Escape or GetAway or Carnival Breeze

Considering cruising during thanksgiving and considering one of three cruises. Please help Norweigen GetAway, Norweigen Escape, or Carnival Breeze. This cruise is for my family (husband, daughter 13 and daughter 15 and myself).

Considering cruising during thanksgiving and considering one of three cruises. Please help Norweigen GetAway, Norweigen Escape, or Carnival Breeze. This cruise is for my family (husband, daughter 13 and daughter 15 and myself).

We love the Getaway and have two more cruises booked on her. We are also excited about the Escape and have a cruise booked for next January on her. I can't tell you much about Carnival as it has been over 15 years since we were on that line. All I can say is that we feel the FreeStyle cruising on NCL is the type of cruise we enjoy the most. Lots of entertainment and dining options. Would suggest you keep researching here on Cruise Critic and see what others have to say. Hope you and your family have a great time!

Well as a family of 4 be prepared to sit with others in the ccl mdr

We are 6 and ccl sat us with 2 others and it made for a definite non family experience as we enjoy being together but were subdued because we didn't want the others as part if our family time

We didn't ask to be moved but should have in retrospect

Btw we had a 17/13/12/7 year old with us at the time

So from the mdr standpoint Ncl is best is you want family time meals as they do not sit you with others

We are a friendly group but family time is precious and we prefer to converse with ourselves at dinner and not strangers

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Considering cruising during thanksgiving and considering one of three cruises. Please help Norweigen GetAway, Norweigen Escape, or Carnival Breeze. This cruise is for my family (husband, daughter 13 and daughter 15 and myself).

The question is bit open ended. We've sailed both lines. Carnival has a bit different cruiser than NCL has. While NCL folks party, Carnival has Fun Ships. There will be more folks partying on a carnival ship, that's why some of them go. that's neither good or bad, just a something to consider.

NCL free style is a better dining option, IMO. As already stated, you can pretty much eat when and with who you want in the MDR. If you do choose NCL, We've been on the Getaway twice. It's a wonderful ship with lots of dining and entertainment options. The Escape will be similar. The only question may be is the staff settled down yet? New ship, new crew, they may be still working out how to play well as a team. It may not be evident in the level of service, but it may. We're booked on the Escape in mid December, and I'm still thinking it may be too early. I know a number of crew members that wouldn't even think about signing a contract on a new ship.

Another attribute you need to consider, is where you want go. The Breeze has a great Itinerary. Grand Turk is great as is Aruba. In addition you have an extra day. the Escape itinerary is tired, unless you've never cruised. St Thomas, Tortola and Nassau. The Getaway takes the western path to Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios and Cozumel. All decent ports.

Happy cruising, whatever you pick.

We are booked on the Escape for thanksgiving! Almost booked getaway but escape was the same price for a newer ship. I was just looking at the Breeze this morning though, can get 2 balcony rooms for the same price that we got 2 interiors on Escape... hmmmmmmmmm

Whichever has the best itinerary and best price. They are all great ships!

By the way, Carnival DOES NOT automatically sit your family of 4 with others. We have sailed 7 times with Carnival as a family of 4 and have NEVER sat with others at our table, except at lunch once. Carnival offers the option of Anytime dining (as opposed to assigned dining times and tables), which is basically the same as Freestyle dining in the main dining rooms.

And if Thanksgiving week falls on one of the Breeze's 8-day itineraries, that may be a plus over the 7-day cruises.

Our next cruise was going to be the Breeze, but we switched to the Getaway for a great 4-port itinerary and super low price (3rd thru 8th guests sail free). In our case, the Getaway cruise is cheaper than the Breeze. I am really looking forward to our Getaway cruise!

My family has sailed both the Getaway and the Carnival Breeze. Both are beautiful ships. Getaway has a better ropes course. Breeze has better lunch options. Getaway has O'Sheehans. Breeze has a great area for trivia and we loved Red Frog Pub. Breeze had larger rooms and the staff seemed friendlier. You really can't go wrong with either of these ships. Oh, and we did Your Time Dining on the Breeze so it was pretty much like NCL freestyle.

Escape looks really nice, too. Sorry if I'm not much help.

I've done a bunch of Carnival cruises, the best one being the Breeze. We love the ship but I think that the Getaway is probably very similar.

I just booked May 2016 on Escape -- I was torn between a 6-nt Breeze and the 7-nt on the new Escape (which I think is similar to Getaway). With the free beverage program on NCL (ends on Apr 30th) it was cheaper to do the NCL cruise than the Carnival so we opted to try that.

Other factors that pushed me to NCL -- the guppy program for little ones, being able to book a large balcony for still cheaper than reg balcony on breeze, and well, just trying something new.

Considering cruising during thanksgiving and considering one of three cruises. Please help Norweigen GetAway, Norweigen Escape, or Carnival Breeze. This cruise is for my family (husband, daughter 13 and daughter 15 and myself).

I would definitely go with Carnival on this one. One extra day, (if you would be booking the Nov 21 cruise) and superior itinerary. Aruba, Curacao, Grank Turk, and the Dominican Republic.

If you don't want to sit with others just pick anytime dining and that problem is alleviated.

As for the FUN ships comment and the partying, well that just sounds like somebody who hasn't cruised CCL or has taken a 3 day cruuise with them.

Believe me you won't be seeing falling down drunks on an 8 day cruise.

Oh yeah it's a little cheaper too.

Bill

with carnival you can opt for 'your time dining' and you can get private tables. I've had no problems on 4 cruises doing that.

if you do set time dining you can visit the m'aitre d on embarkation day and tell them that you want a private table...

I cant say anything about the NCL ships but we loved the Carnival Breeze. We chose My Time Dining and always had a table to ourselves. 4 in our family as well. We had a fantastic cruise director Butch who was very energetic. I had never been to such fun deck parties. It was packed with all ranges of age and people were dancing and having a great time.