My EPIC adventure begins

[murph1031]

Heading for covid test, fly out later today. Wish me luck.

[dexddd]

Luck.

[ColaPepsi]

Enjoy

[murph1031]

Passed test. Now heading to airport. Using the NCL air program. Hoping all goes as planned. 🙂

[kby1216]

Keep us updated. We fly out next Friday. Have fun!

[matterdog919]

I'd be curious to hear how full your boat is - for our sailing in July. NCL has a large number of room categories marked as sold out and continues to raise pricing on all the ones still available. I'm super curious if I should read into that to mean the boat is full --- or should I assume NCL is just restricting booking qty's due to all of the labor issues. 

 

Enjoy your trip! just over 40 days to go for us!

[jemz1949]

Looking forward to any and all updates about anything.....but most of all, relax and enjoy your cruise!

 

[Yesimapirate]

Have fun. 

 

Our last cruise on the Epic had 1,800 people and was absolutely fantastic. 

[murph1031]

Made it to Barcelona with no issues. Passport line took about 40 minutes after getting of the plane. Our transfer was waiting outside once you leave baggage claim. We flew in one day early. Took us a while to find him. He was standing with our name on his cell phone. Room was ready at hotel when we got there around noon. We also booked hotel via NCL. We have a 9.30 check in time tomorrow, but shuttle picks us up at 10.30, which will be fine, as long as NCL doesn't care if we show up late.

[bruce85]

        Back from cruise, so if anyone has questions fire away. I unplugged for cruise so no internet access for me during cruise, wife did have it, but me I just wanted to forget about real life for a week.

Getting on ship was easy, we had a 9.30 check-in time, but NCL picked us up from hotel at 10.30. No issues, never asked for a boarding time. How last cruise in February with RCL had lines set up by boarding time, and it was enforced, but not on this cruise. Took about 20 minutes from getting of the bus, getting to enjoying a cocktail by the pool.

        The ship was great, yes, I agree with what a lot of people say, she does show her age. And yes, the lay out is hard to get used to. I really missed the boardwalk we had on the Getaway. Plenty of room to lay out. We like to find a quite spot away from pool. There are two elevators just outside the entrance to the buffet. One is for Haven guests only, but the other one brings you up to the very top deck. This gets you to the sundeck at the very front of the ship, great spot to watch while leaving and arriving in port. They also have better chairs for laying on, cushioned wicker. 

         Entertainment. No Priscilla. Burn the floor was on. One night we wanted to go was full, reservations highly recommended. Didn't go to the magician or juggler shows. We did catch all the Beatles shows. They are great, show time was 10.30, We got there each night between 10 and 10.15 and got seats no problem. By 10.25 it was standing room. Howl at the moon, also great. To be honest with port stops every day and early starts we missed out on a lot of the little shows we like to see. Casino was great, we only play slots, but it a large area, well spread out and no issues with smoke.

         Food was for the most part pretty good. We ate at the Le Bristo and it great, Cangey's also great. Two nights we did the Manhattan room, and one night Taste, both equally good. We did the buffet for dinner one night and it was great, and other night we did the noodle bar, and it was really good. Breakfast buffet normal fare, same with lunch.

          Excursions well organized. We had one every day. On the Monte Carlo stop, the bus pick-up area was a mess in the city. Local police were not letting the buses out of their parking areas because of traffic. We waited close to an hour for our bus, leaving us very late back to ship. Of course, ship waited but I now see the danger of booking outside excursions. None of this of course was NCLs fault. If you have questions on excursions, we did a bus/walking tour in Corsica, hop on hop off in Rome. Pompei on your own, Florence and Pisa, Monaco and Monte Carlo, Beach break in Majorca.

        Getting off ship was easy, no need to go into much detail as I see they just announced they are no longer providing tests getting off. But we used the NCL air promo. They booked us for a 9.50am flight home. We got off ship around 6am and were checked in for our flight by 7am.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by bruce85

[matterdog919]

On 6/6/2022 at 4:36 PM, bruce85 said:

Entertainment. No Priscilla. Burn the floor was on. One night we wanted to go was full, reservations highly recommended.

 

          Excursions well organized. We had one every day. On the Monte Carlo stop, the bus pick-up area was a mess in the city. Local police were not letting the buses out of their parking areas because of traffic. We waited close to an hour for our bus, leaving us very late back to ship. Of course, ship waited but I now see the danger of booking outside excursions. None of this of course was NCLs fault. If you have questions on excursions, we did a bus/walking tour in Corsica, hop on hop off in Rome. Pompei on your own, Florence and Pisa, Monaco and Monte Carlo, Beach break in Majorca.

       

Curious if they commented on why Priscilla was a no go? I know it was out for a while but recent sailors seemed to say it was back on?

 

With the shows being totally booked, should I take that to mean the boat feels like it's getting fuller? For our cruise in July I see a ton of sold out room types.

 

We picked almost the exactly same excursions. Glad you enjoyed them. For the Pompeii on your own. Did you pre-buy tickets online? Or was it easy enough to do it yourself on arrival? Cannes we booked via NCL for the exact reason you mentioned. Tender ports I'm always more inclined to go with the cruise line.

 

Thanks for the tips! On a plane in 30 days. So excited. 

[bruce85]

9 hours ago, matterdog919 said:

Curious if they commented on why Priscilla was a no go? I know it was out for a while but recent sailors seemed to say it was back on?

 

With the shows being totally booked, should I take that to mean the boat feels like it's getting fuller? For our cruise in July I see a ton of sold out room types.

 

We picked almost the exactly same excursions. Glad you enjoyed them. For the Pompeii on your own. Did you pre-buy tickets online? Or was it easy enough to do it yourself on arrival? Cannes we booked via NCL for the exact reason you mentioned. Tender ports I'm always more inclined to go with the cruise line.

 

Thanks for the tips! On a plane in 30 days. So excited. 

Not sure why Priscilla wasn't playing. Poster outside theater had a "returning soon" banner across it. The boat was at 50% I believe. I have all the dailys if anyone is interested.

No we didn't purchase the pre-paid tickets. Only waited in line for about 5 minutes to purchase. Be sure to ask for ask, they don't just give them out.

[Cruise-mom]

Thanks for reporting back, glad you enjoyed your cruise. I'd love to see the dailies if you have time to share them. We are on the Epic next month.

[mlsetc]

On 5/28/2022 at 3:12 PM, murph1031 said:

Made it to Barcelona with no issues. Passport line took about 40 minutes after getting of the plane. Our transfer was waiting outside once you leave baggage claim. We flew in one day early. Took us a while to find him. He was standing with our name on his cell phone. Room was ready at hotel when we got there around noon. We also booked hotel via NCL. We have a 9.30 check in time tomorrow, but shuttle picks us up at 10.30, which will be fine, as long as NCL doesn't care if we show up late.

How was the hotel that NCL booked? 

[murph1031]

9 minutes ago, mlsetc said:

How was the hotel that NCL booked? 

It was nice. We pretty much just checked in around noon and hit the city. Got back around 10pm. So never used rhe bar or restaurant, except for breakfast. Breakfast was included with the NCL booking. Our room was ready when we arrived at noon. The metro station in about 2 blocks away. We purchased a 2 day pass, they didn't have a single day, around $15 each if I remember correctly.

[McCruzers]

What time, if you recall, was the last tender from Cannes?

Are there safes in the cabins?

[murph1031]

2 hours ago, McCruzers said:

What time, if you recall, was the last tender from Cannes?

Are there safes in the cabins?

Yes there are safes in the room. I will check the daily when I get home and see what time the last tender was, I want to say 4.30, but I'll check

[murph1031]

16 hours ago, Cruise-mom said:

Thanks for reporting back, glad you enjoyed your cruise. I'd love to see the dailies if you have time to share them. We are on the Epic next month.

Will try and post later today

[murph1031]

11 hours ago, McCruzers said:

What time, if you recall, was the last tender from Cannes?

Are there safes in the cabins?

Last Tender was 4pm

[murph1031]

Never posted these before. Is this the info people want. If not I'll post the rest of the pages. This is sail away night

[murph1031]

[murph1031]

[murph1031]

[murph1031]

[murph1031]