NCL Epic- Short Review May 2018 out of Barcelona

[CruiserJess]

Quick Recap- NCL Epic Med May 2018

A little background, we are a married couple in our 30’s who love to cruise. Every year we plan to visit one place we have never been. So this year we decided on the NCL Epic out of Barcelona for our first trip to Europe together. Since we would be traveling so far (we live in Baltimore, MD) we also wanted to visit another bucket list place, London. So off we went on our European Adventure!

 

We flew direct from Philly to London, very easy flight. We had just 2 full days in London, one of which was coming off the red eye flight. We crammed a ton into those 2 days and so glad we did. We walked over 30 miles in those 2 days! Loved the city and can’t wait to go back! We flew from Heathrow to Barcelona the day before the cruise left. (Also the day of the Royal wedding! The city was not as crazy busy as we had feared) The flight from Heathrow to Barcelona was under 2 hours and passport control in Barcelona is very quick.

We spent the night at the Renaissance downtown. It was a great location in walking distance to everything we wanted to see. Hotel also had a nice rooftop bar overlooking the city. After another day of exploring and a tapas dinner we headed to bed, excited to start our cruise the next day.

Embarkation: We got to the port around 10:30 and it was quiet. We were able to check in quickly and waited about 30 minutes before they started boarding. Once onboard we made our rounds to explore the Epic.

The ship: Overall we enjoyed the ship except for the fact that often times you could forget you are on a boat. Not much to see for Sailaway in the back of the ship and the upper deck around the pool was quite choppy. We did love all the dining options and had the drink and specialty dining package included with our fare. Took great advantage of that! The rooms are of course the strangest at sea. I read prior to the trip about them, but even as a married couple it was different. The toilet piece of it more so than anything. Maybe just use a door that isn’t just a sliding frosted glass. I can understand how friends and or family traveling together could be uncomfortable.

Food: Never had a bad dining experience. Ate in Taste only once for lunch the first day and it was way less busy than the buffet and a great menu. Both of us had soup and salads which we enjoyed. Ate in Manhattan twice and loved the ambiance with the live music in there, dinner was always delicious. With our dining package we ate at Teppanyaki, Le Bistro, La Cucina and paid extra to try Cagney’s. Our favorite was by far Teppanyaki for the fun experience and tasty surf and turf. La Cucina was a close second. Great location over the bow of the ship and after a day in Italy we loved having a delicious Italian meal. We were impressed with La Cucina. Cagney’s was another favorite but as far as experience goes it was your standard steak house. Lastly Le Bistro, we both were left unimpressed. Food was just ok and the meal took longer than the others. Friendly but slow service, would skip it next time.

Drink package: Worked great, never had a problem getting a drink anywhere except by the pool. The Pool bar mid ship always seemed to have less than thrilled bartenders working behind the bar. Had better luck with servers back in Spice H20. Felt NCL had a decent wine and liquor selection within the package limits.

Entertainment: Didn’t make it to everything with it being such a port intensive cruise but we loved Howl at the Moon. They also had a comic magician who was very entertaining, he did shows in English and Spanish. We did go see Legends in Concert which was fun as they did all cover songs you know. Cruise Director Andre was often out and about on the ship, very nice guy.

Ports: We chose this cruise because of the ports. We had never been to any of them and enjoyed the time spent in each. In Naples and Rome we booked tours through italytours.eu and HIGHLY recommend them. We got to see and do everything we wanted in the window of time we were there. Great pricing, knowledgeable and friendly guides in much smaller groups than the ship tours. In Livoreno we went with an NCL tour to Pisa and a Tuscan winery. It was a much bigger crowd but we did have some time on our own to explore Pisa and we LOVED the winery. It included a short tour and a fantastic Italian lunch complete with bread, pasta and bottles of wine on the table. In Cannes we went off on our own to Nice. Very easy to take the train, about a 45 minute commute. Nice was absolutely gorgeous with it's beaches and flower market. In Palma we rented Electric bikes and biked down the coast to a beach where we spent some time relaxing before biking back through the city a bit more. Electric bikes cost a little more than standard bikes but well worth it in my opinion. Made it a very easy ride.

 

Overall: An AMAZING trip. Although Epic was not our favorite ship, we would cruise her again if she was going to new places we haven’t been. Her short comings did not take away from our fantastic vacation. It was truly a bucket list cruise for us and we are already planning a trip back to Europe next summer.

 

For FULL details and photos, visit my blog! https://wanderlustcruising.com/2018/06/12/mediterranean-cruise-may-2018/

 

 

 

Thanks!

[SquishTheWhale]

Enjoyed your review! We were on her 2 years ago out of Barcelona and had a great time too. Nice to hear that Andre is on the Epic- we had him on the Escape and LOVED him. Maybe we are biased as he is British haha. He was just so funny and energetic.

 

Oh and also we are big La Cucina fans- it gets some stick on these boards, but since they changed the menu it's fantastic. My husband said the steak in there is one of the best he's ever had.

[Dawnya00]

Jess,

 

Thanks for the great review! I am excited to look at your travel vlog to see your photos. We have been on the Epic twice, agree with your review of the ship, but we are considering our first Euro cruise. I grew up in Germany but it would be my spouses first time in Europe.

[CruiserJess]

Enjoyed your review! We were on her 2 years ago out of Barcelona and had a great time too. Nice to hear that Andre is on the Epic- we had him on the Escape and LOVED him. Maybe we are biased as he is British haha. He was just so funny and energetic.

 

Oh and also we are big La Cucina fans- it gets some stick on these boards, but since they changed the menu it's fantastic. My husband said the steak in there is one of the best he's ever had.

 

Agreed! Our La Cucina experience on Sky was lack luster but this one was fantastic! Glad we gave it another shot.

[CruiserJess]

Jess,

 

Thanks for the great review! I am excited to look at your travel vlog to see your photos. We have been on the Epic twice, agree with your review of the ship, but we are considering our first Euro cruise. I grew up in Germany but it would be my spouses first time in Europe.

 

You will love it! We had so much fun exploring these ports. Highly recommend!

[amyh13]

Thanks for your review! We are doing this route next summer. I knew about the weird bathroom set up when we booked, but with a family of 4 it might be nice for kids to brush teeth, while someone showers, while someone is in the bathroom. And we booked for the ports but this ship fit us best with the water park and other activities for the kids. We are actually traveling with 5 families and 10 kids!

[CruiserJess]

Thanks for your review! We are doing this route next summer. I knew about the weird bathroom set up when we booked, but with a family of 4 it might be nice for kids to brush teeth, while someone showers, while someone is in the bathroom. And we booked for the ports but this ship fit us best with the water park and other activities for the kids. We are actually traveling with 5 families and 10 kids!

Wow big group! Plenty of things onboard to keep everyone entertained.

[peteukmcr]

Thanks for your review. We're on the Epic TA from Barcelona in November back to Port Canaveral and looking forward to all the dining options. Did you make reservations in advance for Taste/Manhattan Room? We are considering a 5 dinner package as we're on board for 13 days.

[CruiserJess]

Thanks for your review. We're on the Epic TA from Barcelona in November back to Port Canaveral and looking forward to all the dining options. Did you make reservations in advance for Taste/Manhattan Room? We are considering a 5 dinner package as we're on board for 13 days.

Yes we made reservations when the portal opened about 30 days prior to cruising. I recommend making reservations whenever you can. I often noticed lines and pagers being given to those who did not.

[peteukmcr]

Yes we made reservations when the portal opened about 30 days prior to cruising. I recommend making reservations whenever you can. I often noticed lines and pagers being given to those who did not.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

[CruisingSince1982]

Thank you for the tour guide recommendation!