Epic or Oasis ?? Or Both ??

[jjb415]

Hey Everyone,

 

After reading & hearing about the Norwegian Epic & the Oasis of the Seas, I seem to be more excited about the Oasis. What am I missing here? I have had great sailings on NCL but my most recent Royal Caribbean cruises have been more enjoyable. Help me out, I want to get excited about Epic too !! :)

[sjbdtz]

What's not to love about EPIC?

 

Some of the coolest-looking cabins, creative and progressive entertainment and venues.... choice, choice and more choice....and they actually LIKE glbt customers, unlike RCL...as noted here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=923646&highlight=letter

 

here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=268556&highlight=sjbdtz

 

and a few other places....

 

 

Can't wait for the epic TA.... ice bar, cirque / dinner show.... dinner & dancing, etc.

 

 

As for the OASIS..... I hate that if you're in a storm, the entire inside is exposed to the elements.

[eroller]

 

 

As for the OASIS..... I hate that if you're in a storm, the entire inside is exposed to the elements.

 

 

Huh?

 

Only the Boardwalk and Central Park area would be exposed, and of course the pool area like on any other ship. There are tons of interior public areas to go if there is a storm. On the other hand, most of the interior areas on EPIC are restaurants. If you are not eating and it's raining outside at night, then I have concerns. EPIC relies heavily on outdoor areas, such as the Posh Club and Spice H20 for evening entertainment. There is a relatively small show lounge and the casino, which are the biggest indoor venues on the ship. Everything else is pretty small. I'm not quite sure where the 4228+ passengers will go? I guess the Bliss Ultra Lounge and O'Sheehan's Pub but they are relatively small areas for what could easily be 5000 passengers onboard on a Summer stormy night.

 

On OASIS, even if it is raining outside, there are some very large interior spaces that will hold lots of passengers. The show lounge, Royal Promenade, Studio B, casino, 3-level Dazzles nightclub, etc. Not so much of the ship is dedicated to restaurants and the galleys that must serve them. OASIS will also offer a much higher space ratio compared to EPIC, so even though she carries more passengers, I'm fairly confident she will feel less crowded.

 

One other thing that concerns me about EPIC is the main pool area. The kids slides are pretty much next to the main pools. No division so there will always be a lot of kids around the pools. OASIS has the H20 Zone for kids and it's completely separate from the other pools.

 

I'm booked on both ships, and I think both will be amazing and groundbreaking. This being said, if I had to pick one it would be OASIS just because I know how much time and $$ RCI puts into their new designs. With OASIS they are not only spending a ton of money to improve the onboard experience (things like the lifeboat drill and pre-booking show seats), but also the infrastructure of every port OASIS will call at. OASIS will even dock at the private beach in Labadee and a brand new terminal is being built in Ft. Lauderdale just for the ship. RCI has an aspirational goal of check-in to boarding the ship in 15 minutes. If they accomplish that it will be a better experience compared to ships 1/3 the size of OASIS.

 

Anyway, as you can probably tell I'm pretty impressed with OASIS and RCI. When RCI builds a brand new ground breaking design, they don't just throw the ship out there. They think of the overall experience from start to finish redefine how they do things. They did the same with VOYAGER OF THE SEAS when she was first introduced, and that ship was just as ground breaking then as OASIS is now. I'm also impressed with EPIC, to a slightly lesser extent, but I also think she will be an amazing ship and a great asset for NCL.

 

Ernie

[mcy03970]

We were trying to decide which to go on, Oasis and Epic were the 2 choices we picked!

 

I've never been on NCL, only Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and my partner has never cruised before, so he's a virgin ;)

 

We picked Epic (9/11/10 cruise) so that I can try NCL and the price was much better!

 

Are there any other guys or couples that are going to be on the NCL Epic 9/11/2010? Would love to hear from you!

 

- Michael