NCL Epic - Lg Balcony vs. Mini-suite?

[T_Bone2012]

I am Booking an 11 day Mediterranean itinerary this week, and I am torn between the huge 97 sq foot balcony of #10079 vs a little more space and a few perks that come with Mini suite #11090.  Does anyone know if this is the most current list of extras that come with the mini-suite? With the Epic being so large, I am thinking that extra 5 day head start on booking "certain" entertainment and dining reservations may be worth it?  Does anyone have experience as to what "certain" excludes?

• The option to pre-book certain on-board entertainment and dining reservations up to 125 days before you set sail
• Complimentary treats delivered to your stateroom
• A complimentary bottle of sparkling wine on embarkation day
• The choice of either one complimentary laundry service or one complimentary pressing service
• The Bliss Collection by Norwegian mattress topper or memory-foam mattress, fine linens and choice of pillows

[BirdTravels]

As we have gotten older and less mobile and flexible, we take the club balcony for the bigger shower. 

[mcmomny]

Club Balcony for the free laundry and extra space in the cabin. And yes the bathroom is very nice!

[RB9643]

We have found that we use our balcony far less than we think we will. If there are only two of you, the Club balcony is just fine. On the other hand, you will absolutely appreciate, a number of times daily, the bathroom and shower in the Club mini-suite (along with the other little perks).

[fredflint]

Balcony is a plus for days at sea how many do you have?

[T_Bone2012]

This is very port intensive, with only 1 day out of 11 at sea.  I think we'll choose the extra cabin room over the balcony.

[mking8288]

With a port intensive itinerary, unless you plan to spent a lot of time staying onboard & using the balcony, personally speaking, 2 of us - if we are going to sail the Epic again (recently, TA for 15 nights cruised her to Spain from NY) would just book a balcony.  The "nice" bathtub doesn't matter to us, the toilet closet looks the same & functional.  Ship is overdue for drydocking and to get a good amount of work to refresh her, balcony railings in need of a fresh coat of clear varnish, rust spots here & there painted over ... mattress overdue for replacement so the topper would likely be necessary (unless they have newish & fancier memory foam mattress for all the suites, which I won't count on.  P.S.  Remember to pull out the main mattress to fully extend it (unless all are 5' 8" or shorter) as otherwise, it isn't easy to walk around to reach the balcony, pick one with the sofa near the shower for optimal use of the "curved" room layout as designed by the French, one of its only kind.  

 

Be mindful of scaled back entertainment in the main theater, lounge shows & entertainers should be fine, after dinner or skipping one to see them (if "on" for that evening)   Nothing special about the treats (delivered twice by room service rolling along on a cart to all suites), just go to the buffet before 9:30 pm closing time to get fresh one yourself.   Sparking wine is $5 retail ashore, IMHO skip it - couldn't give them away to anyone and Laundry is worth $29, which you can do during special days when offered to all guests (available twice on 10 to 12 nights).  

 

Pocket the savings and spend them on shorex, that's our two cents, FWIW.  Happy cruising.  

[SpainAlien]

3 hours ago, T_Bone2012 said:

This is very port intensive, with only 1 day out of 11 at sea.  I think we'll choose the extra cabin room over the balcony.

It's about the same cabin size the only area that is bigger is the section allotted to the bathroom setup. Some of the club cabins have a tub instead of a large shower so make sure you select the cabin layout you want

[jimsig]

We sailed the Epic from SJU to NYC in April and took the larger balcony over the Club Suite.  We had 5 ports and 2 at sea days.  We had cabin 9029 and it has a 118sq ft balcony and half is covered and half is open.  I liked it had a recliner and a chair instead of 2 chairs.  For us the extras were not worth it for the Club Suite.