Norwegian Epic Inaugural

We are back home from the two-night Inaugural of the Norwegian Epic.  Thank you to NCL for the invitation and for your hospitality.  We had a wonderful time on the ship and the Epic is absolutely beautiful.
To view my photos, click here.

There is so much to do while on the ship.  For sports fun there is the Aqua Park, the Epic Plunge, bowling, bungee jumping, ice skating, rock climbing and rappelling, climbing in the Spider Web, volleyball, batting cage, squash court, basketball, hockey, soccer, and dodge ball on the multi-use sports deck.  The Pulse fitness center is large and has yoga, stretch classes, total body conditioning, Gravity Blast, seminars, TRX (stretching with bands), and spinning.  There are 18 bikes in the spin room and they are set up with Activio Heart Rate monitors.  Each person chooses how hard they want their workout to be and the monitor will calculate their target heart rate.  Each individual's heart rate will show up on the screen at the front of the room but it is shown as a percentage so only the student knows what their training level is.

For entertainment, don't miss the Blue Man Group, Second City, Cirque Dinner Show, Legends in Concert, Howl at the Moon (dueling pianos), and Slam Allen's Blues Band (playing at Fat Cats), and the Murder Mystery Lunch.  For shows that require reserved tickets, make sure to get there about a half hour prior to get a good seat.  Because they were setting up for NBC's coverage of the Macy's fireworks, we didn't get to go to Spice H2O's nightclub but that is where the Spice H2O beach club is by day and at night the pool is covered with a dance floor.  Sounds like lots of fun!  We did go to the Bliss Lounge late at night where they had a great DJ and lots of dancing. 

The Spa is 34, 000 square feet with 24 treatment rooms.   There are even Spa Suites available which gives quick access to the spa area along with other perks.

You could compare the entertainment onboard to Vegas, but the value is much better on the ship.  In Vegas, you would pay $100 per person for the Blue Man Group; $68 per person for Cirque Dreams; $35 per person to go to a water park.  You get all this on the ship and pay as low as $49.90 per person  per day for your trip.  That  includes your food, accommodations, and fun!  And don't forget, NCL offers union, military, teacher, and veteran discounts.

There is also the first Ice Bar at sea where you will put on a lined and hooded parka and gloves (provided by NCL) and go inside the ice bar for a maximum of 20 minutes.  You will be provided with two drinks (more like shots than full size drinks).

There are twenty dining options onboard, including 24 hour room service. Many of these options are included at no charge while others do have a cover.  Three are private for Villa occupants only.  We ate at O'Sheehan's, which has an Irish pub atmosphere, at Taste, which is one of the main dining rooms, and at Moderno, which is a Brazilian steakhouse.  If you have never eaten at a Brazilian steakhouse, don't miss this one!  We loved the look of La Cucina, an Italian restaurant that looked like it was set outdoors in a courtyard.  There is even "pizza anywhere" where you can order pizza from wherever you are and it will be delivered to you.
 
The casino is nice and roomy (I only hope that one day all cruise ships will go smoke free, at least indoors!), and the Garden Cafe, which is their indoor buffet, is also nicely set up where the stations are set apart and there are no long lines with which to contend.  There are plenty of intimate lounges where you can sit and relax and listen to someone entertain you.

The kids program is great, with the breakdown as follows:  ages 2-5, ages 6-9, ages 10-12, and ages 13-17.  The programs are complimentary.  Kids can get a backpack and soda package for $39.50.  In the backpack are a T-shirt, baseball cap, sunglasses, and a wristband for the soda package.  The Youth Counselors are well trained and your children will be in good hands.  The ship has Nickelodeon at Sea, which is exclusive to NCL.  The Aqua Park has lots of slides (too scary for me!) and the kids that were on the ship had a lot of fun there.

The villas are beautiful and come with special benefits.  Courtyard villa occupants receive butler and concierge service; 24 hr room service from a special menu; access to a private Courtyard area complete with pool, sundeck, hot tub and their own fitness area; breakfast and lunch at a specialty restaurant; champagne, hors d'oeuvres, bottled water and soda; in room espresso/cappuccino machine; priority embarkation and disembarkation.  In addition to all these, Garden Villa occupants also receive six bottles of liquor of choice and limo service from the pier to the airport.

We stayed in cabin 10171, which is a deluxe balcony.  I liked the way the room was set up - the beds are rounded at the edges and there really are no straight lines in the room.  The toilet has its own sliding door (opaque glass which some people commented that they didn't like, but it was fine with me) and the shower also had a sliding door with opaque glass.  The shower was nice and strong, there was plenty of room, but I do wish they had a little place to put your foot when shaving your legs.  The only amenities provided are shower gel and shampoo so bring your own conditioner, lotions, and shower cap if needed.  One thing to note:  if you are on the 8th deck the balconies do not have a cover over them, so we could look down on those balconies.  You wouldn't be able to sit out on the balcony if it were raining or if you wanted privacy.

The whole look of the ship was elegant and open.  There were beautiful paintings on the walls, mostly with a flower motif.  The interior of the ship was not dark, but cheerful and very welcoming.  The crew was wonderful.  We met many of the team from Miami and the one thing we noticed among all of them was how happy they were with their jobs and how much they admired Kevin Sheehan, the CEO of NCL.  Trivia - Kevin Sheehan was once a NYC cab driver.

We had a wonderful time on the ship, wished it could have been for a week.  The food was great, the crew friendly, the cabin comfortable, the entertainment outstanding, and the decorations pretty.  There are some promotions going on now, not just for the Epic, but for all of NCL's ships, such as their "Hello Balcony" promo where if you book an oceanview cabin you will be upgraded to a balcony.  In the case of the Epic where there are no "oceanview" cabins, you would be upgraded from a balcony to a deluxe balcony.  There is also a promotion for reduced air plus an onboard credit.  These promos won't last long, so act now to avoid being disappointed.

Review of the Disney Magic

Disney Magic Cruise Review September 8 – 15, 2007

Tommy and I went on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic. This was our third Disney cruise – the second on the Disney Magic. We booked a balcony stateroom (deck 7; cabin 7076, mid-ship, port side).We flew down from Newark to Orlando the evening of September 7th and stayed at the Hyatt Orlando Airport. This is so convenient because the hotel is right within the airport and you come off the plane and go directly to the desk to check-in. The hotel bellhop picks up your luggage for you and delivers it to your room.

We had our dinner at the hotel restaurant and were able to sit in the lounge area while watching the Rutgers/Navy football game on the large screen. Our room was very comfortable and it was nice that we didn’t have to drive anywhere considering the time we arrived in Orlando.The next morning we were picked up by Art’s Shuttle and our own private shuttle to Port Canaveral. The cost is $70 for the shuttle and it can accommodate 4 passengers. The other option is to take Disney’s shuttle, but then we would be on a bus with lots of other people and the cost is about the same.

Check in at the port was very smooth and when you check in you receive a number. They board the ship by group numbers which makes for an easy boarding experience. As soon as we dropped off our carry on luggage we went to see if we could change our dining reservations. We were hoping to get one of the waiters we have had in the past but the dining was full. We also had asked about getting reservations at Palo, the adult only restaurant, for either brunch or afternoon tea. They were all booked but we were high on the wait list. (Later on we decided to change to late dining and were able to do so by going to the restaurant at our designated time and having the head waiter change us to late dining. No problem because late dining still had some openings.)

Next we went to the Vista Spa to make reservations. We purchased a week pass for the Rainforest Room ($75 per person), which is a thermal suite with an Arabian theme. Inside are two steam rooms, one which incorporates aromatherapy; a sauna; tropical rain showers; and the best part of all, heated tile lounge chairs. There is a fountain in the center of the room and spa music plays softly in the background. We spent a lot of time in there! We also scheduled a “couples choice” massage in the Vista Spa Villas for the next day. The Vista Spa Villas are private villas overlooking the open water and they are exclusive to Disney. We first had a foot cleansing followed by 20 minutes in the outdoor Jacuzzi to which a milk bath and other soothing scents were added. Following this we had a 75 minute couple’s hot stone massage. Pure bliss!

Since we are members of the Castaway Club (having sailed Disney in the past) we had lots of goodies in our stateroom. We had a nice tote bag, two Castaway Club cups, two little flags, lanyards to carry our room cards, pins to keep and trade, a travel container of sani-wipes, and bracelets showing we are members. As Disney Vacation Club members we received more lanyards (these were a bit nicer), more pins, and a really nice Captain’s Log scrapbook. We also had a Castaway Club reception as well as a DVC member reception during the week.

Also located at the Vista Spa is the fitness center. The fitness center has been enlarged, but it is still small compared to other cruise lines. The nicest thing about Disney’s fitness center is that there is no charge for the classes. Classes included: yoga, spinning, pilates, yogalates, ab attack, stretch, yoga on the beach, and detox for weight loss as well as seminars on nutrition and skin therapy. The spa personnel were all wonderful, especially Lisa and Jennifer who were our massage therapists.

Dining: There are three early dining times (5:30, 5:45, and 6:00) and three late dining times (8:00, 8:15, and 8:30) and three restaurants through which you rotate during the week. We started at Lumiere’s restaurant which would be considered the fanciest of the three.

On Monday we went on to Animator’s Palate and Tuesday we were at Parrot Cay, my favorite of the three. Animator’s Palate starts out in black and white and by the end of your dining time, the room is in full color. Color is “magically” added to the walls and to the waiter’s vests. There are tv screens on the walls and they first show the old black and white cartoons then the color cartoons.

Parrot Cay has a colorful tropical theme to it. Your wait staff also follows you to the various restaurants throughout your week. The food was very good to excellent, especially when you ordered one of the waiter’s suggestions. There were various themes, such as Pirate’s night and International night. The lobster tail dinner at the Captain’s dinner was great.

We had birthday cake on the last night of the cruise to celebrate my birthday and the birthday of one of our tablemates, Laura, who came from Scotland. Our other tablemates were Laura’s two children, Kirstey and Robert, and Mary, who came from Reno, Nevada. On the two formal nights, Robert wore a kilt from Scotland, along with white vest and tails one night and a vest with a lace up shirt the second formal night.

The Disney Cruise Line has to be the most vigilant about having clean hands and not spreading germs. Every time you enter and exit a dining room you are handed a sani-wipe to clean your hands. Our waiters, Melroy and Brendan, could have been a little more personable. Melroy kept forgetting to bring our drinks, coffee, etc. Brendan was also supposed to let us know about the late night buffet but neglected to do so. We found out when we saw people walking around with their plates. We also found that the restaurants were definitely understaffed. We have never seen a head waiter do so much work on a ship before.

We received a call Wednesday evening to let us know there was a reservation for Brunch at Palo’s the next day. We went to the brunch and had the best waiter, Sasha, from Croatia (fyi- Marco Polo was born and raised in Croatia until the age of 12 and Tessla was also a native of Croatia). The food is to die for and there is such a variety. You pay $10 per person and a glass of champagne or kir royale is included. Our brunch time was 10:30 and we only woke up at 10:05! What a day to sleep in, but we made it there on time.

Entertainment: Disney, as usual, had exceptional stage shows. There were themed Disney shows: The Golden Mickeys, which is a tribute to Disney’s classic movies; Twice Charmed, a twist to the Cinderella story; Disney Dreams (voted the best cruise ship show of all cruise lines by Cruise Critic and the Disney Magic was voted best in overall entertainment by Cruise Critic.), probably the best of the shows; and Remember the Magic, a final farewell. In addition there was Taylor Mason, a hilarious comic/ventriloquist; Randy Cabral, a juggler; and the comedy of Rich Purpura, who we happened to have seen on another cruise line, but still as funny as the first time we saw him. Disney has the day’s activities broken down into groups: family, adult only, and by age group for those under 18 (3-4 years, 5-7, 8-9, 10-12, and teens). They have improved on the activities available for teens.

There were the usual bingo games, music and dancing in Rockin’ Bar D, trivia games, etc. They could find a better place to have some of their trivia games. Some of us get very competitive and when you have trivia questions being asked, it doesn’t help when someone is walking by the lounge on their way back from dinner, and calls out the answers. We definitely did not do well with the tv tune trivia and with the Disney music trivia.

We enjoyed going to Rockin’ Bar D after the show for the evening. One night Tommy was asked to be part of the men vs women competition. He was outfitted in a blonde wig, black leather vest, and drumsticks. He was supposed to be part of Bon Jovi’s band, although I don’t know where they got the blonde hair from. 80’s night was fun also. We won the Pub Challenge trivia contest on Monday in Diversions (bar) which used to be the ESPN Club.There were plenty of Disney characters on hand each evening outside the Lumiere’s.

On Pirate Night there was a Pirates in the Caribbean party by the pool after dinner. One complaint though – we went to watch Pirates…Dead Man’s Chest and the band playing by the next pool was too loud. They played for about a half hour into the movie. Princess Cruise Lines gives you popcorn and blankets to watch the outdoor movies. I wish Disney had done so also. Mickey Mouse came down on a cable from the smoke stack to the party and there were fireworks set off over the ship.Disney has added an outdoor movie screen like Princess has done. Being Disney they are able to show new releases while on the ship. Underdog was the current new movie, and they played lots of classics and the Pirate movies as well.

Our final night onboard we went to Diversions and watched the crew put on some funny farewell skits. Don’t miss this one.

Ports of Call:

In Key West we decided to just go on our own and explore. We walked down by the boardwalk and watched a storm as it was approaching. We ducked into a bar right as the rain came and waited it out at the bar. After the rain let up we found Irish Kevin’s bar and went in to listen to the band. They were having a good old time there. We left and walked around some more, the headed back to the ship. We stopped across the street from Irish Kevin’s to listen to the band some more and they yelled over, “Hey, Kojak, come on in!” So we went in and listened a bit more before returning to the ship.

We took the island tour of Grand Cayman. It was okay – we visited the Turtle Farm, the Tortuga Rum Factory (but we couldn’t buy the alcohol because they won’t deliver it to the Disney ship), and Hell. We asked our driver if we could be dropped off at Seven Mile Beach on the way back. We went to the beach via the Marriott Courtyard. The beach is usually beautiful but this time the water was filled with little bits of floating algae which had been stirred up by Hurricane Dean that had hit the week before we were there. We ate lunch at the Sea Grill at the Marriott which is right on the beach. Lunch was great as was our waitress, Elizabeth. The beach has free access; it is $10 for chair rentals.

When we reached Cozumel we took the Xcaret Archaeological Tour which included lunch (our guide said that Disney is the only cruise line that includes a lunch ticket with the excursion). We went by ferry to the mainland of Mexico then took a short bus ride over to the park. Our driver was Jorge and Juan was our guide. Juan said this was the first time Disney was back to Xcaret since they had been hurricane Ivan. We swam in the underground river which was a lot of fun. If you go, remember to take the right side of the river. This side is the natural river, which has a current. The left side is man-made which means there is no current and the water is a bit stagnant. It took about an hour to get to the end. Then we went to the beach and sort of swam with the dolphins (okay, we were on the other side of the fence, but we had a great view of them).

On Castaway Cay we rented floats and took them to the adult only beach. We had taken a spin class that morning so we didn’t come off the ship until about 11:30. We had to walk quite a long way to get to the chairs, but we did move closer when people left after lunch. Disney provides a nice lunch at the beach – both at the adult and family beaches. We were the last ones to leave the island and get back on the ship.One thing I noticed is that they take far fewer pictures at the tables than they used to. We didn’t want to wait on line to get pictures taken pre or post dinner. We thought we would have plenty of pictures to choose from when they took them at the table. Same goes for coming off the ship. In the past they were there to take your picture but not this time. We did get a picture taken with the captain, but we didn’t like how it turned out.

We had a nice time on the ship. The stateroom was very comfortable and our steward, Linden, was very helpful. There are not a lot of late night things to do even though the one bar stays open late. It seems that most people leave around midnight. The staff does a good job of getting people involved and dancing and just having a good time. One thing I miss is the casino. Disney does not have one onboard, even though they do have bingo. Who knows, maybe they will add them to their new ships they are going to build. It would also be nice to have some things like miniature golf onboard as well.

Overall, the Disney Magic is a great ship and I would recommend it to any age group.