RCI Oasis versus NCL Escape

[Big Kahuna D]

Forward:

To begin with I’m a regular guy and like everyone else works hard and really looks forward to a cruise where you get away from it all and enjoy yourself. My wife and I sailed on the Oasis in December (2015) and just returned from the Escape in June (2016). I’ve seen reviews about the wonderful things both ships have to offer but haven’t seen a brass tacks comparison for those trying to decide between the 2. I’m not a travel expert, so this is just a personal opinion for those looking for some practical insight as to what you get for what you pay. I will say that in my job I travel 75% of the time and so there are standard amenities I look for and expect for my travel dollar. I neither stay at the fanciest hotels nor do I have to eat at the finest restaurants - remember the regular guy thing?

 

Both are beautiful ships with many amenities and carry quite a large number of passengers and crew. We had a great time on both and enjoyed our vacations immensely. We got to know a lot of really great people, both passengers and crew.

 

Sailing Time:

Odd this would have any impact but I feel that it will affect my future cruise planning decisions. Probably most will agree that you usually sail around 4-ish after everybody has gotten on-board and the safety drill is complete and then your vacation really begins. The Escape sailed at 7PM which felt like a little of my vacation time got taken. Safety drill was around 4:30 and then sail away at 7 seemed to mess with everyone’s dinner and evening plans. It’s probably not a big deal but I will choose a ship with an earlier sailing time because of what I mentioned here.

 

Rooms:

On the Oasis we had a balcony room and the Escape got upgraded to a Guaranteed Mini Suite after a price drop. Both were nice rooms. I have to say that the beds on the Escape won hands down in comparison/comfort. Also the Mini Suite bathroom was awesome - double sink, walk in glass door shower with multi head shower and ample space for the head. I can’t make a comparison between the bathrooms because we were not in a mini suite on the Oasis. Also we were on Deck 8 Forward and had the oversize balcony on the Escape which was very nice and roomy - it is how ever open to all balconies above so do be dressed when you walk out. So Escape won in the rooms category, but I don’t have any info to compare with a mini suite on Oasis.

 

Staff

Staff on both ships were very courteous and attentive. My personal feeling is that the staff on Oasis was more outgoing and definitely more knowledgable. For instance, on the Escape we had a day planned (with other family members on the cruise on other decks) so we were trying to meet just off the ship at port. After waiting a while my wife reboarded and asked specifically if anyone from room number xxxx8 had disembarked to which the person replied “yes, they have left”. In fact, they were still on the ship running late by 45 minutes. Armed with the knowledge we were provided we began to walk onward in hopes of finding them - we did on our way back to the ship as they were trying to find us - needless to say that wasted a lot of time on the stop-over and our plans changed to accommodate our now ‘short’ time at port. Other instances of basic information questions were met with answers that were clearly wrong when we went by the suggestions or information provided. NCL you need to make sure everyone either knows the correct answer or admits they don’t know and finds someone who does. Bartenders on both ships were excellent and it is amazing how they remember everyone’s name and what they like very quickly.

 

Food

Food quality on both was mostly similar, but I would give the ‘nod’ to Oasis, particularly the main dining rooms and smaller cafe type restaurants. We did not partake of all the specialty restaurants on the Escape as most had changed to ‘ala carte’ or per item charges and I just felt like after paying for the cruise those agreeably small additional charges are just that and quite frankly a nuisance charge to me. I know this is something that NCL and other cruise lines are trying out - for the record, I don’t like it. Before anyone tries to justify it, I’ll bet you take a carry-on if you fly to avoid the baggage fees on airlines. Just a note to the cruise lines - The cruise industry has been touted as being the best vacation/travel value because it was all-inclusive - as these subtle changes expand to other areas of the ship, I think entertainment will be next, people will probably evaluate the value/spend proposition. We did have a Dining Package for use in two restaurants - used one in Cagney’s on the Escape - good steakhouse. Decided not to use the other because it would only work in 2 of the many restaurants onboard and the other was a French restaurant whose menu did not appeal to us. Wish it could have been used in any of their restaurants.

 

Buffets

Windjammer versus Garden Cafe? - Windjammer wins. A few reasons, first the Windjammer had separate food stations rather than everything being along the inner wall - this really helped to split up the crowds - especially when you encounter a family of 8 parked in front of a food station just looking and having a conversation. Second - the Windjammer had more of the basics accompaniments (rice, mashed potatoes, noodles, gravy, etc) to go with your meal. Garden Cafe has a better egg station in the morning, BUT it was the only area in the buffet in which the line went in one direction until you got there and you had to switch directions creating a big traffic jam. The Windjammer had its food organized in similar groups while the Garden Cafe did not and much time was spent hunting for what you wanted to accompany your meal. Desserts were very good on both ships.

 

Doors

Odd topic but thinking about the ‘washy-washy’ in the restaurants made me think about opening the passageway doors leading to pools, outer decks, etc. Oasis wins here in my opinion because their doors were automatic. On the Escape you have to touch a pad to open the doors, I did try to see if it would sense if your hand was right in front but contact has to be made. It’s not that I have to make a gesture to open a door, I just hope no one just wiped their nose before using it….With all the concern about spreading viruses it seems odd that this would be the case on a relatively brand new ship.

 

Eco Friendly

Escape probably wins this, for instance when you enter your room you have to place your room key (Seacard) in a slot to activate the power in your room. I get it but it is a little hard to do when you come back to a dark room at night. Oh yes and when you take the card out the power goes off in your room in about a minute. And if anybody in your room is in the bathroom and you decide to run down the hall for a cup of coffee or other beverage and you grab your room key you just might leave them in a very dark room - whoops! Still it does conserve on power so just be aware of it.

 

Drink Packages

Easy one here - Royal Caribbean hands down - Why? Take this seriously - not all Ultimate beverage packages are alike! You really have to read the fine print. Royal Caribbean’s UBP includes alcoholic beverages, soda and water. Norwegian’s UBP includes alcoholic beverages and soda. Royal Caribbean provides you a reusable souvenir cup that you can fill with soda at any of their automated soda stations. Norwegian does not provide this, so if you just want a soda you still have to go to the buffet or wait at a bar for service. We bought cups on the Escape for our soda as we got tired of the little plastic cups ($15 each) and still had to wait at the bars unless we were in the cafeteria. By the way, on Oasis if we needed a bottled water - no problem - we had the ultimate drink package…On Escape you still have to buy it even though you have an “ultimate” beverage package…you can order it 50% off pre-cruise or buy them individually at about $5-6 dollars a bottle - seriously?!? We brought our own water and Gatorade which you are allowed to do - thankfully. NOTE - I just saw a post that said as of July 15 you can no longer bring water, soda on board unless it is medically necessary or to reconstitute baby formula - evidently we were among the last that could bring water onboard…but I would definitely check with NCL before taking my word on it.

 

Pool (with a special note on Escape’s “The Vibe”)

Royal Caribbean Hands Down! OK, who is planning on going on a cruise without thinking about sitting by the pool without a nice beverage? I know there are quite q few but seriously most folks want to be by the pool. Escape’s pool situation is horrible because it has 2 pools, but there’s more - one of them is sandwiched between the water slide landing and the children’s aqua park. the other one can probably hold 150 people in a somewhat crowded nature. So basically one pool for 4200 people? Imagine the sea days…we wound up sitting on a chair above the pool deck looking down. At one point I estimated there are about 180 chairs that you would actually call poolside. The main pool was adults only until 5PM so a lot of families had their kids play in the hot tubs right next to the main pool while they swam. On the Escape’s deck above the pool they had what have to be wind breaks and the problem with those glass partitions is that people put their chairs right up to them and because of the limited pass through space there was always a traffic jam. I had met a few people using scooters for medical reasons and they couldn’t even attempt to get through the spaces. It’s not the vacationer’s fault, there wasn’t anywhere else for them to put chairs…very poor design and the designer obviously made a big error in planning for the pools - they must have been an after thought. The slides on the Escape were cool but the Flowriders on the Oasis are cool too. Escape does have a place called Spice H20 which was once on 17 aft. Lots of chairs - they were packed and a wonderful grotto with a waterfall of cool water - that turned out to be our favorite. I did promise a note on “The Vibe” - having had a bit of concern for my sun-loving wife and the Escape’s obvious pool shortage I did look into buying (yes an additional fee) passes to “The Vibe” as it seemed to get a lot of mention on most of the posting boards. The answer to one question would make my decision….I asked the staff if it had a pool? The answer was no - the result was no sale.

 

Onboard Shopping

Both were as expected but Oasis is laid out to be a bit more accessible.

 

Flow of the ship (traffic, layout, design, etc)

OK, Royal Caribbean wins. Their open air deck plans really are superior to the more traditional closed wall ships. For instance on the Escape there are several staggered watch and jewelry counter on one of the main decks. Trying to get through was difficult due to the shoppers doing their thing and the groups of people stopping in the middle of the aisle to have a conversation - you know they’re always the ones in the grocery stores that block the aisles there too. I’m not saying don’t have a conversation, but do have a little courtesy. Did I mention that the pool situation on the Escape is not good? It felt like I could find venues easier on Oasis and they were more separated in the Escape and those that were weren't very busy. Didn’t do Margaritaville on Escape since it was also ‘ala carte’, noticed it got busy when all the other restaurants were full - sad waste of a good venue. All in all I would say that with all passengers aboard I felt much less crowded on the Oasis and felt more like the capacity of the Escape should really be about 2800-3000 to prevent feeling overcrowded.

 

Smokers

For the smokers on board the Oasis would have to win. When we sailed her there were more places available. Before we get into any judgements about smoking, we’re polite smokers and prefer not to intrude on others, but we still have the right to enjoy ourselves too. We don’t ask or expect the whole ship to be a smoking area so please don’t be intrusive. On the Escape prior to sailing there is one small room at Tobacco Road about half the size of the smoking lounge in the Atlanta airport. It gets crowded and with a late sail time you can imagine. The other areas are near one bar on 17 and the casino. The Escape casino is closed altogether when at dock while on the Oasis you could still go down to it and have one.

 

Ropes Obstacle Course

I should really mention this about the Escape as it really looked very cool. I didn’t partake of it (bad knees) but it really looked like it would be great fun for teens and adults looking for a little extra activity. It even has a ‘walk the plank’ where you actually walk out on a very sturdy plank and can look straight down at the ocean - of course it looks to me as if they really have you hooked up with the safety gear just in case so you can enjoy the adventure.

 

Customer focus (corporate focus on the customer)

So everyone would agree both are big companies and as such flexibility is not their stronghold. That being said I will provide what we experienced. After booking the Escape about 4-5 months out there were a few price drops. On one I called and asked for an accommodation. There is no reason to me that someone who pays their money up front far in advance (which is a benefit to the cruise line) should not be accommodated as they drop prices to fill the very rooms we booked. That’s when they did change our room to a mini suite. One of my other family members was offered a credit of 10% of the total difference which would have been only a few dollars, hmm. On the next price drop when I called they said they would give us that price but we would have to give up our “offers” (drink package and restaurant package) to get the price. We chose not to - (let me add the lower price offer also included those same packages). Net result, from booking early I paid nearly twice what someone who booked late did - so if I was to sail NCL again I will not book early - I’ll wait for the deals - I can always find a cruise. On Oasis when they had a price drop they did provide us an on board credit which was satisfactory to us - hence a happy customer.

[ozscot01]

I really appreciate you taking the time to do this. One of the larger ships is on our " to do" list, hopefully soon and both of these are contenders.

Of course it would be sooner still if they'd just bring one of the big ladies Downunder for us. We can dream [emoji57]

[crusinthrough]

Thank you for your review. I priced a suite on NCL recently. The person I spoke to tried to sell me on the promotions. Everything sounded good until I was told the included dining package and other promotions are only available for the first two guests. :confused:

 

On RC everyone in the suite gets the same amenities. This matters when traveling with family.

[Big Kahuna D]

Good point. My Brother-in-law, wife and 3 teenagers travelled with us and that was the case, they had to pay for 3 of them as the first two guest rule applied.

[NECruiser83]

Thanks for the review. I have sailed RCI twice (10 years ago) currently we are sailing Harmony this Nov, and NCL Getaway Nov 2017. I'm hoping Harmony doesn't spoil me too much!

[Shocked91]

Thank you for your review. I priced a suite on NCL recently. The person I spoke to tried to sell me on the promotions. Everything sounded good until I was told the included dining package and other promotions are only available for the first two guests. :confused:

 

On RC everyone in the suite gets the same amenities. This matters when traveling with family.

 

Not true.The 3rd person in the same cabin does not get the drinks packages gets nothing at all.

Edited July 4, 2016 by Shocked91

[crusinthrough]

Not true.The 3rd person in the same cabin does not get the drinks packages gets nothing at all.

 

 

What is not true??

 

The drink package on RC is only Included in the Star class suites. When I was on the Oasis in May, I spoke with someone who was with a family in one of these suites. The person told me everyone received the included drink and speciality dining packages, which is why he was booking the same cabin again. Things could have changed since May.

 

RC occasionally has a promotion for drink packages but I think this is mostly for European bookings. I can't speak on that promotion, and I was referring to the perks included with booking a suite.

[flacplnj]

What is not true??

 

The drink package on RC is only Included in the Star class suites. When I was on the Oasis in May, I spoke with someone who was with a family in one of these suites. The person told me everyone received the included drink and speciality dining packages, which is why he was booking the same cabin again. Things could have changed since May.

 

RC occasionally has a promotion for drink packages but I think this is mostly for European bookings. I can't speak on that promotion, and I was referring to the perks included with booking a suite.

 

We have an AquaSuite A2 booked on the Oasis. It is my understanding from the RCL site that the Star class perks are provided to all passangers booked in the Suite. They will receive Drink package, Specialty Restaurant, Wifi and Std Gratuities. Those are the major perks. The gratuity for the Genie is extra.

[Firefighterhoop]

Thanks for posting your comparison!

Edited July 5, 2016 by Firefighterhoop
I can't spell some days...

[Maryscooking]

Thanks for your review! This comparison is so helpful for me right now because I'm trying to decide if we should change our Escape booking to a Harmony booking.

[sml3]

Thanks for the comparison.

[Jenjer]

I have sailed both and I agree with you.

 

I will say that NCL's Haven is unbelievable. IMO better than anything RCCL offers. I have not sailed with the suite program but when I look at the benefits I do not see the value in it for me and my family. Having The Haven area with a pool, bar and restaurant all steps from our room was the ultimate in luxury on a mega ship. I know looking at Harmony I have go all the way up to a 20K suite to get my kids away from having to share a sofa bed. Seems like RCCl is doing away with Pullmans.

 

 

I can say my kids did not get a beverage package being the 3rd and 4th passengers but we where also never charged for any non alcoholic drinks for them in the Haven. Including frozen virgin drinks and mojitos.

 

 

I would not sail Escape again out of the Haven because of the crowds and the bad pool deck. I will sail the Oasis class out of a suite because Rccl does a better job with people management.

[sandebeach]

Thanks Big Kahuna, I appreciated your review and comparison, very interesting to see the side-by-side comparison, I enjoyed reading your review.

[riclop]

Thanks for the comparisons. For us Oasis all the way.

[aubreyc1988]

thanks for the comparison, havent been on RCI for a while and good to see we agree on alot of things

 

How would you say variety of drinks were, comparing the two packages? And how much is the RCI Beverage package per day for the ultimate?

 

Also curious of the current cover charges for Giovanni's and Chops?

[Clarea]

... And how much is the RCI Beverage package per day for the ultimate? ...

$67 per day, plus 18% if you purchase on board. There may be a discount if you purchase pre-cruise.

[DCT61]

Have to agree with you...we prefer OASIS. we've sailed on the ESCAPE in an aft Haven Suite, and on the OASIS and ALLURE in Crown Loft Suites. The Haven is nice and we always enjoy NCL. The ESCAPE is a beautiful ship with a great staff. But we are just more comfortable on OASIS. Less crowded..better entertainment..more WOW.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us