Just Booked! New to NCL...Epic for Easter

[vanchelle]

Pretty excited to book a vacation from snowy Boston! Chose a cat B6 balcony on deck 12 w/ UBP and hoping it's great.

 

I'm reviewing the board for lots of info for NCL....hoping to score either Posh or Spa passes if we board early. Getting a sense of dining and onboard fun, too.

 

Anyone have experience traveling the week of Easter? Is it super crowded and are there higher #'s of kids on these sailings?

 

Thanks so much-Happy Travels

[CHARLESV32]

Pretty excited to book a vacation from snowy Boston! Chose a cat B6 balcony on deck 12 w/ UBP and hoping it's great.

 

I'm reviewing the board for lots of info for NCL....hoping to score either Posh or Spa passes if we board early. Getting a sense of dining and onboard fun, too.

 

Anyone have experience traveling the week of Easter? Is it super crowded and are there higher #'s of kids on these sailings?

 

Thanks so much-Happy Travels

 

We are also booked on the Epic for Easter. Most of the kids are back at school that Monday but my son goes to Catholic school and they are off that week. Not sure about the rest of the country but I have not seen it super crowded while cruising during Easter

[dolita22]

Pretty excited to book a vacation from snowy Boston! Chose a cat B6 balcony on deck 12 w/ UBP and hoping it's great.

 

I'm reviewing the board for lots of info for NCL....hoping to score either Posh or Spa passes if we board early. Getting a sense of dining and onboard fun, too.

 

Anyone have experience traveling the week of Easter? Is it super crowded and are there higher #'s of kids on these sailings?

 

Thanks so much-Happy Travels

 

Fun! After all the snow you are getting, you will definitely enjoy the cruise and UBP!

 

My parents had a B6 on deck 12 on the Epic in 2013 (we were in a BA on deck 11) and the B6 decks are large! If you want, you should be able to fit a lounge chair plus a couple regular chairs on the deck. Just request a lounger from your room steward if one isn't already there. I think they bring them down from the pool area, at least that's what they did for my parents.

 

Count down those days! :-)

[dolita22]

I will also add, make reservations ahead of time if there are any shows you'd like to see (Blue Man Group, Legends, Second City). We sailed the Epic for the second time in January and decided not to make reservations for anything, and instead just roll with what we felt like doing the day of. Ended up as standby for Legends and didn't see Second City (we'd seen BMG on our first sailing). We waited until those with tickets were in, then were allowed in the theater. Kicked ourselves for not just reserving before we left. So easy!

 

Also, on deck 18 forward, outside of Posh, there are red padded lounge chairs and daybeds. It's a popular area, but nice and quiet, and people on our sailing seemed to vacate the chairs and daybeds in the afternoon. It's a good place to nap if you want sun!

 

Have a great cruise!

[vanchelle]

Thanks all for the info! 47 days.....

[AandBmom]

I recommend booking the cirque show and blue man group before you sail just to be sure you get the days/times you want...

 

Cirque show is good on a sea day so you're not rushing from port to catch it.

[Ali70]

I'm on the Epic at Easter too and unlike the other sailings on the Epic we can't pre book entertainment (nor can the April 12th sailing). Blue Man Group finishes the week before we sail and its replacement (Burn The Floor) doesn't start until April 19th.

[zqvol]

Pretty excited to book a vacation from snowy Boston! Chose a cat B6 balcony on deck 12 w/ UBP and hoping it's great.

 

I'm reviewing the board for lots of info for NCL....hoping to score either Posh or Spa passes if we board early. Getting a sense of dining and onboard fun, too.

 

Anyone have experience traveling the week of Easter? Is it super crowded and are there higher #'s of kids on these sailings?

 

Thanks so much-Happy Travels

 

You can expect the kid factor to be huge. About half of the K-12 schools have break the week before Easter and the other half have it the week after Easter, so you can expect about 1/3 of the passengers to be under 18.

 

Don't know what you mean about scoring passes, just go buy them when you get on board, unless you wait you should nto have any trouble.

[kenlyn]

Just off Epic Sunday, had a great time, my recommendation would be to book any specialty restaurants ahead too. The reservations were full almost every day we were on ship. We had booked everything in advance and boy are we glad we did.

[AandBmom]

You can expect the kid factor to be huge. About half of the K-12 schools have break the week before Easter and the other half have it the week after Easter, so you can expect about 1/3 of the passengers to be under 18.

 

Don't know what you mean about scoring passes, just go buy them when you get on board, unless you wait you should nto have any trouble.

 

My SIL tried to get Posh passes immediately after boarding at about noon and they were all sold out so you have to be quick. that might be a good week to have them if you're looking for some non kid space.

[luvtheships]

We did the jewel out of NYC on Easter Sunday 2011

 

Lots of families but not really an issue. Pools ridiculously crowded so swimming will be in ports

 

We went to gsc and knew to book the hippo slide so we could get on the first tender

 

We never bother to get poolside loungers as our kids are old enough to not need our supervision

 

It was a great cruise and we paid half of what they paid the previous week

 

All I can say is you will get crowds kids and family groups

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[AandBmom]

We did the jewel out of NYC on Easter Sunday 2011

 

Lots of families but not really an issue. Pools ridiculously crowded so swimming will be in ports

 

We went to gsc and knew to book the hippo slide so we could get on the first tender

 

We never bother to get poolside loungers as our kids are old enough to not need our supervision

 

It was a great cruise and we paid half of what they paid the previous week

 

All I can say is you will get crowds kids and family groups

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I could imagine the pools on Epic would be super crowded especially since they're each the size of a dining room table.

[vanchelle]

tried to make reservations...and NOTHING is available. I thought it was a fluke on the myncl site but I called reservations and she told me that there's nothing available for prebooking the week of Easter:(

So- we will head to guest services upon boarding and hope we can reserve!

 

 

 

I will also add, make reservations ahead of time if there are any shows you'd like to see (Blue Man Group, Legends, Second City). We sailed the Epic for the second time in January and decided not to make reservations for anything, and instead just roll with what we felt like doing the day of. Ended up as standby for Legends and didn't see Second City (we'd seen BMG on our first sailing). We waited until those with tickets were in, then were allowed in the theater. Kicked ourselves for not just reserving before we left. So easy!

 

Also, on deck 18 forward, outside of Posh, there are red padded lounge chairs and daybeds. It's a popular area, but nice and quiet, and people on our sailing seemed to vacate the chairs and daybeds in the afternoon. It's a good place to nap if you want sun!

 

Have a great cruise!

[vanchelle]

So you couldn't book Legends either? I thought it was strange...the tech guy told me that all of April's entertainment wasn't showing consistently on the website and then reservations told me there were no shows that has pre-booking slots available when I called....

 

 

I'm on the Epic at Easter too and unlike the other sailings on the Epic we can't pre book entertainment (nor can the April 12th sailing). Blue Man Group finishes the week before we sail and its replacement (Burn The Floor) doesn't start until April 19th.

[vanchelle]

You can expect the kid factor to be huge. About half of the K-12 schools have break the week before Easter and the other half have it the week after Easter, so you can expect about 1/3 of the passengers to be under 18.

 

Don't know what you mean about scoring passes, just go buy them when you get on board, unless you wait you should nto have any trouble.

 

I have read that that the posh and spa passes can sell out....?

[maggieworkman]

I'm assuming you read about the Epic bathroom situation.

 

Just warning you to research it so you can be prepared in case you haven't heard about it yet.

 

Maggie

[AandBmom]

tried to make reservations...and NOTHING is available. I thought it was a fluke on the myncl site but I called reservations and she told me that there's nothing available for prebooking the week of Easter:(

So- we will head to guest services upon boarding and hope we can reserve!

 

You can do it yourself really easy on the touch screens all over the ship or in your cabin on your TV. Much easier than waiting at guest services.

[david_sobe]

Congrats! Epic is an amazing ship. So much to do so make sure to try not to do it all otherwise you will drive yourself crazy. The first time on Epic I tried to do it all and failed miserably.

[vanchelle]

You can do it yourself really easy on the touch screens all over the ship or in your cabin on your TV. Much easier than waiting at guest services.

 

Thanks-didn't know that was option!

[RobTeazy]

Vanchelle, was your UBP package included with your booking? I'm booked to a Studio leaving on Easter Sunday as well, trying to decide if the UBP will be worth it.

 

 

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[vanchelle]

Vanchelle, was your UBP package included with your booking? I'm booked to a Studio leaving on Easter Sunday as well, trying to decide if the UBP will be worth it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Yes, the UBP was the promo...it really helped tilt us toward trying ncl this trip. We both enjoy some cocktails and I feel like our bar tab on last sailing was about 500.....so we might not have purchased the UBP but it's certainly a wonderful bonus=)

[meggie711]

We were on Epic the week of Easter back in 2013. It was our first spring break sailing and first time with NCL, so we were uncertain of how the crowds, kids, and ship would be. Granted, there were lots of kids (if I recall, we mainly noticed a lot of middle school to high school aged kids), but we didn't find it to be an issue. We had plenty of adult time at Spice H20, which is 18 and up. That was our favorite part of the ship, and we managed to get the same table every time we went back there! :)

We went to Moderno the very first night and were the only two in there besides another couple! We had a gorgeous view of the ocean - it was amazing. If you see Easter soup on the menu, give it a try! So so good!