Trip Report - Escape May 6

[LrgPizza]

I have them all from our 4/29 departure. Howl at the Moon was Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday

 

 

Thanks

[boopsahoy]

Day 2 and 3:

 

I am combining days 2 and 3 because they were almost identical in nature... i.e. rain, cold and windy. We spent almost the entire day 2 inside the ship, eating, walking around, playing games at O'Sheehans, eating, have a drink, eat again (I sense a pattern). On day 3, we actually went outside for a lot of the day because it was a little bit warmer. We huddled up on deck 17 under the awning by the ping pong tables for the day. Around 3pm that day, the sun finally broke through and some people were actually able to get some color on their skin. The highlight of those days unfortunately was the comedian we saw on day 2. Her name was Gina Brillon (I think) and she was hysterical. We loved her style of comedy. If she is on your cruise, go see her. You won't be disappointed. There was also a comedian juggler that we did not have the opportunity to see him so I cannot comment. These two days highlight the biggest disappointment that I had in the trip. As a result of the rain, pretty much everyone was inside in the common areas looking for things to do. I would have expected the cruise director (Silas?) to add some additional activities around the ship to keep folks entertained, but alas, nothing was added. The Escape has a unique setup where most of the activities are held in the atrium. I like the concept and you can see from the atrium 6th deck and from O'Sheehans on the 7th deck. It works most of the time until too many people start crowding in because there's nothing else to do. I guess the bottom line is I was a little disappointed that they didn't try and spread out activities, especially when it was raining.

 

The only other thing of note is that my son and I went to the family karaoke in the 5 oclock somewhere bar. We actually had a really good time watching. When we walked in there was actually a 2yo singing on stage. Was very cute.

 

Next up: Bermuda

My husband and I ended up in the casino those days for much longer than planned. Lost our shirts!:o

[buckeyefrank]

Agree on the Lamp Chops...they were very good...but the rest of the meats we had on the 4/7 sailing were pretty tasty too, salad bar there is excellent..

 

To be honest, there were no meats I didn't enjoy, they just didn't live up to the elevated expection that I had when I walked in. It seemed to be just a notch below what they provided two years ago. Frankly, the biggest issue was the time between servings.

[buckeyefrank]

I have them all from our 4/29 departure. Howl at the Moon was Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday

 

I looked last night and the lady of the house pitched them but that sounds correct. It switches every other day with the comedy shows. We saw Gina on Monday.

[buckeyefrank]

My husband and I ended up in the casino those days for much longer than planned. Lost our shirts!:o

 

I don't do the casinos on a cruise ship but we did walk through a few times. It appeared to be BUSY!

[buckeyefrank]

Bermuda:

 

So we arrive in Bermuda on Wednesday right around the scheduled time. This is the first time any of us have been here so we didn't know exactly what to expect. Our first impressions were that the port area was really cool. I really was impressed that they were able to preserve history and at the same time, use that space for current activity.

 

On Wednesday, we ended up getting off the ship and taking a private mini-bus to Horseshoe Bay Beach. The drive over cost us each $7 and was well worth it. If you take a bus from the dockyard, it will cost less but will drop you off at the top of a fairly large hill. Older people and people with mobility issues might have trouble getting back up the hill but it's certainly managable for most people.

 

Horseshoe Bay Beach was absolutely amazing. It's supposed to be pink sand but for the most part, there was just some crushed up pink coral mixed in. The water was amazingly clear and we actually were able to get into the Atlantic ocean. The water was chilly but not as cold as I thought it would be. After the initial shock, it wasn't too bad. The cool thing about this beach is that you can walk around the large boulders on the beach and take paths that link to other beaches. It was on this walk that we discovered a sea creature that would keep us out of the water for the rest of the week. We were walking back to our stuff and we almost stepped right on a portugese man-o-war that was on the beach. From what I've heard, you do not want to get stung by one of them. We took another walk a little bit later and there was a lot more on the beach than what we saw before. Needless to say, we decided to stay out of the water. A trip to the hospital wasn't on the itinerary.

 

We stayed at the beach for a while and took the private mini-bus back to the dockyard. We decided to get cleaned up, grab some food adn then head out on the ferry to Hamilton for Harbour Nights Festival. We had a good time there but it was slightly disappointing. There were a lot of vendors selling local crafts, food, etc. The Goombay dancers came through and that was neat to see. We ended up getting back on the ferry and heading for bed.

[boopsahoy]

I don't do the casinos on a cruise ship but we did walk through a few times. It appeared to be BUSY!

 

It was one of the busier cruise casinos-probably because of the weather!

[owlgirl31]

Where and how does one get the private minibuses? and what was disappointing about Harbor Night?

[bkrickles1]

You can't miss them.

When you get off the ship and walk down the pier, you'll see a taxi stand area and there will be vehicles of all sizes, including the mini-buses, ready to take you anywhere you want. I've only used the mini-buses to go to Horseshoe Bay and back and it's always cost me $7 each way.

It's pretty organized as they're trying to fill up each of the vehicles before they depart.

It's my favorite way of getting around and, as I said, you can't miss it.

 

 

Where and how does one get the private minibuses? and what was disappointing about Harbor Night?

[buckeyefrank]

Where and how does one get the private minibuses? and what was disappointing about Harbor Night?

 

To add to Brickles post, the official taxis have signs on their roofs. The mini-busses look like ordinary private vehicles. We hired a driver in St George and he took us around the island. He even came back a couple times to pick us up when requested.

 

Harbor Nights was fine. It's probably more that it wasn't quite what I expected and I'm not really sure what I expected. There were lots of street vendors selling a bunch of crafts and local food. My wife purchased a candle, we bought some donuts that were really good too. We heard the dancers coming from a street away because of the drums. They were really neat to see. Unfortunately, they went by quickly. Unless you follow them they were only there for a minute or two. I'm really glad we went to see it. If I was in Hamilton at the time, I would check it out again, but I wouldn't make a special trip just to see it anymore.

Edited May 17, 2018 by buckeyefrank

[LrgPizza]

Harbor Nights was fine. It's probably more that it wasn't quite what I expected and I'm not really sure what I expected. There were lots of street vendors selling a bunch of crafts and local food. My wife purchased a candle, we bought some donuts that were really good too. We heard the dancers coming from a street away because of the drums. They were really neat to see. Unfortunately, they went by quickly. Unless you follow them they were only there for a minute or two. I'm really glad we went to see it. If I was in Hamilton at the time, I would check it out again, but I wouldn't make a special trip just to see it anymore.

This was how I felt about it when I went last year, too. It is lots of street vendors, most of whom are selling things that are imported. I bought some amazing habanero jelly from the "Bermuda Jam Factory" that was made in North Carolina. :rolleyes: It was cool to see the Gombey dancers, but now that we've done it, there really isn't any reason to go back. I think I expected more of a fun street party or something. It certainly wasn't that.

[buckeyefrank]

Thursday:

 

We used Thursday as a tour day to see the island. We got up and had a great breakfast at Savor and then headed out to the ferry to go to St Georges. We had decided to have a look around St George and then maybe go to Fort St Catherine. After that, who knows. We got in line for the ferry and as we were boarding, we realized that it was not the free NCL ferry. That was not scheduled for another 45 minutes. We ended up just paying the $5 pp and taking the Bermuda ferry. I've heard rumors that the NCL ferry is really slow right now and takes twice as long as the Govt ferry. We got to St George, walked around for a few minutes and then hired a mini-bus to take us to the Fort. He charged us $3pp to get there. I will admit, when we got there I was worried because there were not taxis or anything there for the return trip. Our driver offered to pick up back up and we gladly agreed. We settled on an hour for his return.

 

Fort St Catherine is a really cool place. You can explore the underground tunnels, see how the soldiers lived, see where the ammunition was housed and some of the procedures they would have used. Be forewarned, that some of the tunnels were pretty dark. My son looked into a lightbox (where they placed lamps for light) and there was a manequin staring at him. Scared him to death Lol. We told the driver to come back in an hour but I would recommend at least an hour and a half, maybe 2 if you like to read all the information posted. We seemed to be a little rushed but we did get to see everything. There is an entrance fee of $7pp.

 

The driver actually returned about 15 minutes late and we were getting a little worried. He eventually did show up. While we were waiting we decided to go to see Crystal Caves. He took us there and charged us $10pp. When we got there, the next tour of Crystal cave was not for like 2 hours so we decided to see the other cave, Fantasy cave (I think). We paid our $21pp and waited for about 10 minutes. Our mini-bus driver waited for us at the ticket window to get our tickets to see what time our tour was. He again offered to come back and pick us up and we gladly accepted. The Fantasy cave tour is a 3 minute walk to the cave entrance, followed by a BUNCH of steps down a tight stairwell. My wife is very afraid of heights and was nervous because of the open nature of the stairs at one point but she was able to make it down. If you're afraid of tight spaces, you also may get a little nervous. Once we were done with our tour, we went into the gift shop, purchased some snacks and waited for our driver. He literally showed up 5 minutes after the tour was done and actaully got out of his van and come to the waiting area to find us. I'm sure that's because there were like 10 private mini-busses and taxis waiting for people, but still pretty good service. He took us back to St George, back onto the ferry and onwards to the Dockyard.

 

At the Dockyard, we decided to do a late lunch / early dinner and went to the Frog & Onion pub. All of the food was VERY good as was the beer. They weren't very crowded so wi were able to have a nice conversation with our waiter who used to work on NCL. He left the cruise ship and decided to stay in Bermuda. He was telling us all about the island and was actually trying to talk me into moving there. He said accountants are in high demand and make a lot of money there, FYI.

 

After dinner, I think we ended up just going back onto the ship and playing some games at O'Sheehans and hanging out. We also enjoyed some time at the Waterfront in some loungers.

 

More to come:

[buckeyefrank]

This was how I felt about it when I went last year, too. It is lots of street vendors, most of whom are selling things that are imported. I bought some amazing habanero jelly from the "Bermuda Jam Factory" that was made in North Carolina. :rolleyes: It was cool to see the Gombey dancers, but now that we've done it, there really isn't any reason to go back. I think I expected more of a fun street party or something. It certainly wasn't that.

 

Completely agree. I'm glad to be able to say I saw it once.

[missdenise]

Following.

 

 

Question - were you able to book any of the shows such as Brat Pack prior to sailing? On the BA we could always book ROA before getting on board but all I see when checking out the entertainment on the Escape is "reservations are not offered" ??

[LrgPizza]

Following.

 

 

Question - were you able to book any of the shows such as Brat Pack prior to sailing? On the BA we could always book ROA before getting on board but all I see when checking out the entertainment on the Escape is "reservations are not offered" ??

FYI, we sail the week after next and we pre-booked online.

[missdenise]

FYI, we sail the week after next and we pre-booked online.

 

Thanks. That is what doesn't make sense to me. I can book dinning reservations but no show reservations.

[buckeyefrank]

Following.

 

 

Question - were you able to book any of the shows such as Brat Pack prior to sailing? On the BA we could always book ROA before getting on board but all I see when checking out the entertainment on the Escape is "reservations are not offered" ??

 

We prebooked specialty dinner reservations but did not look at entertainment. We were able to book For the Record while on the ship, but we did not attend.

[LrgPizza]

Do you recall the times for the NCL ferry to St. George's? I know it doesn't run super often, and that it's slow.

[buckeyefrank]

Do you recall the times for the NCL ferry to St. George's? I know it doesn't run super often, and that it's slow.

 

I'll look and see if I still have something. I am pretty sure the first ferry of the day was at like 9:30am. Somewhere on the Bermuda board is a 2018 schedule as well.

[LrgPizza]

I'll look and see if I still have something. I am pretty sure the first ferry of the day was at like 9:30am. Somewhere on the Bermuda board is a 2018 schedule as well.

Oh, good thinking. I'll check there.

[dexddd]

To add to Brickles post, the official taxis have signs on their roofs. The mini-busses look like ordinary private vehicles. We hired a driver in St George and he took us around the island. He even came back a couple times to pick us up when requested.

 

Harbor Nights was fine. It's probably more that it wasn't quite what I expected and I'm not really sure what I expected. There were lots of street vendors selling a bunch of crafts and local food. My wife purchased a candle, we bought some donuts that were really good too. We heard the dancers coming from a street away because of the drums. They were really neat to see. Unfortunately, they went by quickly. Unless you follow them they were only there for a minute or two. I'm really glad we went to see it. If I was in Hamilton at the time, I would check it out again, but I wouldn't make a special trip just to see it anymore.

 

How much was the cost for the driver to take you around and about how long was it? Did he drop you off back at the ship?

[buckeyefrank]

How much was the cost for the driver to take you around and about how long was it? Did he drop you off back at the ship?

 

We hired the driver for specific trips, not for a set amount of time. He charged us $3pp to go from St George to Fort St Catherine, $10pp to go from Fort St Catherine to Crystal Caves and then another $10pp to St George again. I know you can hire an official taxi driver and I believe the rates are around $70 per hour. We couldn't do that because we didn't want to pay for the time he would be waiting while we were site seeing.

[buckeyefrank]

Friday:

 

The ship was scheduled to leave port at 3pm and we needed to be back onboard by 2pm so we decided to hang around the dockyard and do some shopping. I think I mentioned it before but I really like the dockyard area. There are quite a few shops for souvenier hunting and a bunch of other things. We enjoyed going into the glass blowing and rum cake store. It was really cool seeing how the glass items were made. They have a large selection of nice items. For the rum cake, there are 4 members in our party that are of age.... 2 of us liked the cakes and 2 of us hated the cakes. We ended up not buying any mostly because of logistical issues but I really wish I would have bought one.

 

At this point, the three men decided to go play some putt-putt at Fun Golf while the two women went to the Frog & Onion to get a beer. Wouldn't you know but as soon as we pay for the round, it starts to rain. It didn't rain very hard but by the end we were all soaking wet. We didn't let it dampen our spirits though. We had a really good time and I would recommend this as an activity for something different to do if you have an hour or so to kill. The course is unlike anything I've played before. It's modeled after 18 real world golf holes. It is fairly difficult, but fun. We met up with the ladies at the pub and ordered ourselves a beer while we dried off. Again the service there was fantastic and the appetizers were great.

 

After spending a little time at the pub it was time to leave Bermuda. We get back onto the ship, get showered and dressed for Tepenyaki that evening. We had made reservations online beforehand at 5:30 for the five of us.

 

This brings up a minor annoyance for me with NCL. You can make reservations online for the specialty restaurants but unless you have a dining plan, you need to pay for the food upfront. I found this incredibly frustrating as we wanted to make sure we could get a table but I didn't want to put the money out and our traveling partners had some OBC they were using to cover the meal charges. Everytime I tried to reserve it, I got asked for my payment information. Here's a tip: I ended up purchasing a 2 meal dining plan and paid for that ahead of time. The way the NCL system works is that it checks to see if the person making the reservation has a dining plan. If that person has a dining plan, it will allow you to book the reservation without a fee for as many people as you want. You can make as many different reservations as you have meals purchased. The 2 meal dining plan enabled me to book the 2 specialty restaurants for 5 people each with me only paying for 1 each. I hope that makes sense.

 

Now onto dinner. for the most part, we really enjoyed Teppenyaki and the food. There's not much to say other than it's a traditional Japanese Steakhouse, minus the onion volcano. The chef was talented, funny and interacted with us. There was an issue with the server though. She didn't have a clue but it ended up working out in our favor. The server came around and got our orders. I ordered the chicken and filet, but for some reason she put me down for the shrimp and filet. I did not saying anything because it ended up fine. My wife ordered the chicken & filet and I ate a lot of hers. I ate some of the shrimp and the extra went to my son, who LOVES shrimp. All of the food was pretty good, however; there were mixed reviews on the salad and the soup. Some like it, some did not. At the end of the meal, the server comes and gets my card and the card of our traveling companions. She asks me if I want to use my dining plan meals and I tell her yes I do. I had two meals I had paid for and have to pay for the 3rd person (my son) on my account. She was thoroughly confused at first but eventually figured it out. She comes to our traveling partners and says that their meal was already paid for. They tried to tell her that they had not paid for any meals ahead of time, but she insisted. So, the end of the story, is that our friends ended up getting a free $80 meal at Tepp.

 

After dinner, we had reservations for After Midnight but we ended up not going. We were too tired and unfortunately had to pack for debarkation. We ended up getting a couple drinks and sitting down at the waterfront. We ended up meeting several couples from Ohio and we chatted with them for a bit. Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is we were on the waterfront on Thursday hanging out, when a couple of white suits stopped and asked us about the cruise and our thoughts of what could be improved. We had a nice chat for about 10 minutes or so. The next day, both of our cabins had chocolate covered strawberries. I thought that was very nice of them.

 

Next up: Disembarkation, a funny weeklong story and some random thoughts.

[NKLCRUISES]

Did you by chance have specifics on drink menus? I am trying to figure our what kind of spirits and wines are under the $15 UBP limit. If not, I will find out Sunday.

[buckeyefrank]

Disembarkation:

 

Since we live in Ohio, we wanted on the road as soon as possible so we elected the self-assist disembarkation. We got the green luggage tags and got everything ready the night before. We grabbed a quick bite to eat in the morning at the buffet, went upstairs to get our luggage. We went down to the 7th deck to wait and noticed a line already starting. The line was a mixture of green and orange tags (both were self-assist). The line formed in the Manhatten room and the chairs were aligned so that a line could be snaked around the entire dining room. It was much less chaotic than what we've experienced with self-assist on Carnival. There was some chaos when they called for the green luggage tags to get off the ship since the line was a mixture of both. After a minute or so, they just opened the lines up for any self-assist. They did not check any tags at any point. I'm not sure you actually need them.

 

Funny Story:

My son is 16yo and is quickly becoming girl crazy. At the beginning of the week, we are checking into the terminal. He grabs me and whispers... "do you see that hot girl over there?" He was referring to a blonde teenager who was with her mother, father, two brothers, and grandpa (possibly a few others too) who are from Pennsylvania based on the Penn St swag they had on. He proceeded to tell me that he was going to get her instagram account before the week was out. He talks a good game. The funny part is that literally everywhere we went, she was there too. They were at O'Sheehans during the rainy days, they were in Hamilton at Harbor Nights with us, they were at Horshoe Bay Beach with us, they were right in front of us leaving Horseshoe bay and my son was trying to figure out how to ride with her. LOL. We saw them at Crystal caves. They were only a few families behind us in the disembarkation line, we waited outside the bathrooms for our families together and parked almost next to each other. My poor son was tortured the entire week. He kept trying to meet her but everytime he saw her, there were multiple family members there. But alas, he could never find her alone to speak with her. I think he is still holding out a little hope that he can somehow stumble upon her instagram profile.

 

Final Thoughts:

 

We loved Bermuda. The people were extremely friendly. We would go back in a heartbeat. Fort St Catherine, horshoe bay beach and Frog & Onion are highly recommended places to visit.

 

On the ship, the service was mostly good but not all was good. In our room the first day, we only had our room made up once and it was really late. I"m not sure if the coast guard drill threw him off or what. He was friendly and ended up being fine the rest of the week.

 

We booked an inside room and these rooms are TINY. We ended up making it work but they were much smaller than the balcony rooms we had last time.

 

If you have any questions, just let me know.