CamaCama's Family Vacation on the Escape 11/21/2015 (Detailed PICTURE Review!!!!!!)

[gambee]

Something you said left me wondering. When I went on Breakaway, they would always tell us around 45 minutes wait. I don't have much patience, so I would end up in the mdr or at a specialty venue. I wonder if they tell that to everyone to push them into the specialty venues:confused:. If so, it deff worked with me.

 

This time around I plan on trying the mdr a few times, hopefully the waits are not too bad.

[CamaCama]

Why this big open space and why does the bar appear to be closed with its shutters closed?

 

Thanks

Greg

 

Not sure about the open space, I think it was like that most of the cruise, I only went back 1 day to see about having lunch. There was only a small bar open behind that shuttered area, not sure if that was open other days or what it even is...

[CamaCama]

Something you said left me wondering. When I went on Breakaway, they would always tell us around 45 minutes wait. I don't have much patience, so I would end up in the mdr or at a specialty venue. I wonder if they tell that to everyone to push them into the specialty venues:confused:. If so, it deff worked with me.

 

This time around I plan on trying the mdr a few times, hopefully the waits are not too bad.

 

Maybe! And we were a party of 7 so to wait only 20 mins when they said 45, we were pleasantly surprised. You should book online before you go so at least you have something booked, then if you don't want to go you don't have to.

[calgaryhhr]

Maybe I should ask this in a different thread or a new thread altogether but does NCL offer "unique" or different food offerings in the main dining room? I'll be on the Escape Dec 12 and it is my first NCL cruise (only my second cruise ever.) On our first cruise with Carnival they offered something that they called "didja" which were different appetizers every night of unique food items like alligator, escargots, frog legs, etc.

 

I really enjoyed that stuff on Carnival and I'm hoping that NCL offers something similar.

[hj1madison]

Thank you for the kids menu photo! I don't think I have seen that anywhere else. I am really enjoying this review. Thanks again. :)

[dna529]

Enjoying your review! Nice to hear good things about the Escape! Going next month!

[Island_Chica]

We're traveling with our 4 and 6 year old sons in February, so I'm glad to see this review. We will be in a mini suite with large balcony, and I'm so looking forward to that outside space. That inflatable bed bumper is interesting, I'm going to consider that for our 4 year old. No one wants a kid tumbling out of bed in the middle of the night!

[CamaCama]

Maybe I should ask this in a different thread or a new thread altogether but does NCL offer "unique" or different food offerings in the main dining room? I'll be on the Escape Dec 12 and it is my first NCL cruise (only my second cruise ever.) On our first cruise with Carnival they offered something that they called "didja" which were different appetizers every night of unique food items like alligator, escargots, frog legs, etc.

 

I really enjoyed that stuff on Carnival and I'm hoping that NCL offers something similar.

 

I didn't notice anything like that, but there were a lot of pretty unique offerings to choose from on the menus each night IMO so if you like to try new things I think you'll like it. I'm pretty picky so I stick to the basics. haha

[CamaCama]

Thank you for the kids menu photo! I don't think I have seen that anywhere else. I am really enjoying this review. Thanks again. :)

 

Thanks and glad I could help!

 

Enjoying your review! Nice to hear good things about the Escape! Going next month!

 

It's a beautiful ship, but you'll always hear bad things esp on message boards like this. People love to complain, we're just not complainers. Were there some things we didn't like? Yes, but overall it was an awesome vacation ON A SHIP!!! :D

[CamaCama]

We're traveling with our 4 and 6 year old sons in February, so I'm glad to see this review. We will be in a mini suite with large balcony, and I'm so looking forward to that outside space. That inflatable bed bumper is interesting, I'm going to consider that for our 4 year old. No one wants a kid tumbling out of bed in the middle of the night!

 

Lots more to come on what we did with the kids all week... both my girls are crazy movers in their sleep so they need that protection! And with the rough seas we had thanksgiving night I was so glad I didn't have to worry about them falling out of bed.

[Shocked91]

Wow thank you very much for all your photos and great reviews.I have sailed a few times before but only with Royal Caribbean.This is my first NCL cruise on Escape.We are going in Jan for 2 weeks B2B there are 8 of us going on this family cruise from the UK.We have all sailed with Royal but never with NCL.I recommended this ship as it's brand new and loads to do on this ship.

[CamaCama]

DAY 2 - At Sea

 

Good morning! We were all up around 7:15 and it was a beautiful day.

 

 

 

Breakfast at Garden Café

 

 

All of my favorite things!!! The croissant, bacon and sausage are a real treat as I normally don't eat it on a regular basis... we loved the breakfast in garden café and the omelet station lines moved really quickly even though they were always 3-5 people deep.

 

 

Looked like a storm was moving in so I wasn't sure it was going to be a pool day. Sienna decided she wanted to go to splash academy so we dropped her off there around 10:30am.

 

[CamaCama]

Splash Academy Seals (6-9 years old) Weekly Schedule

 

 

 

After dropping off Sienna we went over to Guppies to see if we could sign Mila up for some of the drop-off sessions. My picture got cut off below but each session is $20.

 

Guppies Weekly Schedule

 

 

 

The drop-off sessions were already filling up so I signed Mila up for 3 of the morning slots (day 3-sea day morning, day 6-sea day morning, and day 7-nassau morning). They only asked that I call 12 hours before if I wanted to cancel so they could open it up to other kids. Fair enough.

 

 

She loves to pose

 

[CamaCama]

Inside Guppies... the whole area was very small. It seemed better suited for 6 month to 18 month olds and they allow 10 kids at each session so with 10 kids up to 3 years old and 4-5 counselors the room got pretty crowded quickly. Not sure how Mila was going to like this, but we'll see tomorrow when she goes to her first session...

 

Entry/waiting area

 

 

 

Small room next to waiting area, it had a very small table with 2 chairs in it too but that's about it (didn't get a good pic of it)... one counselor said the older kids (2-3 year olds) have snacks or draw there sometimes.

 

 

Play area

There was also a door you can see in the back (where the woman in the blue shirt is standing) but it was always closed when I was there, I think it was another room the kids could play in but I never saw inside it.

 

 

Down the hall from here was an open baby play area with toys and mats... it was open all day through 10pm I think. I also didn't get the greatest pic of it but there were always families in here with really young kids. Seemed like a nice extra space to have and it was free.

 

[CamaCama]

We had some time to kill so we headed up to the Atrium Café on Deck 6 so Len could get a coffee. My opinion... this whole café should be free. Nothing special about it and not worth paying for. Len said the coffee was horrible... actually coffee all over the ship was horrible, free coffee in the garden café and dining rooms was bad too, it all tasted burnt most of the time. Maybe we're just used to our Starbucks? :p

 

 

 

 

 

Mila loved the cupcake...

 

[CamaCama]

Wow thank you very much for all your photos and great reviews.I have sailed a few times before but only with Royal Caribbean.This is my first NCL cruise on Escape.We are going in Jan for 2 weeks B2B there are 8 of us going on this family cruise from the UK.We have all sailed with Royal but never with NCL.I recommended this ship as it's brand new and loads to do on this ship.

 

There are similarities and differences... i'll write up a comparison at the end of the review. Definitely LOTS to do on Escape and some really unique things that I never thought I'd do!

[LadySpoilt]

CamaCama,

Could you explain a little more about the Guppies? Some of the posted activity sessions seem to be one hour long, some of them 1.5 hours, and some are 2 hours, and the one we are most interested in is 2.5 hours 6:30 to 8:50. So I am confused a bit about what a session is. And then it says 20.00 per session at bottom.

Also, are the posted sessions (actual activity sessions) during the day just for drop off kids, or is this an activity the if the parent participates with the child there is no charge?

 

Thanks!

Spoilt

[weltek]

Uh oh. I'm going to need a macaron budget. :D

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Great job on your review, especially for parents with children!

We didn't explore any of those places that parents with little ones would,

so its fun to see what that was all about. :)

[49erfan007]

Great review! Your daughters are adorable :)

[lastminutemama]

Thanks for this review.

We leave Saturday with our 5 year old and a group with kids of various ages, so it's very helpful.

[CamaCama]

CamaCama,

Could you explain a little more about the Guppies? Some of the posted activity sessions seem to be one hour long, some of them 1.5 hours, and some are 2 hours, and the one we are most interested in is 2.5 hours 6:30 to 8:50. So I am confused a bit about what a session is. And then it says 20.00 per session at bottom.

Also, are the posted sessions (actual activity sessions) during the day just for drop off kids, or is this an activity the if the parent participates with the child there is no charge?

 

Thanks!

Spoilt

 

Ok so from what I understand... each Guppies session is $20. All the morning (10:30am) and late night (9:00pm) drop-off sessions are 2 hours. The regular night drop-off session (6:30pm) is 2.5 hours. The ones that say "freeplay" are where parents stay, but there is still a $ sign there so it seems they still charge for that... I don't know for sure because we never did went to any of the freeplay times.

 

I believe the "hosted activity" sessions are not in the Guppies main room, they are in the small baby playroom down the hall (I posted a pic of that too). Those are free sessions where parents stay and they do an activity. I didn't do that either so I'm not exactly sure how it was.

[CamaCama]

Uh oh. I'm going to need a macaron budget. :D

 

Haha, I didn't try them but they did look yummy!

 

Great job on your review, especially for parents with children!

We didn't explore any of those places that parents with little ones would,

so its fun to see what that was all about. :)

 

Jealous! haha just kidding... but I would love to experience the Escape sans kids someday, there was a lot we didn't do because they were with us. I'm sure it's a totally different experience!

 

Great review! Your daughters are adorable :)

 

Thank you!!!

[CamaCama]

Thanks for this review.

We leave Saturday with our 5 year old and a group with kids of various ages, so it's very helpful.

 

5 years and up is the perfect age for cruising, my 6 year old had the best time on the slides, in the waterpark... and loved the camp!!!

[CamaCama]

The weather was getting a bit better so we went up to Deck 16 to try to get chairs at the pool. I know when we picked Sienna up from camp she'd want to go in the pool, aqua park, etc. Off the elevator you walk through garden café and come out to some outdoor seating and the pool area. I loved the flooring around the pool, I didn't see anyone slip the entire 7 days and it was wet a lot!

 

 

Shower right outside aqua park (towel station right behind)

 

 

Aqua park

 

 

Aqua park rules... #3 and #7 were broken often. Lots of little babies (about 1, barely walking, obviously in diapers) splashing/walking around on the edges and in the corners. Didn't bother me, but absolutely nobody from NCL every said anything to anyone or even watched over the aqua park at all so it was easy to get away with anything. The bigger kids were running and sliding on the floor a lot and they were trying to go down the little red slide as fast as they could and sometimes wouldn't wait until the smaller kids were all the way down and would body slam them at the bottom. That was a VERY fast slide... Sienna hit her head on the side at the bottom more than once because these big boys (100 lbs+) were sliding down too fast and didn't wait until she got out and sandwiched her!! I yelled at them but they of course didn't care. Sienna just decided to stop using that slide. It would have been nice if someone from NCL monitored that area once in a while to calm the kids down. They all knew nobody was watching, their parents included.

 

 

Kids pool (right next to aqua park)

 

 

Water feature at back of kids pool