Carnival Dream or NCL Epic

[grossnmoe]

Ok, we have cruise with our son who is 7 a few times on RCCL and love it. My youngest son is almost 2 and unless we go on the OASIS RCCL dosen't have a kids club option for him. So, we are looking into the Carnival Dream or the NCL Epic. Any suggestions?

[nolejagbuc]

I have been on the NCL Pearl and the Carnival Glory with my kids (2, 5 and 9). MY opinion is that we are choosing the Dream over the Epic for a couple of reasons. (We will be doing Oasis when the little one is almost 4) One, the kids club hours. On NCL, the kids club is closed in port unless you pay for port play. I believe it was $12 per hour for my two kids. If I wanted to lay up on the deck by myself on a sea day, I would have to pay for them to go to the kids area. I feel that the activities on Carnival were better than the ones offered on the Pearl. There was a lot of TV time and not a whole lot of play time. My kids enjoyed the Pearl but they weren't in the kids club nearly as much as they would have been on Carnival. I still would like to try out the Epic someday but I think that will be a kid free cruise or once they are a little bit older. Best of luck in your decision!

[Ren4l]

I have been on the NCL Pearl and the Carnival Glory with my kids (2, 5 and 9). MY opinion is that we are choosing the Dream over the Epic for a couple of reasons. (We will be doing Oasis when the little one is almost 4) One, the kids club hours. On NCL, the kids club is closed in port unless you pay for port play. I believe it was $12 per hour for my two kids. If I wanted to lay up on the deck by myself on a sea day, I would have to pay for them to go to the kids area. I feel that the activities on Carnival were better than the ones offered on the Pearl. There was a lot of TV time and not a whole lot of play time. My kids enjoyed the Pearl but they weren't in the kids club nearly as much as they would have been on Carnival. I still would like to try out the Epic someday but I think that will be a kid free cruise or once they are a little bit older. Best of luck in your decision!

 

Thanks for the info, I am interested in this topic as well. I have a 2 year old and a 14 month old and want to try at least one new ship next year (I am in the planning stage) when my baby is able to go to kid's club

[grossnmoe]

Thank you very much for the information. I wasn't aware that NCL kids club isn't open while in port unless you pay.

[nolejagbuc]

I just realized that I typed about laying out on a "sea" day and I meant to say port day...sorry if I confused anyone! I know that I had read that NCL was a fee while in port but I didn't realize it would be as much as the evening fee. On the port days, it didn't open up until after dinner time which meant it was only open 2-3 hours before they started charging again.