Trip review, EPIC, departing Barcelona Sept 15

[mapleleaves]

We're in Portugal now. Will do a review next week some time when i get home.  But in short, it was fantastic!!!

4 adults (60 -70 yrs old) in 2 inside cabins.  We enjoyed everything about the ship....the cabin (even the bathroom), food, entertainment, service.

 

The only hiccup was the tender in  Cannes. We wanted an 8am tender and the rep assigned us to #6.  She was way off about the schedule.  #6 didnt leave until 9am.  We had planned to do monaco and nice, but due to our late arrival, only went to Nice.

The other hiccup wasnt an NCL issue..... there werent enough taxis in Barcelona after the cruise!  Our flight wasnt until 1pm so we stayed onboard until 9am.  By then, there were at least 300 pax in the taxi line, but only 1 car  appeared every 5 minutes or so.  The line didnt move. After an hr we gave up and used the private shuttle company. (At 7:30am there were only 10-12 pax in lthe taxi line.)

 

 

[dayday]

Looking forward to your review.  

[fabnfortysomething]

that's very unusual about taxis

 

there can sometimes be a long line but taxis on a continual stream into and out of port and employees vetting the lines

 

were there an usually high number of ships in port?

 

we once experienced a long wait for the port shuttle buses with a 30 minute wait for one to arrive-however the taxi line was continually moving

[ollienbertsmum]

We have always self disembarked in Barcelona because we wanted to get to the train station for an 8:30 train.  What we did was get food from the buffet the day before and keep it in the room fridge.  So we left the ship at maybe 7:00 am and it was like a ghost ship with no problems getting a taxi.  

 

Ok so you miss the last breakfast, but ‘moving away from’ the buffet has to happen at some point.  For us, it was fine to get to the train station way earlier than we needed but knowing that we were not going to miss our train.  

[Danmar48]

We are on the epic on October 9th out of Rome and this is my biggest concern. We will not be able to request our tender until we get on the ship and our tour meets no later than 8:29. I'm sure other people have outside tours also.

[Huntingdon1701]

1 hour ago, Danmar48 said:

We are on the epic on October 9th out of Rome and this is my biggest concern. We will not be able to request our tender until we get on the ship and our tour meets no later than 8:29. I'm sure other people have outside tours also.

 

If you go to your meet and greet, the officers usually give some advice, or can be asked, on how to get the right tender.  They have a few tricks on standby given the not infrequent delays and issues that can arise when tendering. 

 

That said, I've never yet had a tender delay on my 9 cruises, so hopefully you'll be just as lucky. 

[ollienbertsmum]

11 hours ago, Danmar48 said:

We are on the epic on October 9th out of Rome and this is my biggest concern. We will not be able to request our tender until we get on the ship and our tour meets no later than 8:29. I'm sure other people have outside tours also.

 

You make the tender request through the tv.  Make sure that is the first thing that you do when you board so that you get the earliest possible - however you will be behind those who boarded in Barcelona who may have already requested an early tender.    That is the reality.    If getting ashore later than 8:29 means that the tour leaves without you, I wonder if you need to reconsider your tour.  Cannes is one of my favourite ports.  There is lots to see just in the port and the train to get to Nice is easy to get to.    

[MikeyB]

Please let us know your favorite bartender's and their locations (I hope one of you do drink).

[ollienbertsmum]

My favourite bar was Maltings.  There were bartenders I preferred but we never got on first name terms.  DH does not do that!!  

[njcruiser27]

We were on the same sailing and had a great time! I agree they need to do something about they do the tenders, it was an absolute mess, we were an hour and half later to port then scheduled. Luckily we didn’t have a scheduled excursion we just did the little train tour which we enjoyed. Everything else was great, we also had an inside cabin  and even the bathroom didn’t bother us!  We just booked the 11 night cruise on the Jade for September 2020 doing some of the same ports plus the Greek isles and Turkey. 

[ollienbertsmum]

 

4 hours ago, njcruiser27 said:

We were on the same sailing and had a great time! I agree they need to do something about they do the tenders, it was an absolute mess, we were an hour and half later to port then scheduled. Luckily we didn’t have a scheduled excursion we just did the little train tour which we enjoyed. Everything else was great, we also had an inside cabin  and even the bathroom didn’t bother us!  We just booked the 11 night cruise on the Jade for September 2020 doing some of the same ports plus the Greek isles and Turkey. 

 

I am not sure why the tenders were a mess for you.  I do recall on our first Epic trip I got early tender tickets - maybe about 8.30 - we went down to leave at that time and just met a sea of people.  We were a while getting off. The timing was not right.  The Epic is a big ship, everyone cannot get off early.  

 

We have gone for slightly later tickets on subsequent cruises and we have got off quickly.

 

I just don't understand though why they give a time.  When we were on the Star recently they assigned tickets in numerical order.  I got tickets for  tender number 3.  The ship docked early but we were still entitled to the third tender.  They called over the PA for tenders in order.  That meant everyone was not queuing at the same time.   

[Sea Legs]

Did You do the Hop on Hop off bus tour in Barcelona?  If so, how far is it from the ship to where you first catch the bus?  We plan on doing this on Saturday and then Sunday morning go the the church prior to boarding.

[njcruiser27]

8 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

 

I am not sure why the tenders were a mess for you.  I do recall on our first Epic trip I got early tender tickets - maybe about 8.30 - we went down to leave at that time and just met a sea of people.  We were a while getting off. The timing was not right.  The Epic is a big ship, everyone cannot get off early.  

 

We have gone for slightly later tickets on subsequent cruises and we have got off quickly.

 

I just don't understand though why they give a time.  When we were on the Star recently they assigned tickets in numerical order.  I got tickets for  tender number 3.  The ship docked early but we were still entitled to the third tender.  They called over the PA for tenders in order.  That meant everyone was not queuing at the same time.   

We didn’t have the earliest tender, we were supposed to go at 9:30 but it was after 11 by the time we actually got on. There were hundreds of people in the area that you assembled, they were not checking what tender you were supposed to be on, and people were cutting the line because the way you lined up made no sense. They did call for 2 tender assignments at a time but since they weren’t checking the assignments anyone could just get in the line and go. What they should of done was give out stickers as they do when you use their shuttle buses and call by color of the sticker. There would be no confusion and it would be fair to everyone. 

[mapleleaves]

On 9/28/2019 at 4:11 AM, MikeyB said:

Please let us know your favorite bartender's and their locations (I hope one of you do drink).

 

Sorry, we didn't go to any of the bars. 

 

[mapleleaves]

3 hours ago, Sea Legs said:

Did You do the Hop on Hop off bus tour in Barcelona?  If so, how far is it from the ship to where you first catch the bus?  We plan on doing this on Saturday and then Sunday morning go the the church prior to boarding.

 

We had planned on doing the HOHO on Sat morning, but one of our group was flying in from England and her flight was delayed so we just wandered around LasRamblas waiting for her.

My nephew had been there 2 weeks earlier and did both routes of the HOHO.  He really like the east route which included Bari Gotic ; more interesting than the west.

We saw a HOHO stop at the Columbus Monument at the foot of Las Ramblas.  Use a google map of Barcelona,  and look for Mirador de Colum near the Maratime Museum.   Probably a 30 minute walk.  

[ejnsb]

Six of us were also on this cruise.  We had an early departure from the train station so we prebooked a private van, walked off at 7 no problem.    At that time there must have been 50 taxis lined up.  Our driver said there were seven ships in port that day so I can imagine it being hectic later on.  I will agree it was an awesome trip and plan to do a trip report soon.

[mapleleaves]

As I said earlier, we really enjoyed this cruise!!  Everything exceeded our expectations!  We had read all the negative reviews about the Epic so we were a little worried but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves !  

3 in our group had never cruised before. I've only cruised twice and it’s not my thing.  I will cruise in order to visit cities that have interesting sights but are cities I wouldn't devote a week’s vacation to.  ie Rome. I wanted to see the Trevi Fountain and Colosseum but wouldn’t want to spend a week there.  This itinerary included several cities of interest, so it was the perfect way to drop in, see the sights, and move on. Keep in mind that none of us are interested in museums, churches or anything you have to queue for.

 

THE SHIP  …..  The inside cabin was comfortable for 2 adults; plenty of storage, the split bathroom was really efficient when we were busy getting ready each morning. The lighting over the sink was poor but I don’t worry much about makeup when I travel.

The buffet was huge with so many selections.  I especially loved snacking on the breads, cheese and fresh fruit. There was something for everyone and it was open for long hours. There were a few things we didn’t care for but other things were fantastic. We had bfast there most mornings and always found a place to sit, although once we sat at La Cucina just for the quiet. We also ate at Manhattan, Taste, Teppanyaki, Cagneys, and the Cirque Dinner show. No complaints !  The food was excellent as was the service.  Dinner was usually took 1 - 1 ½ hrs.  One member of our group said the filet at Teppanyaki was the favorite meal, and 2 others said the steak and lobster tail at Cagneys was theirs.

Loved the soft serve ice cream which was a nice finish to every day.

 

The entertainment was fantastic …. we had premium seating at Cirque ( used one of our specialty dining credits).  I’ve seen 4 Cirque shows in Las Vegas so I didn’t expect much but it was on par with the Vegas performances! We also went to Burn the Floor which was also terrific. Went to see The Other Guys for their final show on the Epic ….they were great.  And spent an hr at Howl at the Moon, also great.

None of us are really drinkers so we didn’t go to any of the bars. Had sangria, wine or beer at dinner a few times.  Our days were devoted to the ports so we had no time for the pool or water slides or any of the activities.

Edited October 1, 2019 by mapleleaves

[mapleleaves]

ITINERARY ……We knew this cruise was port intensive but we were all surprised at how exhausting it was. We were up every day around 6/6:30am, off the ship by 7:30/8 and then it was go go go, until 5pm when we were rushing to get back on board.  Then we showered, met for dinner around 7:30pm, took a short walk on the deck and bed by 10/10:30pm.

 

BARCELONA … again our expectations were exceeded. What a beautiful city! Stunning archicture (except for Gaudi), so clean and the people so friendly.  All the talk about pickpockets had us a bit concerned, but after the 1st day we agreed that a little common sense and being aware of your surroundings was the answer, as in any other big city.

 

Friday ….. we arrived at the airport around 2pm, took the Aerobus to Placa Universitat, then walked 2 blocks to Hotel Lleo.  I booked the rooms a yr prior so it was only $130 a night, and included large b’fast buffet. Fantastic location.  We didn’t choose a premium room so there was no view, but the rooms were large, had everything we needed.  A little dated/worn, but clean. Definitely would stay there again. Front desk staff were very pleasant and helpful. 

We were tired from our 10 hr flight and planned to take a short nap, but instead we unpacked and headed out to explore! We took side streets, headed towards the Boqueria Market, loving the architecture, the bakeries and small shops.  The Market was incredible!  Sampled some cheese and jambon cones, and fresh juices. Then we walked down Las Ramblas to find the Umbrella Bldg. A block later we turned into Placa Reial. Lovely. Decided to have drinks and appetizers here so we could enjoy the ambiance and surroundings.  Walked back to the hotel around 9pm and crashed.

 

Saturday…..my aunt lives in England and flew out that morning. Flight was delayed so we skipped the HOHO and waited for her.  Took her to the Market then decided to walk to Sagrada Familia rather than take the Metro.  Passed by Casa Battlo. We stopped at a little café at some point for drinks and appetizers, and finally arrived at the church. None of us are interested in the Gaudi buildings, but felt like we should at least see the outside of the Sagrada. Took a cab back to Placa Reial and had dinner. Walked back to the hotel along Las Ramblas.

 

Sunday …. Packed up, had b’fast and checked out of the hotel. They held our bags for us.  We hopped in a cab at noon and went to Parc de Poblenou to see a Castellers performance.  Incredible ! This is where they build human towers. It was really something to see them build the base then watch the participants climb up to create each level. And then a young kid scrambled up to the top. Nerve wracking when it started to sway! Probably the highlight of my visit to Barcelona!  Got back to the hotel at 2pm, collected our bags then caught a cab to the ship. There was a taxi stand in front of the hotel.  Taxi was 10E but jumped to 20E because they add 1E for each bag that goes into the trunk plus 3E port fee.  Each of us had a 22” suitcase and a tote.  There was NO LINE so we were on board in minutes. We unpacked, went to the buffet for a lite lunch, then wandered around the ship.  We had reservations for the Cirque early show. Lined up an hr prior and got a table in front. Perfect location. Fantastic show!  I had the vegetarian entrée which was eggplant parm ….very good. The other 3 had steak and shrimp I believe and said it was very good.

Edited October 1, 2019 by mapleleaves

[mapleleaves]

MONDAY … sea day.  Leisurely b’fast at Taste. Went to the desk to make reservations for the tender. We wanted to be off at 8am, so she put us on #6.  Wandered around the ship. Found the quiet sun deck and enjoyed the sun for a few hrs.  Had early dinner reservation at Teppanyaki then Burn the Floor at 7.   The food was very good, but everyone at our table was going to the show, so the cook had to rush thru his ‘show’ and even so we had to skip dessert. Food was very good. Burn the Floor was fantastic !

 

TUESDAY … Naples.  I hired a private driver thru Aldo Limo to take us along the Amalfi Coast.  I had been to Cinque Terre several yrs ago and loved seeing the villages from the sea so on this trip I wanted to include time on the water. Aldo was willing to adjust their itinerary for me, whereas some companies refused.   The driver took us to Positano, where we spent 2 hrs, then we took the ferry to Amalfi.   Spent an hour in Amalfi, met up with the driver then continued on the Ravello.  Spent an hr in Ravello, shopped and ate, visited Villa Rufolo.  Returned to Naples thru the mountains instead of backtracking. Fabulous day!  The views were awesome and having our own driver allowed us to stop anywhere we wanted. Again, our expectations for the day were exceeded.  We were supposed to go to Priscilla this night but we decided to pass.  Even tho it was a car trip, the towns required lots of walking and especially lots of stairs.  Dinner at the buffet.

 

WED …. Civi.  Took the NCL shuttle to the edge of the port, then a city bus to the train station.  There was a long line inside the station but the office next door had a sign “RT tickets only”.  No line! Our plan was to go into S Pietro and return from Ostiense, so we bought RT tickets to Ostiense and hopped off early at S Pietro….win!  The 9:30 express train; comfortable seating, few pax. As soon as we got off the train we could see bldgs at the Vatican so we started walking. 15 minutes later we were at Vatican City. Apparently the pope was speaking that morning so the square was very busy.  Heavy security. Lots of beggars. Our only purpose was to say we had visited the smallest nation in the world, so took a few photos and left.  Stopped by the Castel S Angelo, crossed the Tiber River and walked towards Piazza Navona.  Stopped for pizza… excellent.  Saw Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain. Had gelato then caught a cab to the Colisseum.  Spent an hr walking around, saw Circus Maximus, then caught a cab to Ostiense station for the return to Civi.  Of all things, had fantastic pizza at a little stand inside the station !  None of us cared for Rome….too busy and noisey, lots of graffiti. Glad we went tho! We saw the sights we wanted to see and all exceeded our expectations, but no desire to return.

Dinner at Manhattan. I had Fettucine and the others had steak dishes. Everyone was happy with their meal. The Apple Fig cobbler was incredible ! Had 2.

 

Thurs … Livorno.  Rather than mess with the NCL shuttle to the port entrance and a city bus to the station, we decided to pay for the NCL shuttle to the train. I think it was $25. We missed our train to Florence so decided to flip the itinerary and visit Pisa first. I had been there before but the others were really blown away by their first view of the Piazza Miracoli .  Spent more time here than expected.  Taxi back to the train station then on to Florence.  Our only interests in Florence were to see the Duomo, visit the San Lorenzo Market, eat at the Mercado Centrale, and take a photo from Piazzale Michelangelo.  Bought a few leather goods at the market, the food court was disappointing, great gelato nr the market, and we ran out of time for our photo.  Florence was another busy noisey city.  Pisa was definitely the highlight of everyone’s day.

Dinner at the buffet.  And I think this was the nite that 2 of our group went to Howl at the Moon. They enjoyed it very much.

Edited October 1, 2019 by mapleleaves

[mapleleaves]

FRI … Cannes.  Our #6 shuttle was supposed to leave at 8am.  We arrived at 7:40 and they were still boarding #1 and #2.  Huge crowds of people, and not enough communication from NCL staff.  We got on #4 which left at 9am.  Got to the train station and missed our train to Monte Carlo by 15 minutes.  Since we had to be back onboard by 5:30 we decided to skip Monaco. Bummer.  Took the train to Nice, went to Old Town where we wandered around the market and visited the beach.  Caught the train back to Cannes, walked around for an hr, saw the site of the Film Festival then returned to the ship.  Surprisingly we loved Cannes. Quiet, clean, lovely architecture, no grafitti, and very nice people.  The train provided wonderful views of the sea.

Dinner at Cagneys.  I don’t eat meat so I had several appetizers and 2 desserts. 2 had the Steak and Lobster tail, and the other had a steak of some kind. The Surf and Turf was big hit. We all enjoyed our meals.

SAT … Palma, Majorca.  Apparently a big rain storm hit the previous night.  As a result it was exceedingly humid, plus 94F.   The heat and humidity were oppressive …too much so for sightseeing.  We took a cab to the Cathedral then walked around for a few hours. But gave into the heat and returned to the ship by 4pm.  Long long line for tenders.  Dinner at Manhattan. Can’t remember what we ate, but we were all happy !  Went up to the Quiet Sun Deck after dinner, just in time to watch the pilot disembark and hop onto his boat.  He waved to everyone and the Epic capt blew the horn . Fun moment to witness.

 

SUN … disembark in Barcelona.  We had 1pm flight to Lisbon so we exited our cabin at 7:30am and went to b’fast at Taste.   There were less than 15 pax waiting for taxis at that time. When we got to the taxi line around 9am, there were probably 300+ people in line. Yikes. A taxi would appear every 5 minutes or so, so the line wasn’t moving.  After an hr we gave up, and took a private shuttle bus company. I think it was 17E pp.  The airport was busy but things moved quickly.

 

So all in all, it was a fantastic cruise!  We enjoyed the ship … the cabins, food, entertainment, and service were great. The only negative was the erroneous tender information in Cannes.  Everything about the ship, the cruise and ports exceeded our expectations.  Yes, it was a grueling itinerary. Lots of walking, lots of stairs, and some tense moments with buses and trains. But we had a fantastic time! We all enjoyed it much more than we expected.  We all agreed that we aren’t cruise people, but an itinerary like this one would bring us back.

[Deeliteful]

Interested to hear why you think you are not “cruise people”?

[mapleleaves]

Most  people seem to enjoy the ship itself, running from game show to bingo,  restaurant to restaurant, and to the pool, and spa.  And the ports are primarily beach locations.  Cruising around the Caribbean, Mexico or Hawaii has no appeal to me.  

I took an E Med cruise and enjoyed it.  I chose the itinerary because I wanted to see Athens and a few Greek islands. I wouldn't spend a week in Athens but a long day in port allowed me to see the Acropolis and a few other sites. That was enough.  

 

 

[Deeliteful]

1 hour ago, mapleleaves said:

Most  people seem to enjoy the ship itself, running from game show to bingo,  restaurant to restaurant, and to the pool, and spa.  And the ports are primarily beach locations.  Cruising around the Caribbean, Mexico or Hawaii has no appeal to me.  

I took an E Med cruise and enjoyed it.  I chose the itinerary because I wanted to see Athens and a few Greek islands. I wouldn't spend a week in Athens but a long day in port allowed me to see the Acropolis and a few other sites. That was enough.  

 

 

So you enjoy cruising the med. You enjoyed the ports, the shows and the food. Sounds to me like you are cruise people! 😂

[ollienbertsmum]

On 9/26/2019 at 10:41 AM, mapleleaves said:

We're in Portugal now. Will do a review next week some time when i get home.  But in short, it was fantastic!!!

4 adults (60 -70 yrs old) in 2 inside cabins.  We enjoyed everything about the ship....the cabin (even the bathroom), food, entertainment, service.

 

The only hiccup was the tender in  Cannes. We wanted an 8am tender and the rep assigned us to #6.  She was way off about the schedule.  #6 didnt leave until 9am.  We had planned to do monaco and nice, but due to our late arrival, only went to Nice.

The other hiccup wasnt an NCL issue..... there werent enough taxis in Barcelona after the cruise!  Our flight wasnt until 1pm so we stayed onboard until 9am.  By then, there were at least 300 pax in the taxi line, but only 1 car  appeared every 5 minutes or so.  The line didnt move. After an hr we gave up and used the private shuttle company. (At 7:30am there were only 10-12 pax in lthe taxi line.)

 

 

 

I loved your review.  You took me back to 4 lovely cruises on the Epic.   I love your honest report of not liking Gaudi - and I have learned something...  I have been to Barcelona 8 times and never seen the human pyramids.  Now you have intrigued me and I have to go back. 

 

 I cannot imagine not stopping in every church I find in Rome.  Thankfully we all experience life differently.  We do agree that Cannes is a nice port.  I really look forward to that day.  I should go to Nice and Monaco, but it always seems so much effort by that time in the cruise.  

[mapleleaves]

9 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

 

I loved your review.  You took me back to 4 lovely cruises on the Epic.   I love your honest report of not liking Gaudi - and I have learned something...  I have been to Barcelona 8 times and never seen the human pyramids.  Now you have intrigued me and I have to go back. 

 

 I cannot imagine not stopping in every church I find in Rome.  Thankfully we all experience life differently.  We do agree that Cannes is a nice port.  I really look forward to that day.  I should go to Nice and Monaco, but it always seems so much effort by that time in the cruise.  

 

And I appreciated your past reviews of the Epic!  With so many negative reviews it was reassuring to read some positive comments.  

As for the Castellers, I would encourage everyone to attend a performance.  It's such a unique experience !  This web site provides dates and locations of performances.  http://www.cccc.cat/contents/september-53  and this site provides info about the castellers.  https://www.barcelonasiempre.com/en/castellers