Escape or Breeze?

[mvh]

Can anyone who has been on both compare the NCL Escape and the Carnival Breeze? Just the ship itself, I am not concerned with the ports. What are pros and cons of both. I will be sailing with some first timers and we are undecided.

[TrumpyNor]

Can anyone who has been on both compare the NCL Escape and the Carnival Breeze? Just the ship itself, I am not concerned with the ports. What are pros and cons of both. I will be sailing with some first timers and we are undecided.

 

Since it is just a few weeks since cruises started on the Escape, you might have some problems finding someone who have sailed with both the Escape AND the Carnival Breeze AND is a member of CruiseCritic - at least this early in the "life" of the Norwegian Escape....

[TheDougOut]

Have you watched some walkthroughs of both ships on YouTube? These often give a great feel for the ships. I'm addicted to them - watching videos of ships I know I'll never step foot on.

[cruisecrazy82]

I have a cruise on the Escape this weekend and have sailed on the Breeze [emoji4] I can tell you we loved the Breeze and I would say the differences (without having sailed the Escape yet) would be that the Breeze has more complimentary dining venues (LOVE Guy's Burgers!!), the Escape likely has better entertainment in regards to shows, if booking now NCL has a definite edge in regards to promotions, both ships are beautiful, they both have awesome activities like the ropes course, water slides and mini golf, cabins on Carnival may be a bit larger but not by much IMO, we loved our cruise on the Breeze and wouldn't hesitate to sail it again. I honestly don't think you can make a bad choice with these two ships. [emoji4]

Edited December 9, 2015 by cruisecrazy82

[HarpHarp]

I've been on both. I sailed the Breeze in the Med though.

I love the promenade hot tubs & the seating nearby on the Breeze. It is a beautiful ship. Ocean plaza has a problem IMHO.The entertainment is too loud

& at times music be heard from 3 different venues, since the piano bar, ocean plaza stage & the Red Frog are all open. Liked the pool deck, but no live music & a poor DJ. Guest services the excursion desk, & computer center were lacking.

 

The Escape has better food, the flow of the buffet was the best, we never waited to get seated in the main dining room or O'Sheehans. Loved the District & the entertainment was phenomenal. The staff was very friendly & helpful

[Bison]

Can anyone who has been on both compare the NCL Escape and the Carnival Breeze? Just the ship itself, I am not concerned with the ports. What are pros and cons of both. I will be sailing with some first timers and we are undecided.

We have been on both and didn't have any issue on either one. The dining room food was better I felt on the Breeze, not to say the Escape was bad. The entertainment, as far as the theater, was better on the escape but musicians on the Breeze were better to us. Of course, the muscians change all the time and likes or dislikes are subjective. On both ships we had interior rooms and it felt like the Breeze was slightly larger and the layout was better. I'm not a burger lover but did enjoy the burgers at Guy Fieri's very much. If you have a specific question I will try to answer if I can. Don't think you can go wrong with either and of course the Escape is newest of the two!

[mvh]

Thanks for your insight. How did the crowdedness compare? How long were the waits for the slides and ropes? Are the passengers ages pretty comparable?

[Bison]

Thanks for your insight. How did the crowdedness compare? How long were the waits for the slides and ropes? Are the passengers ages pretty comparable?

The buffet seemed to feel more crowded on the Breeze than on Escape. Other than that they felt similar to us in terms of crowding, not too bad. We did not do the slides on Escape but did on Breeze and didn't experience much, if any wait. It appears that the slides on Escape would be more fun. We didn't do the rope course on either the Breeze or Escape but did on Getaway)sister to Escape). The wait on the rope cause on the getaway was minimal but did notice that the cause seemed a little backed up on Escape. Sorry but don't have any recollection of waits on Breeze. The rope course, in my opinion, is so much better on the Escape than Breeze. The age of passengers on our two cruises (Escape vs Breeze) that I'm comparing appeared older on Escape but did seem to noticed a fair amount of strollers. Do agree with previous poster that on the Escape the flow of buffet works well and we dined at O Sheehan's many times and enjoyed it.