Escape - Review from Family of 4 (Ages 7 and 10) - Last week's cruise

[nashcruise]

All of the reviews of the Escape were so helpful in our planning I wanted to return the favor following our trip last week – we returned home yesterday. We are a family of 4 – kids are 10 and 7, so the review is written from the perspective of a family with younger children on spring break. For background, we have sailed RCCL twice and on the Disney Fantasy the last 2 years.

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation – We arrived to the port on Saturday at 10:45. We received group 17. At 11:30 there were still prior passengers disembarking. We finally boarded close to 12:30. While it took longer than expected, the overall process was fine.

 

Room – This is by far the biggest disappointment in the trip. We booked a family mini-suite and at the time I booked, these were only on the 9th floor (I understand from others that they found the same category on 10). For the record, I carefully researched location as I like to be mid-ship fairly close to an elevator/stair. We were approximately 5-6 staterooms past the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar. The band started playing at 10:30 on Saturday night – just as we got our 2 children settled in after a long day of travel. The room was literally shaking it was so loud. They played until after 12:30. The next day in the hall, I spoke to the person staying closer to the bar and she said she could hear people talking in the bar inside her room. Next night, same timing. Everyone was exhausted and no one could sleep. My husband called Guest Services and they told him they would “make a note” but there was nothing they could do. Well, I went down to Guest Services personally to discuss. The manager was very helpful, he came to our room and personally heard the noise and agreed that it was best if we could move rooms. Of course, this was not an easy task on a sold-out spring break cruise. We had 2 options to sleep 4 people: (1) an inside room or (2) 2 balcony spa rooms that did not connect but were next door to each other on the 15th floor. That was a no brainer – we took the 2 rooms and moved our children upstairs in pajamas and finally into bed at 11:30 p.m. Of course, we were now separated into 2 rooms with 1 parent with a child and that wasn’t quite how I envisioned our vacation. Plus, we had to re-pack everything and move the following day – not how I wanted to spend my time on vacation either. I see this as incredibly poor design on the part of NCL – especially placing a category meant for families directly above these venues.

 

As an aside, the storage in the family mini suite was insufficient for our family – we had to leave items in suitcases under the bed. The bathroom was a good size and having the tub was nice. But of course when we moved rooms we lost the double sink and the tub.

 

Dining – We found dining to be a mixed bag of experiences. We purchased a 4 night SPD for just myself and my husband. For the main dining rooms, we decided to avoid the busyness of the buffet and ate lunch at Savor after embarkation and it was good. We had dinner at The Manhattan Room and Taste, both were good as well. Teppenyaki was by far our favorite – the food was excellent and it was entertaining. Food Republic was a close second in terms of favorites – we had lunch and dinner there and everything was well-executed. My husband and I went to Cagney’s without the kids one evening and were very disappointed. Service was slow (to the point that my husband had to go and find our server at the end of the meal just so we could leave) and the food was below average – we each had a filet, cooked medium and they were very tough – we didn’t even finish them. We thought the buffet was above average – good selection of dishes/variety. In the late afternoon, I would swing by and get a plate of cheese, fruit and crackers and take it back to the room so we could have a snack as everyone showered and got ready for the evening. We had snacks at O’Sheehan’s a couple of times and it was fine for food in a bar – I would say slightly better than what you would find at an airport. Finally, we did attend the Brat Pack show at the Supper Club and since this is moving to the main theater, the food might not matter much soon, but it was inedible. The show we attended was only ½ full. We did not eat at Margaritaville – each time I passed by there would only be 1 or 2 tables of people (again, with over 4,000 people on the ship) – I think turning this into a fee-dining location was a mistake – that is a huge area being under-utilized.

 

Pool – The chair hogs were out in full force on this cruise. Finding a chair anywhere on the 16th deck pool area (much less close to the children’s pool) was impossible after 7:00 a.m. My children can swim, but with over 1700 children on this sailing, I wanted to be in the vicinity of the pool area if they were there because it was mass chaos- especially on sea days. Children running, jumping, screaming, pushing – it was crazy. The first morning at about 8:30 a.m. I foolishly walked over to a row of 5 chairs with nothing on them and put my bag on the last chair. A woman at the end of the row immediately started yelling at me that those were her children’s chairs. When I pointed out that there were no towels or other items, she continued to yell that she had been there since 7:30 and those were her chairs. We moved over to the side and not once for the following 4 hours did I see anyone sit in any of those chairs, though the woman did go and get towels and put them on the chairs after our “discussion.” I saw the sticker people once, but only saw them putting out stickers – never doing following up and actually removing items. The children enjoyed the slides tremendously – my son did the drop slide over 20 times.

 

Kids Club – We mainly utilized the kids club in the evening and one time during the day when we were at the spa. My 7 year old loved the Splash Academy and made lots of friends. My son, on the other hand, was not a fan (and I had to pull him out on Disney each night with him begging to stay - he is very social). Because of the number of children in his age group, they moved them to the Sports Deck each night from opening at 7 until 10:00 p.m. So, he didn’t have an opportunity to do anything inside the club, only sports outside each and every night. He enjoyed it the first night, but once he realized it was always going to just be on the sports deck, he didn’t want to attend. Plus, while I signed the 7 year old in on the 5th deck, I would then have to take the 10 year old up to the 18th deck separately and sign him in there. While not the biggest deal, it was inconvenient to haul all over the ship.

 

Spa – Besides the ports, this was the highlight of the trip for us – we had pre-purchased the thermal spa access and went every day. It was a quiet, relaxing place and after the chaos of the pool deck, we needed it! We also did a couples massage and I had a facial. We budget for these splurges and they were well-worth it.

 

Entertainment – One of the things we enjoyed most about Disney was the opportunity to see a show or act (magic, comedy, etc…) with our kids each day. That is simply missing on the Escape. We did go to the family comedy show one evening and enjoyed that. After the reviews of Vocal Overdrive I had seen, we decided to skip it. I wasn’t sure if After Midnight was age-appropriate and so erred on the side of caution. So, out of 7 nights we had 1 night where we could do something entertainment-wise with our kids.

 

Ports – We thought this was a great itinerary (one of the reasons we decided to try NCL) and had never been to St. Thomas or Tortola. I booked all our excursions through NCL just to keep things simple for planning logistically. In St. Thomas, we did the shipwreck snorkel – lots of fun and very well-done. In Tortola we did the Virgin Gorda/Baths – really one of our favorite excursions ever. Be sure you book the first time available – by the time we were leaving Devil’s Bay, 2 other huge groups had arrived whereas we had close to 30 minutes to enjoy the beach and water with very few people. In Nassau, we did the ½ day Atlantis Aquaventure. While pricey, we really wanted the opportunity to check out Atlantis for a possible future trip. It was a quick 4 hours and Atlantis was packed, but we had fun.

 

Miscellaneous – The internet is a joke. In this day and age and with a brand new ship, it is ridiculous that for 6 days I couldn’t get a single email to load or send. I need email access for work purposes – it isn’t an option for me to not be able to be reached by my office or clients for that amount of time. I did receive a partial refund for the package I purchased, but only after standing in line for 45 minutes along with everyone else having the same issues.

 

We had the UBP as part of our package. The wine selection (outside of going to The Cellars) is very limited. We loved Sugarcane and met Bong. It might have been the times we went, but The District seemed very quiet most nights. We typically tipped $1 with our drinks and it definitely helped the service – the bartenders clearly paid attention to who tipped extra and who didn’t – especially at the pool bars.

 

Hope this is helpful - happy to answer questions. At the end of the day, while NCL was much more reasonable in terms of price, we will probably not return to this brand.

[NLH Arizona]

Thanks for the review. Hopefully you mentioned your disappointment in Cagney's to it's manager.

[Clarea]

Sorry about the specialty restaurant issue, but I appreciate the report.

[Cruzinbabe06]

Thanks for your review.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your report.

[sanmarcosman]

Thanks for your report.

KIRK

[sns1009]

Thank you for the review! Did your 7 year old do well at The Baths in Tortola? Some have mentioned it might be tough to get around and physically challenging.

[nashcruise]

Thank you for the review! Did your 7 year old do well at The Baths in Tortola? Some have mentioned it might be tough to get around and physically challenging.

 

My 7 year old did great - it is important to have on good, sturdy water shoes (she had Keen sandals). I think being on the early excursion was good for this also, for large portions of the trip there was no one behind us, so we didn't feel pressured to hurry or get out of the way.

[jennmaybe]

"We had the UBP as part of our package. The wine selection (outside of going to The Cellars) is very limited. We loved Sugarcane and met Bong. It might have been the times we went, but The District seemed very quiet most nights. We typically tipped $1 with our drinks and it definitely helped the service – the bartenders clearly paid attention to who tipped extra and who didn’t – especially at the pool bars."

 

Well, this really bothers me. Is this how it is on all NCL ships? We will be sailing Escape later this year & it will be our 1st NCL cruise. In all our previous cruises on various cruise lines, we've never had to tip extra to get good bar/drink service. So, are you saying that the folks who did NOT tip extra did not get their drinks or they had to wait a really long time for their drink? Just trying to figure out exactly what you mean by this statement.

Edited March 28, 2016 by jennmaybe

[mjkacmom]

"We had the UBP as part of our package. The wine selection (outside of going to The Cellars) is very limited. We loved Sugarcane and met Bong. It might have been the times we went, but The District seemed very quiet most nights. We typically tipped $1 with our drinks and it definitely helped the service – the bartenders clearly paid attention to who tipped extra and who didn’t – especially at the pool bars."

 

Well, this really bothers me. Is this how it is on all NCL ships? We will be sailing Escape later this year & it will be our 1st NCL cruise. In all our previous cruises on various cruise lines, we've never had to tip extra to get good bar/drink service. So, are you saying that the folks who did NOT tip extra did not get their drinks or they had to wait a really long time for their drink? Just trying to figure out exactly what you mean by this statement.

 

I don't think this is a NCL thing, but a human nature thing. At a crowded bar on land, I always tip well, and it usually pays off. If a bartender has the choice of serving a person who has been filling his pockets all night, and someone who hasn't, who is getting the next drink?

[Sissaaaaaa]

The cabins on the Escape are the thinnest walls I have ever experienced on a cruise ship! You could literally hear everything happening around you inside your cabin. I slept with earplugs and a noise machine, but I feel bad for those that didn't, or that are light sleepers. Edited - it may be just specific cabins. I have sailed on this ship twice, and do not recall any noise issues on my first sailing.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Sissaaaaaa

[packer99]

The cabins on the Escape are the thinnest walls I have ever experienced on a cruise ship! You could literally hear everything happening around you inside your cabin. I slept with earplugs and a noise machine, but I feel bad for those that didn't, or that are light sleepers. Edited - it may be just specific cabins. I have sailed on this ship twice, and do not recall any noise issues on my first sailing.

 

 

We were on deck 13, 13262. We could hear kids running down the hallways but that was about it. I didn't even notice the neighbors to our one side, my parents were next to us on the other. But my brother had an Aft balcony on 14 and it was loud during the Spice H20 Glow Party. We had a great spot, but also learned with my brother's experience to research where the bars are etc and cabin options.

 

We had 3 to our balcony room. Thought we had plenty of space, even if we had a 4th person. Yes, it is tight, but totally would have managed.

 

It was our first time, so I expected super small cabins. I was actually pleasantly surprised.

[MagnusMichael]

All of the reviews of the Escape were so helpful in our planning I wanted to return the favor following our trip last week – we returned home yesterday. We are a family of 4 – kids are 10 and 7, so the review is written from the perspective of a family with younger children on spring break. For background, we have sailed RCCL twice and on the Disney Fantasy the last 2 years.

 

 

 

Embarkation/Disembarkation – We arrived to the port on Saturday at 10:45. We received group 17. At 11:30 there were still prior passengers disembarking. We finally boarded close to 12:30. While it took longer than expected, the overall process was fine.

 

 

 

Room – This is by far the biggest disappointment in the trip. We booked a family mini-suite and at the time I booked, these were only on the 9th floor (I understand from others that they found the same category on 10). For the record, I carefully researched location as I like to be mid-ship fairly close to an elevator/stair. We were approximately 5-6 staterooms past the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar. The band started playing at 10:30 on Saturday night – just as we got our 2 children settled in after a long day of travel. The room was literally shaking it was so loud. They played until after 12:30. The next day in the hall, I spoke to the person staying closer to the bar and she said she could hear people talking in the bar inside her room. Next night, same timing. Everyone was exhausted and no one could sleep. My husband called Guest Services and they told him they would “make a note” but there was nothing they could do. Well, I went down to Guest Services personally to discuss. The manager was very helpful, he came to our room and personally heard the noise and agreed that it was best if we could move rooms. Of course, this was not an easy task on a sold-out spring break cruise. We had 2 options to sleep 4 people: (1) an inside room or (2) 2 balcony spa rooms that did not connect but were next door to each other on the 15th floor. That was a no brainer – we took the 2 rooms and moved our children upstairs in pajamas and finally into bed at 11:30 p.m. Of course, we were now separated into 2 rooms with 1 parent with a child and that wasn’t quite how I envisioned our vacation. Plus, we had to re-pack everything and move the following day – not how I wanted to spend my time on vacation either. I see this as incredibly poor design on the part of NCL – especially placing a category meant for families directly above these venues.

 

 

 

As an aside, the storage in the family mini suite was insufficient for our family – we had to leave items in suitcases under the bed. The bathroom was a good size and having the tub was nice. But of course when we moved rooms we lost the double sink and the tub.

 

 

What specific cabin were you in on the ninth deck?

Edited March 28, 2016 by MagnusMichael

[jennmaybe]

I don't think this is a NCL thing, but a human nature thing. At a crowded bar on land, I always tip well, and it usually pays off. If a bartender has the choice of serving a person who has been filling his pockets all night, and someone who hasn't, who is getting the next drink?

 

We have never been anywhere where we felt like we needed to tip extra to receive better service and we travel a lot. Cruises and land-based vacations.

 

Do you just apply that to bar service or do you tip your waiter/waitress at a restaurant when you are first seated? Just curious......:)

[Speasda]

"We had the UBP as part of our package. The wine selection (outside of going to The Cellars) is very limited. We loved Sugarcane and met Bong. It might have been the times we went, but The District seemed very quiet most nights. We typically tipped $1 with our drinks and it definitely helped the service – the bartenders clearly paid attention to who tipped extra and who didn’t – especially at the pool bars."

 

Well, this really bothers me. Is this how it is on all NCL ships? We will be sailing Escape later this year & it will be our 1st NCL cruise. In all our previous cruises on various cruise lines, we've never had to tip extra to get good bar/drink service. So, are you saying that the folks who did NOT tip extra did not get their drinks or they had to wait a really long time for their drink? Just trying to figure out exactly what you mean by this statement.

 

I think it makes perfect sense to tip extra if you want extra service. I don't feel the bartenders ignored you when you were not tipping extra, but when the bar has 10 people along it looking for a drink and a couple of them have a tip out with their card (or have established the pattern) they are going to get served first. I did not always tip extra and I don't think the wait was bad - they never ignored me, but about mid week I finally remembered to bring cash with me and they would come across the bar to serve me. These folks make very little and it means a lot to them.

 

It's the same concept as Haven guests get priority boarding and disembarkation, separate restaurants, and a concierge. Also if you pay for Vibe passes you get better service. You see that better service often comes with an extra charge. It's not just at NCL, think other places you pay for VIP service; priority boarding on airlines, stand-by lines at amusement parks as examples.

 

My last thought is that the 18% gratuity and service charge does not go entirely (if at all) to the staff - that's why they slide in the line about service charge ("profit").

 

OP - great review. I was on the same sailing and I think you captured it well. Where did you get your 5,200 number? I think that's about right, but I do not have a source.

[Biz64]

I completely agree with you on the entertainment. Our kids are ages 10, 8, and 5 and there was absolutely no entertainment on the ship that caters to families with younger children, especially in the evening. Disney, of course, was much better but so was the Allure of The Seas. On the Allure we had something to do with the kids every evening, including shows geared toward families and even parades! Our kids are the type that really enjoy things like that, so because of the entertainment and the pool area I doubt we will do any NCL cruises with them again.

[Megali]

Thanks for your review! My sons will be the same ages as your children when we go later this year.

[HeatherMac246]

We were on the same sailing. Cagney's was beyond disappointing, as we had a similiar experience as you did. When our apps came out and they were not seasoned very well, we told our waiter to ask the chefs to season our steaks heavy, and he said they can only use salt and pepper and that he'd bring out extra sauce for the steaks. Very disappointing. We were on the Sun last year and ate at Cagney's 3 nights on a 7 night cruise we liked it so much. Our waiter in the Haven said that they move, on average, 300+ guests through Cagney's on any given night. They need to cut that back, make it more "exclusive" and focus on their quality.

 

The 5200 number was told by many onboard. Silas, the cruise director, mentioned the number of passengers many times. When we had a reception with the captain & all the management, everyone confirmed that number and we were told there were 1700-2000 kids onboard, too. The most the ship has ever had on it.

[Jay_Outstanding]

The segment about the chair hogs really upset me. The staff doesn't enforce the half an hour unattended chair rule and the people are no help. I mean how selfish can people be? They do realize they're on a cruise ship with 4,500 other people, why be stingy and make everyone else's vacation that they paid good money for a lot harder?

 

I'm a New Yorker so I have a certain attitude toward situations like this. I plan on going on the Escape in August and had I been in your situation I'd just put my shades on and ignore her presence completely LOL. I definitely will be moving stuff off of chairs if I see them unattended (towel on it or not).

 

Great review though!

[Kingmaker_inc]

We were on the same sailing. Cagney's was beyond disappointing, as we had a similiar experience as you did.

 

 

Thanks for the review. Very helpful, as we are considering the Escape for next March.

 

We've always had great meals at Cagney's (but on the Gem). I would be very displeased to have anything different on another ship.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Kingmaker_inc

[thebooth]

Can you seriously not check emails? I just booked a July cruise and I have to be in contact for work. Is this an exaggeration or fact?

[nashcruise]

Can you seriously not check emails? I just booked a July cruise and I have to be in contact for work. Is this an exaggeration or fact?

 

Not an exaggeration- I tried to access email each day and it would neither load my email where I could read it (just said loading) nor send emails I wrote - they stayed in the "unsent" folder. Everyone in line with me at the Internet desk was having the same problem and we were all seeking refunds of the packages purchased.

[vnyislesv]

Can you seriously not check emails? I just booked a July cruise and I have to be in contact for work. Is this an exaggeration or fact?

 

I had the unlimited internet while on the getaway and got emails - sent txts on WhatsApp without any issues. sending pics on whatsapp took 1 or 2 tries but its still a picture.

 

Cant see how its THAT bad that you cant get an email unless it has a file attached. what sucks about NCLs internet is the price. it was $250 for unlimited. WAY too much.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your well written review.

 

Keith

[patsfantb12goat]

We were on that same cruise. We were on floor 9 but toward the front of the ship and I was surprised how quiet it was being above the waterfront. But good to note for future cruises if floor 9, didn't even think about what its like above the bar. We ate at Cagneys, outside, and our food was excellent that night! We never went to the pool but that is a crowded area. Our kids were old enough that we went to H20 spice and even tho lots of people there, we found chairs at noon and service was great. I bought the unlimited internet and I had no issues with mine. It was slow at times and great at times, but with having to work and do a remote meeting I had no issues. I do think the shows were not that great. I think the escape is in a transition and we got caught in that.