Epic, Eurodam or Breeze

[buelah111]

My husband and I are looking to book a cruise for the week of Thanksgiving. I think we've narrowed our options down to the Epic (Ocho, GC, and Cozumel), the Eurodam (Private Island, Ocho, GC and Key West), and the Breeze (Grand Turk, DR, Curacao and Aruba).

 

We are in our mid-30s, no children yet. I've been on multiple cruises, but this will just be the 3rd for my husband. I love a relaxing sea day, but my husband definitely wants some activity going on.

 

Below are the pros and cons I see on the three choices. I'd love any input or thoughts on whether I'm off-base on any of these items.

 

Epic - Lots to do on the ship, but only three port days (my husband prefers port days). Am not sure about how good the non-specialy dining would be (was not impressed on the Jade a few years ago). Would likely book a basic balcony, which would be nice.

 

Eurodam - I love the relaxed atmosphere on HAL, especially all the comfortable quite places (inside) to curl up with a good book and an ocean view on a sea day. In my experience the dining and service have been excellent and the cabins are nice. I like the itinerary, but I'm a bit concerned there wouldn't be enough activity and entertainment on the ship for my husband. Would likely book a balcony based on the prices I'm seeing.

 

Breeze - We've done two carnival cruises (the only cruises my husband has been on) and they were enjoyable. We loved the comedy club and there was plenty to do on the ship. I missed having a quite place to relax outside the cabin, however, and have been thinking I'm ready to get my husband on another cruise line. That said, I really like this itinerary and it has an extra day (4 stops, 3 sea days). We would likely be in an inside, or maybe outside, cabin to stay in a similar price-range to the other two.

 

Anyway, I thought I'd throw this out and see if the very knowledgeable cruisers on these boards have any thoughts we haven't considered as we make our decision in the next couple of days.

 

Thanks for your input!

Stacy

[doublebzz]

You have a tough choice to make here and replies are likely to be subjective. My own subjective view is to eliminate the Epic; I, too, find that NCL tries to guide you into the pricey specialty restaurants and the main dining rooms I find lacking. Also, I don't care too be on a ship with 4,000+ guests. I love the Eurodam but you can't beat Breeze's itinerary. So it appears to come down to a choice between the balcony on Eurodam, which is a big plus on a Caribbean cruise and permits smoking if you are so inclined, or the itinerary on Breeze. Although HAL caters to a more mature crowd, demographics are likely to be similar (many families) on a Thanksgiving cruise.

[chisoxfan]

Just throwing in my subjective 2 cents. Being on the Jade and EPIC both, the Jade was a pleasant experience largely because we opted for a suite and had many European Port days. My feeling is that if we had been on this ship in normal balcony cabin on Carib itinerary we would have been dissapointed. The EPIC was probably the only ship we have been on that we would not book again. We like a relaxing Carib experience and the EPIC just felt crowded and confined. The crazy bathroom situation has been well documented with the small sink in the cabin. Food quality was OK and the main dining room attractive but everything was rushed and when attendants drag bags of linens (I assumed) through the MDR it does not feel sophisticated but more like cafeteria.

There were two things we thought wonderful- the live Blues Club and the POSH

area which is extra cost but provides relief from the extra crammed pook area.

On both NCL ships the open dining was disorganized and involved waits.

We have booked our first HAL cruise and otherwise cruise primarily on X and Princess. Good luck.

[chisoxfan]

Just wondering if you looked in X for these dates. I believe they are offering their drink package again for a short time. This can be an incredible deal if you

enjoy some libations on your cruise. The nice thing is for a nominal upcharge you can order wines up to 12 and virtually all cocktails, name drinks etc. The S class ships are newer, large, and beautiful. IMHO a nice mix of activities but on a less intense (forced) level than NCL and Carnival. They also have a Concierge and Aqua class balcony which offer some options. Am not trying to be a shill for X and we are really looking forward to our HAL experience but we have found X to be a wonderful Carib cruiseline for us.

[buelah111]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! After reading everything to my husband I think we've narrowed our choices down to Eurodam and Breeze. That seemed to be the general consensus, even on the NCL board. :)

 

I'll do a bit more research on shore options and show him photos (I'm the planner), then let him decide.

 

chisoxfan, I'd love to give X a try. I've always wanted to sail them, but unfortunately both their newer ships are doing Eastern itineraries that week, with 3 ports we've been to. Maybe next time.

[chisoxfan]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! After reading everything to my husband I think we've narrowed our choices down to Eurodam and Breeze. That seemed to be the general consensus, even on the NCL board. :)

 

I'll do a bit more research on shore options and show him photos (I'm the planner), then let him decide.

 

chisoxfan, I'd love to give X a try. I've always wanted to sail them, but unfortunately both their newer ships are doing Eastern itineraries that week, with 3 ports we've been to. Maybe next time.

 

Understood. We are finally taking a Western Carib cruise on the Reflection in Jan. after 'countless' St. Thomas, St. Martin Nassau cruises. That said I will miss the laziness of hanging around an empty pool on the ship while everyone else is off ship.

[fandssullivan]

Thanks for posting this! My husband and I are also looking into the Breeze vs. Epic for a January cruise, and this thread has been very helpful. We are in our 30s and this will be the second cruise for him, but I actually used to work onboard a ship, so I've done quite a lot... as staff! DH would rather die than do nothing or read a book or be "lazy"... and I was kind of thinking that the Epic might have more fun stuff to do... but the Breeze does sound like a more "Fun" ship... so I think I might end up going in that direction! We are doing a balcony on either, the Epic is a little more pricey and I'm afraid that with all the extra costs of the specialty dining that the Epic will end up being like double! Let me know what you end up doing and why, I really want to book very soon and am leaning towards the Breeze :)

[DFD1]

#1.....Eurodam.....More upscale than either of the other two. Might be dull, but probably not.

 

#2.....Breeze.......It's Carnival, but a nice sized ship. Should be fun.

 

#3.....Epic...Never, no way, no how.