Norwegian Epic - August 2010

SO here it is, October 31st, and I am finishing up my August / September blog. (o:

We spent a few more days at Disney World - and then headed out for our drive down to Miami. We dropped Danny off at the airport in West Palm Beach and then checked in to the Marriott in Miami. We had dinner at a sea food restaurant and then headed out to the Port of Miami.

The Norwegian Epic is a huge ship. You actually board in two terminals - odd floors in one terminal, even floors in another. Luckily, we were all staying on even decks so we could stick together.

Once onboard, we went to try to get to our cabins. Ours and Mom and Bobby's weren't ready yet, but we were able to get to Gary's studio. It was small, truly, but really awesome for single travelers, and the different colored mood lighting inside was a fun touch. We had lunch in the buffet, which was really nice and had plenty of seating.

Our cabins were on deck 10 (10205 and 10209). They really were small, and we were tripping over each other at times. Our cabin had the couch first, then the bed. The first night, the steward turned down the couch into a bed for Geoffrey. We couldn't have Geoff sleep on the bed - he would fall off, so we made a little nest on the floor. It worked ok, but the next day we were able to get a pack in play. It fit between the bed and the couch - but we had to push the couch a bit into the toilet area - but it worked ok.

We loved the shower - nice and big - and the toilet area was fine and didn't bother us. We were able to open the divider between our balcony and Mom and Bobby's, so that was really nice.

Dinner on the first night was in La Cucina. This was the upcharge Italian restaurant. It was really good - it turned out it was our favorite of the whole night. The ambiance was beautiful, and the food was delicious. We spent some time exploring the ship before heading to bed.

The ship: There were two main areas of the ship that we got the most use of. Our favorite area was the pool deck. Here, at the aqua park, there were three really fun water slides - and a great splash zone for little kids. Geoffrey had so much fun here!

The other area that was pretty neat were the middle decks. Here was really where the Vegas feel came out. Three floors of restaurants, night clubs, and the huge casino. This would have been really awesome - but unfortunately, the casino dominates the whole middle of this section and makes it very smoky, and not pleasant to walk around.

Honestly, this made evenings the least pleasant part of the cruise, as there was virtually nothing to do as a family. Everything was adult oriented, indeed, even the evening movies were shown in Spice H2O, which was for adults only. I guess if your kids enjoy the kids club, you're fine, but if not, those nights could really drag!

Sunday was an at sea day. Mom, Bobby, and I went to a Murder Mystery lunch in the Cirque Dreams theater. This was put on by the Second City improv group. It was pretty funny. We met Grant, Gary, and Geoffrey out at the aqua park, where the boys were playing. We spent the afternoon reading, splashing, and enjoying the slides. We had dinner at Moderno, the Brazillian Chuscaria. The salad bar here was delicious - and the meat was good, but not the best ever. Still, bringing this concept to the ocean at such a fairly reasonable price.

After dinner, we went to watch Blue Man Group. We sat all the way in the back, in case Geoffrey got busy - but the theater was a nice size - not too big, not too small, so we were able to see fine. The Blue Man Group was the exact show as in Vegas, except a little shorter. Luckily, the shortened some of the parts that felt excessively long, so I liked the show better.

On Monday, we went to Cozumel. Unfortunately, due to the hurricane, so did something like 6 other ships. We went to Paradise Beach and did not have a great time. It was way crowded, and they charged $2 to use the chairs. They didn't come around to take a single food order, but the came around several times to make sure we had paid for chairs.

Back on board, Mom, Bobby, Grant and I saw the Cirque Dreams dinner theater. This was, by far, one of the best things we saw on ship - A two hour circus show while dinner was served. We paid the lower price tier and sat on the balcony - which is where we would have wanted to sit, anyway! Geoffrey hung out with Grandpa Gary.

We spent the evening walking around the ship, snacking, and checking out the sports court.

On Thursday, we went to Roatan (another port that was exchanged due to the hurricane). Here, we rented a private tour with Victor Boat and Tours, which we had read about. Our driver, Ron, was a nice young man who had lots of information to give us. He was willing to drive us anywhere for the whole day. We took some pictures but mostly we spent the day at West Bay beach - one of the most beautiful beaches we've ever been to. The water was crystal clear, and a perfect temperature. The sand was white powder perfect. This is seriously one of the best beaches I've ever been to! (I was so glad that I decided to go - after the day at Paradise Beach, I almost didn't want to go). Ron just hung out and took us back to the ship when we were ready - stopping to get us some cookies on the way home.

WE ate dinner tonight at Taste, one of the free main dining rooms. The meal was subpar. The food was not great, the service was poor.

Grant, Mom, and Bobby went to the improv comedy show while Geoff and I played in the room and had an early night.

On Wednesday we had another sea day. After brunch in the buffet, Mom and Bobby took Geoffrey to the pool while Grant and I went to the spa for a Rasul. Here again, we just had an okay experience. We waited a long time to be helped. The clerk at the counter was all, "Is the ONLY service you're getting a rasul?" When the lady came back to help us, she was very nice - she was going to take us in to get us robes, but the lady behind the counter was all, "They're only getting a rasul..." Our lady got them for us anyway, but I was feeling a bit uncomfortable at this point. The rasul chamber was all right - not very "spa" atmosphere - it felt just like a large bathroom.

Afterwards, we went to the pool and splashed and read and had fun.

Dinner tonight was at Le Bistro. The French food was delicious! Geoff had a rougher night, though, and it was harder to enjoy.

After dinner, we went to see Howl at the Moon - these sing-along piano players. This was AWESOME! The songs were great, and there was NO SMOKING! Geoffrey liked dancing along and we had fun. Later, Mom and Bobby took Geoffrey back to the room while Grant and I had a date night. We went for sushi (upcharge, but reasonable) and then saw the magician - freaking hilarious!

On Thursday, we had lunch at O'Sheehan's, an Applebees type restaurant that is open 24 hours. Grant, on his late night strolls, had been there often, but I had not. The food here was good, and I really liked the environment. Sort of a pub feel. One of the bowling alleys was here (we never did get to bowl!)

After lunch, we went to the pools and lazed the afternoon away reading, sliding, and splashing!

Dinner tonight was in the Manhattan room, the other free dining room. Again, the service was poor and the food was mediocre.

Dining was probably the most irritating part to me about the Epic. Although Norwegian fans will argue that you can eat in the main dining rooms every night, if you choose, just like any other cruise ship, it is NOT the same experience. The service int he main dining rooms was awful and the food was poor (and mostly the same dishes offered each night). Dining (for free) on other ships are the high light of my trip. If I ate in the main dining room nightly here, it would just be something to get through (and I probably would mostly eat in the buffet instead.) Now, the upcharge restaurants were delicious and the service was usually good - but you had to pay - so in my opinion, it is not on par with other ships.

After dinner, we went to see Legends in Concert - Tina Turner, Madonna, and Elvis. Madonna chose an audience member to come on stage with her during one of her songs - She chose Gary! Ha! It was great - we could not stop laughing as she brought him on the stage, put him in a chair, unbutton on his shirt and dance around - and on - him! The BEST! We could not stop laughing. Gut busting.

Next we popped in next door to watch Howl at the Moon for a little bit, and then sent Mom and Bobby in to see that hilarious magician/comedian from the night before. Grant took Geoffrey to bed and I stayed at Howl at the Moon for a while. When Mom and Bobby were finished, Bobby went back with Geoffrey while Grant, Mom, and I went to Sushi!

On Friday, our ship docked in Nassau. While the ship emptied, we spent the morning hanging out on a practically empty pool deck. We enjoyed all the water slides - eve the inner tube slide - with minimal wait, and Geoffrey had the splash pool to himself. Bobby, meanwhile, visited the Spa and had a massage.

After lunch, we took a quick walk around town, just to say that we did.

For dinner, we went back to La Cucina, our favorite dining venue on the ship. We spent the evening packing in our cabins, and I went down to Second City to watch them perform.

Debarkation was very smooth and quick… except that I forgot to pick up Geoffrey’s car seat before going through custody. That turned out to be a much bigger deal then we had originally anticipated - since apparently the car seat had to clear customs. Originally they were telling us that we would have to wait a few hours for the entire ship to empty, but an NCL agent really tried to help us out and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes.

All in all, we enjoyed our adventure aboard the Norwegian Epic.

Weeee!

On the way home, we hit some turbulence landing in Denver. All the way down, Geoff was going "weee! weeee!" SO CUTE!!!!