Epic March 10-14, 2018

[bluehawks47]

We went into this cruise knowing it would be a spring break cruise. I am a teacher and my husband could only take off a few days, so our choices were limited. Next time, we will shoot for a 7 day if my husband has the time.

This cruise was nice...we enjoyed ourselves, but it was crowded!! Yes, the bar lines were long, but we just walked a bit to the next bar and found a shorter wait. We figured out a way around the problem.

 

Here are some thoughts:

 

 

Embarkation... we arrived at the port at 10:50 and were on the ship by 11:50. Hint, when you get past security and go into the big check in room, don't wait in a long line towards the back. Those are the people that have already checked in. Go towards the front/right where the check in desks are. There might be a slight line, but nothing like we saw to get on the ship. Once you get in the line to get on the ship, it moves pretty quickly. We carried all of our luggage on with us and once on the ship, we grabbed a drink and found a nice quiet table at Taste for lunch. We hung out there for an hour until our room was about ready.

 

Ship... the ship was nice - a bit choppy. We finally figured out a way to get to the atrium without going through the casino if you needed to go from one end of the ship to the other. We walked outside on deck 7 and cut out the smoky casino that way. Actually, the casino wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I can't really comment on the pool deck, because it was overtaken by the spring breakers, but we were fine. We really don't spend a lot of time near the pool anyway. We did spend some time at Spice H2O and on deck 18 forward. The sun deck (quiet zone) on deck 18 was wonderful AND they had bar servers!! Score!! If we wanted a snack, we could just go down three floors and there was the garden café or the pool grill. The pool grill and café had the best grilled chicken. That is my go to meat.

 

Cabin... we were in 12299 and it was lovely. A bit cramped, but we were on a cruise ship. We didn't expect a bedroom the size of our room at home. The balcony was nice and the view was even better. Yes, the bathroom layout was weird, but it was perfect for my husband and me. I actually liked being able to brush my teeth while he was showering or going to the bathroom. Our cabin steward was great! We didn't see a lot of him, but he did everything he was supposed to and when he was supposed to.

 

Food... for dinner, we ate at La Cucina, Teppanyaki, Moderno and Taste. Every morning, we ate at Taste for breakfast. For lunch, we hopped around... we mostly snacked throughout the afternoon.

 

Great Stirrup Cay... We did not book an excursion here. We also did not get a tender ticket. We just went to the Epic (this is where they had you wait for the tender) around 10:00 and had to wait for 15 minutes or so. Once on the tender, it was a 10 minute ride to the island. We walked down to the second beach area and there were plenty of empty chairs and we were right next to the lighthouse bar (I think that was the name of it). This beach area was great and the water was beautiful! It was a bit cold at first, but we got used to it pretty quickly. We had a snack at the bar-b-q buffet and then had a few tacos at the taco bar. We got to the taco bar around 1:30 and we were the last ones that they let in line. I think they were going to close up at 1:45 or 2:00. They were directing people to the buffet area. We did a bit of shopping/looking at the straw market area, but didn't buy anything. It was your typical souvenirs. We caught the tender back around 2:30... it was nice to have a quiet ship for a few hours.

 

Nassau... the weather was not the best for Nassau. Our plan was to walk around a bit and then hit Junkanoo beach and the Tiki Bikini Hut Beach Bar. When we walked off around 10:00, it was raining off and on. We went to starbucks to grab some wifi and then went through the straw market. We then went to the John Watling Distillery for a tour. This was free and very entertaining. It only lasted about 30 minutes. From here, we made our way back to the ship and headed to lunch and then Spice H2O. For the most part, the rain held off.

 

 

Entertainment... we only went to Priscilla and watched the NCL version of dancing with the stars. Priscilla was AWESOME!! So entertaining! We made reservations a few weeks before we left, but there seemed to be openings when we went in for our show. The dancing with the stars was sooo funny! I guess it all depends on the luck of the draw. We were lucky and one of the couples was amazing! The NCL gal and the guy that was chosen from the audience were fantastic together. So funny and really good!

 

Disembarkation... we walked off with our luggage at 7:15 and were on the shuttle by 7:40. We had to wait for the shuttle to fill up, so we finally left around 8:00 and were at the airport by 8:50 (even with a little traffic) and at our gate by 9:30 for our 11:15 flight. It would have been sooner, but we needed to make a starbucks stop once in the airport. We were warned about not making our flight because it was too early, but we had no problem at all. Easy disembarkation and smooth transfer to the airport.

 

All in all, the cruise was wonderful!! I was worried about the spring breakers, but they were all fine. We heard a bit of noise when they were returning to their rooms, but nothing that kept us awake. The rooms are very quiet and the AC was good at drowning out any noise.

 

If you are booked on the Epic in the future, you will have a wonderful time. Don't let the VERY negative reviews worry you. You will be on vacation... enjoy!!

[Mistizoom]

Thanks for your review! We are on Escape now and going to Great Stirrup Cay tomorrow so the info is very timely. And glad to see a good recent review of Epic especially for a spring break cruise, she is definitely a contender for our next cruise.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for your comments!

[bluehawks47]

Thanks for your review! We are on Escape now and going to Great Stirrup Cay tomorrow so the info is very timely. And glad to see a good recent review of Epic especially for a spring break cruise, she is definitely a contender for our next cruise.

 

 

 

We loved GSC!! It was such a fun day and we really did nothing but lounge around, walk around and hang in the water. We met some great people that day. Have fun!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[BirdTravels]

Very cool. Thanks for the review. We love the Epic!

[LD Silver]

Thanks for posting your thoughts!

[Keith1010]

Great review.

 

Keith

[Lindys]

Good review that's my room 12299 in 23 days for the TA got me excited!

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[Tutontow]

Thanks for the review. We were booked on that very same cruise but we had to cancel. I have sailed the Epic twice and both times it was wonderful.

[happyforholidays]

Thank you for the honest and positive review. So many negative reviews out there...we are sailing the Epic on a TA in 3 weeks.

I am just happy to be on a holiday and not having to cook or make my bed!

It's what you make of it.(y):D:D

:):)

[APDMOM]

Thank you for your review, bluehawk47! Found a few new and handy tips, and I have been reading many reviews. :)

 

Two more days before we board!

[bluehawks47]

Thank you for your review, bluehawk47! Found a few new and handy tips, and I have been reading many reviews. :)

 

 

 

Two more days before we board!

 

 

 

Have a wonderful trip!! The bartenders work their tails off. Another hint is if you go to the bar at spice h2o, go to the far end (right side). It seems like all the college kids can only walk so far and end up at the left end. That end gets backed up and the far end is not as crowded.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[bluehawks47]

How could I have forgotten the best tip of all?? We brought hard plastic cups with the screw lids and staws... I think it was under $5 at Target. We could order two drinks at once and pour them both in the cups. It was easier to walk around with one cup, we didn't look like alcoholics with two cups and the drink stayed colder in the "go cups". These worked great when going to GSC. We filled them up before we got on the tender and didn't need to rush to the bar when we arrived.

[DominicAUS]

Awesome review. Thanks for the info especially around disembarkation. Helps a lot.