Norwegian Epic and Carnival Breeze (Mini review/comparison)

[HazelSmrf]

I was fortunate enough to be able to do a back to back cruise this month, Norwegian Epic (Jan 11th-18th) and Carnival Breeze (Jan 18th to 26th). My husband and I are both in our mid 30s and we were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with 15 days at sea, woohoo! We had been on two cruises prior, both with Carnival (Valor in 2005 and Triumph in 2011).

 

Ok so, doing these different cruises so close together, it was very difficult to not find ourselves comparing them a lot, so I figured I'd do a small review of our thoughts.

 

Anyways, here goes.

 

Embarkation:

Epic: Went very smoothly, Epic uses 2 different terminals in Miami and we were assigned to terminal B. From check in until we were seated in the waiting area was about 15 minutes, it was really fast. Our group was 32 or 33, once they started calling groups it didn't take too long until it was our turn to board.

 

Breeze: We had FTTF, everything went very smoothly too, there was a bit of a bottleneck when they called FTTF but other than that it went very well. I think there was only one terminal they were using.

 

 

Food:

Epic: I'm not very picky on food, the food on Epic was fine, buffet food was standard buffet fare, Cagney's was VERY good, O'Sheehan's was fine, I didn't try any of the other specialty restaurants. The buffet area was very well laid out and there were never any lines, we never had to look too hard to find an empty table either. Food in the dining room was very good as well, service was great, and while we did have to "wait" every night (they give you a pager) they always included a free glass of sparkling wine while you waited and the wait was only 10-15 minutes, so hey, free drink, I'll gladly wait! I thought that was a very nice touch!

 

Breeze: Again not too picky, but the first night in the dining room my food was cold (we had Anytime dining). I found dining room service to be quite slow honestly, I did not like that although we had Anytime dining we basically had to eat at the same speed as those seated around us. So if we didn't order any appetizers, we still had to sit there while everyone around us ate THEIR appetizers. And drinks were very slow to come, our last meal there I still hadn't received my drink even after the main meal was served. The buffet was horribly laid out, it all felt very claustrophobic, lines everywhere, and never a table to be found. The buffet food was fine, it was just a pain to get to it. The cookies were AWESOME Oh the Red Frog Pub was a great venue, the chicken wings were so good, the microbrew beer was also very tasty and the staff were great!

 

Casino:

Epic: Very smoky, good bar service. Small non smoking section. I prefered the cash in/cash out method (like Vegas) to the method on the Breeze.

 

Breeze: Horrible bar service, not smoky The non smoking section is quite large which I really appreciated. Did not really like having to have the money on my card, I'd have preferred the printed tickets but that's such a small gripe. I often sat at a slot for 40-45 minutes without seeing any waiters. There is a bar right there, but I also waited 15 minutes standing at the bar once for a drink, so it just wasn't great.

 

 

Cruise director:

Epic: No idea who it was

Breeze: He was annoying.

 

I'm mostly joking about this but it was just something that my husband and I noticed, we couldn't even tell you who the cruise director was on the Epic, there were not many announcements made over the ship's system like that, on Carnival it was much more in your face, his name was Pete, De Vil I think his last name was? The entertainment staff were good on both ships though.

 

 

Entertainment:

Epic: Awesome, Blue Man Group was just superb. I hadn't even gone into this cruise expecting much there but my expectations were shattered and I had a huge smile plastered across my face for much of the show. Awesome, awesome, awesome, best show I've seen on a ship by far. Legends in Concert was OK, we had Stephen Tyler who was great, Katy Perry who wasn't, and Elvis who was just OK. I did not try Cirque Dreams but the people I spoke to said it was a highlight of their cruise. The blues club was AMAZING. The band that we had in there during our cruise was so good, I forget which band it was though, sorry! I only stuck my head in during Howl at the Moon so I can't comment on that or on the Second City comedians though. Epic did have a live band playing by the pool, and musicians throughout the ship, including in the Manhattan dining room.

 

Breeze: Entertainment was just OK compared to the Epic, probably not a very fair comparison. The Motown show was OK, the Brits show was AWFUL. I understand why they put it in an afternoon slot and didn't give it a prime time showing. Did not see Divas. Did not have a live band at the piano area (we already knew this going in, just thought I'd mention it), the singer in the atrium area was quite cheesy. Enjoyed the Dive In Movies with the popcorn and blankets, we saw a few movies and thought that was quite nice. I know they offer movies on Epic as well we just didn't catch any of them while we were there. We did the thrill theater too, that was fun, gimmicky but fun! We bought the unlimited pass but only ended up doing it once, just didn't line up right at other times. We did a round of mini putt as well which was fun. Never got to try the ropes course.

 

Water park:

Muchly preferred the slides on the Epic to the slides on the Breeze. Breeze had a cool area for the kids to play in before the slides, kids got me good with their waterguns while I was trying to make my way to the waterslide line

 

 

Staff:

I know this really depends on the room and the location, my room steward on the Breeze was AMAZING and we always had a clean room and a turn down every night. On the Epic it was hit or miss, I think we only saw our steward once and only got turn down service a few nights. Room was always clean though. Staff were nice on both ships BUT... and a big but here, we had the unlimited bubbles with Carnival and without fail every time we'd order a coke at a bar we'd get surly service. Like we were asking them a huge favor to get us a soda and it was too much to ask. They probably saved a bunch of money doing this because I didn't even bother asking for cokes after a while, it was such a turn off, I'd have been better off just buying a can when I wanted one.

 

Ship:

Overall we thought the Epic was very airy and open and we didn't ever really have any lines. In comparison we felt that the Breeze was very compartmentalized, lots of hallways, lots of small areas, did not feel open, it did create some bottlenecks. The Breeze has the big Atrium that the Epic doesn't have. Both have 3 decks within the ship dedicated to shared space, I just felt that the Epic was laid out a bit better. Getting off at the ports on the Epic was also easier/smoother than getting off from the Breeze. Not that getting off from the Breeze was very difficult, just a comparison.

 

Spa: We had a spa pass on the Breeze which was nice, the thermal suite was nice and relaxing. Did not see the thermal suite area on the Epic so I can't compare there, although I did get a pedicure and facial on the Epic and the spa staff were very nice. Both spas are owned by the same company so same products/massages are offered on both so not much of a difference here.

 

OVERALL: My balcony on the Epic cost the same thing as my inside on the Breeze, for the ship I would definitely say that we enjoyed the Epic more than the Breeze. However the Epic had ports that we had already done (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Nassau) while the Breeze had more exciting ports (Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba) so I don't regret either choice. We had fabulous cruises, but if I had to redo one I'd definitely pick the Epic.

[3DBeach]

Thank you so much for sharing. I liked reading your comparison because I've never been on Carnival so don't really ever read the Carnival board. I have a good friend that will be sailing on the breeze in April and I told her to get on CC and start reading lol.

[ksimpso3]

I was fortunate enough to be able to do a back to back cruise this month, Norwegian Epic (Jan 11th-18th) and Carnival Breeze (Jan 18th to 26th). My husband and I are both in our mid 30s and we were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with 15 days at sea, woohoo! We had been on two cruises prior, both with Carnival (Valor in 2005 and Triumph in 2011).

 

Ok so, doing these different cruises so close together, it was very difficult to not find ourselves comparing them a lot, so I figured I'd do a small review of our thoughts.

 

Anyways, here goes.

 

Embarkation:

Epic: Went very smoothly, Epic uses 2 different terminals in Miami and we were assigned to terminal B. From check in until we were seated in the waiting area was about 15 minutes, it was really fast. Our group was 32 or 33, once they started calling groups it didn't take too long until it was our turn to board.

 

Breeze: We had FTTF, everything went very smoothly too, there was a bit of a bottleneck when they called FTTF but other than that it went very well. I think there was only one terminal they were using.

 

 

Food:

Epic: I'm not very picky on food, the food on Epic was fine, buffet food was standard buffet fare, Cagney's was VERY good, O'Sheehan's was fine, I didn't try any of the other specialty restaurants. The buffet area was very well laid out and there were never any lines, we never had to look too hard to find an empty table either. Food in the dining room was very good as well, service was great, and while we did have to "wait" every night (they give you a pager) they always included a free glass of sparkling wine while you waited and the wait was only 10-15 minutes, so hey, free drink, I'll gladly wait! I thought that was a very nice touch!

 

Breeze: Again not too picky, but the first night in the dining room my food was cold (we had Anytime dining). I found dining room service to be quite slow honestly, I did not like that although we had Anytime dining we basically had to eat at the same speed as those seated around us. So if we didn't order any appetizers, we still had to sit there while everyone around us ate THEIR appetizers. And drinks were very slow to come, our last meal there I still hadn't received my drink even after the main meal was served. The buffet was horribly laid out, it all felt very claustrophobic, lines everywhere, and never a table to be found. The buffet food was fine, it was just a pain to get to it. The cookies were AWESOME Oh the Red Frog Pub was a great venue, the chicken wings were so good, the microbrew beer was also very tasty and the staff were great!

 

Casino:

Epic: Very smoky, good bar service. Small non smoking section. I prefered the cash in/cash out method (like Vegas) to the method on the Breeze.

 

Breeze: Horrible bar service, not smoky The non smoking section is quite large which I really appreciated. Did not really like having to have the money on my card, I'd have preferred the printed tickets but that's such a small gripe. I often sat at a slot for 40-45 minutes without seeing any waiters. There is a bar right there, but I also waited 15 minutes standing at the bar once for a drink, so it just wasn't great.

 

 

Cruise director:

Epic: No idea who it was

Breeze: He was annoying.

 

I'm mostly joking about this but it was just something that my husband and I noticed, we couldn't even tell you who the cruise director was on the Epic, there were not many announcements made over the ship's system like that, on Carnival it was much more in your face, his name was Pete, De Vil I think his last name was? The entertainment staff were good on both ships though.

 

 

Entertainment:

Epic: Awesome, Blue Man Group was just superb. I hadn't even gone into this cruise expecting much there but my expectations were shattered and I had a huge smile plastered across my face for much of the show. Awesome, awesome, awesome, best show I've seen on a ship by far. Legends in Concert was OK, we had Stephen Tyler who was great, Katy Perry who wasn't, and Elvis who was just OK. I did not try Cirque Dreams but the people I spoke to said it was a highlight of their cruise. The blues club was AMAZING. The band that we had in there during our cruise was so good, I forget which band it was though, sorry! I only stuck my head in during Howl at the Moon so I can't comment on that or on the Second City comedians though. Epic did have a live band playing by the pool, and musicians throughout the ship, including in the Manhattan dining room.

 

Breeze: Entertainment was just OK compared to the Epic, probably not a very fair comparison. The Motown show was OK, the Brits show was AWFUL. I understand why they put it in an afternoon slot and didn't give it a prime time showing. Did not see Divas. Did not have a live band at the piano area (we already knew this going in, just thought I'd mention it), the singer in the atrium area was quite cheesy. Enjoyed the Dive In Movies with the popcorn and blankets, we saw a few movies and thought that was quite nice. I know they offer movies on Epic as well we just didn't catch any of them while we were there. We did the thrill theater too, that was fun, gimmicky but fun! We bought the unlimited pass but only ended up doing it once, just didn't line up right at other times. We did a round of mini putt as well which was fun. Never got to try the ropes course.

 

Water park:

Muchly preferred the slides on the Epic to the slides on the Breeze. Breeze had a cool area for the kids to play in before the slides, kids got me good with their waterguns while I was trying to make my way to the waterslide line

 

 

Staff:

I know this really depends on the room and the location, my room steward on the Breeze was AMAZING and we always had a clean room and a turn down every night. On the Epic it was hit or miss, I think we only saw our steward once and only got turn down service a few nights. Room was always clean though. Staff were nice on both ships BUT... and a big but here, we had the unlimited bubbles with Carnival and without fail every time we'd order a coke at a bar we'd get surly service. Like we were asking them a huge favor to get us a soda and it was too much to ask. They probably saved a bunch of money doing this because I didn't even bother asking for cokes after a while, it was such a turn off, I'd have been better off just buying a can when I wanted one.

 

Ship:

Overall we thought the Epic was very airy and open and we didn't ever really have any lines. In comparison we felt that the Breeze was very compartmentalized, lots of hallways, lots of small areas, did not feel open, it did create some bottlenecks. The Breeze has the big Atrium that the Epic doesn't have. Both have 3 decks within the ship dedicated to shared space, I just felt that the Epic was laid out a bit better. Getting off at the ports on the Epic was also easier/smoother than getting off from the Breeze. Not that getting off from the Breeze was very difficult, just a comparison.

 

Spa: We had a spa pass on the Breeze which was nice, the thermal suite was nice and relaxing. Did not see the thermal suite area on the Epic so I can't compare there, although I did get a pedicure and facial on the Epic and the spa staff were very nice. Both spas are owned by the same company so same products/massages are offered on both so not much of a difference here.

 

OVERALL: My balcony on the Epic cost the same thing as my inside on the Breeze, for the ship I would definitely say that we enjoyed the Epic more than the Breeze. However the Epic had ports that we had already done (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Nassau) while the Breeze had more exciting ports (Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba) so I don't regret either choice. We had fabulous cruises, but if I had to redo one I'd definitely pick the Epic.

 

Thanks for your review. It is not often you hear from someone doing B2B on different lines, so your perspective was kind of unique. I think it seems the lines are more similar than different. I prefer NCL over Carnival myself, but would definitely cruise with Carnival if the itinerary and price were right. The Breeze itinerary sounds awesome!!!

[Love my butler]

This is why we don't cruise Carnival anymore. Just not interested.

[Ron_L]

Thanks for the great comparison! We were on the Breeze last year and will be on the Epic in April.

 

You mentioned that you had to wait each night for the dining room. What time did you typically get there?

[HazelSmrf]

Hmmm probably anywhere between 6:30pm and 8pm, but really the wait was a non issue, we always got paged before I got to the bottom of my free glass of wine :)

[Ron_L]

Hmmm probably anywhere between 6:30pm and 8pm, but really the wait was a non issue, we always got paged before I got to the bottom of my free glass of wine :)

 

Thanks!

[anandaindonesia]

Congratulations on your anniversary!

Thanks for sharing your experience and observation.

[SandyAtSea]

Thanks for the review! I was on the Breeze about a year ago (only time I have sailed CCL) and actually thought it was a lovely ship. I loved the C-side barbeque, deli station (made to order hot pastrami on rye!) and the Italian restaurant which was free at lunch. I was in a cove balcony – main reason I went on the Breeze. Liked the way the ocean plaza spread from inside out to the open decks. Piano Bar was great. I did miss having live music in the atrium and topside, and I agree with you, the entertainment at least in the theater was awful on the Breeze – actually you couldn’t even call it entertainment. I would definitely cruise on the Breeze again, though, as I don’t go on cruises for the entertainment. But good to hear you liked the Epic even better as I will be on her for the TA in April.

[Tutankhamen]

 

 

 

Cruise director:

 

Breeze: He was annoying.

 

 

 

Was on the breeze with you. Agree with the bottleneck comments.

 

But your comment on the CD was dead on. I am really shocked that he is the CD on Carnivals "flagship". He was annoying and even a bit arrogant from what I could tell. I try not judge people without knowing them, but he took the cake for the most annoying CD I have sailed with.

 

Found this thread do to looking at booking the Breakaway to Bermuda.

Edited January 29, 2014 by Tutankhamen

[Medtech2]

It's too bad you didn't get the Spa pass on Epic. We thought it was fabulous! Unfortunately it has gotten a bit pricey. I would have loved a comparison of the two.

 

May I ask how much the pass on Breeze was?

 

......

[newmexicoNita]

I was fortunate enough to be able to do a back to back cruise this month, Norwegian Epic (Jan 11th-18th) and Carnival Breeze (Jan 18th to 26th). My husband and I are both in our mid 30s and we were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary with 15 days at sea, woohoo! We had been on two cruises prior, both with Carnival (Valor in 2005 and Triumph in 2011).

 

Ok so, doing these different cruises so close together, it was very difficult to not find ourselves comparing them a lot, so I figured I'd do a small review of our thoughts.

 

Anyways, here goes.

 

Embarkation:

Epic: Went very smoothly, Epic uses 2 different terminals in Miami and we were assigned to terminal B. From check in until we were seated in the waiting area was about 15 minutes, it was really fast. Our group was 32 or 33, once they started calling groups it didn't take too long until it was our turn to board.

 

Breeze: We had FTTF, everything went very smoothly too, there was a bit of a bottleneck when they called FTTF but other than that it went very well. I think there was only one terminal they were using.

 

 

Food:

Epic: I'm not very picky on food, the food on Epic was fine, buffet food was standard buffet fare, Cagney's was VERY good, O'Sheehan's was fine, I didn't try any of the other specialty restaurants. The buffet area was very well laid out and there were never any lines, we never had to look too hard to find an empty table either. Food in the dining room was very good as well, service was great, and while we did have to "wait" every night (they give you a pager) they always included a free glass of sparkling wine while you waited and the wait was only 10-15 minutes, so hey, free drink, I'll gladly wait! I thought that was a very nice touch!

 

Breeze: Again not too picky, but the first night in the dining room my food was cold (we had Anytime dining). I found dining room service to be quite slow honestly, I did not like that although we had Anytime dining we basically had to eat at the same speed as those seated around us. So if we didn't order any appetizers, we still had to sit there while everyone around us ate THEIR appetizers. And drinks were very slow to come, our last meal there I still hadn't received my drink even after the main meal was served. The buffet was horribly laid out, it all felt very claustrophobic, lines everywhere, and never a table to be found. The buffet food was fine, it was just a pain to get to it. The cookies were AWESOME Oh the Red Frog Pub was a great venue, the chicken wings were so good, the microbrew beer was also very tasty and the staff were great!

 

Casino:

Epic: Very smoky, good bar service. Small non smoking section. I prefered the cash in/cash out method (like Vegas) to the method on the Breeze.

 

Breeze: Horrible bar service, not smoky The non smoking section is quite large which I really appreciated. Did not really like having to have the money on my card, I'd have preferred the printed tickets but that's such a small gripe. I often sat at a slot for 40-45 minutes without seeing any waiters. There is a bar right there, but I also waited 15 minutes standing at the bar once for a drink, so it just wasn't great.

 

 

Cruise director:

Epic: No idea who it was

Breeze: He was annoying.

 

I'm mostly joking about this but it was just something that my husband and I noticed, we couldn't even tell you who the cruise director was on the Epic, there were not many announcements made over the ship's system like that, on Carnival it was much more in your face, his name was Pete, De Vil I think his last name was? The entertainment staff were good on both ships though.

 

 

Entertainment:

Epic: Awesome, Blue Man Group was just superb. I hadn't even gone into this cruise expecting much there but my expectations were shattered and I had a huge smile plastered across my face for much of the show. Awesome, awesome, awesome, best show I've seen on a ship by far. Legends in Concert was OK, we had Stephen Tyler who was great, Katy Perry who wasn't, and Elvis who was just OK. I did not try Cirque Dreams but the people I spoke to said it was a highlight of their cruise. The blues club was AMAZING. The band that we had in there during our cruise was so good, I forget which band it was though, sorry! I only stuck my head in during Howl at the Moon so I can't comment on that or on the Second City comedians though. Epic did have a live band playing by the pool, and musicians throughout the ship, including in the Manhattan dining room.

 

Breeze: Entertainment was just OK compared to the Epic, probably not a very fair comparison. The Motown show was OK, the Brits show was AWFUL. I understand why they put it in an afternoon slot and didn't give it a prime time showing. Did not see Divas. Did not have a live band at the piano area (we already knew this going in, just thought I'd mention it), the singer in the atrium area was quite cheesy. Enjoyed the Dive In Movies with the popcorn and blankets, we saw a few movies and thought that was quite nice. I know they offer movies on Epic as well we just didn't catch any of them while we were there. We did the thrill theater too, that was fun, gimmicky but fun! We bought the unlimited pass but only ended up doing it once, just didn't line up right at other times. We did a round of mini putt as well which was fun. Never got to try the ropes course.

 

Water park:

Muchly preferred the slides on the Epic to the slides on the Breeze. Breeze had a cool area for the kids to play in before the slides, kids got me good with their waterguns while I was trying to make my way to the waterslide line

 

 

Staff:

I know this really depends on the room and the location, my room steward on the Breeze was AMAZING and we always had a clean room and a turn down every night. On the Epic it was hit or miss, I think we only saw our steward once and only got turn down service a few nights. Room was always clean though. Staff were nice on both ships BUT... and a big but here, we had the unlimited bubbles with Carnival and without fail every time we'd order a coke at a bar we'd get surly service. Like we were asking them a huge favor to get us a soda and it was too much to ask. They probably saved a bunch of money doing this because I didn't even bother asking for cokes after a while, it was such a turn off, I'd have been better off just buying a can when I wanted one.

 

Ship:

Overall we thought the Epic was very airy and open and we didn't ever really have any lines. In comparison we felt that the Breeze was very compartmentalized, lots of hallways, lots of small areas, did not feel open, it did create some bottlenecks. The Breeze has the big Atrium that the Epic doesn't have. Both have 3 decks within the ship dedicated to shared space, I just felt that the Epic was laid out a bit better. Getting off at the ports on the Epic was also easier/smoother than getting off from the Breeze. Not that getting off from the Breeze was very difficult, just a comparison.

 

Spa: We had a spa pass on the Breeze which was nice, the thermal suite was nice and relaxing. Did not see the thermal suite area on the Epic so I can't compare there, although I did get a pedicure and facial on the Epic and the spa staff were very nice. Both spas are owned by the same company so same products/massages are offered on both so not much of a difference here.

 

OVERALL: My balcony on the Epic cost the same thing as my inside on the Breeze, for the ship I would definitely say that we enjoyed the Epic more than the Breeze. However the Epic had ports that we had already done (St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Nassau) while the Breeze had more exciting ports (Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao, Aruba) so I don't regret either choice. We had fabulous cruises, but if I had to redo one I'd definitely pick the Epic.

 

Excellent comparison and rarely do we get to see something like this.. to be able to compare 2 ships, similar in many ways and cruising them back to back: that is really an objective way to review. Thanks.

[david_sobe]

Thanks for the interesting comparison. Do you think what ship you cruised first had an impact on your review? I know for me, the second trip would not be as exciting as boarding the first ship. By the time the second week came around maybe I would grow tired of cruise ship food, etc.

[meatball_nyc]

Thanks for your review and congrats on your anniversary!

 

Happy Sailing!

 

 

 

~Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[MiamiSpartan]

Nice! We've also been on both and generally liked both....the Breeze was a pleasant surprise for us as our last couple of times on Carnival had not been great...looking forward to the Epic in 3 weeks..

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[put me on a ship]

Was on the breeze with you. Agree with the bottleneck comments.

 

But your comment on the CD was dead on. I am really shocked that he is the CD on Carnivals "flagship". He was annoying and even a bit arrogant from what I could tell. I try not judge people without knowing them, but he took the cake for the most annoying CD I have sailed with.

 

Found this thread do to looking at booking the Breakaway to Bermuda.

 

Pete is not the regular CD for the Breeze...Butch Begovich is, and most people think he is awesome! VERY high energy, and man, he can dance! Unfortunately, for your sailing, Butch must have been off.

[HazelSmrf]

Liked the way the ocean plaza spread from inside out to the open decks.

 

I liked that too! I missed that on Epic, it was really nice to be able to just go outside and grab a table without having to go all the way to the top.

 

Thanks for the interesting comparison. Do you think what ship you cruised first had an impact on your review? I know for me, the second trip would not be as exciting as boarding the first ship. By the time the second week came around maybe I would grow tired of cruise ship food, etc.

 

Well, boarding the 2nd ship was not as exciting but we were still excited to see different venues, different entertainment, different dining etc. It is definitely not that the Breeze was a bad ship, it's really a lovely ship, it's just very hard to not compare when you JUST got off a ship that was (in MY opinion anyways) better laid out. Did NOT miss the Epic's smoky casino though.

[HazelSmrf]

Pete is not the regular CD for the Breeze...Butch Begovich is, and most people think he is awesome! VERY high energy, and man, he can dance! Unfortunately, for your sailing, Butch must have been off.

 

Blogger's cruise I believe.

[soccersharon]

Hi fellow Montrealer!

 

Would love to do a similar trip!

 

Good review and comparisons. We were on the Epic in November, and our next cruise will likely be on the Breeze. If only Carnival would hurry up, and post the rest of the itins for 2015!

 

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Forums mobile app

[Cruzface]

Thanks for the review. We have done Epic twice (loved it) and are looking to do the Breeze next January. So, this has been very helpful.

[kronfidenced]

Aside from a few particulars, I totally endorse the OP's comparison between the two ships. We did a B2B in November, although reversed. We did not partake of any entertainment on either ship (except the comedy on the Breeze) and did not frequent either casino. Food much much better on the Epic but not bad at all on the Breeze -- still missed the Guy's Burger, Tandoori and 24-hr soft serve. Carnival is known for pizza but Epic's was much better, plentiful and hot (no waiting). Agree totally re the cabin steward comparison although the room on the Epic was better -- I like the split toilet/shower combination. Kids camp better on the Epic although we had an issue with rowdy children -- not NCL's fault. We found the Epic difficult at first to get to know the layout but we had been on 5 straight Carnival's Conquest/Dream class ships previously. Negatives about the Epic are the pool locations and sizes, reservations needed for entertainment, and service in the Manhattan dining room; the very opposite in Taste. Also the art guy on Epic was beyond uppity, even when I relayed a friendly message from his counterpart on the Breeze. A shame because the Epic's selection was better and we were in the mood to buy. For those on the fence, I'll confuse you further by saying we're planning our next cruise and honestly can't decide between the two because there's no external factors (air, dates, itinerary, etc.) pushing us towards one or the other. Unless you're older or want a more sophisticated cruise, both ships are an excellent choice.

[HazelSmrf]

Aside from a few particulars, I totally endorse the OP's comparison between the two ships. We did a B2B in November, although reversed. We did not partake of any entertainment on either ship (except the comedy on the Breeze) and did not frequent either casino. Food much much better on the Epic but not bad at all on the Breeze -- still missed the Guy's Burger, Tandoori and 24-hr soft serve. Carnival is known for pizza but Epic's was much better, plentiful and hot (no waiting). Agree totally re the cabin steward comparison although the room on the Epic was better -- I like the split toilet/shower combination. Kids camp better on the Epic although we had an issue with rowdy children -- not NCL's fault. We found the Epic difficult at first to get to know the layout but we had been on 5 straight Carnival's Conquest/Dream class ships previously. Negatives about the Epic are the pool locations and sizes, reservations needed for entertainment, and service in the Manhattan dining room; the very opposite in Taste. Also the art guy on Epic was beyond uppity, even when I relayed a friendly message from his counterpart on the Breeze. A shame because the Epic's selection was better and we were in the mood to buy. For those on the fence, I'll confuse you further by saying we're planning our next cruise and honestly can't decide between the two because there's no external factors (air, dates, itinerary, etc.) pushing us towards one or the other. Unless you're older or want a more sophisticated cruise, both ships are an excellent choice.

 

Guy's Burgers on the Breeze was great! My husband definitely had that a few times. I don't remember enough about the pizza to say if I preferred the Epic pizza or the Breeze pizza, I liked them both, so I guess none really stuck out as being better or worse. We did not have bad service in the Manhattan, I did find it annoying that reservations were needed for the entertainment, I prefer to make decisions at the last minute (which is why we didn't go for any of the specialty restaurants, even Cagney's was a last minute decision and we didn't mind waiting 30 minutes at the bar for them to squeeze us in). I missed seeing the Second City comedy show because my spa appointment went late and we missed our slot, and then it was waitlisted for the rest of the day. Bummer. We did thoroughly enjoy the comedy club on the Breeze though, although at that point I was kind of wishing they DID take reservations because it was standing room only! :) I guess you can't please me either way, hah!

[HazelSmrf]

Oh one more comparision in favor of the Epic, the photo system! During our cruise when the photographer would take a photo on the Epic they'd ask for your room number, key it in to their nifty Iphone app or whatever it was, and then all your photos were together for viewing. On the Breeze, you have to hunt down your own photos all over the boards because they don't use that service. It REALLY made it easier. Also the photos were cheaper on the Epic, it was 20 photos for 200$ I believe, and I paid 20$ extra for a USB stick and the copies of all of the photos on it. On the Breeze there was no package that brought the per photo price down so in the end we only bought 4 photos and it was about 90$. No digital copies were offered.