sunny2runner

That is good to know...so convenient. I haven't looked into Epic. Honestly, I've only researched Breakaway, Getaway, and Escape

 

Thanks! :D

The Epic bathroom situation is horrible. Bathroom (toilet) Literally next to the bed. If someone gets up to get to go to the bathroom in the middle up the night, you will get woken up. Sink next to vanity. Weirdness! We just could never get over the set up of their rooms on the Epic.

We have done 13 Disney cruises and one NCL. Disney is truly extraordinary :-) I feel like while on the ship you are having this magical experience. Crew is happy, passengers are happy and everyone is in the magical time warp.

We are starting to look at lower cost cruise options due to Disney's skyrocketing prices in the last 2 years. We want to sail more often so we wanted to try other options.

We tried the Epic for Christmas and we enjoyed it but it was not Disney but for the cost difference we still will do NCL.

Here are the things that we found missing from NCL.

Our kids (10 and 13 yrs) did not anything to do with NCL Kids clubs whereas on DCL they don't want to leave those spaces. We never got to have much time away from our kids :-) on NCL. We enjoy having a couple hours here and there and on DCL we get plenty of alone time.

Lack of really awesome evening entertainment on NCL. I love Disney shows and the entertainment they bring on. They are always the best and very easy to attend. NCL you have to book tickets ahead of time and we found it hard to get tickets to the days/times. The kids love the Disney Theater where they run Disney movies all day and night. We love watching the movies on the pool deck in the evenings while grabbing a cone or snack on DCL. There is none of that on NCL.

In general Disney crew seems much happier and willing to go out of there way to give you a Disney experience. We have had so many amazing interactions with Disney crew. Disney crew will give you magical moments certificates and gifts in your cabin when they have a good interaction with your family/children. My kids love coming to cabin and having a magical moment waiting for them. Whereas the Epic crew seemed less engaged.

Where we thought NCL beat DCL was the food! So many more dining options. The buffet was delicious. We loved being able to do the buffet for dinner after a long day in port and not have to get dressed for main dining. Really wish Disney would do a evening/dinner buffet. NCL is the cruise is you want to eat well and experience so many different options! All the specialty dining options is awesome as well.

The Epic room design is horrible especially if you want to do a family of four in a standard balcony. That was not a pleasant experience. Very tight and weird bathroom next to the bed. Disney cabins both oceanview and standard balcony are perfect, spacey and comfortable for a family of 4.

Plus Epic we could never get our room temperature down. We had like 4 of the 7 nights were it was so hot we were all pretty uncomfortable sleeping. We complained but nothing was every done by NCL. We also experienced that some inside spaces on the ship itself seemed pretty warm on NCL. On Disney the room temp has never been an issue. Definitely bring a fan on NCL ships.

One more thing on the room, my kids enjoy watching a show in the evening before bed or while we are showering and getting ready for dinner. Disney in room/tv programming is the bomb! They have so many channels with whatever you want to watch Disney shows/movies/cartoons. And on the Fantasy/Dream they have every Disney movie and cartoons on demand. NCL had like 2 channels of random shows/old sitcoms. My kids was pretty disappointed.

We have both a NCL on Escape and Disney scheduled for the next year! Looking forward to being at sea more with NCL.

No, and no. While I don't smoke personally, I often travel with people who do. There are very few areas where you can smoke on board to begin with, so as long as people are following the rules, I see no reason it should adversely affect non-smoking guests.

The smoke from the inside spaces like the Casino can be smelled through the open area near the casino. It is very nasty smell and not fun to be inhaling the smoke as you have to pass through the casino on your way to another inside space.

We booked our April 9th sailing of the Royal Princess - 10 day Caribbean early last fall. I think late September.

We were looking at the same cruise next year and there is a huge price difference ($1,500-2,000) from what we paid and the 2018 sailing for the same category room.

We have been watching the price for the past 2-3 months and no drop at all. I am wondering if they drop the rates in the fall.

It's gotten a lot more expensive than the last three years on the Regal. Our current booking was several hundred cheaper AND we get $300 OBC. We booked last year during the Leap Day sale and got s great deal. Since then, the prices have just gone up.

two years ago we booked last minute one month out and got a great deal. Last year we got an excellent deal. All three cruises on the Regal during March and April. but since last March, I have noticed higher prices and not much OBC. Guess bookings must be stronger now so that they don't have to reduce prices .

I completely agree and share the same thoughts/experience on pricing. We are sailing in April on a 10 night Southern Caribbean that we booked early last fall. We are looking at the same cruise for 2018 at the current pricing/sales and it is $1,500 - $2,000 more than our 2017 sailing. Why so much more??

We keep thinking that maybe Fall prices/sales will be better than what they are advertising in the past couple of months.

Go to Pool deck. Let the kids swim in the pool while its quiet.

Grab a cocktail or two with hubby and watch the kids swim.

Than we have get lunch shortly before muster drill. Than muster drill and than go up to top deck watch the ship pull out of port.

Than down to our room, get backs unpacked and get ready for dinner.

How do Future Cruise Credits work?

We are going on an April cruise and may want to book a December cruise. We are wondering if there will be any in cruise incentives to book on board.

Thanks everyone for your input! We hadn't intend to share. Its just that I don't drink much and only like a glass of wine here and there and sometimes a fruity cocktail on the pool deck.

My husbands wants the freedom to drink whatever he wants/whenever he wants. The only time he cuts loose is on vacations so it may make sense for him to get the drink package especially some of the drinks prices seem high.

One additional question, does the cost of the drink package include gratuities.

We will be sailing on the Royal Princess on a 10 day sailing during spring break. Our first Princess :D

I was wondering does Princess have on board entertainment in the evenings? If so, what kind of entertainment?

I have been on Disney's longer sailings and they bring in comedians,magicians, hypnotists for evening entertainment. Does Princess do the same?

Thanks for your insight! We are Disney cruisers. We are Platinum level on Disney but the prices of DCL continue to skyrocket that we are looking at other options. We are going on our first Princess cruise in April with our 2 kids, ages 11 and 13.

We tried NCL for Christmas and loved the food options. So much better than Disney! Disney really needs to add a dinner buffet and extend its lunch buffet till 3PM. We always find that we are about to miss lunch or totally miss lunch with the lunch only being open till 2pm. As others have said the options for deck grill food are totally undesirable on Disney. The burgers and pizza are very poor tasting.

On NCL the buffet food was amazing and open for dinner and later in the evening. The deck food was better than Disney's. Where Disney bets NCL is the service and happy factors as well the entertainment. Disney has so much on board entertainment and we always felt like there was more than enough to do. NCL had very little evening entertainment and what they did have was always so crowded or booked way in advance and not worth the hassle of the crowds.

I am very excited to try the Royal Princess with hopes that their service is high, food is amazing and entertainment is wonderful.

So we are thinking about having my husband get a beverage package and me not on our first Princess sailing.

I only drink 1-3 drinks a day or less on a cruise so it makes no sense for me to get a package when I would only spend $10-30 a day on drinks but he likes to have drinks all day long.

Can we do have one person have a drink package and the other not?