Epic Full Sailing Question

We are leaving for the Epic next week and i believe that it is going to be a full (or nearly full) ship. Has anyone sailed on this ship when it has been full and if so, did you feel as though it was jam packed?? Will we be able to find seats at the pool on sea days?

Have only done the jewel class but you can find room, the dinning is bit more hectic at 7pm. The epic is bigger but I hope the blue dot system helps with deck chairs

I think ships go out full most of the time

we had planty of room on the Epic

Ships sail full basically every week.

You may not be able to find seats poolside even if a ship is 1/2 full unless you are the one out there with towels at dawn. :D

The epic is a huge ship and sailing with all the cabins sold and traveling on a holiday like Christmas or Easter,means many more of the cabins with families will have 3 or 4 passengers, makes a big difference.Having sailed on the epic 3 times previously,once over spring break and my next one for Xmas next week.you can get a deck chair on the pool deck,but not by the pool.eating in the main free dining areas is better early or late.i have also been out on the epic when it was not full that was great,but here I am going out over Christmas on a nearly full sailing,so it's not a dealbreaker just busy sometimes.

We were on the Epic over Thanksgiving. Word was that there were only 6 cabins empty, and there were something like 1300 kids on the ship!

Posh passes were the best money we spent- no worrying about finding a lounger. But honestly, it didn't feel jam-packed

I was on the Epic for a very full week. It was the first year Epic sailed and Christmas week. I was surprised how well Epic handled the crowds. Booking specialty restaurants the last night was an issue. Also PLEASE book ALL your shows prior to boarding. On a packed cruise, you have a real chance of being sold out if you dont book in advance.

Posh was packed for us. We could not get chairs at the bar level and had to go upstairs to the noisy engines.

But other than what I mentioned, things flowed pretty good.

Last month there were loungers available near the pool on each side of the slide ladders up one deck but next to the pool was packed

Have only done the jewel class but you can find room, the dinning is bit more hectic at 7pm. The epic is bigger but I hope the blue dot system helps with deck chairs

What is the "blue dot system?"

I was on the Epic for a very full week. It was the first year Epic sailed and Christmas week. I was surprised how well Epic handled the crowds. Booking specialty restaurants the last night was an issue. Also PLEASE book ALL your shows prior to boarding. On a packed cruise, you have a real chance of being sold out if you dont book in advance.

 

Posh was packed for us. We could not get chairs at the bar level and had to go upstairs to the noisy engines.

 

But other than what I mentioned, things flowed pretty good.

If you pre-book, can you change once you're on the ship? So much of our daily lives are scheduled that I really hate to have a schedule on vacation.

We found the main pool area on the Epic to be unusable for us due to the very loud music. We like Spice H2O at the stern of the ship.

We are leaving for the Epic next week and i believe that it is going to be a full (or nearly full) ship. Has anyone sailed on this ship when it has been full and if so, did you feel as though it was jam packed?? Will we be able to find seats at the pool on sea days?

It will be MORE that full. i.e. ship will sail more than double occupancy - the Xmas and New Year weeks are like that.

BUT you'll have a great fun!

Will definitely be full. We sailed when it was full too but found loungers up away from the pool area on a higher deck. It was quiet too.

We sailed on the Epic med cruise this summer with a reported 5000 passengers on board and you could tell. The pools were so crowded they were often unusable. There were always long lines for the slides. But, even with overcrowded pools, we never had issues getting a lounge chair. The buffet restaurant was complete chaos much of the time. There were waits in main dining rooms at peak times (30-40 minutes was typical but they gave out free champagne while waiting). However, other than that, we encountered no other areas that were that crowded or unpleasant.

We are leaving for the Epic next week and i believe that it is going to be a full (or nearly full) ship. Has anyone sailed on this ship when it has been full and if so, did you feel as though it was jam packed?? Will we be able to find seats at the pool on sea days?

I sailed on the Epic with 4000 guests in April 2011. I did the NYE cruise last year with 4800 guests. The extra 800 guests were noticeable. Chair hogs were out in full force. It was tough to find a chair anywhere, not just by the pool. They didn't sell Posh passes for the Christmas and New Year's sailings last year. It was tough to make a reservation for the specialty restaurants. Staff seemed a bit overwhelmed. I did feel it was jam packed, though I still enjoyed the cruise. Have fun. I'm sailing the Epic again in April.

What is the "blue dot system?"

If you put chair hog or blue dot in the search box at the top you will find plenty of info on this. In a nutshell, the blue dot system was started by NCL in an effort to solve the problem of people who come out in their jammies at 6am to plop towels on prime real estate pool chairs and then disappear for hours. Unoccupied chairs secured by towels or other items will be blue dotted and after 45 minutes or so will have the items removed to the towel desk. You can of course come and go to the pool, bathroom, etc for 30 minutes or so with no blue dotting.