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Earls_Bride
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tell me about cruising on mega ships...
in Travel
...such as the Oasis, Freedom, Liberty, Independence, Allure, Epic, Dream - any others? Have you been on any of these? What kind of experience did you have? Also, how do they compare to cruising on regular sized cruise ships, pros/cons?
I know about Cruise Critic, but I just wanted to hear some personal experiences from you ladies. I've only been on one cruise, the Crown Princess, but my MIL and I are thinking of going BIG for a possible cruise together (her first).
Just celebrated 6 blessed wedded years! 9.24.06
Re: Tell me about cruising on mega ships...
I have only heard positives things from friends who have done the mega ships. Their only complaints over the older, smaller ships is that you end up being nickle and dimed for stuff (b/c of the specialty shops or restuarants - some are only like $5.00 extra but it still starts to add up for longer cruises and families). But the activities and shows usually make up for that.
We (just DH and I) went on the Epic last Sept, it was a med cruise so I'm sure a different dynamic than a carribbean cruise. We really enjoyed ourselves, we were also in a suite so that again is going to be different than the other cabins as NCL has great suite perks. The entertainment was amazing, we'd never seen blue man group before, that was on there and a great show, they also had a cique like show that was great. There were tons of places to eat but the non-fee places were fine, we only ate at one speciality place and it was good but again the regular dining was just as good as it, we thought.
It was a big ship but we found our way around just fine and only really felt the crowds when we were in the casino one night. We've booked another NCL cruise for later this year, one a smaller ship, I am curious to see how we like it after we'd been on the Epic which was our first cruise.
I want to go on Oasis/Allure but I think I might save those for when our girls are a bit older to actually enjoy everything on board.
DH and I have only been on two cruises - both of them on mega ships. We were on Freedom of the Seas for our HM in 2008 and Oasis of the Seas this past January. Of the two, I liked Oasis better. Oasis had more simultaneous activities and the crowds were better dispersed throughout the ship. I also found my way around Oasis much faster than Freedom (though I believe Freedom has added the wayfinder screens now) and liked the layout more. I also felt less movement on Oasis.
Both were fantastic ships though and I think you'd be happy with either and their sister ships. Oasis is just so different that it's hard to compare it with other ships.
I've been on Freedom of the Seas and Epic. I definitely like FotS better... but I think that's because I like Royal Caribbean better than Norwegian. I *did not* like the Freestyle dining. We had to wait at least an hour every night for our table and the wait staff was soooo slowwwww.
FotS had much better entertainment and dining in general. I've now been on RC, Norwegian and Carnival and if I ever cruise again I'm a RC girl. They just have it down pat where as the others have room for improvement.
Holiday Card 2011
The Baloney Bug, A Blog
My husband and I have been on 6 cruises and the majority were mid-size ships. We were on the Oasis with my parents (their first cruise) this past February. We all LOVED it. The biggest advantage to the mega ships are the amount of public space, the quality and quantity of shows/entertainment/activities and the variety and quality of dining/specialty dining options. There are a lot of people on the Oasis but we didn't really feel the crowds except when leaving a show (which is the same on smaller ships.)
The biggest disadvantage to the Oasis and similar ships (IMHO) is the limited itinerary. There are only so many ports that can accommodate ships of this size. Basically our trip on the Oasis was about the ship and the ports were secondary.(We selected the Eastern itinerary.) We enjoyed all the stops but there are more exotic and exciting ports we'd like to see in the future which would mean selecting a smaller ship.
The biggest I've sailed was Voyager (back when Independence was new and shiny), and the thing that struck me was that it was very hard to find or recognized anyone. Even on the bigger Princess ship, we would bump into people we recognized, and meeting up with someone didn't require a lot of planning. On Voyager, you would only find someone if you pre-arranged a time/place to meet. Otherwise you could go days without seeing them. Obviously this is only a concern if you're the social type that likes to get to know other passengers, but I thought it was an interesting difference.
I also felt that there were a lot more location/equipment-based activities and fewer cruise-staff-led activities.