Onboard Epic now - impressions and Daily

[Doglovertoo]

We’re on this cruise leaving on the 22nd.  Have really enjoyed your humor and also all of the information you’ve provided. Saving this for reference.  Safe travels home. 

[Crander]

Just now, Doglovertoo said:

We’re on this cruise leaving on the 22nd.  Have really enjoyed your humor and also all of the information you’ve provided. Saving this for reference.  Safe travels home. 

Agreed!  He's awesome and I wish he were on our cruise but so happy for the info and humor!  See you on the 22nd!

[vacation44]

13 minutes ago, Doglovertoo said:

We’re on this cruise leaving on the 22nd.  Have really enjoyed your humor and also all of the information you’ve provided. Saving this for reference.  Safe travels home. 

 

12 minutes ago, Crander said:

Agreed!  He's awesome and I wish he were on our cruise but so happy for the info and humor!  See you on the 22nd!

Agree @Ohio boomeris doing a wonderful job and as we are sailing the Epic in March, I am looking forward to your updated information.   Happy sailing to both of you. 

[trish4bruce]

@Ohio boomer,  loving your review!!!  Two very importantly questions for you.  Do you know who the bartenders are in Maltings and do you know what bourbon is available on board?  We cruise Feb 12th and my husband is a huge Maltings  fan.  Would be nice if they had a good bourbon selection.  Selection could make us upgrade to premium+

[Ohio boomer]

Trish4bruce, Crander and others -  I will attempt to find the bourbons included in the “base” drinking packages, as well as the upgraded package.

 

One unlisted excursion that is not found on NCL site is found in every port called “Carribean Taxi/bus ride”

Description:  Once stepping aboard your brand new yet seemingly covered by every inch in dents and scrapes bus/taxi, you will be delighted by your driver and/or your guide. Careening wildly over roads that are ridiculously narrow, potholed, and battered, you will wonder if this is one of the islands that “drives on the wrong side”. It’s does not matter what side you drive on! as any lane at any time will suffice.  Marvel at how adept your driver is at dodging pedestrians, bicycles, local police, chickens, and other meaningless objects that come into sight. While this alone may have you intrigued, an added bonus is the drivers starting of from a dead stop, accelerating as fast as possible, travel approximately 1-200 yards, he will then notice, a person, wife, girlfriend, dog he knows, flash his lights twice, toot his horn twice, then slam on the brakes, yell something unintelligible out the window, wait for the other wife/girlfriend/person/dog to yell or bark back at them, then you are on your way. This process continues throughout your entire ride no matter the length. So sit back, and enjoy the ride as you can confidentially know that after this excursion, your spouse will never mention “how you drive” again.

 

For those that wondered…. The new hat look has taken effect.  I now have a slight Norwegian accent, and my “sea legs” and in fine form.

[cougrx23]

Great posts, this will be our first time on NCL and this big of a ship, any tips for a first timer?

[Ohio boomer]

CPT (Cruise Pro Tip),  when arriving in Barbados.  You may dock at a pier that is far away from the check-in facility. (Which the Epic did today). You will want to allow extra time debarking as a shuttle service was needed to get cruisers to the facility where tours depart.  

[spenecer]

How are the wi-fi hamsters running later in the cruise?  I have a teenager coming on the cruise with me and I got the unlimited wifi because I couldn't deal with the uncertainty of overages on the 150 minutes or the need to go visit the internet cafe every day to get my minutes reset if the teenager didn't log out.  But I know the teenager is going to use all the wi-fi available all the time no matter how slow the hamsters.

 

[mking8288]

Epic is one of the NCL ships that we haven't been on at all, perhaps, we will down the road.  

 

Do you know or kindly ask & find out, if they resumed the Behind The Scene tours for Platinum members onboard, and also the Dine With Officers (Sapphires & up) already ... or plan to do it soon.  Thanks in advance.  

 

Enjoy your cruise and thank you for taking the time to answer questions at sea for us.  

[J0Y0US]

2 hours ago, cougrx23 said:

this big of a ship, any tips for a first timer

 

Don't try to see absolutely everything the first day. Instead do a ship tour via YouTube and look at the deckplans to get a general idea of things.

 

Make a list of things you want to check out while on the cruise if you would like and spend a couple mins each day looking through the Daily Schedule to see what activities you would like to do.

[Motegi]

2 hours ago, cougrx23 said:

Great posts, this will be our first time on NCL and this big of a ship, any tips for a first timer?

If you booked your cruise with the “Free at Sea” offer I would recommend that you make reservations for your two free Specialty Dining restaurants as soon as they are available 120 days prior to your cruise.   These reservations fill up very quickly especially on a larger ship.  

 

Also try to book your excursions early as the popular ones may sell out.

[Grumpella]

We will be on the Epic on Sunday. I will let you know how embarkation goes.

 

I will say that I don’t expect as much of a hassle this time. I did check the port schedule and the Epic is the only ship that day.

 

When Ohio Boomer boarded, it listed 2 ships in port. I sailed on the Celebrity Millenium in November and it was the only ship in port. We arrived around 11 am, there was no traffic and we got right on. Granted, the Millenium is 1/2 the capacity of the Epic. We will see, fingers crossed.

[JesseB]

3 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

We will be on the Epic on Sunday. I will let you know how embarkation goes.

 

I will say that I don’t expect as much of a hassle this time. I did check the port schedule and the Epic is the only ship that day.

 

When Ohio Boomer boarded, it listed 2 ships in port. I sailed on the Celebrity Millenium in November and it was the only ship in port. We arrived around 11 am, there was no traffic and we got right on. Granted, the Millenium is 1/2 the capacity of the Epic. We will see, fingers crossed.

Hoping you are right! Will see you Sunday haha

[vacation44]

7 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

We will be on the Epic on Sunday. I will let you know how embarkation goes.

 

I will say that I don’t expect as much of a hassle this time. I did check the port schedule and the Epic is the only ship that day.

 

When Ohio Boomer boarded, it listed 2 ships in port. I sailed on the Celebrity Millenium in November and it was the only ship in port. We arrived around 11 am, there was no traffic and we got right on. Granted, the Millenium is 1/2 the capacity of the Epic. We will see, fingers crossed.

Please update us on how it goes this Sunday and have a great cruise.

[JesseB]

14 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

We will be on the Epic on Sunday. I will let you know how embarkation goes.

 

I will say that I don’t expect as much of a hassle this time. I did check the port schedule and the Epic is the only ship that day.

 

When Ohio Boomer boarded, it listed 2 ships in port. I sailed on the Celebrity Millenium in November and it was the only ship in port. We arrived around 11 am, there was no traffic and we got right on. Granted, the Millenium is 1/2 the capacity of the Epic. We will see, fingers crossed.

Out of curiosity were did you find a schedule with the Piers listed?  I found port schedules and it shows EPIC, and two other ships in port that day but doesn't list which Piers they will use, I know we are at Pan American from the eDocs but the other two I don't know.

[Ohio boomer]

Spenecer - The onboard internet hamsters are still tired. I would give it one out of five hamsters. We have the unlimited internet as you mention,  ought it for both of us. Expensive…. Yes…. Somewhat worth it.  We brought our iPads as well and since you can only have one device at a time of each account…. You need to log out of your phone… then log into your iPad… and the process is not the most straightforward simple turning off the Wi-Fi on your phone does not log you out of the NCL system…. You need to manually log yourself out on the app, then log back into your other device.

Now…. All that being said…. Emails and texts are easy for the some hamster to handle…. If you attempt to stream or YouTube or anything that requires bandwidth…. Well… you may want to wait till you get ashore.  We have ATT and their $10 unlimited per day per device can be worth it.  So…. As soon as we hit shore, ATT takes over and it’s all the data you want….. at slightly faster speeds …. Somewhat faster than the Epic….. think 2 hamster speed. 
 

Shore Excursion review - (NCL) swim with the turtles and beach day.  This is our third snorkling day on this trip, and we rated this the highest.  Boat wasn’t the nicest, “marina” we left from was nothing….. but…. We get to the first turtle swimming site… and turtles were everywhere…. And relatively close.  One even surfaced just maybe 10 feet from me and was cool.  A VERY large stingray was near us as well with a lot of oooohs….and aaahs…. From the swimmers. .Next dive site of a sunken ship had lots of fish to see and then they plunk you down on a beach , give you a drink of your choice, then you can buy your own food at all sorts at food trucks.  Wife says it was the best out of the three trips we’ve taken for one simple fact….. saw cool turtles, rays, and fish up close…

 

I did find that they won’t let you snorkel while wearing a cools men’s straw hat…  but in my mind…. I was wearing it the entire time. 

[Grumpella]

The other ships are not sailing out of San Juan, just visiting for the day, so they will be at the Old San Juan pier. I figured this out by checking the sailings of these ships.

[vacation44]

2 hours ago, Ohio boomer said:

 

Shore Excursion review - (NCL) swim with the turtles and beach day.  This is our third snorkling day on this trip, and we rated this the highest.  Boat wasn’t the nicest, “marina” we left from was nothing….. but…. We get to the first turtle swimming site… and turtles were everywhere…. And relatively close.  One even surfaced just maybe 10 feet from me and was cool.  A VERY large stingray was near us as well with a lot of oooohs….and aaahs…. From the swimmers. .Next dive site of a sunken ship had lots of fish to see and then they plunk you down on a beach , give you a drink of your choice, then you can buy your own food at all sorts at food trucks.  Wife says it was the best out of the three trips we’ve taken for one simple fact….. saw cool turtles, rays, and fish up close…

 

 

Was this in Barbados?

[Ohio boomer]

Vacation44….. yes Barbados….  Carlisle Beach is where your excursion ends. 

[Ohio boomer]

Vacation44….. yes Barbados….  Carlisle Beach is where your excursion ends.  The beach where you end up is nice…. But has the typical “vendors” selling you all sorts of trinkets, cab rides, etc.  to-be-expected at many of these types of beaches, none were overly intrusive. 

 

Also - only draft beers I can find are at O’Sheenhans and they are Bud Light and Stella.  A Goose Island IPA is about as decent of a pint as I’ve found (bottle)….

there are your other typical light-ish beers in bottles as well they have underneath Heineken, Corona, etc.

[Crander]

Hey Ohio!

 

Thanks for the beer updates (and all the rest as well, but I have my priorities!  So... are you saying they don't even have Heineken in the little UFO dispenser in the Garden Buffet or at the lobby bars?  If not... guess I'm doing bottles and Stella.  I didn't realize Bud Light was actually considered beer...... nor will I drink it.

 

Cheers!

[Crander]

Hey folks on this particular cruise... your e-Docs are ready to download and print.  Log on to your NCL account or the app to access them.

 

 

[DCGuy64]

16 hours ago, Crander said:

Hey Ohio!

 

Thanks for the beer updates (and all the rest as well, but I have my priorities!  So... are you saying they don't even have Heineken in the little UFO dispenser in the Garden Buffet or at the lobby bars?  If not... guess I'm doing bottles and Stella.  I didn't realize Bud Light was actually considered beer...... nor will I drink it.

 

Cheers!

Bud Light is a classic example of the kind of American beer Brits joke about in the infamous saying having to do with making love in a canoe. The rest is NSFW. 😉

[Ohio boomer]

All:  Confirmed whiskeys available with the “Standard drink package”

- Jack Daniels

- Black Label

- Jameson

- Glenmorangil

 

Tanquerie (sorry sp?) also included as well as various vodkas and the like. 

 

DCGuy64 - I consider Bud Light a “spacer” 😉

I’ve taken pics of the backs of the bars showing what is generally available so everyone can look at the pics once I post and not on hamster internet.  Answering these questions has been like a scavenger hunt and yet one more reason to visit every…… single….. bar.

 

Ships Crew question from earlier - I have taken a pic and will post of the current crew which was shown on a video screen in the hallway of the Garden Cafe.  Hopefully that will give you the information you seek.

 

Side note - I did not win at this mornings “Jackpot Bingo”.  Frankly I had been counting on supplementing my retirement income with this.  Fortunately - I see a possible retirement side hustle as a “pothole installer” as many of the islands seem to require these every 10 feet.  Or the equivalent in metrics for our Canadian readers, 5 Kilos (estimated by an American with the typical American understanding of the metric system).

 

Today is St. Maarten and St. Martin….. the island so nice they named it twice!

[quercus alba]

21 minutes ago, Ohio boomer said:

Answering these questions has been like a scavenger hunt and yet on

e more reason to visit every…… single….. bar.

 

...

All we can say is "Thank you for your service and noble sacrifice, soldier."
Here is a gold star, and a purple heart, in case you had to drink any of that Bud Light stuff...
💜🌟
Prayers for your safe return!