Twocoasts

It is for breakfast. Not all day. At least it was last year.

You also get one free bag of laundry in Club Balcony. And room service breakfast at no charge. The laundry was a good perk for us. And, thanks to this Board I learned how to squeeze the most clothes into that tiny paper bag they give you!

We used the elevators with no problem. If it was crowded we would cross to the other bank of elevators and get right on. Definitely didn't have to carry luggage up or down the stairs.

I had a pair of these (slightly older styling) that I used in for my Alaska trips and they were perfect! The comfort of sneakers but with the treads you need in the rain and on ice (hiked Exit Glacier with no issues). And they are light weight. Dry feet are happy feet! Amazon.com | Salomon Speedcross 5 Gore-TEX Trail Running Shoes for Women, Delphinium Blue/Mallard Blue/Lavender, 9 | Trail Running

If you purchase the Priority Boarding package, you get priority disembarkation at the ports, regardless of the type of cabin you are in.

It is a flat fee for the rental. You don't need to add the other names. Just confirm with them the number of guests so they will stock the towels/drinks accordingly. rdr

I paid for it on our last two cruises and I'm glad I did. We were able to board immediately after Haven on our Sky Caribbean cruise and that was great because the waiting area was packed. We boarded right after we checked in--I think it was noon for our cruise. We also use the spa, so the spa credit essentially covered the cost of Priority.

Someone posted this tip prior to our Med cruise and it was genius! Because the laundry bags are paper and very, very thin, bring an extra cloth bag (I had one from a hotel) so you can cram more clothes in. Then put the cloth bag in the NCL paper bag. Worked like a charm!

The actual cabins are very similar. Balconies are the same size. We booked Club Balcony for the perks--booking dinners early, laundry, etc. The laundry was huge because it was really hot and we were going through clothes like crazy.

I did an itinerary almost identical to #2 on Oceania and it was fabulous! I loved Rhodes and Patmos.

We were on this cruise last May and loved it! As others have said, because only half the ship is embarking the terminal wasn't crowded at all. We were through security, check in and on board in less than 30 minutes. While the Epic has some quirks, it's still a lovely ship and we would do it again. Enjoy your trip!

The biggest thing is to remember you cannot just turn your device off--you must fully log out of the system or your minutes will continue to run. Learned this the hard way.....

The services are expensive, but in line with what you'd pay at a high-end resort spa. We did a couples massage on Sky and it was so good that we booked a second one! And my DH is NOT a spa guy. We did have a $100 from Priority Boarding but honestly, we don't really shop or spend a lot of other $$ on cruises so it was money well spent for us.

We used Rome Cabs last year. We were going to a hotel in Rome city center so timing wasn't a huge issue. It was incredibly easy to get our luggage and meet our driver. And they have a lot of experience with meeting ships so can probably help you with timing. Just don't plan on being the first off the ship. I've used Rome Cabs for years and their service is outstanding! I use them for airport pick-ups as well.

Same with us. Our EPIC Med cruise fare dropped, and we just got an FCC that we ended up using for a short cruise over Thanksgiving.

Do you mean Priority boarding? Yes. — we did.

I’ve used Resort Pass several times, with great success! We liked the hotel in Nassau because it was secluded and quiet. They had some of the larger all-inclusives available too.

That's correct. I just prepaid Club Balcony for our August 2023 at $16 pp per day

On Sky a couple of weeks ago they added an additional 15 minutes to the massage. That was nice! The prices are high, but on both the Epic in May and the Sky in November--they were some of the best massages I've ever had, so to me, worth the $$.

Priscilla wasn't playing on our cruise in May. Probably due to Covid. We did see Burn the Floor and I loved it--but I love dance in every form. Very high engery! Those dancers were amazing! SO was not as impressed. Next time I would send him to the cigar bar and go by myself! 😎 The group in the Cavern was from Ukraine and they were really good. We didn't see the Beatles tribute, but they played every night and a couple of afternoons on the pool deck.

I posted previously that we booked this cruise to burn a credit and to just grab a few days of R&R. We are not huge party people, so you won't find us at the pool bar or the Glow party. But we do enjoy the entertainment, food, and ocean views. Weather in Miami was not great--rainy and windy. Fortunately, the weather was perfect the rest of the trip. I purchased Priority Boarding because I was worried about large crowds at the Port of Miami. It wasn't necessary. We were pleasantly surprised at how easy security and check in was. Granted, Sky is a smaller ship, but truly this was much easier than we expected. We checked in around 11 and I think we boarded at 11:30. Priority did give us a change to board first, which was nice. And we used the spa credit so worth it for us. We found one of the spa gals and booked our first couples massage for Monday afternoon. Then explored the ship a bit before heading to the Garden Cafe for lunch. Food on the buffet on Monday was excellent! They were carving prime rib at lunch and all of the vegetables were very fresh. Nice start to our trip! They called for cabins before we finished lunch so not much wait at all. We headed down to the cabin (0226) and while it was immaculately clean, believe people when they say the Sky cabins are small. Soooooo tiny! And very little storage space. Our Epic cabin in May was not much larger in square footage, but the space utilization was 100 times better. We unpacked enjoyed the balcony, grabbed a cocktail and then went up to the spa. Wow! Our couples massage was fantastic! We walked out of there (maybe floated) and went to the cabin for a brief nap before dinner. Relaxation? Check! We ate dinner at the Palace. Service was very good. Food was fine. Not bad, not spectacular. Overall, a pleasant meal. After dinner we went up to the Spinnaker Lounge for a drink. This was our favorite place on the ship. Gorgeous views and great bartenders. We watched karaoke, which was highly entertaining, and called it a night. First port: Nassau. We didn't want to do excursions this cruise. So, I booked us a day pass via ResortPass at a small hotel called the Graycliff Manor. Beautiful old manor house with lovely gardens and a pool area that felt like a total oasis in the middle of Nassau. The pass included pool access, two cocktails and a three-course lunch. We played at the pool for a few hours, had lunch and then walked back to the ship. Did a little shopping then back to the cabin to "rest" from our hectic day (ha!). We had a 6:30 reservation at Le Bistro that night. Le Bistro on Sky is really lovely. smaller than Epic but I liked the decor more. Food was very good but the food was much, much better on Epic. I had the duck and it was tough, and the orange flavor was completely missing. SO had the veal chop and it was good but half the size of the one on Epic. Their mushroom soup was outstanding, as was the scallop appetizer. We did not leave hungry though, and skipped dessert. There was a stand-up comic on Tuesday and we enjoyed the show. They were supposed to do their We Will Rock You production show Tuesday it was canceled (no explanation). Back to Spinnaker for a night cap and called it a day. Second Port: Great Stirrup Cay. We booked a private cabana and I'm so glad we did. The weather was perfect, and the Silver Cove beach was so quiet and lovely. Spent the day swimming and lounging. I will say that NCL needs to do a better job of servicing the cabanas. No food or drink menus, no overview of the cabana (e.g. how to get floats for the ocean), no info on what time the food truck closed (way earlier than you might expect) etc. We had a great day but it's the little things that can take an experience from good to great. Reports from kids in the cabana next to ours was that the main beach was a lot of fun. Music, games, etc. It's great that there are both active and quiet areas so everyone can get the beach day they really want. Had dinner at the Local Wednesday night. The chicken wings were awesome! 10 out of 10! But the spinach artichoke dip was inedible. Just a gloppy mess that tasted like cooked flour and milk. Yuk. The fish and chips were really good too. But we did swing by the Garden Cafe after to grab a salad to offset the wings. It's all about balance! Wednesday night we went to the casino and killed a couple of hours playing video poker. Only lost $20 so happy about that. Then we found the piano player on deck 7 and had drinks while people watching and enjoying the music. After a couple of bourbons, I was able to convince SO to look at Swiss watches. I've been trying to buy him a nice watch for two years and he finally found one he liked! That was probably my favorite part of the trip--followed closely by swimming on Great Stirrup Cay. Another good day. Thanksgiving Day. Grand Bahama Island. We decided to stay on the ship today--I really have no desire to swim with pigs! Slept in and had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room. Decided to try our hand at trivia. It was actually a lot of fun--and we won! Feeling full of ourselves we moved on to corn hole. Sadly, we didn't win but we didn't embarrass ourselves either! We loved our massage so much on Monday that we booked another for this afternoon, and it did not disappoint. Went to the Garden Cafe expecting a wonderful Thanksgiving buffet. It was anything but that. Thanksgiving wasn't mentioned at all anywhere on the ship all day. It was odd. After seeing another poster's pic of the Encore's buffet with linens and beautiful decorations, I admit my expectations were high. But of all the meals we had at the buffet, this was by far the worst. Yes, there carved turkey but that's where it stopped. The gravy was brown water--no flavor at all. Stuffing were dried bread cubes. No mashed potatoes, green vegetables, sweet potatoes or pies of any kind. There was a sheet cake that read, "Happy Thanksgiving." It was just sad. We Will Rock You was on stage Thursday night, and it was fantastic! Those performers are incredibly talented. After the show we went back to the casino and I won big!!! $62 on a 25 cent bet! We cashed out our big, big winnings and went back to the theater for late night comedy. It was the same comic as Tuesday and he was pretty good again. Friday morning we had breakfast in the dining room and disembarked around 8:45 a.m. This was the only time all week we waited in a line. But, once off the ship we were able to easily grab our luggage and head back to the airport. In summary: Would I do this cruise again? Not if I was paying full price. It was a perfect short break for us but I'd rather spend the $ for a longer cruise. Would I book a mid-ship cabin on Deck 10? No! While there wasn't any noise from chairs or running above us, we could not escape the music from the pool deck immediately over our heads. Would we sail Sky again? Maybe. We really liked the layout of the ship and the public spaces but not sure I could do that small cabin for anything longer than 4 nights. And if I'm going to pay the price of upgrading to Haven, I could just as easily take Oceania or Viking. Just one final word: we were very happy with the staff. They were wonderful literally everywhere we went. Happy cruising!

We enjoyed the cruise but on a scale of 1 to 10, give them a 3 for Thanksgiving. Food in the buffet was terrible for Thanksgiving dinner. We were surprised because even lunch the first day was great! We chose the buffet because people had posted that NCL does a fabulous Thanksgiving buffet. Big mistake. We should have done a specialty restaurant for Thursday. Live and learn. Other than that it was a great cruise. Will post a brief review shortly.

We were on the Epic in May and thought it was fine. Not as upscale as Oceania (but also not as pricey). We enjoyed Cagney's, Le Bistro and Moderno. Le Bistro was our favorite. We never left the table hungry!

I don't have the menu but I can say the food at Shanghai was terrible. We didn't eat at the noodle bar--we were in the main dining room. It was so bad that we ended up going up to the buffet after dinner so we could actually eat. The only meal we didn't enjoy out of a 7 night cruise.

My partner got it on a Med cruise in June--and it was 90 F all week!