Carnival Legend vs. Norwegian Epic

[schmoopie17]

There probably aren't many who have sailed both ships, but thought I'd give it a shot over here on the Carnival board.

 

We are torn between two European cruises next year with similar itineraries and have narrowed the choice down to two...the Legend or the Epic. I know both ships are older and somewhat quirky, so it's a tough choice. We typically cruise on NCL but would "jump ship", if need be. We like NCL's Freestyle experience, the beverage package and the speciatly restaurants and we're thinking Carnival's offerings may be similar.

 

I do know that the Legend is a smaller ship and due for a refurb later this year, so that might play into the equation. Plus, the cost is much lower, even when adding in the Cheers package.

 

Decisions, decisions...

Thoughts on the two ships and experiences are appreciated.

[kwokpot]

I've sailed the sister ship Pride in Europe last year and have also sailed Epic in Europe albeit awhile ago. I think it all boils down to how much is the savings and how much the ship experience is important to you. The Epic is hands down better than the Carnivals Spirit Class in every which way. The Epic cabins are nicer DESPITE the funky bathroom. Food is better on NCL  and the Epic has so much more specialty restaurants. IF you were to do the Spirit you would signup for yourtime dining. You use the Carnival phone app to make nightly reservations. 

People seem to hate the Epic but I've been on her at least three times and although she's an awkward looking ship from the outside I love the decor of the ship inside. The only major issue with the Epic is there's not many spacious public walkways so at night the ship can feel crowded since you kinda walk through each venue to get to someplace else. 

You said the cost is much lower, so that definitely makes it a harder decision. One thing about Carnival in Europe is unless you take one of the ship's tours they don't provide the proper Port stop facilities. In other words they cheap out on having enough shuttle buses to get people to and from the ship to the port entrance. Sometimes they don't provide any kinda shuttle. I was on the Carnival Pride last May/June for 3 cruises B2B, a total of 31 days, and it was a disappointing shipp experience. 

Having said that if the cost differential is large you'll have to look at the ship as a floating hotel and disregard the lesser onboard experience. But food, nightlife, bars, SPA (The Thermal suite on the Epic is great!) is FAR SUPERIOR on the Epic to the Legend. 

[TeresaJ]

I have sailed both! I liked both ships but I would choose Epic unless the cost savings are huge compared to Legend. European cruises tend to be port heavy so ship amenities might not be as important at the end of the day. 

[ObstructedView2]

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

 

I do know that the Legend is a smaller ship and due for a refurb later this year, so that might play into the equation.

 

 

Hi @schmoopie17🙂

 

The Legend dry-dock will be in 2024. 

April 20, 2024 to May 21, 2024

 

 

 

🍹

[schmoopie17]

2 hours ago, ObstructedView2 said:

 

Hi @schmoopie17🙂

 

The Legend dry-dock will be in 2024. 

April 20, 2024 to May 21, 2024

 

 

 

🍹

Our cruise isn't until September, 2024, so I knew the Legend was scheduled prior to that (didn't know the exact dates). Thanks for clarifying.

[lazydayz]

While the Epic is likely a better ship, we enjoy the Legend.  After sailing Oasis of the Seas and Carnival's Excel class, the Legend is small and easy to navigate.  Feels like old school cruising. You are likely to actually meet and interact with the cruise director.  The staff will quickly begin to recognize you.  And you don't have 6000 other cruisers with you, so the lines are not huge.  I would probably chose the Legend if it was much cheaper.  

Edited May 18, 2023 by lazydayz
Sp

[Alegeeter]

Another vote for the Epic. Quirky or not it’s a really great ship!

 

Love the Spirit class though and sailing the Pride in Europe this summer but only because of a great casino deal. 

[Heartgrove]

We sailed on the Legend in January happy to not need to fly to a cruiseport. Prior to that sailing we also booked one of the two Legend cruises to Greenland this year. But after January's cruise we cancelled our cruise to Greenland for August. Not that it was bad as we had a good time. We just could not see sailing seven sea days with little to no activities, and then the first two ports in Greenland not having any excursions available. We have done previous cruises with many consecutive sea days including a Transatlantic but have been able to enjoy onboard activities.

 

I am not familiar with the Epic but I am going to make a suggestion that will probably be pooh-poohed. I suggest looking at MSC cruises from Italy and that includes price. It is a completely different experience than MSC sailing from Florida. Being 4 star on HAL, the Legend felt comfortable with it's similar layout. But last October we sailed on the MSC Splendida from Genoa. We enjoyed it so much that we have a MSC cruise this September from Hamburg to the British Isles on a sistership, and plan on booking two different B2B MSC cruises next year before our 2024 Transatlantic on HAL. Our travel to Europe is normally for 30-40 days.

[crazycatlady82]

I've sailed on both--the Legend in 2019 to Alaska and the Epic just recently in April 2023. I had two sea days on the Epic and to be honest, there was not much to do. I had a great time on the ship at night, and the dueling pianos were awesome. Comedy is better on the Legend...shows can be hard to get into on the Epic. For food, I preferred the Epic, although I did miss the deli sandwiches. I feel like the nightlife was better on the Epic with activities and things. Also, the specialty dining on NCL is so good. Le Bistro and La Cuchina are great....but I do prefer the Carnival Steakhouse to Cagneys. My husband said his meal on the Legend at the steakhouse was the best ever.

 

The balcony cabins on the Epic seemed small compared to the balcony cabins on the Legend. We did enjoy the Legend (I was solo on the Epic). For me, it depends on the drink package and how many sea days....but there wasn't much to do on either ship during the day. If it's port heavy, I'd probably pick the Legend due to the savings and spend the money on excursions...you're not going to be on board much then anyway. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

We've sailed both - and hands down would pick the Epic, it's like night and day. If you book a suite, then the Legend never even comes up to the plate... game over !

 

Tom

[schmoopie17]

UPDATE: We ended up choosing the Epic. After valuable input from folks on CC, as well perusing many You Tube videos of both ships, we decided Epic was a better fit.

 

The Legend looks a bit (not sure how to put this) too "glitzy". Especially the atrium. Not really our style. At the same time, the bathrooms look like something out of the 60s. Yes, we know about the Epic's funky bathroom set-up, but as a retired married couple traveling alone, it's not an issue. We actually prefer a bigger ship, as well. Plus, I get a 10 percent Veteran's discount on NCL and we had a $250 NCL certificate that we used for our deposit.

 

However, it was a tough choice and may consider a Carnival ship in the future.

Thanks again for the thoughtful responses.

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

At the same time, the bathrooms look like something out of the 60s.

Up to very recently with Carnival's new Excel Class that's how ALL of Carnival's standard cabin bathrooms looked. The only difference was the pink/mauve plastic sink/counter was changed to blue. So even Carnival's Panorama ship who's maiden voyage was 2019 !!!! the standard bathrooms basically look like the onlys on the Legend, albeit blue plastic instead of mauve.  

That was my BIGGEST complaint about Carnival's cabins. They literally spend ZERO $ for DECADES without updating their cabin bathrooms even when the cabin themselves had a more contemporary design to them.

Edited May 19, 2023 by kwokpot

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

UPDATE: We ended up choosing the Epic. After valuable input from folks on CC, as well perusing many You Tube videos of both ships, we decided Epic was a better fit.

 

The Legend looks a bit (not sure how to put this) too "glitzy". Especially the atrium. Not really our style. At the same time, the bathrooms look like something out of the 60s. Yes, we know about the Epic's funky bathroom set-up, but as a retired married couple traveling alone, it's not an issue. We actually prefer a bigger ship, as well. Plus, I get a 10 percent Veteran's discount on NCL and we had a $250 NCL certificate that we used for our deposit.

 

However, it was a tough choice and may consider a Carnival ship in the future.

Thanks again for the thoughtful responses.

 

On the Epic, you can always go for one of the 2-br suites and enjoy a really nice bathroom 🙂

 

Blinds in the shower, just in case you're in port !

 

Tom

[xitappers2bx]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, schmoopie17 said:

There probably aren't many who have sailed both ships, but thought I'd give it a shot over here on the Carnival board.

 

We are torn between two European cruises next year with similar itineraries and have narrowed the choice down to two...the Legend or the Epic. I know both ships are older and somewhat quirky, so it's a tough choice. We typically cruise on NCL but would "jump ship", if need be. We like NCL's Freestyle experience, the beverage package and the speciatly restaurants and we're thinking Carnival's offerings may be similar.

 

We have sailed on the Pride (similar to the Legend) and the Epic (around Europe).  

 

On 5/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, schmoopie17 said:

 

I do know that the Legend is a smaller ship and due for a refurb later this year, so that might play into the equation. Plus, the cost is much lower, even when adding in the Cheers package.

 

There's a reason the cost is lower... and I am typically more loyal to Carnival than NCL. 

 

On 5/17/2023 at 12:31 PM, schmoopie17 said:

 

Decisions, decisions...

Thoughts on the two ships and experiences are appreciated.

 

I know the Epic is a very controversial ship, it was our first NCL cruise, and I absolutely loved it.  The walls are kinda funky, but we were on the ship after a summer in Paris, and the amount of storage was truly incredible.  I was able to stick away all the stuff we didn't need, but needed in Paris, and never felt like I was walking over a summer's accumulation of stuff that my teenager acquired.  

 

The bathrooms are kind of weird, but I didn't think it felt exposed and really didn't have a complaint.  Yes the sink is a little small and it's in a weird place, but it really didn't both me at all. The split bathroom really become not-weird very quickly and there's a curtain if you're really weirded out.  

 

The food was excellent, we did all of the specialty dining and everything was outstanding.  The circus show was so fun, my kiddo loved it so much we did it a second time.  It was our first time doing the freestyle dining, and I really did love it, and once I realized we could request the same service team it was even better. 

 

We were on the pride several years ago, and it's a small ship that feels like a small ship.  The Epic is definitely much bigger (but smaller than like the escape, the joy, etc), in some 25+ cruises the only ship I've ever been seasick in was the Pride.  The Pride was a nice enough ship, being smaller I think our dining crew and room stewards got to know us better, so that was great, but I think the teams on the Epic were also as great.  

 

There were way more outside spaces on the Epic, I loved the top deck where there was some seating that was away from all the hubbub, and was so comfortable and restful.  The Legend is much much older  than the Epic, but both have been around for a while too.  If I had the option, I would do the Epic hands down, I would probably stay on land if given the only option of a Spirit class ship, unless it was going somewhere I really, really, really wanted to go.