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| Norwegian Epic |
Once we got off our hotel shuttle at the port, we only had to take a few steps to meet the porter and drop off our bags. Don’t forget to tip both your hotel shuttle driver and the porter as they all work very hard and rely on your tips to survive. Once free of our bags, we got in line and started the process of entering the building. We were presented with the health questionnaire and then went through security. Remember, this is not like airport security so you don’t need to take shoes or belts off in this line. We then walked toward the check in area and were told to get in any of the lines. This area is somewhat chaotic as the check in counters are packed with people waiting to check in. After we checked in we then took the escalator upstairs. We were given a “group 2” ticket and told to wait until our group was called. I can truly say that this method of boarding might work in theory, but in reality it is nothing short of pandemonium. There aren’t enough seats for all of the people waiting and at about 12 pm, the cruise line should know that there will be plenty of people coming to the port. The employees run around shouting “group one only,” but what about a PA system? We sat on the dirty floor along with dozens of other passengers and no one seemed happy about it. This is not the way I like to start my vacation.
Finally, our group number was called and we got in line to board. Other cruise lines simply let passengers board after checking in and I wish Norwegian would do the same. The line was long, but eventually we were on the ship, which is all that we really cared about. When you board the NCL Epic, you come in on deck six by the Epic Theatre. The Epic is like no other ship I have been on and let me tell you, she is one large ship. We had hoped since it was now only a few minutes before 1 pm that we could go directly to our cabin, but once on deck 13 we discovered that the doors to the cabin areas were still closed. It then seemed like lunch might be a good option and we grabbed our things and went down to Taste, one of the main dining rooms for lunch.
We chose, without thinking, the same exact lunch we had on the Dawn in August. My son ordered an empanada for an appetizer and a philly cheesesteak sandwich for his meal. The empanada is extremely small and comes with a huge amount of sliced red peppers on the side. The peppers are neither raw nor cooked, which makes me think that they sat under the heat lamp long enough that they were possibly raw and started cooking. He said that the empanada was more dough than filling and it was extremely greasy and salty. The cheesesteak sandwich he ate because he eats just about anything, but he said the bread was dry and chewy.
For my appetizer I ordered the vegetable spring rolls, which come in rice paper wrapper and is served with chili sauce. These did not taste fresh and the chili sauce was almost completely tomato sauce. My husband ordered the eggplant and olive tapenade, which was served with dry pita bread. He liked his appetizer, but he was also drinking a Boddington’s ale and he would have been happy with anything at that point.
We both ordered the black bean burger for lunch, but he ordered his with cheese and I ordered mine without. When our meals came, thank goodness he checked his as his was not a bean burger, but was a regular beef burger. Ironically enough, the person ordering the beef burger took a bite of what turned out to be my husband’s bean burger and probably had a fit. Here’s the problem that apparently NCL has never noticed. The plating of both the beef and bean burgers is identical, which then leads the server to not have the ability to distinguish between the burgers. Why not plate the bean burger on a whole wheat bun or foccacia or even pita bread? I was nearly done with lunch before my husband had his food. The server was extremely apologetic, we ate our meals, and wandered off to find our cabin.
So far at this point in our trip, we’ve only met with a few minor difficulties, but they haven’t been enough to trip us up entirely. I do recommend trying out the main dining room not only for dinner, but for breakfast and lunch as well as your embarkation day. Most people will head right to the buffet, but why not enjoy a leisurely lunch your first day onboard? Any chance to be on vacation and hit the water is my idea of a good time! We can’t wait to explore the rest of the world’s third largest cruise ship, the Norwegian Epic!