We decided to take the family on a last minute cruise over Thanksgiving, and I had narrowed my choices to NCL Epic and Glory. Given that we were taking four of my children, the Epic (while slightly cheaper) would cost us more due to specialty restaurants (which I look forward to trying sometime in the future with NCL). Plus I was eager to experience the Funship 2.0 upgrades for the first time….so I broke my own rule of not sailing the same ship. I considered Glory having Funship 2.0 a quasi new ship anyway.
Embarkation:
Miami….ughhhh. Really missed Ft. Lauderdale after our experience in Miami this sailing. I choose Safe Parking to leave the car, and arrived at 10:15am so we could hopefully be at the port/waiting to board at 10:45am. Shuttle arrives at 10:30am…all good…except driver is dropping off passengers and won’t take newcomers. Ok…why? So we (and others) wait and wait. Finally the same shuttle bus shows up and drops off passengers…and again will NOT take on new customers. Tensions rise now that everyone has been waiting for 30-45+ minutes. Then a 15 passenger van shows up…and is asking who is sailing Carnival. Since we have been waiting the longest---we grab him. The fill the van – and we leave a lot of other folks sailing on different lines. It was exactly 1 hour after we arrived in the parking lot. Fortunately Miami terminal was moving quickly and we were onboard eating Guy Burgers around 12pm. We loved Guy burgers and their French fries.
My wife and I were in the GREAT sized aft Oceanview room 2470 on main deck (to be close to kid’s quad)….the room was like a suite. I would pick this room every time I sailed a Freedom class if it was not so NOISY. Wow, when the captain used side thrusters to dock/undock….or had engines full throttle – the room shook like an earthquake. I am a heavy sleeper, but my bride did not like it. The seas were rough all week (the swimming pools were fun to watch), and 2 nights the room was so loud and constant rumbling/roar.