Help!always done carnival, now maybe will try Epic?

[Missiowa]

Hello, we have only cruised 3 times before and they have always been on carnival. We love carnival but then again that's all we have done. We only have a week the first week in december. Could someone please help. Carnival offers much bang for your buck. I see the rooms are much bigger, more free food options, and better ports. Has anyone cruised both and\or both and info on the epic? I'm choosing epic because mainly of blue man group. Info, I have a wheelchair bound hubby, dd age 17 and ds age 15. I am 39, hubby 38. This cruise only offers to go to Nassau, st Thomas and st martin. We have seen all but st Martin. Is this worth it to give up Turks on carnival? We love Turks!, thanks for the help!!!:)

[Missiowa]

No one has been on the epic? Really? Please, any help would be great!

[BadKitteh]

I love St. Maarten! :)

 

Haven't done Carnival, but DH and I spent 2 weeks on Epic in January. If your DH is in a wheelchair, you definitely should book a room near the elevators (only 2 sets on this ship). Keep in mind, that because it holds so many people and there are 16 elevators on the ship, that they get VERY crowded. They are located at each end of the ship so you have to plan your floor choices very deliberately and looking at deck plans online to pre-plan your movements. The pool is not accessible, but the hot tubs have chair lifts to allow those with limited mobility a change to get in the tub.

 

The crew on the ship are excellent and if you go to a cruise critic m&g, you will get the numbers of all the important officers on the ship so if you encounter difficulties they can assist you right away.

 

Relax- your post was less than 20 minutes old and posted after midnight on a Saturday. Many people are not online at the moment :)

[Dspcentury]

I have done a Carnival Cruise and also last year for the first time I have been on the NCL Epic. The Epic has alot more to offer in my opinion and I enjoyed the ship so much that I rebooked. Will be leaving next month. I did this same itinerary on RCCL and love doing again on the Epic. I love St Maarten and their beaches and I have done St. Thomas and Bahamas many times. It was St. Maarten was another reason as well as the freestyle cruising. I can eat and do when I want to and that was great for me. I hope this helps....

[Missiowa]

Awesome! Thanks guys! As I'm reading epic reviews, I'm getting very excited. Just worried about small room size, only 120 sq feet? Wow, for 4 people, that's tight. Thinking of getting 2 room close by? I can't afford a suite! Keep 'em coming!

[emcelh]

Although I haven't been on Epic, I don't think you'll find fewer free food options on NCL than were available on Carnival. What you will find is more options if you decide you want a special dinner in one of the surcharge restaurants.

[iluvdoxies]

We loved the Epic, going again next month on a b2b

 

Prefer NCL over Carnival now

 

So many eating choices, not all apy extra. :oved O'Sheehans

 

Cant comment on the room cause we had a suite

 

I think you will enjoy NCL !

[Proud Dance Mom]

Good morning. My husband I did the Epic in October 2010 and loved it. Then in December 2010, my daughter who was 22 at the time, and I went on CCL Destiny. I will never do a CCL cruise again. Carnival ships are suppose to be party ships, don't believe it. Limited places to go. And they close early. And having a set dining time left you no option of what to do. I am so convinced that NCL is better that husband and I are on the Epic again November 3rd. I was in an inside cabin on both ships. In my opinion you can not go wrong with the Epic. I am sure yr husband will not have any problems. I even saw last time they have a lift to get him into the hot tub in H2O, or in to the pool in the main pool area. The 2 cabins might be a good idea though.

[cruisin07family]

We cruised the Miracle and loved it but I have to say that NCL's freestyle is so much better for us. Dh wears suit and tie every day to work so he loves that he can leave those clothes at home and wear polos and shorts or khakis to dinner. We also love that there are no set dining times and 14 or so restaurants to choose from. Dining and entertainment on NCL is never boring! We're booked on the Epic for January and cannot wait.

[kerrytens]

Awesome! Thanks guys! As I'm reading epic reviews, I'm getting very excited. Just worried about small room size, only 120 sq feet? Wow, for 4 people, that's tight. Thinking of getting 2 room close by? I can't afford a suite! Keep 'em coming!

Just wondering, why don't you book an HC cabin because of your husband being in a wheel chair? I would imagine that they'd be larger than the standard Epic cabins. I don't think you'd even be able to get a wheel chair into a standard room. We had a mini suite which was just fine for 2 adults and a child.

 

I have sailed Carnival as well and I would give the edge to NCL, mainly because of the staff. They are exceptional! As you can see, I loved the Epic so much I've re-booked it again:D

 

As for the food options, I'd actually say there are the same amount of free food options on the Epic than on Carnival. Yes, there are lots of fee restaurants on the Epic (which are excellent) but you have an amazing buffet, 2 dining rooms, O'Sheehans, outside grills and room service to pick from. You don't have to pay a penny extra to get good food.

 

Whatever ship you choose, enjoy!

[Zeta3]

I have sailed Carnival quite a bit and many things are similar but I enjoy more on Norwegian. We went on the Epic the 1st week of December last year and are going again this year so if you are planning to go on the Dec 1st cruise head on over to our roll call we are a fun bunch!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1428063

 

The cabin size is the only thing I miss going from Carnival to Norwegian but the Epic does a great job of making the small cabin size very functional. The entertainment can't be beat and all the Norwegian employees on board were fantastic and really made the cruise fun.

[BadKitteh]

For 4 people and one being in a wheelchair, definitely book an accessible room. A mini suite has enough space (although privacy is not something you will have..lol) and if you book an accessible one, the layout is different to accommodate the space needed for the wheelchair.

[Missiowa]

I am thinking this close to December, the accessible rooms will be sold out. I might give them a call and find out. The chair lift hot tubs sound great! The thing that I am worried about is according to the website, most meals I will have to pay. Half the reason we cruise is forthright love of food:) I don't want to have to pay for Chinese, burrito bar, subs etc which is free on carnival. The kids are still expecting carnival, so if we cruise ncl, they will be really surprise!! Anyone with teens cruised this ship?

[Zeta3]

The included food options on Norwegian are at least as plentiful if not more so than on Carnival. The Epic had food options all over the place with a very nice variety of selections.

 

The fee options are over and above the regular food selections.

 

On our cruise last year we saw several groups of teens enjoying eating and socializing in O'Sheehans. It is free and has sport bar type food.

[LoraJ]

I am thinking this close to December, the accessible rooms will be sold out. I might give them a call and find out. The chair lift hot tubs sound great! The thing that I am worried about is according to the website, most meals I will have to pay. Half the reason we cruise is forthright love of food:) I don't want to have to pay for Chinese, burrito bar, subs etc which is free on carnival. The kids are still expecting carnival, so if we cruise ncl, they will be really surprise!! Anyone with teens cruised this ship?

 

You just have to think of those restaurants like you think of the specialty restaurants on Carnival. you don't have to pay for food if you don't want to. We enjoyed our food in the main dining rooms as much as we enjoyed the specialty restaurants.

 

I used to sail Carnival all the time but then spread my wings and have found that NCL suits us the best.

[Ilovesailing]

Anything is a huge step up from Carnival.

[toledo]

I think there are only one or two accessible cabins that hold 4. Believe it or not, the Norwegian rep I spoke with was willing to give us one of those cabins for the extra space. I didn't think that was fair, so refused. I'd see if you can get them to confirm that the parties booked in the cabins actually NEED an accessible cabin.

 

Please write a review when you return. I'm in the same boat, literally.

[sdmike]

Lots of Epic info in my signature. 20 food options, half of them free, and several ala carte (noodle bar, sushi). Give it a try. We loved it.

 

Also, for 4 people you want at least a family mini-suite. However, another option is putting 2 people in a balcony room and the others across the hall in an inside. You can get the "inside" folks an extra key to the balcony room so they can enjoy it with you.

[Warm Breezes]

Hello, we have only cruised 3 times before and they have always been on carnival. We love carnival but then again that's all we have done. We only have a week the first week in december. Could someone please help. Carnival offers much bang for your buck. I see the rooms are much bigger, more free food options, and better ports. Has anyone cruised both and\or both and info on the epic? I'm choosing epic because mainly of blue man group. Info, I have a wheelchair bound hubby, dd age 17 and ds age 15. I am 39, hubby 38. This cruise only offers to go to Nassau, st Thomas and st martin. We have seen all but st Martin. Is this worth it to give up Turks on carnival? We love Turks!, thanks for the help!!!:)

We have sailed on CCL 5x and NCL 2x our last on Epic. We chose Epic for something different as we had just done 3 CCL cruises and we wanted to try a newer ship on another line as the CCL cruises were beginning to seem all the same. We chose Epic over Oasis since it was $1000 cheaper for 2 inside rooms (1 for DH & I and 1 for DS(17) and DD(14)) for the same week and same itinerary. We love all our CCL cruises and for the $$ the value is definately there...but sometimes you just need to have a change.

 

Epic, IMHO, was one of my favorite cruises after DCL. DH thought it was too big and crowded and prefers CCL. I only noticed the crowd on the sea days...but I have seen those same crowds on CCL on gorgeous sea days. DH does agree with me that the entertainment on Epic is top notch and better than Carnival. The Blue Man group is awesome and don't miss Howl at the Moon.

 

We both thought the MDR food was very similar but CCL has better desserts. NCL has better buffets and pizza. CCL has the deli & fish & chips but Epic has O'Sheehans which has awesome bar food and atmosphere. As for CCL having more free food options...that is false. NCL has just as many as CCL. A tip that few know about...if you eat breakfast in the buffet head to the stairs at the front of the ship to the Italian restaurants. The seating is open there for the breakfast buffet. It is quiet and you get a great view of the front of the ship. The service is very similar and we love freestyle.

 

Yes the rooms are smaller, but if you are like us we don't spend much time there anyway. On our last 3 cruises we started getting 2 rooms to get the extra space, bathroom, and privacy...which comes in handy with 2 teenagers. One other thing if your kids are into sports, the basketball/soccer courts on NCL are much better than CCL plus you have the rock climbing wall.

[BrendaJean75]

I have not been on CCL (yet) but I loved loved loved the Epic and I'm hoping to be on it again in 2013. But I will just throw out some caution since it's part of your decision making - I hated BMG. I'm not sure if I was just out of sorts that night (very likely) or if I'm in the wrong demographic (mids 30s, no kids to consider, had seen it on land about 15 yrs earlier) but it was the lowpoint on my cruise. Otherwise, I don't think you could go wrong on the Epic. It's a fantastic ship!

[evandbob]

I'm a long time CCL cruiser who has begun to experience other lines, so far Disney and Princess has CCL beat hands down! I'm hoping my Epic cruise in March will be another winner. When I only tried CCL, I had nothing to compare its performance against. Now that I'm branching out, I'm sorry it took me so long to consider cruising other lines.

[SMSACE6]

Hello, we have only cruised 3 times before and they have always been on carnival. We love carnival but then again that's all we have done. We only have a week the first week in december. Could someone please help. Carnival offers much bang for your buck. I see the rooms are much bigger, more free food options, and better ports. Has anyone cruised both and\or both and info on the epic? I'm choosing epic because mainly of blue man group. Info, I have a wheelchair bound hubby, dd age 17 and ds age 15. I am 39, hubby 38. This cruise only offers to go to Nassau, st Thomas and st martin. We have seen all but st Martin. Is this worth it to give up Turks on carnival? We love Turks!, thanks for the help!!!:)

 

 

My last five cruises have been with Carnival, and all were good experiences, good cruises, nice ships, food and service. No major complaints, but last cruise was two years ago, and started to see some changes/inconsistencies which bothered me a bit but did not make my cruise unenjoyable.

 

I was prepared to go again on my favorite ship Liberty for second time and had booked a cruise on her for next week, then had to cancel because of illness of a parent. I hated to cancel that cruise, but had to, to look after my Mom, and well, right now, as Im still unable to cruise yet, still needed at home, I finally took the plunge and booked a cruise for next year this time, and since I had lots of time to think about it and research, I came up with this ship and cruiseline, and I realised that I really do need to branch out and try something different. So glad I did. I got a good deal on a studio on Epic, and it is costing me about what it would cost me on Carnival, but I am liking all I have been reading about NCL and very much looking forward to a change. Different ship, different food, different entertainment, and having something to compare.

 

I know that lots of things are different, and some are similar, but I am just so looking forward to something new. I have been to all these places before too, but I have never tired of a southern port or destination, including Nassau. I also have booked a studio room and because I will be sailing alone, I dont think it will be a problem with 100 sq ft, but at least it is cheaper for me than a lot of 2x rates for solos in larger rooms. I like the idea of tiny room, which I only use to sleep, shower and dress. I am thinking that I really like NCL already, with its many options for dining, dress code etc.

:)

[SMSACE6]

I'm a long time CCL cruiser who has begun to experience other lines, so far Disney and Princess has CCL beat hands down! I'm hoping my Epic cruise in March will be another winner. When I only tried CCL, I had nothing to compare its performance against. Now that I'm branching out, I'm sorry it took me so long to consider cruising other lines.

 

Yes, Im thinking that this is what I will be thinking also after my next cruise on NCL. Liked my CCL cruises, but I really am looking forward to something different now.