Live(ish) Epic Transatlantic April 22-May 7

[Maleficent's Dad]

26 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Remember I promised live ish, sorry no pictures and not as live as the other live thread on this cruise.  I don’t have unlimited internet and frankly I’m having lots of trouble uploading pictures.  So this one will be mostly narrative it appears.  If you want to see photos, I’ll be posting them when we are ashore on Instagram where we are at ClaynMike. I will also post the dailies for each day at our next port stop. 

….

 If everyone in your group has iPhones you don’t need to waste your money on the app text feature. Simply connect to the ship’s wifi but don’t log onto the internet and iMessageing works almost perfectly (occasional glitches) both inter-ship and ship to shore! 

Just followed you, looking forward to the instagram pics!

Thanks for the heads up about iPhones - is that fleet-wide?

[Lazonia]

On 4/17/2023 at 10:07 AM, Clay Clayton said:

A little background on me, our travels, and our plans for this trip. Skip this post if you’re only following to learn about Epic as this will be our first time onboard her. 
 

My first cruise was my college spring break trip senior year (1980) aboard Carnival Mardi Gras. Four to a inside cabin, flaming baked alaskas parading through the dining room, and the shower was just the shower head in the ceiling of the half bath sized toilet room so everything in the bathroom got wet when you took a shower-Ah the good old days!😂

 

After finishing grad school as an Architect I worked for a large firm based in Atlanta.  Most of my career was spent managing design and construction for k-12 building programs for school districts. This entailed moving every 6-8 years as those programs were completed. So I’ve lived in Atlanta, Orlando (twice), Raleigh (3 times-met Mike in 1990 during the first stint), Greensboro, Key West, and Houston. 

 

I didn’t cruise again until 2000 when my now Husband Mike and I discovered NCL and Freestyle Cruising. No tie, no fixed seating. It was great. Since then we have cruised multiple times on Norwegian, twice on HAL, thrice on Celebrity, and 4.5 times on Viking. We have done transatlantics on NCL and Viking, transpacific on Celebrity, b2b Alaska and Hawaii on Hal, in addition to shorter cruises on all of them. We greatly prefer longer cruises especially now that we are retired.
 

Speaking of which, we lived nomadically for the first two years after we retired in 2018. The first year in Europe (Valencia, Milan, Santorini, Sofia, Lisbon, Porto, Baltic Cruise, London, Scotland, Ireland) and South & Central America (Cuenca and San Miguel de Allende).   The second year doing a North American roadtrip with detours to Japan and China. We were on our way back to Europe in March 2020 when Viking announced they were returning all ships to their embarkation ports (except their World Cruise) hence our half-transatlantic.  Luckily we had just purchased a condo in Raleigh, NC so we had someplace to live….once we bought furniture. Not fun during those early days of the shutdown. 
 

We hadn’t planned on doing this cruise even though we wanted to join our friends George @HoldenDad and Doug on their first transatlantic. We had alredy booked an Asian cruise for October 2022 when they decided to book this one.  But our October got canceled which freed up travel budget to do this as well as joining another group of friends on their Alaska cruise which Mike and I made a B2B to Hawaii. Sam, another friend traveling solo decided to join us on Epic so we looking forward to spending time with all of them. 
 

After the cruise, Mike and I are flying immediately to Paris. Mike has never been unless transits of CDG count and I haven’t been since 1988 or so.  We have an airbnb booked in Versailles but will go into Paris for at least two days of sightseeing. We are in France until May 13 when we fly to Reykjavik. We did an around Iceland cruise in 2021 but due to a single case of covid onboard were unable to make our ports on the south side of the island. So we have rented a car and are going to spend four nights in Iceland before flying (nonstop😀) back to Raleigh.  That will be the first leg of a roundtrip ticket in Iceland Air. We will use the return leg in late July when we return to Reykjavik to board Viking Saturn for Mike’s 60th birthday cruise. We will be going from there to Bergen via Longyearbyen the northernmost permanent village in the world (polar bears outnumber residents!). 
 

So that’s some (😂too much) background on us. If anyone wants advice on slow nomadic travel or on any places we have been, we are happy to share our experiences and advice. That’s Mike in the toucan shirt and me in the blue enjoying a MaiTai in Hawaii last October. 

Loved reading your post from last year so very much looking forward to this trip (and your upcoming trips!).    

[Clay Clayton]

On 4/26/2023 at 5:46 AM, Maleficent's Dad said:

Just followed you, looking forward to the instagram pics!

Thanks for the heads up about iPhones - is that fleet-wide?

Dunno and it’s clitchy.  Works sometimes not others

[Clay Clayton]

Day 4-At Sea

Slept in and then had a leisurely breakfast at The Great Outdoors under a beautiful sky of sun and fluffy clouds.  Typing this portion of today sitting on our balcony where in just a second I intend to start reading.  It appears we have all quickly settled into our sea day routine, share a table at Breakfast, Doug & George go for their walk on the promenade while Mike does his by using the stairs to go to the Dining Room and take a picture of that night’s menu (Why isn’t that available on the app???). The texting through the app ($9.95 per person per cruise) works well so when one of us does something of interest  or decides we are headed to lunch we text it to everyone else. 

 

 If everyone in your group has iPhones you don’t need to waste your money on the app text feature. Simply connect to the ship’s wifi but don’t log onto the internet and iMessageing works almost perfectly (occasional glitches) both inter-ship and ship to shore! 

 

It seemed to get chillier throughout the day and the ocean a little rougher.  No issues yet but …it made our outdoor LCR game a bit uncomfortable especially for those of us wearing shorts. But all seemed to have a good time, had four more folks join us so the pot was $72 which was won by the wife of the guy who won on our first day.  If I hadn’t provided the dice myself I’d think there was some cheating going on. 😂

 

After LGBTQ + drinks we attempted to have dinner about 7:15 or so at Shanghai’s (Chinese/Asian) and at Taste but it was a 45 minute wait at both so we ended up in the buffet for Mexican Night.  Not NCL’s best effort.  I’m hopeful we won’t feel the need to eat dinner at the buffet very often. 

 

Clocks are being turned forward again tonight so headed to bed relatively early which quickly became regular bed time when taking the time change into account. Had the balcony door open for awhile but had to eventually close it as it was too cold!

Edited April 29, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[Clay Clayton]

Day Five At Sea

The clocks were moved forward overnight so it was a little more difficult to get up this morning.  It was chilly and overcast with rain predicted.  So wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts more than expected. As usual spent the time after breakfast writing this summary of the previous day followed by some balcony reading time. 

 

We all met for lunch at Taste and had a proper luncheon.  Unfortunately we didn’t check the menu first and it was the least interesting since we have been aboard.  It was fine but nothing really wowed us. 

 

After lunch we then played a new (at least to me) card game, “Go Sushi”. The rains had started so we played in this strange tunnel like space between the pool deck and Spice H2o (the adults only pool area). It’s called the Marketplace on the Deck Plans but it is very underutilized. It has eight high top tables but not much else.  Served us well for our card game. 

 

Followed that by our LCR game. Some of the players found us a space inside the Garden Cafe while I stood watch near where we have been playing outside to send players in. I failed to count but we had at least as many players as the first two days. The pots on the previous days had both been won by a married couple, they were nice enough to bring a huge Costco size bag of snack mix for all to share (being about $130 up methinks they can afford it😀) -such a nice gesture. As usual it appeared everyone had a good time even those of us who came close to winning but didn’t. 

 

After showering and changing clothes, we arrived late to the LGBTQ+ get together. No loss as apparently there was a communication disconnect so the doors to the venue were locked at the starting time. They had just been opened when we arrived and everyone was waiting impatiently for a bartender. Some of us took the matter in hand and gathered our own from a nearby bar😂. Hopefully this snafu won’t be repeated tonight as it appeared everyone had a good time meeting new friends. There are two ladies aboard from Murrell’s Inlet SC(Myrtle Beach adjacent) who are on the way to Barcelona to participate in a Dragon Boat camp and races. Let other folks from Palm Springs, Berlin, Charlotte, and Northern Ireland. It’s a very diverse group. 

 

We had dinner last night at Le Bistro-NCL’s French Restaurant. While the menu has changed since we were last on an NCL ship, everything we had was tasty. The service however seems less polished-we had to flag someone down after Mike’s rare lambchops were delivered very medium, I had to as for the glass of wine I had requested when I ordered my duck entree. No big issues but two examples of several service issues we experienced.  Since they have now gone alà carte in the specialty dining venues it also makes it very confusing as to what one can order. If using a Lattitudes voucher, you are entitled to one app, one entree, and one dessert. If using the dining package, you get four courses. When we dined in Cagney’s (using a Lattitudes voucher) Mike wanted an app, a soul, and an entree but didn’t care about having a dessert. He asked the hostess if he could trade a dessert for two appetizers. She said to ask our waiter who would have to get approval from the manager. When we sat down and Mike asked if he could have an appetizer and also a soup in lieu of dessert, our server said he didn’t need to give up dessert. However, last night in Le Bistro, it appeared using a voucher meant you could only have appetizer or soup. Not sure why NCL makes it so difficult-seems like it would be easier for everyone if they just treated the package and the Lattitudes voucher the same. 

 

Ok, off my soapbox for now.  

 

After dinner, Mike and I enjoyed a couple of songs at “Howl at the Moon”. I was surprised that they have three male singers/piano players as one previous ships there has been at least one woman.  It was fun to see them try to sing GaGa’s Shallow!

Edited April 29, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[Clay Clayton]

Day Six -At Sea

Another sleep in morning followed by a late breakfast -this turning the clock forward gets old after a while but still better than getting all six hours at once when you to fly to Europe from the US. 

 

I attended the Spanish lesson held in the atrium in hopes to get my little bit of Spanish back to use during our port stops there. 

 

Then I camped out in the Great (wet)Outdoors (thankfully the rain had stopped) to do some painting. Nothing really to see from the ship so used the photo of the Bird of Paradise I took in Bermuda for inspiration.  Unfortunately, my efforts didn’t do Justice to the original. I could blame the cheap travel paint set, the wind, or the paper but I think it’s my lack of practice that is the real culprit. 

 

Mike and I grabbed a light lunch and watched the “Crossing the Atlantic” ceremony which started with a parade of first timers led by King Neptune (in what appeared to be a Santa beard and wig) with a crown and trident.  The virgins were all wearing togas (I’m sure the laundry staff hates the extra sheets to wash) and after a blessing from Neptune, each was “baptized” with “sea cream”. Some were happy with a tiny dot on their cheek others (especially the bald folks) got a head full!

 

Another fun time at LCR today thought due to the chilly showers we held it inside again.  So far, three of the four pots have been won by three of four people traveling together so as a group they are up about $180! If they weren’t my dice I might think there was some cheating going on😂

 

We had dinner last night in La Cucina which was very tasty. Some compare it to Olive Garden which it can be but I love their Osso Bucco (or as friend Peggy calls it “Occo Bucco”) which makes it a bit more upscale.  The venue at the bow is very nice with windows all around but Epic’s uniqueness continues as you enter the restaurant down some steps from the Garden Cafe.  Sorta like going to Ruth’s Chris but entering through K&W Cafeteria 😂

 

After dinner, George, Doug, Mike, and I went to the card room and played “Phase 10” surrounded by MajJong games.  It’s amazing how many folks are playing MahJong-the Garden Cafe in the afternoon is filled as is Le Bistro (which serves as a place for card and table games during the day). As clocks move ahead again overnight and all of us were fading, we stopped before we got to the last Phase-will hopefully finish the game tomorrow. 

 

Day Seven-At Sea

The forward marching clock makes getting up harder and harder…it was 9:45 this morning.  Hopefully we are done until after Ponta Delgada in the Azores where we are scheduled to dock tomorrow morning. 

 

Enjoyed a late (very) breakfast including bloodies at Great Outdoors followed by writing time to finish yesterday’s post and then reading time. Currently on the third book of this trip.  

 

Basically another lazy day with a fun LCR (28 folks) outside in the very sunny and warm day. 

 

We had dinner at Shanghai which was a nice change though very loud and crowded.  Tomorrow is Ponta Delgada in the Azores.  

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[Clay Clayton]

Good morning from the Azores!

It’s cloudy with occasional sprinkles, hoping that clears off. 
 

be advised to not trust the port schedule websites. We were shown to be alone in Bermuda and here.  However, Pearl joined us in Bermuda and Jewell and an Aurora Expedition ship were already docked when we arrived here. 🤔

Edited April 29, 2023 by Clay Clayton

[depplep]

What is on the agenda today?

[Clay Clayton]

Good morning from the Azores!

It’s cloudy with occasional sprinkles, hoping that clears off. 
 

be advised to not trust the port schedule websites. We were shown to be alone in Bermuda and here.  However, Pearl joined us in Bermuda and Jewell and an Aurora Expedition ship were already docked when we arrived here. 🤔

[Clay Clayton]

Oooops, didn’t get the dailies posted to the correct day…but hopefully y’all will figure it out. 
 

 

[Clay Clayton]

7 hours ago, depplep said:

What is on the agenda today?

Nothing special.  All the tours out in the country entailed 7 or 8 hours on a bus which I didn’t want to do.  So we are planning on wandering the old town and finding some octopus!

[jimbri]

Have a great time!

[Clay Clayton]

7 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Good morning from the Azores!

It’s cloudy with occasional sprinkles, hoping that clears off. 
 

be advised to not trust the port schedule websites. We were shown to be alone in Bermuda and here.  However, Pearl joined us in Bermuda and Jewell and an Aurora Expedition ship were already docked when we arrived here. 🤔

Ooops, it’s not Norwegian Jewel that is also docked here, it is RC’s Jewel of the Seas. That’s what I get for not asking for specifics from my free lance reporters.  I guess you get what you pay for😂

[Clay Clayton]

Sorry this thread has become more -ish than intended. The inner-webs while purportedly available are either very slow or my phone is having issues.  It will load the landing page of CC but refuses to take me to this thread….at least within my tolerance for waiting while watching my 300 minutes dwindle away. 
 

The NCL app says you can get to CC without using your minutes but I’ve had no luck with that either. It is interesting that you can get to Google quickly.  As long as you enter your inquiry correctly you can get an answer. 
 

Anyway, we have two more sea days and then each day until the 7th is a port day so hopefully will be a little more up to date. 
 

Below are some shots taken as we wandered around town today. There are more on our instagram at ClaynMike

[depplep]

The town is very charming and looks very clean. Good choice walking around. 8hrs on a bus isn't my idea of fun either.

[Clay Clayton]

Day Eight-Ponta Delagada Azores

Awoke to chilly weather and a cloudy sky with some sprinkles.  We let the masses who had real plans disembark and then left the ship about 10:30. Our cruise friends Peggy & Lowell highly recommended a private tour they had done here which took them all over the island and even included a lunch cooked in the volcanic steam.  But it involved 7 hours in a car so we decided for this first visit just to wander downtown. But first we (over)packed our first bag of laundry.  As Platinum level with NCL we get two bags of laundry washed for free (normally $29). In the before times, this was a deal offered once or twice per cruise, but based on the papers left in the dailies, it appears to be offered anytime now. Anyway, we got all the clothes we have worn in the bag so we should be good with doing our second bag a little later in the cruise. 

 

Like much of mainland Portugal, Ponta Delagada is hilly but not the steep ones found in Lisbon or the steep and all axis ones of Porto. We started at the church then headed across town towards the Fort. It was great to walk through the narrow streets and see wind blown architecture needing some love next to brand new buildings of à contemporary style. Along the way, we stopped for a coffee, Coke Zero (not available on Epic as part of the drink package😢), and a Malassada-a bread from the Azores. It looked like a thick English muffin, but was less craggily inside. I’ve never had a crumpet but I suspect the two are related. 

 

After arriving at the port and finding it had just closed for lunch, we headed back towards the center of town and spent some time at the center square where there are three arches. There was a band playing and lots of tourists like us. 

 

We got back aboard the ship about 3 ahead of most of the crowds. We had a little bit of a line but from what others said it was crazy closer to sailaway. The downside of being on a ship with 4000 others. 

 

We walked 6 miles and my legs felt it. The menu in the Main Dining Rooms didn’t have anything to entice us to wait in the lines to get in so we had dinner in the Garden Cafe.  They had advertised a Portuguese dinner but there was little that I recognized from our visits there. They didn’t even have a  Pastel de Nata, the egg custard tart which is what I think of as the most traditional dessert. Oh well, we didn’t go hungry. It’s just disappointing that they don’t seem to do anything special for their special nights. 

 

Clocks move ahead again tonight and so we headed to bed early. 

 

[Clay Clayton]

Day Nine -At Sea

Not much to report as we basically lazed the day away. We slept in and missed breakfast😳. After lunch in O’Sheenans we headed to the pool deck but it was packed. The weather was beautiful and warm so everyone was out enjoying it. Instead of fighting the crowds we had a balcony day enjoying reading and maybe even a nap😂

 

We had 22 for our next to last game of LCR and then went to dinner in Moderno.  It was better than our last visit which must of been in 2018. Mike and I then to the Epic Theater for “Burn the Floor” a performance show of ballroom dancing-think “Dancing with the Stars” without the contestants. The dancers were fine but the singers were incredible. 

[Clay Clayton]

Greetings from Funchal on the Portuguese island of Madeira!  It’s a holiday here and lots of places are reported to be closed. Since we have been here twice before our plan is to try to see inside the cathedral (it’s always been closed), visit the Market (if it’s open) and enjoy the Festival of Flowers that is taking place. Given on previous visits we have enjoyed the little botanical garden in the center of town, I expect it to really be beautiful today. 

[ConnieTact]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Day Eight-Ponta Delagada Azores

 But first we (over)packed our first bag of laundry.  As Platinum level with NCL we get two bags of laundry washed for free (normally $29). In the before times, this was a deal offered once or twice per cruise, but based on the papers left in the dailies, it appears to be offered anytime now. Anyway, we got all the clothes we have worn in the bag so we should be good with doing our second bag a little later in the cruise. 

 

 

Hi Clay

Enjoying your live report. We love the Epic. 
As platinum you both have two free laundry bags on a cruise that is more than a week. 
it is one bag each per week per person. You can check with Cruise Next/Latitudes desk.

I just write my Nane and Platinum Free Bag 1 and thenPlatinum Free Bag 2. 

No need to overpack your bag! In fact on our last 12 day cruise we only used three between us. 
 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by ConnieTact

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, ConnieTact said:

Hi Clay

Enjoying your live report. We love the Epic. 
As platinum you both have two free laundry bags on a cruise that is more than a week. 
it is one bag each per week per person. You can check with Cruise Next/Latitudes desk.

I just write my Nane and Platinum Free Bag 1 and thenPlatinum Free Bag 2. 

No need to overpack your bag! In fact on our last 12 day cruise we only used three between us. 
 

 

Thanks but overpacking it is half the fun!  Got 29 items in it the other day and all came back last evening. Should only have to do one more and then will wash the winter things in Versailles at the airbmb before we head to Iceland. 

[ConnieTact]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

Thanks but overpacking it is half the fun!  Got 29 items in it the other day…..

Ha ha! Your idea of fun and mine must be different! 😬😂🤣

that’s great then. I just love maxing-out all my benefits!! 😜

[Azulann]

Clay,

I am enjoying your report of your TA on NCL.   TA are so relaxing.

I remember  you said that you were going to spend time in Paris before  your next segment of your cruise vacation.  Lots of protest today all over France about rising the retirement age to 64.  

I loved Funchal port. had coffee and pastel de nata at a cafe in  the square near the cathedral.  Lovely  city. Look forward to your pictures.

 

[Clay Clayton]

Had a lovely day ashore but of course everything we wanted to do was closed because of the May Day Holiday. But lots of locals out enjoying the beautiful day and the Flower Festival.  Sat and enjoyed my 1€ contribution to the buskers in the cathedral square especially. I’ve included a picture but after uploading this will try to upload a video but it may not work🤞
 

Unfortunately we missed the floral parade last night but the floats were on display.  Made it back to the ship with renewed blister and sore legs after our 4.5 mile trek. Probably should have taken a cab back to the ship.  Oh well. 
 

We leave at 8pm so should be a beautiful sailaway.  Will hopefully post some pictures here and on Instagram after we get to Cadiz day after tomorrow. 
Hard to believe we only have one sea day left😢

[Clay Clayton]

10 hours ago, Azulann said:

Clay,

I am enjoying your report of your TA on NCL.   TA are so relaxing.

I remember  you said that you were going to spend time in Paris before  your next segment of your cruise vacation.  Lots of protest today all over France about rising the retirement age to 64.  

I loved Funchal port. had coffee and pastel de nata at a cafe in  the square near the cathedral.  Lovely  city. Look forward to your pictures.

 

Protest here in Funchal today too. Not sure about what but isn’t that part and parcel of May Day?🤔

 

Will keep our fingers crossed that our visit to Paris will not be too impacted. We should arrive the evening of the 7th and leave for Iceland on the morning of the 13th. 

[Clay Clayton]

 

The buskers at Cathedral Square.