Epic Christmas/ New Year 2023/2024

[room with a view]

Hi, we are considering the Epic for Christmas/New Year 2023/2024 ...deck 11 or 12 midships balcony or club balcony.

We have always sailed on smaller ships ... Spirit/Jade / Sun ...now Platinum.

 

We are OK with the "bathroom " arrangements .

 

Any advice from those on CC who have been on the Epic...shows/ dining reservations (do we need these for the MDR ?)

Any cabins to avoid ...and is it better to book a cabin with the bed closer to the balcony ?

 

Thanks 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by room with a view
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[www3traveler]

I have not been on The Epic but I have done a couple of Christmas cruises and have the Breakaway booked for Christmas 2023.

 

These cruises are very full cruises with multi-generational families.

 

For me as a solo Senior lady, it was great fun but might not be for others.  I love watching the kids and parents line up for pictures with Santa.  Many families in matching pajamas--Grandma and Grandpa, Mom, Dad and all the kiddies.  Each child gets a gift from Santa.

 

You do not need reservations for the Main Dining Rooms.  You need reservations for the shows.

 

Enjoy your cruise

[room with a view]

Thanks, I guess Christmas/New Year will be busy on the Epic .

 

[cruiseny4life]

5 minutes ago, room with a view said:

Thanks, I guess Christmas/New Year will be busy on the Epic .

 

And every cruise ship!

[www3traveler]

Given  that both Christmas Eve and New Year's both fall on a Sunday this year, it might change things just a bit.  Both cruises however will be at full capacity and probably a bit more.

[Aauclair]

We just got off the Epic and we had a great time. We ate well, had great stops and tons of good entertainment.

 

We have also sailed over New Year’s ( on the Bliss ) with our kids and that was memorable - lots of families with kids of all ages.
 

My advice, because these are big ships, is to try and book everything as early as you can. The big shows always seemed to have room on the Epic ( we were on a full ship ) but the smaller locales where you can’t reserve ( Cavern Club, Howl at the Moon ) took getting there early to get a good seat ( or changing seats as people left ). Take all the specialty dining you can. 
( we did Teppanyaki and Cagneys ). We sailed Haven on both so I do not have cabin info outside of there ( but if you can swing Haven…do it! Your life will be much easier as you will have the concierge who can organize everything for you ). 
 

We made a reservation for Taste ( MDR ) but we didn’t really need to. The meal was delicious. 
 

The only tiny criticism I had is that my white shoes got stained orange on the ship. There is an issue sometimes with blowback from the smokestacks that can cause this ( only found out about it after my shoes were stained ). We were at the basketball court when this happened. 

Have fun! 

[laudergayle]

We sailed Epic and personally we liked the bed by the balcony.  This is generally our choice because when you do room service breakfast the delivery person doesn’t have to squeeze by the bed to bring in the tray.  
 

We always make as many MDR reservations in advance. We just walk up at our time and are seated, bypassing those without reservations—which often times is long.  You may have to call NCL to book more than two MDRs due to how the app works.

We had a FWD cabin — balcony with large balcony. 12017.  We liked the easy access to the Garden Cafe and pool deck.  And deck 12 made it easy to walk down /up bypassing elevators.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[room with a view]

Thanks cruiseny 4life, www.3traveler,Auclair and laudergayle  for your replies...and great information.

 

Thanks for the tip on  deck 12 . 

 

Whereas the bigger ships have more facilities we still like the smaller ones - the Sun is doing the Christmas/ New Year season in the Med...but we don't the Sun.  The Jade and Spirit are elsewhere.

 

so ...it's going to be the Epic .

[Viajera7]

I have been on the Epic Christmas cruise 3 times including the last 2 years. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and had lots of activities. As others have said, make reservations for specialty dining and shows early. They still had Priscilla last year as one of the production shows. I hope they get another production show to replace Priscilla before December.

[red lobster]

I got off the Epic Sunday, and we had room 12136 balcony mid ship. We truly enjoyed our cruise, we ate at Cagney's and Moderno, both were good. I agree with others, reserve any specialty restaurants early, we were on a full ship and everything was unavailable. I had read many poor reviews on the Epic, but we had no complaints. Staff and food are all good, the elevators were not hard to get on, we use the stairs 90% of the time for exercise, but when we did want an elevator it wasn't as bad as some previous reports I'd read. The ship wasn't worn out or in poor condition, and the restrooms all worked fine while we were on there. Enjoy your Holiday cruise.

[room with a view]

 Red Lobster ... Thanks for your advice ... I guess this cruise will be full .

 

When you say "everything was unavailable "  was this for the Speciality Restaurants or the shows ? ...do you need to book for everything else ?

 

I'm hoping they put on a show that's as good as Priscilla  (pity they don't do it now as we have never seen it )

 

Disembarking ...did you encounter any problems . We have a 13.30 flight from Lisbon.

[room with a view]

On 3/21/2023 at 11:46 AM, Viajera7 said:

I have been on the Epic Christmas cruise 3 times including the last 2 years. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas and had lots of activities. As others have said, make reservations for specialty dining and shows early. They still had Priscilla last year as one of the production shows. I hope they get another production show to replace Priscilla before December.

Thanks, Viajera  ...we have had 4 Christmas/ New Years on the Spirit (fabulous ) and last year on the Sun.