NCL Epic - Med Cruise Adventure

Mandy Walsh 01 September 2021
So to say I was beyond excited was an understatement. With literally a couple of weeks notice we as Travel Counsellors Ireland kindly received a fabulous invitation from NCL Cruises to come onboard NCL Epic and sail from Barcelona to Sardinia as a guest on their inaugural Return to Seas sailing.

I flew from Dublin to Barcelona with Ryanair from T1 and returned from Barcelona with Aer Lingus into T2. It wouldn’t be genuine of me if I wasn’t to say that the outbound check-in procedure took a bit longer – mostly due to the fact there were a lot of flights departing within the same hour so the fact we had arrived 3 hours earlier was a necessity.

The key is to be prepared and have all your documents if possible uploaded to myTC saving on both paper and hassle. We arrived to Barcelona airport and quickly proceeded to the baggage area once we had scanned our Spanish QR codes. And then THAT feeling that we all love……the balmy heat as you walk outside the terminal. Honestly it felt amazing!

We quickly transferred to Barcelona Port, where we had been pre-booked in for our Antigen Tests. Again, all very quick and seamless and once our results were issued we were ready to board. Honestly, it was all so quick and extremely well organised. A quick stop at our Oceanview Balcony Stateroom on Deck 12 to freshen up and we were ready to explore. Our stateroom was decorated in lovely white and teal colours with the comfiest of beds – having a balcony really adds to the experience especially watching the sunrise when you arrive at another port or even a sunset as you depart to the next.

The facilities onboard NCL EPIC were nothing short of EPIC, from the Aqua Park with its bowl slide (the only one at sea) which we sampled a few times, rock climbing wall, casinos, shopping facilities and so much more. But it’s at night-time that you really get the true NCL experience. The choice is endless from the legendary Liverpool venue where the Beatles performed - the Cavern Club, the acclaimed Broadway show Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Burn the Floor, the Spiegel Tent, Howl at the Moon, O’Sheehans Bar, the Ice Bar and the ultimate Adults Only Spice H20’s style Ibiza Beach Club. We made up for 18 months of no music and dancing. My feet will take days, possibly weeks to recover.

Then DINING – WOW the choice was simply amazing, we didn’t even get to sample them all over our 4 days onboard but am sure over a 7 day sailing you would just about get around them all. The speciality restaurants are well worth the experience. So it's safe to say my RETURN TO TRAVEL via NCL’s RETURN TO SEAS was nothing short of FABULOUS. Now where too next?

Feel free to reach out if you have any travel or cruise queries for the future. Am ready when you are!