An Epic Quandary

[Shayhooper]

Inside or Balcony? That is the question.

 

My husband and I are going to book a cabin on the Epic for February. The cost between an inside and a BA room is $500. Going with an aft would be $600 more than an inside. The additional costs are both within our budget.

 

We do love insides for their darkness which makes for some awesome napping. We do plan on doing things like pub crawl, beer tasting, and shows.

 

On the other hand we won't be traveling with kids so we will also want shaded quiet places to lay on deck to read.

 

Are balcony cabins worth the extra costs? How bad is the shaking on the afts? Are there certain BA or aft cabins that are more preferable?

 

Edit because I can't spell.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Shayhooper

[sdmike]

Epic balconies are large enough to serve as your "quite spot outside", especially when the pool deck gets crowded. I would go for the balcony room.

 

As for the aft balcony, you'll have to make that call on the extra $100. Some people love hearing the relaxing wake. However, there are a couple of things to consider:

 

Spice H20 up on deck 15 can be very loud at night. If you get an aft balcony, you'll want to be on deck 9, 10 or 11 (in my opinion)

 

Also, the Epic's propulsion system is unique compared to other new ships in that it doesn't use azipods, but regular shafts and propellers. As such it makes it harder to maneuver when entering and exiting port. It uses a combination of it's main propellers and side thrusters, which can cause a great deal of vibration. What this means for you is that if your room is in the back 1/4 of the ship it might vibrate quite a bit entering port, which often happens before dawn. Some consider this their "alarm clock", and others found it annoying.

 

Hope that helps

[justcake]

We sometimes book insides, sometimes balconies and sometimes suites with balconies and sometimes suites without. I love all of them for different reasons. Insides like you because I love the darkness and balconies for the privacy. I agree with Mike.....we had an aft penthouse with connecting aft balcony on the Epic and hated it. I found the vibration and noise from the propulsion system to be extremely annoying. It woke us up at 5 am a couple of times. Personally I'm not a fan of the Epic at all but you may love it. The balcony is definitely large enough on the aft anyway to lounge and read a book. No matter what you choose have great cruise!

[MBMGWM]

We went on a B2B on the Epic earlier this year. On the first leg we had a balcony on deck 10 and really enjoyed it. We moved to an aft balcony on the second leg. We were able to upgrade, as the prices went down significantly on all categories as it got closer to the sailing date. We had booked over a year in advance and had selected our balcony on deck 10 specifically for it's location and angled (larger) size. When the prices started falling, we didn't really want to "upgrade" to a mini-suite, as the locations weren't as desirable to us. When we saw that several aft balconies were available on the second leg, we jumped at that, as we love aft balconies.

 

I agree with sdmike that you may want to consider a lower level aft balcony if you choose that category. We were on the 11th floor corner aft (awesome size). The vibrations did not bother us very much, but one night between midnight - 1:00 AM, I was woken up by the booming base from Spice H2O.

 

I know you can never tell if prices will rise or fall for a particular cruise, but we were stunned that so many balcony cabins were available (at several hundred dollars less per person than we paid) within about one month of our sail date (last week Jan./1st week of Feb.). DH says if we were booking for this coming winter, he would book an inside and take a chance on getting a balcony later. Of course, we would get an inside in a location that we could live with in case prices didn't drop.

 

We were fortunate to get Posh passes on both legs of our trip. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience. To me, having them would absolutely make being in an inside cabin okay. I am not one to take too much sun, and we were always able to find a nice shady spot at Posh.

 

I had wanted to sail on Epic since she launched and I loved all 15 nights on her. I wish you a wonderful cruise!

[punkincc]

For only $100 over the price of a standard balcony, I'd go for the aft facing for the larger balcony and the aft view.

 

If you go for a "corner" aft on decks 8 through 11, the balconies are even larger than the other afts. Not so on decks 12 and 13. Take a look at a deck plan and you will see what I mean. Also, those cabins are near what is called the "secret stairs" on each end of the back hallway. There is a large stairwell behind a door with open windows that look out either port or starboard right next to each corner aft facing on those decks. It's like your own private staircase and quiet covered porch.

 

We were on deck 9. Very quiet back there. No noise issues. There was vibration a couple times, but not a deal breaker.

Edited August 2, 2014 by punkincc

[Single Cruiser]

If you can afford it I'd choose a balcony over an inside. Having sailed in balcony, inside and studios on Epic the fact the ship has limited public sea views the balcony allows that connection to the sea.

 

And yes aft she vibrates due to the old style prop. You can tell at full speed in Moderno/Cagneys etc.. I'd always go mid to front balcony cabin.

[first2travel]

Until our transatlantic adventure we utilized inside cabins. We now (6 cruises) and will always book a balcony. Breakfast delivered and eaten while we marvel at the ocean; having the door open during our sleep, listening to the waves and having the comfort of the ocean breeze; reading a novel, having a cocktail, overlooking the water: FANTASTIC! It is well worth the added expense. Happy travels!

[Tiggertastic]

Go for the balcony if you're happy to pay the extra, it's worth it

[minn55441]

Inside or Balcony? That is the question.

 

My husband and I are going to book a cabin on the Epic for February. The cost between an inside and a BA room is $500. Going with an aft would be $600 more than an inside. The additional costs are both within our budget.

 

We do love insides for their darkness which makes for some awesome napping. We do plan on doing things like pub crawl, beer tasting, and shows.

 

On the other hand we won't be traveling with kids so we will also want shaded quiet places to lay on deck to read.

 

Are balcony cabins worth the extra costs? How bad is the shaking on the afts? Are there certain BA or aft cabins that are more preferable?

 

Edit because I can't spell.

 

We were faced with the same decision as you a couple of months ago and decided on the Aft Balcony. We have been on the Epic once before and although she does have her faults, we loved our cruise on her. The one thing that bothered us the most was the limited deck space on sea days. Without the balcony this might be a more of a problem. We aren't lay in the sun people, but it was really hard to find an open deck chair on sea days. A posh pass or a balcony seem like equally good solutions.

[illiniwahoo]

After sailing in inside cabins for four previous cruises, we splurged on our first balcony for our last cruise. For $500, I would go with the inside. We valued the balcony at no more than $100pp. We liked having the balcony, but didn't really use it as much as we thought we would.

[lambchoplady]

We had an aft balcony on deck 10 last year. No problem with noise at all. I'd do it again.

[Zena2005]

We've been on the Epic twice. Once with a mid-ship balcony deck 10 and last time deck 14 mini suite forward (we opted for a last minute upgrade from a mid-ship balcony 7 day before departure, what a deal). Totally enjoyed the mini-suite with the larger balcony. We are actually thinking about another Epic cruise (spring 2015) before it goes to Europe. We too were considering an AFT room this time around. Having a balcony is nice especially if you want to relax in private. I think you'll be better off with any balcony versus an inside room.

[Envelope21]

We also now book mostly inside cabins. But I have to say, on the Epic, I would recommend a balcony. As others have stated, there is not as much outdoor spaces on this ship. With no exterior promenade deck, about the only place to get out and enjoy the sunshine is on the pool deck, and that place is usually a zoo.

[dcipjr]

We also now book mostly inside cabins. But I have to say, on the Epic, I would recommend a balcony. As others have stated, there is not as much outdoor spaces on this ship. With no exterior promenade deck, about the only place to get out and enjoy the sunshine is on the pool deck, and that place is usually a zoo.

 

Definitely agreed. On the smaller ships, with the quieter, wraparound promenades, you can easily get away with an Inside or Oceanview. On the megaships like the Epic and Breakaway, I'd rather have a balcony.