ESCAPE- Some things have changed

Just returned from our 7th cruise on the Escape. As you can tell, we love this ship so we booked another cruise before she leaves Miami for New York.

As we had been on this ship at the end of January, we didn't expect things to be very different for this April cruise....but we did find some changes that surprised us good and not so good.

First, a small item but it was a little strange for us. The bars never offered you a straw with a soda or other tall drink. One waiter said we don't have those. The bartenders or most waiters would find us one when asked. Is this a new cost cutting measure since January?

Casino smoke- They added some large air purifiers! Didn't work perfectly, but we felt it was a huge improvement over prior cruises. We have always understood the casino allows smoking and those that smoke don't mean to have the smoke hit your face but sometimes the air conditioning just blows it right at you. New system of purifiers is somewhat helpful and a good step by NCL.

Facial Recognition at Disembark- another surprise. As we were approaching to scan our keycard for the last time we could see a screen facing us that identified us and pulled up our security picture. Brand new toy for security and pretty cool unless you want to be incognito on the Escape.

Food Republic- we had heard on this board some menu items had changed, but we were still looking forward to eating there. On past cruises we had ate there 2 or 3 times per cruise. This time, one visit and that was it for us. Sadly, our favorites were gone or changed in a way that we did not enjoy. We did like one of the new dishes, Beetroot Croquettes, and they still had that great Elote (corn on the cob), but nothing else had the flavors we had loved in the past. They changed the delicious short rib dumpling with sweet corn sauce to a dry lamb dumpling without flavor. We feel like we gave it a good try by sharing 7 or 8 dishes. This menu on FR just didn't make us want to go back. Guess we will be saving some $$ in the future.

Pincho Tapas was still delicious and we had an amazing meal there. I hope they add this venue to more ships! Each time we go there we discover something else we enjoy.

Bayamo- another disappointment. Although the new menu looked promising there seemed to be problems with execution. Even the salad was disappointing. Only thing I liked was the Crab cake as my Lobster was over cooked. We cancelled our 2nd reservation for the week. We had a much better meal at the MDR and the other specialities.

Cagneys and La Cucina were absolutely excellent! Ate twice at Cagney's and felt the service was much improved from prior cruises. We had wonderful service and filled out more 'Hero' cards for this cruise than any other. Also, O'Sheehans had great service and we had breakfast or lunch there every day. Overall, the O'Sheehans staff was very cheerful and friendly.

Finally, No more Washy Washy? We didn't go to the buffet often, but were surprised not to see any Washy Washy person at the door. Maybe they were there at breakfast and we missed them. We did see an officer once at lunch time with a spray bottle but she wasn't selling it like the Washy Washy crew used to do.

i noticed the straw rhing roo. I like to drink a frozen bring with a straw, had to ask, and get an annoying frowny face from the bar tender.

Ship was packed, very evident on sea days, and Thursday night were up partying all night long, I had a hankering for food night around 2 am, , and thr bsr to get my favorite Salmon Cesar Salad at osheenans

I looked around to see if an other guests got violently ill on Saturday. I wont use the n-virus word. I had the veal the night before in Taste, i didnt eat much as it was poorly prepared, the veal was rubberry and tough.

Same same experience with the straw. There was another thread called “the last straw” on the topic. RCCL has talked about doing away with straws to save the environment, but have not implemented it yet. NCL is moving forward. Good for them!

Yep, straws apparently gone on NCL per a separate thread.

Do you have a picture of the new FR menu?

Yep, straws apparently gone on NCL per a separate thread.

 

Do you have a picture of the new FR menu?

It's posted in BirdTravel's ongoing live review.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2624246

I was on the April 7th-14th cruise and we saw Washy Washy everyday! He sang almost every morning and even was a waiter at Teppanyaki. He is one of my favs! We noticed a lot less entertainment on this one, but we've traveled on the Escape with Tyler as CD and he was very different than Scott. We found Scott to be very by the book and not around much which made the Atrium a little boring at night. We're doing the Getaway in November, hoping it's fun!

I believe that straws are being discontinued on most cruise lines for environmental reasons. Some are replacing plastic for paper.

Sad to hear about Food Republic, the Butter Crab handheld was one of the most amazing things I ate in October on this cruise. We'll go once and see if we can find anything we like, We're doing it on the first night because I want to be flexible for the Statue of Liberty passing!! I missed it on my CCL Vista Repo cruise because we were in the steakhouse :loudcry:

I was on the April 7th-14th cruise and we saw Washy Washy everyday! He sang almost every morning and even was a waiter at Teppanyaki. He is one of my favs! We noticed a lot less entertainment on this one, but we've traveled on the Escape with Tyler as CD and he was very different than Scott. We found Scott to be very by the book and not around much which made the Atrium a little boring at night. We're doing the Getaway in November, hoping it's fun!

“ I wanna wash your hands”. He was great..

“ I wanna wash your hands”. He was great..

"I'll be washing you" lol! We told him how much we enjoyed him while he was our waiter and the next day we ended up with chocolates in our stateroom delivered from the "Washy Washy Team". Nice touch!

I believe that straws are being discontinued on most cruise lines for environmental reasons. Some are replacing plastic for paper.

That explains alot! I wish they would have just said that or posted it like the sign about hanging up towels. Then we would understand what they were attempting to do.

I was on the April 7th-14th cruise and we saw Washy Washy everyday! He sang almost every morning and even was a waiter at Teppanyaki. He is one of my favs! We noticed a lot less entertainment on this one, but we've traveled on the Escape with Tyler as CD and he was very different than Scott. We found Scott to be very by the book and not around much which made the Atrium a little boring at night. We're doing the Getaway in November, hoping it's fun!

We never made it to the buffet in the morning so guess we missed him. We had been used to seeing someone at mid-day but they weren't as visible as the Washy Washy guy.

Agree about Scott. Kind of quiet. We loved Tylers 'commercials' running on the onboard channel prior cruises.

Okay , can someone please start a new thread on Straw smuggling , its only a matter of time . The Do's and Dont's ...

Oh the horror

Okay , can someone please start a new thread on Straw smuggling , its only a matter of time . The Do's and Dont's ...

Oh the horror

I sail in August and have already purchased 200 straws.

Why do people need straws to drink a drink? It's just more plastic waste to be dumped into the oceans. Drink from the cup. People are so selfish.

Why do people need straws to drink a drink? It's just more plastic waste to be dumped into the oceans. Drink from the cup. People are so selfish.

Why do you need to go on a cruise that wastes literal tons of food and burns fossil fuels? Talk about selfish. Kinda makes me sick.

Thanks for posting your input about the Escape.