Epic cruise 9/17-26/2018 trip report

[Tweety1961]

I am going to try and get this trip report done in a few posts.

Returned last week from our Epic cruise. We had a group of 8, 4 couples in our 50's, 6 of us friends from high school plus 2 spouses who have been our friends for 30+ years. This trip started being planned last August while in an airport waiting for our delayed flight to Nashville.

One of my girlfriends was on the phone checking into a Mediterranean cruise we had been thinking about taking since we turned 50, but kids in college made us wait a few years!

She booked us through a travel service she uses through a time share or something like that. We chose the Epic mostly based on the itinerary. We got the UBP, 3 dinners and $100 on board credit/room. We booked balcony cabins on deck 11 midship. We decided to start the cruise midweek in Rome because we wanted to spend a day there before the cruise.

I had learned so much from reading on these boards, I hope to be able to help others.

I will start first with the ship, then what we did in each port, with names of tour companies and such.

We loved everything we did!

 

First, the ship: It is BIG, but we rarely felt there were 4500 on board. The only lines we ever had were waiting at the bar on the pool deck. We found the bar tenders to be very nice and friendly, we would see them at night in a different bar, and they would remember what we were drinking. For us, the UBP was well worth it. Our taxes and tips were paid in advance, so we never had to sign for anything! Ordering a diet soda once in a while and they only looked at the card, didn't swipe it.

 

BALCONY cabin: Yes, the layout of the rooms is a bit strange, and difficult to move about in at times, especially when I was trying to use the iron/ironing board, which you can request from your room steward, but I actually liked that the shower, toilet and sink were separate. I could brush my teeth while husband showered, or other where you really couldn't do that with them in the same room. I could see where it would be more difficult if you had a 3rd person, or children, however, the curtain can be pulled so you don't see the frosted glass shadows! TONS of storage and suitcases fit under the bed.

You need to put your card in the slot near the door to keep the lights on. I had read about bringing an old gift card or such, but forgot. It wasn't bad, because then I always knew where my card was. You do have to learn where the light switches are so you can get in bed with a light on then shut them off. Don't forget the light above the sink has a switch under the mirror, which my friend didn't find until 3 days into the cruise. I felt the phone put out a kind of bright light at night, but was so tired when we went to bed, it didn't really bother me, my friend put a small towel over hers. I had brought a bunch of hangers with us, but I think someone had left a bunch, which was good because there aren't a ton. I loved the balcony on this cruise. On previous cruises, I don't think we used the balcony often, maybe just when getting ready to for dinner and waiting for each other, but with this intensive itinerary, and not really needing to get up to the pool deck for a chair, we used this balcony more than we ever have. I did bring a power outlet with 3 outlets and 2 usb connections. These are ok if they don't have the surge protection. It was great for charging our phones/tablet and my curling iron and such. The only outlet is in a cabinet between the sink and big mirror. I also purchased plastic cruise luggage tag holders to put on our suitcases for when we were boarding the ship. Worked well. Boarding in Rome was probably the easiest embarkation we have ever had. We got there around 3pm and walked right on! Our room was ready and our luggage was there within 15 minutes! On disembarkation, we had an 11am flight out of Rome, so we opted to carry our luggage off, had a private car service waiting for us when we got off at 7:10am and were at FCO by 8:00am. One of our easiest ever, we have been on maybe 10-11 cruises.

Like I mentioned, this ship is HUGE, but hardly ever found it to be crowded. We found our way around quickly. Being on deck 11 we did take the stairs often up to 15 where the pool and buffet are and down to 5 or 6 where restaurants and bars were. We did book the 3 specialty dinners, and before we left I booked 2 of them, Cagneys and Teppanyki, mostly because there were 8 of us and my friend booked LeBistro. The night we were supposed to go to Teppanyaki, I guess I forgot and thought it was for the next night, we had decided to go to the buffet, dress casual, and one couple went to Manhattan. When she was checking in, they said you have a reservation in 15 minutes at Teppanyaki. Well, she came to find us and see if we wanted to still go, but we all already had started eating, and dressed in shorts and stuff, which my friend said they said wasn't a problem! I went down to Teppanyaki and spoke with the manager, he was very nice and understanding. He rescheduled us for the next night. I don't think the specialty places are always full, so if you wait you may still be able to get in. We did find that the dinners take way too long! We were at Cagneys for almost 2 1/2 hours. Even taste took almost 2 hours and it wasn't crowded. That was one reason we ate at the buffet one night, just didn't want to sit for so long. We never ate breakfast in the restaurant, mostly buffett.

We did the escape room thing the day of our stop in Palma de Mallorca because we didn't get there until 1pm. It was fun, a bit challenging. We had booked the Priscilla show, but it was 10pm on our last night, and a few of us fell asleep! It was pretty good though. We did also spend time in the atrium watching some of the game shows and entertainment.

The safety drill for those getting on in Rome is on Wednesday around 4:30pm or so. They make an announcement, and the bartenders won't serve any drinks to anyone with the "purple cards", which are for those getting on in Rome, just like on Sunday when the passengers get on in Barcelona, they won't serve those with "yellow cards", to make sure you go to the safety drill. Probably one of the easiest drills we have ever done on a cruise. No need to put on the lifejackets, just go and listen!

Drinks were great! We loved the Bushwacher, painkiller and others. They actually give you a bottle of beer. With the ultimate beverage package, you can get any drink up to $15 and if it's over that, you would just pay the difference, which we never had to do, and one friend drank greygoose vodka with no up charge.

We also went in to the Ice Bar. It was I think $20/person to go in, but you got 2 vodka drinks, they had like 5 different ones. It was unique, only 6 of us went in, the other 2 don't drink vodka, us girls with sandals on had put socks on, good thing because our feet would have been freezing.

As far as dress code: Like I said, the specialty restaurants weren't packed, and I don't think they were checking what you were wearing. Having said that, we did all dress nicely every night. The guys usually wore khakis, dress pants or nice jeans with a shirt every night and the women wore dress pants, capris, skirts or dresses every night. With the exception of the one night we went to the buffet in nice shorts. I never really noticed what others were wearing.

Pictures: I think $24.99 plus tax is a bit ridiculous for a picture. They came in every specialty restaurant and took our pictures and said, you can only get this tonight! They also only did them in 8x10. Kind of a hard sell. We would purchase one and then took a picture of the picture to share. We each ended up purchasing maybe 2 and then sharing. We did all purchase one that the photographer took of all of us near the martini bar, he was really nice and did a good job. We did't purchase the one as we were getting on the ship because we all looked a little ragged having spent the morning at the Colosseum in Rome and not being able to freshen up before boarding.

 

That's all I have time for now. I will continue later with our itinerary and what we did in each port.

[cruisekitty22]

Great review so far.

[noobcruiser]

Thanks! We are doing this cruise next year, so I look forward to reading more about your experiences.

[Robin1961]

ok, day two......

[ejnsb]

doing this cruise same week next year so really looking forward to the rest- can you comment on the weather that week?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mapleleaves]

doing this cruise same week next year so really looking forward to the rest- can you comment on the weather that week?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Me too!

What a great itinerary !

[Tweety1961]

Epic cruise Part 2:

Work keeps getting in the way!!

The weather the week we were there was very nice. We had a quick shower in the afternoon in Rome, it was warm in Florence and windy and overcast in Naples/Amalfi that we couldn't go out on the boat we wanted to. The rest of the week was absolutely beautiful!!

 

So, we opted to start our cruise in Rome because we wanted an extra day there. We left Chicago on Monday night with a direct flight into Rome and arrived Tuesday morning around 9am. Our flight was pretty uneventful. Thank goodness for the entertainment systems on our American Airline flight. We watched the Bears on Monday night football, watched a movie then listened to music and slept a couple hours. We took off and landed on time. We booked the Hotel Alexandra in Rome, great location. We had them arrange transportation for us from the airport. There were 8 of us with luggage for a week cruise and we just fit! Of course, our rooms weren't ready when we got there, so they stored our luggage and we went out to explore. Walked to the Spanish steps then had lunch at a little restaurant nearby. We went back to hotel later and got into our rooms, they were actually much bigger than I thought they would be. 4 of us opted to go to the Vatican, we booked a skip the line tour with Viator, who in turn schedules you with another tour company. I would probably research and book direct with a company if we were to do it again, which I don't see coming anytime soon! The other 4 of our group went on a "foodie tour", not sure who they booked with. I couldn't see going to Rome and not going to the Vatican. The tour was scheduled for 3 hours, and we took every minute of it. There is lots of walking, standing and stairs! Wear comfy shoes!!! The Vatican is absolutely beautiful. I think the tour is worth the money, our guide was great and we learned so much more than if we did it ourselves.

Our 4 friends that did the foodie tour in the Trastevere area of Rome loved it. We all met up later at the Trevi fountain. It was around 8pm, so it was pretty crowded. We took the obligatory pictures then headed back to crash as we had been up a long time.

 

Wednesday: This morning we booked a tour with The Roman Guy to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Flamina was our guide, and she was awesome. We were in awe of the Colosseum. Again, we felt it was worth the money for a guided tour, especially since it included the underground. Again, alot of walking, but worth it!

We the went back to the hotel had a quick snack collected our luggage and headed to the ship!

We used mylimo.com for our transportation to the ship then again to the airport after the cruise.

It was close to an hour to the port. We wanted to get there before the rush of other passengers getting back on got back. We got there around 3pm and walked right on. Had dinner this night at Taste, good food, but nothing spectacular. Went to bed early because we had an early day the next day for Florence.

This is definitely a port intensive cruise, only one day at sea! Much different than any Caribbean cruise we have been on.

 

More to come tomorrow!

[Tweety1961]

Epic cruise 9/17-26 Part 3 OK, I have a little time before work.

Thursday-Florence 7am-7pm

Once again the 4 couples split up. We made this deal when making plans that everyone should do what they really wanted to do and not feel forced to always do the same things.

One couple had been to Florence before, and being the more energetic couple, they went to Cinque Terre with a private driver. They used Carmine's Coast for this port. They loved it! It was a lot of hiking but they were prepared. Their pictures were beautiful!

Another couple did the Florence/Tuscany winery tour through the ship. They enjoyed that too.

My husband and I along with another couple used Joe Bananas for a private car. We wanted to do a quick stop in Lucca before heading to Florence. My husband's grandma was from Lucca. We had Geno as our driver. He is not a guide, I guess they need special certification for that, be he was very informative as we drove. It was about 45 minutes from the port. We spent close to an hour in the cute, walled in city of Lucca, almost getting run over by the hundreds of bicycles around. Not many cars are allowed inside the walled city. After an hour, we met our driver and headed to Florence. On the way, he pulled off at kind of a rest stop area which is actually Italy's tribute to American soldiers who lost their lives their in WWII-looked kind of like small version of Arlington National Cemetery. Heading on we asked if we could stop on the hill that overlooks Florence to see the view. So glad we did, it was absolutely beautiful! We didn't have plans to go to Academia or Uffizzi because we didn't really have time, but if we had wanted to, they would have gotten tickets for us. Before dropping us off the walk around, Geno drove around a bit and pointed out many points of interest. We had about 3 hours. Walked around the "flea market" are, some of those sellers are just plain rude! We went inside the marketplace, purchased a couple purses and shoes. We had lunch at a cute little restaurant then time for a walk to the Pontevecchio, very crowded! Met Geno for our ride back to the ship. Again, much walking and we were tired! We were back on the ship around 5:30. I would definitely use Joe Bananas again. I love the flexibility of stopping where we want. It is not cheap, but split with other couples helps. Being that it's close to a 90 minute drive, that adds to the cost, but worth it to not have to take a big bus where you are limited to what you can do and always waiting for that last person!

[Tweety1961]

Epic review Part 4

Friday-Cannes 8am-6pm

Cannes is a tender port. One of our group made reservations for us and we were told tender #20 around 9am. We didn't have an excursions planned so this was good for us. We wanted to just walk around a little up and down the cute streets and shops. One of our group suggested we take the train to Nice. So, off to the train station. Purchased tickets at a little kiosk and had to wait about an hour, so crossed the street to get some wonderful pastry at a corner shop. Delicious! I think it was about a 25 minute ride. We then walked down the main street that has the cable car like transportation, but we couldn't figure out how to get one to go to the water and were enjoying the walk, got a crepe at a window along the way. Well, it was about 30 minutes to the water. Beautiful! We went down the stairs to a little bar and had a drink. The beach is actually stones, not sand. Didn't look very comfortable! After sitting a while we decided we needed to head back toward the train because we didn't want to miss it. After walking a bit we decided to jump in a couple pedicabs, great idea! They actually let us have 3 in it, only 5 euros/person. Got to the train station with about 10 minutes to spare. Now on the train and it's not leaving at 3 like it was supposed to. All of a sudden a young man hurries by followed by police. They finally grab him and get him off, like 25 minutes late now. Good thing we were heading back early enough. Getting off the train we grabbed some more pastries and had a leisurely walk back to the ship. Nice day, but a little hectic with the train and all. I much prefer a driver that is there when you need it and not waiting around!

Saturday-Palma de Mallorca 1pm-8pm.

It was great to not have to get up so early for a change! We actually had a leisurely breakfast then did the Escape Room at 12pm. That was fun! Then headed out for the day. One couple had signed up for the ship's Cave of Hams excursion. The rest of us weren't interested. The 6 of us got off the ship and grabbed 2 taxis to go into town, we pointed to a map and said Plaza Mayor. Well, the 2 taxis stopped at different areas and it took us close to 15 minutes to find each other. Good thing our phones worked for a short call. Loved the cute square, sat in a restaurant for some flatbread and a couple drinks. Now it's "siesta time" and all the portable tents were closing down. We finished up and walked into the shopping area. Very nice stores here. We stopped at pastry shop and bought an Ensaimada that is special to the island that I had heard about from a few people. It's a flaky pastry you can either have filled with chocolate(Nutella), vanilla or a fruit. We had a chocolate and vanilla one. OMG! This was sooooo good! Finished shopping, one couple headed back to the ship and 4 of us grabbed a taxi to Illetas beach. Beautiful setting. We grabbed a few chairs, got a drink at the bar and sat for a while, almost fell asleep. We all felt like this was a place we could spend a few days.

I'll be back to post on Barcelona and Naples!

Hope I'm not boring you!!! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask whether it's about the ship or any of the ports!! We had a great time, would definitley love to go again!

[Tweety1961]

Epic review Part 5

Sunday-Barcelona 5am-6pm

We booked our excursion for all 8 of us with Barcelona Day Tours thanks to all the good reviews we had read about them. Emilio was our guide, had a driver also, but can't remember his name. Would definitely recommend this company. We had a very nice van, easy in and out access, no folding down seats or anything. We had emailed what we were interested in seeing and doing and we tweaked it that day. He first brought us up to Montserrat and the monastery. What beautiful views on the way up! This was a great start to our day. He was very informative on the monatery, monks and the "Black Virgin". After about an hour and a half we headed down the mountain again. We stoppped at a look out point above the city with awesome views. We also made a quick stop at the 1992 Olympic stadium where our guide informed us that the Olympics were responsible for a big turn around in Barcelona's economy, unlike some other countries where the Olympic venues sit with nothing be done with them.

From here we went on to Familia Sagrada. Words can't even describe this place! We are so glad we changed our minds and had him purchase advanced tickets to go inside this place. It was breathtaking! After a while here, we headed over to Parc Guell and did a pretty quick walk through and just saw the highlights of it. I think you could spend a lot of time here if you had it admiring the park like setting. Running out of time we drove down Las Ramblas. It would have been nice to stroll down and stop for lunch or a drink, but definitely preferred what we did earlier in the day.

Next up: Naples/Amalfi

[Tribe-Fans]

Great trip report thus far. Will be on this cruise June 2019, from Rome also. Looking forward to the rest. Thanks.

[SOLIVITA LADY]

We’re on this cruise from Rome in October 2019. Hoping to spend 3 days in Rome precruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tweety1961]

Epic review Part 6

Monday-Day at Sea

This day at sea was much needed! This itinerary is very port intensive, especially when combined with flying direct from Chicago to Rome and not really sleeping for almost 24 hrs. I actually slept in until 8:30am, which for me is quite late. Didn't feel the need to get up and grab a chair at the pool, not like when on a Caribbean cruise! We stayed up late last night knowing we didn't need to get up. This was the only night the Bliss lounge was packed. We danced til 1-2am knowing we could sleep in! This night we had one of our specialty dinner reservations at Cagney's at 8pm. We all loved our food, but it took close to 2 1/2 hours! Quite long if you ask me when the restaurant wasn't full.

Tuesday-Naples/Amalfi Coast 8am-5pm

We did a lot of research for what we wanted to do here. We had originally booked the excursion from the ship that did the Amalfi by land and sea, knowing we'd love the see the view from the water. The ship's excursion was around $239/person. We felt that was a bit high. So, we did a lot of searching for private excursions here on cruise critic and through word of mouth. We ended up with Carmine's Coast. Boy, are we glad we did! This was an awesome day. My friend did all of the contact, tons of emails, changing how many of us were going, etc. Carmine was great. I think he was a little nervous we would be difficult, but ended up having lots of laughs! Like I said there were 8 of us, and his van was very comfortable. We had inquired about a boat ride to compare with the excursion from the cruise, and he was able to find that for us. I think at this point we would be paying around $150/ person with the boat, much better than the ship's price, and more personalized in a small van rather than a big bus! So, getting up this morning, it was a little cool, overcast with a misty rain and very windy. We had to cancel the boat, as did any other excursions, including the ship's. We were about to get the best tour of "Carmine's Coast. He headed up to the highest point first because he knew the buses would be getting up there later and driving would be difficult and crowded. We stopped at a great ceramic store, bought a few things! We then stopped at a winery on the side of the hill. We tasted a couple wines and olive oil. I am not a wine drinker, but they were very good, bought some for gifts. We all pitched in and bought a case of wine and olive oil and shipped it home.

We continued on and stopped in Ravello at a very nice ceramic store with beautiful dishes, bowls, tables, etc. We each bought a little something. One friend purchased a set of dishes to ship home. After spending a little time in this area continued on. We stopped at a wonderful family owned restaurant on the side of the hill. Frattoria la Tagliata. OMG! It was awesome! No menu, you eat what they make that day. Everything is grown on site. Carmine took us down and showed us everything growing down the side of the hill. The food was delicious and the view was beautiful from the table we were sitting at! We then headed down. You could tell it was getting very crowded heading up, a long line of cars and buses. How do they drive up those hills? We stopped for a quick walk through Sorrento, a cute area. Had some gelato. We heard later that night that traffic was backed up for hours! I would say this ended up being our favorite day! I would recommend Carmine to anyone looking for a private driver! His company had also done our friend's tour in Cinque Terre!

Wednesday-Disembarkation! We opted to carry our luggage off! We had hired a car to pick us up at 7:15am as we had an 11am flight out of Rome direct to Chicago. We were at the airport by 8:15am. Long flight home, close to 10 hours! We would definitely love to go back to these areas again! With 8 of us, a cruise was a great way to see many areas without having to book different hotels, carry luggage around and decide where to eat every night.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions.

Arrevidercci!!!

[gatorchinsky]

Epic cruise Part 2:

Work keeps getting in the way!!

The weather the week we were there was very nice. We had a quick shower in the afternoon in Rome, it was warm in Florence and windy and overcast in Naples/Amalfi that we couldn't go out on the boat we wanted to. The rest of the week was absolutely beautiful!!

 

So, we opted to start our cruise in Rome because we wanted an extra day there. We left Chicago on Monday night with a direct flight into Rome and arrived Tuesday morning around 9am. Our flight was pretty uneventful. Thank goodness for the entertainment systems on our American Airline flight. We watched the Bears on Monday night football, watched a movie then listened to music and slept a couple hours. We took off and landed on time. We booked the Hotel Alexandra in Rome, great location. We had them arrange transportation for us from the airport. There were 8 of us with luggage for a week cruise and we just fit! Of course, our rooms weren't ready when we got there, so they stored our luggage and we went out to explore. Walked to the Spanish steps then had lunch at a little restaurant nearby. We went back to hotel later and got into our rooms, they were actually much bigger than I thought they would be. 4 of us opted to go to the Vatican, we booked a skip the line tour with Viator, who in turn schedules you with another tour company. I would probably research and book direct with a company if we were to do it again, which I don't see coming anytime soon! The other 4 of our group went on a "foodie tour", not sure who they booked with. I couldn't see going to Rome and not going to the Vatican. The tour was scheduled for 3 hours, and we took every minute of it. There is lots of walking, standing and stairs! Wear comfy shoes!!! The Vatican is absolutely beautiful. I think the tour is worth the money, our guide was great and we learned so much more than if we did it ourselves.

Our 4 friends that did the foodie tour in the Trastevere area of Rome loved it. We all met up later at the Trevi fountain. It was around 8pm, so it was pretty crowded. We took the obligatory pictures then headed back to crash as we had been up a long time.

 

Wednesday: This morning we booked a tour with The Roman Guy to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. Flamina was our guide, and she was awesome. We were in awe of the Colosseum. Again, we felt it was worth the money for a guided tour, especially since it included the underground. Again, alot of walking, but worth it!

We the went back to the hotel had a quick snack collected our luggage and headed to the ship!

We used mylimo.com for our transportation to the ship then again to the airport after the cruise.

It was close to an hour to the port. We wanted to get there before the rush of other passengers getting back on got back. We got there around 3pm and walked right on. Had dinner this night at Taste, good food, but nothing spectacular. Went to bed early because we had an early day the next day for Florence.

This is definitely a port intensive cruise, only one day at sea! Much different than any Caribbean cruise we have been on.

 

More to come tomorrow!

 

Enjoying your review! Glad you had a good time!

 

We are taking this same cruise out of Rome in June 2019. I do have a question about the The Roman Guy Colosseum Tour. We have booked the same Colosseum tour as you did. Did you have to provide them with the names of all participants and their full birth dates? They said it’s something that the Colosseum requires for the underground tour. I guess you can say I’m a little paranoid but I just want to make sure this is normal.

[mapleleaves]

Glad to hear you had such a successful trip.

Great review ! Thanks for taking the time to post all the details, esp vendor names ... very helpful.

 

(it's frustrating to read Reviews where someone writes ' Awesome day! We hired a private tour guide to take us along the Amalfi Coast" . But they don't say WHO they used. You'd think a review would be the obvious place to provide that information. )

[Tweety1961]

For the Colosseum tour with the Roman Guy, I didn't make the arrangement, but I think we did have to give information. Also, they said to make sure we brought our passports that day. They randomly call out names to do a check on, my husband got called. He has an Italian last name. He just had to go up and show his passport. Not sure why they do this, but our guide said it is done everyday. So, make sure to bring it with you, although, I think they said a copy would be ok also.

[SOLIVITA LADY]

When you debarked the ship with your luggage were you able to use the elevators or did you have to walk down the stairs? Just trying to figure out if we can do this ourselves. Yes if elevators can be used and no if not.

Thanks for all your wonderful hints and tour guide names.

 

Jackie

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gatorchinsky]

For the Colosseum tour with the Roman Guy, I didn't make the arrangement, but I think we did have to give information. Also, they said to make sure we brought our passports that day. They randomly call out names to do a check on, my husband got called. He has an Italian last name. He just had to go up and show his passport. Not sure why they do this, but our guide said it is done everyday. So, make sure to bring it with you, although, I think they said a copy would be ok also.

 

 

 

Thank you for the information! I hope our Rome pre stay and cruise is as good as yours.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jdvmd]

Great review!