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Time: January/February 2023
Itinerary: Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Lucia, St Kitts
Ship: Norwegian Epic
Cost: ~$1500/person (including flights, transportation, food/alcoholic beverages, and an interior cruise room) Excursions are not included in this price.
Summary: We travelled to San Juan, Puerto Rico and departed from there on a 7-night cruise. My husband and I went on the cruise with some of his immediate and extended family, so we had a pretty large crew on deck. We visited 5 different islands and had two days at sea. Continue reading for our full itinerary and Norwegian Epic cruise review.
Article Highlights:
BOOKING INFORMATION
When we booked the cruise, NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) had a BOGO special on airfare, so we decided to purchase our flights through them. Here are the pros/cons with that:
Pros:
• The cost was cheaper than what we could find on our own
• If there are travel delays and you book with NCL, in most circumstances, they will arrange alternative flights to get you to the ship
• It’s nice to have everything booked at one time
Cons:
• While you get to choose which airport you fly out of and what days, you don’t get to choose your airline or route. We thankfully had a normal route/travel schedule assigned, so this wasn’t an issue for us.
• You don’t receive your flight info until approximately 30 days before departure per NCL’s website. (We received ours 3 months in advance though, so it can come earlier)
• Flight customizations can be requested up to 75 days before departure, but if you are traveling with a group and book on separate reservations, there is no guarantee that you will be on the same flight. (You will automatically be on the same flight as the people on your reservation though.)
For us, the cost and security knowing that NCL would take care of us in the event of an issue outweighed the cons. However, it’s important that everyone weighs out their options! The rest of the booking process was pretty easy. The cruise and dates were already chosen by someone else in the group, so we didn’t have to do a lot of research in the sense of what cruise line/when/where etc. However, I will say that I personally think you get the biggest bang for your buck with Norwegian, especially if you are interested in the alcoholic beverage packages. At the time of writing this (September 2023), NCL has all-inclusive food and alcohol beverages in their “default” price. Many similar size cruise lines include food, but not alcohol in their “default” price. Instead, you have to buy the alcoholic beverage package separately and I have seen them range from $50-$100 per person per day. You also can’t normally see what the exact price is of those packages until you book the cruise or maybe call. So overall, I really liked the fact that we were able to book essentially everything at once with Norwegian and know the full cost up front rather than added on costs later.
DAY 1 – TRAVEL DAY
We flew in one day prior to the cruise departure date, which I recommend to allow some cushioning in the event of delays, etc. Our flight itinerary went from Green Bay, WI to Chicago, IL to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Overall, we had a smooth traveling day and once we arrived to the airport, we transported to our hotel for the night. We stayed at the Hyatt Place Bayamón which was about 20 minutes away from the cruise port in San Juan. We chose this location because we had points to use and since we were only going to be there for one short night, we didn’t want to spend the extra $ to be in downtown San Juan. The hotel was clean and safe so it worked well for our needs for the night.
DAY 2 – CRUISE ONBOARDING
NCL recommends that you do online check-in at least one day before sailing, but it opens up 30 days prior to sailing. Upon online check-in, you chose which time you want to board the cruise. We chose the earliest time that was available when we checked in, which was 11am. The earlier you check in though, the more time options you have to choose from. We took an Uber or Lyft from our hotel to cruise port in San Juan and began the check in process.
In my opinion, San Juan’s cruise port wasn’t the nicest on the outside. It felt congested with the cars and the signage wasn’t great – we had to ask staff where to go. I have seen some nightmare stories on boarding cruises, but I will say that our experience didn’t seem that bad though. Our whole check-in took about an hour to hour and a half. First, we had to wait in a line to drop off our bags outside (everything except carry ons) and that’s probably what took the longest. Then we went inside (which was much nicer) and had to go through security. After that, we ended with an official check-in to get our keys, etc.
After we received our keys, we were able to board the ship. Our rooms were not quite ready though, so while we waited for them, we went a grabbed lunch at The Garden Cafe. The Garden Cafe was where they had a breakfast/lunch/dinner buffet everyday. I could write a whole separate blog on all the food and will include more details throughout each day, but overall I will say that the food onboard was good and met my expectations! My first lunch on board included salmon, rice, fruit and a croissant – which were all delicious.
After lunch, we explored the main areas on the ship and started to learn the layout of the boat. When our room was ready, we went there to unpack and get acclimated. After spending the afternoon getting settled in and exploring the ship, we got ready for dinner. There were two main dining rooms for dinner – The Manhattan Room and Taste. We went to these majority of the trip. They each had the same dinner menu, but the main courses changed each night. These dining rooms also had an “open seating” style. This is where you just show up at whichever time you want and get seated right away (if available) or they give you a buzzer that buzzes when a table does become available. I think throughout the whole trip the longest we had to wait for a table was about 20 minutes.
We really liked these restaurants for dinner because they were a little fancier than the buffet (made to order meal, three-course dinner, etc.) The french onion soup was delicious – I got it almost every time for my appetizer. The main courses usually had a steak option along with various salads, pastas, etc. And lastly, the lava cake and creme-brulee were my two favorite desserts.
After dinner, we watched some football in The Atrium (it was NFL playoff time) and afterwards went to dueling pianos at the “Howl at the Moon” lounge. There were several nights that had dueling pianos and it was one of our favorite night-time activities on board. They played classic 80s, pop and rock hits and took requests for cash too. Dueling pianos typically didn’t start until 9/10pm and ended around midnight.
DAY 3 – DAY AT SEA
We started our morning with breakfast at The Garden Cafe. They had a lot of options for breakfast every day – from omelette stations to bakery items to pancakes/eggs/etc. the options were endless! After breakfast, we got our swimsuits on and headed toward the pool deck. We spent most of the daylight hours soaking in the sun, participating in pool deck activities and even went down the waterslides a few times. While we enjoyed the pool deck, one of the biggest complaints we had on the whole cruise was getting drinks on the pool decks. There were always long lines at the pool bars and sometimes it would take 15 minutes to get a drink. We found the back bar at Spice H20 to be less busy than the main pool bar, but they were both still generally busy all the time.
After our pool day, we got ready for our specialty dinner night at Moderno Churrascaria. When we booked our cruise, they had a special going on where we received one free specialty dining night. The specialty dining restaurants normally cost extra though. They had about 6 different specialty dining restaurants on board – all with different style foods like steaks, mexican, hibachi, sushi, french, italian, etc. We enjoyed our dinner at Moderno Churrascaria though – there was a large salad buffet and then the staff came around with all different types of meats for us to try (beef, pork, etc.) on skewers.
Then, after dinner, we met up with our group and decided to do the Skyy Ice Bar. The Skyy Ice Bar was and additional charge (~$15/person.) And while I probably wouldn’t spend money to do it again, it was a cool one-time thing. Your ticket included two Skyy vodka drinks which were tasty and about 45 minutes in the Ice Bar. They give you warm robes to wear inside the bar and most of the stuff inside was made from ice – this included the seating, the bar, the drink glasses and more!
From there, we headed to O’Sheehan’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill which was on the mail level of the ship. O’Sheehans is an Irish-inspired pub with beer and Irish & American food options.
DAY 4 – ARUBA
Aruba was our first stop on the cruise and one of two locations where we didn’t do an official excursion. Instead, we walked around right the town & shopped, which was within walking distance of the port and then took a cab to Eagle Beach. There were tons of cabs available/waiting and it was $5/person one-way.
Eagle beach had clean/soft white sand (not a ton of seaweed and rocks like I have seen at other beaches.) And while there were a lot of people, it wasn’t super overwhelming or too crowded in my opinion – just right in the middle of quiet to super busy. There were water sport rentals (jet skis, paddle boards, etc.), chair/umbrella rentals and also a few bars/restaurants along the beach. Some of the bars/restaurants also had wifi on the beach too.
Don’t forget to pack you beach accessories! (Think beach bag, sunscreen, beach towel, hat, etc.) Items can be found on Amazon here: Beach Accessories
We ended up having some drinks and hanging out in the sand most of the day. You can also swim at Eagle Beach, but snorkeling isn’t the best since there aren’t many coral reefs nearby. For better snorkeling, I’ve heard Malmok Beach and Boca Catalina are better places to check out. After we were done at the beach, it was pretty easy to find a cab back and it cost $5/person again.
Once we boarded the ship, we had dinner at one of the main dining rooms (Taste/The Manhattan Room.) Then, we followed it with a dance party on the pool deck and went to the Bliss Lounge for a bit after.
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DAY 5 – CURAÇAO
Curaçao is an island known for its colorful building colors. This was the other island where we did not have an official excursion planned. When I was on this island in the past during a cruise stop, we took taxi and went to Playa Porto Mari beach. At this beach, we snorkeled and relaxed in the sand during the day. It was a relatively nice and quieter beach.
However, this time, we spent our day exploring the downtown area of Curacao shopping and walking across the famous Queen Emma Bridge. Queen Emma Bridge is a pedestrian, floating-pontoon style bridge that connects the waterfronts of Willemstad’s two halves. It also swings open laterally to let ships/boats enter and leave the bay (this process takes 5-15 minutes.) We walked to the bridge straight from the cruise port, which was about 0.5 miles. Then, once you cross the bridge, you are in the downtown area of Willemstad. Once you are in the downtown area, there are tons of shop and restaurants to explore around along with the giant “Curacao” sign I have pictured below. There are some alleys in the downtown area, but overall I felt safe and enjoyed the time we spent exploring the area.
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DAY 6 – BONAIRE
In Bonaire, we did another excursion booked through NCL. It was a 3-4 hour Glass bottom kayak excursion and cost $90/person. The tour took off right by the ship (like a 5 minute walk at most) and there were about 15 people in our excursion group. We also had a few guides with us making sure the group stayed together while we kayaked to the snorkel beach. The kayak trip was about 1.5 miles each way and the glass bottoms allowed you to see into the pretty blue water along the paddle. Once we arrived to the beach, the crew provided snorkeling gear and gave us about an hour to snorkel. While snorkeling, we were able to see some really cool fish and coral! I was impressed with the tour and would recommend it if you like snorkeling and kayaking.
This blog post may contain affiliate links, which are at no cost to you. It just helps support me so I can continue to put out free content for you like this! Thank you for your support!
DAY 7 – ST. LUCIA
One thing I forgot to mention so far was getting on and off the boat. Most days, our boat arrived early in the morning (6am-8am) so people got off the boat more spread out throughout the morning. In St. Lucia though, our boat docked at 1pm. This resulted in major chaos getting off the boat. The stairs/elevators were crowded and once we got off the boat it was extremely crowded on the dock. This is just an FYI in case you have the same itinerary or have any other stops that dock in the afternoon.
Even with the crowds, we were able to find our excursion sign & tour group, which was the “Touch the Pitons” tour. We booked this directly though NCL. This tour was 6 hours in duration and while we got to see some pretty views, we spent a lot of time on the bus (3.5+ hours.)
We started with a 1.5 hour coach bus ride to the Piton’s hike. And let me tell you, if you easily get car-sick, this probably isn’t for you. There were tons of switchbacks/windy roads, mountainous terrain, and driving on the edge of big hills. If you can get past that, some of the views were really pretty though! Once we arrived to the Piton’s hike, we got off the bus and hiked about 1 mile round trip. At the top of the hike, you get to see some beautiful views of the pitons and can even “touch” them in your photos. Our group probably took 45 minutes to complete the hike with picture stops, etc. along the way. Once we arrived back to where we started, they had some fresh snacks waiting for us. The snacks consisted of sugar cane, coconut, watermelon, juice and a few others I can’t remember. Everything was very tasty though!
After that, the group got back on the bus and headed to the Toraille waterfall. It was probably a 30-30 minute drive and once we parked, we walked to the waterfall. The walk from the bus to the waterfall took about 5-10 minutes. The waterfall was about 50 feet tall and you were allowed to swim/walk in the pool the waterfall flowed into. We did not go in, but per other people’s pictures/reviews, the water only gets about waist-deep. After the waterfall (probably spent about 30 minutes there), we got back on the bus and headed to the Old Sugar Mill Restaurant for dinner.
The Old Sugar Mill Restaurant had a dinner buffet setup for us when we arrived and it consisted of the following foods: rice, beans, coleslaw, cooked vegetables, green fig and a meat (beef or pork.) The dinner tasted authentic and we enjoyed it.
After dinner, we ventured back to the bus and rode back to the cruise port, which was about 1.5 hours away. Overall, the excursion was good, I just wish we would have spent less time in the bus. However, I understand that there really is no other option aside from driving if you want to hike “above” the pitons. Next time, I would consider doing a boat tour to see the pitons from the sea instead.
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DAY 8 – ST. KITTS
St. Kitts was our last island on the trip and quite a few of us in the group booked the St. Kitts Scenic Railway tour through NCL. This was the tour I was most excited for and unfortunately it got cancelled after about 30 minutes of waiting in line to board. Supposedly the train was having mechanical issues. We did get our money refunded, but it was a bummer because we were so excited for it!
After the cancellation, we decided to explore the downtown area right by the cruise port. We found a bar to have some drinks at and explored the shops, etc. In the downtown area, there were quite a few vendors trying to sell tours, etc. We ended up doing buying a cab ride/1 hour tour for our family of 5. This tour gave us the opportunity to see more of the island and I really enjoyed the scenery of the island. St. Kitts kind of reminds me of the Caribbean version of Ireland. It was very lush, green, and open with not many trees. We drove by some of the schools, farms and my favorite – Timothy Hill. Timothy Hill is a viewing point that allows you to see the Caribbean Sea on one side of the island and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the island all from one viewpoint. There were also some food/shopping stands in the parking lot. You don’t need a ton of time at Timothy Hill (15-20 minutes), but I would highly recommend seeing it if you can!
This blog post may contain affiliate links, which are at no cost to you. It just helps support me so I can continue to put out free content for you like this! Thank you for your support!
DAY 9 – CRUISE DISEMBARKING & TRAVEL DAY
Our last day of the ship, everyone gets assigned a time that you have to disembark (leave the ship.) This helps space people out so everyone isn’t exiting the ship at once. However, I felt it was still pretty crowded as we had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to exit the ship.
Once we disembarked, we found our pre-paid ground transportation bus that we booked through NCL and headed straight to the San Juan airport. We got to the airport around 11am and out flight didn’t leave until 3:30pm, so we did have to sit there for a bit. Once we boarded our plane, we had smooth travels home and started to miss the beautiful Caribbean islands very quickly! 🙂
If you enjoyed this blog and are looking to read other cruise reviews, itineraries, etc. check out my other cruise-related blogs here!
This blog post may contain affiliate links, which are at no cost to you. It just helps support me so I can continue to put out free content for you like this! Thank you for your support!