Norwegian Escape - 8/19 to 8/26

We booked this cruise in early January 2017 as it seemed like it would be the best fit for our family. We’re a party of 10, myself, my husband (Dennis), our son Justin and his fiancé Sarah, our daughter Taylor and her husband John, our daughter Brittany and her boyfriend Jeff, and our son David and our niece Nikole. 7 of us had cruise before and 3 had not. This was our first Norwegian cruise.

I spent hours researching excursions in the ports we were going to (Roatan, Harvest Caye, Costa Maya and Cozumel) and we ultimately decided to charter a catamaran for a sailing/snorkeling trip in Roatan, have a beach day at Harvest Caye, do the Mayan ruins in Costa Maya, and arranged for a van, driver and tour guide in Cozumel for an island tour.

About a week before our trip Taylor’s husband, John, had to pull out. He’s been out of work in his field for quite some time as finally landed a job and was unable to take the time off. Norwegian allowed us to substitute my SIL, Charlotte, in his place

Finally after months of planning we were off…or were we?

We always fly into our port city the day before a cruise. Since we were cruising out of Miami we opted to fly into Ft. Lauderdale as the flights from our area were much cheaper.

Dennis, Nikole, Justin, Sarah, Brittany and Jeff were all scheduled to fly from Manchester NH, through BWI, to Ft. Lauderale in the earlyafternoon on 8/18, arriving in the early evening. David and I were scheduled on a non-stop flight out of Boston later that evening because he had to work, arriving in Ft.Lauderdale around midnight. Taylor andCharlotte were flying in from their areas and due to arrive in the early evening as well. Because of my late arrival we opted to spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale and shuttle to the portin the morning. I got the Best WesternPlus for $67/night which included breakfast.

About noon I got a call from Dennis. Due to weather Southwest had cancelled the flight for the six of them! Also, their computer system was down so they weren’t sure when they would be able to rebook. After a lot of back and forth phone calls I was able to rebook Justin & Sarah on an American flight outof Boston leaving at 7 pm and arriving in Miami at 7 am the next morning. Southwest was able to book Dennis & Nikole on a later flight through BWI and Brittany & Jeff were booked on a flight from Manchester to Ft. Lauderdale connecting through Las Vegas! Ultimately, Southwest was able to get them rebooked on the same flight as Dennis & Nikole. Whew, crisis averted (or so I thought).

I left work, picked up David, loaded his luggage and went to the bus station (easiest way to get to Boston). We unloaded the luggage, checked in and sat to wait for our bus which was arriving in about 5 minutes. Another woman came in and checked in and the attendant asked her if she had a car in the lot. She replied that she did not, she was dropped off. I asked about the car in the lot because I did have a car in the lot. I was then told that they were doing parking lot renovations over the weekend and any cars left in the lot after 8 pm would be towed! David and I had to hurry back out to my car and drive to the next stop where I could leave my car.

Just as we were getting on the bus Dennis called. Justin & Sarah’s American flight had been cancelled, but they were rebooked on another American flight and would now be getting into Miami around 9 am. Just before getting into Boston I got an alert from JetBlue that our 8:45 pm flightwould now be leaving at 9:45 pm.

David & I got through security, and went to find some dinner (and a drink!). We got to our gate and shortly after that Dennis called to tell me that they were just getting ready to board their flight in BWI. They’d been delayed there several times. About 5 minutes later he called again. “Justin& Sarah’s second flight has been cancelled and they can't get him to Ft. Lauderdale until Sunday. He’s ready to bag this. You need to do something. I have to go because we’regetting ready to board.” David says ok mom, Bibbity Bobbity Boo time! Now you have to understand that all of the airports were a mess. People all over waiting for flights, with lots of cancellations and delays. When trying to rebook flights at the last minute earlier in the day there was little to nothing available. So, I went to the gate agent to inquire about room on our flight. Luckily, there were three seats. Not so luckily those seats were insanely expensive.

I had to go to another area to buy the tickets. I was in line and called Justin to have him and Sarah meet us at our terminal. Luckily by the time I got to the counter the seats were stil lavailable. I racked up a lot of JetBlue points on that one! Justin and Sarah just made it through security before it closed. Our plane ended up taking off really late and we got into Ft. Lauderdale around 2:30 am, but at least we were all there!

Wow! I really hope this gets better for you.

I'm pretty sure you are going to enjoy having a few cocktails on this trip. Hoping for better luck on your cruise and will be following along!!

John :cool::cool::cool:

Wow, that is a rough start but we know what happens to your port plans.

Following! I have to know what happens next. Did everyone make it to the ship on time????

With everyone finally in Ft. Lauderdale, I managed about 3 hours of sleep. I was just way too keyed up! As I mentioned up-thread we stayed at the Best Western Plus. I got it on Hotwire for $67/night. I found that it was clean and comfortable. It also included breakfast. I was expecting cereal and muffins. What we got was scrambled eggs, waffles, potatoes, bacon, sausage, toast, bagels, muffins, cereal, fruit, coffee, tea, juice, and milk. Definitely worth the price.

At 10 am we were picked up by the shuttle service I arranged ahead of time - - Jiffy Jeff. I would highly recommend him. Vans were Mercedes Sprinters and very clean and comfortable. They were on time and got us all to ship without any issues.

Once we arrived at the port we found that somehow our party of 10 was split between the two terminals with four of us going through Terminal B and six of us through Terminal C. I found this to be a fail on Norwegian's part. We were booked as a group and our reservations linked. No Welcome Aboard photo for us.

After getting through security we were handed a piece of paper letter us know that instead of Roatan, Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel, our itinerary changed due to Hurricane Harvey. We were now going to St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Nassau. So much for all my careful shore excursion planning! While these aren't my favorite ports at this point I was still a happy camper because we had all made it to the ship and we were going on a family cruise!

We met up with the rest of our group in the Atrium bar for a much needed drink (or two) and then headed off to Savor for lunch. I loved the fact that Norwegian has the dining room open for lunch on embarkation day and that we didn't have to fight the crowds for lunch at the buffet. Everything we had was very good. By the time we were done eating they announced that our rooms were ready so we all headed up to unpack our carry-ons, look to see if any of our luggage was there and explore the ship a bit. We arranged to meet at Mixx for a drink later in the evening and to go to dinner together.

We ended up having dinner in Savor. We all thought the food and service was very good, although it did take a long time before we were done, about two hours. This got better on other nights as we all didn't eat together every night. By this point I was done and ready for bed. The younger generation stayed up and hit the bars and night life until the wee hours of the morning. This tended to be the trend through the week. Videos have slowly been surfacing on Facebook and I can tell you they all had a great time from what I saw! The youngest two averaged going to bed between 3-6 am throughout the cruise.

Sunday and Monday were now sea days so we spent our time exploring the ship and all it had to offer. The adults tended to hang out on the waterfront area of Deck 8, which had nice comfy couches and chairs and was shady. We also hung out at Spice H2O. The pool area was way to small for this size of ship. We found it to always be crowded and noisy so we tended to avoid it.

On Sunday I got the shore excursions list and we made our new plans. St. Maarten became a walk around/beach day, St. Thomas a catamaran/snorkel trip and Nassau a glass bottom kayak/snorkel tour.

On Sunday night we saw the Cotton Club show which we thought was fantastic.

On Monday night we all did the Supper Club with The Company Men which was really good. It was a set menu, which was fine with us and we all enjoyed the meal here.

Tuesday was our St. Maarten day. We walked around Phillipsburg for a bit and then went to Maho beach. It was fun to see the planes land. Of course, there is always "that guy" who stands where the sign says not to and gets blown over.

Wednesday was St. Thomas. We booked the St. John Champagne Snorkel trip. Best excursion of the cruise and one of the best we've ever done. Drew, Brandon and Rhonda made sure that everyone was having fun and taken care of. We sailed over to Honeymoon Beach in St. John, where the snorkeling was very good. We saw tons of fish and a nurse shark! On the way back the music was on and the drinks flowed. We were back in time to do a bit of shopping in the port area.

Thursday was another sea day and we just hung out. We saw the Brat Pack show and while it was good, it wasn't as good as the Cotton Club one earlier in the week.

Friday was Nassau and our glass bottom kayak snorkel trip. It was through a company called Undersea. Save your money folks. This was, hands down, the worst excursion we've ever taken. It started with about a half hour hike from the ship to where they had their boat docked. There were about 70 of us with one small woman to lead us through the crowds to the boat. The boat was really old and one of the two restrooms was out of order. They offered a cooler of water, but didn't have enough cups for everyone. The life vests and flippers were old and moldy. They took us to an area in the main channel where the waves were high. One of party's kayak kept filling up with water and sinking so they had to head back within a few minutes. They were not offered another kayak, even though there were plenty on board. It was really hard to snorkel because the waves were high and the current kept trying to push you into a rock wall. I think we saw about 6 fish. We did see more trash on the ocean floor than fish. I didn't see anyone on this excursion that looked like they were having a good time. I did say something at the shore excursion desk when we got back, so hopefully they won't use this company again. They did give us a 25% discount off the excursion.

For other entertainment during the week we saw several of the comedy shows, Howl at the Moon, Deal or No Deal, and some of the bands/music in the various bars. We also did the 80's party and the Glow Party. We all agreed that we thought overall the entertainment on this ship was very good to great. The cruise director, Tyler, was a bit over the top, but it didn't bother us at all. I really don't know when he sleeps because he seemed to be all over the ship all the time.

Kids did the rope course, water slides, mini-golf and bowling, as well as visiting every bar on the ship. They had a ball!

We all played in the casino. Several people won from $50 - $200. Others broke even and one lost $20.

My husband, sister-in-law, did not eat in any of the specialty or a la carte restaurants. We found the food to be the best we've ever had on a cruise ship. We even had dinner at the buffet several times which is a first for us. The kids did try some of the specialty dining, Food Republic and Pinchos and they said what they had was excellent.

We all enjoyed having the UBP. I was nice just to order and drink and not think about the cost on the bill at the end of the week. While DH and I are not big drinkers, the kids took full advantage. One thing I worried about before the cruise was whether there would be a lot of really intoxicated people roaming around. I have to say I only saw one person one day that was really drunk when the bartender at the 5 O'clock Somewhere bar was shutting him off.

One of our party did have a medical issue and had to be seen in the medical dept. on-board. She said the care she received was excellent and the cost was about an eighth of what it would have been in the states.

All in all we had a great cruise. There was plenty for everyone to see/do. With a large party of varied ages this ship was the perfect pick for us. If it were just Dennis & I cruising, I don't think I would pick such a big ship. I would definitely sail Norwegian again, just on a smaller ship.

We did the self-debark and were off the ship by 8:45 am. Jiffy Jeff was there to pick us up and was easy to find.

Cruise likes:

Food and entertainment were some of the best we've had on a cruise ship and we really liked that there were several options included in the cost of the cruise.

Loved the glass shower door over the molesting shower curtain.

Balcony seemed to slightly larger than on other ships.

Main dining room open on embarkation day.

Lots of quite/shady areas to hang out for those that don't like the sun.

Because the casino was open it didn't seem to be as smoky. They also must have a good ventilation system because once through the area I didn't smell any smoke.

Dislikes:

The pool area is way too small. For a ship this size it should be much larger and/or have multiple pool. We also didn't like that the kiddie area was right next to the only pool.

Spice H2O area was also too small.

Not enough elevators.

Room was laid out oddly. It was the first cruise that Dennis and I both felt that we were tripping over each other in the room. Also, our room was toward the front of the ship and we definitely felt the movement more. Not bad, just more.

Splitting our party at the terminal.

No servers in the pool/Spice H2O areas. Long lines at the pool bars. It was better in Spice H2O.

Any questions? I'd be happy to try to answer them.

Your beginning sounds like the start to our first cruise-snow was our enemy that year.

Glad to know everyone made it!

Excellent review.

What a stressful start with the flight cancellations. You all did great.

Keith

Thanks so much, we're heading out next Friday and gave our fingers crossed the flight doesn't get delayed.

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Once we arrived at the port we found that somehow our party of 10 was split between the two terminals with four of us going through Terminal B and six of us through Terminal C. I found this to be a fail on Norwegian's part. We were booked as a group and our reservations linked. No Welcome Aboard photo for us.

 

 

Dislikes:

 

Splitting our party at the terminal.

 

Hi, GREAT review from a first timer NCL cruiser! May you continue to enjoy future NCL cruisers!

The above cannot be helped, unless you book all family on SAME deck, or all on odd decks, or all on even decks. It happens only in Miami on large ships (Epic and above). Just letting you know.

We live in a hurricane alley so we tend to book flights out of island at least 2 days before the cruises. We have had our flights cancelled and rebooked on the next day 3 times in the last few years, so we have been lucky so far, but that reduced our sightseeing/shopping days by one!

I do agree with you re: pool sizes on Escape - same goes with Epic and above too - but we do not bother with pools anymore, so we're okay.

Thank you for your review. I'm on the Escape in February. I would probably have been sitting crying in a corner if my vacation started out like yours. I'm glad you got everything worked out.

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Glad you eventually enjoyed your cruise despite the initial problems. Thanks for your balanced ship review.

Hi, GREAT review from a first timer NCL cruiser! May you continue to enjoy future NCL cruisers!

The above cannot be helped, unless you book all family on SAME deck, or all on odd decks, or all on even decks. It happens only in Miami on large ships (Epic and above). Just letting you know.

 

We live in a hurricane alley so we tend to book flights out of island at least 2 days before the cruises. We have had our flights cancelled and rebooked on the next day 3 times in the last few years, so we have been lucky so far, but that reduced our sightseeing/shopping days by one!

 

I do agree with you re: pool sizes on Escape - same goes with Epic and above too - but we do not bother with pools anymore, so we're okay.

That makes sense now. 6 of us were on decks 8, 10 & 14 and 4 of us were on 13. Since we were paying for all 10 of us, I booked guarantees as they were the least expensive option. The Welcome Aboard photo wasn't worth the cost savings!

Did you have to pay for the supper club? I have read that they have a couple of nights where it is 5 course fixed meal and you have to pay for that night but they have other entertainment throughout the week that is not extra.

Did you have to pay for the supper club? I have read that they have a couple of nights where it is 5 course fixed meal and you have to pay for that night but they have other entertainment throughout the week that is not extra.

No, we didn't pay for the Supper Club and it was a fixed meal. Appetizers, dinner (chicken & shrimp) and dessert.

I was also on this ship this week and completely agree that the pool area was way to small for this size of ship. when it came to Splitting our party at the terminal you should have told the guard you were a family traveling together. my friends were all assigned to terminal b and i for some reason was in terminal c and they almost made me separate from them but when we told them we were all together they let me go thru terminal b as well. i dont know if it was because i booked my cruise 2 days prior or because i was in an inside and they were in balcony rooms.

Excellent review, thanks!