I'm planning a group sailing in 2011 with 35 or so family and friends (who've cruised before but not extensively). When I show them the brochures and websites for both Oasis and Epic, 3/4 say "I want to go on Epic".

These are not NCL loyalists... in fact only 2 have ever sailed NCL. Most comment about the dining experience (big band dancing in Manhattan Room, Teppanyaki, Cirque dinner), the cool cabin design, and the pool deck/water park. Families in particular note that their kids would be far more entertained on the Epic's 3 slides than they would on Oasis' Flow Rider or kiddie H2O Zone.

Some also note that they can get a New Wave balcony statement on Epic for the same price as an inside on Oasis. And the itineraries are very similar.

NCL has done a great job recently regarding everything EPIC. They key is, will they be able to deliver a superior onboard product, and will EPIC live up to the hype once onboard? NCL is getting better, but onboard delivery has never been their strong suit. In the past they had a tendency to be inconsistent and a little disorganized. RCI on the other hand are masters of onboard delivery. They think through the details and develop innovative ideas on how to effectively manage thousands of people with ease. Whether or not NCL can manage the EPIC onboard experience with the same precision as RCI remains to be seen.

No doubt NCL will have excellent hardware with EPIC, but hopefully they will have the right management and training in place to deliver a seamless onboard experience. You can offer 10 restaurants, but if the service and organization are poor it doesn't matter if there are 20 restaurants. People will come away disappointed.

I have high hopes for EPIC. I think she is the only ship that will come close to matching what OASIS will offer. I'm sailing on EPIC next November in a Spa Suite and I can't wait. I'm tempted to book the transatlantic crossing that was just announced but I think I will hold off.

Good luck with your EPIC group!

That said, my last NCL cruise this April was a most pleasant surprise. Check-in and embarkation took 5 minutes tops, easy restaurant reservations, the most hassle-free and relaxed disembarkation I've ever experienced. It was such a hassle free cruise. Freestyle clicked for us on this one.

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Originally posted by eroller:
I agree. When I received the EPIC inaugural brochure, I was hooked!

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I got my brochure yesterday. I agree its excelent! I already wanted to go on Epic, the brochure just made me want to go more.

I think Epic is amazing. I think she will definately hold her own against Oasis. On the other hand though I have serveral problems with her.

1) her layout doens't seem as well designed as it could be. Looking at the deck plans it seems somewhat confused. This might be different onboard her though.

2)The wave state rooms. They look cool but to me it seems that the wave only makes the room smaller while keeping the flow (If you get what I mean), that way 2 cabins together will take up less room as compared to 2 regualr cabins on another ship. In short, though in the renderings they look large enough I think in person they will seem quite small.

3)The bathrooms. The split bathroom IMO was a mistake on NCLs part. I don't liker the fact that when you step out of the shower or the seprate toilet stall you are right in the middle of your cabin and right infront of the door. If you need to change or are getting out of the shower you will be blocking others from going in and out of the cabin, not to mention you will have much less privacy. I think this would especially be bad for famillys. However you could always get a bigger cabin if haveing a normal bathroom is the important to you.

4) Lack of deck space.

5) From the pictures, to me it looks like the pools will be very small for that many people. This is not helped by the fact that one pool is adults only and another is for Villa passengers only. I think the pool areas will be way over crowded.

6)Not enough lounge areas. It seems like most rooms are either bars or resturaunts

7) The ship seems like she will not have a good space ratio. I don't mind a lot of people around me (to a point) but I know that this would bother some people.

I have to point out though that these things that I have listed might turn out not to be problems at all when the ship is in service. Either way she looks like a cool ship an I hope to sail her someday!

Between her and Oasis though I would have to say Oasis is my favorite.

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Originally posted by Cunard Fan:

I have to point out though that these things that I have listed might turn out not to be problems at all when the ship is in service. Either way she looks like a cool ship an I hope to sail her someday!

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I have shared many of the same concerns in the past. Even so, I hope in person all those concerns turn out to be unwarranted.

One thing that doesn't bother me is the "wave" staterooms and split bathrooms. I think they are unique and I always like something different and new. In reality those split baths could end up turning people off to EPIC, but I hope not.

Actually, the "wave" staterooms are not exactly new. They are new in that the walls are curved, but having staterooms interlock to save space has been done before. In fact most recently it was done on the Solstice Class ships, and will be done on the Oasis Class. The difference is the walls are angled and not curved. It was even done on QE2 to a great extent. The cabins were not pre-fab, but they did interlock with each other. It is a way to add more cabins in the same amount of space.

From the 1970s onwards, with the modularization of cabins, we see the typical straight-line sameness of many cabins in a row.

These were known as ' Court Cabins '

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Originally posted by Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company.:
The two P & O ships ss Oriana and SS Canberra, which entered service in the early 1960's, both had cabins zig zagged with a window in the alleyway looking past the next cabins bulkhead.

These were known as ' Court Cabins '

The windows were fitted with blinds but from them you could see the large window at the end of the side passageways where the cabins were situated.

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We are usually led to believe that these P.& O. Court Cabins were the first of their kind, but a number of American steamship lines and liners had them back in the 1930s; American Export Lines, Scantic Lines, and Panama Line, among others.

Here is a schematic taken from a 1930 brochure from American Export's "Four Aces", four new liners in service to the Med. By the way, notice how tiny the people were in 1930!

Way off topic, I know, but some fun information regarding innovative cabin arrangements.

Overall I think she's going to be a great ship....IF, as Ernie has said, they can deliver on board. I am a little sceptical of the Blue Man Group and Cirque dinner show.....things like that seem to last only for a short time and then suddenly fall to the wayside.

The dvd is done VERY well...NCL's marketing dept. has really got it together (for a change).

One other thing about inside/outside cabins: Cunard's Aquitania had a bi-level promenade deck (the promenade deck along the deck house was raised about a foot). On the face of the raised portion were small windows/vents that lead to inside cabins that set behind the outside cabins one deck below....and that was 1914.

-Russ

[ 09-17-2009: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Originally posted by linerguy:

One other thing about inside/outside cabins: Cunard's Aquitania had a bi-level promenade deck (the promenade deck along the deck house was raised about a foot). On the face of the raised portion were small windows/vents that lead to inside cabins that set behind the outside cabins one deck below....and that was 1914.

-Russ

[ 09-17-2009: Message edited by: linerguy ]

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Here's an illustration of these cabins from my 1914 brochure on the AQUITANIA. The copy reads "By an ingenious architectural trick, many rooms which on other ships would have no outside ventilation, on the AQUITANIA are called "inside-outside" rooms for the fact that a high window opens out-of-doors on the deck above."

NCL's printed publicity material is always of an eye-catching standard, but RCI have a more 'solid' reputation.

I bet both lines will have some initial hic-ups operating such big new ships, even the QM2 did in her first six months. It may be a question of who gets their act together the quickest.

[ 09-17-2009: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

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Originally posted by desirod7:
Rich,

Thanks for showing all the great pics

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Norwegian Cruise Lines does not appear to come to Australia and I would probably find it hard finding someone who could book a cruise in one of their ships.

Same goes for Royal Caribbean. Little Publicity in Australia leads to few people knowing of the line and their ships and as a result little to no Australians would be going on either those lines or ships.

On topic. I would consider Epic. Here interiors are very nice. Yes I could spent a week on here.

http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=111471

Perhaps they've read a lot of negative comments about that aspect.
I think it is indeed a bit better now (well, just a bit...)

By the way Rich, thank you very much for the interesting above scans indeed.

[ 10-23-2009: Message edited by: Vaccaro ]