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All meals are included in the price of the cruise – as much as you want, whenever you want it.
You can either buy your drinks as you go or sign up for the ship’s £55 per night beverage package, which covers all your drinks – wine, beer and cocktails – and avoids the stress of trying to work out an exchange rate in your head. But the temptation to overindulge is pretty strong!
The ship was a melting pot of different nationalities and ages. The appropriatelynamed Epic’s immense size – it takes 4,100 guests – provides enough room to please everyone, from the Splash Academy for children to the Mandara Spa for grown ups.
There’s a decent-sized theatre and bars to suit every taste and mood – including the SVEDKA ice bar where we convened to begin our second evening. Duly wrapped up in cosy capes and gloves to protect us against the -12˚C temperature, we sampled Arctic-themed vodka cocktails.
Before we turned into ice blocks we headed to Manhattan Room for a delicious meal. For the evening’s entertainment we took in the amazing Burn the Floor dance show which was like having a front-row seat at Strictly Come Dancing.
We rounded off the night in the Bliss disco, a club which caters to all music styles from the Latin dance class which started the night to chart hits that kept some of us boogying into the small hours! The following morning we woke in Naples and become landlubbers again as we headed for Pompeii where our brilliant tour guide filled us in on the history of this ancient city “frozen” in 79AD by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Then it was back to Naples to try the local delicacy – the famous pizza which Neopolitans are keen to tell you they invented. And there was still time to wander through the bustling city sampling Italian coffee and cannoli pastries and exploring the back streets full of artisan shops selling handmade jewellery and leather goods.
There’s a vast choice of excursions which you can book in advance.
We returned to the ship in time for our cocktail-making class where bar manager Petra explained how to mix the sweetness of fruit juices with the tart-