12 days on Escape, a trip report!!

[momto2js]

My family is in the car on the way home after a 7 day cruise that took 12. I'm trying to do this from my phone in the car, so excuse the typos.

 

We are the 4 J's DH and I was in our early 40's monster #1 is 10 and monster #2 is 8. This is the 2nd year we have done this same itenary last year on getaway and this year on Escape.

 

We left home on Friday early and drove 6 hours to Orlando and spent the afternoon at seaworld where monster #1 enjoyed the fact that after 10 years and 10 months on the planet, he is now exactly 54 inches tall with shoes and the rollercoaster world is his for the taking. After 6 hours in the park we stayed the night at the seaworld renaissance hotel.

 

Saturday in the morning we were on the road to Miami at 7am. After an uneventful drive we stopped for gas just before the port and arrived at 1130 am.

 

DH selected a parking spot on the 3rd floor towards the middle of the building like any good engineer that grew up in Tampa and New Orleans.

 

We were through check in and onboard by 1230. In the past we have arrived earlier and then had to wait for boarding to begin with 2000 of our new friends. Getting there a little later and walking right on was a much better option!!

 

By the time lunch at taste was over, our cabin was ready. 13292 was great and the lounger was already on the balcony. Four in the room is always tight especially with all the crap, oops I mean gear my boys require.

 

The rest of the day went well sail away swim after muster and dinner at teppenyaki. We also got the kids registered for the kids club.

 

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[dogboy]

Those are cute monsters.

[rfendt]

excited to hear the rest of it! We are cruising the Escape this Saturday, and anxiously awaiting as we weren't sure if she'd go off or not!

[momto2js]

We had our fantastic cabin steward, Paul, make up the couch and pull down bed and asked him to leave them for the duration so the kids could have some space when needed. We used an extra sheet to put a "tent" around the bottom bunk providing monster #1 a bit of an escape for quantity family time. And monster finally got a turn with the upper bunk.

 

After a good night sleep, we were up a bit early for the first sea day. It was mostly uneventful, my kids spent 2 afternoon hours at the kids club, I should have enjoyed them more then I did as it was about the only time they agreed to go.

 

We have sailed many lines and it turns out that NCL's kids club is their least favorite. Their day to day lives are so scheduled, they don't really want a day filled of scheduled programmed activities. They just want to hang out with their friends. For all the "freesyle" cruising, this seems not to extend to the kids club. Generally this isn't much of an issue but on a cruise that ended up having 6 almost 7 sea days, the kids club could have been REALLY useful. But my kids pretty much refused, dispute my pleading to go.

 

We survived the first sea day and all looked forward to Roatan the next day. Ports are the reason we sail this itenary. DH is a diver and this is a great trip to dive. So in Roatan, he dove with Subway from Frenchy's 44 and the monsters and I went to LFK.

 

 

 

Asked to rate our shore days my kids both rated LFK as the best day of the trip. And for the most part I agree. We were met at the port as expected and piled on a very old bus. It was very uncomfortable. The boys sat next to driver and I sat in the very back seat. I had a very large have of beach and snorkel gear on my lap for the hot ride to LFK.

 

When we arrived we paid our $176 and we boarded the boat to the island. As we boarded the boat we spotted DH setting up his gear.

 

The kids LOVED the paddle boards and kayaks, as it turns out this was one of two places they were allowed to paddle by themselves, turns out they are pretty good at it!! They also spent hours jumping from the jump tower. Lunch was pretty good and they substituted chicken fingers for the picky monsters.

 

 

So in all honesty LFK was great, but there were a few things I didn't expect and were not ideal. First was the transportation the bus situation was pretty bad, the return trip was worse than the trip there. The second, was the number of time I was told "The only money I make is what you tip" and I mean it was every time I turned around. The bus driver and the guide, the ferry boat, the bar tender, the zoo keeper, the guy that issued paddles for the kayaks.... For the price, honestly it was a little much. But I would return, I would just have many more $1 In my pocket.

 

 

 

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[momto2js]

Day 3 was Harvest Key. Ok so we were not thrilled with this stop form the get go, DH unhappy that we were so close to world class diving and yet so far away. Me unhappy that we didn't have any "non beach" options. We got up early and went to the pool, kids played chess and checkers, played on the splash pad and tried to play on the beach, but it isn't very good sand. We were back on the boat by 1130. Looking back, later not he trip I would pay $80 for a very simular options and still have to buy food and drinks. So if you think about it like a beach club with no cover, you may have a better frame of mind going in.

 

I was talking to one of the vendors and it made me really question what exactly NCL was thinking. It is a lot of infrastructure. And 6 months a year, it is used 2x a month. In August it was only used once. The vendor was hoping during the peak season it would work out, he was trying to hang on until then. I had never thought about it in those terms before.

 

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[BirdTravels]

Very cool post. Thank you!

[momto2js]

At 4pm on day 4 all the planning fell apart!! The captain announced that the ship would not call on Costa Maya or Cozumel and instead would return to Miami where passengers had the option to disembark and head home or remain on board until after Irma left the area. At that point we didn't have much information because all the available news channels were focused on political discussions. By 7pm the weather channel was added to the lineup. We made the decision to stay put in about 7 minutes after thoroughly weighing all of our options.

 

So we sailed away from Harvest Cay and mentally prepared ourselves for the potential of an unknown number of sea days with our monsters.

 

I know, I know there is so much to do on escape... But honestly, those thing wear thin over time. There are only so many times you can do the ropes course (evidently the number is about 35). The pool and slides were good for about an hour a day. That left a lot of time to fill with active kids. We managed but, it was exhausting.

 

That said, NCL went above and beyond in the situation. I have absolutely no complaints at all.

 

In the end we were at sea 3 days and then we headed back to Cozumel. In Miami we lost about 2000 passengers and added 500 new guests. I will tell 1500 less passengers makes a HUGE difference. Lines (Not that there were many to start with) completely evaporated. The elevators seemed to be waiting for you.

 

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[momto2js]

As we waited to leave Miami for the second time, we decided to go to the juggling show in the main theater. Monster number one was chosen to be the jugglers assistant. He was very pleased about this!

When the show was over, the cruise director made the announcement that we were headed back to... Cozumel! Fortunately we were still in Miami, and we were able to run back to our stateroom and use our cellular service to rebook the excursions we had missed earlier in the week! We got the confirmations done as we left the port.

 

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[shadowmeboy]

Great trip report!

[j603]

Wow!!! I can't wait to hear more. I was wondering what it would be like to stay extra.

[Kat1824]

Honestly after reading your report I was on the same cruise and now am even more mad about they took you to Cozumel anyway, yes I decided we had to go home cuz we live in Florida but I am sad I missed Cozumel.

[garycarla]

Honestly after reading your report I was on the same cruise and now am even more mad about they took you to Cozumel anyway, yes I decided we had to go home cuz we live in Florida but I am sad I missed Cozumel.

 

Maybe your post was lost in translation - but "even more mad"???

[riclop]

Thanks for the report.

[Sand and Seas]

Your 'monsters' reminding me of cruising with our three when they were about that age. Our sons are much older now but that family vacation is very vivid for them. Hope you all have wonderful memories of your extended vacation!

[anonmom]

At 4pm on day 4 all the planning fell apart!! The captain announced that the ship would not call on Costa Maya or Cozumel and instead would return to Miami where passengers had the option to disembark and head home or remain on board until after Irma left the area. At that point we didn't have much information because all the available news channels were focused on political discussions. By 7pm the weather channel was added to the lineup. We made the decision to stay put in about 7 minutes after thoroughly weighing all of our options.

 

So we sailed away from Harvest Cay and mentally prepared ourselves for the potential of an unknown number of sea days with our monsters.

 

I know, I know there is so much to do on escape... But honestly, those thing wear thin over time. There are only so many times you can do the ropes course (evidently the number is about 35). The pool and slides were good for about an hour a day. That left a lot of time to fill with active kids. We managed but, it was exhausting.

 

That said, NCL went above and beyond in the situation. I have absolutely no complaints at all.

 

In the end we were at sea 3 days and then we headed back to Cozumel. In Miami we lost about 2000 passengers and added 500 new guests. I will tell 1500 less passengers makes a HUGE difference. Lines (Not that there were many to start with) completely evaporated. The elevators seemed to be waiting for you.

 

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Great review, thanks!

 

Agree with what you've written about the pets so far, but have one big question that might not be what you expect...

 

Isn't that why they tell you to have two? We only have one kid and it is definitely easier (on average) when we have one of her friends with us because they entertain each other. But I keep coming across reviews of the 2-child situation that read like this.

 

So, mostly just wondering if it is actually BS that 2 kids entertain each other enough to make up for the bother of having 2 kids?

 

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[anonmom]

*ports LOL

 

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[NCLfamily]

What is LFK?

 

It's ok I googled it.

 

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Edited September 14, 2017 by NCLfamily

[sun_lovin!1]

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[momto2js]

On the 2 child thing, mine do not like each other at all. There are a bunch of dynamics that come in to play, but it is safe to say often the back seat of my car is a war zone. They have almost nothing in common and the fact that the youngest is taller then the older one causes a lot of distress. So for us, no at this point there is not a lot of upside. I love them both, but these 2 are a lot of work.

 

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[newmexicoNita]

Thanks so much for your report so far. I am glad everyone is safe and of course this is a memory that will last with all of you for a long, long time.

[momto2js]

Okay so it's Thursday, which would be day 6 of our trip. This is where things get a little muddy on what happened first. We're sailing away from Miami for the second time, and headed into the Atlantic to play dodge hurricane. And the entire family has applied there Gumby pants. We are going to need to be very flexible! We've been told that any prepaid package will last until Friday night, then after that all of the ship becomes ala carte.

 

Over the next few days we will learn a little bit more than we ever wanted to know about ship operations. For example, did you know that a ship can stay out at sea for up to 3 weeks but cannot remain import more than two days? It appears that in order to make water you must be an international waters and moving! This became clear after our second day in Cozumel when we went for a little drive around the Mexican Coast. Also, the first cruise line to make a definitive decision is at a distinct Advantage when it comes to parking spaces at various Cruise terminals. This also appears to be a bit of the bidding or request system. But indeed parking spaces at Cruise ports are limited resource.

 

The captain and cruise director did an amazing job keeping us posted as to what was happening and what the options were for the next day but it was a very fluid and flexible situation. The entire time, the season are smooth and the weather was amazing. The food was all so plentiful!

 

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[jcann4444]

Okay so it's Thursday, which would be day 6 of our trip. This is where things get a little muddy on what happened first. We're sailing away from Miami for the second time, and headed into the Atlantic to play dodge hurricane. And the entire family has applied there Gumby pants. We are going to need to be very flexible! We've been told that any prepaid package will last until Friday night, then after that all of the ship becomes ala carte.

 

Over the next few days we will learn a little bit more than we ever wanted to know about ship operations. For example, did you know that a ship can stay out at sea for up to 3 weeks but cannot remain import more than two days? It appears that in order to make water you must be an international waters and moving! This became clear after our second day in Cozumel when we went for a little drive around the Mexican Coast. Also, the first cruise line to make a definitive decision is at a distinct Advantage when it comes to parking spaces at various Cruise terminals. This also appears to be a bit of the bidding or request system. But indeed parking spaces at Cruise ports are limited resource.

 

The captain and cruise director did an amazing job keeping us posted as to what was happening and what the options were for the next day but it was a very fluid and flexible situation. The entire time, the season are smooth and the weather was amazing. The food was all so plentiful!

 

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Thank you for the trip report. I am most interested in the how the Cruiseline adapted to such a unique situation

 

 

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[cruzqueen518]

what did you mean when you said" We've been told that any prepaid package will last until Friday night, then after that all of the ship becomes ala carte." ?? Did you have to pay for everything going forward? buffet and all?

[BirdTravels]

what did you mean when you said" We've been told that any prepaid package will last until Friday night, then after that all of the ship becomes ala carte." ?? Did you have to pay for everything going forward? buffet and all?

the 7-day beverage package and any specialty dining package expired, on schedule, at the end of the 7th day. had to buy your own drinks.

[elainemasey61]

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