Cruise Review - NCL Escape 8/12-8/19

This is my first review so please bear with me.

About us

I was traveling with my wife, son (15) and his best friend (15). This was my and my son's 3rd cruise, not sure about my wife but we think over 10 and my son's friends first. This was our first cruise on NCL.

Overall we had an amazing cruise on the Escape and would definitely sail NCL again. We loved our room, the Haven area, ropes course, slides, and The Waterfront, Food Republic and the Brew House. Aside from a check in issue (detailed below) I don't really have a bad thing to say about our time on the Escape. The staff was friendly, greeted us by name (when they knew it) and just generally went out of their way to help us enjoy our cruise.

When we cruise we don't do much in the way of onboard activities so I'll stay away from discussing any cruise director activities. I don't book any excursions through the ship and usually find my around whatever port we are stopped at. For the most part, on sea days and when we get back aboard, we sit by the pool and read, swim, drink, nap, repeat.

Pre-Cruise

Since there were four of us coming to FLL at three different times I thought the best way to handle this was to rent a car. I rented a Ford Edge from Budget at FLL for one night. My son and I arrived late Thursday, took the shuttle to Homewood Suites near FLL, stayed the night, and took shuttle back to pick up his friend from Raleigh at 9 on Friday morning. Once we had Ethan I picked up the rental and drove to the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood Beach, where we checked in, but were not able to get in the room. Around noon all of us went back to the airport to pick up my wife. By 1:30 we were all sitting by the pool. On Saturday morning we left for Miami, drove to the Budget office on 2nd street (I think) dropped off the car and took the Budget shuttle to the port. Budget was crowded but most of the people there were waiting for cars so it was a pretty quick process to drop off car and jump in the shuttle to the port.

Embarkation

We arrived at the port around 9:45 as the boys wanted to be on the ship as early as possible. Getting through security was a breeze and took about 10 minutes. From there we were directed to the corkage fee desk as I had two bottles of wine with us, we paid the fee (figuratively speaking) and headed to the Haven check in area. Check in was an easy but we did have one issue with NCL. Prior to the cruise I asked what the process was to bring a minor who was not my own child. I was directed to the form that I needed to have Ethan's parents sign and, as it said on the form, had them provide copies of their driver's license.

No problem, got all that done and had it all with me ready to show to gate agent. My issue here is that nobody ever asked to see the paperwork. My wife, son, and myself were all traveling under the same last name with the same address here in Michigan. Ethan has a different last name and an address in North Carolina (which was noted during online check in prior to the cruise). During the check in process nobody asked for the paperwork. So NCL let me walk onto the ship with a minor child without ever confirming that I had permission to bring him along. My wife kept saying somebody will ask at some point before we board but nobody did. During the meet and greet I talked with one of the hotel directors about this this and he seemed pretty surprised to hear that nobody asked and told me he would pass on my concerns.

With check-in out of the way we waited in the Haven check in area for about 10 minutes before someone came and lead us upstairs to another waiting area. There we waited (I think) until around 11:15 when we were lead onboard into the Haven area to hear the speech from the concierge. At this point our rooms were available to drop off bags only.

Continued:

Dining (going to list where we ate and some general observations)

1. Teppanyaki - We dined here the first night and had a great time. Food was excellent and the show was great. This was really a great place to start our cruise.

2. Jimmy Buffets - Food was average at best. Only ate here because my son loves the one we went to at Universal Studios City Walk. Plus it was free for Haven guests on first day. Would have probably been better off in Haven restaurant.

3. Bayamo: I heard such differing opinions regarding this place on CC that I really didn't know what to expect. I had the Bife DE Chorizo which was amazing and probably the

best steak I had on the ship. My wife had the Duck which was also excellent. For as great as the food and service was (and the service was superb) the atmosphere was not so great because there was some kind of party going on in the Mojito bar which kind of ruined things for us.

4. Cagneys - We had a good meal at Cagneys. It was good but I was expecting great so I was a little underwhelmed. The service was excellent and we loved the sides but just didn't love the steaks the way we had expected.

5. Le Bistro - Great service and food. Both my wife and I had the Dover sole and it was probably the best we've had at a restaurant. We celebrated our 17th anniversary here and had a great time.

6. Food Republic - I could have eaten every meal in this restaurant. The food was amazing, probably the best meal I've ever had on a cruise ship and in the top five overall. It's a clear do not miss on the Escape

7. Haven Restaurant. Ate just about every breakfast and lunch and two dinners there. The food and service was always top notch. In our opinion this was one of the best perks of staying in the Haven. Never had a bad meal here and really enjoyed eating outside in the outdoor seating area. The only time I saw that it was crowded was on the last day. Seems like everyone wanted to get one last meal in before leaving.

8. Buffett - We offered the boys the chance to pick dinner on Wednesday night. They picked the buffett. I had beef curry and a Cuban dish which was pretty good. The boys had pretzel rolls and salami. My wife had a salad and some other type of Indian dish. To me it was a typical cruise ship buffet - decent food, lots of choices, and very crowded.

Bars

1. District Brew House - One of the best places to drink on the ship. Loved the seating, staff was awesome, and bought a growler to bring back to room (filling as needed). If my wife was ever looking for me she would have probably look here first.

2. Mojito Bar - Loved the drinks, bartenders, and its a great location to people watch.

3. 5 O'clock somewhere Bar - (outside). The Chocolate Cowbay was as great as I had read.

4. Haven Bar - The bartenders (Bong and Miro) were two of our vacation heroes. Always greeted us by name, knew our drinks, friendly, and just great bartenders. We'd always have our last drink of the night here (and many times the first).

5. Cellars Wine Bar: Great place and was able to try some very good wines.

Entertainment

1. Wine lovers the musical - Terrible. Waste of money and time for us. Food was alrigt but not great and most of the white wine was warm by the time it was recommended to drink them. This is not a show we would see again or recommend seeing.

2. After Midnight - Fun show, great music and dancing but didn't love it. The boys hated it as it was more about jazz than anything else.

3. Howl at the moon - Lots of fun. We went twice and loved it both times.

4. Ryan Joyce - The show was entertaining but not enough comedy which was wierd as it's billed as comedy and magic. My wife was on stage at the end and received the red rose. She didn't really love being called up but was a good sport about it.

5. The Brat Pack - We all loved this show. High energy, excellent cast, and fun to see how they molded the story around the films.

Stateroom

Stateroom - We were in a two bedroom family villa (17712) and I can say that we had no complaints about the room other than the balcony could have been bigger. The room had tons of storage, two bathrooms (great if you traveling with teenagers) and a good size living room. We loved the room and all the amenities that came with it.

During my planning of the trip I read much on CC about unruly kids in the Haven so I was prepared for the worst, but it turned out to be fine. Yes there were a lot of kids, but they were just kids being kids and doing what kids do. It's clear to me that NCL is marketing the two bedroom villas to families so I would expect to see kids in the Haven courtyard and the pool. With that said I never really saw kids upstairs or on the sundeck so if I was looking for quiet my wife or I would just go upstairs. Never had an issue getting food or drink as I would either walk to the bar or order from the pool waiter.

Ports

1. St. Thomas - Rented a car drove to Sapphire beach (arrived before crowd) rented chairs and snorkel equipment. From there we went to the Tap and Still (Redhook not the one by the dock).Loved this place, great food and beer. Drove up to Mountain Top, took pictures, wife had a Banana Daiquiri, bought some crap and headed down to the ship.

2. San Juan - Walked to the fort, toured, and then left the boys at Starbucks while my wife and I shopped.

3. Nassau - Made the mistake of going to Cabbage beach (on recommendation of concierge). It was crowded, smelled like boat fuel, and tons of people walking around selling boat rides, snorkel trips, and other crap. We were there 40 minutes and headed back to ship. If we are ever back in Nassau I would stay on ship or go to Atlantis beach.

Debarkation

1. We waited in the Haven lounge, went down the crew elevator to the exit, and were through customs in about 20 minutes. Called for an Uber and were at the airport (FLL) by 10:15am. Easy as could be.

Some general impressions

1. Loved the ship - Being in the Haven was a definite bonus as we didn't have to deal with large crowds on the main pool deck.

2. Food - See above, but generally thought it was excellent overall, especially Food Republic and Bayamo.

3. The selection of Red Wines by the glass is terrible. I talked with the Beverage manager about this and even he seemed surprised that there were only (at most bars and restaurants) seven different available by the glass. He blamed it on Corporate, which I'm sure is true. There were some excellent wines at the Tapas Bar and Bayamo that were not served elsewhere.

4. The Waterfront on deck 8 could be the best place on any ship to hang out and watch the water go by. I did all my morning walks there (by Friday it had been discovered) my son and his friend played cards and chess there most afternoons and we watched for pier runners there in San Juan and Nassau.

5. I've never seen a more crowded pool area than the main pool deck on the Escape.

6. The staff and crew were just awesome. Everybody was friendly, ask how the cruise was going, made sure we didn't need anything, and went out of the way to make sure that there were no issues. Just about every officer that I met at the Meet and Mingle would talk to us during the week if they saw us.

7. Tipping - We tipped the Butler, Concierge, room attendant, left our service charge in place, and others who made our vacation great (Haven Bar staff, Brew House bar staff, speciality restaurant waiters, and the Chef at Teppanyaki)

8. I found that a dollar or two went a long way with the bar staff and was much appreciated.

9. The internet on board is pretty bad. Really don't know what else to say. I had trouble connecting with the free 250 package that came with the room. On Sunday the Internet manager offered to upgrade me for 80.00, which I took. After that it was better and at least I could stay online but it seems that NCL still has work to do in this area.

Thank you for the review! Glad that your family enjoyed the cruise, we also love the Escape!

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us! Would you choose to sail with NCL again?

Glad I already made my reservation for Bayamo next month:D

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us! Would you choose to sail with NCL again?

Glad I already made my reservation for Bayamo next month:D

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Thank you for your review, glad you had a great cruise!

Thanks for the review...we sail the ESCAPE in Jan:)

Thanks for the review...we sail the ESCAPE in Jan:)

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Nice review. Thanks for the feedback.

Great review, excited to be boarding on Saturday

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Thanks for the review. Just curious because I am on the Escape soon, did the ship not go to Tortola and instead go to San Juan or was San Juan your planned itinerary?

Great review, now I'm even more excited for our cruise in Feb! We were on the Escape last year and Bong was our favorite bartender although he was at the mojito bar then. All of his crazy puzzles made it a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing him in the haven!

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Thanks for the review. Just curious because I am on the Escape soon, did the ship not go to Tortola and instead go to San Juan or was San Juan your planned itinerary?

I am also curious as I'm sailing in 3 weeks.... :confused:

Thanks for the review.

I am also curious as I'm sailing in 3 weeks.... :confused:

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Thanks for your review ... quick question:

When you disembarked and got an Uber to FLL - was it just a regular Uber for the four of you or XL?

Thanks for your review ... quick question:

When you disembarked and got an Uber to FLL - was it just a regular Uber for the four of you or XL?

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