Many people feel these are in the same class, others disagree.
They are both great for kids and singles but I really think it comes down to ships. That being said I will offer the opinion that NCL is a step above all but the newest Carnival ships.
Carnival does have that party image too so if you are looking to have some fun, it is a good option.
It was my 35th birthday, my friend & I cruised over to Freeport, Bahamas for the weekend. Was my 1st time being on a cruise ship, what a big ship! I hit Jackpot on Slots on the way over! Once there we arrived at our colorful hotel on the marina…I took a deep breath, looking at the sights around me, hearing the Island music across the breeze. Days were spent going through the Marketplace, sitting on the pristine beaches, amazed at the aqua water & even got to go swimming with dolphins!! That experience alone will remain with me forever. So completely magical!! It was like Disney World for grown ups. On the cruise back home, I stood on deck, watching the Island disappear from view & remember thinking “I don’t want to go back home…”An NCL cruise true story
Mom of two young boys point of view on NCL Epic
I took the Epic over Thanksgiving with my family. My two boys are 2 and 4. I am a Latitudes member with NCL so I have been on many other NCL ships: Sun, Dawn, Sky, Pearl twice and now the Epic. When traveling with little ones it is hard to know what is the right cruise line with not only NCL but any cruise line. I think the ship was great for kids that are 6 and over. I chose the ship because I thought my little ones would love the Nickelodeon and my 4 year old would love the water slides. For my husband and I we take NCL because of the Freestyle dining as well as I was really excited about the ice bar. Here are my pro’s and con’s regarding the ship if you decide to take as a family:
PRO
Nickelodeon at sea was great! Although besides Dora and Diego my 4 year old didn’t really know Spongebob that well or Jimmy Neutron. I thought the storytime and activities revolving around the characters were great!
CON
The character breakfast was much different then I expected. We frequent Disney a lot so I enjoy the character breakfasts, but I prefer the characters coming up to the table where on the ship you had to be called by table number. We were table 28 so it was very hard for young children to wait until #28 was called.
PRO
The water slides are a great feature on the ship! Older kids can stay busy for hours! The baby area was great! Very cute baby pool and lots of fountains. My two year old was entertained!
CON
On all the NCL ships I am allowed to go the slides with my 4 year old. However, I was very disappointed when they told me my 4 year old was not allowed to go on with an adult but by himself. He is at that in between stage to old for the baby water slide and not old enough yet for the big water slides. I think this was my biggest disappointment. I think if I knew this information ahead of time I would have considered about taking a different ship.
Overall, i thought the ship was beautiful, nicely done. I enjoyed the restaurants as I do on all the NCL ships. I thought the new Argentian Steakhouse Moderno was a nice feature. I do feel I was very nickeled and dimed on the ship. My two year old wanted pizza for lunch while my two year old was sleeping. Needless to say they wanted to charge me $5 to deliver the pizza.
I think the Ice bar was also a bit overrated. Charging $20 a person to enter for 15 minutes is a bit much. It is definitely a been there done that. you go in take a picture and leave. They give you too drinks for the admission but honestly. it is cold that you don’t want to have two drinks. maybe one and leave!
I think my next time around I would still consider NCL, but would choose either the pearl or dawn. They seem to be a bit kid friendly and still have the free style dining.
Well, now the price of this trip just keeps going up. The shows actually cost money! This is something in 25 cruises I have never seen before.
The pizza cost money! My 4 year old ordered a slice of pie from room service and it came with a $5 bill.
For all the grand features this ship offers, they are charging you left and right. Typically a full review (which will follow) outlines all the good and the bad of the cruise and it's ports. Being this is about my 10th NCL cruise I feel it is very important to outline these extra costs for those who may consider a last minute Christmas cruise.
The Pearl is a better option for NCL.
The Ice Bar, a major selling feature of this ship has a $20 cover charge, ok that is a bit much but when you go inside the place can't hold more than 15-20 people. It is a gimmick and really a bit of a scam.
Cagney's, the upscale Steakhouse is normally great most if the time but on this ship it is no better than the main dining room. The Bistro French restaurant is a far better option for a steak.
My reviews so far are fairly harsh of NCL's Epic but the truth is I can not recommend this ship to anyone. It is not as nice of an overall experience has most of the fleets other ships and the petty approach to charging for every last thing is annoying. One main benefit of a cruise is that it is all inclusive. The Epic is anything but.
We are in the American port where Ipads work for free as it is the US and even on the balcony my signal is being blocked so I have to use the ships internet service.
My next post will be how to hack around the system here and get the bang for the buck but NCL has annoyed at least 25 couples with young children I have spoken to and I do spend a lot time asking people for their input. I want to see if I am off base on anything and so far everyone is feeling the same way about this ship compared to NCL's other ships.
I would expect to see deep discounts on the Epic coming as blogs and reviews like this get on to the web.
Until tomorrow …….
Sent from my iPad
This week we will first board the NCL Epic, there are lots of new things to rate. The expectations are very high with what should be exceptional food and entertainment. The ship is huge so let’s see how boarding with a 2 and 4 year old goes.
The port of Miami is known for troublesome parking so we will give it some extra time, let’s see how this goes.
