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We’re going all the way back to October of 2012 for this flashback friday! Between undergrad and grad school I was able to take a cruise on the NCL Epic from Rome across the Atlantic Ocean to Miami! We stopped at a number of ports in the Mediterranean including Pisa, Monaco, and Barcelona.

Getting to Rome

To get to Rome my dad redeemed his United miles for one-way business class from Newark to Rome. Back then I wasn’t writing reviews of the planes and service, so by pictures are limited, but here are a few. From what I remember the worst part of the whole trip was waiting for our bags to come out in Rome even though we were “priority”.

Seeing Rome

We had a couple days in Rome to do some exploring before boarding the NCL Epic for our transatlantic cruise. I took full advantage of that by using the double-decker hop-on hop-off buses to get around the city. I got to see all of the major highlights – Coliseum, Vatican, The Capital, and some of the famous Rome fountains.

We left from our hotel for the port of Civitavecchia where the NCL Epic would depart from. Civitavecchia is about an hour outside of Rome through the country side full of olive groves.

Life Aboard the NCL Epic

My dad and I were in one of the Epic’s mini-suites I had a little room with a couch that turned into a bed (kind of like Etihad’s First Class Apartment) and my dad had the main bedroom. There was also a nice living area and a balcony.

The Epic had some pretty cool features on board including the Svedka Ice Bar, a bowling alley and some water slides! During our cruise there was also a cirque du soleil dinner and the Blue Man Group played a couple shows on board.

From looking at NCL’s website the Epic has undergone some renovations and the staterooms look much more modern. One of my favorite things about NCL cruises is their huge array of dining options. They pretty much have every type of food you can think of, but my two favorite restaurants were definitely Cagney’s steakhouse and Le Bistro french restaurant.

NCL Epic Destinations

Our first stop was Pisa where we went to the leaning tower.

Our next stop was Nice, where I took a bus trip over to Monaco.

The other stops on the cruise were Marseille, Barcelona, and the Azores before we crossed the Atlantic to St. Thomas.

I found the camera that had all of these old pictures on it while I was cleaning at my dad’s house recently. It was cool to go back and see the places that I have been. If I can find more old travel pictures, I will do more flash back Fridays.

This was my third transatlantic cruise, have you ever cruised on the NCL Epic or done a transatlantic? Let me know in the comments!