Norwegian Escape Review from a First time cruiser/passenger with disabilities view

[bzzltyr]

Hello! First off I've gotten so much helpful info from these boards in the last year that it made my cruise so much better. So hopefully some of this can return the favor to someone. My family teased me for having so much about this ship memorized six months before we left. So on day one when I came back from the buffet with a bunch of good food they couldn't find on their buffet trip I had to point out "Oh reading message boards for tips isn't so bad now is it". I may have sprinkled in a few expletives, but you get the point.

 

In future posts I'd like to put a daily rundown of what we did and how it went (and pictures if I can figure that part out and you dont mind pics of my family because I rarely take pics of just things), but for those not interested in that part let me do a overall review from our viewpoint.

 

About us: I'm 35 and shared a room with my wife, son who is 8, and daughter who is 15. My daughter is disabled in a wheelchair. We normally spend our vacation somewhere in Mexico at a mid-range/cheap all-inclusive type resort. I saw a cheap cruise offer almost a year ago, shared it with some family and we all decided to try it out to mix it up. I live out west so flying to these islands is crazy expensive. My wife keeps wanting to go to Atlantis so I thought this was a great way to see a few places and see if Atlantis would be worth the extra money we normally pay on vacation (spoiler alert: it isn't). Also in our group was my sister and her family (kids 7 and 2), my in-laws and step sister/sister's friend (ages 16), and my sister's in laws (retired in their 80's). So if you have any questions about those age groups let me know.

 

We had a normal balcony room forward side of 10. We've never really needed accessible hotel rooms since our daughter is still on the small side, and norwegian doesnt have one single Accessible room that sleeps 4 with a balcony. So we booked a normal room thinking we'd be fine. This was a mistake. Norwegian to their credit offered up a solution ahead of time and I didn't take them up on it, so it's my mistake, not theirs. (Though seriously a ship for 4,000 people and they couldnt make one handicap accessible balcony sleep four people?). If you have a stroller or wheelchair try and get a room close to elevators to avoid this.

 

Overall Impressions from someone who has never been on a cruise:

Most everyone in our large group had a blast. I left for this trip pretty down on Norwegian. I would call myself a "value" vacationer. We like to take a few trips a year, but it's always where I can find a good deal. I didn't react well when I paid for features that changed and got more expensive. Taking away the nick characters and ninja turtles, Carlos bake Shop, adding fees to eat that were advertised as free doesn't sit well with me. I didnt see why I would trust Norwegian with my money again if they advertise a product one way and give you something else.

 

Honestly though I returned from the Cruise a total Norwegian Fanboy. It's not that those things don't bother me still, it's that there was so much to do that I never missed them. I wasn't in my room long enough to order Room Service, so I couldn't gripe about the charges. I walked past margaritaville twice the whole week, I don't know when I would have had time to eat lunch there. Every night that Daily guide waiting for us in our room was like a present, there was so much to do and not enough time to do it all. Hard to be mad when you are too busy having fun.

 

I'll dive into more detail later but here's my quick overall best/worst of the trip as a whole.

 

Good:

-Food was way better than any all inclusive type place I've been to on land. Drinks were much better quality as well.

 

-Entertainment staff was phenomenal. They had so much going on each day and almost all of it was a blast.

 

-Service in general was very good.

 

-So much to do on board. I didnt even get to some of the things I was looking forward too.

 

-Waterfront. Even though there are crowds everywhere the Waterfront rarely had many people on it. If you need to take a break from the sea of people, that's the place to do it.

 

-Other than elevator waits the ship was very easy to get around on a wheelchair.

 

Bad:

-Waiting for elevators and seeing how many people who walk fine would take them for two floors.

 

-Those hallways back to your room in a wheelchair. Our room was towards the front and it was rare to go that far without encountering 2-3 of those cleaning carts that we couldn't fit around and had to move. Those hallways being another six inches wider would have been so nice.

 

-Cultural differences on people with disabilities. That's all I can chalk it up too. Workers were amazing to me and my wife on the ship. My son got great specialty drinks and attention everytime we were out. My daughter got ignored. I've never dealt with this before anywhere (in Mexico the opposite happens). The first night we went out to dinner they sat table for four, brought four menus to our table and handed one out to myself, my wife, our son, and turned around and left with the fourth menu (my daughter is physically disabled, she can read and understand just fine). I thought that guy was just a Ahole, then a new waiter came along and took our three drink orders and turned around to leave before I caught him and gave him her order. I thought this was a one off but it happened in every place we ate for every meal all week. I talked to one of the managers about it and he was sympathetic but it happened each meal at every restaurant. I dont think these people had rude intent, it was just so odd to me because I can't recall that ever happening in a restaurant before anywhere.

 

-Ship movement. We felt it move a lot each day. My wife didnt get sick sick but I'd have a hard time talking her in to another cruise because she was uneasy about it the whole time. Also Drunk spins are the worst when the boat is rocking (again my fault, not Norwegians).

 

-Bingo was pricey! My wife and sister love to play Bingo and planned on playing twice a day each day. Most bingo sessions one card will run $40. "Budget" bingo is $20 for one card. This is a lot more than they ever pay here.

 

That's all for now, I'll break down each day in more detail and hopefully anyone interested will find something helpful.

[LrgPizza]

Great start to a review with a unique perspective! Be sure to come back and fill in those promised details. That's so odd the way your daughter was treated by the wait staff! I've never heard of such. I wonder also if it's cultural? Either way, they sure need some training to fix that.

[Wetescape2016]

Great review, I especially appreciate it because we usually go to all inclusives, our last experience was horrible which is why we will be boarding our first cruise in just over a week. I am really sorry to hear about your daughters experience. I have friends with various disabilities, and it's always infuriated me when people treat them differently. I can't imagine how I would feel if they were flat out ignored. I'm glad despite this you were able to enjoy your first cruising experience.

May I ask what your buffet secrets are? I have also been all over the message boards to learn as much as possible before we leave, but haven't read any buffet tips :)

[bzzltyr]

Great review, I especially appreciate it because we usually go to all inclusives, our last experience was horrible which is why we will be boarding our first cruise in just over a week. I am really sorry to hear about your daughters experience. I have friends with various disabilities, and it's always infuriated me when people treat them differently. I can't imagine how I would feel if they were flat out ignored. I'm glad despite this you were able to enjoy your first cruising experience.

May I ask what your buffet secrets are? I have also been all over the message boards to learn as much as possible before we leave, but haven't read any buffet tips :)

 

The Buffet secret was to keep going around the back of the boat. The way it's set up was there is an entrance halfway thru the buffet so it's easy if you come in from the pool side to get to that entrance and think it's done. Thats what my family did and came back with not a ton on their plate. So after I skipped past that entrance and came back with burgers, pizza, etc. they were all lost. The back usually has less crazy seating too (and the crepes station if you go for dinner).

[bzzltyr]

PRE-CRUISE:

Our ship left January 2, we flew in at midnight on the 31st. I had never been to South Florida before so I wanted a day to check it out. This was short sighted as I WAY underestimated New years eve hotel prices. Anything in Miami was RIDICULOUSLY priced (shady run down motels in bad neighborhoods were going for over $300 a night). We ended up using Hotwire for a Hotel (Hampton Inn Hallandale) in Hollywood Beach area, that was across from the Gulfstream casino/mall. Nice hotel, and good area, but very expensive for a basic hotel due to the Holiday.

 

Before the Cruise we made these kits each of our families. I got the idea after reading on here. I considered adding a extension cord, but after seeing the Escape has USB plugins on each night stand I decided not too. We didnt end up needing it. It also helped we coordinated who brought medicine so we didnt all bring the same stuff. The magnets and Lanyards came in most handy (I should have brought extra lanyards, they are so cheap and towards the end of the week they started tearing from taking your card out so many times). There was hand sanitizer everywhere so that was probably the least helpful. And that Poo Pouri works! Two sprays before you go and most the smell is gone.

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2016 by bzzltyr

[bzzltyr]

Cruise Day 1: (dont worry this will be my longest post because it all blurs together after this)

We got onboard around 11. There was a pretty small line to get thru and then we were ushered into an elevator to go towards the waiting area. That elevator was being led by someone taking a group of Haven passengers thru. So we stayed in their group, not knowing any better and ended up in a special Haven area that had nice couches, snacks, flavored water, etc. Once we got there we realized we were in the wrong place. My wife kept saying outloud "I dont think we are supposed to be here" (she'd be the one who tells the teacher they forgot to assign homework). I shushed her and told her to be cool, I enjoyed the comfy couches and flavored water. Then they came to board us before everyone else. I figured for sure some alarm would go off when they scan my card telling everyone I was poor and shouldn't be there, but they let us on. Someone guided us to the elevator and escorted us up to the Haven level. It was there we made our break. They said "no you have to register with the Haven first" and we said "oh were not with them" and they looked at us very puzzled and moved on. So for a brief few minutes we had the ship all to ourselves. Here's the emptiest that deck looked all week:

 

 

I had read that it was a good idea to bring swimsuits in your day bag so you could swim while everyone was waiting for your rooms. This was a genius idea. It was the least crowded pool and slides for the rest of the week. As soon as the slides opened (noon I think) we did the aqua racer slide non-stop for a half hour with no line at all. The only downside to that was my son insisted he wasnt hungry before swimming, but after an hour and a half he was starving. By then the buffet was a zoo and we had to wait for a spot to open up (we were "damp", so I didnt think a sit down restaurant would be appropriate). I didnt know at the time that it was considered ok to grab a plate at the buffet and take it back to your pool lounger, that would have been easier.

 

After lunch our room was ready so we headed down there. We arranged for a bath chair to be in our shower to accomodate our daughter before hand. They told us thru the accessibility line that it was a full chair with a back. It wasn't in the room when we got there but our steward was very nice and went and got it. I was very dissapointed that it was just a small stool as the only option they had. My daughter can't hold herself up, so that meant I had to hold her upper body balanced while my wife bathed her. Considering the tight space this was very difficult all week.

 

The muster drill was a total joke for us. Our spot was o'sheehans on 7. SOO many healthy people taking the elevators. we had to wait for 15 minutes for a elevator open enough to fit my daughter and wife on. After that we returned to our rooms and watched sailaway from our balcony. I loved our balcony, my only complaint was there wasnt enough space in the room to get my daughters wheelchair around the bed to the outside. So I had to carry her over our bed to put her out there.

 

For dinner we ate at Taste, one of the free restaurants. We had no reservation but went earlier and had no wait, got a seat right by the window.

 

 

The kids ended up eating off the kids menu, though my sons "kids" cheeseburger I swear was the same size as the adult cheeseburger lunch portion. They liked their food. We each had the shrimp pesto pasta which was phenomenal (only 3 shrimp though). We each got a different dessert and swapped around, best way to do dessert in my opinion. This Apple crisp thing was the winner though:

 

 

 

After dinner we explored the 6/7/8 area of the ship and settled in with the rest of our group at the 5 o'clock somewhere bar. This is where I met my bartender Ciprian who would become a regular presence for the rest of the week. The bar has karoake until about 7 each night, then a band for a few hours. Most the time Karoake is pretty dead, but the band brought in a good crowd. I drank every option on the menu over the week (most the first night) and I loved almost everything. The cococobana and 5 o'clock somewhere drinks were by far the best non-margarita drinks they had.

 

We were feeling good when we left, on our way past towards our room passed the Mojito bar which I had heard so many good things about. I wasnt a fan of the only mojito I ever had but I figured it would be worth a shot since the Famous Bong was making them. I'm sorry to say I still cant enjoy a mojito, citrus and mint just dont go together to me at all.

 

Got the kids to bed and messaged with my brother in law who was still up that neither of us were tired. We have both had very hard years at work and needed this trip so bad. I think we tried to decompress a years worth of stress into the first night. This was dumb. We went to the District and enjoyed their piano player Beau. I would actually rather watch him than the Howl at the moon guys, if you ever get shut out of howl at the moon for crowds see if he is playing. He's very entertaining. By about 2:30 am we decided to eat again and went to O'Sheehans. I'm sure we were a mess but the waitress was very nice. I figured the food would suck that late, but it was perfect drunk food. Here's our spread:

 

 

Got to bed around 3:30 with the drunk spins and the boat rocking so bad. This is a horrible combination. Don't get drunk until you have your "sea" legs. I didn't puke but it was a nightmare of a night from there.