Quick Update to the Epic Update.

Sorry for another Epic post (this isn't the last on either....). I promise, there will be other subjects talked about on here.

Anyway...in my post earlier today "Epic Update", I said at one point that the short cruise out of Southampton would just stay pier-side. Well, to my understanding, Epic actually did leave Southampton (today though, not yesterday like originally intended) on a short cruise. However, I am not sure if she is back in Southampton today or if shes coming back tomorrow morning.

Even though I can not be totally sure, it looks like her propeller shaft problem may have been fixed, because at one point today she was making over 17kts. Yesterday she was only able to do 13kts.

I guess this means she will be able to do her transatlantic crossing on time, after all.

Epic Update!

Hello! Sorry about the large break in posts. I have been rather busy during the last few days.

Well since my last post, Norwegian Epic has carried her first passengers and the first reviews are starting to come in. Some of them are good, and some have been relatively bad, others, somewhere in the middle.

Above picture "NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines) Norwegian Epic making her debut in Southampton on 22 June, 2010" By flickr member ' Calshot observer'

For these first few “preview cruises”, it should be noted that NCL has invited a lot of journalists, cruise review writers from websites like Cruise Critic or USA today, and many travel agents, to come on these cruises for free. While this is all well and good, it does have one negative effect…it can occasionally cause biased reporting. So be careful when reading some of these reviews, some will not fairly represent the ship. In my opinion the best kinds of reviews are those written by paying passengers on regular cruises.

On top of that, these cruises have only been sailing half-full (the first only carried about 2500 passengers). This changes how the ship feels to those onboard.

Well, as excited as I am, still, about this ship I do have to say I have lost a little confidence in her design.

Even in these early reviews, and even sailing with half capacity, there have already been lots of reports about bottlenecks and over crowding in some areas. Like I said in my previous blog, I figured this would be a problem for her, but I didn’t think it would be a problem for her with over a thousand less passengers than she can accommodate.

But before anyone writes off a cruise on Epic, let me also point out several other things to consider. As of right now Epic is not complete, (the ship yard was not able to finish everything before the deadline) therefore, some of the public areas that will help absorb the missing 1,000 (+) passengers are not yet open. The Villa complex (the large structure above the bridge), which houses many of Epic’s suites and their amenities, is not complete. When it is done and open to passengers it should help absorb some of the crowds. Also to be noted, Epic has been sailing in pretty cold weather which means that the out door deck spaces are not being utilized like they would normally. When the ship is finally sailing in the warm Caribbean, this shouldn’t be such a problem. (Above picture "Norwegian Epic, Rotterdam" by flickr member 'stefanverhoeve')

Also worth noting, the people onboard right now are only onboard for a 1 night cruise. These people are probably trying to get the most out of this time by spending their time walking around, exploring and experiencing all of the ship that they can, and thereby causing some crowding. When the ship is in regular service things will probably be more relaxed.

I wish that was it, but unfortunately for Epic, crowding hasn’t been her only problem...

Her first cruise out of Rotterdam arrived back several hours late which delayed the next cruise. This was apparently caused by some problem with her propeller shaft (for you non ship-geeks this is the long tube that connects the engines to the propellers). On top of delaying the next cruise, this problem means that Epic can only cruise at half speed. To fix this problem NCL is keeping Epic at Southampton while repairs are made. The short cruise that was supposed to sail yesterday will now be pier-side instead. Now the question is…will Epic be able to carry out her transatlantic crossing on time? NCL says yes, but others aren’t so sure. Maybe she will, but for now we just have to wait and see.

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend from England who had just debarked from Epic’s delayed June 21st cruise from Rotterdam to Southampton. According to her, NCL has a lot to work on. Apart from the crowds, which she also mentioned, there seemed to be a lot of misunderstandings among the crew regarding the delay and what time they would arrive in Southampton. There were some technical failures, including 2 dead elevators, and some other organizational problems around the ship.

A lot of these kinds of problems are only to be expected with a new ship. The crew is still learning their way around, and new systems are still being broken in. Almost all new ships experience problems like these upon start up.

One other problem that many people are mentioning, is that of the bathrooms. Epic’s cabins are a completely new design for both NCL and the entire industry. Epic’s cabins have something called, wave design…this is where one wall is curved in an ‘S’ shape. The point of this design is to allow the cabin to be marginally narrower while still allowing for a 6ft plus bed, (by putting it where the ‘S’ curves out) and all other regular cabin amenities. When making a cabin narrower, however, you run into another problem…the bathroom. On the Epic, NCL overcame this problem by getting rid of the bathroom altogether, and instead have 2 stalls, one for the shower and one for the toilet, flanking the door to your cabin (the sink is located out in the open). While you may be reading this and thinking that’s bad, it only gets worse. The 2 stalls are enclosed, not by a solid wall, but by a wall of frosted glass, allowing any onlooker to see a vague shadow of what you are doing. So don’t do anything too private in the bathrooms!

In my opinion, this was NCL’s biggest mistake with Epic (even though I think the wave concept is cool). If they had at least made the walls of the stalls (hey that rhymed!!) solid and more private, then I might be more willing to forgive this flaw. While I can understand the economics of this decision, (making cabin narrower allows you to fit more cabins in the same space and therefore squeeze more money out of that space) I don’t think that justifies this design (not to mention the narrower cabin is a little more cramped then regular cruise ship cabins). Maybe if it was just you and your spouse in the cabin, then it wouldn’t be a problem, but what if you are a family travelling with older kids who need their privacy? In that case, these cabins don’t offer a very good option.

There is one small shred of hope though…there is a curtain that you can draw to separate the bathroom area of the cabin from the rest, giving you a little more privacy.

Apart from those problems there have been reports of several other minor difficulties. I would list them here for you, but at the moment I am feeling too lazy to do so. They were small, and will probably be fixed pretty fast by NCL.

Anyways, now that I have pretty thoroughly trashed Epic, and probably destroyed her in your minds, lets talk about the good things about Epic…there are many.

First of all, don’t let the ship’s…..hmm….lets say “interesting”….exterior fool you, on the inside Epic is really pretty nice. While some rooms are a little odd, most are of a clean looking, modern design…very NCL but slightly toned down I would say, compared to others in NCL’s fleet - on other ships in NCL’s fleet, there are a lot of very bright colors…which I don’t mind, but others do. I’m not sure which room is my favorite, but I guess if I had to pick I would choose maybe the Manhattan Room. Then again there are a lot of little spaces that you wouldn’t even think about, that have great design to them. I even love the interior design of the cabins, dispite the bathroom...or lack there of.
(Picture, at right "Deck 7" by flickr member 'Le Havre Ships')

Secondly, there’s her food. I mentioned in my earlier article on Epic, just how many food options this ship has, and it seems that almost every venue is open for business (I know at least one isn’t). On top of that, the reviews all seem to be rating the food pretty high, which you don’t always see on a new ship. I know that NCL has had problems with food quality in the past so it’s good to see that this problem so far seems to be corrected on Epic.

Also something that seems to be getting good reviews, even though I admit, I personally have not seen too much mention of it, is Epic’s entertainment options. As I mentioned in my last post, Epic has several brand name entertainment options like, The Blue Man Group (which I hear is amazing), The Second City improv group (which I haven’t heard anything about so far), Cirque Dreams & Dinner Show by Cirque Productions, (which again I hear is awesome) and Howl at the Moon (which also, I hear is really good).

Besides the brand name entertainment, Epic’s other entertainment venues like, “Fat Cats Jazz Bar,” for example, have been getting very good reviews.

Overall, I think that Epic is still a very exciting ship and definitely worth sailing on. She has her problems and quirks yes, but I think the good stuff, so far, out weighs the bad. I think this will also be the opinion of the cruising pubic, as well. There is a ton of buzz over the internet about Epic, and if that’s anything to go by then NCL definitely has a winner on their hands.

(Above image "2010-06-19 Norwegian Epic- 130" by flickr member ' Topaas')

NCL press release on Epics Delivery

This article includes some details I did not mention in my earlier post on Epic.



Enjoy!



From ncl.com.



Jun 17, 2010 - Norwegian Cruise Line Takes Delivery of Norwegian Epic
Ship is the largest ever built in St. Nazaire shipyard
St. Nazaire, France – June 17, 2010 –


Norwegian Cruise Line today accepted delivery of its largest and most innovative ship to date, Norwegian Epic, from STX FRANCE SA. Norwegian Epic at 153,000 gross tons is the largest ship ever constructed in St. Nazaire and therefore represents a major milestone for STX.
“Norwegian Epic represents the next level of Freestyle Cruising with branded entertainment, more than 20 dining options and a wide range of accommodations including the largest suite complex at sea,” said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian’s Chief Executive Officer. “Following more than four years of development and construction, we are pleased to take ownership of this beautiful ship and introduce her to the world. We are confident that Norwegian Epic will amaze our guests.”
Norwegian Epic will depart St. Nazaire this evening en route to Rotterdam, the first port the ship will visit. Once there, she will welcome on board her first guests who will set sail on a two-day inaugural cruise. On June 21, the ship will sail a one-night preview cruise to Southampton, arriving on June 22 for a two-day inaugural sailing.
On June 24, the ship will depart Southampton on a sold-out seven-day transatlantic crossing to New York arriving on July 1.
Norwegian Epic will be christened by legendary entertainer Reba McEntire on July 2 followed by a two-day inaugural cruise. Norwegian Epic will be the host venue for the 34th Annual Macy's 4th of July Fireworks event taking place on Sunday, July 4. The event includes a national, one-hour, live entertainment broadcast on NBC-TV beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Norwegian Epic arrives in Miami on Wednesday, July 7 where a welcome event will be held at Bicentennial Park from 2-4 pm. For more information on the event, head to http://epic.ncl.com/epicmiami. Inaugural festivities conclude with a two-day sailing on July 8.
Beginning July 10, Norwegian Epic will sail alternating seven-day Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries from Miami through April 30, 2011. Ports of call on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary include Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; and Nassau, Bahamas. The Western Caribbean cruises visit Costa Maya, Mexico; Roatán, Bay Islands, Honduras; and Cozumel, Mexico. The 2011 cruise season from May-October will have Norwegian Epic sailing a series of seven-day Western Mediterranean cruises from Barcelona. When she returns to Miami on November 5, 2011, she will sail a series of seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruises through April 7, 2012.
For more information on Norwegian Epic and to book a cruise, please call Norwegian at 888- NCL-CRUISE (625-2784), visit epic.ncl.com, or contact a travel professional.
About Norwegian Cruise LineNorwegian Cruise Line is the innovator in cruise travel with a 44-year history of breaking the boundaries of traditional cruising, most notably with the introduction of Freestyle Cruising which has revolutionized the industry by allowing guests more freedom and flexibility.
Today, Norwegian has 11 purpose-built Freestyle Cruising ships, providing guests the opportunity to enjoy a relaxed cruise vacation on some of the newest and most contemporary ships at sea.
Norwegian’s largest and most innovative Freestyle Cruising ship, Norwegian Epic, debuted in June 2010. Norwegian Cruise Line is the official cruise line of Blue Man Group, debuting for the first time at sea on Norwegian Epic, as well as the official cruise line of Legends in Concert and Nickelodeon, the number-one entertainment brand for kids.
High resolution, downloadable images are available at www.ncl.com/pressroom. For further information on Norwegian Cruise Line, visit http://www.ncl.com/, follow us on Facebook and Twitter or contact us in the U.S. and Canada at 888- NCL-CRUISE (625-2784).

NCL New Epic Ship Norwegian Epic

I have been thinking long and hard about how I should start off this blog. There are so many different things I could write about ships, or the cruise industry, its hard to pick one to start off with. But after thinking about it for a while, I decided I should start with something new that is currently happening within the cruise industry. NCL’s new Norwegian Epic.

Today the STX France’s shipyard in St Nazaire delivered the completed Norwegian Epic to NCL. Epic is easily the most anticipated ship coming out this year, and definitely one of the most widely talked about ships the industry has produced. I for one, have been very excited about this ship for some time now.

For NCL, the Epic represents quite a significant jump in terms of ship design and in their ship management.

Epic is around 153,000grt (gross register tons), almost 60,000 tons larger then NCL’s next largest ship’s, the Jewel Class ships at 93,000grt. That’s quite a big size increase. It would be like welding a ship bigger than the Titanic to one of the Jewel class ships.

With this extra size comes a lot of extra passengers. Where the Jewel Class ships carry around 2,400 passengers at double occupancy, ((for you none ship geeks, that’s when each state room is carrying 2 passengers even if it can sleep more)) and about 2,670 passengers max, the Epic will carry close to twice that number at 4,100 people just at double occupancy. Another huge increase for NCL.

The questions me and a lot of other people want to see answered are... ‘Can NCL manage this ship?’ and ‘How well will the design of this ship work?’ ‘How well will the layout of this ship handle the large numbers of passengers?’ ‘Will it be too crowded?’

-“Can NCL manage this ship?”

For most cruise lines meals are served in 1 or several large restaurants, at a set time and with assigned seating, thereby limiting the passenger to eating at that set time and table (unless they want to eat at an extra tariff restaurant). The passenger is also subject to the cruise lines dress code. NCL however operates its ships under a concept called, “Freestyle Cruising”. The idea is that passengers can do whatever, eat whatever, and wear whatever they want, wherever they want. For this reason, NCL’s ships are designed with many different restaurants, bars, and many different amenities.

The concept sounds simple enough, but it is in its execution that NCL has run in to trouble. With the traditional arrangement cruise lines only have to staff and manage one large restaurant at a set time, but with Freestyle Cruising the cruise line has to staff and manage many different smaller restaurants for hours on end, much like restaurants on land. In the past the difficulty of Freestyle has caused many problems for NCL, like long waits for passengers to be seated, over crowding, and slow service.

However over the last few years, NCL seems to have improved significantly in its execution of Freestyle Cruising. Yay!! But will they be able to manage a ship with the size and capacity of Epic??

-“How well will the design of this ship work?’ ‘How well will the layout of this ship handle the large number of passengers?’ and ‘Will it be too crowded?

Norwegian Epic is an entirely new design for cruise ships. It’s untested and for that reason people are skeptical of how well it will handle passengers.

Recently Royal Caribbean came out with their new ship, the Oasis of the Seas. She was an entirely new design as well, and before she came out people were also skeptical of how well she would handle her HUGE passenger loads. As luck would have it she handles them beautifully! Passengers say despite her huge size and capacity, ((Oasis is about 222,000gtr and holds over 6,000 passengers)) she doesn’t feel crowded and movement about the ship is very easy. Indeed when you look at Oasis’ deck plans, you can see that her design is very simple and clean and not complicated, and because of that her launch went incredibly smooth for Royal Caribbean and their passengers (very of unusual for a new ship).

Epic, on the other hand, is not as cleanly designed and this is evident just by looking at her deck plans. Her layout is kind of quirky and odd in some places. That doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work very well. It might work great, we just have to wait and see.

One thing that does look like it will be a problem for Epic though, is how it will handle the crowds when it's rainy outside. Many of Epics amenities are out on the open decks. Two night clubs, the pools, rock climbing wall, sports arenas, the water park, and bars among other things, would be pretty much useless if it rains, so the question is, will the amenities inside be able to handle the extra load? Again we will just have to wait and see.

Personally, (and this is just me guessing) I don’t think it will handle the load that particularly well. I think there will be times when Epic will be pretty crowded. Judging by Epic’s size, her capacity seems rather high to me when you compare her to a ship of similar size. Take for example Royal Caribbean’s Freedom Class ships…they, at about 154,000grt, are actually bigger then Epic and hold 3,634 passengers at double occupancy. Epic even though it’s slightly smaller holds about 500 more at 4,100 double occupancy. That on top of Epic’s layout, leads me to think that it’s possible Epic’s passengers will have to deal with a lot of crowds. Like I said though, there is every possibility that I am wrong. We need to see the ship in service first before we can really make that judgment.

All that being said, I have to say I am still really excited about this ship. I think she definitely raises the bar for NCL, and even in someway the entire industry. The list of things to do on this new ship is amazing! There’s an actual Ice Bar, bowling, clubbing, rock climbing, a cirque type show, The Blue Man Group, a bunch of huge water slides, a TON of food options, including the ability to order pizza to be delivered anywhere on the ship, a jazz club and improv shows by Second City. And that’s just a partial list! The ship is all about choice, and there is a lot of choices onboard, from the 13 different types of cabins in over 30 categories, to the dozens of food options, to the many different bars, clubs and other entertainment options. You will never be bored on this ship.

One thing that has been talked about since the first pictures of Epic showed up on the Internet, is her unusual exterior appearance. I have to admit, when I first saw the pictures I thought she was really ugly. But now after seeing her built I have to say her looks, while not very good, have grown on me. Shes unique and interesting to look at.

Whatever ugliness she has on the outside though, she makes up for on the inside. Her interior design is actually pretty nice in my opinion (there are some odd areas though). Its modern and fun, but not overdone, or gaudy.

As I am writing this, Epic has been delivered to NCL (YAY!!) and is on her way to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for some media events, and a short cruise. After that she will head to Southampton, England for some more media events and another short cruise. Then on June 24th, she will set off on a 7 night transatlantic cruise to New York were she will be christened, and also take part in the 4th of July celebrations in NYC. After that she heads off to her home port of Miami for her first official voyage on July 10th.

There is much more I could say here about Epic, but I will save all that for a later date.

For more information you can check you these links….

http://www.epic.ncl.com/

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3941

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Epic

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/06/a-cruise-log-sneak-peek-the-first-photos-of-a-finished-norwegian-epic/96808/1

Hello!

Hello!

My name is Mark, and I am a Ship Geek.

I love just about everything ship, and ship related. For this reason, I'm starting this blog in which I will talk about ships (mostly cruise ships and other passenger liners), whats new in the cruise industry, and whats old.



Before I go on with this blog, I should point out several important facts....

1) Though I have loved ships pretty much all my life, I have yet to go on my first cruise (much to my regret, I hope to change this soon).



2) I am not an absolute authority on everything ship related, I still have much to learn on the subject.

3) I am also not an absolute authority on everything relating to the cruise industry.



4) All the things I write here are based on my own opinions, views, and personal level of understanding. There may be times where I am completely wrong about something, or times I might be writing about something I do not completely understand.




Some other important facts about myself and the blog...

-I love all types of ships but ocean liners, cruise ships and other passenger ships are my favorites.
-My favorite ship is the RMS Queen Mary (which I am lucky enough to live relatively close to)
-My favorite cruise line is Cunard Line, although I still love all the others.
-My favorite "currently in service" ship is the QM2 (the Queen Mary 2)
-I love to design ships. For the last few years I have been working on designing my own ship (which I might talk about on here sometimes).
-Someday I hope to work in the cruise industry, preferably with my own cruise line.
-I am hoping that the Cruise lines will see this blog and start inviting me on tours of their ships, cruises and to other events. :) (I can dream....)
-I think everyone should take a cruise
-I will not be pushing cruises with this blog, but if because of my writing you choose to take a cruise, well...more power to you!


Anyway, to anyone who will actually read this blog, I hope you like it! Feel free to comment if you have any questions, comments, or just want to tell me I am wrong about something :P (just try and keep it nice and clean please...I moderate all my comments).




Thanks and Enjoy!!




Mark











ABOVE IMAGE- "Cunard QM2 Bar Harbor" by flickr member 'trakked'