Tim's EPIC, NCL EPIC Review

[floridagatorsss]

Awesome review! I was on this cruise too at the same time [emoji267]⚓️[emoji568]

 

 

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[Timsierramist]

I went out for a swim and when I was done needed to get back a little faster than walking could have taken me. So I grabbed a public bus. Evidentely, according to the driver, they don't take quarters. So you'll need to pay them in dollars only for the $2.75 charge from 7 mile beach to the bus terminal. That didn't sound right, but I told the driver to take my quarters or drive me to an ATM. The path of least resistance prevailed, and he took my 3 quarters since $2.75 was literally all I had on me at the moment.

 

Now it was time for the shore excursion I had dreamed about my entire life. The one thing I wanted to do in the Caribbean more than anything else. Stingray City! I returned to the meeting place at the tender dock and we filed about 50 yards down Church street to a parking lot full of mini buses and we were off to the other side of the island. The ride took about 30-40 minutes so enjoy the scenery as you go by or take a nap.

 

For this shore excursion, I specificiclly chose the Catamaran tour. Again, another first, and I knew I wanted to sail on it. We make our way down the dock to the awaiting Catamaran.

 

We would be under engine power this time though, not sail. But the engine is quiet enough coupled with the wind you won't hear much of it if you are sitting on the front.

 

The Catamaran has two main sections. The back has covered benches to sit on and the front has a "trampoline" style canvas (for lack of better words right now) that you can sit on in the open air. Take off your shoes and choose the front. You are paying extra for this experience, so I'd take advantage of it or just take a cheaper boat.

 

After getting a safety brief on the boat, we took off probably about 5 minutes after everone was loaded. It's not far, but the ride out there does take about 40 minutes or so. Enjoy the experience.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Timsierramist]

The sea water will be light green during the journey, but once you hit the light blue, you kow you've just about arrived. Seriously. I haven't ventured far in the Bahamas/Caribbean yet, but thi is the bluest water I have seen to date. It was literally "pool water".

 

Once the Captain finds a spot, you'll receive a quick brief on how to properly interact with the stingrays. How to pet them and common sense stuff like not grabbing their tails. Then a front middle section of the Catamaran sinks down into the water and one by one you can file out into the ocean.

 

If you've gotten this far into my post, you know one thing I do not like are tour groups/guides, being much more independent and prefering solo travel at my own leisure. Well, this is about as good as it gets for a group tour. The crew never hassled me to stay in a specific spot or to stay in a circle while they showed off a stingray or to wear a life vest, etc. They just dropped the stairs into the ocean and...GO! I really appreciated that.

 

Because we went in the late afternoon, the sand bar was almost void of other tour groups. You've seen those many infamous photos where two dozen boats and what seems like a thousand people crowded on the sand bar. That wasn't the case here. The stingrays happily glided around and let people pet them and the tour guides grabbed some for photo opportunities. They were absolutely harmless. I know most people have reservations these blood thirsty Steve Irwin murdering Myliobatoidei's, but seriously. Think more "Mr. Ray" from finding Nemo. The discomfort, if any is quickly faded once they get comfortable, apart from the occasional scream as a stingray accidentally glids a bit to close out of nowhere next to some ladies legs. As a Scuba diver having swam with a lot of wildlife here on the So Cal coast, I know most Marine life, including sharks aren't that interested in you unless you are feeding them some grub. The only real issue here was the waves were more choppy than usual, probably a late afternoon thing? And when the Captain dropped anchor, it was in a spot where you couldn't walk off into sand, but rather had to swim to find some footing. So some parents had to be careful with children, especially those that couldn't swim yet.

 

My only regret was I didn't take more pictures. This is because I was much more interested in taking video footage as well as enjoying just the entire abiance of this once in a lifetime opportunity. If you remember, I forgot my waterproof housing for my go pro. So I jerry rigged a waterpoof phone bag and put my go pro in it and used that as a backup to take video underwater.

 

Now, speaking of video. I am a big fan of taking raw, unedited footage of entire scenes or adventures so people can get the real feel for it. I did take video of the entire Catamaran trip to the sand bar, however I am still in the process of converting it in my GoPro studio for upload to youtube. It will be on my channel for viewing shortly (just click on any of my videos to get there).

[Timsierramist]

So despite the fact I like taking long, raw, unedited video, I made an exception here for this particular video. You all know I'm a major Disney fan, and I just couldn't resist on this one occasion. I'm just glad Disney let me upload the video to youtube.

[YOUTUBE]XpbYYBgA1UM[/YOUTUBE]

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Jezo]

How many gigs of SD cards did you have with you to take all this video?

 

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[Timsierramist]

How many gigs of SD cards did you have with you to take all this video?

 

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Forums mobile app

 

I have a pair of 64 Gigabytes Micro SD Cards. One for my Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge and one for my GoPro. I filled easily filled up the GoPro which resulted in me picking and choosing videos to keep, however my Samsung is connected to my Google Photos account which I pay for about a terabyte and a half of space. Every chance it gets on Wifi or Cellular Data, it uploads my photos so that I can delete the old photos every few days.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Timsierramist]

So at last it was time to head home. I had an absolutely spectacular day in Grand Cayman. I could certainly picture just flying here and spending the a few days taking everything in from Scuba Diving to another Stingray City outing. Believe it or not, this actually wasn't my favorite of the four destinations though (hint, and it wasn't Jamaica either). But more on that to come.

 

As I was taking the tender back to the ship, I somehow managed to snag this perfect photo of one of the Black Pearl making it's way to Tortuga. Okay, maybe not the Black Pearl, but certainly one of the tourist pirate ship adventure excursion ships. I'm no National Geographic Photographer, but not a bad photo if I say so myself.

 

Video of the return trip back to Norwegian Epic after an...well, Epic day on Grand Cayman!

[YOUTUBE]9e2on9mp1rg[/YOUTUBE]

 

Dinner. I finally remember to put on a pair of pants and went to the Manhattan room for the first time. I unfortunately forgot to take a picture of the menu, so your guess is as good as mine on most of this. I do know, however, that this is an important delicacy in restaurant tradition that they call the House Bread.

 

Uhm. Soup and cracker converted into a knife.

 

Seafood salad of some sort.

 

Chicken if memory serves.

 

This ones easy. A hockey puck and melted Granite!

[holmar12]

You may be reviewing me to my next cruise.

[Timsierramist]

Gotta run some errands. So taking a break for a bit. I'm glad everyone is enjoying the posts and that it's hopefully helping you plan your dream vacations, or at minimum, reliving some memories.

 

I did go the Comedy Magic Show in the Epic theater. Absolutely fantastic. Probably my favorite entertainment in the theater right up there with the Beatles. I really wish I could have taken some photographs and video, but I respected their wishes for no photographs and video recording. I did sneak in a photo at the end as it was finishing, but it absolutely does not do it justice. Make time for this. Good wholesome fun for the entire family!

 

Before the show.

 

Just after the show finished.

[DMH15]

You mention the manners of the lady who sat down at a table. O'Sheehans is not exactly a haute cuisine establishment and surely she can sit anywhere. Is your photo not an invasion of privacy? (unless you got her permission to publish). Manners work both ways.

 

 

Sorry. Disagree. It is not European style community seating. Since guests are seated by a hostess that was "his table". She should have asked him and it was his decision to say yes or no.

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review and great photos.

[Weluv2cruise2gether]

Love this review! Your humor is fantastic! Will be on the Epic on February 18th, so I am taking notes from your posts. Thank you!

[s_mich]

*patiently waits for more*. Great review

 

 

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[Timsierramist]

Back in the cabin, the DAY 5 Freestyle Daily had arrived. Let's take a look at what's going on in the tomorrow (sorry, I know it got cut off).

 

 

 

[Timsierramist]

So first things first of course. Breakfast in the Buffet. And I made sure to pack on as much infidel meat as possible.

 

While enjoying breakfast in my private dining room (La Cucina), I also enjoyed watching the ship dock at Ocho Rios. Here is video of the complete docking if you are curious.

[YOUTUBE]uPFrgaXozgQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

After docking, I returned to my cabin. As soon as I did, the cruise director came on and reported we could get off the ship.

Here is video of a typical PA announcement from your cabin. Note, you won't hear PA announcements (at least in the solo cabins) unless you change your TV to the information channel on channel 21. This is a good thing. I don't want to be woken up by the Cruise Director begging me to go play Bingo because NCL is falling behind in revenue earnings for this cruise.

[YOUTUBE]MfyjNmR-g-Q[/YOUTUBE]

 

Todays chosen shore excursion featured The Blue Hole and River Tubing down the White River.

 

Leaving the dock feels like a visit to Alcatraz though.

 

Once you arrive on the shore, you are separated into two groups. Those with ship sponsored shore excursion and those who aren't. Those who aren't going on an NCL shore excursion headed left and are immediately suspect for not spending the extra money and go through customs. The rest of us went right to Jamaica TSA Pre-Check and got organized into groups for whichever excursion we had purchased. You are given wristbands with certain colors to indicate you are on whichever excursion and placed into groups inside a cramped metal building before finally being led out and to waiting buses in the parking lot.

[ggTexasGal]

Thank you for posting your review with such fantastic photos!!!

[BLACKBURNROVERS]

Sorry. Disagree. It is not European style community seating. Since guests are seated by a hostess that was "his table". She should have asked him and it was his decision to say yes or no.

 

 

 

Not sure what you mean by "European style community seating". I wonder what nationality this lady was?

[Timsierramist]

After following our tour guide, Beverly (not to get off subject, but if you ever go got Epcot at Walt Disney World, go to "Club Cool" and try the Beverly drink for free. It's a Disney World right of passage you might say). She gave us 1 rule to follow on the bus. No back seat drivers. What that means of course is that this was going to be a fast pace, wild, bumpy, hanging by the edge of your seat, close calls with other vehicles coming around the narrow 1 lane corners while on the edge of a 200 foot cliff adventure. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but there was definitely a few close calls. Ocho Rios has the craziest and yet the most skilled drivers this side of the Martha Brae. So Okay. I could tell this was going to be a bumpy at times concerning ride through the mountainous countryside and rainforests of Jamaica.

 

At times I was hoping we weren't going to get robbed, lol. But alas, it was a very enjoyable journey. Along the way, Beverly taught us how to properly speak with a Jamaican accent, and showed off some places of interest along the way. Yet another first for me. I had never been to a true rain forest, and this is another thing i've always wanted to do. The countryside is breathtaking. Not just in nature, but in culture and historic buildings/graves as well dating back hundreds of years.

 

One thing you are going to see is unofficial deals and partnerships between your tour guide and specific local shops or traders. Sort of a "you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours" setup that I'm sure Chukka tours is unaware of. For example, before proceeding to the blue hole, Beverly stopped the bus at a seemingly random water shoe stand and told us we needed to buy or rent water shoes from the stand because our sandals were not allowed at the Blue Hole. Unfortunately for Beverly, i'm what you call the "anti-salesman" and I don't get conned into such transactions very often, easily seeing through what is really occurring. It kept my sandals on and most everyone else did as well. It occurred in the middle of our rafting tour as well. More on that later. Now I completely understand. It's really tough in Jamaica. High unemployment and poverty is rampant. They are all just doing the best they can to survive, and hopefully tourism and industry will continue to bring them in the right direction economically.

 

Here is video of about 8 minutes of driving through the the mountainous Jamaican countryside. You'll notice a lot of shops are set up along the road. Each of the have different deals with different tour guides to draw the tourists in to their specific shops. Many of them are trying to sell you Marijuana. Beverly explained that Marijuana is technically illegal, but "decriminalized". I don't think I need to warn you NOT to purchase any Marijuana or "Ganja" under any circumstances. Last thing you need is to come into contact with a Jamaican police officer or customs official having a bad day...

[YOUTUBE]cxOjPBkPvwY[/YOUTUBE]

[Timsierramist]

So we finally arrived at the Blue Hole. And as you can see from the 1st photo, the evil yet gleeful grin from the other tourists who have just completed their blue hole experience that says "you have no idea of the joys that await within, muh-hahaha".

 

We all are assigned life jackets and make our way down a path to the beautiful waterfalls and ponds that make up an amazing sight.

 

Take it all in. You are in a genuine rain forest now, and you didn't even have to fly to South America.

 

The Blue Hole basically involves navigating up the side of small waterfalls and a series of jumps into...well, blue holes. It's obviously an exhilerating and refreshing experience. But because I was toting my GoPro around with only the water-resistant housing and the fact that I was really only here for the River Tubing, I elected to record footage and simply take in the rain forest instead.

 

We already know how I feel about tour groups. The shuffling in large groups, the little or too much time spent at each attraction or not at all. For example, one thing I did want to do was an inclined rapel down one of the falls. But we were not permitted to do so because of time. Instead the group jumped into 4 or 5 lagoons and we moved on. Here is a lady making the plunge from a shorter jump on one of the falls.

 

One of the higher jumps for the braver among you.

[Timsierramist]

I should also mention that you are not with the same tour guide for every part of the trip. They hand you off to different tour guides at each destination. The driver stays with the bus, Beverly will be around, but out of the water. And certain tour guides will take you on the attractions themselves such as the waterfalls or river tubing. This can get confusing as you sometimes forget who exactly your tour guide is at the next stage of the tour and more often than not, you are looking for people you recognize from your bus.

 

Speaking of buses, they will give you the bus number before you get off. All the buses look identical and may not be parked at the same spot as when you got off, so it's very important to try and remember your bus number lest you are accidentally left behind or get on the wrong bus to the wrong destination.

 

Anyways, back on track, The waterfalls are incredibly beautiful when you move away all the tourists.

 

The bottom most portion of the blue hole area has this absolutely incredible lagoon you can free swim in. Incredible. Again I chose not to get in. I knew that once I did, I would want to stay there and that the tour guide would probably call me out to move on after a few minutes. That's not how I roll. So I enjoyed the view.

 

Even better, I made a friend. Each destination usually has a few pet dogs that are more than happy to make your acquaintance and be petted by the tourists. They seem well taken care of luckily.

 

The dogs here must be incredibly lucky. Imagine all this beautiful terrain to run and explore and all the tourists they get to meet everyday. There is bound to be an animal lover like me in every group that comes.

 

Another tour group rule. Make sure you walk up the stairs. Yes, even if the person in front of you is going 1/2 a mile per hour. If you try to walk up the dirt or the flat concrete siding seen here, a random guide will yell at you and tell you to walk up the stairs only...then proceed to walk up the flat part themselves. You truly are treated like a major walking liability and it brings memories back of when you were once 5 years old. Granted I understand from their perspective. But ugh, tour groups...

 

Video of The Blue Hole Experience:

[YOUTUBE]mbM-yhBC2KA[/YOUTUBE]

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Timsierramist]

So I forgot my bus number, but I did remember what some of my bus mates looked like. Seems I wasn't the only one. We all simply stood into a group until the cattleman herded us back into a transport and on to our 2nd and final destination. River Tubing down the White River! Before arriving at our second location, we stopped at the exit of our tubing experience to grab new life vests and helmets. They are mandatory but provided free of charge. After that, we filed back on the bus and headed to the entrance of the river tubing experience.

 

Jamaica had some recently had some heavy downpours before we arrived, so all the roads into the tubing site were too heavily mudded for us to drive the bus down into. So we parked at the entrance and enjoyed a pleasant walk in an open field surrounded by forest.

 

Seemed like a nice place to hang out and explore, but we were on a mission to get into the water.

 

Here is the where we would start our journey down the White River.

 

Jamaica is an island of Chivalrous Christian tradition. So the lead guide ordered all the women to stand on the side and all the men to grab Intertubes and bring them closer to the river.

 

After that, we all gone in a line and one by one they started placing us in our rafts to begin our float down the river.

 

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Timsierramist]

One by one we filed down the embankment and into an awaiting tube to be whisked lazily down the river. This would be the ultimate Lazy River experience to beat out any water park, but it may not everything you imagine.

 

Again this is a tour, so there is a lot of protocol. If you break the rules, even if you don't know you are in offense, you are going to get yelled at (and if you are me, you yell back. I don't allow you to yell at me unless you are wearing a campaign cover - google it) Literally, angry shouting from the tour guide. The tour is done is segments, not a complete unbothered float down the river. There are ropes across the river and the tour guide tells you to stop at segments until the entire group catches completely up. Then one by one she let's people go back down the river. You have to do this 5 or 6 times hanging on to the rope for dear life as other tubes crash into you. Hope you have a strong grip if you are first to reach it.

 

But really, there is no better way to tour the Jamaican Rain Forest.

 

Me.

 

There will plenty of flora and fauna to see. The gigantic bamboo that is shown in the background of this pic are really impressive, especially as they grow, they slant and have over the river. We are also told to be on the lookout for certain water snakes that are curious about visitors to the river. But I never saw any.

 

Sit back, relax and look up.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Timsierramist]

Memory doesn't serve on the length of the river tubing. But I believe it was about an hour. I personally felt I got my money's worth.

 

As I said at the very beginning. I admit I'm a lazy guy. But the laziness cancels out when it's time to go on an adventure. What better way to be lazy and go on an adventure than this!? Better than the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland.

 

About halfway down the river, an associate of the tour guide will appear in the middle of the river and offer you beer. I think they were $5 a piece. Nobody had their wallets on them for obvious reason, but they said we could drink now, pay later at the end.

 

Here are video clips tied together of the White River tubing experience. Enjoy:

[YOUTUBE]08_9NH2JwWY[/YOUTUBE]

[Timsierramist]

After getting out of the river, I make another friend. Looks similar to the one from the blue hole, but it's another dog.

 

The path back is obvious and pleasant.

 

But if you are lost, just follow the dog.

 

 

A lake next to the restaurant/shops where our bus will pick us up.

 

This area is really cool.

Edited January 29, 2017 by Timsierramist

[Timsierramist]

You'll wait here for about an hour while you browse the gift shop, use the restroom or have the photographer upsell you some photographs.

 

Inside one of the shops.

 

Lots of decorations. Neat bridge. Too bad you couldn't go on it.

 

This cat hangs around enjoying life. It gets plenty to eat from the jerk chicken being served here from the tourists.

 

 

The lake next to the dining area has turtles swimming around.