Our Norwegian Escape June 4-11 long review

Our Norwegian Escape June 4-11 long review

Background bio:

Be patient, looong review to follow as a payback for the many before me that I learned from on these boards. I always pick up great ideas from the folks who have the patience to do these so thanks for all the tips that made our cruise trips fantastic. This was no exception. Here we go…

First a little background on our family, my wife (49) and I (52) have cruised several times before this trip, once on RCCL Sovereign of the Seas in 1995 (pretty new back then on the Eastern Caribbean route out of Miami), then Celebrity Constellation (Southern Caribbean cruise ship of the year back then out of San Juan, PR, awesome trip) in 2004. Sailed RCCL Mariner of the Seas in June of 2007 with our girls, and finally RCCL Allure of the Seas in June 2012, also with our kids, loved it. We are from the Atlanta area and again brought along our now 22 and 18 year old daughters on this trip aboard the Norwegian Escape for the Eastern Caribbean route on June 4-11, 2016. We celebrated a high school graduation, a college graduation and our 25th wedding anniversary all in May so we wanted to do something special with them as our oldest will be entering grad school soon and will not be able to take any time off for a while. We all love cruising and wish we could do it more often.

I was very limited with dates and really had one good week to work with for our schedules. I researched this trip extensively and chose it for the family based on improved reviews here and on other sites. I was a little worried about the early bad reviews when it first set sail late last year but they have really improved over time. I booked it back in early February I believe. I take the bad reviews with a grain of salt after experiencing this ship and Norwegian in general. You can’t please some people period and they will find issues with the smallest things. We are pretty easy going and laid back and roll with the little issues that sometimes come up when you travel.

Precruise travel and hotel:

We drove from Atlanta to Miami on Friday, June 3rd and stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Miami Airport West. Traffic and construction were not an issue anywhere, we were glad to get there before dinnertime. It got very good reviews on Trip Advisor. The hotel was clean and had a nice pool, basketball hoop, decent free breakfast and was fine. It is directly under a runway flight path but it was very quiet despite this. Came in the night before the cruise and stayed in a two bedroom suite with one King bedroom and one with two Queens, 2 bathrooms, a fridge and kitchen. It’s about a twenty minute trip to the port from there, good pick for us. Brought the luggage in from my truck for the night, area was a little sketch around the airport.

Embarkation:

We arrived at the Port of Miami facility at 9:00am Saturday for our 9:30 to 10:00 am prescheduled time and had all our passports ready, drivers licenses, cruise ticket e-documents printed off and in hand to hopefully get us on early and get a shot at Vibe Club passes. Got lucky, parked in the first row and rolled our bags (missed the bag drop at the curb) and a case of bottled water (labeled) to the entry door and walked in quickly. I didn’t trust the crappy paper luggage tags NCL has you print at home and used some clear packing tape to beef them up so they wouldn’t rip off during the whole luggage delivery/handling process.

We were given group 4 embarkation slots and sat in the waiting area for about 90 minutes before we were finally called to board the ship. Juices, coffee and water were set out and the space filled quickly. I knew we wouldn’t have a shot at the Vibe passes by then and am glad in hindsight I didn’t drop the extra $400 it would have cost. More on that later when I cover deck chairs availability. Pretty well organized all in all, good job POM and NCL.

Boarding:

We boarded the ship and were greeted warmly by staff members around 11am. Rooms weren’t available yet and we were told it would be around 2 before the cabins would be ready. The ship is probably the best looking of any ship we have cruised on. Very well done and tastefully decorated. Beautiful colors and trim and hardware and dark rich wood have been used everywhere and we were all pleased with the beauty of the Escape. Love the directional fish in the carpeting indicating fore and aft, saved us a few early missteps.

Day 1 Miami:

We went to the Garden Café Buffet on deck 16 and found a table and ate lunch. Typical cruise ship buffet, food was good most of the time, occasionally great, sometimes not so great and a couple times food was cold. Overall it served well for most lunches and breakfasts. Had a specialty sandwich each day offered, not so great salad bar, burgers, hot dogs, lots of sides, sometimes an Asian offering, fruit and desserts. We were mostly disappointed in the Escape desserts in all restaurants. It’s like they left the sugar out of everything and several times the “warm” dessert items were cold. Never had problems finding a table, go all the way back and it opens up. Plenty of choices for all to eat, lemonade, water, juice, tea and coffee and there is even a bar there, winning.

Booking entertainment and shows:

We went to the box office on deck 7 after lunch and found out about several shows not shown online when I booked our restaurants and entertainment 90 days out. I was concerned after reading reviews that the shows and specialty restaurants were sold out early so I booked everything I could ahead of time. We had the SDP (Specialty Dining Plan for 4 of the upcharge restaurants at no extra charge) and UBP (Free Unlimited Beverage Package any drink up to $15 which is nearly everything except the most top shelf of things) when we booked as a perk. I booked After Midnight and the Brat Pack shows when I first could back in March. At the box office they booked us for three different comedy shows, a juggler show, and an acapella vocal group dinner show (free) called Cat’s Pajama’s.

Glad we did this right away as they did book up but they have standby lines available that many took advantage of and were able to get in that way throughout the weeks shows. I went to the District Brewhouse early on as well to see if Beau Tahana was still aboard (great prior reviews of him from the Dougout on his killer review/trip report, other reviewers and from friends who sailed Escape a few weeks before us, he is a fabulous entertainer) only to be informed Beau left for New Zealand that same day and his contract was up. Also informed me Silas was gone as the CD and was replaced by Tyler. More on this later, had me really bummed out to hear this as I had read so many great things about them both.

Cabins:

We explored the ship some and were able to get into our cabins around 2pm. We were in adjoining balcony category BB cabins, 12218 and 12216. Glad we were able to get these next to each other. The rooms were great, plenty of storage and shelves for all our stuff. Luggage fits under the bed no problem. The bathroom was great, the shower, sink and toilet are very well designed and functional. Hansgrohe fixtures, very nice. Great water pressure and all the hot water you could ever ask for.

Water drained in the shower just fine. Great size shower and well designed all around. I am 6’ 2” and 185 pounds and had no size problems in the shower or bathroom. My feet did hang off the bed (very comfortable bed, good pillows too) but it was fine. Our bed was next to the balcony, girls were the opposite set up. Bring an old keycard to keep the power on in your cabin to charge things when you leave otherwise the power shuts off. The at home, make up room, do not disturb buttons near the door feature is great, very innovative. Room safe even had a light in it, great attention to detail everywhere. TV had very few channels but we never used it anyway. The navigation channel showing where you are and your route is nice.

Luggage, Muster and Sail Away:

We explored some more, got our bags and water delivered around 4pm, unpacked and went to the muster drill in the casino. Took about 20 minutes at which time they shut down the bars and entertainment. Once this was done we hung at the pool and then went up top for the sailaway at 7pm. This was a lot of fun, who’s not jacked up heading out for a week long cruise? Took some pics up top and enjoyed some drinks while we floated away from Miami Beach. One weird thing we saw was a drone flying over the ship after we were some distance away from the shore. No idea whose it was or where it went and thought it was odd.

Ate in one of the main dining rooms that night, I don’t remember if it was Taste or Savor but the menus are the same. Had a great waiter, Norman, who was one of the best all week. Very engaging and fun guy, saw him a few times later in the week in the buffet. Had the Caesar Salad and the Steak Frites NY Strip, it was pretty good but very salty as was the rest of the dinner there on night one.

iConcierge phone app:

Read about the mixed reviews on this but we all downloaded it anyway and felt it was worth the $40. We were able to text each other all week and keep up with each other and we rarely used it for voice. Didn’t work at all the last day at sea for some reason and was a little buggy the rest of the week, requiring you to shut down and reboot occasionally. Couldn’t see our reservations on the app like some have stated but it did show what was going on that day, some of the menu’s (wish they had them all) and gave you a view of your onboard stateroom charges but they weren’t even correct.

They charged us for a bunch of things like small amounts for tickets and drinks but when I went to guest services towards the end of the week, none of the suspect charges were on there and they told me iConcierge is wrong, don’t worry about what it shows. Needs some work here. Didn’t purchase the wireless package as we heard how slow it was and we all wanted to unplug and get off the grid for a while. Didn’t really miss it (my girls may disagree) but did get some free wi-fi on our stops. You do pay for tax on drinks when you are in port however.

Entertainment and to do’s:

Freestyle Daily newsletters get delivered to your stateroom each night. Bring along a highlighter and check what you want to do the night before or at breakfast. All the typical events you would expect happen throughout the week like Battle of the Sexes, Mr. Sexy Legs, Ms. Norwegian, Game Show, Trivia, Deal or No Deal, Bingo, various singers and pianists, etc.. Howl at the Moon dueling piano show throughout the week is a lot of fun, check it out.

I called to have one of our refrigerators emptied so we could chill our water bottles and asked the guy who came to open up the partition between the balconies. He did the first but told me they could no longer open the balcony partitions because they had some issues with kids going across multiple balconies. Thought this was strange and read conflicting stories on this topic in other reviews.

Asked our cabin attendant when we met him the next day to do it and tipped him an extra $20 on top of the prepaid gratuities as I know how hard these folks work. He said no problem and opened it up. I find doing this (tipping extra) at the start of the week and not at the end always is helpful. Jongee from the Philippines was great, kept our ice full, towel animals in the girls room and extra towels each day (had to request it twice but then he got it after that). He was pretty much a ninja, he did a great job but was rarely seen, worked fine for our needs, thanks Jongee.

After dinner the first night we went to the comedy show in Headliners on deck 6. It was Vince Acevedo and it was the 18+ show which turned out to be very funny and entertaining, not at all as blue as some over 18 acts can get. He was great and we bumped into him during the week and talked to him and he was very friendly and engaging. Opener and MC for the shows was Heath Harrison, also very funny and a nice guy when we saw him around the ship during the week.

The girls all crashed after a few drinks and I explored the casino (high table minimums, crappy odds) and O’Sheehan’s for a bit before calling it a night. Room was insulated by other cabins up and down, no public areas around us and no cabin across the hall and was very quiet. The ship does creak and move around a little bit. Nothing like I have ever experienced on a cruise ship. It didn’t make you seasick but you could see the towels moving when strung above the shower and hear some creaks and sounds all week long. Didn’t bother us at all.

Day 2 and 3 at Sea:

I love at sea days. Knowing from the past reviews that chair hogs around the pool laying out a towel and never coming back are an issue I really wanted to get Vibe beach club passes so I knew we would have a place to get a lounge chair because we all love to just chill and read during at sea days. As all have said, Escape needs another pool for 4000+ people. Got aboard too late for passes for Vibe but it wasn’t an issue at all. Spice H2O is the adult 18+ area at the back of the ship. It was awesome. We got chairs each morning with a great aft view of the propeller wash and didn’t feel hemmed in at all like the pool area was.

Chill relaxing music is playing up there, thought my kids would hate it but they really enjoyed it too (they brought headphones for their music on their iPhones). If you wanted to cool off, there is no pool there but the Grotto was perfect to walk through and cool off and get wet. Bar service was pretty good, never waited more than a few minutes and tipping an extra buck or two makes a difference. One or two guys were walking around offering bar service and spritzing you with a water bottle as well. Saved $400 on not getting Vibe passes and never had a problem getting a chair here. My 18 year old was asked for a picture ID the first day, she said she didn’t have it with her and they never asked again. If you have little kids this obviously won’t work for you but it fit us like a glove. Bravo NCL.

We went to Cagney’s for dinner on day 2. It was great but took almost two and a half hours. We weren’t in a rush and enjoyed the slow pace and a few drinks and spending family time with our girls. One is heading to college and one to grad school so we really treasured our time together with everybody’s busy schedules. The steaks were a little inconsistent but we didn’t complain. Both daughters and I ordered our filets’ medium and my wife had the lobster. One steak was a perfect medium (me) and one was medium well and one was medium rare. We had plenty to eat prior with wedge salads, huge shrimp cocktail and crabcakes that we didn’t bother to complain as we couldn’t eat it all regardless. Overall it was superb in both service and food quality. Well done NCL.

Saw the comedy juggler Scotty Cavanaugh after dinner and he was pretty entertaining and very talented. Tom Wolf replaced Beau in the District Brewpub. Just a piano guy, not really an entertainer like we had hoped for when we thought Beau was still going to be onboard. If you are a craft beer fan, this will be your nirvana and happy place. Great feature, especially with the UBP. They keep a running leader board going during the week for those who love to sample new stuff, great selection on tap and in bottles.

Enjoyed strolling around decks 6, 7 and 8 and the different venues and bars. So much to see and do with the 5 O’clock Somewhere bar (see the Chocolate Cowboy), Tobacco Road, the Sugarcane Mojito Bar, Cellars wine bar, etc. Yes there is a bit of smoke smell from the casino in the very middle but as non smokers it never bothered us. The Waterfront was also a favorite of ours all week. Seems like most people didn’t know it was there. Great place to find a comfy chair and a drink and read or just chill and enjoy the view. We used it a lot during sea days and at sail aways, it is a great feature we loved, don’t miss it.

The buffet didn’t have any granola bars or snacky stuff you could easily take back to your room or the pool areas but the casino bar and the Tobacco Road bar both have a great snack/pub mix that they can give you in a to go cup.

We did Teppanyaki for dinner on day 3. Met a nice couple with two younger kids from PA I believe. The show chef was great, had some original stuff, not just your typical Benihana guy. Had the filet and lobster, so much food! Great fried rice but it had about a pound of garlic butter in there so if you don’t have a strong stomach, beware. Had some great veggies grilled in there too, it was fun. Saw Frank Townsend in the comedy club that night, he was a really good entertainer and like Vince, was so quick on his feet that he turned situations and people on the floor into a part of his act with ease. Saw After Midnight (Harlem jazz theme show) that night also and we made it through most of the show but left a little early. Too much of the same thing for us but they were very talented none the less.

Day 4 St. Thomas, USVI:

We have been here before so we didn’t have a set plan. Enjoyed sailing in from our balcony view. Did some walking around and shopping in the morning then took a cab to Emerald Beach Resort on Lindbergh Bay about a ten minute ride from downtown ($5 each). We did this at the recommendation of a local lady working at the tourism board stand. She said she goes there regularly, not sure if she gets something on the side or not but she was dead on for a great beach spot. There is no entry fee. Rented chairs ($7 each) on a beautiful bay (think a mini Magen’s Bay without the crowds). The resort looked a little older but the beach and water were to die for. Had a spotless bathroom to change in and use and a good lunch that was reasonably priced sandwiches and a nice outdoor bar. We enjoyed this tremendously, it was perfect. Cabbed back with some shipmates late afternoon and cleaned up for dinner reservations at 8pm, giving us plenty of time to get ready and enjoy a drink on the balcony.

We left St. Thomas a little late (I think it was St. Thomas but maybe it was Tortola?). Five minutes after six o’clock (departure time) they made an announcement asking two names to report to guest services. They continued to make this announcement every few minutes and finally setsail about 20 minutes late. We were out on our balconies and all of a sudden one of the pilot boats raced up next to us and we assumed it was the missing passengers climbing aboard but couldn’t see it all from our vantage point. Moral of the story, don’t be late. Not sure what that might have cost them but I am sure there is a good story behind it.

The Brazilian Steakhouse restaurant, Moderno, wasn’t crowded and we really feasted on the salad bar and sushi before the meat parade started. Beware, they serve these wonderfully addictive little cheese biscuits prior. Stay away if you want to enjoy the meat. Every few minutes some big slab of meat would come to the table if your card is turned to green. Despite the delicious cuts of every red meat imaginable, our favorite was the chicken and the roasted pineapple with brown sugar and cinnamon. To. Die. For. After that we were all in a meat coma and happy we didn’t have a show scheduled this evening. Went to the Five O’clock Somewhere Bar and enjoyed Karaoke (some really talented people on this ship!) and snuck outside to the bar occasionally to watch the playoff games too. Great day, great night. Nailed it NCL and St. Thomas tourism board.

Day 5 Tortola, BVI:

Our favorite day of the entire trip. Did some research on Trip Advisor as we had never been to Tortola and it didn’t look like there was much at the port. I came up with an intriguing snorkel trip through Scott from Aristocat Charters on a 48’ Privilege catamaran. He had great reviews and my kids are both “experience” people and fans in search of new things and adventures. While we had all snorkeled many times before, this was totally different and an awesome experience. It was $120 each and was so worth it. He has three boats total now, 2 are the same as what we sailed on and they have just purchased a power cat for going longer distances. The cat had a couple paddle boards, noodles, all the snorkel gear needed, two big trampolines to sit on, an enclosed cockpit area and a marine head. Scott has an interesting back story as do his crew members. Most are from the States and ditched the normal 9-5 life for a life at sea in the islands. I was first to book for the day months ago and got to choose the itinerary.

I originally wanted to go to the Baths at Virgin Gorda but am glad Scott explained better alternatives. We did the Norman Island caves, the Bite and the Indians. Captain Peter shared stories of pirate days, buried treasure and a general history of the spots we snorkeled and safety tips for all. I wish we didn’t have to leave so early at the end of the afternoon as we would have loved to spend more time at all three but NCL insists on leaving port at 3pm. The clarity was over 100 feet and the ship and gear were great as were the crew. Peter and Jody were great hosts and captain and first mate. Their dog Betsy accompanied us and was very sweet.

We sailed with another Atlanta family who we didn’t know prior but had mutual friends and an extended family of three sisters and their kids from the Chicago area (our original hometown) who were staying in the Haven. Peter and Jody were very safety conscious and never left anybody behind. The final stop at the Indians was amazing, we snorkeled all the way around a small island and the views, marine life and coral were like nothing we had ever experienced. At the end you must be able to swim flippers only, no arms to squeeze through some fire coral close to the surface and we all came through just fine.

Jody prepares a great lunch for all between stops and rum punch, beer, water and sodas flow freely, included in your price of the trip. Peter told us after the last stop that in 1000’s of trips with guests he, for the first time ever, saw a 14 foot hammerhead shark right where we were swimming at the day prior to our trip. He didn’t want to scare anyone from going in. It’s a big ocean and we are visitors, glad we didn’t see him though on our day there!

They team sailed with their other cat, The Lionheart and I am glad they did. They were very conscious of timing and getting us back by 2:30 but on our last release from tying up, Jody motioned to Peter that the line got stuck when they tried to release. Peter came and looked and was going to cut us free with a knife when Captain Luuck, from the Lionheart, dove in, checked it out and was able to pry it free with a screwdriver. Got us back exactly when they said they would, what a great day. They accept checks, tipped an additional $40 cash. Boat can accommodate 30 but they cap it at 20 to keep it comfortable. Once the sails go up you can really go fast and the winds that day were great. I highly recommend this trip.

Did I mention the weather was awesome all week? 80’s and 90’s with no rain all week, so nice!!! Heading out south we had some winds on the top decks which was nice and comfortable but on the way back there were no winds and it was quite hot the last two days. Something with the trade winds direction maybe?

Sat in the Waterfront for sail away. This is a beautiful island to sail away from in the daylight. Tons of small islands go by you. Some inhabited, some not. Some shacks, some mansions. Fascinating to see it all. We passed quite a few smaller boats. Headed back to clean up at the room and enjoyed drinks on the balcony until dinner time watching the killer view. Had dinner in the Manhattan MDR, really liked this, good steak, good sides, good service. Strolled around decks 6, 7 and 8 trying out drinks we probably wouldn’t normally order at home and watched some karaoke again. Great day and night.

Day 6 At Sea:

The photo shop does pictures all week long everywhere. Take advantage of it each time if you want. They cost you nothing if you don’t elect to buy, and have no sitting fee. We didn’t buy any this trip as we felt what we took personally were great. Spent the day again up in Spice H2O in the sun, reading, drinking frozen drinks and just chilling. The Grotto was our friend as the winds had died down. Had our only breakfast in the Savor/Taste MDR this day. It was good, relaxed pace and good made to order omelet’s and sides. Messed a couple items up but recovered quickly. When we came in it was packed and when we left it was empty. Took about an hour which was fine with us. Lunch was in the buffet.

We saw the Cats Pajamas five man acapella singing group dinner show in the Supper Club that night. They were just okay in my opinion. Sang a variety of recent hits and we were done in an hour. Dinner was included and was complimentary. We picked at it and it was pretty good roasted chicken but we knew we were going to the Manhattan MDR later so we didn’t eat much. We wanted to check out the live music and dancing there again. It is a lovely room and the band was great but they take a lot of breaks so it wasn’t continuous. Very good dinner, beautiful venue with a tall soaring ceiling like you see in most ships MDR’s.

We saw For The Record, the Brat Pack show this evening also. Concept is a combination of many of the John Hughes’s 80’s and 90’s movies and songs from them. These are some really talented people and great singers in this show. We sat in front of the cordoned off area for the Haven guests and ended up practically a part of the show as there are several stages they jump around too. Great show, wife and kids really enjoyed it. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink all were touched on. Not for little kids, some rough language and semi dressed parts, nothing major though.

Glow Party in Spice H2O was this evening. Couldn’t really watch for long as it was Tyler yelling over and over to “Scream” and “Make Some Noise” repeated again and again. He is not ready for being a CD yet in my opinion. Other CD’s have been great in past trips with much more personality than him. Just my opinion, he just seemed uncomfortable each time we did see him.

Day 7 Nassau:

Say it ain’t so, last day, insert frowny face here. Not a big fan of Nassau but sail in at noon was cool. How they can get a ship the size of Escape turned 180 degrees inside that narrow channel in this port is a thing of beauty. Two other Carnival ships were in port with us so it was pretty packed downtown. Went to the junky straw market and picked up a few items for some folks at home and browsed some shops, younger daughter searched for and found what she was looking for. Wife bought some cosmetics and we headed back after about 90 minutes. Younger daughter then discovered she left her picture ID on the ship so older daughter and I walked back, procured said ID and came back to the entry way and got them. One thing I failed to point out is the nice touches NCL has when you return to the ship. Happy crew members welcoming you with hand sanitizer (washy-washy guy is awesome), cold Eucalyptus iced towels, cold beverages, music, and a towel exchange. Nice touches the other lines we have sailed didn’t do. Well played NCL.

O’Sheehan’s:

Had lunch in O’Sheehan’s this day. I had been there almost every night after everyone crashed to watch sports and playoffs and tried to get my youngest to hang out late a couple of times and get wings with me but she was too tired. We ordered a few things and shared them. Hot dog, nachos, and wings were great, Reuben sandwich was really fatty. Typical bar/pub food and the only 24 hour place to get some late night munchies on the ship (like we needed them!) Very fast service which I attribute to the limited menu. Got charged for soda’s here for some reason but the guest services desk fixed it for me at the end of the week with no struggle. I liked it as did the family. PS, only Pepsi products on board, no Coke. Bad when you are from Atlanta and like the hometown beverage of choice. Had a few ginger ales during the week but couldn’t bring myself to drink Diet Pepsi.

Miscellaneous ramblings:

Played Bingo that afternoon at the request of my youngest ($39 was the cheapest buy in, they must make a killing on this as it was a packed full room and most people had multiple cards and kept adding more). No winners for us, wahhh. One lucky lady did win a free cruise, sweet. Had Cagney’s reserved at 6pm and this proved to be great timing. Sail away was at 7pm and there was hardly anybody there when we arrived. They sat us all the way in the back for a gorgeous view of the island as we slowly left Nassau. Views of Atlantis and the gorgeous water colors were amazing. Another slow paced delicious dinner, about two hours this night. Great filets and lobster and lots of delicious sides all around. It was packed when we finally left. This is our favorite of the specialty restaurants. Did Howl at the Moon again and saw The Battle of The Sexes Game in the atrium, very entertaining.

We looked at Food Republic early in the week but never made it back. Looked great, cool concept. One of the bartenders told me they have a tough time getting people to go there, maybe because of the ala carte not included pricing? Seemed pretty cheap to me, next time perhaps.

Didn’t try Bayamo, La Cocina, Le Bistro or Pincho so I can’t comment on those, sorry. Jose Garces from Iron Chef was aboard this week and did a cooking demo but we missed it. One of the specialty restaurants, Bayamo, is his concept. Didn’t use the spa or gym either. Checked out the spa on day one, pretty pricey as expected, no thanks, not our thing. Onboard shopping was typical of any ship. Wife bought a bracelet she liked.

The water slides are a must do as is the ropes course, so much fun. Closed toe shoes and sleeved shirts required for the ropes course. Bocce and putt putt were fun too. Easy to get on them when you are in port and they only shut part of the ropes course down one partial day due to wind, I heard this happens more often on some cruises but as I said our weather was GREAT all week.

Disembarkation:

Fill out the information for departure and the customs form left in your cabin and they will assign you luggage tags/times for disembarkation. We chose the walk off and kept our luggage with us in the room. Ate in the buffet for breakfast and walked off in about 15 minutes through the line going through O’Sheehan’s and out to customs about 8am. Took about 20 minutes total to get off and loaded in the truck and on the road, well done again NCL. I highly recommend this cruise as you might have gathered.

Complaints: OK, there are a very few.

1. Fridge did not keep anything cold, just lukewarm, no biggie.

2. Remove towels set out to save chairs by the pool, Vegas does it, NCL needs to also.

3. Could never hear the Captain in his morning announcements, soft spoken and bad speaker/mic

4. Replace Margaritaville, it was always empty. Too bad they couldn’t retrofit a pool here.

Bravo: Quite a few way above.

1. Great staff, happy almost always.

2. Great public spaces, beautiful ship.

3. Enough activities to keep all happy.

4. Great service.

5. Great specialty restaurants.

6. Public restrooms well layed out, plentiful and always were clean. They check them every hour. I appreciated that a lot.

Thanks for sticking through for those who made it to the end. Somehow this turned into 6000 words. I hope some of this is helpful to you. I’ll try to add a few pictures too. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have, have a great trip!

Enjoyed the review. Thanks for info.

Enjoyed reading your review. Thanks for posting. Sounds like you had a great time. I expect I would follow a very similar itinerary and looking forward to it in October :)

Great review, can't wait for May!

Thanks for the review! Lots of great info and tips. Added a few to my notes.

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Escape n December. You gave us some good ideas. Your review is a keeper!!

Really great review, thank you! Will be sailing this Saturday and loved some of the tips, especially the St Thomas info, I was undecided and going to wing it but your experience sounds about perfect and right up my alley so it's now my plan, thanks again!

Great review! Thanks for taking time to post it. Did you need to change any reservations once on board after booking so far in advance? If so, was there any difficulty doing this? Thanks for your help.

What a wonderful review. Thank you so much for the info on the comedians we sail her on Saturday.

Great review!!!

Great review! Thanks for taking time to post it. Did you need to change any reservations once on board after booking so far in advance? If so, was there any difficulty doing this? Thanks for your help.

Hi kackles, thank you, we did not need to change any reservations but NCL did change our two main shows and left us a note in our cabin informing us. They just flipped flopped the order of the two main shows on Monday and Thursday. The times did not change, just the order of the shows so it didn't affect us one bit. There are throughout the ship big touchsceen monitors that you can use to make dinner reservations and you can also make them on your TV in your cabin. We never used these since I had made the reservations far in advance for our preferred times and dates and we stuck to them. The box office on day one is my suggestion to you for adding the shows you can't book in advance, it took two minutes and the guy took a picture of our reservations with my phone so we could refer to it later. These reservations did not show up on iConcierge for some reason. Hope this clarifies, have a great time!

Great review. thanks for posting.

Great review! You are right, I totally forgot, Moderno's cinnamon cooked pineapple was the best! I had similar feelings about Tyler...and now my brother calls me up every day jokingly saying "a very good morning to you" in a Tyler voice. Funny!

Great review! You are right, I totally forgot, Moderno's cinnamon cooked pineapple was the best! I had similar feelings about Tyler...and now my brother calls me up every day jokingly saying "a very good morning to you" in a Tyler voice. Funny!

Thanks jeremysm1, enjoyed your review very much as well and I remember seeing your family on the cruise. I'm going to get some pictures posted eventually and you may recognize us as well. Man it was a great time, back to work has been brutal this week!

atlantis

Thanks for the review, I am very much encouraged for our upcoming Escape cruise.

We also have booked with Aristocat and was thrilled to read all your good comments except for the shark part! When I booked this excursion my 10 years old asked if there were sharks, yikes....maybe we'll stay out of the water and just go along for the ride :)

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to do this!

Hi kackles, thank you, we did not need to change any reservations but NCL did change our two main shows and left us a note in our cabin informing us. They just flipped flopped the order of the two main shows on Monday and Thursday. The times did not change, just the order of the shows so it didn't affect us one bit. There are throughout the ship big touchsceen monitors that you can use to make dinner reservations and you can also make them on your TV in your cabin. We never used these since I had made the reservations far in advance for our preferred times and dates and we stuck to them. The box office on day one is my suggestion to you for adding the shows you can't book in advance, it took two minutes and the guy took a picture of our reservations with my phone so we could refer to it later. These reservations did not show up on iConcierge for some reason. Hope this clarifies, have a great time!

Yes! Thanks for the info

Really enjoyed your review, thank you for taking the time to do it. Can't wait for our cruise on the Escape in September.

Appreciate the review ! I'm due for August !!

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Thanks for the great review! We sail on the Escape next Saturday and can't wait! I too am from Georgia and am a big Coke fan and I'm not looking forward to only Pepsi products! Do you happen to remember if they had Dr Pepper or Mug Root Beer or was it just Pepsi?

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Thanks for your great, very detailed review. We are sailing Norwegian for the first time on the Escape Oct. 29. It was nice to hear about your Aristocat tour (except the part about the Hammerhead). We will be doing this tour on Wed. Nov. 2. Look forward to seeing your pictures.

Great review

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Our Norwegian Escape June 4-11 long review

 

Background bio:

Be patient, looong review to follow as a payback for the many before me that I learned from on these boards. I always pick up great ideas from the folks who have the patience to do these so thanks for all the tips that made our cruise trips fantastic. This was no exception. Here we go…

 

First a little background on our family, my wife (49) and I (52) have cruised several times before this trip, once on RCCL Sovereign of the Seas in 1995 (pretty new back then on the Eastern Caribbean route out of Miami), then Celebrity Constellation (Southern Caribbean cruise ship of the year back then out of San Juan, PR, awesome trip) in 2004. Sailed RCCL Mariner of the Seas in June of 2007 with our girls, and finally RCCL Allure of the Seas in June 2012, also with our kids, loved it. We are from the Atlanta area and again brought along our now 22 and 18 year old daughters on this trip aboard the Norwegian Escape for the Eastern Caribbean route on June 4-11, 2016. We celebrated a high school graduation, a college graduation and our 25th wedding anniversary all in May so we wanted to do something special with them as our oldest will be entering grad school soon and will not be able to take any time off for a while. We all love cruising and wish we could do it more often.

 

I was very limited with dates and really had one good week to work with for our schedules. I researched this trip extensively and chose it for the family based on improved reviews here and on other sites. I was a little worried about the early bad reviews when it first set sail late last year but they have really improved over time. I booked it back in early February I believe. I take the bad reviews with a grain of salt after experiencing this ship and Norwegian in general. You can’t please some people period and they will find issues with the smallest things. We are pretty easy going and laid back and roll with the little issues that sometimes come up when you travel.

 

Precruise travel and hotel:

We drove from Atlanta to Miami on Friday, June 3rd and stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Miami Airport West. Traffic and construction were not an issue anywhere, we were glad to get there before dinnertime. It got very good reviews on Trip Advisor. The hotel was clean and had a nice pool, basketball hoop, decent free breakfast and was fine. It is directly under a runway flight path but it was very quiet despite this. Came in the night before the cruise and stayed in a two bedroom suite with one King bedroom and one with two Queens, 2 bathrooms, a fridge and kitchen. It’s about a twenty minute trip to the port from there, good pick for us. Brought the luggage in from my truck for the night, area was a little sketch around the airport.

 

Embarkation:

We arrived at the Port of Miami facility at 9:00am Saturday for our 9:30 to 10:00 am prescheduled time and had all our passports ready, drivers licenses, cruise ticket e-documents printed off and in hand to hopefully get us on early and get a shot at Vibe Club passes. Got lucky, parked in the first row and rolled our bags (missed the bag drop at the curb) and a case of bottled water (labeled) to the entry door and walked in quickly. I didn’t trust the crappy paper luggage tags NCL has you print at home and used some clear packing tape to beef them up so they wouldn’t rip off during the whole luggage delivery/handling process.

We were given group 4 embarkation slots and sat in the waiting area for about 90 minutes before we were finally called to board the ship. Juices, coffee and water were set out and the space filled quickly. I knew we wouldn’t have a shot at the Vibe passes by then and am glad in hindsight I didn’t drop the extra $400 it would have cost. More on that later when I cover deck chairs availability. Pretty well organized all in all, good job POM and NCL.

 

 

Boarding:

We boarded the ship and were greeted warmly by staff members around 11am. Rooms weren’t available yet and we were told it would be around 2 before the cabins would be ready. The ship is probably the best looking of any ship we have cruised on. Very well done and tastefully decorated. Beautiful colors and trim and hardware and dark rich wood have been used everywhere and we were all pleased with the beauty of the Escape. Love the directional fish in the carpeting indicating fore and aft, saved us a few early missteps.

 

Day 1 Miami:

We went to the Garden Café Buffet on deck 16 and found a table and ate lunch. Typical cruise ship buffet, food was good most of the time, occasionally great, sometimes not so great and a couple times food was cold. Overall it served well for most lunches and breakfasts. Had a specialty sandwich each day offered, not so great salad bar, burgers, hot dogs, lots of sides, sometimes an Asian offering, fruit and desserts. We were mostly disappointed in the Escape desserts in all restaurants. It’s like they left the sugar out of everything and several times the “warm” dessert items were cold. Never had problems finding a table, go all the way back and it opens up. Plenty of choices for all to eat, lemonade, water, juice, tea and coffee and there is even a bar there, winning.

 

Booking entertainment and shows:

We went to the box office on deck 7 after lunch and found out about several shows not shown online when I booked our restaurants and entertainment 90 days out. I was concerned after reading reviews that the shows and specialty restaurants were sold out early so I booked everything I could ahead of time. We had the SDP (Specialty Dining Plan for 4 of the upcharge restaurants at no extra charge) and UBP (Free Unlimited Beverage Package any drink up to $15 which is nearly everything except the most top shelf of things) when we booked as a perk. I booked After Midnight and the Brat Pack shows when I first could back in March. At the box office they booked us for three different comedy shows, a juggler show, and an acapella vocal group dinner show (free) called Cat’s Pajama’s.

 

Glad we did this right away as they did book up but they have standby lines available that many took advantage of and were able to get in that way throughout the weeks shows. I went to the District Brewhouse early on as well to see if Beau Tahana was still aboard (great prior reviews of him from the Dougout on his killer review/trip report, other reviewers and from friends who sailed Escape a few weeks before us, he is a fabulous entertainer) only to be informed Beau left for New Zealand that same day and his contract was up. Also informed me Silas was gone as the CD and was replaced by Tyler. More on this later, had me really bummed out to hear this as I had read so many great things about them both.

 

 

Cabins:

We explored the ship some and were able to get into our cabins around 2pm. We were in adjoining balcony category BB cabins, 12218 and 12216. Glad we were able to get these next to each other. The rooms were great, plenty of storage and shelves for all our stuff. Luggage fits under the bed no problem. The bathroom was great, the shower, sink and toilet are very well designed and functional. Hansgrohe fixtures, very nice. Great water pressure and all the hot water you could ever ask for.

 

Water drained in the shower just fine. Great size shower and well designed all around. I am 6’ 2” and 185 pounds and had no size problems in the shower or bathroom. My feet did hang off the bed (very comfortable bed, good pillows too) but it was fine. Our bed was next to the balcony, girls were the opposite set up. Bring an old keycard to keep the power on in your cabin to charge things when you leave otherwise the power shuts off. The at home, make up room, do not disturb buttons near the door feature is great, very innovative. Room safe even had a light in it, great attention to detail everywhere. TV had very few channels but we never used it anyway. The navigation channel showing where you are and your route is nice.

 

Luggage, Muster and Sail Away:

We explored some more, got our bags and water delivered around 4pm, unpacked and went to the muster drill in the casino. Took about 20 minutes at which time they shut down the bars and entertainment. Once this was done we hung at the pool and then went up top for the sailaway at 7pm. This was a lot of fun, who’s not jacked up heading out for a week long cruise? Took some pics up top and enjoyed some drinks while we floated away from Miami Beach. One weird thing we saw was a drone flying over the ship after we were some distance away from the shore. No idea whose it was or where it went and thought it was odd.

 

Ate in one of the main dining rooms that night, I don’t remember if it was Taste or Savor but the menus are the same. Had a great waiter, Norman, who was one of the best all week. Very engaging and fun guy, saw him a few times later in the week in the buffet. Had the Caesar Salad and the Steak Frites NY Strip, it was pretty good but very salty as was the rest of the dinner there on night one.

 

iConcierge phone app:

Read about the mixed reviews on this but we all downloaded it anyway and felt it was worth the $40. We were able to text each other all week and keep up with each other and we rarely used it for voice. Didn’t work at all the last day at sea for some reason and was a little buggy the rest of the week, requiring you to shut down and reboot occasionally. Couldn’t see our reservations on the app like some have stated but it did show what was going on that day, some of the menu’s (wish they had them all) and gave you a view of your onboard stateroom charges but they weren’t even correct.

 

They charged us for a bunch of things like small amounts for tickets and drinks but when I went to guest services towards the end of the week, none of the suspect charges were on there and they told me iConcierge is wrong, don’t worry about what it shows. Needs some work here. Didn’t purchase the wireless package as we heard how slow it was and we all wanted to unplug and get off the grid for a while. Didn’t really miss it (my girls may disagree) but did get some free wi-fi on our stops. You do pay for tax on drinks when you are in port however.

 

 

 

 

Entertainment and to do’s:

Freestyle Daily newsletters get delivered to your stateroom each night. Bring along a highlighter and check what you want to do the night before or at breakfast. All the typical events you would expect happen throughout the week like Battle of the Sexes, Mr. Sexy Legs, Ms. Norwegian, Game Show, Trivia, Deal or No Deal, Bingo, various singers and pianists, etc.. Howl at the Moon dueling piano show throughout the week is a lot of fun, check it out.

 

I called to have one of our refrigerators emptied so we could chill our water bottles and asked the guy who came to open up the partition between the balconies. He did the first but told me they could no longer open the balcony partitions because they had some issues with kids going across multiple balconies. Thought this was strange and read conflicting stories on this topic in other reviews.

 

Asked our cabin attendant when we met him the next day to do it and tipped him an extra $20 on top of the prepaid gratuities as I know how hard these folks work. He said no problem and opened it up. I find doing this (tipping extra) at the start of the week and not at the end always is helpful. Jongee from the Philippines was great, kept our ice full, towel animals in the girls room and extra towels each day (had to request it twice but then he got it after that). He was pretty much a ninja, he did a great job but was rarely seen, worked fine for our needs, thanks Jongee.

 

After dinner the first night we went to the comedy show in Headliners on deck 6. It was Vince Acevedo and it was the 18+ show which turned out to be very funny and entertaining, not at all as blue as some over 18 acts can get. He was great and we bumped into him during the week and talked to him and he was very friendly and engaging. Opener and MC for the shows was Heath Harrison, also very funny and a nice guy when we saw him around the ship during the week.

 

The girls all crashed after a few drinks and I explored the casino (high table minimums, crappy odds) and O’Sheehan’s for a bit before calling it a night. Room was insulated by other cabins up and down, no public areas around us and no cabin across the hall and was very quiet. The ship does creak and move around a little bit. Nothing like I have ever experienced on a cruise ship. It didn’t make you seasick but you could see the towels moving when strung above the shower and hear some creaks and sounds all week long. Didn’t bother us at all.

 

Day 2 and 3 at Sea:

I love at sea days. Knowing from the past reviews that chair hogs around the pool laying out a towel and never coming back are an issue I really wanted to get Vibe beach club passes so I knew we would have a place to get a lounge chair because we all love to just chill and read during at sea days. As all have said, Escape needs another pool for 4000+ people. Got aboard too late for passes for Vibe but it wasn’t an issue at all. Spice H2O is the adult 18+ area at the back of the ship. It was awesome. We got chairs each morning with a great aft view of the propeller wash and didn’t feel hemmed in at all like the pool area was.

 

Chill relaxing music is playing up there, thought my kids would hate it but they really enjoyed it too (they brought headphones for their music on their iPhones). If you wanted to cool off, there is no pool there but the Grotto was perfect to walk through and cool off and get wet. Bar service was pretty good, never waited more than a few minutes and tipping an extra buck or two makes a difference. One or two guys were walking around offering bar service and spritzing you with a water bottle as well. Saved $400 on not getting Vibe passes and never had a problem getting a chair here. My 18 year old was asked for a picture ID the first day, she said she didn’t have it with her and they never asked again. If you have little kids this obviously won’t work for you but it fit us like a glove. Bravo NCL.

 

We went to Cagney’s for dinner on day 2. It was great but took almost two and a half hours. We weren’t in a rush and enjoyed the slow pace and a few drinks and spending family time with our girls. One is heading to college and one to grad school so we really treasured our time together with everybody’s busy schedules. The steaks were a little inconsistent but we didn’t complain. Both daughters and I ordered our filets’ medium and my wife had the lobster. One steak was a perfect medium (me) and one was medium well and one was medium rare. We had plenty to eat prior with wedge salads, huge shrimp cocktail and crabcakes that we didn’t bother to complain as we couldn’t eat it all regardless. Overall it was superb in both service and food quality. Well done NCL.

 

Saw the comedy juggler Scotty Cavanaugh after dinner and he was pretty entertaining and very talented. Tom Wolf replaced Beau in the District Brewpub. Just a piano guy, not really an entertainer like we had hoped for when we thought Beau was still going to be onboard. If you are a craft beer fan, this will be your nirvana and happy place. Great feature, especially with the UBP. They keep a running leader board going during the week for those who love to sample new stuff, great selection on tap and in bottles.

 

Enjoyed strolling around decks 6, 7 and 8 and the different venues and bars. So much to see and do with the 5 O’clock Somewhere bar (see the Chocolate Cowboy), Tobacco Road, the Sugarcane Mojito Bar, Cellars wine bar, etc. Yes there is a bit of smoke smell from the casino in the very middle but as non smokers it never bothered us. The Waterfront was also a favorite of ours all week. Seems like most people didn’t know it was there. Great place to find a comfy chair and a drink and read or just chill and enjoy the view. We used it a lot during sea days and at sail aways, it is a great feature we loved, don’t miss it.

 

The buffet didn’t have any granola bars or snacky stuff you could easily take back to your room or the pool areas but the casino bar and the Tobacco Road bar both have a great snack/pub mix that they can give you in a to go cup.

 

We did Teppanyaki for dinner on day 3. Met a nice couple with two younger kids from PA I believe. The show chef was great, had some original stuff, not just your typical Benihana guy. Had the filet and lobster, so much food! Great fried rice but it had about a pound of garlic butter in there so if you don’t have a strong stomach, beware. Had some great veggies grilled in there too, it was fun. Saw Frank Townsend in the comedy club that night, he was a really good entertainer and like Vince, was so quick on his feet that he turned situations and people on the floor into a part of his act with ease. Saw After Midnight (Harlem jazz theme show) that night also and we made it through most of the show but left a little early. Too much of the same thing for us but they were very talented none the less.

 

Day 4 St. Thomas, USVI:

We have been here before so we didn’t have a set plan. Enjoyed sailing in from our balcony view. Did some walking around and shopping in the morning then took a cab to Emerald Beach Resort on Lindbergh Bay about a ten minute ride from downtown ($5 each). We did this at the recommendation of a local lady working at the tourism board stand. She said she goes there regularly, not sure if she gets something on the side or not but she was dead on for a great beach spot. There is no entry fee. Rented chairs ($7 each) on a beautiful bay (think a mini Magen’s Bay without the crowds). The resort looked a little older but the beach and water were to die for. Had a spotless bathroom to change in and use and a good lunch that was reasonably priced sandwiches and a nice outdoor bar. We enjoyed this tremendously, it was perfect. Cabbed back with some shipmates late afternoon and cleaned up for dinner reservations at 8pm, giving us plenty of time to get ready and enjoy a drink on the balcony.

 

We left St. Thomas a little late (I think it was St. Thomas but maybe it was Tortola?). Five minutes after six o’clock (departure time) they made an announcement asking two names to report to guest services. They continued to make this announcement every few minutes and finally setsail about 20 minutes late. We were out on our balconies and all of a sudden one of the pilot boats raced up next to us and we assumed it was the missing passengers climbing aboard but couldn’t see it all from our vantage point. Moral of the story, don’t be late. Not sure what that might have cost them but I am sure there is a good story behind it.

 

The Brazilian Steakhouse restaurant, Moderno, wasn’t crowded and we really feasted on the salad bar and sushi before the meat parade started. Beware, they serve these wonderfully addictive little cheese biscuits prior. Stay away if you want to enjoy the meat. Every few minutes some big slab of meat would come to the table if your card is turned to green. Despite the delicious cuts of every red meat imaginable, our favorite was the chicken and the roasted pineapple with brown sugar and cinnamon. To. Die. For. After that we were all in a meat coma and happy we didn’t have a show scheduled this evening. Went to the Five O’clock Somewhere Bar and enjoyed Karaoke (some really talented people on this ship!) and snuck outside to the bar occasionally to watch the playoff games too. Great day, great night. Nailed it NCL and St. Thomas tourism board.

 

 

Day 5 Tortola, BVI:

Our favorite day of the entire trip. Did some research on Trip Advisor as we had never been to Tortola and it didn’t look like there was much at the port. I came up with an intriguing snorkel trip through Scott from Aristocat Charters on a 48’ Privilege catamaran. He had great reviews and my kids are both “experience” people and fans in search of new things and adventures. While we had all snorkeled many times before, this was totally different and an awesome experience. It was $120 each and was so worth it. He has three boats total now, 2 are the same as what we sailed on and they have just purchased a power cat for going longer distances. The cat had a couple paddle boards, noodles, all the snorkel gear needed, two big trampolines to sit on, an enclosed cockpit area and a marine head. Scott has an interesting back story as do his crew members. Most are from the States and ditched the normal 9-5 life for a life at sea in the islands. I was first to book for the day months ago and got to choose the itinerary.

 

I originally wanted to go to the Baths at Virgin Gorda but am glad Scott explained better alternatives. We did the Norman Island caves, the Bite and the Indians. Captain Peter shared stories of pirate days, buried treasure and a general history of the spots we snorkeled and safety tips for all. I wish we didn’t have to leave so early at the end of the afternoon as we would have loved to spend more time at all three but NCL insists on leaving port at 3pm. The clarity was over 100 feet and the ship and gear were great as were the crew. Peter and Jody were great hosts and captain and first mate. Their dog Betsy accompanied us and was very sweet.

 

We sailed with another Atlanta family who we didn’t know prior but had mutual friends and an extended family of three sisters and their kids from the Chicago area (our original hometown) who were staying in the Haven. Peter and Jody were very safety conscious and never left anybody behind. The final stop at the Indians was amazing, we snorkeled all the way around a small island and the views, marine life and coral were like nothing we had ever experienced. At the end you must be able to swim flippers only, no arms to squeeze through some fire coral close to the surface and we all came through just fine.

 

Jody prepares a great lunch for all between stops and rum punch, beer, water and sodas flow freely, included in your price of the trip. Peter told us after the last stop that in 1000’s of trips with guests he, for the first time ever, saw a 14 foot hammerhead shark right where we were swimming at the day prior to our trip. He didn’t want to scare anyone from going in. It’s a big ocean and we are visitors, glad we didn’t see him though on our day there!

 

They team sailed with their other cat, The Lionheart and I am glad they did. They were very conscious of timing and getting us back by 2:30 but on our last release from tying up, Jody motioned to Peter that the line got stuck when they tried to release. Peter came and looked and was going to cut us free with a knife when Captain Luuck, from the Lionheart, dove in, checked it out and was able to pry it free with a screwdriver. Got us back exactly when they said they would, what a great day. They accept checks, tipped an additional $40 cash. Boat can accommodate 30 but they cap it at 20 to keep it comfortable. Once the sails go up you can really go fast and the winds that day were great. I highly recommend this trip.

 

 

Did I mention the weather was awesome all week? 80’s and 90’s with no rain all week, so nice!!! Heading out south we had some winds on the top decks which was nice and comfortable but on the way back there were no winds and it was quite hot the last two days. Something with the trade winds direction maybe?

 

 

Sat in the Waterfront for sail away. This is a beautiful island to sail away from in the daylight. Tons of small islands go by you. Some inhabited, some not. Some shacks, some mansions. Fascinating to see it all. We passed quite a few smaller boats. Headed back to clean up at the room and enjoyed drinks on the balcony until dinner time watching the killer view. Had dinner in the Manhattan MDR, really liked this, good steak, good sides, good service. Strolled around decks 6, 7 and 8 trying out drinks we probably wouldn’t normally order at home and watched some karaoke again. Great day and night.

 

Day 6 At Sea:

The photo shop does pictures all week long everywhere. Take advantage of it each time if you want. They cost you nothing if you don’t elect to buy, and have no sitting fee. We didn’t buy any this trip as we felt what we took personally were great. Spent the day again up in Spice H2O in the sun, reading, drinking frozen drinks and just chilling. The Grotto was our friend as the winds had died down. Had our only breakfast in the Savor/Taste MDR this day. It was good, relaxed pace and good made to order omelet’s and sides. Messed a couple items up but recovered quickly. When we came in it was packed and when we left it was empty. Took about an hour which was fine with us. Lunch was in the buffet.

 

We saw the Cats Pajamas five man acapella singing group dinner show in the Supper Club that night. They were just okay in my opinion. Sang a variety of recent hits and we were done in an hour. Dinner was included and was complimentary. We picked at it and it was pretty good roasted chicken but we knew we were going to the Manhattan MDR later so we didn’t eat much. We wanted to check out the live music and dancing there again. It is a lovely room and the band was great but they take a lot of breaks so it wasn’t continuous. Very good dinner, beautiful venue with a tall soaring ceiling like you see in most ships MDR’s.

 

We saw For The Record, the Brat Pack show this evening also. Concept is a combination of many of the John Hughes’s 80’s and 90’s movies and songs from them. These are some really talented people and great singers in this show. We sat in front of the cordoned off area for the Haven guests and ended up practically a part of the show as there are several stages they jump around too. Great show, wife and kids really enjoyed it. Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink all were touched on. Not for little kids, some rough language and semi dressed parts, nothing major though.

 

Glow Party in Spice H2O was this evening. Couldn’t really watch for long as it was Tyler yelling over and over to “Scream” and “Make Some Noise” repeated again and again. He is not ready for being a CD yet in my opinion. Other CD’s have been great in past trips with much more personality than him. Just my opinion, he just seemed uncomfortable each time we did see him.

 

Day 7 Nassau:

Say it ain’t so, last day, insert frowny face here. Not a big fan of Nassau but sail in at noon was cool. How they can get a ship the size of Escape turned 180 degrees inside that narrow channel in this port is a thing of beauty. Two other Carnival ships were in port with us so it was pretty packed downtown. Went to the junky straw market and picked up a few items for some folks at home and browsed some shops, younger daughter searched for and found what she was looking for. Wife bought some cosmetics and we headed back after about 90 minutes. Younger daughter then discovered she left her picture ID on the ship so older daughter and I walked back, procured said ID and came back to the entry way and got them. One thing I failed to point out is the nice touches NCL has when you return to the ship. Happy crew members welcoming you with hand sanitizer (washy-washy guy is awesome), cold Eucalyptus iced towels, cold beverages, music, and a towel exchange. Nice touches the other lines we have sailed didn’t do. Well played NCL.

 

O’Sheehan’s:

Had lunch in O’Sheehan’s this day. I had been there almost every night after everyone crashed to watch sports and playoffs and tried to get my youngest to hang out late a couple of times and get wings with me but she was too tired. We ordered a few things and shared them. Hot dog, nachos, and wings were great, Reuben sandwich was really fatty. Typical bar/pub food and the only 24 hour place to get some late night munchies on the ship (like we needed them!) Very fast service which I attribute to the limited menu. Got charged for soda’s here for some reason but the guest services desk fixed it for me at the end of the week with no struggle. I liked it as did the family. PS, only Pepsi products on board, no Coke. Bad when you are from Atlanta and like the hometown beverage of choice. Had a few ginger ales during the week but couldn’t bring myself to drink Diet Pepsi.

 

Miscellaneous ramblings:

Played Bingo that afternoon at the request of my youngest ($39 was the cheapest buy in, they must make a killing on this as it was a packed full room and most people had multiple cards and kept adding more). No winners for us, wahhh. One lucky lady did win a free cruise, sweet. Had Cagney’s reserved at 6pm and this proved to be great timing. Sail away was at 7pm and there was hardly anybody there when we arrived. They sat us all the way in the back for a gorgeous view of the island as we slowly left Nassau. Views of Atlantis and the gorgeous water colors were amazing. Another slow paced delicious dinner, about two hours this night. Great filets and lobster and lots of delicious sides all around. It was packed when we finally left. This is our favorite of the specialty restaurants. Did Howl at the Moon again and saw The Battle of The Sexes Game in the atrium, very entertaining.

 

We looked at Food Republic early in the week but never made it back. Looked great, cool concept. One of the bartenders told me they have a tough time getting people to go there, maybe because of the ala carte not included pricing? Seemed pretty cheap to me, next time perhaps.

 

Didn’t try Bayamo, La Cocina, Le Bistro or Pincho so I can’t comment on those, sorry. Jose Garces from Iron Chef was aboard this week and did a cooking demo but we missed it. One of the specialty restaurants, Bayamo, is his concept. Didn’t use the spa or gym either. Checked out the spa on day one, pretty pricey as expected, no thanks, not our thing. Onboard shopping was typical of any ship. Wife bought a bracelet she liked.

 

The water slides are a must do as is the ropes course, so much fun. Closed toe shoes and sleeved shirts required for the ropes course. Bocce and putt putt were fun too. Easy to get on them when you are in port and they only shut part of the ropes course down one partial day due to wind, I heard this happens more often on some cruises but as I said our weather was GREAT all week.

 

 

Disembarkation:

Fill out the information for departure and the customs form left in your cabin and they will assign you luggage tags/times for disembarkation. We chose the walk off and kept our luggage with us in the room. Ate in the buffet for breakfast and walked off in about 15 minutes through the line going through O’Sheehan’s and out to customs about 8am. Took about 20 minutes total to get off and loaded in the truck and on the road, well done again NCL. I highly recommend this cruise as you might have gathered.

 

 

Complaints: OK, there are a very few.

 

1. Fridge did not keep anything cold, just lukewarm, no biggie.

2. Remove towels set out to save chairs by the pool, Vegas does it, NCL needs to also.

3. Could never hear the Captain in his morning announcements, soft spoken and bad speaker/mic

4. Replace Margaritaville, it was always empty. Too bad they couldn’t retrofit a pool here.

 

 

Bravo: Quite a few way above.

 

1. Great staff, happy almost always.

2. Great public spaces, beautiful ship.

3. Enough activities to keep all happy.

4. Great service.

5. Great specialty restaurants.

6. Public restrooms well layed out, plentiful and always were clean. They check them every hour. I appreciated that a lot.

 

Thanks for sticking through for those who made it to the end. Somehow this turned into 6000 words. I hope some of this is helpful to you. I’ll try to add a few pictures too. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have, have a great trip![/quote

Morning!

Going on the Escape in March. Do you know if reservations for the other shows that you do not book ahead have to be done individually or can I get reservations for our group of 8? Also are the seats reserved or just a reservation for entrance to the show?]

Do you happen to remember if they had Dr Pepper or Mug Root Beer or was it just Pepsi?