Questions for our NCL Escape Sailing

1) Anyone that has done the Eastern from Miami - i'm interested in what excursions you've tried and if you recommend. Keep in mind our family consists of: mom, dad, kid 1 is 16 boy, kid 2 is 13 girl, kid 3 is 8 girl ;) they like the water and adventure. Trying to decide which ports to spend extra$ for a great excursion and which to save a bit and just head to a beach or something "cheaper". Ports are St Thomas (been there before, did Coki beach and the aquarium); Tortola (never been) and Nassau (been and not that excited about).

2) we are booked in 13413 and 13417 inside adjoining... we are considering upgrading one to a balcony for a cost of about $600(Canadian after you minus Free at Sea extra perks) more total but it would not be right beside or across... it would be on the same deck and same forward position on the boat. Splitting the family between 2 rooms as we are 5 and didn't want to stuff us into a family oceanview (wanted that extra bathroom mostly).... not sure if having 2 different room catagories is worthwhile or will be a pain in the butt being in 2 non-adjoining rooms.

3) does anyone know how much extra FOOD REPUBLIC is if you have the dining package? I know 2 of my 3 kids are going to want to try the sushi out there.

4) Recommendations for a nice hotel (at a reasonable price) to stay at near port of Miami as we will arrive a day early... it is early January.

5) when the teens are at the waterslides and the 9 yr old is hanging at the kids club - where are the adults only areas to lounge around and possibly swim or cool off? I've read about Haven (which we are not doing) and "The Vibe" which only a select amount of passengers can buy into by racing to be the first in line - not my style - i'm not in the mood to rush onto the boat to pay extra for a secluded adult hang out. Is there other spots where we can escape when we are "kid free" for an hour or two :)

THANKS!

1) Anyone that has done the Eastern from Miami - i'm interested in what excursions you've tried and if you recommend. Keep in mind our family consists of: mom, dad, kid 1 is 16 boy, kid 2 is 13 girl, kid 3 is 8 girl ;) they like the water and adventure. Trying to decide which ports to spend extra$ for a great excursion and which to save a bit and just head to a beach or something "cheaper". Ports are St Thomas (been there before, did Coki beach and the aquarium); Tortola (never been) and Nassau (been and not that excited about).

 

2) we are booked in 13413 and 13417 inside adjoining... we are considering upgrading one to a balcony for a cost of about $600(Canadian after you minus Free at Sea extra perks) more total but it would not be right beside or across... it would be on the same deck and same forward position on the boat. Splitting the family between 2 rooms as we are 5 and didn't want to stuff us into a family oceanview (wanted that extra bathroom mostly).... not sure if having 2 different room catagories is worthwhile or will be a pain in the butt being in 2 non-adjoining rooms.

 

3) does anyone know how much extra FOOD REPUBLIC is if you have the dining package? I know 2 of my 3 kids are going to want to try the sushi out there.

 

4) Recommendations for a nice hotel (at a reasonable price) to stay at near port of Miami as we will arrive a day early... it is early January.

 

5) when the teens are at the waterslides and the 9 yr old is hanging at the kids club - where are the adults only areas to lounge around and possibly swim or cool off? I've read about Haven (which we are not doing) and "The Vibe" which only a select amount of passengers can buy into by racing to be the first in line - not my style - i'm not in the mood to rush onto the boat to pay extra for a secluded adult hang out. Is there other spots where we can escape when we are "kid free" for an hour or two :)

 

THANKS!

1. I would recommend doing the Baths at Virgin Gorda from Tortola. You can do this as a ship's excursion or on your own. Check out the ports of call / Caribbean / Tortola board for much more info. Also check out the other ports of call boards for these destinations for plenty of information. For a much better beach experience on St. Thomas go to either Megan's or Smith's bay.

2. IMO, you'll like having a balcony. But your family dynamics have to determine if you need to stick with the two adjoining cabins. Really only you can decide this.

3. I do know Food Republic is an upcharge, but I'm sorry I don't remember how much. I do remember that the sushi choices were limited, although acceptable.

4. In Miami, we usually stay at the Hampton Inn Miami - Brickell Downtown. This is a nice area with a grocery store and restaurants all within walking distance. The rate include breakfast in the morning. Only downside is that they do not hae a shuttle bus to the pier, but taxi / uber is easy.

5. Unfortunately, trying to find a place to get away (and particularly if you want to swim) is almost impossible, unless you are in the Haven. The pool decks are very broken up and extremely crowded, and on sea days you have to get there early to get a lounge chair. This is perhaps my biggest complaint about the ship. If you don't need to swim, there is a sun deck area at the very top of the ship (deck 20) than's often less crowded...key word being "less."

Hope that helps some.

Here is the menu for the Food Republic... not part of the Specialty Dining Program. I recommend going the first few days of the week -- gets crowed last day or so. We liked all the food. Enjoy!

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1) Anyone that has done the Eastern from Miami - i'm interested in what excursions you've tried and if you recommend. Keep in mind our family consists of: mom, dad, kid 1 is 16 boy, kid 2 is 13 girl, kid 3 is 8 girl ;) they like the water and adventure. Trying to decide which ports to spend extra$ for a great excursion and which to save a bit and just head to a beach or something "cheaper". Ports are St Thomas (been there before, did Coki beach and the aquarium); Tortola (never been) and Nassau (been and not that excited about). We are going to do snorkeling with turtles in St. Thomas, but if you've never been to Tortola and you have adventurous kids, I'd say to do the baths.

 

2) we are booked in 13413 and 13417 inside adjoining... we are considering upgrading one to a balcony for a cost of about $600(Canadian after you minus Free at Sea extra perks) more total but it would not be right beside or across... it would be on the same deck and same forward position on the boat. Splitting the family between 2 rooms as we are 5 and didn't want to stuff us into a family oceanview (wanted that extra bathroom mostly).... not sure if having 2 different room catagories is worthwhile or will be a pain in the butt being in 2 non-adjoining rooms. You'll have to have one adult over 21 in each room -- of course you can get sea cards for both rooms and split up as you like so really, it's up to you and how much you trust your children.

 

3) does anyone know how much extra FOOD REPUBLIC is if you have the dining package? I know 2 of my 3 kids are going to want to try the sushi out there. The menu pp is current. I've heard the food is awesome.

 

4) Recommendations for a nice hotel (at a reasonable price) to stay at near port of Miami as we will arrive a day early... it is early January. I've heard great things about the hotel recommended above.

 

5) when the teens are at the waterslides and the 9 yr old is hanging at the kids club - where are the adults only areas to lounge around and possibly swim or cool off? I've read about Haven (which we are not doing) and "The Vibe" which only a select amount of passengers can buy into by racing to be the first in line - not my style - i'm not in the mood to rush onto the boat to pay extra for a secluded adult hang out. Is there other spots where we can escape when we are "kid free" for an hour or two :). You can also hang out at Spice H2O -- it's adult only during the day -- it has a water grotto which has water that falls down (more light waterfall than mister) and a hot tub.

 

THANKS!

Enjoy! I'm doing same itinerary in June and can't wait!

Use Hotwire or Priceline express deals. on the weekend they have specials. Got 4-1/2 star Intercontinental Hotel down town Miami for $95

1) At Tortola we did Virgin Gorda with an 11 and 13 year old. We had a great day.

3) I couldn't tell you prices, but the food is excellent.

5) Spice H2O, adult only during the day and it has the grotto.

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Just wanted to mention that if you don't get adjoining rooms, that one thing that is nice to do is ask guest services to create extra keys to rooms. This makes it easier to have the whole family getting together, especially if like us you aren't doing a wifi plan and touching base by phone. We had an extended family group go last week and my parents had a key made for me for their room and a key made for my son for their room. And I had a key made for our son for our room.

Have you looked into upgrading into two large balcony rooms? I only ask to see if they might be available in a connecting setup. It would likely be several hundred more but if it works for your budget, and the steward opens the divider, you would also have a huge balcony with two loungers and four chairs with two big tables. Just a thought. We did this last year though it turned out to be too much for four of us we thought. We are squeezing four into one large balcony room this year that has a Pullman bed over the sofa bed. That also left us the option to shoot for an upgrade to a Haven room with the extra money we saved.

Anywhoo, we really liked the NCL excursion to the Baths last year in Tortola. Well organized and some great scenery and beach time. In St. Thomas we did the Power Cat snorkeling and beach excursion. My only beef with either was not enough beach time. This year we are doing Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas and Brewer's Bay in Tortola on our own after some research.

Last year in Nassau, we took a taxi to Cable Beach for a low key outing. That was a lot of fun. No admission but no restrooms if I remember right and lots of vendors trying to sell you stuff. This year we are doing Atlantis. Spendy but going to try it once to see if we ever want to go back there for a dedicated vacation at that resort.