Epic Queues and Colossal Noise

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 7

Helpful Votes: 335

Review summary

NCL EPIC Never again 2 Stars: Did Not Meet Expectations The Atrium: LOUD The pool deck: LOUD The shows in Headliners: LOUD The Cavern Club: LOUD The Atrium: LOUD (bears repeating) The Atrium: What a disappointment. On other NCLs I’ve been on - and I’m an NCL fan - the Atrium was the ideal gathering place - with they coffee/sweets bar in the centre and a lounge bar off to the side. Usually, there would be acoustic or lightly-simplified music groups. Not on the Epic. The Atrium, which is only two stories high compared to 5 or 7 on other ships I’ve been on, is the only place on the ship with an area big enough for games, demos, and audience-participation events. (Ironic for a ship this large.) The Atrium is almost constantly in use for bingo, dance lessons, games. And LOUD is an understatement. When trying to chat with the CruiseNext staff on the other side of the Atrium, we both had to use big voices to be heard. Same when talking with the customer service desk. Similar to other NCLs, O’Sheehan’s, which is my go-to place when I don’t want to eat anywhere else, is right on top of the Atrium and open to it, which means all the noise of the Atrium blasts into O’Sheehan’s. It is difficult to listen to music via earbuds or have any quiet moments in O’Sheahan’s. It is equally difficult to have a conversation with friends at the same table. The Atrium in a word: AWFUL As for the other venues, either the sound guys have been to way too many raves or they think the clientele is semi-deaf. In some of the shows, I put my earbuds in to tone down the distortion and volume. One singer, in particular, had a great, clear, powerful voice. She could probably have filled the theatre without any amplification but the volume was turned sky-high which made her physically painful to listen to at times. When there were games and performances on the pool deck, they were so loud that the Great Outdoors, which connects the pool area with the Garden Café, was no place for conversation or listening to music. On to other observations. For dinner in either of the main restaurants or O’Sheehan’s, expect to queue - at almost any time. Same for lunch and, unlike my previous experiences, even at breakfast. Noise and smoke pollution is a problem in the (main) Taste restaurant as well. The central section of Taste is 2 stories high and a nice space - except that there are times when the music from the bar two decks above is so loud that it interferes with dinner-table conversations, and the casino is on the deck immediately above and open to Taste below. Stale cigarette smoke is evident in the central section of Taste which doesn’t make for the nicest of dining experiences. This is not a problem in the side-wings of the restaurant. Oddly, for such a huge ship, there are only two lift banks, albeit 8 lifts in each. There is one well forward and one well aft - and none in the middle. Same for stairs. I had a balcony cabin. Compared to balcony cabins I have had on other NCLs, this one seemed cramped. While I didn’t measure, I would say it certainly “feels” narrower than others. While I didn’t measure it myself, I was chatting with another passenger who said the balcony cabin is 9 feet wide. Also, with the curved headboard to match the curved walls and the rounded edges of the mattresses, the beds are short. I opted for the sofa by the door and bed by the balcony layout. I would select the opposite if I had the choice again. The sofa faces the closet and is not a place one would “lounge” IMHO. Good for sitting down to put on socks. The TV is at the foot of the bed and not aligned with the sofa. This layout feels a little claustrophobic. Now, on to more positive comments. The ship was immaculate and the crew always friendly, esp in the two main dining rooms. One of the fun things to do is find all the storage areas in the cabin. Hint: including over the bed and under sofa. I confess: I’m an over-packer and, still, I didn’t use half the available storage space, not by a long shot. The Spice/H20 aft is a great place. No music. Adults only. Terraced seating at both lounge chairs and tables. A plunge pool and two Jacuzzis. Definitely my go-to place in the sun. The lounge chairs do fill up early - by 9:30 or 10, of not earlier, and getting a sunny one can be a challenge. There didn’t seem to be a lot of reserve-and-leave-it going on as most were occupied all the time. Reservations for dinner: tho I am a solo traveller, I had made online reservations for two for a number of dinners. Several positive points: they never questioned me when I showed up as a solo tho the booking was for two. (The website doesn’t offer an option for singles.). Also, I missed a dinner reservation, and no one said anything. On a couple of occasions, I showed up 15 minutes early and was seated right away. Not reserving can mean, during peak times, queuing for a buzzer, waiting 20-25 minutes, and then queuing again for the table. Reserving in advance is highly recommended. You can always cancel or no-show. And you can skip the buzzer queue for sure. Garden Café: while my experience of the Garden Café on other ships was that it was a scrum with few places to sit, the Garden Café on the Epic is huge. It wraps itself around the whole front of the ship like a giant U with windows running down both the port and starboard sides AND across the whole bow. At times, the overflow area is la Cucina, the Italian speciality restaurant, with direct stairs and more windows on the bow. I always found a seat, and the Great Outdoors is a huge, mostly covered area, immediately adjacent. There are at least 4 self-serve ice cream machines on the Epic. SUMMARY: This cruise was an experiment on two fronts: transAtlantic and the Epic. I will definitely do a transAtlantic again (I’ve booked the Star for 2018 already) but definitely not on the Epic or any of the other larger ships. A footnote or three: if departing from Barcelona, the staff was taking luggage as fast as you could feed it to them. Tho there will likely be a long queue to go through security, the line moved really quickly. Once past security, when your number is called, be aware, if you are transAtlantic, there is a separate section/door for US and Canadian passport-holders and much shorter lines. Easy to miss the sign but worth looking for it. On the ship: Port side preferred if westbound. If in balcony or ocean-view, the port side is the side for sunrises, sunsets, and sunny balconies. Sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar. The straits are much, much narrower than I would ever have thought, and the ship sails rather closer to Africa than to Europe. If the observation deck (13 fwd, starboard) is not open, there are great views from the Great Outdoors and pool deck.

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Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

Malaga, Spain

Ponta Delgada, Azores

Port Canaveral, Florida

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