Norwegian Epic: Embarkation

I had no problem falling asleep but staying asleep was another matter. The bedroom Sister M and I shared was facing the front of the building and it was noisy nearly all night long. The excitement of boarding the Norwegian Epic was enticement to get going in the morning!

After enough in apartment coffee to get moving, we went to the coffee shop katy corner to the apartment for the final time for Americano coffees, croissants and for me another bikini sandwich.

We then packed up and cleaned up before leaving the apartment and waiting downstairs for our transfer. We had arranged for SunTransfers to drive us to the port. The driver was a few minutes early and we loaded up and headed to the port.

When the van approached the port about 25 minutes later we were so excited to see the Norwegian Epic and impressed by her size! We’d never been on such a large ship.

Embarkation

Our luggage was taken right away by a porter. There was no line to get into the terminal and maybe one or two people in front of us in the latitudes line (we were Bronze but now I’ve moved up to Silver). They let our brother join us in our line even though he was a first time cruiser on Norwegian and in a separate cabin.

We had boarding group 2 and waited comfortably for an hour. We had our embarkation information (with ship map) to peruse.

Our group was called to board about 11:45 and it was such an easy process. Don’t miss the shops past the seating area in the terminal. They had reasonable to good prices and interesting souvenirs.

Lunch

After dropping our bags at the cabin, we went to lunch at Taste.

Appetizers we ordered were roasted tomato soup…

and Vietnamese Chicken Pho.

My entree was the grouper sandwich…

two had the cheesesteak sandwich…

and Sister T had the fried chicken.

She didn’t care for her meal but the rest of us enjoyed our entrees. Next on to dessert to save the day. There was creme caramel and…

Peanut butter cup cheesecake. Wonderful!

Ship and Cabin

After lunch we explored the ship as cabins weren’t ready yet. I took a picture of the beautiful chandelier above Taste.

All week I enjoyed seeing the various colors in the middle. It’s gorgeous!

The Cavern club seemed like a fun spot, but we never did make it there for a show all week!

I thought the derby lightshades were clever.

Another venue we never made it to all week was the complimentary Shanghai restaurant.

I went to Headliners and booked the tender tickets and other entertainment we couldn’t in the cruise planner.

Rooms were then available so I went to start settling in and to check it out.

The location was great and our cabin was very close to our brother’s studio cabin.

Looking at the cabin from the other side of the cabin…

The balcony was nice sized.

The sink being in the room wasn’t too bad.

The drawer under the sink is where dirty towels are placed.

What wasn’t ideal is the bathroom/shower layout. It was okay and wouldn’t prevent me from sailing the Epic again but it was weird.

The toilet was a tight fit.

The shower was on the left side facing the door.

I felt the shower was roomy enough.

There’s a curtain to draw across when using the shower so you can have privacy from the rest of the room when drying off and dressing.

My favorite feature in the room (other than the balcony) was the coffee setup.

I want to have a cup of coffee before talking to anyone, let alone getting dressed so this was very well used!

On the other hand we never did open the bottle of sparking wine we were given as Latitudes members. A list of our benefits was left in the room…

We then went up to the pool deck to view the scenery and get a drink. The view from our cabin was this…

The view from the other side of the ship was the cruise terminal and open water.

My drink was good!

After unpacking our bags, it was time to head to the muster drill. Our station was the Epic Theatre. It was very organized and didn’t last overly long.

Dinner

After the muster drill we had drinks and bar snacks at the Mastings bar. We then went to dinner at the Manhattan room for dinner. I didn’t get pictures of the dining room but is pretty and our table was one away the window so we were able to enjoy the scenery during sailaway.

Our appetizers included crab cakes…