Barelona and Epic Part 2

Last week I wrote about my 2 night stay in Barcelona before we boarded NCL Epic on Sunday 6th October for a 7 night Mediterranean Cruise. This week will be about my time on-board Epic.

This is the 2nd cruise I have  had on Epic as we did the same one 2 years ago, at the same time of year. I was excited to get on board and see if was just as great as I remembered and I wasn’t disappointed. We arrived at the port at about 12.15 after a 10 minute taxi ride from our hotel and within 30-45 minutes we were on-board and able to get straight into our cabin. This was great as we could start unpacking straight away, one of the cases was already there waiting for us, and by the time we had unpacked the other had arrived. Unpacking done we headed off to sign up for the Ultimate Beverage Package. This was $49.00 per person per night, and they add the service charge on when you purchase this, so the total cost for 2 of us was $857.50 for the week. I thought this was a good way to do it as I wasn’t sure if they added
the charges onto the individual drinks you had and paid that at the end with your bill (the more expensive drink the more the service charge) Included in the package is a variety of spirits and cocktails valued at $8.50 or less, draft beer $5.95 and under, bottled beer $5.50 and under, glasses of wine under $10 (including Prosecco) and unlimited soda and juices at all bars, lounges and restaurants. Strawberry Daiquiri’s at $7.48, Corona at $6.03, Prosecco at $10.35, Mojito’s at $8.06 and Vodka and Coke $7.05 so this had everything we wanted covered.

For the first time ever on a cruise we didn’t go to the main dining room and ate in the Garden Café most nights which is the self service buffet. Here there was plenty of choice of food from hot and cold dishes and varying from Chinese, Indian Italian dishes you name it they had it.

Fruit Carving in Garden Cafe

I have to admit we have cruised the Mediterranean many times and we decided to stay on the ship and didn’t set foot on land for a week!. We did do lots while we were on board though including the Ice Bar, La Cucina one of the speciality restaurants, the Spiegel Tent, the Blue Man Group, Beatles Tribute Band, Howl at the Moon and Legends at Sea.

The Ice Bar has a $20.00 per person cover charge and this gets you 2 Vodka based cocktail when you are in there. I remembered to put socks and trainers on this time as going in with flip flops last time  wasn’t one of the cleverest things that I have done.

The meal we had in La Cucina was lovely and we had this included in our booking so didn’t have to pay the normal $15.00 per person cover charge. Even if we had had to pay it would have been worth it. The menu had plenty to choose from and portions were quite large, again eating the bread and dipping oil they bring before the meal wasn’t a good idea as I didn’t have room for 3 courses!

The Spiegel Tent was probably my favourite night. The cover charge for this was $39.00 per person for the Premium Seats, and at only $10.00 per person more than the standard seats, I would definitely recommend it. With this you get a 3 course meal while you are entertained for nearly 2 hours but all the acts. This includes type rope walking above your head, swinging from hoops and ribbons, balancing on tables while standing on barrels and many more great acts. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take pictures inside.

The Blue man group was a must too. We didn’t manage to see it the last time we were on the ship so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I think its the sort of thing you will either love or hate or just not get it at all.! The 3 men, all painted blue, play all sorts of music including kettle drums filled with pait which sprays everywhere while they are playing. The people that were in the first 3 rows were all given plastic coverings to wear so I was glad I wasn’t anywhere near the front! There was also audience participation which was really funny, well it was if you were the one watching and not participating!

The Scary man from The Blue Man Group

The Beatles Tribute Band they had on board were excellent and had a few appearances through the week, all of which we went to see, and  the band also used to come and play with the guys in the Howl and the Moon. This was in the Headliners Comedy Club where they have 2 people on Piano’s who you have to put requests in for songs for them to sing. This is mixed with comedy also and if you paid $1 they would sing your songs over the other requests. This lead to the most ridiculous requests but was graet fun to watch. Seeing a 20+ stone man trying to sing Britney Spears and Lady Gaga had everyone in stitches.

The last show that we seen was Legends. This is a tribute night and the 3 acts were Tom Jones, Tina Turner and Adele all of whom were brilliant especially Adele who not only sounded like her but looked like her too. I think she needed to work on her London accent while she was talking though.

Cutting some shapes in the nightclub! (badly)

Also while we were on-board we also bought a future credit for another cruise. This was $250.00 but this gave us $100.00 on board spend for the cruise we were on and gives us £160.00 towards a future cruise. This also lasts for 4 years, unlike some other cruise lines, which only last for 1 year. I am now on a mission to get another booked for next year  to celebrate by big 50 hopefully on Breakaway from New York. I cant wait!

Bedtime wouldn’t be the same without the towel animals!