Mainah

Me on top of an animal or something more risqué?

 

Bob - How much skin am I allowed to show here? Slightly below the belt?

No no...no skin necessary...just you on top of an animal..I mean mounting an animal..no..ah...mounted on an ani....no...ah...mmmmm....I think I need a lie down...back later! Ciao!

OK....5 days in and I'm still waiting.....ya got half of it with the bathrobe pic in the hotel room but that didn't quite do it....

Thanks for another wonderful review CLR. I'm enjoying it immensely!

If you go higher than 9 on Escape, the balcony will be smaller and if you go too high, the bass from Spice H2O will go on way past 11pm.

Yeah I know (cruisedeckplans is my close friend)....the balconies do not progressively get smaller though as you go up it varies from deck to deck i.e. 9 and 12 are the largest...13 and 14 are the smallest etc. plus they are not all the same width either and you are right about Spice H2O....so in the future if I sail Escape again I'll try a cabin on deck 12, which is nicely in the middle with a good balcony size, and see what happens.

We were in B1 aft cabin 9322 on the Escape this past February. I found the the engine noise to be too loud while trying to sleep at night (it was a loud grumbling/rumbling noise all night). I could also hear the music from the Manhattan Room below until about 10 - 11pm. The balcony was a great size and I loved it however I will not book this room again because of the noise and in the future will book aft cabins on a higher deck.

Too bad...but....that's what happens when you go from solid animals to blown up things....

I'd definitely go with an NCL post cruise tour. We did the Everglades airboat and it was great. Picked us up at the port and dropped us at the airport with no worries about lugging suitcases around. Your flight must be after 3Pm and the drop off is around 1-1:30 giving you lots of time to enjoy the tour and enough time to grab lunch once at the airport. Worked great for us a couple of times.

 

Enjoy :D

I second this. We did the Everglades airboat post cruise tour a couple of weeks ago and it was a great way to spend time before our late afternoon flight that day.

Thought I'd throw in a few pics of the balcony for those who wish to see it. They aren't the best but should give you an idea of the size etc.

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Thanks for the review! It was great meeting you and John up in Vibe, we always meet the nicest people in Vibe.

I heard you got to see The Haven, what did you think of it?

Hey there! John and I really enjoyed our time spent with you and your lovely wife!

Yes indeed we did get to see The Haven (a lot of secret handshakes involved though;)) and thought it was very nice indeed...maybe someday we'll get to stay there if/when John can convince me to spend the money. ;)

I don't think its worth it. I didn't have a VIBE pass but I did get a tour of it and a chance to hangout with some people who I knew had a pass (after most guests were gone and there was plenty of spaces...so before you get your panties in knots: I was checking it out as a review...not to spend any length of time there or "take advantage" of the facilities to avoid paying in any way.)

 

The only nice thing about VIBE that I saw, was that the loungers were padded. If you're looking for quiet, this is the place to be. Which also means it is quite boring. If you're more a lone-wolf type, or just going with your own people and don't care to mix and mingle with other PAX, this is the place to be. Also, there's one hot tub, hogged by whoever gets it first, so be prepared never to get space in it.

 

The Escape has TONS of quiet nooks and crannies, including an entirely unused top deck with many empty loungers. I went on a peak, high-season Caribbean sailing and never had issues finding loungers together, waiting for drinks at bars or via waiters, dealing with crowds, or getting into the hottubs.

 

Maybe on other ships VIBE would be worth it, but Escape? I would never pay extra for that. Not to mention, its in one top, corner area of a deck, which may or may not be facing the sun that day/direction...

 

I was really expecting something much more upscale...first class, VIP-style with cabanas, beautiful wait staff, light entertainment, maybe some snacks, etc... but it was basically just the same as the rest of the pool deck, but walled off and with padded loungers. And on an undesireable part of the deck. Big whoop.

By "unused top deck" do you mean deck 19 outside of Vibe and/or the small deck 20 right above? Regardless, on sea days both of those areas were packed on our Escape cruise last week (another peak high season period of time) and got pretty crowded in the afternoon's on port days. I could never find the "Tons of quiet nooks and crannies" you talk about either. Everywhere (again on sea days) from the Waterfront to deck 20 there were tons of people using these areas with not a chair to be found. I was very happy to have Vibe passes and the only time the hot tub there was crowded was the last day in the afternoon and then for only a short period of time. So as usual it's a your mileage may vary thing and can be different from cruise to cruise. Not saying that you didn't experience what you said I just wanted to balance it out a bit.

Darn I hit the enter button before finishing the title...it's supposed to be "in search of the perfect lemon drop"! Sorry bout that...can't fix...

What the heck do bouncing eyeballs have to do with lemon drops you ask? A few years ago while visiting Palm Springs, CA I met my first Lemon Drop martini and fell in love. Since then every bar/restaurant I go to I have to have one always comparing it to my first which has still been one of the best I’ve had. A couple of years ago I had a very good one at a bar/restaurant near where we live. We couldn’t stay but for one drink so we left shortly after finishing our drinks. I was fine until we start walking down the sidewalk towards the car and I feel a little strange..o.k maybe a lot strange as my eyeballs seemed to bouncing in my head! I’m looking around and everything seems to be bouncing as I walk…needless to say I look over at my partner, shove the car keys into his hand (I was going to drive) tell him what’s going on and that he’s going to have to drive. This thing not only tasted like my first it also made my eyeballs bounce so now I have 2 criteria to look for in my search for the perfect Lemon Drop ;).

This was our 3rd NCL cruise and 8th cruise overall. We’d never cruised the “mega” ships so wanted to try the Escape to see if we’d like a big ship. We like aft facing balconies and booked stateroom 9322 with the beverage package and dining package included.

We also wanted to try to get Vibe passes. I did a lot of research on CC and thanks to people posting their experiences knew that we’d have to get to port early and score boarding group 1 in order to have a chance at getting the passes. It was also very helpful to know where to go to wait in the terminal so that we’d be near the front of the line in group 1 to board. Now I have to say that I wasn’t thrilled with the thought of starting my vacation by having to run to Headliners in order to be the first in line to score passes (and I didn’t believe people would do that) however once boarding started and people actually did start running, or maybe I should say "walking very fast";), we just joined the fray so to speak and got there in time and got passes.

On the subject of Vibe. We both loved it. I’ll say now that the cruise wouldn't have been as good without it. Bartenders Rommel, Michael and Vincent were excellent. And yes I had some of the best Lemon Drop martini’s there I’ve ever had. We also met many nice people there and had a great time with many of them.

I have to say a couple of things about our cabin especially the location. I chose 9322 not only because it is aft facing but because of the larger balcony. During my research I had found that the aft facing cabins on decks 9 and 12 have the deepest balconies on this ship and also that some of these are a little wider than others facilitating the use of loungers which was important to us. 9322 had 2 loungers, 3 chairs (one that was a wooden slat type chair which didn’t seem to have a reason to be there) and a small table. This was all great however 9322 is right above the Manhattan Room MDR and we could hear the music they played there until about 10pm every night which is fine if you don’t go to bed early also after the music ended I could hear the rumbling of the engines, which was at times very loud, all night. I am a light sleeper so it bothered me. My partner falls asleep easily and doesn’t wake up for anything so it didn’t bother him. I just wanted to put that out there for anyone considering this room as I never read anything about it during my initial research.

We only attended one show (the adult only comedian show) which was quite funny after the first 10 minutes. We did however got to the 70’s and 80’s parties which were great fun and I went to the Glow party where I danced like a 20 year old until midnight and had a great time, helped by a family we had met in Vibe who took me under their wing that night. We also attended the CC meet and greet which was organized by CC’er Mayamocha and very well attended. Thanks again to her for organizing this!

We ate at Cagney’s, Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, Margaritaville, Savor, Taste, Manhattan Room and the buffet. All the food (except one pasta dish in The Manhattan Room) was great so no complaints there.

We only did one excursion which was at the end of the cruise before our flight home that day. It was the Everglades Airboat tour and we both enjoyed it.

The staff and crew were excellent. Always a smile and hello. Officers were visible throughout the ship every day.

Would we cruise a “mega” ship again? I never say never but most likely we’d not do a ship this size again. The ship felt “tight”. That’s about the only word I can use to describe it. It was packed with people everywhere, the public areas just felt too small for the amount of people on board. After reading reviews I thought that this was only going to be a problem around the pool area but it was like that everywhere so it was great to have Vibe. As I said earlier the cruise wouldn’t have been as good without it.

Overall though we had a great cruise. And although my eyeballs didn’t bounce I did find the perfect Lemon Drop (in Vibe only though I should say). To be honest I don’t think I really wanted them to bounce! Once was quite enough thank you very much ;)!

Must be different from cruise to cruise. We had Vibe passes on Escape last week (2/17 - 2/24) and met a family with 2 kids in their 20's who seemed to have a great time with the rest of us "older" people. There was quite the party atmosphere there from time to time but if the "kids" got bored and wanted to do something else they just left to do so and came back later. Also want to mention that there were always plenty of loungers available for groups of 4+ to sit together if they wanted to and this was throughout the day every day. Granted I wasn't there all the time but was certainly there a good part of the time ;). Again it's probably different from cruise to cruise so your mileage may vary.

We loved Vibe....was well worth it IMO.

Just received rejection email(s) for our bids.

Ship: Escape

Sail date: 2/17/18

2 bids: B1 to H6 for $800pp (poor range) and also a bid for an H7 for $450pp (poor range).

Am very very happy with our B1 so it's still a win in my book! :)

This has been a great read, very nicely done!

We'll be taking the snow off your hands (here in Maine) very soon!

I doubt she gave you her real number, especially judging from the look she's wearing in the picture. I also believe she is already spoken for, lol!

Don't depress him...he's on vacation! #whathappensonthecastawaystaysonthecastaway

I can see it now, a new game held on Quest night called Guess what is in Santa Rick’s Pants.:confused::'):D:o

Better watch out....remember, he was in Amsterdam just a few months ago....

Wonderful review as usual CLR....love your style. BTW I tried getting a horse to your balcony but RCCL would have none of it no matter how much I pleaded so I've failed miserably....maybe next time

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Pictures, right? You will want pictures of those other adventures.

No...no pictures....HD video only....

I heard that they installed a horse in your honor somewhere on deck 8

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The pool deck was packed. Spice H2O was jammed and smoky. The kids' play area in the Grotto was chock-full of happy splashing children and teens.

Isn't Spice H2O (which includes the Grotto) adults only during the day? If so I assume NCL didn't enforce it during your sailing or they just opened it up to all during your cruise. We are sailing Escape for the first time in Feb. so am just curious.

I had no idea why Maureen was so excited about a statue wearing an apron until I scrolled down to the third picture...JMJ that was a slap in the face!

Should be smilies at the end of my post above :D:D:D:D....no edit button (?) so can't edit it....

I had no idea why Maureen was so excited about a statue wearing an apron until I scrolled down to the third picture...JMJ that was a slap in the face!

Thanks Monster! This review was one of the best....although I have a feeling it's not quite over yet....

#conceptual art.....must be worth thousands!

Is that a little ricky in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

This may be my last photo.

Oh for heaven's sake....looks like Amsterdam turned you into a drama queen....;)