A great cruise and as is the case with most Atlantic crossings a good value.
The EPIC is one our least desired ships, however that doesn't make it bad, just not our favorite, and being "less popular" a better value.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Port Canaveral continues to be one of teh best US ports to Embark on a large ship. Far superior and easier than Miami and Manhattan.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Specialty restaurants continue to be the best any cruise line has offer. Dinner in the "complimentary" dinning rooms is good, descent variety. Breakfast in Taste ("complimentary" dinning room) is good and also quieter than the buffet.
The ability to get an "adult" beverage is easy withseveral venues.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Rock climbing wall was a good experience, but @ 60 years old, I was "exhausted" when I was done.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
The biggeste negative (IMO) ofteh EPIC is the entertainment venues are too small for teh # of passengers this ship can handle.. However we laearned a "secret".. On the Sea days (of this Atlantic crossing) the venues filled up fast and lines were experienced. On port days the venues were erelstively empty and little or no lines were encountered.. This gives an insight into teh "profile" of the passengers on a Trans Atlantic cruise.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Excellent without exception
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The most negative aspect of the EPIC is the layout, no "nice" promenade deck to experience the Sea. Deck 7 provides alot of real estate to shops, vice comfort lounges for passengers.
Even though sevearl years since the EPIC has undergone overhaul the public areas are kept clean and appear to be in good repair.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
The size of the balcony is the largest we have experienced. Large enough to easiy house the 2 chairs, table and 2 chaise loungers. The only negative is it is a "Priv-a-sea" balcony,it differes in that the viewing area is smaller and surronded in steel. This makes the balcony extremely private, but sacrifices a large view though the normal glass below waist level. However we chose this cabin to keep the same room on our B2B cruise.
The balcont room is typical of EPIC balconyrooms, tons of storage, odd layout, but teh odd layout is functional, in that once you are used to it you realize the "toilet" area is roomier than most, and the shower area is roomier than most.
Ship tip
LaCucina is a"hidden gem", located deck 14 all they way forward, you can dine sitting at a forward facing window, especially nice when leaving port, as there is a liklihood to see dolphins "racing" the ship ot to sea.
Tried something different tah previous visits, jeep safari ride, was great. Funchal offers several options, even on your own (Don't miis an experience of riding the sledges)
Excursion to El Torcal, rock formations, we put this on our list to visit again, it was nice, but the weatherman brough in intense fog, reducing the view, and made hiking the "rocks" impossible.
Hop on Hop off bus is a great idea, however our experience was alot of floks got on and rode it all day, keeping the best seats full. Either the hop on / off corporation needs to provide more busses or take teh shuttle into town and explore on your own..with the NCL $50 credit, this tour truned out to be free, so all in all a good value
We acually did a B2B cruise, so our disembarkation was a week later, and went very smoothly.. the disemabarkation @ the end of this cruise was dealed, slow and had long lines.. A week later all issues were fixed.
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