Help-Sunshine/Magic/Oasis/Adventure of the Seas/Getaway

The wife and I are looking to book our first cruise for our 15th anniversary. We are late 30s. Not hard partyiers but like to have a few drinks. We are stuck between 5 options and looking for some cruise expert opinions. The cruises are:

Carnival Sunshine, 8 night (Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Marteen)

RCCL Adventure of the Seas, 8 night (Labadee, San Juan, St. Marteen and St. Kitts)

Carnival Magic, 7 night (Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Grand Cayman)

RCCL Oasis of the Seas, 7 night (Labadee, Jamaica and Cozumel)

Norwegian Getaway, 7 night (St. Thomas, Tortula-BVI and Nassau)

All are the same week. The Sunshine, Adventure and Oasis are basically the same cost. Magic is $600 cheaper. Norwegian is $200 more than the 3 but includes the drink package, dining package and prepaid gratuities (all things we will buy with Carnival or RCCL for about $1200) so in the end the Getaway is about $1000 cheaper in the end.

How do I decide? I have read so many reviews and frankly don't know how to decide. We are leaning towards the Adventure but the price on the NCL Getaway is so tempting. Help, please. Thanks!

Out of your list, we would pick the Oasis. But,,,, would wait for the Symphony later in the year.

I loved the Sunshine! Great 'adult only' area, great specialty restaurants, layout was good and Guy's burgers for lunch! Cant go wrong, and typically the costs is the best out of all options. We sailed in Sept of 2017, so about 7 mo ago.

I've been on all those lines and we are Getaway/NCL enthusists-We have sailed twice on her and have a cruise on the Escape as well as Encore-Also we went on the Epic in the Med last fall-We feel the entertainmment is so much better-The food so much better and the staff friendlier than any other line-

HOWEVER the cruiselines are more alike than different-I would go for the Getaway or Oasis-

Have a great time whichever you chose-

Oasis

Been on all of these before, I think for the reasons you mentioned above, that Getaway would be a good choice. I like the itinerary better on the Sunshine however and it is an extra night.

The wife and I are looking to book our first cruise for our 15th anniversary. We are late 30s. Not hard partyiers but like to have a few drinks. We are stuck between 5 options and looking for some cruise expert opinions. The cruises are:

 

Carnival Sunshine, 8 night (Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Marteen)

This is a smaller, renovated ship (I used to cruise a lot with Carnival) and the ports are outstanding.

 

RCCL Adventure of the Seas, 8 night (Labadee, San Juan, St. Marteen and St. Kitts)

This is my parents favorite ship. I've only cruised on the Explorer of the Seas, out of all my cruises I have never felt so nickel and dimed as I did on that cruise, which is why I haven't cruised them again. Although I have been tempted now that "My" ship is out (harmony of the seas... there's something I feel that would be fulfilling for harmony to sail on harmony). I also did not like Labadee; it felt really dirty being there, there wasn't a ton to do (RCCL recently announced they're going to basically rebuild it).

 

Carnival Magic, 7 night (Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Grand Cayman)

Until I cruised on the Epic, this was my all time favorite ship (even better than Westerdam, which we had an awesome pinnacle suite for). The ship was incredible, really well kept, the food was amazing, the service was excellent. I got off the Magic and could not wait to book her again. The ports are also good ones.

 

RCCL Oasis of the Seas, 7 night (Labadee, Jamaica and Cozumel)

We haven't done an oasis class ship, but a friend of mine recently did. They'd be the first to admit they're "county" people, and they really struggled with the crowds and the waiting.

 

Norwegian Getaway, 7 night (St. Thomas, Tortula-BVI and Nassau)

These are great ports.

 

All are the same week. The Sunshine, Adventure and Oasis are basically the same cost. Magic is $600 cheaper. Norwegian is $200 more than the 3 but includes the drink package, dining package and prepaid gratuities (all things we will buy with Carnival or RCCL for about $1200) so in the end the Getaway is about $1000 cheaper in the end.

 

How do I decide? I have read so many reviews and frankly don't know how to decide. We are leaning towards the Adventure but the price on the NCL Getaway is so tempting. Help, please. Thanks!

If I have more than one choice I make a spreadsheet, rank things based on how I feel about them. Look for videos on you tube and photos and see what piques your interest.

We love the Getaway! St. Thomas and Tortola are two of our favorite places to visit. The Oasis is on our list of ships we want to sail on. Tough decision to make! Happy 15th Anniversary :)

Wow that is a tough decision. I like the idea of creating the spreadsheet and then the two of you discussing and ranking the differences. If you are not going to take advantage of the drink package enough, then you should factor that decision into your analysis. If you chose to just buy drinks as you go on the other ships, you could save money. Also, the NCL cruise is a 7 day cruise. We have cruised on Carnival Dream twice, NCL Escape twice and will be in the Getaway in May. All of your choices are exceptional. We enjoy the freestyle, food and entertainment of NCL. It fits our style well. The Waterfront feature on the Getaway is awesome. Whatever your choice is, I am sure you will have an awesome time. Happy cruising.

No bad choices there. Not loyal to any cruise line. But, I’m a big fan of NCL’s “Away” ships. With the “gimmes”, that’s almost a no brainer. The entertainment is generally broadway or Vegas quality (that’s a good thing). Service is great, too.

Oasis class ships (I sailed the Allure) are something of an enigma. I’m ambivalent about it because it tries to be all things to all people with middling success. Service is fine. Specialty restaurants are good (less so the free dining venues). Entertainment is generally good.

Both the Allure (twin to Oasis) and the Getaway are beautiful ships.

If you like having open areas where you can dine or just hang out for cocktails, I’d choose Getaway. NCL seems to do the “al fresco” feeling a lot better than the others.

Not quite sure, but I always seem to spend more on a RCCL cruise than I do on CCL or NCL cruise. Drinks? Probably part of it. The cabins seem to cost more than the others, too.

Haven’t sailed Carnival in a while so probably reserve judgement on them, although I’ve had fun on their cruises in the past. The biggest thing I remember about CCL was everyone rushing around trying to be in line for everything.....food, entertainment, etc. Just an observation. I rush for nothing while on vacation and tend to avoid lines wherever possible. I do remember their entertainment to be less of a “Full-on Spectacle” than either RCCL or NCL. The productions were smaller and simpler.

Not sure there’s a bad choice. Go with your gut.

I've been on both getaway and oasis and liked both. To me the main difference is the active things on board and dining. The getaway has a ropes course (that has a zip line) and slides. Oasis has a zip line, flowrider, and ice skating rink. Both have a rock wall. As for dining, getaway is freestyle so their main dining room is like a restaurant - show up when you want and the busy time might have a wait. It has a pub style place for 24 hour eats. Oasis has two set dining times so you're the same time and table every day (they do have any time dining, but I didn't do that) and their 24 hour place is pizza. The specialty is more or less similar design on both, though obviously different places. Also, I will say the weeks I sailed the adult only area on oasis was more chill spa like and getaway was a bit more upbeat party atmosphere.

As for itineraries - when are you looking? I believe it was only a month or so ago ncl cancelled all eastern itineraries through like August or Sept - so if it's this year there might be a risk of it getting switched to western. For royal labadee is their private "island" so the drink package works there and it's just royal passengers there.

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We (husband-40, Myself-33) were just going through the same scenario. If the NCL Escape was still in MIA that would have been our number one choice. After our first cruise with NCL, we're hooked. Just booked the Getaway for next month. We sailed the Harmony of the Seas last year and honestly it ranked pretty low on our list. The crowds on this ship were just exhausting...way to many ppl and I've sailed during peak spring break, so trust me 6k is a bit much. However, I think everyone should experience an Oasis class. Investment wise, NCL currently is the way to go.