Room is designed as a dinner club with live music and the bigger and more formal of the two MDRs. The menus in the Mahanttan Room and Taste are similar to same. NCL uses about 10 different MDR menus. On a 2 week cruise, there will be some nights that repeat.

 

Shanghai's is the complimentary Asian restaurant and has good food (mostly dinners).

 

O'Shehans is open 24/7 and is modeled after a British pub. They have nightly specials (Prime Rib, Seafood Basket, etc.). We stop by for dessert and sit at the bar over the atrium to watch the entertainment below.

 

There is always the Garden Cafe Buffet which has a very wide selection of international foods. Nightly Specials. Wonderful.

[kathybelcher2433]

You asked for other advice. On a 14 night, I would purchase a 3 night dining package. I think it's worth it and definitely eliminate any dining duplication.

 

 

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[ready2cruzagain]

We were on the Epic last month for 2 weeks and the menus were the same in the Manhattan MDR as in the Taste MDR. Manhattan was more formal than the Taste. IMHO, the food was very good.

 

O'Sheehans had prime rib one night and it was really good. It was better than what dh had in the Manhattan. It was around an inch thick and cooked to perfection.

 

Also, one night O'Sheehans has a rib night. The ribs were fall of the bone, melt in your mouth ribs. They were delicious.

 

Shenanigans was open for lunch on sea days and open for dinner every night. Lunch was good but dinner was better. If you like Asian food, definitely try it.

 

We had reservations for the mdr's every night but never went at the time we were suppose to because we usually were busy. Never a wait except for Thanksgiving night (we did go at our reserved time), there was a 45 minute wait at both dining rooms so glad we had that night reserved. Never had to wait at O'Sheehans or Shenanigans but we do eat a later dinner, around 8pm or so.

 

The buffet has a theme every night. One night is Seafood buffet night. If you like shrimp then you should go to that. Lots of different types of shrimp and very good. In reality they should call it Shrimp buffet night because there were very few seafood items other than shrimp.

We did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants and felt the food they offered in the free restaurants were great.

 

Don't forget to make your reservations for the comedy shows either on the tv in your cabin or at the box office as soon as you get on the ship. If you don't do it the first day they are all booked by the second day. At least they were on our cruises.

[SquishTheWhale]

For other advice- if they run the themed lunch buffets in Moderno on sea days then make sure you go! You'll see them listed in the dailys. The mexican one was soooooo good. I'm sad we missed the Indian one!

[jollycruise]

Fantastic suggestions! We sail on the EPIC next Saturday and this was a huge help :)

Edited January 5, 2017 by jollycruise
too early to spell properly I guess...

[dd likes to cruise]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Since cruiseline is new to us along with ship, wanted to have some idea before we step onboard. I have the shows booked that are available online ahead of time. Nice to get the advice for the others too.

 

Keep it coming - more info means better cruise - IMHO

[clean1owner]

We sailed Epic on a Mediterranean itinerary Thanksgiving week, 2015. Part of our early booking bonus was complimentary Specialty Dining packages, so we never ate dinner in the MDR. If you have any chance of using any Specialty Dining venues, I highly recommend Cagney's and Teppanyaki. Their food was excellent.

 

On two days, a Breakfast buffet was set up in Moderno, good food without the mad house of the Garden Buffet. Watch your dailies. We ate Breakfast several times in Taste, which was mostly good.

 

The Garden Buffet is the usual mad house, and, in my opinion, should be avoided.

 

Even though it is more than a year old, here is a link to my Epic review. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2294587

 

Here is a link to the Freestyle Dailies. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2295948 They are probably not relevant to your trip, but you may want to look at them just for fun.

 

Finally, I hope you scheduled some time to see Barcelona. It is an amazing city.

[BlueCaribe]

We are doing Transatlantic Port Canaveral to Barcelona, April 1st and just looking for dining advice. Been on 5-6 cruises, never Norweigian, and we normally do MDR's.

 

Is one of MDR's on Epic, better than the other?

Are the menus similar?

Are the other complimentary options worth trying?

Or Easy to get in?

On A 13 night cruise, do menus get repeated?

 

Any info from Epic experts greatly appreciated. Even if not dining related. :)

 

1st TA also, but have been on 10 night cruise, so length should be okay.

 

<- just returned from 14 Dy EPIC holiday & will be posting reviews soon. My advise is that if you are in perfect health and not sensitive to SALT go for the gusto! with High-C, High-BP, and Diabetes there were too many land mines present.

 

I got a dining package and canceled after the first meal. I then had steak-house for Christmas Eve dinner. Order the meat only then round out your meal at the buffet. I paid $90USD - each side was $2 REALLY? A side of onion rings was 2 count 'em 2 rings for $2?!? Pathetic :mad: I then had dinner at "Moderno" The salad bar was great but the meat had more salt than I usually eat in a Year - No exaggeration.

 

I found the best food, service, consistency, and level of professionalism on the ship to be at Shanghai. Tell 'em Erich sent ya' ;)

 

But to each their own. Safe travels!

[Roharmi]

My cruise cant get here soon enough. All this talk of fall off the bone ribs and inch think prime rib is killing me. :-)