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Just got off the Norwegian Escape after our 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise. What follows is a summary of the highs, lows, must-dos and mild warnings about the experience. Of course, please keep in mind the following context and know your lens might be different: Hubby and I are in our mid-40s with no kids and have done lots of cruising. In fact, after 21 of these suckers (from small Ships like Carnival Paradise - to the Oasis class ships on Royal Caribbean) I feel we’ve graduated to the term CruisERS. We’re not big partiers, but we also don’t want to spend lots of time in our cabins. We’re not huge eaters or drinkers, but we’re somewhat picky about both. And, despite how I realize this description has made us sound, we’re pretty likable and try to go with the flow. Before this trip we sprung for the somewhat inaccurately named “Free at Sea” package, which included all beverages up to $15, three specialty restaurants, 250 minutes of internet and $50 discounts on shore excursions. We weren’t sure if it was worth it, but more-than-a-little frugal Hubby hit “buy it now!” anyway. Skip to the end of this review to see the final word on this. 

The Ship/Cabin

We’d heard that the layout of this ship was great and it absolutely was. There were tons of different areas to hang out in. Even (and most especially important) the buffet was so well spread out that you didn’t have to wait in a line too long for anything. Perhaps because the cruise we took previous to this one was especially poorly laid out, with one looooong line for all things on the buffet, we felt like we were able to hop through various lily pad food stations and get back to our table with relative ease. We’d also heard that the back half of the buffet area was a little less busy, and this proved to be true. No matter where you sit though, know that there are a few stations that only appear once (e.g. a noodle bar, Asian and Greek dishes, etc), so it’s worth it to do a quick lap before finalizing your menu choices if that happens to matter to you.

We had a balcony cabin and also found it to be well laid out with lots of storage. We also really appreciated the new coffeemaker feature, which is apparently included in balcony cabins and above.

As far as areas to relax on deck, Spice H20 is the place to be. Actually, it ISN’T the place to be for most people, which made it the place to be for us. It’s all the way in the back of the ship and is like the poor man’s Haven (the special area reserved for the people-less-cheap-than-us who book a special suite). It’s nice and quiet (not a hairy leg contest to be found and no one under 18 allowed) and, even on sea days, we were able to find space. A few areas even have umbrellas. A nice touch. Oh, it’s also got its own bar. Winner.

Ports

If you haven’t done the Western Carib before, know that there’s LOTS of great things to do in it. Belize in particular is really beautiful. This being said, after so many cruises, Hubby and I have had our share of snorkeling, zip-lining, cave-tubing and catamaraning around the Caribbean, and so we tend to stay on the ship because we get to relax among very few people and enjoy the peace and open buffet lines with a certain level of undeserved self-righteousness. We do always get off at Cozumel, however, though this time was tricky. Will get to that in a sec.

After lots of waffling back and forth we did decide to get off the ship at Harvest Caye in Belize because one of us (read: me) was hankering for an extra beach day this time around. We’re not fans of the usual private islands that cruise ships tend to include in their itineraries, but this one is different.  Since it is an easy walk off the ship and down the pier, and because this one was just one option of many excursions in Belize, we thought it wouldn’t be too crazy. So glad we made this decision! There is a ton to do at this beach and it’s really lovely. Also, perhaps because it wasn’t very sunny, it was definitely not overcrowded. We found a spot fairly far out, by the last of the umbrellas and parked there for the day. We ate nearby at Horse Eye Jack’s, right by the start of the rich man’s bungalows (nothing against them...have at it!). It was awesome.

Onto Cozumel. We always go to Paradise Beach, a very cool resort that we love.  The unfortunate thing was the tender, which even the greatest optimist would have to agree was a bit of a drag. It seemed the tendering was due to the fact that there were nine (count ‘em...NINE) ships there that day.  Now, if tendering is happening when you are there, it’s worth a few warnings. First, this process takes a loooooong time. We didn’t get on until Tender number four, which was about 9:30am. At first, we considered ourselves to be quite clever because we thought we missed the crazy crowds...but here’s the thing. The crazy crowds mean the tenders fill faster and get going. We waited a while for our tender to fill up, and then took the slow ride to the pier, where we had to wait for the tender ahead of us to fill up, get going, and get out of the way. After weaving our way through all overcrowded village that is the Cozumel shop area, we then found a huge line to get a taxi...which makes sense because of the bazillions of cruise ship passengers in Cozumel that day. We’ve literally never had to wait for a taxi before, but this line was another 20 minutes. All told, it took about an hour to get from our ship to the beach. Not a huge deal, but if you’re tendering in Cozumel you might want to consider one of these options: a) suck it up and get up early so you can catch an earlier tender b) book an excursion, which will get you going earlier and guarantee private transport c) stay on the ship. 

The Food

I know I mentioned earlier that we’re a bit picky on food, but to be honest it’s really just me and it’s because I try to stay somewhat healthy. Again, everything being relative, our last cruise was pretty bad in this regard (anything healthier we’d seen in the past was replaced by deep-fried this and cream-filled that). I was happy to see lots of salads, steamed veggies, hard boiled eggs and plain yogurts among the options at this buffet.

For dinners, we’re actually almost always pleased to go to the main dining room. We’d heard that the main dining rooms on this ship weren’t especially great, and at first poo-poo’d the notion, chalking it up to picky fellow passengers. And then...we found the main dining rooms weren’t especially great. The food was fair, the options okay and the service was a bit off...not especially quick nor friendly. Since we had the package, we ate at three specialty restaurants: La Cucina (Loved it!), Bayamo (Tasty!) and Teppanyaki (Fun!). We wound up eating at the buffet for dinner once we realized that they have some nice options up there.

Fitness and Spa

I went to the fitness center each morning to pre-burn my demons. Though there are a lot of treadmills and a decent amount of other cardio equipment, as well as some weight machines, I did find this area to be significantly smaller than on other ships. I feel like Norwegian tends to pride itself on decent fitness centers, but this one was a bit sparse. There was nowhere to stretch out (I snuck into the unused Spin Cycle area and stretched out beneath the peddles). My machine of choice was the upright bike, which was located in the back area I call “The Greenhouse”, since it’s got no vent anywhere near it and it’s where the sun always seems to laser-shine in the mornings...the good news is the pride you’ll feel with the multi-tasking that comes with getting a sunburn while simultaneously producing more sweat than ever before. (Note: If the laser sun makes an appearance, go find one of the fitness center guys (I always went to the one I dubbed “Prince Harry” – you’ll know why) and get them to push the magic button that lowers the visor screen over the windows.  You’ll never feel such gratitude.)

Onto the spa. I sprung for a 50-minute Swedish massage, admittedly one of the cheapest services on the menu. A small woman greeted me, gingerly took my hand and brought me to the massage room where she told me she was going to help me relax. I was pretty chilled and enthused until she closed the door and pounced on me like a tiger on raw meat. I’d asked for a relaxing touch, but those steel-like elbows and thumbs didn’t seem to hear. (Yes, I could’ve asked her to ease up but for some reason I am unable to do this without feeling like I’ve lost a battle of existential wills). The thing about the spa, which you know if you’ve ever gotten one on a cruise, is that the services are pricey, plus everyone is required to up-sell you on all kinds of stuff after it’s over.  I don’t know about you, but getting a list of recommended $65 ointments and creams (“Do those wrinkles under your eyes bother you???”) is the quickest way to ruin whatever good feelings I get from the experience. I’ve therefore decided that from now one I’m going to skip the cruise massages and stick to the ones offered on the beaches (Paradise Beach has one for about $50 and it’s awesome).

The Entertainment

We made reservations for several shows, including Choir of Man, After Midnight, The Big Escape and a few comedy shows. We also caught Howl at the Moon.

Before commenting at any of these, I must first recommend Justin, the awesome and hysterical piano player who plays at The District every night. The place was always packed and it’s an extremely fun time. This being said, if you are easily offended and/or don’t like sexual innuendos, don’t go. Just trust me. Otherwise, if he’s still around (he said he’s got a few weeks left on the ship) don’t miss him.

As far as the rest, Choir of Man was excellent. With its one drawback being a lack of diversity (the show could’ve been called “9 White Dudes”) we really enjoyed the singing, performing and humor. After Midnight was also amazingly performed, though this one was too long, which caused a lot of people to leave early. It’s too bad, because the sets and costumes were amazing and the talent of the performers was top-notch. The comedy was fine – some better than others - and Howl at the Moon was really great. As far as Escape the Big Top? All I can say is that I would love to get those 45 minutes of cruise-time back and spend it doing...anything else. I’d only recommend this if you’ve in a large group and can be one team and if you’ve drunken heavily beforehand.

Was “Free at Sea” Worth it?

Since we didn’t take any excursions and aren’t big drinkers (2-3 each/day), and since you pay tips for many more drinks than we consumed, we decided in retrospect that the package wasn’t worth it. If we were to do it again, we’d get a bigger specialty restaurant package and pay for the rest a la cart.

All in all...

I must say that this cruise was really great...one of the best we’ve taken. The layout of the ship was conducive to ease and flow, the options were endless and the crew worked their tails off. (On this note, and I’m sure you would never do this dear reader, but perhaps you can encourage your fellow passengers to be nice to the crew. I saw more people barking orders and rolling their eyes at crew than I wanted to believe.). To make the most of this cruise, just come knowing there are lots of crowds, which will require lots of patience, and prepare to go with the flow a bit. Do this, and chances are you’ll love it as much as we did.

Here's a quick posting (bad cell photos) of the Escape dailies activities for the week of 11/30-12/7/19. We're still on the ship - so days 6 & 7 aren't there yet.

Note that we also tendered in Cozumel with 9 ships in Port!!! But we didn't have to tender in Roatan. 

http://imgur.com/gallery/VBDFjzz

Hope this helps those heading out soon!!

Excited to follow your review! We board next Saturday...so your info is very relevant for us. If you get a chance, we'd love to see the cruise compass and dinner menu each day. :-) D & J

Just did this run on Dec 4th. Formal nights were days 2 and 5. Day 5 is lobster night. :-)

Could the mods please change the date in the title to 12/4/16??

Accidentally put in the writing date instead of our embarkation date!

Thanks!!

Just disembarked from the Oasis of the Seas, where we spent the last seven days on our western Caribbean cruise, and I thought I’d get some thoughts down while everything was still fresh (and before the mundane needs of everyday life took over once again).

I’ll say from the start that my husband and I have experienced our fair share of cruises, and on a few different lines. (We’d actually been on the Oasis once before, back in 2012, and loved it.) This means there are lots of excursions, restaurants and other cruising experiences that we’ve done in the past…and therefore didn’t need to do again. Which means this review might appear a bit basic and missing-the-action for some. However, if you’re the kind of cruiser who’s into finding the best places to lie down with the greatest amount of maximized contentment, as well as where to eat in a way that’s tasty but doesn’t break the bank, and which shows might be worth your time, and what’s up with the internet option, the fitness center and the spa, then I invite you to read on.

Embarkation/Disembarkation/General Tests of Patience

I don’t know if it’s the time of year we chose of if the ship gods were with us, but all of the cautionary tales we’d read about long lines and reserved times gone awry were absent for us. We arrived at about 11am on embarkation day, and the process to get on-board was efficient and friendly. The only line was the one to get through security. When we checked in we saw that Royal’s system had misclassified our Crown & Anchor level, and so the first thing we did upon entering the ship was to head to Guest Services (we’d worked hard for that bathrobe and wine discount, after all). We used the “charm over defiance” method in our discussion with the staff, and for any other issues we had with our bills, and found that everyone was happy to help us out. (Granted, they may have been helpful even if we’d been less charming, but we figured these people dealt with enough cranky passengers that a nice smile from us might just make up for one or two snarls from others.)

The ship is laid out extremely well, with lots of options as to where to spend your time and money, and despite the behemoth size of the Oasis we never felt crowded in or on a line for long periods of time. Even when we showed up at our My Time Dining dinners earlier than we were expected, they were able to get us our table relatively quickly.

The Food

Hubbie and I are fairly easy-to-please in the food department, and we’re also incredibly light-weighted when it comes to alcohol consumption, so it might not surprise you to hear that we were satisfied with the food…for the most part.

We tried two specialty restaurants. The first, Izumi, which was a Teppanyaki-type place, it’s one we hadn’t planned on visiting, but the guys swarming the promenade on the first day talked us into it. (NOTE: we found you can get deals for the specialty restaurants, especially if you make reservations for the first few days of the cruise. Try negotiating, but do it with charm (see above section for more on this technique).

Izumi was delicious and fun. The chefs try hard to keep things entertaining, though I will say that the experience relies just as much on the passengers around the table as it does your chef. We had a few cranky-pants people, which didn’t help matters, but it was still worth the money.

We also did the Solarium Bistro, which I was excited about because of the healthier vibe. We had made one reservation before we boarded, then let the guy on the promenade sweeten the deal with a second night at a discounted prices. Unfortunately, the food just didn’t pan out. We’d heard that the salad/appetizer and dessert courses were both buffets now, and didn’t mind that at all. But the main entrees were just…bad. Overcooked, and kind of tasteless. They let us each get a half of two entrees to try a variety of things and nothing really came out well. As a result, we cancelled our second reservation.

The dining room, on the other hand, was great. We liked the food options and found that the service was attentive and friendly. We’d heard lots of complaints about the food, and while it remained a bit basic in some regards, we also found the food had lots of flavor, and the servers were happy to work with us on a bit of meal-tweaking…or let us try a few different things.

The windjammer buffet was…busy, but again, Oasis does a great job with its organization, and those super long lines you see on other ships wasn’t present here. Instead, there are different stations for different groups of items, which helps keep things moving. We often came here for lunch, especially on port days when others were off the ship. For breakfast, we picked up a few things here that we couldn’t get at the Solarium Bistro, then made our way to the Bistro for breakfast. While there are less options at the Bistro, the atmosphere is so much calmer, and it was a nice way to start the day (and not lose each other while one of us foraged for the hard-boiled eggs while the other tried to find the maple syrup).

The other places we visited was the Park Café, which offers breakfast and lunch, and which provided some nice options and atmosphere, and Vintages Wine Bar, which is also lovely and quieter. Plus they know their wines…obviously.

The Ship, The Room, The Internet

As I’ve said, we’ve been on Oasis before and loved it, and, while some cost-cutting measures could be seen or felt, we still loved the options of places to hang out, eat, see things, and do nothing. We especially appreciated the opportunity to walk through Central Park, the Boardwalk, the promenade, and the Casino before and after dinner. There was always action or a show happening somewhere, which meant you could do something, or watch others doing it, at pretty much any time.

We spent most of everyday up in the Solarium, where we found both sunny and shaded spots with relative ease throughout the day. There are no hairy-legs contests here, which was the point for us. Also, no kids. Also the point. The loudest things got was when a bunch of Canadians took over the Jacuzzi for a while. But, really, who doesn’t find Canadians charming on some level?

Our ocean view balcony cabin was on the tenth deck, and we were pleasantly surprised by how much storage there was for all of our stuff. Our attendant was lovely and friendly.

Hubbie and I pre-purchased a full internet plan before boarding, so we were able to get the one-device streaming plan at a discounted rate. It worked fine for us, and we just swapped the internet on our various devices as needed (I tried to use the experience to reduce my internet compulsions, and am happy to say this strategy worked well). Moving between our computer, iPad and phones was not a problem at all…super easy. The signal was great and very fast. So stop worrying.

The Activities, Shows, Spa, and Ports

We saw several shows while on board, so here’s the rundown. We left Cats at the intermission, but not because the quality of the show was bad. The show itself just bored us, so we probably would’ve done the same thing had we seen it on Broadway. If Mo5aic is performing while you’re on the ship, go see them. Just trust me. We also saw the ice show and the diving show, which were both great.

We visited the Casino a lot, hoping for some traditional Texas Hold’em Action, but nobody came to play and the version where you play against the dealer didn’t do it for us. Hubbie had booked me a massage at the spa ahead of time (nice guy, yes?) and it was fine. I nicely warned my massage therapist, just as she started her pitch about the expensive oils she’d used, that I wasn’t buying anything. She said she was glad I told her up front and saved her the time. I visited the Fitness Center each morning to run off the bloat of the day before. The equipment, both cardio and weights, were great.

As far as the ports, I can’t be super helpful here, except to say that it seems some of the greatest magic on a ship happens when everyone else gets off of it. We only got off in Cozumel, and that was to visit Paradise Beach, our favorite spot in Mexico and worth the slight hassle of moving our butts down the gangplank.

All in All…

We met lots of nice people and lots of…complainers. Like everything else, a lot of the experience is about your expectations going in, and your willingness to be flexible around those expectations. One woman I met actually said there wasn’t anything to do on board (what?) and another guy got all kinds of hot and bothered when the server didn’t bring him a second coffee up at the Windjammer on the super-busy final morning. Then again, perhaps this guy was just cranky about leaving the mighty Oasis that day. I could certainly understand.

Lovin the live review. Going to be onboard in just a few weeks!!

DW has two questions about breakfast items - if you happen to swing by the buffet in the morning...

Do they have little boxes of All-Bran cereal?

Do they have non-fat greek yogurt?

I realize these are very specific items - but if you happen to see them them she'd love to know. Thanks!!

Hopefully it's just a crew changeover and they'll find their feet quickly!

As for the avocados...you're likely out of luck. There's a major California shortage and I doubt the cruise lines will want to pay the high costs. Normally Mexico stock up would work - but the workers went on strike...so no Mexico avocados either.

http://www.eater.com/2016/11/1/13439646/avocado-shortage-2016