EPIC Voyage - Barcelona, Marseilles, Palma.

Gail and I took advantage of a last minute offer to sail on the NCL Cruises, Norwegian EPIC. This was a short mini-cruise with four nights on board, enough to give us a sample of on-board life and experience the “third largest cruise ship” in the world! I arranged flights from Belfast to Barcelona and a private transfer to take us to the port. Our first view of the ship was from the taxi and she dwarfed every other ship in the harbour. The car pulled up alongside and looking up at the EPIC from the quayside I could see that she was well named. The Norwegian EPIC has 21 dining venues and 20 bars and lounges. Every night there are lots of choice on which shows to see, which bars to visit and of course which restaurant to eat at. We had pre-booked on-line some shows and one restaurant that had been recommended to us, the rest we decided to do on board. With freestyle cruising you do not have a set time for restaurants and just turn up at a time which suits you. The check-in was very quick and soon we were on-board, a quick inspection of our balcony cabin (very nice indeed) and then off to the buffet garden restaurant for our lunch. The buffet restaurant was very busy and we found this especially the case when the ship was not in port and at the beginning and end of the cruise. The great thing about NCL is that they have a relaxed dress code throughout so ‘resort chic’ is the style throughout the cruise with no need to bring a suit and tie. After exploring the ship we headed back to the cabin to get freshened up and prepare for dinner, whilst the ship left Barcelona on-route to our first port of call – Marseilles. That evening we dined in one of the two main restaurants – Taste and had a superb meal, in truth every meal that we had on-board was that simply superb! We then took in The Blue Man show before finishing our evening at the Fat Cats live blues and jazz club. The following morning we left early on the ship’s shuttle service to Marseilles centre where we took a local tour around the city and up to Notre Dame de la Garde which overlooks the entire city and where the views are spectacular. After our tour it was once again back on-board for our visit to The Manhattan Room for our dinner, followed by the Legends in Concert show. Our next day at sea, we spent sunbathing as we cruised towards Palma, Majorca in the ‘adults only’ pool area Spice H2O. That evening we had reserved a table in the speciality restaurant Teppanyaki which was just an amazing experience as the chef prepares your meal in front of you whilst juggling the ingredients and their knives. Another great night was ended again in the Fat Cats club listening to the super blues musicians in Slam Allen’s band. We arrived the next morning at Palma, Majorca and had a lovely walk along the promenade admiring all the luxury yachts in the harbour. When we reached the cathedral we moved into the town to visit the shops and having a well-earned coffee break. Palma is a great city to walk around in. Back on board we had the opportunity to catch a few more hours of sun before preparing for our last night at sea. I also took advantage of an opportunity to inspect a Family Courtyard Villa in the Haven on board. The Haven is almost ‘a cruise within a cruise’ as these cabins overlook their own private pool area and an exclusive bar and restaurant. Guests here are able to use all the other facilities on the Norwegian EPIC booked by their own 24/7 concierge service. That evening we returned to the Taste restaurant for our dinner and we took in more shows before the end of our cruise. The Norwegian EPIC is simply vast and very busy indeed – the choices of dining venues are great. However I did find the crowds a bit overwhelming at times, especially just after a show had finished and many people were all arriving or leaving venues at the same time. This makes it quite noisy at times at these public areas as everyone is speaking at once. In complete contrast however is how quiet the cabins and the actual ship is. For such a big and tall ship it is extremely stable and hardly felt any movement at all whilst on board. I thoroughly enjoyed this short cruise and would love to travel again with NCL and I would definitely recommend a cruise on the Norwegian EPIC.