Mini Epic Review

[woneill63]

Sailed March 7, four nighter out of Port Canaveral.  

 

GOOD :  Getting on the ship was quick and easy, took maybe one hour after parking.  Main dining room food was very good, ate there three nights.   The buffet was also very good, we usually had breakfast and lunch there.   The cigar bar was fun, met some very nice people while enjoying a smoke.  The casino was huge and never seemed crowded.  This ship also has an Irish pub open until very late in the evening, we would usually stop here for wings at 2/3 in the morning. 

 

THE BAD:  The layout of the room, I know this had been discussed many times before, but until you experience it first hand, it is difficult to grasp how bad the rooms are configured.  I was taking a shower one afternoon and friends were coming into our room to hang out, they could see most of me through the glazed over shower door.  

 

THE UGLY:  Trying to get a drink at just about any bar, clearly this ship was not staffed to handle the 4k plus Spring Break guests aboard.  I had read online about this problem before our cruise so I kind of knew what to expect, and it was worse than I thought it would be.  We tried tipping the bar tenders generously but they were overwhelmed.  We resorted to ordering 2/3 drinks per person at a time.

Dinner at Cagney's, I always have a great meal at this specialty restaurant, not this time though.  Service was awful and the food was subpar.

Debarkation, easily the worst aspect of this cruise.  We did the walk off with our suitcases, left the room at 7:25, took over three hours to finally exit through customs, I don't know what the hold up was but I have never seen anything like it in 20 plus cruises.  

 

Just my opinion.

 

 

[graphicguy]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your cruise.

 

Couple of observations....

 

I sailed Epic when it was relatively new to the NCL fleet.  I never had an issue with the bathroom.  I mean, my GF and I had been dating for a while and certainly had seen each other in the buff.  So, we appreciated the layout that let one of us use the sink while another showered.  That begs the question....why would you (or your cabin mate) let someone into your cabin to "hang out" while you were showering?  That just seems to me to be rude.  That's just me.

 

Spring Break is a handful for any cruise ship, especially one that will be flooded with "breakers" on  a relatively short cruise.  As you say, you expected it, though.

 

One thing NCL will try hard to do, especially in a specialty restaurant, is to make sure you're satisfied.  A call to the manager would have probably alleviated any dissatisfaction with your dinner  at Cagney's.

 

Disembarkation.....I find customs to be hit and miss on how many agents are working and which port you're  parked at....particularly Canaveral.

[woneill63]

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the cruise, I always do, never had a bad one.  Just telling my truth as I see it.  The stop at Coco Cay was cancelled due to high winds, no problem, can't control mother nature.  The ice bar was closed the entire cruise due to some mechanical issues, oh well.  

I have been extremely fortunate to be able to cruise often per year and always make the best of it.  

[BirdTravels]

We've sailed on the Epic 7 times and have never had any problems with the room configuration. 

 

Cococay actually has a dock for Royal Caribbean ships (we were there last month). Great Stirrup Cay does not have a dock and is subject to cancellation if the tenders can not run.