Trip Report - Escape May 6

[buckeyefrank]

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.

 

I don't specifically but remember seeing some posted on the NCL boards. Almost any drink you would order should be covered unless you require a specific liquor. There were a couple premium vodkas, etc but most of the high end stuff was scotch, bourbon, etc.

[NKLCRUISES]

I don't specifically but remember seeing some posted on the NCL boards. Almost any drink you would order should be covered unless you require a specific liquor. There were a couple premium vodkas, etc but most of the high end stuff was scotch, bourbon, etc.

 

Thank you again for all your help and information. I enjoyed reading your report from a fellow buckeye's perspective. I will board Sunday.

 

Go Bucks! I'm from the crossroads of Northeast Ohio, right in between Akron and Cleveland. Ex Buckeye/current Cleveland Brown Denzel Ward went to the same High School I went to a live in.

[Darkstrike]

Thanks for the review buckeyefrank, it was great!

 

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

[buckeyefrank]

Thank you again for all your help and information. I enjoyed reading your report from a fellow buckeye's perspective. I will board Sunday.

 

Go Bucks! I'm from the crossroads of Northeast Ohio, right in between Akron and Cleveland. Ex Buckeye/current Cleveland Brown Denzel Ward went to the same High School I went to a live in.

 

Very nice! I am not a Browns fan (or Bengals) but I'm glad they finally realized the Ohio State puts out some good talent. Have fun on your cruise.

[LrgPizza]

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.

It's hard to find things that are NOT under the $15 limit. Nearly everything is. Don't sweat it.

[LrgPizza]

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.

I love this. Reminds me of my 15 year old. Did your son spend any time in Entourage? That's where my son spends nearly every minute of free time in hopes of getting phone numbers. LOL!

[PTC DAWG]

Re the strawberry’s to your room, sounds like you met Deepak....great guy...

[Erik Abazorius]

Thanks for the review!

 

Re: Embarkation in NYC, do you recall the order?

 

Obviously Haven first... was Casinos at Sea next? Or were Latitudes next (platinum+ etc)?

[Ohio_Bob]

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:

Thanks for the review!

 

Re: Embarkation in NYC, do you recall the order?

 

Obviously Haven first... was Casinos at Sea next? Or were Latitudes next (platinum+ etc)?

We were on the same Cruise. As Buckeyefrank said, embarkation was a little weird because of the Coast Guard drill and everything was pushed back a bit. We had number 9. We saw the Haven people board, but then never heard any numbers called at all. Eventually there was a general announcement saying they were going to begin boarding, and then everybody just started heading toward the gangways. We just boarded as soon as we heard the announcement. I never heard any numbers called at all. I think if we had waited to hear our number called, we'd still be sitting in the terminal.

[emoji3]

[buckeyefrank]

I love this. Reminds me of my 15 year old. Did your son spend any time in Entourage? That's where my son spends nearly every minute of free time in hopes of getting phone numbers. LOL!

 

Nope. My son is too much of an introvert to spend time in Entourage haha. He did meet quite a few guys that he hung out with at the basketball court. Go figure, he tries to get a girls number and ends up with a bunch of guy's numbers.

[buckeyefrank]

Thanks for the review!

 

Re: Embarkation in NYC, do you recall the order?

 

Obviously Haven first... was Casinos at Sea next? Or were Latitudes next (platinum+ etc)?

 

The Haven was certainly first. They made the announcement that they would be boarding shortly. Within about 20 minutes the Haven was on their way. There was no PA announcement. There was only one gentleman yelling out zone numbers near the doors to embark. We quickly realized the PA wasn't going to be used so we waltzed over to hear the guy. I just heard him call zone 1, nothing before. Take that all with a grain of salt because the coast guard drill screwed with the timing of everything.

[buckeyefrank]

Re the strawberry’s to your room, sounds like you met Deepak....great guy...

 

I cannot remember his name but they were the assistant hotel director and the printer. During our conversation we could tell who was hire up in the food chain.

[mrsmagoo1]

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.

 

Can you take these mini-buses to other beaches, like Elbow or Warwick?

[SailBadtheSinner]

Can you take these mini-buses to other beaches, like Elbow or Warwick?

 

Yes, if you had a group of people who wanted to go to the same beach as you. I think the minimum number of passengers needed is 7. Of course the fare will change based on the new distance.

 

SBtS

[Yorkvillain]

Nice job with the review Frank. I enjoyed it.

[buckeyefrank]

Can you take these mini-buses to other beaches, like Elbow or Warwick?

 

Yes you can. I beleive they will take you anywhere you want to go on the island. The established rate from Dockyard to horshoe bay beach is $7 but I don't think there is a set standard for other routes. You will want to ask the driver what he is charging before you get in.

[Dannirose]

Thanks for the review. Since your son didn't really hang out in the teen club, was he bored or did he find enough to do on his own? We have a couple of teens in our group and I know not all of them are joiners or the teen club type and a little worried they might not find enough to do within their interests if they don't go to the teen club activities.

[buckeyefrank]

Thanks for the review. Since your son didn't really hang out in the teen club, was he bored or did he find enough to do on his own? We have a couple of teens in our group and I know not all of them are joiners or the teen club type and a little worried they might not find enough to do within their interests if they don't go to the teen club activities.

 

During the rainy days he was certainly bored, as we all were. He would go for frequent walks around the ship, go to the buffet, etc. I really think he was looking for his "potential love interest" LOL. Once the weather broke he was able to get outside and play basketball. It was then that he met a group of boys that he hung out with. As long as the weather is decent and they can get outside, the teens should be fine. There's waterslides, basketball, ropes course, ping pong, bar games at O'Sheehans, etc.

[LrgPizza]

Thanks for the review. Since your son didn't really hang out in the teen club, was he bored or did he find enough to do on his own? We have a couple of teens in our group and I know not all of them are joiners or the teen club type and a little worried they might not find enough to do within their interests if they don't go to the teen club activities.

My son hates sports, loves video games, and is definitely not a "joiner". The club was great for him, because he could simply be alone if he wanted to, play video games, listen to music, and be his introverted self. He ended up meeting other introverts there. It's not forced, and not everyone there is doing the same thing. In addition, the staff is trained for all types of kids.

[detroitlions]

Duly noted, one reason a NYC is sail appears not for me....I don’t see how y’all do it.

 

Good review though, I understand about being stuck inside...

 

I agree nothing sounds appealing sailing out of NY.(280 for parking, the waits in on Embarkation and the cold the worse part)

Unless I lived there and had to save on air fair its FL every time for me. Even when I lived north I went to Fl.

 

Enjoying your review I did love the Escape.

[goofy4mickey]

Oh, good thinking. I'll check there.

 

If you still need the schedule, I have it. Let me know.

[LrgPizza]

If you still need the schedule, I have it. Let me know.

Yes! I wasn't able to find it.

[boopsahoy]

I agree nothing sounds appealing sailing out of NY.(280 for parking, the waits in on Embarkation and the cold the worse part)

Unless I lived there and had to save on air fair its FL every time for me. Even when I lived north I went to Fl.

 

Enjoying your review I did love the Escape.

I live in Brooklyn and love leaving out of NY. We usually take one cruise in the spring/summer and one in the:D winter. We love the casino so bad weather seadays are no problem for us.

[goofy4mickey]

yes! I wasn't able to find it.

 

ferry schedule.pdf

[LrgPizza]

[attach]421627[/attach]

 

 

 

Yes, I have that schedule. I was talking about the schedule for the NCL free ferry.