Escape Ropes Course--Problems?

[defeser]

I have been reading a lot of reviews which say the ropes course on the Escape is often closed during sailings and NCL is having chronic problems with the (3) zip lines. I'll be sailing August 6 with my wife and two children (ages 13 and 9) and the ropes course was a major draw for us when deciding on a ship to vacation on. For those who have experienced closures of the ropes course or have been on the Escape recently, your input is would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks everyone and happy sailing!

[blackwing]

We were on a sailing in March. The first small zip line was always closed. The top level of the course was closed when at sea because it was too windy. In port it would open. We didn't have any issues with the closures of the other two ziplines, the long one over the running track/Margaritaville and the one that bows out over the ocean.

 

I have seen comments that the ziplines have mechanical issues, that stinks. Unfortunately at this point, it is what it is. Hopefully the rest of the course will be open for you.

[boatseller]

Unfortunately, it's quite unpredictable. Between wind and reliability of the breaking mechanisms, you may get a different answer ever day.

 

The basic course will almost always be open.

 

The Plank is lot freakier on the docked side of the ship. Happy sailing.

[blebreton14]

We were on the 6/25-7/2 sailing and the ropes course was open but not the zip lines. They were "out of service" for the entire cruise.

[projectorguy1]

We were on a sailing in March. The first small zip line was always closed. The top level of the course was closed when at sea because it was too windy. In port it would open. We didn't have any issues with the closures of the other two ziplines, the long one over the running track/Margaritaville and the one that bows out over the ocean.

 

I have seen comments that the ziplines have mechanical issues, that stinks. Unfortunately at this point, it is what it is. Hopefully the rest of the course will be open for you.

 

When we were on the Escape in February, I was told that the third level was closed because on sea days because of the smoke from the smokestack. I looked on the next sea day, and sure enough, if youd been on the third level, you would have gotten a face full of smoke! The Escape has very clean scrubbers on the stack...Lots less smoke than other ships, and it is white instead of black. Still, I was told they burn waste and exhaust it through the stack, so I wouldn.t want to breathe it!

 

:eek:

[snownow]

Our trip, 1 zip line was closed the entire week. Staff member said it had been closed for a very long time. The other two were off and on, depending on weather, and them breaking down a bunch. Third level was only open in port. The course itself was open every day, and a ton of fun. Even with the zips being closed.

[gkrnjlr]

That stinks that it's closed down. :(

I was on there in January with my sister and did the ropes course and zip lines but not the plank. :eek:

 

I booked the Escape for my family to go on because I thought the kids would love it. Makes me think again now....

[Jenjer]

One of them was not working on our cruise and my kids who loved the ropes course could have cared less.

 

There is so much to do up there that missing a small zip line has no effect on it. If you really want to zip line book one on a excursion zipping 20 feet is not that exciting.

 

Just a little tip bring ice water or grab it from a bar because it gets hot up there and they come down very thirsty and hot.

[Loonbeam]

Having built these things on land, unfortunately its very likely that some segment or another will be unavailable at a given time. There's just a ton of little things that can break and need repairs, especially given the challenging conditions aboard ship. The safety tolerances for inspection is quite thin (for example, assuming they used land based guidelines, any fraying at the connection point for the line means shutdown)

 

One of the nice things about the design is it allows people to bypass the damaged sections.

[Scoobs9]

We sailed in March 2016 and everything was open and running all the time. On the first sea day, my teens and I did the entire course in very windy conditions (blew my daughters 'fake' eye lashes off...lol). It's a lot of fun...hope it's open for your trip!

[eynsteinp]

I was on the July 9 - 16 cruise and two of the three zip lines were closed the entire cruise. Worse, I believe that they will be remaining closed for quite some time based upon what the gentleman working the ropes course said. I have said this in another thread but I think it is very unfortunate that NCL can't seem to get this right as there have been constant closures since the Escape started sailing. The zip lines are even more important on the Escape than the Breakaway or Getaway since the eliminated the rock wall. This limited some of the activities that my 14 year olds wanted to do.

[Ericular]

I was on the July 9 - 16 cruise and two of the three zip lines were closed the entire cruise. Worse, I believe that they will be remaining closed for quite some time based upon what the gentleman working the ropes course said. I have said this in another thread but I think it is very unfortunate that NCL can't seem to get this right as there have been constant closures since the Escape started sailing. The zip lines are even more important on the Escape than the Breakaway or Getaway since the eliminated the rock wall. This limited some of the activities that my 14 year olds wanted to do.

 

I was on this same sailing, and while only one zip line was open, we had a blast on the ropes course. It would have been fun to try the line that goes out over the side of the ship, but the one open one was fun. To be honest, there's a lot more to the course than the zip lines, including the planks which I thought were the best part.

 

As others have said, rain, wind, and safety issues can shut down some or all of the course at any time, so just try to get out there on the first day it's open to make sure you don't miss it.

 

- Eric

[eynsteinp]

I agree the ropes course was a lot of fun. When I was on it only one of the planks was open as well as the two zip lines. While the course as a whole is definitely fun, the zip line that goes over the edge of the ship would have been the highlight for both my son and me. I just wish that NCL had a little more urgency when it came to making sure everything was working since the zip lines are a large part of the draw for the ropes course, especially for the kids and teens.