NCL phd@sea part 2!

After a hectic first day and evening our group was mega excited to board the Epic! Unfortunately our morning consisted of the ‘boring’ part, sat in a conference room until 1pm so I won’t go into too much details there but after rushing out of the conference room we boarded our short transfer to Palma port, literally the transfer was maybe 10 minutes long! As we drove up to the Epic it really was the wow factor, she is huge! Because we were joining part way through the cruise we didn’t have the normal port check in, we boarded the ship whilst it seemed most of the onboard passengers were all disembarking for their day in Palma! We had a quick check in at reception onboard and headed straight to my cabin which was balcony right at the back of deck 10 to pretty much dump by bags! I was so hungry after a long morning it was straight upto the garden cafe which is the buffet style restaurant onboard for some well-earned lunch! the choice was huge, salads, curry, rice, burgers, salmon, pizza, panini’s the list goes on, I piled my plate high with a mis match of all sorts and headed outside to sit in the sunshine and tuck in! The epic has juice/squash available in the buffet restaurant which comes in handy!

After lunch we headed of on our ship tour, there really are so many dining options onboard its unbelievable, you could never go hungry or be fussy there is a restaurant to suit every taste bud! The same has to be said for entertainment, whether you want a show, casino, karaoke, jazz bar, disco etc there’s so much choice!

We also had a glance around the very swanky Haven area onboard, an exclusive area of the ship for the suite customers where you have your own lounge area, restaurant and pool area with huge comfy loungers!

Unfortunately because the ship was fully occupied we couldn’t look around the various cabin options but I can see why the balcony cabins have had a few niggly reports back, size wise they are absolutley fine, great decor, sofa but then you have a frosted glass shower and WC area separate from each other although you can pull a curtain across, and then the sink is separate again very weird concept which they have rectified on their newer ships the breakaway and getaway, I think for a couple its absolutely fine and i wouldn’t have a problem at all but when you are sharing with a stranger that you have only met the day before it’s a little odd!

After the ships tour we headed of for the lifeboat drill, a very important part of every cruise!

Then it was time for a quick spurt of fun, a quick change into our swimwear and up onto deck to test out the waterslides which I have to say are great fun for all ages!

We were on such a tight schedule to fit as much in as we could that again it was a quick change into our evening clothes ready for our group photograph and then straight into the spiegel tent! Wow what a show! You enter what looks like a circus tent, round in size and colourful with a small stage area in the middle and then table around the edge, you then have a cirque de soleil type of show with acrobats, tight rope walkers and various performers who perform whilst you are being served tour 3 course meal which consists of prosciutto and mozzarella to start, surf and turf main and a selection of 3 mini cakes to end, it really is a skill to keep your eyes glued to the performance and try to watch at the same time!

After the Spiegel tent we headed for the epic theatre to watch the blueman group, I had heard many reports about how great this act was so really didn’t want to miss out! I have to say its a mixture of strange and comical the blueman group , with the paint splashing, and lots of comedy including the audience, its hard to explain what to expect you really do have to see them to understand what and who the blue man group are, a great laugh though!

Then it was straight to the Ice Bar for a quick drink1 We got into our ‘outfit’ , put on our gloves and headed inside, I was surprised actually on how small the ice bar was for some reason I was expecting a larger area but then thinking about it passengers don’t tend t stay very long in here because it is so unbelievably cold, especially when you are wearing a dress and sandals!

From here we headed to The howl on the moon, which is a bar with a piano and 2 men who take song requests and have interaction with the guests, so plenty of singing along in here and of course a strawberry daiquiri!

And then onto our last stop for the evening bliss the onboard nightclub for plenty of dancing and cocktails!

As you can see we really fitted a huge amount into such a small space of time onboard, and what do I think of the Epic? I like it! I have already spoken to my husband about booking up for our own holiday next year so there’s your answer, definitely a thumps up from me, a great ship for all ages, plenty of dining and entertainment choices, great outdoor space, the only slightly problem is the balcony layout but as mentioned sailing as a couple I think this will be absolutely fine, 10/10 Epic, well done!

And also a big thank you to the NCL cruise hosts for a great jam packed trip!