Let's talk about the Norwegian Epic, the ship upon which I sail tomorrow.
She is under four years old and is big holding a maximum of 4,200 passengers served by 1,730 crew members. There are 2,114 cabins on 19 Decks, 128 of them of the unique Single "Studios" variety on Decks 11 and 12 that I will occupy (12562). Frankly, this is the reason I am on this ship; this is so different that I have got to experience it for myself. The small Studios have a full size bed, a one-way window view of the corridor and private key card access to “The Living Room” which is a shared private lounge with a bar for 5:00-7:00pm happy hour drinks, two large TV screens and seating for “hanging out.” I am intrigued to use the “Board” where singles can sign up for that evening’s dinner together.
Checking Norwegian’s website 36 hours before sailing, the studios are sold out; not so with inside cabins and balcony cabins and mini-suites. Using my military discount, I could have purchased a full-size inside cabin for $758 or even a balcony for $1,038. FYI: I paid $926.01. The Lounge is the deal-maker. I think the same must be true for the other 127 solo travelers who bought these cabins. (To compare, if there were any solo travelers on the Pearl last week, I never met them)
Epic has 18 bars and is “Freestyle” which means no set seating in the dining room for dinner: go any time you like between 5:30 and 10:00 but make a reservation for “popular” times. Passengers do have the opportunity to make a reservation for the same table and the same time every night which would approximate the normal “early” and “late” seating opportunities offered by Norwegian’s competitors. There are no “formal nights.” Instead, the dining room dress code is “appropriate attire” which means, for men, closed-toed shoes, slacks and a sports shirt and, for women, slacks and blouse or sundress or pantsuit. “Nice” jeans may be worn to dinner. Not acceptable are tank tops for men, flip flops, baseball caps, visors, jeans that are “overly faded” or with holes or tears and worn below the hips.
The main dining rooms are called “The Manhattan Room” and “Taste.” There is “Cirque Dreams & Dinner” which is a dinner theatre with a surcharge of $30 for premium seats and $20 for general seating. “Le Bistro” offers French cuisine for $20 extra; “Cagney’s Steakhouse” charges $30 extra; “Moderno (Churrascaria cuisine) is $20 extra; “La Cucina” (Italian) is $10 extra; “Shanghai’s” (Chinese) is $15 more; “Teppanyaki” (Japanese Hibachi) is $25 extra; “Wasabi” (Japanese Shushi) is $15 more; “O’Sheehan’s,” “Garden Café,” “Great Outdoors,” “Spice H20,” and “Noodle Bar” are no-charge options for dining. Whew. Oh, yeah; there is 24-hour complimentary room service and you can get a pizza delivered to your cabin any time you want one but it costs $5.00.
Special entertainment includes “Blue Man Group” and “Legends in Concert.” There is an ice bar which, having been to one, I shall avoid at all costs. Too cold at 17 degrees (they do provide coats and gloves); I can do that on my deck at home. As on the Pearl, there are bowling lanes. For kids, there is a raft (no pun intended) of Nickelodeon activity to include impromptu “Splash Mobs” with messy games featuring pies, slime and “jellyfish.”
As for today in Miami, it is beautiful. I am off for a walk, this time across the Venetian Causeway to Miami Beach and back. En route I pass a downtown street festival just starting to get underway, a small farmers' market, cross a couple of drawbridges and past many beautiful homes and past by more beautiful cars.
My iPhone says I walked just over 9 miles. My Fitbit says I walked just under 8 miles. Since the RunKeeper app on the iPhone uses GPS and the Fitbit uses some random measure of my stride length based on my height, I am going with the iPhone.
Today is the tenth anniversary of Facebook and the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival into the United States by The Beatles. Also, on this date, I watched KU beat West Virginia on ESPN.
Tonight, I am heading out to a restaurant of some sort to sit at the bar and dine on whatever strikes my fancy. If they have the Olympics on the television, all the better.
Right now it is 83 degrees and sunny in Miami. It is 29 degrees and cloudy at home. I am quite happy being here.
Warm Miami
Saturday, February 08, 2014
Miami, Florida, United States
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