Booked on Esacpe but debating on going to Allure

[ericm078]

We currently are booked on Escape in Sept. But after doing some more reading it seems like Allue may be better for us. Its my wife and I a 7 and 11 year old. It seems to me the activites for kids are better for kids on RC then NC. The lack of water slides is not an issue. It seems from reading other threads NC night life is better but with 2 kids dont need all that. Wife is intriged by the central park and boardwalk areas as well as the aqua theater. Did not really hear any concerns from her about the ship intentary. Escape is newer but concerns I read are smokey, small pool deck, some rooms can be loud, and ship movement. Price difference isnt bad although free ubp and free specialty dining are a plus. Itentaries are about the same, RC st marten NC tortola is the difference. Looking more for a better experence for the kids. Thoughts?

 

FYI posted in both RCL and NCL threads

[Yorkvillain]

We currently are booked on Escape in Sept. But after doing some more reading it seems like Allue may be better for us. Its my wife and I a 7 and 11 year old. It seems to me the activites for kids are better for kids on RC then NC. The lack of water slides is not an issue. It seems from reading other threads NC night life is better but with 2 kids dont need all that. Wife is intriged by the central park and boardwalk areas as well as the aqua theater. Did not really hear any concerns from her about the ship intentary. Escape is newer but concerns I read are smokey, small pool deck, some rooms can be loud, and ship movement. Price difference isnt bad although free ubp and free specialty dining are a plus. Itentaries are about the same, RC st marten NC tortola is the difference. Looking more for a better experence for the kids. Thoughts?

 

FYI posted in both RCL and NCL threads

 

I love both ships. You can't go wrong with either. I like the pools on the Allure much more than the pools on the Escape. The UBP and free specialty dining are definitely a big plus for the Escape.

 

Allure may have a little more for the kids but I am no expert in that category. :)

[Gimmiethebeach]

We were on the Oasis (Allure sister ship) in 2014 and are going on the Escape in 10 days (both spring break time). Our boys are 15 (13 when on the Oasis).

 

Some things to ponder....

 

-my kids really didn't care for the kids club on RCCL but I think it might have just been their age

-aqua theatre is an amazing show

-Central park and boardwalk are really cool considering they are on a ship. [emoji12]

-we always had a hard time finding a deck chair near the pool on sea days.

-we had three days on the Oasis that were very rocky. The worst of three other RCCL cruises.

 

We booked ncl this time because it was much cheaper than Royal and really last minute and not budgeted for, plus the beverage package was great for us!

 

I'll check back here when we get off the escape and give our real comparison if you are still in limbo! Good luck. I can't imagine you will go wrong with either!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We were on the Oasis (Allure sister ship) in 2014 and are going on the Escape in 10 days (both spring break time). Our boys are 15 (13 when on the Oasis).

 

Some things to ponder....

 

-my kids really didn't care for the kids club on RCCL but I think it might have just been their age

-aqua theatre is an amazing show

-Central park and boardwalk are really cool considering they are on a ship. [emoji12]

-we always had a hard time finding a deck chair near the pool on sea days.

-we had three days on the Oasis that were very rocky. The worst of three other RCCL cruises.

 

We booked ncl this time because it was much cheaper than Royal and really last minute and not budgeted for, plus the beverage package was great for us!

 

I'll check back here when we get off the escape and give our real comparison if you are still in limbo! Good luck. I can't imagine you will go wrong with either!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

You couldn't find a chair on RCI? You'll find one on NCL but it might be up a deck or 2. After being on Oasis with all the pools you'll probably be disappointed with that aspect on NCL. They have 1 tiny pool for over 4000 guest.

 

We were on the Escapes sister, Getaway and loved everything about the ship except for the pool area.

 

Bill

[Jim The Lizard]

We currently are booked on Escape in Sept. But after doing some more reading it seems like Allue may be better for us. Its my wife and I a 7 and 11 year old. It seems to me the activites for kids are better for kids on RC then NC. The lack of water slides is not an issue. It seems from reading other threads NC night life is better but with 2 kids dont need all that. Wife is intriged by the central park and boardwalk areas as well as the aqua theater. Did not really hear any concerns from her about the ship intentary. Escape is newer but concerns I read are smokey, small pool deck, some rooms can be loud, and ship movement. Price difference isnt bad although free ubp and free specialty dining are a plus. Itentaries are about the same, RC st marten NC tortola is the difference. Looking more for a better experence for the kids. Thoughts?

 

FYI posted in both RCL and NCL threads

 

 

 

Pool area is very small on Escape. But, the freestyle cruising NCL offers is fantastic, especially for active families.

[DetCruiser]

We currently are booked on Escape in Sept. But after doing some more reading it seems like Allue may be better for us. Its my wife and I a 7 and 11 year old. It seems to me the activites for kids are better for kids on RC then NC. The lack of water slides is not an issue. It seems from reading other threads NC night life is better but with 2 kids dont need all that. Wife is intriged by the central park and boardwalk areas as well as the aqua theater. Did not really hear any concerns from her about the ship intentary. Escape is newer but concerns I read are smokey, small pool deck, some rooms can be loud, and ship movement. Price difference isnt bad although free ubp and free specialty dining are a plus. Itentaries are about the same, RC st marten NC tortola is the difference. Looking more for a better experence for the kids. Thoughts?

 

FYI posted in both RCL and NCL threads

 

If you do not have your heart set on Oct.... you might want to check out the Harmony of the seas which is still under construction in Europe and will be coming across doing Caribbean cruises in Nov. It is the bigger brother of the Allure and will have water slides.

[Keith1010]

Both are excellent choices.

 

I would study the layouts of the ships and also the activities offered.

 

Keith

[harbourdebs]

We currently are booked on Escape in Sept. But after doing some more reading it seems like Allue may be better for us. Its my wife and I a 7 and 11 year old. It seems to me the activites for kids are better for kids on RC then NC. The lack of water slides is not an issue. It seems from reading other threads NC night life is better but with 2 kids dont need all that. Wife is intriged by the central park and boardwalk areas as well as the aqua theater. Did not really hear any concerns from her about the ship intentary. Escape is newer but concerns I read are smokey, small pool deck, some rooms can be loud, and ship movement. Price difference isnt bad although free ubp and free specialty dining are a plus. Itentaries are about the same, RC st marten NC tortola is the difference. Looking more for a better experence for the kids. Thoughts?

 

FYI posted in both RCL and NCL threads

We have been on the Escape and The Oasis which is the same as the Allure. We would recommend hands down on the RCL ship. It has loads to do and in our opinion a far superior ship. We did not really care for the Escape, we felt the drinks were overpriced and a lot of the speciality restaurants were Al la carte, we much preferred the dining on Oasis and the Solarium speciality restaurant in the evening was amazing. I would recommend on any cruise to get a drinks package though if you like a tipple.....we paid nearly $20 for 2

beers on the escape with added taxes and tips..

[qdog123]

I imagine for kids the Allure would be the better choice. I've been on the RCI Oasis class ships three times and found the ship to be amazing every time. My only knock would be that the food wasn't that great unless you did specialty dining every night, and even then you would run out of options before the week was up. We're ging on the Escape in May because we really enjoyed the dining variety on the NCL Epic when we took our TA a couple years ago, and it appears the Escape has even more options. With kids I'm guessing dining is the least of your worries as they'll probably just order burgers or what have you every night anyway. I would definitely take St. maarten over Tortola for a stop with kids as the beach is right next to the ship if you don't want to schlep all over the island to plop down on a beach. Tortola's beaches are much more remote and facilities at the beaches are sparse and rustic to say the least.

 

Enjoy!

[teachatthebeach]

We have been on both the Allure and Norwegian's Getaway. Myself, DH, and DD who was 8 on the Allure and 11 on Norwegian all preferred the Allure. DD definitely liked the Allure's kids club better. The Allure had more pool and deck space.

[moggin123]

I've been on oasis when I was 17, and just on escape 2 weeks ago at 21. I loved both and both very different ships, wouldn't say one or the other is better.

 

You know your kids best, what activities would be more fun for them? Allure has the flow rider, rock wall, small water play area, nice teen club (obviously can't say for escape) and an ice skating rink. Which for me is a huge hit but I grew up a figure skater so I had fun with that. Escape has water slides, ropes course, and small children's aqua park.

 

Honestly overall I enjoyed the water slides and ropes course over the rock wall ad flow rider which I only did once when on oasis as opposed to doing both ropes and water slides almost every day.

 

But it just depends on what each individual enjoys more.

[flapbreaker]

Was on the allure a few years ago. Fantastic experience. Every single show was pretty spectacular. Never ate at any of the specialty dining spots and thought the food was excellent. You simply cannot go wrong with the allure. It's big and amazing.