Allure, Oasis or NCL Escape

[FLUFFLULA]

Trying to decide whether to cruise on Oasis or Allure, vs. NCL Escape. DH and I have cruised both Oasis and Allure and they are my favorite ships. We have never sailed on NCL and DH thinks it has some interesting amenities. All three are sailing during the May time we are available to cruise.

 

What would you choose and why?

 

Thanks in advance for your suggestions and recommendations!

[livvys]

We sailed on NCL Escape this past Nov 28... We were not overly impressed. It was our first NCL cruise, so we didn't know what to expect. Our room (a family mini suite- no suite perks) was quite large and really nice, but extremely noisy. The service overall was so so and our room steward was seriously lacking and we are not picky people. The drink package being included was nice even tho we don't drink much. Food Republic an ala carte restaurant was awesome! The million dollar quartet was the best show I have ever seen at sea, but it's not playing anymore right now from what I've heard? The pool decks were very chopped up, but the ropes course and kids ropes course were so much fun!! I enjoyed the decor of this ship, it was pretty classy and not over the top. The food was pretty good and the Manhattan room main dining room was my favorite of the MDR's because they had a nice dance floor and live entertainment. The casino was super smokey and you had to walk right through it a lot unless you went up or down a floor and even then you could smell it.

We haven't been on Oasis since 2010, so I can't compare a recent experience, but I still think I would choose RCL. Although, I'm glad we tried NCL and overall it was a nice cruise, we just found out it wasn't for us. We are looking forward to our May 2016 allure cruise:)

[sender_name]

I kind of have to agree with the previous assessment...We just finished a cruise on the NCL escape and consensus from our group of 20+ was that the Allure was an overall better experience.

 

The Escape was nice...and I really didn't have any complaints...but the Allure was a more "open" ship. The pool decks had more space in general...the boardwalk and shops felt like a whole new world...

 

On the Escape we could really feel the boat rocking...nearly every day. It wasn't a lot, but just a constant back and forth sway. The Escape had better night life I would say...and with an included drink package it's a definite plus...we had balcony staterooms on both and I really couldn't tell the difference between the two ships once in the room..I think maybe we had a little more wiggle room on the Escape but the room is just for sleeping and showering... we had room 7714 on Allure and 14718 on Escape.

 

Weird things about the Escape...The running track goes right through main busy areas...On the Allure it's on it's own deck. The casino is dead center on the Escape and is very smokey. The water/amphitheater on Allure was very impressive...

 

If you've never done Escape and want to give it a try I would say give it a shot. All things considered they were very comparable ships...But if you like to sit in the sun on sea days it's a bit of a competition on the Escape to get a seat...which I suppose is the same on all ships...

 

The Escape has a GREAT kids water park...with multiple water slides. The ropes course is great too...but if you have no kids none of this will interest you...

 

I'm easy to please and happy either way..I would probably say that only you can decide if you will like it or not...give it a shot :)