Our Amazing ESCAPE on the NORWEGIAN ESCAPE!

[aquarianne11]

Maybe it is just me----how do you get the Dailies open? Nothing shows up when i click on it.

 

 

Here's the link.

 

https://goo.gl/photos/KBnNi8wZCQYeRqZB9

 

 

Please let me know if it doesn't work. Thanks!

[CruiseRansier]

very good review! I like that you were honest and balanced and did not expect it to be perfect. Your photos are amazing. Thank you for taking the time to review. We sail 2/6/16!!!

[aquarianne11]

very good review! I like that you were honest and balanced and did not expect it to be perfect. Your photos are amazing. Thank you for taking the time to review. We sail 2/6/16!!!

 

Thank you very much for the kind words. Wow, less than a month to go!

Have a great cruise on the Escape!

[allison0523]

Great review! Awesome pics. I know the pool temperature varies from ship to ship so did you think the pool water on the Escape was warm? Our son has very little body fat and turns blue pretty quickly. So, I am just trying to figure out what wetsuit, etc. to bring for him. Thank you!

[aquarianne11]

Great review! Awesome pics. I know the pool temperature varies from ship to ship so did you think the pool water on the Escape was warm? Our son has very little body fat and turns blue pretty quickly. So, I am just trying to figure out what wetsuit, etc. to bring for him. Thank you!

 

Hi, thank you so much for the compliments and for reading along.

 

I just checked with my daughter who used the pool more often than I did, she said it was not cold but I'm not sure if it is warm enough for your son.

 

I remember feeling cold while climbing up to use the Aqua Racer slide. During sea days, it can be very windy. So I guess bringing something warm for him would be a good idea. I hope this helps.

[SNJCruisers]

Great review! Awesome pics. I know the pool temperature varies from ship to ship so did you think the pool water on the Escape was warm? Our son has very little body fat and turns blue pretty quickly. So, I am just trying to figure out what wetsuit, etc. to bring for him. Thank you!

The pool water is drawn from the ocean, so depending upon where and when you're sailing will determine the water temperature. Obviously it will be warmer during the summer as opposed to the winter.

[aquarianne11]

The pool water is drawn from the ocean, so depending upon where and when you're sailing will determine the water temperature. Obviously it will be warmer during the summer as opposed to the winter.

 

That's good to know, I had no idea, to be honest.

Thanks for the information! :)

[Loonbeam]

Plus of course they CAN heat the pools. Not sure what system the Escape uses, some ships use excess engine heat...

 

That's good to know, I had no idea, to be honest.

Thanks for the information! :)

[aquarianne11]

Plus of course they CAN heat the pools. Not sure what system the Escape uses, some ships use excess engine heat...

 

Thank you. :)

[aquarianne11]

La Cucina tends to get mixed reviews, but I'm happy to say that we had a great experience. We did not have a reservation here originally, but it looked so inviting from the outside so I tried to make a reservation.

 

I can only get a reservation at 8:30PM but I was told that we can come earlier and we "might" be accommodated. We arrived at the restaurant around 5:45PM. They weren't crowded at all and we were seated immediately.

 

La Cucina (like Cagney's and Le Bistro) on the Escape is an a ala carte restaurant but the UDP and SDP are still valid.

 

 

La Cucina

 



 



 

 

Edited January 15, 2016 by aquarianne11

[aquarianne11]

We were still docked in St. Thomas when we arrived at La Cucina. We were seated in the waterfront section so we had fabulous views all throughout the meal!

 

 



 

 

 

Here are some of what we ordred.

 

Sautéed Eggplant



 

Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella



 

Fritto di Calamari

[aquarianne11]

More photos at La Cucina.

 

My favorite dish in La Cucina

Aragosta Fra Diavolo - Lobster, Fettuccini, Tomato Sauce, Basil



 

Our little girl ordered Rigatoni con Polpette.

She also tried Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Parmesan-dusted fries

as side dishes



 

Osso Buco



 

Desserts

Panna Cotta



 

Tiramisu

[big al]

Very nice review & love the pics & videos!! Cruise agent here..question: I see your cabin was way up front..did you feel any motion? Cabins up front ( bow cabins) tend to have more movement..looks like right below you were some mini suites..I saw loungers out there, and that's good to know they can put lounge chairs..love those lounge chairs on a balcony!! How were the shows & specialty dining?

 

Big Al

[aquarianne11]

Very nice review & love the pics & videos!! Cruise agent here..question: I see your cabin was way up front..did you feel any motion? Cabins up front ( bow cabins) tend to have more movement..looks like right below you were some mini suites..I saw loungers out there, and that's good to know they can put lounge chairs..love those lounge chairs on a balcony!! How were the shows & specialty dining?

 

Big Al

 

Thank you very much for the compliments! Thank you for watching the videos as well, I hope they were helpful.

 

Since we booked a BX, so we were assigned with 10114. We can feel the motion and the wind in the balcony. But maybe since it was on a lower deck, it was never really bad.

 

My daughter and I are prone to motion sickness/sea sickness. We came prepared with Dramamine and Sea bands (for my daughter). I never took the medicine and I was fine. My daughter was fine too.

 

We can feel the motion but never felt seasick. I just want to mention for comparison that my daughter actually got very seasick during out ferry ride to The Baths! She needed the barf bag!

 

We loved visiting the specialty dining venues, we only went to the restaurants that are covered with our UDP.

 

We enjoyed After Midnight and the comedy show. We missed our reservation for the Million Dollar Quartet and we did not see the shows in the Supper Club.

[aquarianne11]

Le Bistro

 

Le Bistro is Norwegian Escape's French restaurant located in the atrium of 678 Ocean Place. We went to Le Bistro twice during our cruise. It's a gorgeous restaurant and my personal favorite.

 

 

 

We requested to sit in the terrace/outside dining area for the final night of the cruise and we had an amazing view during the whole meal. I will definitely request this area again in the future.

 

 

 

Like Cagney's and La Cucina, Le Bistro is also an a la carte restaurant. We were able to use our UDP here. The menu photos that I was able to take were really blurry so I can't post them here. I did check beyondships and they have the updated ala carte menu for Le Bistro.

 

Here's the dessert menu.

 

 

 

 

[aquarianne11]

Le Bistro

 

The dress code requests no shorts for Le Bistro (and Bayamo).

 

The service was great both times we visited. The restaurant manager (who is from France) would walk around and talk to the guests. I thought that was a very nice touch.

 

Everything was fabulous! And here are some photos from Le Bistro.

 

Baked Escargots with Herbed Garlic Butter



 

Seafood Medley and Green Asparagus with Puff Pastry and Lobster Bisque



 

Cold Water Lobster Tail Roasted in Butter

with Artichokes and Chateau Potatoes



 

Dover Sole Sautéed in Lemon-Caper Butter with Croutons



 

Chocolate Fondue



 

Vanilla Crème Brûlée

 

Our daughter was able to order her soup from the Kids' menu, she had Chicken Noodle Soup. She ordered other her main course and dessert from the specialty restaurant menu.

[aquarianne11]

More photos from Le Bistro.

 

Holidays 2015!



 

Tarte Tatin



 

Hazelnut Napoleon



 

Enjoying the final night of our cruise!

[aquarianne11]

Since I'm done talking about the dining options that we have experienced on the Escape, I'm ready to move on to the ports.

 

For this cruise, our ports of call are: St. Thomas USVI, Tortola BVI, and Nassau, Bahamas.

 

The Itinerary



 

 

St. Thomas USVI

 

The ship arrived in St Thomas around 8AM. We were out of the ship around 8:40AM. There was no line to get out of the ship. Julie, the cruise director, was there wishing everyone a great day.

 

This was our second trip to St. Thomas, the first time was just a few years back when we were on the Norwegian Gem (Eastern Caribbean itinerary from NYC). For our first visit, we took the ship excursion that included a city tour, 2-hour stop at Magens Bay and a visit to Blackbeard's Castle.

 

For this trip, we planned to visit St. John but we decided to save that for another trip. So we decided to visit Magens Bay again.

 

There are a lot of open air taxis/safari taxis to take you wherever you wanted to go. We asked the first guy we saw to take us to Magens Bay and he escorted us to a safari taxi.

 

The taxi fare is $8 per person. Our daughter is 8 yrs. old so we also paid $8 for her. The entrance fee is $4 to get in to Magens Bay. Free for children under 12 years. Here's more information about the entrance fee that I got from their website.

 

 

The drive to Magens Bay felt more like a roller coaster ride! I was holding on with both hands so I was not able to take some pictures. After about 15 minutes of driving, the driver stopped for a minute so we can admire the view.

 

 

We arrived at Magens just past 9AM. We were able to get a picnic table close to the water, a lot of tables were available when we arrived. It was a little cloudy and but very peaceful.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2016 by aquarianne11

[aquarianne11]

We really, really love Magens Bay. The beach is calm and warm with a soft, sandy bottom. It is the perfect beach for kids who are still learning to swim. Almost no waves!

 

I'm glad we went back to Magens Bay. It is probably the best swimming beach we have been at. Our daughter really loved it here. She felt very safe since it was like a giant swimming pool.

 

Since the Family Pool on the Escape was very deep (5 feet!) for her, she never really felt comfortable in the pool. She would hold on to the sides when she got tired of swimming.

 

Here are more photos at Magens Bay.

 

 



 



 



 

[aquarianne11]

Magens Bay is a wonderful beach with shallow and calm water. It is not known for snorkeling but since our daughter had her snorkel and mask, she wanted to do a little snorkeling to find Nemo.

 

 

 

We walked over to the rocky area, it was a bit churned up so not very clear but we found some fish around here. No Nemo but one little fish was ready for a close up!

 

 



 

 

 

The beach became very crowded around 2PM. It looked like this by the time we left.

 

 

 

We left the beach around 2:30PM. We found a taxi that was already pretty full so we left immediately. We were back on the ship by 3PM.

 

[aquarianne11]

Overall, we had a wonderful and relaxing day at St. Thomas. I'm glad we went to Magen Bay, I highly recommend this beach for families with small children.

 

Here are more photos from St. Thomas. These photos were taken from our balcony.

 

 



 



 

[aquarianne11]

Tortola BVI

 

 

Our port time in Tortola was from 7AM-3PM. We really wanted to visit The Baths so we booked the excursion with the cruise line. Upon boarding, we received this advisory.

 

Virgin Gorda and The Baths

 

 

We did not cancel our excursion since I really wanted to visit the Baths. The day started our rough, we had to rush since the meeting time is at 7AM at the Escape Theater.

 

From the ship, it was a short walk to the ferry. The ferry ride (40-45 minutes) was rough on a beautiful clear day. Our daughter got very seasick within 5 minutes!

 

Good thing the crew gave me the barf bag just in time so she did not make a mess. We both took Bonine and she had her Seaband on, still did not work. Thankfully, the ride back to the ship was a lot better.

 

 

After the ferry ride, there is a 20 minute ride over to the Baths on the Safari buses. Once you arrive at the parking lot you will have TWO PATHS to choose from: the first, will be to walk down a fairly simple path that leads right to the Baths. The second would be to take the path to Devil's Bay.

 

We took the path to the Baths. It was not that hard. You will walk down a somewhat easy trail from the parking lot. Just be careful and it is advisable to wear water shoes.

 

 



 

[aquarianne11]

The Baths

 

Our daughter had her snorkeling gear and saw a lot of fish. I tried to carry light so I did not bring mine. The water was beautiful and very clear.

 

We did not want to use the lockers so we brought waterproof bags for our phones, cards, and cash. We got them from Amazon.

 

I would also recommend bringing a small waterproof camera. If you want to explore the caves, definitely wear water shoes.

 

This place ROCKS!!!



 



 



 

 

 

From Baths beach you can take a trail/caves to Devil's Bay. So after a few minutes at the Baths, we decided to explore the CAVES. This trail is not recommended for those with mobility issues. Our daughter needed A LOT of help.

 

The trail requires climbing up and jumping off rocks, squeezing between and under rocks, navigating ladders and plank gangways etc. My husband was carrying a lot of stuff including 3 towels, that made his bag heavy. One towel would have been enough since we never got a chance to sit down.

 

 

[aquarianne11]

Exploring the caves.

 

The caves and Devil's Bay are worth the effort. The pictures don't do it justice. I still took a lot of photos anyway! The rock formations are breathtaking!

 

 



 



 



 



 

 

Wrong way!

Edited January 17, 2016 by aquarianne11

[aquarianne11]

Finally at Devil's Bay!

 

 



 

 

 

The beach is awesome with nice wave and clear water. We stayed here for about 10 minutes. We would love to stay here longer but we were told to be back at the parking lot by 10:45AM.

 

My main complaint about this excursion is the time. Not enough time to really enjoy this amazing place. We started walking back to the parking lot around 10:30AM. I found a huge rock, so I had to check out the view.

 

 

 

The trail back to the parking lot longer but was flat and easy. They gave us rum punch, water, and fruit punch before we boarded the safari bus back to the ferry.

 

The ferry ride going back was smoother. My daughter and I fell asleep during the 45-minute ride. DH took some photos as we approach the pier.