PART II – NCL's EPIC
FOOD
Finally something really good to report on – the food quality.
There are two free sit-down dining rooms, the Manhattan and Taste. Since
Manhattan was on the 6th Deck, it was easy to spot, and thus was more
popular than Taste. People started lining up at 5 p.m. for the 5:30 dinner
start. Soon there was a long line and not much room for it, since the bad
designers of the ship apparently didn't think of having a space for people to
wait, so the line snagged around the casino bar and caused congestion at
the Aft elevators. At times the ship's band performed during dinner, along
with a singer, and they were great (information on which times they were
appearing could be found in the daily newsletter). Taste was less popular,
with less of a wait to get in, but had almost exactly the same menu. At
certain times music was also provided in Taste. The greeter in these
restaurants was slow to seat diners, mostly because they took the time to ask what
room you were in (for no apparent reason) and then enter this information
into a computer and decide what specific table your party would sit at. This
kept people lined up for most of the evening.
The food was very good in these dining rooms. First night fare included
a lobster and fish combination option that was excellent, one of the best
lobsters I've ever eaten (don't book a specialty meal for the first night).
Each night there were different choices of entrees, appetizers, and
deserts. However, each night there were also a repeating menu of exactly the
same choices, including onion or broccoli soup (watery), chicken, steak,
salmon, appetizers, deserts, and so on. This repeating list was more
extensive than on previous NCL cruises we've been on, but made for a certain
sameness to the menu. There especially seemed to be a lack of differing soup and
appetizer choices compared to other cruises, now that these "repeaters"
were on the menu each night.
There was also a very good Garden Café Buffet (free), but if you ate there
for every meal, you would notice a sameness, though some entrees always
varied.
On most ships the main dining rooms are also open for sit-down breakfasts
and lunches. But on the Epic, on some days (such as in-port days), the
main dining rooms were not open for these meals, or only Taste was open . I
heard one man complaining about that, but it didn't bother us. When open,
the dining room lunch and breakfast were also quite good, but again, the
menu seemed to be a "repeater" every day, with the same choices each day.
Sit-down dining was generally a lot slower than eating at the buffet
(sometimes extremely slow), but you could ask the servers for "fast" service,
which helped.
The buffet breakfast was especially good, with really outstanding pastry
items such as Pecan Buns to die for (I ate 5 every day! Yum), chocolate
croissants, and more. The omelet station was good, but overcrowded,
sometimes causing a very long wait. Also, due to the fact that there are so many
people on the ship, seating in the buffet was sometimes problematic. Some
tables were reserved for handicapped people, and you could usually find one
of those free. However at the busiest times you really had to hunt for a
seat, and for breakfasts they opened the Italian La Cucina restaurant for
extra seating, but it was one deck down and you had to use stairs to access
it (but they did put some of the food selections down there). Part of the
buffet seating is outdoors close to the pool.
Another free dining choice was O'Sheehan's Irish Pub, which served a
sit-down breakfast, and then various items such as cabbage soup (excellent),
corned beef on rye sandwich, hamburger, fish and chips, chicken pot pie
(excellent), and so on, including deserts (vanilla ice cream & brownie sundae to
die for). We really liked to eat there. Daily specials such as Shepard'
s pie or Irish stew (more like soup, but good) also were available. It is
on Deck 6, right near the casino, and was usually crowded but with seats.
One drawback was if you sat in the back, you were next to the bowling
alley, again with no wall, so it could be noisy. Sitting near the front placed
you nearer the casino, where it could be smoky. You were also close to the
Atrium below, so might at times hear nice music or at other times lectures
or other items that you couldn't hear well enough to understand, sort of
annoying.
You could also order free room service, but as NCL nickels and dimes its
customers to death, they've added a $3.95 fee per order between Midnight and
5 a.m., and a $5 delivery charge for Pizza.
At times free snacks are also available in areas such as the casino (late
night), outdoors, and so on. There was no big midnight buffet. Free
beverages are water (not in bottles), coffee, tea, and hot cocoa, and at
breakfast some juices. For wine, alcohol or soft drinks or bottled water, plan to
pay extra. Major drinkers of soda should buy the weekly plan.
The bread in all the restaurants was really especially good. Ice cream
was available in both the buffet and dining rooms for dinner and maybe
lunch, and the buffet also had a soft-serve machine available almost all the
time.
So all in all, you can eat (and stuff yourself) for free onboard, and the
food is quite good. One note, those who have access to the private dining
room (Haven), because they purchase the higher-priced Penthouse rooms, do
get a better menu than the rest. It seemed clear that NCL really had two
classes of people onboard, 1st and 2nd, and those with the private area
access were definitely getting the 1st class.
There are also many specialty restaurants onboard which charge an extra
fee. One of them is a dinner & show in the Spiegel Tent or mystery lunch in
the Spiegel Tent. I'll cover that under SHOWS below. There are also extra
eating or drinking events for a fee such as a Jazz Lunch, Margarita
Tasting, Wine Tasting, and so on.
Whether it is worthwhile for you to pay the extra $10-25 charges per
person for dinner is difficult to say. The food and service is generally better
than in the main (free) dining room, but depending on what you order, may
be pretty much of the same quality. We found the Moderno Brazillian
Churrascaria ($20) to be the best we went to, and for us, worth it. The salad
buffet that was included was really top-notch, with items such as special
soups, beet & apple salad, shrimp crevice, stuffed grape leaves, breads,
salads, and so on. Then servers came to the table with assorted types of beef
and chicken to be sliced tableside, including filet mignon, ribs, and so
on. Cagney's Steakhouse ($25) is generally one of the top specialty
restaurants on NCL, but I heard some people complaining about it. For us, the meal
was quite good, possibly because we also got the lobster with our steaks
(another $8). But whether it was worth the extra money….??? Maybe or maybe
not. We also ate at Le Bistro (French $20). I found the escargot
fantastic, my companions thought the steak was excellent, but the service didn't
seem as good as it should have been, and we thought it wasn't worth the extra
dough. Other people have told me they really enjoyed the Chinese
Shanghai ($15) and Teppanyaki Japanese ($25), but we didn't try them on this trip.
There is also a Chinese Noodle Bar and Japanese Sushi & Yakitori
restaurant with an a la carte price. The cheapest is Italian La Cucina ($10). At
the specialties, like the main free restaurants, you can order anything off
the menu, including two entrees or appetizers, etc., except for the
extra-priced lobster.
Another fee option was the Atrium snack bar, but it perplexes me that some
people purchased cakes and snacks when similar items were free in the
buffet and dining room. Lattes for sale and free coffee and tea were available
there as well.
You can book the specialty dining rooms before you go, if you can figure
out when you want to eat, but this really isn't necessary, since most seemed
to have openings for most times. Cagney's is the most popular, so you
might want to book that early in the cruise if you decide to go.
SHOWS
I was advised to reserve the shows Blue Man, Cirque Dreams, & Improv in
advance, online, which you can do after your E-docs are available for
printing. This was good advice, because you have your choice of day and time, and
can avoid the very very long lines at the Box Office. (You don't get a
ticket, just a reservation.) If you don't book before you start, book as
soon as possible, if you definitely want to go to these shows, especially the
first two.
The Cirque Dreams and Dinner show is held in the "Spiegel Tent". Cost
is extra -- $20 for regular seating, $30 for priority seating. The show is
not really like Cirque du Soliel, but more Circus, with a lot of balancing
acts and comedy. We found it really excellent, and well worth the extra
money. However the lighting is somewhat dim (strangely too dim, actually),
and if you are in the lower-cost balcony seats or in the back of the room in
the booths, you may miss part of the action. For this reason, I would
recommend paying the extra $30 for priority seating, much though it annoys me
to advise it. To me, part of the joy of cruising is that you pay one fare
and get all the food and entertainment free. But now NCL (and other
cruise lines too, no doubt) are adding on extra costs to items which really
should be free.
Even with priority seating, people line up 45-60 minutes prior to the show
(they seemed to line up early everywhere!), and you probably should too.
Try to sit as close to the center of the room as possible. There is a
stage, but nothing happens on the stage, so ignore it. We sat with our backs
to the stage, and we had a perfect view.
The show features some outstanding and sometimes astonishing acrobats as
people skate and do other feats on a very small center area, extremely close
to the audience. I shuddered to think what would happen if there were a
misstep due to stormy or rocky seas for some of the acts, which could
theoretically have acrobats flying into the audience. Fortunately the acrobats
were all experts. And the closeness of the performers to the audience
really made the show more exciting and worth the extra fee.
We really enjoyed the Cirque Dreams.
However, we didn't enjoy the meal, which is served while the people are
doing their acts. The acts are so engrossing you won't want to miss a minute
looking down at your food. And the food wasn't very good anyway. So my
advice is to eat in the dining room or buffet, before or after the show, and
just don't worry about eating the meal.
BLUE MAN GROUP is free, but again, probably should be booked in advance to
avoid the long, long lines at the onboard Box Office. It is a slightly
shorter version of the Las Vegas show, with almost all the highlights
intact. The number of extra performers in the backup band is smaller. A lot of
fun, this is a must-see at sea. Late in the cruise the Blue Men also have
a question and answer session that is quite interesting to attend.
LEGENDS IN CONCERT for me was the best show onboard. It also is a
slightly shorter, less elaborate version of the Las Vegas show, with 3
impersonators and great backup dancer/singers. One of the impersonators will always
be Elvis, the other two may change, depending on the sailing. On our voyage
the other two were Steven Tyler and Lady Gaga, and they were great, and
Elvis was one of the best of him I've seen. What really makes the show is a
terrific band and knockout backup dancers (both men and women), who really
complement the main performers. This is one show I might want to see twice
in a short time. You probably should book the free tickets in advance
online.
SECOND CITY – I personally love the 2nd City improvisation group. You
might be able to arrive and walk in, or just book reservations once onboard,
but you can also book them online in advance (but only 1 showing). They
performed at least 4 different shows, some all improv, some partially
scripted. When you book online it doesn't tell you which show you are booking, so
if you love them, you'll probably also want to see the other shows that
you didn't reserve online. The only problem with the show was that it was
held in the Headliners room, with those awful high stools (chairs) and
pillars. People lined up at least 30 minutes in advance, and if you want to sit
on the chairs in front, you probably should too. The 2nd City group also
hosted a showing of clips of famous 2nd city people in the Fat Cats room.
MYSTERY LUNCH – You can pay $20 extra for lunch with the 2nd City Group
doing a funny mystery theater in the Spiegel Tent. Again, the best seats
are toward the center of the room, but not as necessary as in the Cirque
Dreams show. Plan to arrive at least 30-60 minutes early to line up for those
seats. You can also reserve these tickets online, and it would avoid the
lines at the Box Office. The food was very so-so, but our group really
enjoyed the performance, so felt it was worth the extra money.
ICE BAR – One unique feature onboard is an 'ice bar' where you can relax
surrounded by ice at 17 degrees. A flat fee of $20 is charged, for which
you receive 2 drinks and about 20 minutes (as well as a parka to wear). It
can be a lot of fun.
OTHER SHOWS. No Reservations Needed. But seats are on a first come basis,
and people do line up 30-60 minutes for these too.
Comedy Magician David Williamson performed in the Epic Theater, but I
believe only at 11 p.m. This seemed odd, since children would be an obvious
audience.
"Howl at the Moon" dueling piano bar, also they do sing-a-longs, was
extremely popular and they were very good. They do seem to do the same
numbers night after night. Again, the only problem was the poor seats in the "
Headliners Room." If you come in late though, go forward and look for empty
seats in the front, since people come and go.
"Apollo Duo" were very good, and generally played in the Atrium. Other
music was pretty much standard cruise fare, and included performers such as
Upryzin (Island music, canned, performed by the pool), Grahame Sinclair
(piano melodies), Slam Allen Blues Band, Scott Stow, and Allen Roman.
A few dance classes were given, and people could dance in the Manhattan
Room when the band was playing (even if you weren't eating dinner you could
go in). But our friends, who loved to dance, found the motion bad in that
room (dance floor far aft). There are also various dance parties with a DJ,
generally after 11 p.m.
There were a lot of entertainments for families with small kids (not much
for teens) such as Meet Nickelodeon characters or Nickelodeon Arts and
Crafts or Dora's Dance Party or Slime Time Live. For adults there were Deal
or No Deal Game Show (buy a card), Bingo (buy), Name That Tune, The Quest
(an outrageous item that must be seen to be believed), perfect Couple Game
Show, Karaoke Battle, Crew Show, Abba theme show, and so on. Even when at
sea, most of the entertainment for adults was after 10 p.m. and either in
the Bliss Lounge or outside at Spice H2O.
HANDICAPPED PASSENGERS
Since I had a scooter with me and use a cane, I was more aware of problems
for handicapped passengers than most people would be. You are not
allowed to park a scooter in the hallway (unlike on other ships), and putting one
into a regular stateroom can be a problem (or impossible). I spoke to a
couple who had a wheelchair, and they also found it extremely difficult to
maneuver it into their room, since there is little room to get around the bed
in some staterooms. I had a handicapped room, and there was plenty of
space for my scooter, but we had no couch or chair (since that was removed to
give room for the scooter), making it hard to have anyplace to eat if you
called room service, and no where to be in the stateroom except lying on the
bed or sitting on a stool or out on the balcony.
The narrow hallways next to the stateroom were constantly clogged with
cleaning carts, more than I remember seeing on other ships. Sometimes there
were large bags of dirty laundry in the hall. All of this made maneuvering
the scooter through the halls very difficult. You had to be extremely
careful that you didn't hit a cart or damage your scooter. The narrow hallways
would also make it more difficult for anyone on crutches or a walker.
Due to the long length of the ship, anyone who is handicapped is going to
have a harder time. It is a long way to walk to the elevator bank/stairs.
Having a scooter could be a great help …but .…then you have to maneuver
through those narrow hallways.
Some areas of the ship were especially tricky for scooters or walkers or
wheelchairs. The long lines of people waiting to get into the Manhattan
room or waiting for the Box Office caused congestion near the Aft and Forward
elevators at times, and there was hardly enough room to get by. The Casino
on the 6th Deck proved a constant challenge, people people gawking at slot
machines and clogging the aisles. Sometimes getting into or out of
elevators was challenging when they were busy. It just wasn't a handicapped
friendly ship. I only bumped into (hit slightly!) five people with my scooter
during the seven days!
I also had an annoying incident when I used one of the public handicapped
bathrooms. Normally you press a button to open the door, then go inside,
the door closes automatically, and you press a button to lock the door. I
was using one of them, near the dining room, for several days, and doing so
correctly. Then one night a man opened the door, despite the door being
supposedly "locked" and the red light on. While embarrassing, I wasn't
really too upset right then. What upset me was that after I immediately showed
the problem (the lock was broken) to two cleaning people who said they
would notify maintenance and put up a closed sign, 24 hours later I came by
and found the lock still broken and no sign put up. I went to the Guest
Service Desk and reported this, and then when 3 people came to the bathroom, I
had to explain how the lock was broken and show them how the door worked,
they were clueless until I actually demonstrated how the door could be
opened, even if the red 'locked' light was on (had to show them 3 times! They
were pretty stupid!!). After I raised holy hell, they did put up a sign
and replace the lock. But why wasn't it done after my first report?
Apparently these locks are easily breakable, so handicapped people, be wary!
Since there are not very many handicapped rooms on the ship, anyone who
plans to bring a scooter or wheelchair should reserve well in advance (or go
on a different ship), and be prepared to be somewhat unhappy.
Also, handicapped access to the Epic Theater is on Level 5, and to find
it, you pretty much must fend for yourself to find the mostly unmarked
access, which is through the Art Gallery, down a hallway to the right, then
through a door marked "Crew Access only." The good news is you end up on the
bottom level, close to the stage, and there are some seats (generally empty)
marked for handicapped people. On the two nights I used this access, no
crew were posted, so they didn't even look at my reservations for shows.
This "secret" entrance is the best was to get to the lower area of the Epic,
and best seats closest to the stage, by the way.
Other areas of the ship have odd handicapped entrances, such as the
Italian restaurant (again through a door marked Crew Access Only, the Sports
Complex (a hidden elevator), and so on. I'm not even sure you can get to Posh
Beach Club, I never did, or maybe it is a restricted access area (for those
1st class people), I don't know.
The ship docked at all 3 ports (no tender), so you could theoretically
take your wheelchair or scooter down the ramp, but it is quite steep. I don'
t know if you could arrange to exit in some other way. I found it tricky to
walk down and up that ramp with my cane. I would be urge anyone with
walking problems to be extremely cautious, since the ramps did not have those
little step-like strips to prevent sliding. Once outside, it is a long walk
(at least 10 minutes at my slow pace) to get to the taxis or shopping, and
I didn't see any sort of trams in these ports.
OTHER NOTES
We found the annoying announcements less bad on this ship than on some
others – they couldn't be heard in our room! Yeah! But muzac or music was
in the hallways by the rooms for unknown reasons.
You can save quite a bit of money by not taking the ship's shore
excursions, but instead by booking your own either online before the cruise, or at
stands outside the cruise ship once you reach land. It is easy to grab a
taxi and go to a public beach or site. In St. Martin 4 of us shared a taxi
to sightsee, and saved $25 per person over doing the same tour with the
ship, and it was more personal and comfortable.
Because cruise ships are now holding 4000+ people instead of 1000 or even
2000 as in the old days, the ports where the ships land are far more
crowded than they used to be when several of these mega-ships come to town.
Traffic is terrible (and the roads are in poor shape), so it now takes longer
than it used to to get to various sites. If you take a taxi to a public
beach on St. Thomas, for example, you have to cross the island, and it can take
a good 45 minutes to load your taxi and get you to Coki beach. Leave
extra time for both going and return (especially – so you don't miss your
ship).
The spa had many free "seminars" such as "Stress, Longevity & Chinese
Herbs'' and "Acupuncture," etc. (most aimed at getting you to buy spa
services or products) and provided good, if expensive things such as facials,
massages, and teeth whitening. There seemed to be fewer discounts than usual,
but I did a "pick 3" spa treatments while in port. The treatments were
good, but did end with the attendant trying to get me to purchase spa
products. 18% gratuity is not included in the price.
There is also a large Pulse Fitness Center (gym) with some free seminars
and some with a fee.
The public bathrooms seemed to be fewer in number than on some ships, and
signage to them extremely poor. Once you realized they were hidden off in
side hallways without signs, you could find them (and they were on the map),
but it was tricky to find them, and sometimes a longer walk to them than
expected.
Automatic $12 a day/per person fees are added to your account for
gratuities. Bar charges and spa will add on extra gratuities.
CASINO
I live in Las Vegas and I gamble, a lot. I'm convinced that the slots
machines on the Epic are extremely "tight" and the Video Poker machines were
not random. The pay tables for VP are extremely poor, with the best being
8/5 for JB at $5 level. There are only a few upright machines and they are
always busy, so we often played at the casino bar. The casino holds many
slot, poker and other tournaments, with very few winners, that are not
worth the money you pay because the odds of winning are so low. Blackjack
rules on the single deck table were poor (6/5 payout for Blackjack is about 5%
disadvantage), multigame 8 deck games had decent rules but "riffling
shuffling" seemed to make for unusually bad outcomes. There are also craps,
roulette, and other table games. The casino was also crowded and smoky.
Because of its central location it was constantly busy, busier than any other
casino I've seen at sea.
If you get a "free" cruise from Caesar's/Harrah's, you probably will
receive a letter in your room inviting you to a party the first night. You may
also find a slot club card in the envelope which entitles you to free
drinks in the casino or at the casino bar. If you don't get one, ask one of the
casino hosts or at the host services desk for one. We found they would
give us drinks to take away from the bar. So while playing or at the bar we
would ask for 2 cans of soda or 2 bottles of water, to store some extras in
our room. The casino sent us cookies the first night, and later a couple
of chocolates.
If you do gamble, be sure to check with the host if you have more than
2500 points. If so, they will give you comps for about 3x more than the
normal free play, but only for specific items such as spa and specialty foods.
Comps for Internet or shops may be at 50%. If you have large losses or not
much charged to your room, they may be willing to comp those items at
100%. Ask. They won't use the comps to pay for the ship's gratuities. You
can charge up to $2000 a day to your ship's account for gambling, but at 3%
fee. There is also an ATM aboard with a $5.50 charge, that is probably less
than 3%. If you think you will use either of these, it is best to contact
your bank before you go to let them know you will be making a lot of
onboard charges. You can also set up a credit account before going to sea.
FINALLY
The stateroom stewards, dining servers, and crew all seemed to be very
friendly and helpful. The ship was kept extremely clean. There were many
foreign visitors onboard, and announcements were usually in several languages.
While many people on the surface seemed to be enjoying themselves, I heard
more complaints from strangers around me than on any other ship I've been
on.
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