deck 9 cabins on Epic

[mustgo]

I am trying to select a deck 9 balcony cabin on Epic. Parts of the ship appear to stick out farther than other parts for a BB cabin. Is there any advantage to location other than stairs?

[sdmike]

There are some uncovered and hull balconies on deck 9, so check the deck plan information in my signature area. Also, deck 9 is right above the life boats. While this isn't an issue really, you can avoid looking down on the top of lifeboats if you book midship. You can see this in large pictures of the Epic.

 

To answer your question specifically, the advantage to being on the "hump" is that you won't look down on an open deck 8 balcony. Also, you should know that Epic only has elevators at the front and rear of the ship. Nothing mid-ship. If easy access to the stairwells and elevators is important, move forward or back.

Edited January 7, 2014 by sdmike

[mustgo]

Thanks for your help. You have a wealth of information in your signature. This will be our first NCL cruise and I did not even know about hull or covered vs uncovered cabins. Aren't the life boats actually below deck 8? If so, I guess you can still see them when looking directly down from deck 9.

[sdmike]

Thanks for your help. You have a wealth of information in your signature. This will be our first NCL cruise and I did not even know about hull or covered vs uncovered cabins. Aren't the life boats actually below deck 8? If so, I guess you can still see them when looking directly down from deck 9.

 

They are below deck 8, so passengers on 8 have to look "out" rather than "down" at the ocean. It's not a big deal, but some have commented that they wish they had known this. Deck 9 is better yet, and they really won't come into play unless you are trying to look straight down.

 

You can use the dragable deck plans from my signature area to see how things line up. Just overlay deck 9 on deck 8 and line up the stairs/elevators, and you can see which rooms on deck 9 look down onto open deck 8 balconies (if this is something you want to avoid)

 

Also, since this is your first time on NCL you may want to do a search on topics that compare NCL to other cruise lines, and how Epic is different than other ships (e.g the bathroom layout). Let us know if you need help with the search function. One way I've done this is just search on "RCCL" or "CCL" and scan the results for topics that say things like "how is NCL different than RCCL" or similar. There are tons of posts like this. Also, you'll want to look at Epic reviews. There tend to be one or two on each page of this forum, so they'll be easy to find with a quick scan. The ones in my signature area are helpful, but somewhat dated.

 

 

Enjoy your trip!

Edited January 7, 2014 by sdmike

[3DBeach]

We sailed in mini-suites 9095 and 9097 and wish we had known we would be looking at the life boats before I booked those cabins. It didn't ruin my trip by any means but I wish I had done my research.

[IWORK2CRUISE]

We booked a balcony GTY and got 9216. We were quite pleased.

Yes, if you stood at the rail and looked down you saw a life boat. However,if you sat in your chair and looked out you saw the ocean. If you looked up, you saw the sky.

We enjoyed one of the greatest sunsets we have ever seen when we sailed away from St. Thomas.

We were kind of between forward and mid-ship.

[janette34]

We had an uncovered balcony on deck 9 (towards the aft) and loved it. I'm a sun lover so it worked perfectly for me. I believe our room was 9285 and we didn't have any life boats underneath us so we had a great view. My only complaint about the balcony was we would often get cigarette butts on our balcony from the gentleman above.

[mustgo]

I picked 9137 which when I drag over deck 8 looks like it is over an open balcony. Why will this be a bad choice?

[Maho_Beach_Madness]

We sailed in mini-suites 9095 and 9097 and wish we had known we would be looking at the life boats before I booked those cabins. It didn't ruin my trip by any means but I wish I had done my research.

 

 

We had 9093, so were your neighbours if you have also just done the New Year cruise :). The room location was perfect for us, yes lifeboats are below (below Deck 8), but not in line of sight unless you want to lean over and check out the waterline or immediate dockside. Room is near lifts and stairs, but no noise from these so really convenient and minimised walking along corridors. Also, Deck 9 is not too high and exposed if you have any party members who don't like heights, and is an easy walk in the evening to Decks 5-7 without waiting for lifts. Also, being midship and lower, it has less motion than many other suites. I would choose this room again.

[dans0202]

I was in 9282 and 9280 a few weeks back.

About 5 cabins from the back.

The balcony was open above so we did get garbage falling on to balcony.

Flip side was a great view of the stars.

Cruise was a rough one so cabin was rocking. Not sure how much location lower down or near back played into that.

One thing that was an issue was when side thruster were used (happened 3 times at night) the cabin shook so much that everybody I spoke with was awoken on deck 9 aft.

Don't think I would book this location again simply due to thruster issue.

[sdmike]

I picked 9137 which when I drag over deck 8 looks like it is over an open balcony. Why will this be a bad choice?

 

That's a fine cabin. Just be aware that you will be able to look down onto the balcony below you. Also, your cabin has the bed by the door, which puts it next to the bathroom and sink and makes it "feel" a bit smaller. No big deal (I had one), but some people prefer the other layout.

 

Have a good cruise

[mustgo]

Thanks Mike. I think we will stay with that one. We will have it for 2 weeks on the fall TA.

Price is great for a balcony cabin.