Sisters Trip Report! Norwegian Escape April 29 - May 6 2017

[nutocruzing]

Here are some pictures of the food:

The calamari: $4

 

Patatas Bravas: $4

 

Iberico Secreto: $8

 

Bacon Wrapped Dates: $2

 

Bacon Wrapped Dates

 

Scallops: $5

 

[nutocruzing]

Chef's Selection Cheese Plate: $11

 

We universally agreed that everything was incredible! And all four of us ate for only $38. Admittedly we snacked from the buffet later in the evening, but it was pretty filling in the moment. The caramel sauce with the apples was a particular favourite of my sister's. My aunt really enjoyed the montego and I really liked the scallops. It was an excellent dining experience made all the better by being able to eat on the waterfront. On a side note, I am not an al fresco diner normally - I hate getting hair blown in my face and bugs crawling on my food - benefit, no bugs at sea! And on this evening, not much wind either. It was a great dining experience. 100% worth the upcharge as far as we were concerned, and it was pretty minimal at that.

 

 

After dinner we grabbed some drinks at the Mojito Bar, I tried to pineapple coconut mojito that was predictably akin to a pina colada.

Here I am spilling my drink on myself as I try to take a selfie:

 

Here's a better pic of the chandelier:

 

We then went to see the show. It was quite long, about an hour and a half. An absurd number of people brought small children. This show is NOT appropriate for small children so really please don't bother as you'll only end up mad at NCL through no fault of their own as it is overtly advertised as PG 16.The actors/performers were very talented and it was a good show though I did not enjoy it as much as the first show. There are also a lot of VERY bright lights, be forewarned.

After the show we grabbed a quick bite at the Garden Cafe and then Jess and I headed back to the room to watch the end of the Penguins game while Mom and my aunt were out exploring. By the time I finished writing in my journal for the evening, they were still out. Impressive for such an early morning!

Here was our towel animal that night:

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[NayRN]

I love this! I told my mom and I think we'll be using that term in the future!

 

We had t-shirts made one year! Just imagine the looks we got having JUGs printed across our chests!! LOL

[hansolosmom]

We had t-shirts made one year! Just imagine the looks we got having JUGs printed across our chests!! LOL

That's awesome. I need to do that for our next girls trip. For our anniversary trip, I had shirts that said "can this marriage be saved anniversary cruise" I need to come up with so thing clever for our family cruise coming up

[hansolosmom]

Thanksfor the review, looks like you had an awesome time.

[alreadypacked]

Enjoying your review! Thanks so much for posting.

 

I'm only up to post 26 so far, so it's possible you already addressed my question, but here goes:

 

I (unfortunately) became allergic to crustacean shellfish 3 years ago (at the age of 43 after eating it all my life). You mentioned that your sister with dietary restrictions was pre-ordering her meals. So were they providing her the menu for the following day's breakfast (or lunch or dinner) for her to place her order?

 

I sailed NCL Getaway last September and pre-ordering for the next day wasn't the procedure. I did this on Princess (liked it)--wondering if it's new on NCL.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[nutocruzing]

Enjoying your review! Thanks so much for posting.

 

I'm only up to post 26 so far, so it's possible you already addressed my question, but here goes:

 

I (unfortunately) became allergic to crustacean shellfish 3 years ago (at the age of 43 after eating it all my life). You mentioned that your sister with dietary restrictions was pre-ordering her meals. So were they providing her the menu for the following day's breakfast (or lunch or dinner) for her to place her order?

 

I sailed NCL Getaway last September and pre-ordering for the next day wasn't the procedure. I did this on Princess (liked it)--wondering if it's new on NCL.

 

Thank you for your feedback! I don't think I actually expressly addressed it. When you get on the ship you will be directed to the restaurant manager who will speak with you about your needs. I imagine that with an allergy like shellfish, it's actually probably a little easier to avoid than gluten which can be in things you wouldn't at all expect, so I don't know whether they would consider it to be necessary to pre-order. I'm sure the waitstaff are well aware of which items contain allergens and would be able to direct you at the table away from dishes with crustacean in them. Even in my sister's case the pre-ordering was really more at our request than de rigueur; some servers would automatically bring the menu for the next day at the end of the meal, others wouldn't.

 

What I can guarantee you is that the staff are very well trained on how to handle dietary restrictions. We ate at Moderno one night (coming up!) and the staff were WONDERFUL. With a venue like Moderno, there are multiple serving staff coming around. ALL of them were made aware of my sister's gluten intolerance, and in addition, the initial wait staff laid out what she could and couldn't eat for her own information at the very beginning. After the meal, my mother commended our waiter for how well they dealt with it, and he said they receive very extensive training regardless of their history in the service industry so that they can properly deal with allergies and other dietary restrictions. We were so happy to see they took it so seriously.

 

Side note: Toward the end of the meal, my sister had had too much to eat and had just generally not been feeling well due to a bad reaction to sunscreen. She went back to our room and when the waiter came out he asked where she was. When we told him she wasn't feeling well his face went utterly white. We felt so bad! We quickly explained that it had nothing to do with the food at all - other than overindulging!

 

I would just try asking to pre-order next NCL cruise. It can't hurt and it might be possible that there would be options to make substitutions that they may or may not be able to do on the spot. Sorry about the shellfish allergy - I don't much care for lobster myself but I do love crab and shrimp! I can semi-relate as I developed lactose intollerancy as an adult. The obvious difference is that I can take meds and enjoy the foods I grew up loving, so I really got lucky that way.

[AZYAYA]

Great review. It was so nice meeting you. The meet & greet was close to 120 people. It was so fun planning it.

AZYAYA..aka...Barrie

[spinnaker190]

Awesome review, I was on the escape last year on the same route. The painkiller at frenchman's quay is great eh! I loved spending a few hours their. I caught your line about international roaming, I dont know who your provider is (mine is Rogers) but the big 3 (Rogers, Telus, Bell) all have some sort of international roaming package,I know with Rogers it's a extra $5 a day, outside the US, it's $7 a day, and I believe Bell/Telus are 7/10$ for the same thing, and the data/voice/texts you use in those area's just come out of your normal buckets, Just make sure your plan is enabled for it (With rogers it's called roam at home).

 

P.S: With the way our exchange rate, NCL and Celebrity have been awesome for value/price, especially when you factor in the value of the perks you can choose with NCL/Celebrity at times.

[Kfamilycruise]

Thanks so much for your awesome review so far and the amazing videos and pictures! We'll be doing the same itinerary in 34 days. Can't wait!

[alreadypacked]

Thank you for your feedback! I don't think I actually expressly addressed it. When you get on the ship you will be directed to the restaurant manager who will speak with you about your needs. I imagine that with an allergy like shellfish, it's actually probably a little easier to avoid than gluten which can be in things you wouldn't at all expect, so I don't know whether they would consider it to be necessary to pre-order. I'm sure the waitstaff are well aware of which items contain allergens and would be able to direct you at the table away from dishes with crustacean in them. Even in my sister's case the pre-ordering was really more at our request than de rigueur; some servers would automatically bring the menu for the next day at the end of the meal, others wouldn't.

 

What I can guarantee you is that the staff are very well trained on how to handle dietary restrictions. We ate at Moderno one night (coming up!) and the staff were WONDERFUL. With a venue like Moderno, there are multiple serving staff coming around. ALL of them were made aware of my sister's gluten intolerance, and in addition, the initial wait staff laid out what she could and couldn't eat for her own information at the very beginning. After the meal, my mother commended our waiter for how well they dealt with it, and he said they receive very extensive training regardless of their history in the service industry so that they can properly deal with allergies and other dietary restrictions. We were so happy to see they took it so seriously.

 

Side note: Toward the end of the meal, my sister had had too much to eat and had just generally not been feeling well due to a bad reaction to sunscreen. She went back to our room and when the waiter came out he asked where she was. When we told him she wasn't feeling well his face went utterly white. We felt so bad! We quickly explained that it had nothing to do with the food at all - other than overindulging!

 

I would just try asking to pre-order next NCL cruise. It can't hurt and it might be possible that there would be options to make substitutions that they may or may not be able to do on the spot. Sorry about the shellfish allergy - I don't much care for lobster myself but I do love crab and shrimp! I can semi-relate as I developed lactose intollerancy as an adult. The obvious difference is that I can take meds and enjoy the foods I grew up loving, so I really got lucky that way.

 

Thanks for the detailed info.

 

I don't miss lobster (except the bisque) as much as I miss the shrimp and crab (love scampi and sushi rolls with crab or shrimp). Sorry about your lactose intolerance; yes, at least you can take a pill and still enjoy!

 

I carry my liquid Benadryl and Epi Pens and do my best to avoid crustaceans! :mad: Every year, I go back to my allergist for re-testing (to see if I miraculously became un-allergic to shellfish) but so far no such luck. Oh well, I know there's worse things. I can still eat clams, mussels etc. as they are a separate species (thank God!!).

 

In a similar note, we dined at Moderno too (on Getaway last Sept)--it proved too heavy a meal for my sister who felt quite ill shortly afterwards. She thought she might actually get sick; thankfully she didn't and a little while later returned to her normal self... But I issue a note of caution to those not used to eating a lot of meat and rich fatty foods (such as the cheeses and salami).

 

Again, loving the review!!!

[lv2travel98]

Leave on a all girls trip this Thursday!!! We're staying in South Beach a couple of days then board the Escape on Saturday 5/20!!! So excited! We decided to try the studio rooms. Loving your review and hoping I can sleep the next 4 nights! LOL:cool:

[nutocruzing]

Thanks so much for your awesome review so far and the amazing videos and pictures! We'll be doing the same itinerary in 34 days. Can't wait!

 

Thank you! And you are going to have such a fabulous time; it would be impossible not to!

[nutocruzing]

Leave on a all girls trip this Thursday!!! We're staying in South Beach a couple of days then board the Escape on Saturday 5/20!!! So excited! We decided to try the studio rooms. Loving your review and hoping I can sleep the next 4 nights! LOL:cool:

 

I remember that feeling! And I bet you'll really enjoy the studio rooms. I sailed in one on the Getaway last summer. A huge benefit is in efficiency as everyone has their own space to get ready, and the ability to be on their own schedule without being roused by others coming in late, or getting up early. They make a really good use of space with the studios and it doesn't feel claustrophobic at all. If you have the ability, I would recommend trying for Vibe passes and with that you won't really miss having a balcony either. Have fun!

[nutocruzing]

Awesome review, I was on the escape last year on the same route. The painkiller at frenchman's quay is great eh! I loved spending a few hours their. I caught your line about international roaming, I dont know who your provider is (mine is Rogers) but the big 3 (Rogers, Telus, Bell) all have some sort of international roaming package,I know with Rogers it's a extra $5 a day, outside the US, it's $7 a day, and I believe Bell/Telus are 7/10$ for the same thing, and the data/voice/texts you use in those area's just come out of your normal buckets, Just make sure your plan is enabled for it (With rogers it's called roam at home).

 

P.S: With the way our exchange rate, NCL and Celebrity have been awesome for value/price, especially when you factor in the value of the perks you can choose with NCL/Celebrity at times.

 

Thanks for the advice (and the spelling of this Quay - why are there so many different ways to spell it?! haha). Unfortunately I'm with Koodo and the data rates aren't that great internationally. My mom was with Bell and she had a package enabled for $5 per day whenever she needs it. However she has a blackberry so no Uber (unless I'm mistaken). I definitely agree that NCL was great value for price!

[nutocruzing]

Day 6 - May 4 Sea Day

I don't have many photos from this day so you'll have to bear with my writing until I get to the evening when I have more photos.

My grandmother passed away about 3 years ago (bear with me, I have a point). She used to do this thing whenever I would come and visit (even as an adult), after the end of a particularly enjoyable day, where she would come to the door of my room, knock, poke her head in and announce her determination that it had been a "doo dah day". I assume this was based on the song Zip a Dee Doo Dah from Song of the South: "my oh my what a wonderful day". It's therefore a tradition when with my mom's family to refer to a particularly good day as a "doo dah day". My journal entry for May the 4th refers to the day as "a real doo dah day" so that gives you some sense of how much we enjoyed ourselves on this sea day!

My sister and I actually slept in on this sea day. We didn't manage to get out of the room until after 9, but still in time for breakfast in Taste. I had the chocolate pancakes this morning (they were a bit dry in my opinion and not particularly chocolatey so it was a disappointing breakfast for me). On our way back to our room afterwards, we stopped at Guest Services to confirm whether we needed to pre-order anything for our reservations at Moderno given my sister's GF diet. We were assured that nearly everything was gluten free and we would have no problems not having pre-ordered. Hooray!

After breakfast we got changed for Vibe. Another quick tangent here: the family we had run into on day 3, we actually ran into again later bur still managed to miss their daughter (I'll call her K) who had gone off to bed already at that point. So we got their cabin number from them. On this sea day, we decided to stop off at their cabin before heading to Vibe and leave a message on the door to see if she wanted to hang out and letting her know we would be at Harry Potter Trivia at noon. She was almost 20 years old and I know that can be a rough age on a ship (not old enough to drink, too old for kids clubs). So we dropped a sticky note off there and headed up to deck 19. In the midst of this task there was an announcement from the Captain confirming beautiful weather for the day: 30 C, almost no wind, slight waves!

When we got up on deck it didn't feel like 30 at first, but within minutes we were both drenched in sweat. We eventually had to resort to the cover of shade as even the misters weren't cutting it! On this day the wind was so calm there were absolutely no problems having the umbrellas up which worked out in our favour. I ordered a drink from Rommel (I think it was this time?) and he was surprised when I asked for a Cherry-Limeaid. Apparently they aren't on their menus anymore! Nevertheless, he knew the recipe and made me one. They are sooooo good. A shame if indeed they aren't advertised anymore, but good to know how eager the staff are to please!

We left the Vibe a bit before noon as we wanted to be sure to have good seats for the trivia. Initially I hadn't planned on eating lunch this day because I wanted to save as much room as possible for dinner at Moderno that evening. Jess was feeling peckish though so we grabbed some chairs by O'Sheehan's. We had just ordered food when K showed up! It was so nice to see her (and of course it made me feel super old). She grabbed another chair and we settled in for Trivia with Andre.

Side Note: I enjoyed Andre so much as a cruise director! I've had some cruise directors be so boring I wouldn't even remember their names, and others be way over the top. He was the perfect combination of witty, a bit nerdy, and just generally understated. I really enjoyed all of the events he hosted as well as his cameo appearance in For the Record!

The Harry Potter trivia was a good combination of really easy and really hard questions and between the three of us we managed to do quite well (although not well enough to win!). After completing trivia Jess and I knew we wanted to do ropes course and K agreed to come along. We all went back to get changed into the requisite closed heel and toe shoes and sleeved shirts and then met up by the ropes course. Even on this gorgeous, windless day, we barely waited half an hour in line and it was a great chance for us to catch up anyway! This time on the ropes course I gathered the courage to do the plank on the port side! I even took the zip lines at a bit of a run! I was very proud of myself!

After the ropes course we went to see Deal or No Deal. We played (and ended up winning a few dollars in instant tickets - i.e. the game cost us $18.99 USD instead of $19.99 each). A few nights earlier I had caught a few minutes of the game where a lady ended up with a choice between her case and another, one of which contained $0.50 and the other $1.00. She got a huge cheer when her initial choice had the dollar in it, but really what a bummer! This time both of the contestants won decent amounts of money (~$200 each), but one of them came very close to taking a $500 deal but opted to try out for the $1300 top prize which was promptly eliminated. Everytime Andre would ask what the audience thought of the Banker's deal I would be the only one shouting "Take the Deal!" - last summer on the Getaway I had been called up as a contestant and had a great first round offer of around $300 but turned it down because I felt guilty not entertaining the audience. Man have I ever regretted that decision since! haha

After the gameshow it was around 4 pm. Jess and I wanted to spend some more time in Vibe so we all decided to go our separate ways after taking a quick pic for our old dance teacher. We then spent the rest of the afternoon (until around 6 pm) at Vibe. We had brought a speaker with us for listening to music out on the balcony, and although we spent time on the balcony, this was the only night we set up the speaker. We listened to Bossa Nova as we took turns getting ready and watching the sunset off the balcony.

Our reservations for dinner at Moderno were for 7:30, however I wanted to get there early to try to get a seat on the waterfront. So of course we left the room at 7:15 - barely, but still a bit ahead of schedule. Luckily they were able to accommodate us and we got our desired seats outside!

[nutocruzing]

What an experience at Moderno! I can't understand why so many people are insistent on complaining about the "nickel and diming" with NCL. This meal was in every way worth the upcharge! As was the meal at Pincho. The meals in the MDRs are great too. There's no reason not to eat there. But it sure is nice having an option to eat somewhere else too!

I've already reviewed the service we got for my sister's dietary requirements. They had these AMAZING cheese buns that were gluten free! As was the fried yucca. They did warn that because they are packaged off the ship they don't recommend them for celiac sufferers as they can't guarantee no contamination. My sister isn't celiac, so she opted to risk it and boy was she happy with that choice! (she may or may not have snuck several back to our room) We all enjoyed the buns and that is not something one can usually say about GF baked goods!

The salad bar was absolutely to die for; seriously, brace yourself because you could easily fill up on this alone!

 

I also tried the strawberry caipirinha, so good!

The meat was all amazing. We didn't even get to try everything because we filled up too fast. Definitely leave room for the incredible pineapple! They even gave us tips on how to make it ourselves at home!

 

The three of us who were left at the end of the meal ended up choosing the banana caramel tart and the chocolate tres leche. Oh My G-d! I actually don't think I've ever had such delicious dessert in my life - and I'm a dessert person. Definitely very rich, but very worth it!

 

After we rolled ourselves down the hall and somehow hauled ourselves back up to deck 9, it was only around 9:30. We had planned to go to the glow party this evening but Jess still wasn't feeling well and I ended up passing out while watching Finding Dory. I'm not the kind of person who rouses well from an hour long nap so mom and my aunt had to go without me. Apparently they enjoyed it though! Here's our towel animal from night 6!

[nutocruzing]

Forgot the Day 6 daily, what else is new!

[nutocruzing]

Ahhh! Another thing I completely forgot to mention about Thursday! Wine Lovers the Musical!

As a present for my mom for mother's day, my sister and I wanted to do something on the ship (it was early but we weren't going to be together on actual Mother's day). We decided to get tickets for her and my aunt to the lunch show Wine Lovers the Musical. We reserved the tickets at one of the screens. Beware though! My aunt had her card set up to a separate Visa from the rest of us. Even though I was the one who made the reservation, because we indicated that she would be attending, it charged the ticket to her account! This almost resulted in her blowing the surprise because she was concerned to note there was an unanticipated charge on her account!

The sea day showing was around 12:30 I believe. Mom and my aunt enjoyed the Supper Club venue. They really liked the lunch and even enjoyed the show - I believe Mom called it "cute". I'll have to ask her when she's next around what she would want me to add. I did just want to add in here that that was another activity we had participated in!

[MacCruising2018]

Next up, Nassau? 😄

 

Sent from my SM-G935W8 using Forums mobile app

[nutocruzing]

Day 7 - May 5 Nassau

This morning we slept in a little despite the fact that neither Jess nor I made it to the GLOW party. We did manage to make it to Savor before the restaurant closed. The service here this morning was hilariously good. They brought 3(!) pieces of GF bread for Jess and 4(!) GF muffins on top of her french toast. We joked that she met her carb requirement for the day half way through breakfast. I got the express breakfast. We also met some folks from Newfoundland. There were actually a ton of Newfoundlanders on this cruise, surprising considering it isn't a huge province. My sister goes to school there so we chatted with them a bit over breakfast.

 

Jess and I had made reservations for Escape the Big Top for this morning at 10:15. We also needed to claim our Deal or No Deal prizes this morning. This last day of claiming was located in the Library. We got our instant tickets and redeemed them before getting in line for the Escape room.

Note: The Library is so hard to find on this ship! The entrance for the Supper Club is a bit misleading in that regard as you have to actually pass through the big lit up sign to get to the Library.

This game was so much fun! For those concerned about claustrophobia, don't let that deter you from participating. To the best of my knowledge you are not even "locked" into the room. The premise of the game (without giving anything away) is that a sneaky magician turns all of the players invisible and you need to sort through the clues to find the magic words to undo his spell. The games were very challenging so this definitely isn't really an activity for young children, though there's nothing inappropriate about it.

Jess and I were obviously early to sign up for this as we were given tags for Group 1. The staff divide participants into groups. Trust me, you want that - I would never have been able to figure the whole thing out myself! We were paired with two couples from Florida and a mother and daughter from DC area. We ended up winning (though we were given nothing but bragging rights)! We made such a great team with someone figuring out each clue and no one person dominating. I definitely recommend splitting up to tackle things and rotating through clues so you can put a new set of eyes to the tougher problems. The "magician" character will give helpful clues from time to time. And whether someone solves the clues or not, the challenges will be explained at the end.

Jess and I then headed up to the Vibe for a bit to watch the ship come into Nassau. It's such a different island from the Virgin Islands - so skinny and flat. In the first ship below you should be able to see a ray swimming in the lighter water by the shore in the bottom left.

 

[nutocruzing]

The Carnival Liberty and MSC Divina were also in port this day. One thing we did notice was that there was an ambulance waiting next to our ship. :( When it left the port it's lights weren't going so I hope that was a good rather than a bad sign!

 

We went back to our room and put on sunscreen to head into port. Our plan was to head to the Pirate Museum and do some shopping and then come back on board for lunch. We wanted to make the most of Vibe today rather than going to a beach, especially with two other large ships in port.

Here I am outside of the museum:

It took us a while to find the Pirate Museum on George Street I believe it was, but start walking toward Junkanoo beach. It's a large maroon coloured building so it's hard to miss once you're in the right area. Admission was $13US per person. It was very pleasantly air conditioned inside which was good because this day was another hot one. The museum was quite informative and well done despite being a bit small for the price. It also isn't exclusively written information. They have some recorded noises and some displays with mannequins. One thing that cracked me up was that in the port section at the beginning there's this one building you can hear whispering coming from. Whenever you get close to the building though, one of the voices would go "Shhhhh; someone's coming!". It was obviously on a motion detector but it was very cute anyways.

 

 

I found the information on pirates in the Bahamas to be very interesting and particularly enjoyed the examples of Pirate Codes which were much more humane than you might expect!

[nutocruzing]

On our way back to the ship we ran into K and her family again in the straw market - seriously, what are the chances! Mom and my aunt laughed regularly about how we always seemed to be running into the same people despite the fact that particularly in this port there must have been close to 10,000 passengers in port, and close to 5000 on the ship.

Here are my sister and I next to the bow of the ship. Strangely, this was the first port we managed to get this close to the bow:

After a quick lunch at the Garden Cafe we headed back up to Vibe where, surprise, surprise, I fell asleep. Again. I did manage to avoid a sun burn at least! I also had a delicious mango meltdown this afternoon.

 

After my nap I decided to do a few rounds of the Aqua Racer again before heading back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Here's a pic of the sunset from our balcony again

To be honest, this was not the most memorable night at the Manhattan Room - maybe because the meal had been so amazing at Moderno the night before.

After dinner Jess and I grabbed some drinks and popcorn and headed to the theatre for the 3D showing of Fantastic Beasts. Since we'd both already seen it twice in theatres, we didn't end up staying for the whole thing. Don't worry too much about showing up early for these events, I've never seen the theatre full for a movie.

 

We knew we had to be off the ship as early as possible the next morning because we had flights at noon, so we went to bed around 11:30. Not a bad finish to the trip at all and certainly some of the best weather we'd had all week.

Next up: a quick review of debarkation. I might also post an overall review of the ship!