NCL Escape 9/3 to 9/10

[hawkman402]

Intro

 

I had hoped to write this review a couple of weeks ago but a combination of returning to the grind along with some procrastination (ok, a lot) and here we are already a month later. Of course much of that procrastination has been trying to figure out the next trip!

 

Hard to believe it has been almost a month since we disembarked and boy do we miss it! It is amazing how fast the "real world" takes over when you return home.

 

First, I want to say thanks to all of the contributors to these message boards as well as the main Cruise Critic site. I learned so much information ahead of time that allowed us get the most out of the cruise. By the time I boarded I felt like I knew the ship and ports inside out. Without all of that info I would have never known about things like what VIBE was, how to get the reservations we needed, must see things like Food Republic, or even small things like there is a soda machine in the waiting area before boarding!

 

I don't consider myself to be a good writer so this won't be as comprehensive as some of the other reviews but I still feel like I should give back. I've been going back and forth whether to organize this by days or by subject. I think I will write pre-cruise and embarkation posts by timeline and the rest of the cruise and ports by subject. I think that will work best since you don't need to know every single time I went to VIBE (every day!).

 

I will post some pictures here and there but not of each corner of the ship. If you want that level of detail I strongly recommend Gambee's post from earlier this year.

 

I will try and post a couple of times a day as time allows and I am happy to answer any questions.

 

Also, I previously posted the dailies here if anyone needs them.

 

Next up: A little bit about us and the booking

[TSUmom]

Following and thank you for taking the time to do this!!

[kackles]

Following

[hawkman402]

A little bit about us and the booking

 

My wife and I are in our mid-40's, have no children and live in Boston.

 

This cruise was for our 20th anniversary which had been a couple of weeks earlier. My wife's birthday also fell on the last day of the cruise (Nassau).

 

We have cruised two other times. The last one was 5 years ago for our 15th anniversary with the first day falling on her birthday. It was on the NCL Dawn from Boston to Bermuda.

 

Bermuda, Canada and the Bahamas out of NYC are our only choices without the added expense of flying (I am very jealous of all of you Florida residents!). We had a great time on the Bermuda cruise and will definitely go back again. We especially liked that you were in port for 3 days.

 

Our first cruise was part of our Honeymoon. It was a 4 day Bahamas cruise on the Carnival Fantasy way back in 1996. Ports were Freeport & Nassau. We followed that up with 4 days in Disney World. Definitely like the NCL freestyle concept better.

 

Both DW and I are easy going and I would say shy. We are not foodies (DW has a sensitive stomach) and don't drink much except on vacations. We wouldn't have paid for a drink package but I think we more than broke even with the included package only costing gratuities.

 

We timed the past two cruises for early September which has the benefit of costing a little less and having less children on board. The weather is still pretty warm that time of year though you do have to worry about hurricane season. Luckily we have missed storms both times but there was plenty of stress watching projections in the weeks leading up.

 

We booked this cruise about 45 days out when prices had dropped a little but cabin selection was still pretty good. Of course we were within the 90 day window so we had to make a lot of our reservations on the ship.

 

This trip was booked thru AAA. I had saved up a lot of points on our AAA credit card ($2100) which basically paid the cruise fare.

 

There probably aren't many people reading this that have the AAA VISA but a tip for those that do. You get more value for your points if you redeem them for AAA travel vouchers rather than a check. 50,000 points gets you $500 cash but $700 AAA travel voucher. I cashed in 150,000 points so this saved me an extra $600.

 

I had basically researched everything and knew exactly what I wanted down to the cabin number so the travel agent didn't really have to do much of anything. The day of our appointment the price dropped another $50 per person! I was surprised the AAA agent had to actually call NCL to book it, she didn't seem to have any access to their system.

 

Tip: When you go to select a cabin online, only up to 15 cabins will show as available. There may be many more available in that class. We booked a mid-balcony on deck 10 because we thought there was nothing available on deck 11 (the highest deck in that class).

 

A week later the price dropped another $50 per person. The next class up was now the same price we had paid. We had the travel agent ask about upgrading to one of those. They allowed us to do that or receive $25 in OBC. We chose the upgrade which got us to a cabin on deck 13.

 

Next up: Pre-Cruise Flight & Hotel

[MandyMommyof2]

Can't wait to hear more!

[hawkman402]

Pre-Cruise Flight & Hotel

 

Booking during hurricane season can obviously be stressful though I believe the rewards (cost, less crowds) outweigh the risks. I spent the 2 weeks leading up to the cruise constantly looking at tropical weather outlooks. There were a number of storms in that time period but I think the only one that reached hurricane status was Hermine.

 

Luckily Hermine didn't cause any damage anywhere in our itinerary but is was affecting Florida on the day of our flight. I also spent a lot of time watching a pseudo system called Invest-92L as it came off Africa and headed towards the islands. I think an Invest is the lowest rung on the ladder below Tropical Disturbance and Tropical Depression. It was a little east of the Islands when we left Boston but I lost track of it when we boarded. It didn't affect us at all. My advice, don't stress out over it. You can't control it and the forecasts are next to useless that far out. Of course whether I take my own advice next time is the question.

 

Being from Boston I usually fly JetBlue but unfortunately they fly into Fort Lauderdale instead of Miami. We hadn't been to the Miami area before so we decided not to add in any complexity. We booked non-stop roundtrip flights on American instead which were actually cheaper than JetBlue. A few days before departure we decided to pay the extra money for their extra space seats.

 

Our flight was delayed a couple of hours due to the Hurricane but it was no big deal. I was happy with our decision to fly in a day early. I can't imagine the stress if there had been weather issues on the day of departure.

 

After boarding we were delayed another 20 minutes or so as State Troopers boarded and removed a man and his son. No idea what it was about but at least he didn't resist at all.

 

Maybe I have been spoiled by JetBlue but I was unimpressed with American Airlines. The "more space" seats seemed to be no better than JetBlue's standard seats, there were no seat back screens, and the staff while not rude was definitely less friendly. I guess I naively expected a little better, especially since JetBlue is considered a "low cost" airline. Next time I will probably deal with flying into Fort Lauderdale.

 

Miami's airport is a madhouse. The distance between the terminal and luggage pick up was ridiculous. It seemed like we walked three football field lengths. Our hotel offered a shuttle but the pick up area was such a madhouse that we decided to book an Uber. I don't think that was any quicker as we had to wait for the driver to get through all of the traffic anyway. The flight delay had put us in rush hour so that didn't help.

 

We stayed at the Best Western Premier. The main reason I chose it was because I had $50 in Gift Cards. The hotel was similar quality to a Marriott. TripAdvisor gives it 4 stars.

 

The hotel has a small restaurant/bar. The food was good though somewhat expensive. For breakfast they have a basic buffet for $10 each (drinks extra). In my opinion it was no better than the free buffet at any other Best Western or Hampton Inn but what can you do.

 

Also the hotel has a free airport shuttle and a cruise shuttle for $10 a person. I think it leaves at 10, 11 and 12. Overall I would consider staying there again if the price was right.

 

Next Up: Boarding/Embarkation

[cincicruisers]

Looking forward to more

[hawkman402]

We originally had thoughts of getting up early and being the first in line to get VIBE passes but when we went to bed we were still undecided as to whether we wanted to spend the extra money.

 

DW and I are definitely not morning people so when the alarm went off I looked outside to see there was a torrential rain coming down. We chose to sleep in some more. I think we got up and went down for breakfast around 9 or so. It was still pouring.

 

As I mentioned above, the hotel's breakfast was a basic buffet no different (maybe even less selection) than your run of the mill Hampton Inn or Best Western. The food was fine but it's ridiculous that they charge $10 pp for it plus extra for OJ.

 

After packing up and checking out it was about 10:30. We decided not to wait another half hour for the shuttle and ordered an Uber. The Uber only ended up costing us $5 more than the shuttle would have been. We were at the port around 11AM and as we pulled in the rain stopped!

 

There was no line at security so off we were to check-in. I think it took about 10 to 15 minutes to get through the line and check-in. The non-Latitudes line actually seemed smaller but not enough to be a big deal. We were assigned group 9 and headed upstairs where we found some seats and waited.

 

Tip: I had read on the CC boards that there was a soda machine in the waiting area. DW likes to take her medicine with Powerade so I was able to get a few bottles. Since the waiting area is after security, we were able to take them on board (in my backpack). So if you absolutely need Coke you can do that.

 

I had also read that you can connect the iConcierge app to the ship's wifi and start making your reservations while you wait. Unfortunately that didn't work for us but your mileage may vary.

 

While we were waiting they were boarding Haven and B2B guests. There was also a travel agent convention whose members they let board early. We figured they were the most savvy people and would grab all the good reservations first but I guess not.

 

I think they started boarded groups 1, 3 and 5 (all together) a little after noon. That was followed by group 7 and then us. All said I think we only waited 45 minutes or so and were on board by 12:30.

 

Of course having read all of the info on CC we knew to head for Headliners first to make our reservations. Being that we were in group 9 we didn't think we had any chance of getting VIBE. We weren't even going to ask but as we walked in DW meekly asked at the door as if she was embarrassed to ask such a ridiculous question. Incredibly they were still available and we were only numbers 42 & 43!

 

DW waited in one line to pay for VIBE and I got in the other line to make dinner reservations. The line for VIBE was also for buying drink packages and I think registering for child/teen programs.

 

Neither line took very long. We were able to get all of the dinner reservations (3) we wanted. We then headed over to the Box Office to make a couple more reservations. So for us, group 9 worked out fine.

 

Next up: Boarding/Embarkation - Part 2

[Chesneygirl]

Following! We have the AAA card as well. We use it for EVERYTHING and pay it off each month. We typically cash in $2500 in points per year. It's a great rewards card. Good to know about the AAA vouchers as I wasn't aware of that perk.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[hawkman402]

Following! We have the AAA card as well. We use it for EVERYTHING and pay it off each month. We typically cash in $2500 in points per year. It's a great rewards card. Good to know about the AAA vouchers as I wasn't aware of that perk.

 

Glad I threw that in there. Didn't really think it would apply to anyone!

[StlGal]

Great review so far! Following along.

[Sand and Seas]

Enjoying your review. Waiting for more good tips:D

[williecruz]

Hi Hawkman! We were on your cruise (Michael and Kristy)--we enjoyed hanging out with you guys at Vibe! Too bad we didn't win more $$ at the Slot Pull! Enjoying your review--like you we've been all consumed with reality and have yet to write our review. Thanks for the inspiration!! :)

[hawkman402]

Hi Hawkman! We were on your cruise (Michael and Kristy)--we enjoyed hanging out with you guys at Vibe! Too bad we didn't win more $$ at the Slot Pull! Enjoying your review--like you we've been all consumed with reality and have yet to write our review. Thanks for the inspiration!! :)

Hi! Good to hear from you! We had a great time as well. I look forward to reading your review.

 

Hopefully we will run into you on a future cruise. Right now we are leaning towards a Western Caribbean in early February. Probably on the Getaway.

[Thrilled2012]

Great start!

Subscribing :D

[hawkman402]

After finishing up with our reservations it was time for lunch which we had at Savor. We knew to avoid the first day craziness at the Buffet. When we had lunch on the Dawn we got a window seat and basically had the dining room to ourselves. This time it was more of a normal lunch time crowd but it was nice to relax once on board.

 

After lunch we got our first drinks of the cruise at the Mixx Bar outside the dining room. Every time you get a drink a slip prints up even if you are on the drink plan. They don't give you them so they tend to pile up until the bartender removes them from the register. In this case he removed about 20 of them and handed them to a lady seated next to us and told her she needed to sign for her drinks. It was pretty funny but you probably had to be there. :)

 

I'll cover dining and bars in a future post.

 

We took our drinks to go. My original plan was to tour the entire ship before the rooms were ready. But with all of the research I did ahead of time I felt like I had already been there. So we decided to only get a look at the outside decks for now (post later).

 

While we were up there they announced that rooms were ready so we headed there to dump our carry-ons.

 

Our cabin was 13184. We chose it because it was pretty much dead center between the bow and aft and it was not an adjoining room. The bed was on the closet side. It was similar in size to the Dawn but with a smaller balcony. We liked the location but it was a bit of hike to the elevators on each side.

 

When we were on the Dawn 5 years ago I had ordered anniversary decorations and treats for the cabin. What we didn't know is that our family had also ordered birthday decorations so it was pretty funny.

 

This time I had told DW that we were going to save the money for this trip to throw her off the trail. So when she walked in she was quite surprised to see decorations, roses, cake, champagne and strawberries!

 

I had originally looked at purchasing the Anniversary package for $179 which included: Sparkling wine, chocolate-covered strawberries, Canapés delivered to your stateroom one evening, a Dozen Red Roses, a Romantic Dinner for two in Le Bistro and a 8x10 Professional Portrait.

 

We already had the SDP with three meals so we had no real need for another Le Bistro dinner and I knew we didn't want a portrait (we both dislike having our pictures taken). We also could live without the Canapes, so I decided to buy the components separately. Looking back I didn't realize that the package also didn't come with the decorations or cake. Buying everything separately with the decorations/cake added on saved us about $80.

 

It was all a big hit! I should also mention that the roses were top notch. They were still in excellent shape at the end of the cruise. Too bad we couldn't take them home with us!

 

Next up: Boarding/Embarkation - Part 3

 

But first some pictures of the cabin and decorations. I wish they were better quality. There wasn't enough light for the cell phone but opening the blinds was too much. Should have used the real camera but it was still packed up.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2016 by hawkman402

[hawkman402]

A few more pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

[All-ready2cruise]

Awww, it looks wonderful! Congrats on your anniversary and so glad your cabin looks amazing.

 

thank you so much for taking the time to post your very excellent review.

[zestyzorra]

How was the cake? What flavor was it?

 

I am curious because I ordered the same package for my husband and I, and one for my mom's birthday.

 

Thanks! :)

[StlGal]

What a lovely surprise!!! Did the cake taste as good as it looks?

[jkloni]

We also had the decorations and the cake. Cake was very good. It is BIG.

Agree about the roses. My DH bought a single rose on the first day and it was still beautiful when we debarked the ship.

[TSUmom]

Great review so far - love the detail!!

[hawkman402]

The cake is definitely bigger than it looks. It was good but we only had a little bit of it. I think it was a white cake with some strawberry filling.

 

Every time we came back to the room we were already full from all of the other food on board. Plus a couple times when we came back to the room there were other treats compliments of the hotel director. Guessing that was a perk from going to the cruise critic meetup.

Edited October 12, 2016 by hawkman402

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review.

[hawkman402]

After admiring the decorations and checking out the balcony we spent a few minutes unpacking. We knew if we didn't do it then we would end up living out of suitcases since once the cruise starts you are always on the go.

 

After unpacking we decided it was time to make our first trip to VIBE. Before heading up I decided it was a good time put on the seasickness (scopolamine) patch. A quick note about that. Starting with dinner that night I noticed I was having trouble reading smaller print like menus (sort of out of focus).

 

I have had some problems recently but this seemed worse. I just figured there wasn't enough light in the restaurant but it continued over the next few days. It was only when reading so I just dealt with it.

 

A few days later while I was on our Catamaran excursion I accidentally rubbed behind my ear and knocked the patch off. That night when looking at the menu I had no problems at all. Turns out that can be a side effect. Obviously everyone is different but just passing that along.

 

As far as seasickness goes I only felt swaying on the lower decks. Mostly in the dining rooms and the theater. Both of those locations are at the end of the ship. The swaying was minor and I didn't need any further meds.

 

Deciding what to do about seasickness is tough. If you are newer to cruising you don't really know if you need anything or whether you will have side effects. But if you wait for symptoms it takes a while for the meds to take effect. Kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

Off to VIBE we went. We met about 10 or so people at the bar who we would see throughout the cruise. They were a fun group. We had the first of many mudslides among other drinks. The bartenders were great and it was a fun time. I'll cover VIBE in a separate post.

 

After a couple of drinks it was time for the Muster drill. Ours was in the Casino. That's a good location for it, easier to leave than having to wait in a line to get out of the Theater. They scan your ID card when you arrive so don't skip it. It took a while for everyone to show up but other than that it went smoothly.

 

After the Muster drill we made another trip to VIBE for a drink and then watched the sail away from the deck 8 waterfront. Can't really remember why we ended up there, maybe so that we could access both sides of the ship and it was less crowded.

 

After that it was time for our Anniversary dinner at Le Bistro.

 

From here on out the posts will be more topic based rather than day by day. I'll start with on-board topics (dining, entertainment, etc...) and end with the ports.

 

I'll try and pick up the speed so its done before my next cruise :) . Definitely more work than I thought!

 

Next Up: VIBE & Sundeck/Pool Areas

 

But first a few sail away pictures. Again, I wish I had carried around the real camera more.