Time for Something New - The Norwegian Epic

Our first cruise was on the Disney Magic for our honeymoon in 1999. Our last cruise was also on the Magic in January. We knew it was time to give another line a try, but we were skeptical. I received a phone call from a personal cruise consultant from NCL telling me they were having great deals but I told him I was not interested at the time. A few days later I started playing around on the NCL website and boy was he right, their cruises were cheap in comparison to what we were used to paying for Disney. A few years ago we were docked beside the NCL Epic in Nassau and always thought it would be cool to sail on so we decided with the super cheap fares, it was worth a try.

I started reading the Cruise Critic boards immediately to learn all I could about the ship and to see pictures to get an idea of what we were in for. There were such mixed reviews on the ship that I was a little nervous, but I knew no matter what, we would have fun.

We booked as much of the entertainment and dining that we could up front as we learned that it could be hard to get into the shows once you were on board. We booked the Cirque Dreams show, Blue Man Group, Teppanyaki, Moderno and Second City in advance. We had trouble fitting the Legends show into our schedule, and ultimately missed it once on board. We also scheduled shore excursions through the cruise line for Jamaica (Dunn's River Falls and Mystic Mountain) and Costa Maya (Chachhoben).

We were super excited to try something new, new restaurants, new entertainment, new ship to explore. Even a new destination as we had never been to Jamaica. The hardest challenge we faced? Trying not to compare everything to Disney, after all, we have sailed Disney a dozen times, so it would be hard not to.

First Impressions

After a three hour drive to Miami from Orlando we arrived at the cruise terminal and parked in the garage. Not the cheapest option, but for Miami newbies it was the best option for us. We walked into the terminal, dropped off our luggage with a porter and checked in. Check in was quick and painless and we were sent to the seating area to wait for our turn to board. Embarkation was...underwhelming. For those who have sailed Disney, you know how you enter into the beautiful atrium while the crew announces your name and everyone claps. On the Epic you enter into the casino, your first experience is a stale smelling, underwhelming casino.

Since our rooms would not be ready for a little while we decided to grab a bite to eat. I learned from Cruise Critic it was best to avoid the buffet on day 1 so we went to O'Sheehans. The service left a lot to be desired. While the restaurant was busy, it was not overly busy and there were plenty of servers but it took them forever to come take our order and then even longer to bring our food. The food was just ok, but pretty much what I had expected.

Once the rooms were ready we went to drop off our stuff and check out the room. I found the room to be very nicely decorated with plenty of storage and a pretty nice set-up. The bathrooms, which are a huge topic on the Cruise Critic boards were interesting to put it nicely. The shower was perfectly fine, no issues, but the toilet area made us feel very claustrophobic. The frosted glass doors, while a little awkward were not a big issue for us, but they would be if we were traveling with other people in our room, or if you ordered room service while one person was in the shower! We had a larger balcony than most and we were very happy with it, it got a lot of use on our sea days.

Once settled in we headed back out to explore the massive ship. We went back to the room for the "3:30" muster drill. Here was our first unpleasant experience on the Epic. The daily said the muster drill was at 3:30, the announcements said the muster drill was at 3:30. We've done 12 muster drills prior to this (albeit on Disney) and were familiar with the process. Imagine our surprise when at 3:20 the alarms start to sound. We went out to the hallway to see if people were heading to the drill but other people popped their heads out wondering the same thing. We all decided that it was only 3:20 so we would wait. About five minutes later they made an announcement that everyone should be at the muster drill. We ran out of the room. When we arrived in Bliss, our muster station, we were admonished for being "late". By my watch it was 3:29. If the muster drill is at 3:30, have the drill at 3:30, not 3:20 or change the time to 3:20.

We explored a little more until we were hungry then headed off to find some dinner. The freestyle dining concept intrigued us since we are used to a designated dining time and we were excited to try new menus and restaurants.

Going forward, instead of doing this day by day, I will give our thoughts by experiences, such as dining, entertainment, shore excursions, hits and misses, and our overall experience and comparison to Disney.