Great Thanksgiving Escape (11-18-25)

[dshefter]

My wife and I sailed aboard the beautiful Norwegian Escapeduring Thanksgiving week (Nov. 18-25) out of Miami, Fla., and stopping atFalmouth, Jamaica; Georgetown, Cayman Islands; and Costa Maya, Mexico. Due toHurricane Irma, our original destinations of St. Thomas, Tortola and Nassau(Bahamas) were canceled and changed in October. Although we were lookingforward to that itinerary, it didn’t prevent us from having a tremendous timeaboard the Escape.

For background, my wife and I are in our 50s, and our 14-year-olddaughter also joined us. This was my third cruise on NCL and 13th overall,having previously sailed with Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean as well astwo other companies who are no longer in business. This was my daughter’s sixthcruise and my wife’s 12th.

The pros clearly outweighed the cons, despite readingprevious reviews about the ship and Norwegian.

We heard all about the elevators and the supposedly slowservice, a byproduct of the ship being understaffed. Certainly there were timeswhen we had to wait for an elevator, but it wasn’t a nightmare. Sometimes, weeven took the stairs. Nothing like a little exercise to burn off all thosecalories.

My brief overview on the pros and cons of the Escape:

PROS: The ship itself; the CREW, the food, having theUltimate Beverage Package and Specialty Dining Package; VIBE Beach Club, theRopes Course, the entertainment, dining/bar choices

CONS: Lack of pools; having to make reservations forvirtually everything; archaic rules for slides, Casino (I’ll explain), TVchannels.

OVERVIEW: The ship is absolutely huge. It’s the biggest I’veever been on and it’s very modern-looking. This particular cruise had 4800passengers (1300 of which were children) and a crew of 1700. That’s 6500 peoplesailing on one vessel.

Our family flew into Fort Lauderdale from Newark, N.J., thenight before the cruise and stayed at the Residence Inn near FLL. I always liketo arrive a day early for any cruise just in case of flight/weather issues. I’mPlatinum Elite with Marriott so we used points and the hotel offers freetransportation from the airport. I then arranged for private transportation tothe Miami Cruise Terminal on Saturday morning through Quality LimousineService. Our driver arrived promptly and with little traffic on Saturdaymorning, we were at the terminal in less than 30 minutes. The private limo cost$100 plus a $25 tip.

Our goal was to arrive early to hopefully land a pair of thecoveted VIBE Beach Club passes. They only sell 70 per cruise, and guests in TheHaven and suites as well as Platinum Latitudes members have priority boarding.The only downside of getting to the terminal before 10 a.m. was waiting 45minutes until NCL began its security screening. But check-in was a snap and we wereinside the waiting area within a few minutes. We also got Boarding Group 1.

Once on board, we went immediately to Headliners to get theVIBE passes. A small line had formed and we got Nos. 43 and 44. Not long afterwe got the passes -- $99 pp for the week – the sold out sign had been put out.One couple we met was in Boarding Group 4 and got the passes, but they were oneof the last ones. I would imagine each cruise is different, but this being aHoliday week, I figured these would be in high demand.

Boy am I glad we paid for them. It was $99 well spent. Myonly criticism of the area is that it doesn’t have a small pool. Everythingelse was fantastic. VIBE has its own bar, hot tub, misters and shower. It alsohas far nicer loungers and the service, led by Rommel and his guys, wasFANTASTIC! They waited on us all the time, bringing drinks, cold towels, freshfruit and cookies throughout the day.

And looking at the masses of people at the pool, it sure wasnice not to have to fight chair hogs, screaming kids, loud music and crowds.

Which brings me to my first major beef with the Escape: Lackof pools. How do you design a ship that can hold 4800-plus passengers and havejust two pools? It makes no sense. When NCL built its Breakaway Class of ships,it added a lot of bells and whistles, including water slides, a Ropes Course,mini-golf and other stuff. But a ship this size needs more pools, especiallyone that does primarily Caribbean itineraries.

Hopefully it’s future vessels will have more pools to spreadout the masses.

Before grabbing lunch, we also changed our reservations from8 to 7. For some reason, NCL doesn’t allow you to make odd-numberedreservations online. That’s something NCL should fix. But we didn’t have towait long and the reservation lady fixed this in a matter of seconds.

As for our stateroom, we were on Deck 13 Aft in 13910. Wehad plenty of closet space for our belongings, and while the balcony wasn’t aslarge as our Aft balcony on the Carnival Dream, it was very nice. No complaintswhatsoever with the room, bathroom or any other amenities. I do wish NCL had abetter selection of TV channels. Not having ESPN is a travesty. Yes, NCL showedall of the major NFL games on Sunday, Monday night and Thanksgiving Day, butthe rest of the week, you are stuck with a sports channel that shows primarilysoccer. I heard complaints from other passengers as well. It would have beennice to see a college football or basketball game while sitting at one of themany bars or in the stateroom.

On our first sea day, we attended the Cruise Critic Meet NGreet set up by Colorado Amber. It was very nice and NCL does a very nice joborganizing this, providing drinks and finger foods for attendees. The entireExecutive Staff was introduced by Tyler Gray, the cruise director. We also dida Slot Pull in the casino immediately after the Meet N Greet. It was the onlytime I spent in the casino all week.

My beef was the total lack of 25-cent Wheel of Fortunemachines. They had five $1 WOF machines in which you had to fork over at least$3 a spin to get the bonus. If you wanted the big bonus, you had to spend $5 or$10 per spin. There weren’t many 25-cent slot machines period. I am not apenny-slot play nor do I play $1 machines. The casino is large and nice, but Ichose not to play.

But as a cigar smoker, I did spend a lot of time in TheHumidor Cigar Lounge on Deck 8. It’s the only spot on the ship where you canenjoy a stogie. I brought my own stash, but you can also buy cigars and theEscape has a nice selection. Cigarette smokers can smoke in The Humidor, casinoand at the Waves Bar on Deck 16 above the pools. Some passengers werecomplaining that they can’t light up on their balconies or on the Waterfront,but I have absolutely no issues with that rule. Too many people areirresponsible and a tossed butt could cause a major fire, and that would bedisastrous for the passengers and crew.

From the time we boarded until we left, we found the crew tobe absolutely fantastic. They were engaging and friendly, and it’s amazing howquickly they remember your name. The servers in VIBE as well as The Humidorknew me after Day 1. The waiters and assistant waiters were extremely courteousand we often heard from the restaurant manager, asking us how our meal wasgoing. These people work long hours and very hard, but they do it all with asmile on their face.

The food also was terrific. We dined in all three maindining rooms – Manhattan, Taste and Savor – for dinner as well as the GardenCafé for breakfast and lunch. We also had breakfast in Taste because it’s theone place you can get a bagel and smoked salmon. You can’t get smoked salmon inthe buffet. We had the Specialty Dining Package, which gave us three meals inone of the alternative restaurants. We chose Teppanyaki, Cagneys and Le Bistro.A reminder: make your reservations as quickly as you can. I booked 90 days outsince we had a party of seven. If you don’t book early, you might not get in. Isaw one couple try to get a table at Teppanyaki the first night and they weretold everything was booked for the entire seven-night cruise. You can also bookthe main dining rooms as well, so if you have a large party, book those times.It’s the one drawback of the dining experience that I have.

Norwegian boasts about its Freestyle Dining, but it’s notvery freestyle if you have to book everything in advance. Then again, it’s nota deal-breaker for me.

All of the specialty dining experiences were great, but thebest meal came at LeBistro. First, we had great service from Catalin, ourwaiter. Second, the filet was one of the best I’ve ever had on ANY cruise. Itwas better than the filet I had at Cagneys a couple of nights earlier, and thatsteak was very good as well.

The meals in the main dining rooms were good as well,although service the second night at Savor was extremely slow. It was the onlytime all week we received slower-than-normal service.

My daughter and I enjoyed the Food Republic on the final seaday. Everything here is a la carte, but we were in the mood for sushi.

On the first day, we decided to spend $9.99 pp to allow usto text and call each other on the ship via the iConcierge. I would give thisservice a B-. Sometimes the messages went through right away, other times theydidn’t. But it was nice to communicate with my wife, daughter, my brother andhis wife. The iConcierge App also allows you to see who is performing and whenas well as make reservations for dining and shows. You can also keep track ofyour on-board Account.

As for activities, my wife, daughter and I enjoyed going toSunrise Trivia each morning at 9:30 in the Atrium. The questions were verydifficult. I wish NCL offered more trivia sessions. Would have loved a Sportstrivia session. My daughter did very well on TV trivia the last sea day,getting 26 of 30 correct. A lot of my free time during the day was spent inVibe because the weather was fantastic. Fortunately, the only windy day was ourfirst sea day.

All of the entertainment was excellent. We saw twofamily-friendly comedy shows and one that was adult-themed. All shows after 11p.m. are for passengers 18 and over, and that show was the best of the three.We also saw After Midnight and For the Record: The Brat Pack, both of whichwere excellent. The Brat Pack show was the final performance for this cast astheir six-month contract ended. It’s a Broadway-quality show based on popularJohn Hughes movies of the 1980s, including Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles andThe Breakfast Club.

Having the Ultimate Beverage Package as one of our two perkswas also nice. It’s great to order a drink and not have to worry about thecost. Even though I am not a big drinker, it’s comforting to know you can have afew daiquiris at the pool during the day, a glass of wine at dinner, and somepost-dinner cocktails without worrying about the bill when the cruise ends. Itseems like everyone onboard had the UBP.

All drinks $16 and under are included, although I wish thepackage included bottled water and specialty coffees (my wife likes those). Webought the Soda Package for our daughter, since the third person in thestateroom does not receive the perks.

As for the ports, we used Kasparas Tours to book the BlueHole and Secret Falls excursion in Jamaica. NCL does not offer this excursionand it took nearly 6 hours. It’s quite a drive from Falmouth to the location,but it was a blast. You get to jump/dive into a lagoon while experiencing thefalls. You can also book a tubing experience as part of the excursion but wedidn’t include that option. Others on our tour did and said it was great.

In Grand Cayman, we went to 7.5-Mile Beach and it waswonderful. I used Discount Excursions to pre-arrange a waverunner rental. Mybeef with them is they never said where the location on the beach was. Theytold me the name of the company, but when we arrived at the public portion ofthe beach, I was told it was a couple of miles away. So I walked 45 minutes tothe place. At least I got a lot of steps in. I would NOT recommend this companyin the future due to lack of information. The folks handing out the WaveRunners at Salt Water Sports (Royal Palm Resort) were not exactly engagingeither.

Our final stop was Costa Maya and we chose not to do anexcursion. I think it’s one of the worst ports in the Caribbean. Shopping bythe port is OK. To me the beach isn’t anything to write home about. This is anewer port that the cruise companies are trying to utilize, but it’s a weak oneat that.

Debarkation also was a breeze. NCL gives you a choice ofwhen you want to leave. They have color-coded tags that correspond todebarkation times. We chose the last one since our flight home wasn’t until4:30. We were off the boat and through customs in less than 30 minutes. It wasvery well organized.

All in all, it was a great cruise. Everyone in our group hadfun and enjoyed the ship. We would certainly choose NCL again.

Feel free to email me with any questions at dshefter@usga.org.

[easyboy]

Great review! Sounds like you really had a great cruise.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thank-you for the very informative report.

[Two Wheels Only]

As for our stateroom, we were on Deck 13 Aft in 13910. Wehad plenty of closet space for our belongings, and while the balcony wasn’t aslarge as our Aft balcony on the Carnival Dream, it was very nice.

The aft-facing balconies on BA/GA/Escape/Joy/Bliss vary in size. Deck 13 is the smallest for each of them.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your very detailed review.

Keith

[futurern]

Awesome review, very informative!

[shellpj]

We were on this cruise with you and yes Jonathon, Rommel and Vincent made the cruise extra special for us. The Vibe is one of the best kept semi-secrets on the ship. All of the staff members were outstanding and friendly. In fact, our assistant waiter from the first night, recognized us 5 days later and still knew our names! It was our second time on this ship and we would definitely go back for a third time.

[dshefter]

We were on this cruise with you and yes Jonathon, Rommel and Vincent made the cruise extra special for us. The Vibe is one of the best kept semi-secrets on the ship. All of the staff members were outstanding and friendly. In fact, our assistant waiter from the first night, recognized us 5 days later and still knew our names! It was our second time on this ship and we would definitely go back for a third time.

 

Yes, the staff at Vibe Beach Club were terrific. Amazing how staff members can remember your name after serving dozens and dozens of passengers.

[jjenk5678]

I was on this cruise as well. I was also pleasantly surprised how easy it seemed for the bartenders and other staff to learn your name on day 1 and then refer to you by name for the rest of the week. Awesome time. It was unfortunate that we didn't hit big on the slot pull but it was fun.

[Dave&Ronda]

What did you do while you were waiting for your flight home? We have a 4 o'clock flight the beginning of March.

[dshefter]

What did you do while you were waiting for your flight home? We have a 4 o'clock flight the beginning of March.

 

We went to the FLL airport via Uber. There's a place to check luggage ($7 per bag) on Level 1. We then took an Uber to a nearby Dave and Busters and had lunch and returned to the airport around 1:45 p.m. We checked in for our flight and waited at the gate.

 

NCL also offers a couple of excursions where they'll take you by bus and drop you off at either MIA or FLL.

 

Hope this helps.

[coach jim]

Thanks for the detailed well balanced report. What were the slide rules you did not like?

 

 

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[dshefter]

Thanks for the detailed well balanced report. What were the slide rules you did not like?

 

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Having to remove my Garmin (fit bit) and my wedding ring. Are you serious? Been down tons of water slides and have never had to remove my wedding ring.

[raejc]

Hello -great review - thanks! Quick question, you mentioned Kasparas tours in Falmouth but I can't find them anywhere online? Any chance they used an alternate name? Thanks

[dshefter]

My bad. It's Karandas Tours. Sorry about that.