Comparing two mega-ships

[millstastic10]

I have been on three cruises so far and loved them! Two were with carnival, carnival victory and carnival conquest. My wife and I are planning another cruise in November but are torn between the Norwegian Epic and Allure of the seas. Which of these are better? Its just the two of us and we are in our mid 20's. Any and all advice would be great

[GORDONCHICK]

Better is relative. What did you love about your other cruises?

[millstastic10]

We loved the action. The different things to do each night, and the food. I know thats vague but we really have not cruised enough to know all thats available

[GORDONCHICK]

I think you'd be fine on either ship. Why not pick the one with the itinerary you like the best? The one thing about NCL is that formal is 100% optional and you have many dining options (some for an extra charge but plenty are included in the cost of the cruise). Both ships should have plenty of night life and activities for you.

[millstastic10]

thank you for that information

[dwjoe]

The Allure is a massive ship with a huge variety of onboard activities, but tends to charge higher prices.

 

The Epic is a bit of a white elephant. She has an unusual layout and balcony cabin configurations, which some cruisers like and some don't. I suggest reading the reviews of the Epic for more information.

 

Btw, most ships today are technically "megaships".

 

The Epic is a very large cruise ship by today's standards (approx 155,000 tons) while the Allure is the biggest (approx 220,000 tons).

 

But even 100,000 ton ships, average-ish by today's standards, are "megaships".

[dorisis]

It's a no-brainer for me.ALLURE!!!

[Warm Breezes]

Depends on what you are looking for. Our last cruise came down to Epic or Oasis. We had decided we wanted to try a non-Carnival Mega Ship. We had just done 3 Carnival Cruises in a row and we were looking for something different to change things up. Not that we didn't like Carnival, we just wanted to try something different for that vacation. The 2 ships, for the same week, had the same itinerary only backwards and one was sailing out of FLL and the other MIA. We were looking at 2 side-by-side inside rooms for our family of 4. Epic came in at $1000 less for the 4 us. That made it a no brainer. I could not imagine any of the offerings on Oasis that would make it worth $1000 more than the Epic. We did not regret our decision.

 

We loved all the entertainment, especially Blue Man Group and Howl at the Moon. They definately beat anything offered on Carnival. The service was comparible to our Carnival Cruises. IMHO, the MDR was comparible to Carnival (slightly more limited selection on NCL), the buffet was better, the desserts were worse, and we loved O'Sheehans. We only went to one specialty restaurant, Cirque, and that was to see the show. Otherwise we were satisfied with the MDR.

 

DH found out that he is not a big fan of the Mega Ship...too big for him. He had become comfortable with layout of Carnival Freedom, Glory, and Destiny since they were so similar and were our last 3 cruises and he didn't like feeling lost for most of the cruise or all the additional walking because of the size. The kids and I did not mind that at all. He also felt it was more crowded because we couldn't find seats on sea days, but DD and I have also had that same experience on multiple other ships and lines so I didn't feel that way.

 

The inside rooms were definately smaller but it wasn't so bad for us since we got 2 insides instead of cramming all 4 of us into one. As a married couple we had no problem with the layout. DD, who shared a room with her brother, did not care for it so much.

 

Make a list comparing the things that matter to you and make your decision based on that. For us, the cost difference was the major factor in our decision. Most of all have fun and enjoy your choice.

[millstastic10]

Thanks Doris. Was there any particular reason? I'm trying to gather as many opinions as possible from veteran cruisers

[millstastic10]

That was very informative thank you. I was wondering about the main dinning room sense epic has the freestyle dinning.

[Warm Breezes]

That was very informative thank you. I was wondering about the main dinning room sense epic has the freestyle dinning.

 

Epic has 2 MDR. The Aft MDR has a slightly higher dress code with a band and dance floor. Epic has 2 dress up or not nights, but really any night can be made so...they just have more photographers out on these nights. While the menus call items by different names we found them to be basically the same between the 2 MDRs.