Relaxing Christmas Cruise
Norwegian Epic Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 5
Helpful Votes: 184
7 Night Southern Caribbean (San Juan Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 19, 2021
Ship: Norwegian Epic
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 12310
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
Overall had a great time. Capacity was at less than half for this ship, so lots of extra attention from the crew, available dining options with no lines, and lots of extra alcohol for those of us with the beverage package. :) Bummed that Priscilla wasn't showing, but the itinerary was busy enough (5 ports, 1 sea day) that we were worn out early on most nights anyways. Crew were warm, friendly, and added to the festive atmosphere with their hats and songs.Embarkation
NCL was doing testing prior to boarding, so we had to drop off luggage, get on a bus to the Sheraton, queue up for testing, then wait for our number to be called. This part, though tedious, was ok and expected. What was disappointing was they gave us a specific time to arrive, but even after spending an hour after our arrival time doing the testing, we STILL had to stand in a huge line for almost 2 hours to get our cards and board the ship. As we found out later, they had 'arrival times' as early as 10 am, but due to cleaning of the ship, nobody was allowed to board prior to 1pm. So those of us that showed up at our 11am check in time had to stand (no chairs, just concrete) in line for hours behind people who thought they were going to be allowed on near their 9 or 10am check in time, but also had to wait hours.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
MDR was good. Service staff was fun and helpful. Food delicious! They had special 'christmas dinner' on Christmas Day that included beef wellington and ham. We had 2 specialty dinners, spent one at Teppanyaki and as always had a blast during dinner, and they had amazing filet. The other we spent at Cagneys. Delicious steaks and nice ambiance.
Onboard Activities
The pools/hottubs/waterslides were so much nicer and more accessible without tons of kids clogging them up all day every day!
Entertainment
The main show, Priscilla, was not showing during our cruise due to several issues, one of which was some cast members in quarantine for exposure in a prior week. We did meet and hang out with this cast on our last night, they were so disappointed they could not perform but were fun to chat with and chill. The entertainment team put together a new show though, a Queen tribute, which was fun and unexpected. The ship was empty enough that there were enough seats for anyone who wanted to see it.
Children's Programs
our kids are old enough to drink alcohol, so we didn't use any kids facilities.
Service and Staff
The wait staff at every venue we visited were very happy to be sailing, and went out of their way to be helpful and positive. The bartenders and poolside servers were a blast and definitely added to our enjoyment of the cruise. A large number of crew members were wearing santa hats throughout the trip, adding that extra oomph to the holiday feel. Our steward was super sweet, and tried to anticipate our needs.
Ship Quality
This is a large ship! The layout can feel odd until you get used to it, especially if you need to get to certain higher or lower decks, some elevators only go to certain floors. The entire trip there were crew members constantly wiping down surfaces, bannisters, walls, doorways. The ship was decorated for the holidays with christmas trees, snow scenes, and lights.
Cabin / Stateroom
As much hate as Epic gets for the cabin bathrooms, we love it. Husband can do his business while I take a shower. Massive storage spaces in these cabins. Besides closets, there was space under the sofa, along the length of the ceiling, and an additional cabinet right by the balcony door. We were in an aft balcony, and the view is spectacular. The bed itself, though kinda short in length, had a very comfortable mattress. The pillows sucked but that's on me for not knowing I could request some firmer ones from the steward.
Ship tip
Be prepared to walk a lot. And don't hate on the cabin bathrooms, they are the best unique feature on this ship!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
We spent 2 days before the cruise in San Juan. Beautiful historic place. After the cruise, we did the excursion tour of old San Juan that drops you off at the airport, as we had a later flight. Great informative driver and an air conditioned van.
Beautiful port, great shopping downtown. We skipped the excursions and just did a taxi to and from the downtown area.
We were supposed to do the Maho Beach (beside the airport) excursion, but it was pouring rain when we arrived. Around noon the skies cleared and we got off and just walked around the port area. Tried to walk further into town but there were fences and the only way out was via taxi, which we didn't want to do on this port.
we didn't do much here, tired from being on the go so we just walked around the port again. Water was murky and not pretty at all.
due to new covid restrictions, we were not allowed out of the port shopping area unless on a ship excursion, so we just visited that area and got back on the ship.
we did the 'between the pitons' catamaran excursion. Quite fun! they took us to a little beach area where we had to get in the water to get off the boat and to the shore. After that stop, out came the rum punch (included) that was anything but weak. They took us kinda close to the pitons then turned back towards the ships. Everyone had a blast, the crew danced with us and at one point the whole boat was singing 'All I Want for Christmas is You' at the top of our lungs.
Disembarkation
face scans, easy peasy. I am not American (Canadian living in the US on green card) so I had to go through the immigration line, however that took about 30 seconds longer than the US citizen line.
Traveler Photos
