Thoughts about an Epic trip...Part 2 Dining

Having told you my thoughts about the cabins, what about the food?

A view of 'Taste Restauarnt' from the casino.

Norwegian Cruise Line invented the idea of Freestyle dining which most of the other cruise lines have followed. I did find that there were far more tables for 2 or 4 on ship, and was never asked to dine with others to make up a bigger table, with the exception of the Cirque Dreams, unlike P&O Cruises where there are fewer tables for 2 and they have to fill the larger tables.

( Left) Wasabi Sushi bar, top deck with a view of the casino middle and Taste on the bottom.



Now, I have to say that I found the dinner serviced in the 2 main complimentary restaurants Taste and The Manhattan Room a little lower than I expected when comparing to other cruises. Breakfast however in Taste was well presented and of good quality.

This pushed me towards dining in the Le Bistro (see picture right),  La Cucina and Cirque Dreams and Dinner, for each there was an additional cover charge. I have to be honest and say that the food and service was a little better than in the main restaurants, but why should I pay more to get food and service at the right quality?

I usually find that the buffet restaurant is often busy, short of tables and maybe not having the greatest choice, however, I have to be honest and say that Garden Cafe did exceed my expectations. Loads of space, plenty of tables and food of a good quality and with plenty of choice.

Now, I usually end up on a diet when I come back from a cruise, like so many people i am sure, but not on this occasions. So come on NCL, should passengers have to pay extra for everything other than a basic meal?

Thoughts about an Epic Trip...Part 1 Cabins

Well the Epic trip is now over, back to the cold of an English winter and just waiting for the snow to come!

Before I went I did say that I had some trepidation about the cruise, mostly due to comments I had heard about the unique features and size of the balcony cabins, so what did I really think?

So you walk through the cabin doors and on one side is a separate shower cubicle and on the other a separate loo cubicle, both with opaque sliding doors although there is a privacy curtain which you can use to separate the loo and shower from the cabin.

The sink is small and in the cabin! For hygiene just wonder why you have to open the loo door before you can wash your hands!

There is not a great deal of floor space in the cabins, as you can see from this picture but NCL have found loads of little places to put storage. The drawers are not that deep and if the ladies decided to take a few dresses the wardrobes are probably too short, but we did not struggle finding places to pack things away.

I have to be honest and say the cabin would be in my eyes too small for any more than 2 people so the picture of the 3rd passenger bunk, and if you did not know your travelling companion well there may well be some privacy issues!

No here is my tip, some of the cabins have the beds by the bathroom and some of them have the beds by the balcony doors. In my humble opinion the ones with the beds by the balcony doors are a little better configured, so how do you know?

If you look at the diagram below, which is a screen grab of the deck plans off NCL's website you can see the 'Wave' design of the cabins, then just follow my labels.

Well, you have to say the balcony cabins are not the biggest cabins at sea, and for a week are just about OK for 2 people who know each other well, but any more than this would just be too tight. Of course the old adage still stands - how much time do you spend in the cabin on a cruise holiday?

Further blogs will follow about the Dining and Entertainment on board this ship.

Coffee at Sea - The First Starbucks outlet at sea.

Having just come back from the States I now know that the American way of life rotates around good cup of coffee.

So while by the pool I was reading the paper which announced the tie up between Starbucks and Royal Caribbean on Allure of the Seas. There was no indication whether they would be opening additional outlets on other ships in due course.

Pricing is expected to be in line with the US High Street prices, but are they going to add the usual 15% service charge to the bill? I am sure they will.

Personally, a free tea in the self service restaurant would suffice rather than the bitter coffee peddled in the states!

After my Epic trip I'm back!

So after nearly 3 weeks out of the office I have returned from my trip on the Norwegian Epic.

With Jetlag, over 700 pictures to sort and my granddaughter to see I have not added any pictures or a review yet, these will follow later in the week.

But thought I'd just give you one of the highlights of the cruise..... Michael Jackson in alive and well and performing on the Epic in 'The Legends in Concert'!

Well the guy impersonating him in this excellent show on the Epic sounded like, looked like and acted like MJ. This really was an excellent show and probably the best I have seen on a ship!