We changed ships!…Heavenly!..Back to back cruises again, same cabin…

Our new huge ship, the Norwegian Epic with 4200 passengers and 1750 crew.

Comfortable bed, covers, soft towels, huge shower and vanity area.

Cruise #1

Norwegian – Norwegian Epic, departs 4/20/13, 11 nights
Day Date Port or Activity Arrive Depart
Sat Apr 20 Miami, FL 5:00pm
Sun Apr 21 At Sea
Mon Apr 22 At Sea
Tue Apr 23 At Sea
Wed Apr 24 At Sea
Thu Apr 25 At Sea
Fri Apr 26 At Sea
Sat Apr 27 At Sea
Sun Apr 28 Funchal, Madeira, Portugal 10:00am – 6:00pm
Mon Apr 29 At Sea
Tue Apr 30 At Sea
Wed May 1 Barcelona, Spain 5:00am

Cruise #2
Norwegian – Norwegian Epic, departs 5/1/13, 4 nights
Day Date Port or Activity Arrive Depart
Wed May 1 Barcelona, Spain 7:00pm
Thu May 2 Marseille, France 8:00am – 7:00pm
Fri May 3 At Sea Sat May 4 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 6:00am – 6:00pm
Sun May 5 Barcelona, Spain 5:00am

We couldn’t be more thrilled to be on board the Norwegian Epic as shown above to find it much more modern and classy than the Carnival Liberty. Also, with a more mature crowd there isn’t the loud blare of rock music filling the air as in typical on Carnival Fun Ships.

Our mini suite with balcony. Plush amenities.

Yes, we are old, preferring the more elegant, quiet, less frenzied pace of this ship. Initially, we were concerned about the enormous size, but after wandering about for the past three plus hours, we feel we have a handle on the layout.

Tons of storage space not only to unpack our clothing, but to hide our bags under the bed.

With over half of our bags already unpacked, soon we’ll run to the Internet Café to set up our wireless package. Once we sail in the next hour we’ll lose our ability to use our MiFi connection and be subject to this ships $.40 a minute charge. That’s the highest rate we’ve seen thus far.

Coffee in our cabin, not available in the past four cruises.

Having budgeted for these expenses, allows us to communicate with loved ones and of course, keep our blog and photos posted on a regular basis. The connection is secure which enables us to do our banking, pay bills online and check our credit card balances.

All of our credit cards, do not charge an exchange rate. Thus, we use them for everything we possibly can, paying them off every few weeks, to keep them from accumulating huge balances and avoid interest charges. So far, we’ve yet to incur a single dime in interest or fees.

Easy to use safe, wine cooler/fridge.

Our final bill on the Carnival Liberty came to $672 which included $159 for Internet, $100 for dinner in the Diamond Steak House, $12.50 for contact lens solution, $44.98 for one bottle of Cognac for Tom, cocktails and beverages, plus, the cruise line charged our bill $161.60 for tips plus additional tips we paid as we ordered beverages.

Oversized shower, vanity with lots of drawers and medicine cabinet plus, an outlet. It’s an odd configuration with the sink in the bedroom and having to walk through the two sections of the bathroom when entering the cabin.

In addition, last night, we handed out additional cash tips to our cabin steward, dining room service staff, restaurant hostesses and luggage handlers. This totaled approximately another $180, leaving us over by $82. On the prior cruises we were under budget, making it a wash.

Our balcony for the next 15 days. Love the two little tables.

Have to run and get to the Internet Café since we’re about to lose our signal. We’ll be back in touch soon with more photos of this amazing vessel. Tonight we have a reservation to see the Blue Man Group, included in our fares.

Back in touch soon.

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