Aboard, Adrift, and Running From Earl

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Geo: 25.729, -80.2374

Our first impression upon entering the port and seeing the Epic up close was, "wow, she really is big." That was quickly followed by "wow, she really is kind of ugly." On the outside, the ship is far from a beauty, as you can see in some of the pictures. That large, darker-glass structure on the forward part of the ship is their "courtyard plaza," with three floors of suites which open onto a private courtyard, spa, restaurant, etc. I can assure you that our room was NOT up there. Our room was, shall we say, far more plebeian.

Upon check-in at the terminal, they handed us a letter advising that our itinerary had been changed. Our original itinerary had us going to St. Maarten in the Dutch Antilles, St. John in the U.S. Virgin Island, and Nassau in the Bahamas. The tropical storm which later became Hurricane Earl had shifted further south and we would have headed straight into it, so they rerouted us south -- luckily -- clear of all the weather, sending us to Cozumel, Mexico and Roatan, Honduras. We were able to make our originally planned stop in Nassau, arriving just after the storm left.

Much of the first day was taken up with exploring the sheer enormity of our ship, registering for the kids program, and settling into our cabin. I was not surprised in the least when Anna had the ship's layout mastered in a matter of hours, whereas as I spent much of the week still going the wrong direction. We managed to squeeze in a game of bowling -- yes, bowling -- before dinner, and after that we went to see the Blue Man Group show. Anna knew enough to suggest we get there early and secure seats up front. The fact that the first three rows of seats were upholstered in vinyl, unlike the rest of the enormous theater, and the little plastic poncho on each of those seats were ample warning that we might get "sloppy" during the performance. We quickly discovered, when trying to explain exactly that the Blue Men are to K and Jane upon their return, that you have to see them to understand the show. I hope to attach a short video of their performance, but needless to say, we absolutely LOVED the show. A true highlight, so much so that we went to see them again on our last night at sea.

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Photos

Ship Atrium
We got to play Wii on this two-story screen later in the cruise.

Manhattan Club Restaurant
One of more than 20 restaurants on board

Bowling Alley
One of two on board