Escape review 2/13-2/20

[coach jim]

I am going to try to give a brief review of our trip on the Escape 2/13-2/20. A little background, this was our 12th cruise, 3 RCI, 2 Carnival, 1 Celebrity, and this was our sixth on Norwegian, which includes two CTN on the Breakaway. In fact we have been on the Breakaway three times in total, so we were very familiar with the layout of the ship. This trip was particularly special for us because it was the first time in 18 years we have been away for more than a weekend without our kids! We are middle aged and were traveling from Northern New Jersey.

 

We flew to Miami Friday night and stayed at the airport Hilton. If you can, I highly recommend traveling the day before. That way you are rested and ready to go the day of the cruise, along with giving yourself some room if the weather is bad and your flight is delayed. The hotel is a typical Hilton, we flew in late and left at 10:15 the next morning so we did not have the time to explore the hotel grounds or facilities, but we had a big, clean room with a comfortable bed.

 

We arrived at check in a little after 10:30, got to the counter quickly and we given the 7th boarding group. The waiting room was a little overcrowded but we were called to board about an hour after we arrived, so on to the Escape.

 

Food: We ate in Taste several days for lunch, only open on embarkation and sea days for lunch. We found the service polite and efficient and the food good, though the menu never changed. We ate in the Manhattan room three nights, again we found the service to be polite and efficient. We had reservations and we were seated within 5 min of checking in. We found the service to be significantly improved from the Breakaway and they did not stack dirty dishes near the tables as they had done on the BA. Food is subjective, but we thought the quality had improved from the BA and there were at least 4 new items each night, and if you are interested, some type of steak each night. We had breakfast and several lunches in the buffet, again I feel an improvement in quality and choice from the BA.

The only real line was for omelets, which they also served on the last morning, I do not think that was the case on the BA. We had one breakfast in O'Sheehans. The food was fine but lack of coordination, toast came out long before the eggs, so the toast ended up being cold. We ate in three "specialties", Cagney's for Valentine's Day, which was outstanding. We both had the surf and turf, cooked to order, both were of high quality. Yes you can order as many apps and sides as you want with the SDP. Love their crab cake and shrimp cocktail. We also ate at Teppanyaki. Plenty of food, our server was entertaining and the food was again high quality. My wife had the shrimp and sea scallops, I had filet Mignon and lobster, both were good but we felt a little salty for our taste. Third was the Brat Pack show which I will address under entertainment, but the food was mediocre, something many people have addressed. Shrimp that was breaded and short rib which was fine. The food did not match the quality of the show.

 

Entertainment: I believe this is the area where Norwegian shines. I would agree there may be a lack of entertainment at night for kids, but this trip that was not a concern for us. The Brat Pack show was really well done. The young performers had great energy and really good voices. They loosely tie together various scenes from John Hughes films. I think it is a great move thatthey are moving it to the main stage and will be able to do more with the sets. The performance made up for the food. Million Dollar Quartet was really outstanding. Six talented signers in all with the Jerry Lee Lewis actor/singer/piano player almost stealing the show. Wait for the grand finale! After Midnight is well done but not for everyone. The performers are all talented and hard working, but the music and dance is not going to appeal to everyone. I enjoyed it but my wife did not. I am a history teacher and do a unit on the Harlem Renaissance every year so I was a little familiar with the music. Unfortunately this was the one show a number of people left early. Two other venues that were great fun. First, Howl at the Moon, this cruise had probably the best trio we have seen in 4 cruises that had HATM, they seemed to like each other and played well off of each other. They had a little trouble with my request, The Letter by the Box Tops, but gave it a great try. Really high energy a a whole lot of fun. This group did more novelty songs than past performers. Similarly, Beau Tahana did a great job at the District Brew House, he drew a very active and enthusiastic crowd. His show is often very interactive, with audience dancing and singing. We never made it to the comedy show, a consequence of other options and the UBP! We heard very good things about the comedian.

 

Well, so much for a brief review, I will continue later with the bars, excursions and the pool deck.

[Keith1010]

You are off to a great start. Looking forward to your next installment.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

Thanks, enjoying the review.

[coach jim]

Well, let me try to finish my "brief" review. I want to get the one negative addressed, but stress this was not an issue for us. There is clearly a design flaw with the one adult pool that they repeated from the away ships. It is not big enough for a ship with so many passengers. Also, while they have created a little more room by stacking the pool bars instead of them being side by side, they have filled all the space with loungers so it can be difficult to move around. Many others have commented on the chair hogs, they need to enforce the rules about unoccupied chairs, but I doubt they will. I can fully appreciate the observations made about the kids pool, too deep and not any seating areas for parents watching their kids. It is unfortunate they did not address this which has been well documented as a problem on the away ships. One family we met on their first cruise was a little bothered by the overcrowded pool area and stated "it is like you are up in everyone's business", this did not make a good impression for their first cruise. This was the only negative but not an issue for us because we spend very little time around the pool. There are many other sunning areas that were not crowed and even another small bar and cooling station on deck 18 I believe near the Vibe entrance but open to everyone.The slides were great and the aqua racer is a great addition. The drop slides are great fun and a boy told me he thought they were faster than the Getaway for what that is worth. The ropes course looked great, never seemed too crowded.

 

Bars: We had the UBP and the pool bars and the bar in Spice were the only ones during sea days were we had to wait for a drink at all, and even there I thought the wait was short. A small tip can go long way. The UBP allows for some experimentation, so try all the drinks you were curious about. The Mojito bar normally had a good crowd and since that is a labor intensive drink, there was sometimes a wait. As has been noted bong is very popular and could probably use a second bartender earlier in the evening. I found all the drinks to be fairly strong and we did not experience a drop in service because of the UBP. My favorite place was without question the District Brew House. Besides Beau, the big attraction was the beer. I love craft beers and I thought their selection and variety was very good. They had the taps set up light to dark, going from El Presidente to Left Hand brewery Milk Stout. They always had enough people on staff so there was never a wait and the staff was knowledgeable. The comfy chairs by the big windows were a great place to read, watch the waves and have a nice craft beer. I was on the leader board but came in second. Met the guy who won who approached the challenge of drinking the greatest variety of beers, like a military operation. There were too many good beers and drinks on the cruise to drink Coors light, Budweiser and similar swill. The 5'Oclock bar on the waterfront was lively. The waterfront is still an underused area, but great on a warm calm day to read. The addition of the DBH and the food republic has significantly cut down on the wind which could be a problem on the BA. Speaking of Food Republic, we ate there once. It is an extra charge but very high quality and not very expensive. My wife had the california roll and I had lobster roll. Both were very good. Side point, there was a little screw up with our order going through, I think similar to the glitch mention by DougOut, so be aware and check if your order went through. All ordering is done through an Ipad.

 

Excursions: In St. Thomas we went on the St. John Eco Hike $ Beach. Fairly short ferry ride to St. John's, a good hike with a knowledgeable guide pointing out the plant life. You finish at beautiful Trunk Bay. We felt we had plenty of time at the beach, which is stunning. Then we walked through the Trunk Bay resort, I think, which is on the old Rockefeller compound and an old sugar plantation. A very relaxing day with a little exercise through a beautiful area. In Tortola we went to Virgin Gorda to visit the Baths. It is appropriate they changed the level to "3" for this excursion. I am 6ft 3, about 275, former college football player. Yes I made it through the entrance but it was not easy or pleasant. If you are claustrophobic and it is crowded you may have a tough time with the entrance. A few people decided not to go in. I want to make it clear, the Baths are stunning, a really unique excursion, but it can be a bit of a challenge for large people, especially ones north of 50 and carrying a small backpack. About 99% of the people start at the narrow entrance and work their way to Devil's bay. That 1% going against traffic created some delays getting through. I highly recommend it but recognize there are some narrow areas and some climbing of rocks. Remember to bring water shoes. Devil's bay is nice though limited shade. The pavilion at the top is great with a bar, restaurant, a small fresh water pool and plenty of space on the big patio to view the surrounding area. In Nassau we just went into town, visited a few shops, the beer garden at the Pirate museum and the Pirate Republic Brew pub. Nice gift shop and decent beers. We thought Nassau looked better than when we were last there about 6 or 7 years ago. It was clean, the people were friendly and there was a presence of people in uniform and the "free information" people. Minor issue with a "bait and switch" with one jewelry store. One of the stores recommended by Norwegian advertised a triangular pair of earrings for $129 with a "gift" of a matching bracelet with the same triangular design. When my wife talked to the sales person the only offered circular earrings with the triangular bracelet, triangular earrings were $199. We left and reported it to the sales consultant on the ship. A minor issue just something to be aware of. We did purchase some great shirts made out of bamboo.

 

Final thoughts: A lot of people have reported movement, I thought the times we did feel the ship move it was the seas and not a design flaw. I like being reminded we are at sea and not on land. The internet is painfully slow. We needed to have some contact back home as temps went well below freezing and we had our son checking the house and my wife has elderly parents. There was a period the internet was not working at all, the internet manager more than made up for the lost time by giving us a significant amount of time which we appreciated. Chipster did a great job organizing our meet and greet as did Margie with the the slot pull. Officers and staff were very active talking to us and asking about any issues. Later that day we received chocolate covered strawberries and two trays of various little treats. They were compliments of the executive sous chef, Godfrey Fernandes and the Hotel director Jovo Sekulovic, both of whom we had met at the meet and greet. I would strongly encourage people to go to the meet and greet. We found the staff overall to be polite, friendly and efficient. Our cabin steward Manuel was outstanding, thorough and timely but never intrusive. I found the staff to be better organized, friendlier and open to requests than the crew of the Breakaway during their inaugural year. Many people have the UBP and there were some stories about late night drunkeness but we were long in bed by then and did not witness any problems and we spent a good deal of time in the DBH and other watering holes. We enjoyed our cruise so much we did the cruisenext and booked the Getaway for next Feb with its new itinerary to Belize and Mexico and one more cruise cert which got us a $250 on board credit.

 

Safe travels,

 

Coach Jim

[Nola26]

Appreciate the review, we'll be on the Escape in August with that Honduras, Belize and Cozumel itinerary. Hopefully I can share some useful feedback after the trip. We also have the 3 night SDP and appreciate your take on some of those places.

 

We did your Escape itinerary last summer on the Getaway. I'd give similar cautions on the Devil's Bay side at the Virgin Baths, it isn't as easy as some make it out to be. I too an am a 50ish former college athlete and made it, but it definitely isn't for everyone.

[Laszlo]

Just wondering if you felt the shuddering of the ship in the Manhattan room? We had dinner there twice and people at the tables around us could feel it also. You could see the water in the glasses shaking. It was almost like the props were out of balance or the damping system of the engines was off

[crzer218]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. We sail on Saturday and I enjoy reading about everyone's experiences.

[coach jim]

Final thoughts II: I forgot to mention our room and the spa. We had a spa balcony, room 15748. First thing we noticed was the balcony, they have made a significant improvement from the BA. On the BA I had to sit sideways and it was tight for the two of us, it really did not qualify as a balcony. On the Escape there was plenty of room for three chairs and room to sit forward. Great place for coffee in the morning and a drink at night. The room itself was more than enough room and storage for two. The bathroom is a lot smaller than the mini-suite bathroom we had on the BA. Our bed was by the balcony making it easier to get into the closet. Our room was starboard under the very beginning of the gym and did not hear any noise. We really love the spa and this is another area they have improved. It is larger the the spa on the BA, more loungers and more heated tile loungers. We were always able to get a tiled lounger, just not always next to each other. The steam room, sauna and pool were great for cleaning the system and refreshing yourself after a night of HATM and the UBP. The gym itself is more open than the BA and is wider so the machines are a little more spread apart. They have also made the weight room and cardio rooms open to the hallway to the spa, as opposed to walled off as they are on the BA, giving it a more open, spacious feeling.

 

One other area I should mention, smoke. My wife and I are both very sensitive to smoke and felt unless you were walking directly through the casino it was not a problem. The humidor was another story. It is located directly across from Tobacco Road, near the 5'Oclock somewhere bar. The first two days at sea, anytime the door to the humidor opened, it seemed a cloud of smoke entered the area by, appropriately, Tobacco Road. We think this was only a problem those first two sea days as there was a lot of traffic in and out as people were still exploring the ship. We tended to avoid this area so Tobacco Road was one of the few bars we did not frequent.

 

I should add Silas was a great cruise director. He seems to really enjoy his job and had a lot of fun with guests. He also was waiting at the exit of the Brat Pack asking how everyone enjoyed the show. By the way, the cast comes out to meet patrons and take pictures after the show.

 

Well, I think I covered all of the areas that I wanted to. We had a great trip and I welcome any questions.

 

Safe travels,

 

Coach Jim

[CRAustin]

Great review leave Sat in a spa balcony! Thanks!