The morning goes according to plan. Up and on the road by 7:15, coffee in hand, we almost have a panic attack when we see signs on the highway saying 95 SB is closed at our exit. Not what we expected for our smooth early morning drive to Orlando. Fortunately, the highway is closed right beyond the exit for I4 WB, and there isn’t even any back up (but the NB lanes are chock full – glad we are going south!). So the drive does end up being seamless and we arrive at the parking lot right at 8:30 as planned.
We know we are early for our 10 am shuttle to the port, but rather early than late – and that turns out to be a sound strategy when we arrive at the meeting point for the port transport to find we are hardly the first. There are a lot of people here already waiting for the bus at parking spot 18, as instructed in our reservation. We meet a family waiting for transport to a Carnival cruise who have used this service before. They say to just stay where we are at the curb and we’ll all line up for the bus here – as they did last year. So we spend the next 45 minutes or so chatting, as the crowd swells behind us. Soon a couple of ladies with GO transport t-shirts arrive but they go inside to a counter in the terminal. One of the ladies yells that we all need to come inside to get our “tickets.” Oh, oops. We go inside, and realize tons of people have already gotten this memo and we’re at the back of a very long line Bummer. The family didn’t come with us, so I go back outside to tell them they need to come inside and we’ll hold a place for them in line – which works out well since the Dad had gone for coffee or something and had no idea the process had changed. He got to us right as we were close to the desk and ends up on one of the first buses with us.
After more milling around, and disorganization, we have to go back inside again to get in line for the actual buses. They start calling for people on the Epic, and we raise our hands but they are only taking 15 people, so we have to wait. I think we end up cutting in line somehow because we are suddenly up front with a lot of people behind us who were already waiting. It was not the most organized thing in the world, but eventually we do end up on a bus with the Carnival family and another family going on the Disney cruise.. We are just praying they get the luggage right!
The drive to the port is uneventful, but once there, OMG you want to talk about a CF! We go to Carnival first and unload about half the bus.. We get stuck behind a van for a bit, but otherwise it is a pretty simple transfer. Then we move on to the Epic. Let the fun begin. We are stuck on that darn bus for the better part of an hour as the traffic inches through the pier and buses load and unload passengers. It is one of the most frustrating things in the world. We move one car length every 5 minutes, maybe! And as we sit, we watch the crowds build up trying to get inside for check in. When we are finally dropped off, eye our luggage (phew, it’s here!), tip the pier guy with his hand out (lets hope it guarantees the bags come), we realize we have to join the back of a huge line to get inside. Couple hundred people, easy. The problem? There is an escalator up to the 2nd floor check in lobby, and they are only letting a few people up at a time for safety reasons. The line moves slowly up through security and people are getting bunched up around at the top of the escalator, which is a disaster waiting to happen. We’re just sort of agape at the complete disorganization we’ve encountered so far. This ship has been sailing in and out of Port Canaveral on a weekly basis – is it always like this? What a joke.
After another 20 minutes, we are finally let up the escalator, and even though they are limiting the number of people, we still end up at the end of the line and get shoved into each other as the escalator pushes us up and onto a landing that is chock full with unmoving people. Honestly! We move through security fairly quickly after that, emptying our pockets and throwing away our water bottles (the NCL rule about not being able to bring ANY liquid aboard, even if it is just water). Finally we are inside the check in lobby – and since we’ve upgraded to the Haven, we are whisked away from the crowds to our own special check in and area. We are greeted by Bowen, the concierge, and escorted aboard and up to the Epic lounge for drink before a quick tour and lunch in the Haven restaurant. Much better up here than down there on that pier. Wow, what a mess.
But we are here, and after a nice peaceful lunch we head downstairs to our cabin. We had great debates about whether to splurge on a 2 bedroom suite up in the Haven itself. But all the big suite cabins are at the absolute front of the ship and on the highest decks at the front of the ship, no less. Having no idea what the crossing will be like, we felt it would be safer to be in one of the “Spa” suites that are located on deck 14, fairly mid-ship. We still have access to all the Haven amenities – the courtyard pool, restaurant, bar and upstairs sundeck, called the “Posh beach” –it just entails a bit more walking.
We’d researched these cabins, but seeing it in person was still a bit of a surprise. It is one wacky cabin (not that all the cabins on this ship aren’t wacky – the regular balcony cabins are curvy with goofy sofas and bathroom sinks in the middle of the cabin – and pretty small from what we can see). The most dominant thing in our room is the bed – it is round and huge – and takes up virtually the entire cabin. In the corner is a large jacuzzi tub overlooking the oversized balcony (an excellent feature of this cabin). The bathroom is behind the bed, with the toilet out on its own right next to the front door (with a very noisy sliding glass door that is easier left open than shut – giving you absolutely no privacy), the shower is humongous with 2 rain shower heads. The closets are oddly set up – with hanging space perpendicular to the door – so your clothes are sort of “stacked” one behind the other in the closet. There is plenty of good drawer space, with more cabinet space than you could use in an average kitchen! Totally bizarre. But the weirdest thing is that there is absolutely no sitting area – no chairs, no sofa, nothing. There isn’t enough room. It’s the bed or the floor. Nothing else! We joke that if we have dinner in the room, we’ll eat in the tub!
Actually, the deck chairs are quite comfortable, and we can move them inside when we want somewhere to sit and watch a movie. Once we’ve examined the room with all its nooks and crannies, we strike out to explore the rest of this ship. It’s enormous! The pool deck is crazy big, with a large entertainment space at the back with outdoor movies and a stage in the pool. There is a rock climbing wall, 2 sets of slides, kiddie areas and tons of sun deck area. The buffet is enormous (of course) but situated at the front of the ship – since we have the Haven restaurant for food, our goal is to never set foot in the buffet again. LOL.
Inside, the entertainment venues are spread over 3 decks, with different clubs and dedicated spaces for the Cirque de Soleil shows. Some look pretty neat - like the Cavern Club – designed to resemble the original club where the Beatles played – and the Headliners club which is where the comedians perform. But they are all pretty small, so it’s going to be interesting to see the flow over the next 2 weeks, because while the ship is huge, so is the passenger load at 4200+ people. Let the fun begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment