Escaping to Bermuda - June 2018 Trip Report!

[bkrickles1]

Thanks. We are excited.

We're celebrating my daughters graduation from high school so it's my wife and myself, our daughter, my 2 nieces and my cousin.

My cousin is a comedy promoter in NYC and Long Island and knows everyone from the area and she was bugging me to find out who would be on our cruise.

This is the best she's getting from me (LOL) and I appreciate you answering me so quickly.

Really looking forward to reading whatever you post in the next couple of days. It sounds like you loved the Escape

 

That's so exciting! One was Warren B. Hall and the other was Peter Banachowski. We saw both of them and they were both really funny!

[dolita22]

Your review is great! Loving all your pictures and seeing the fun you two had. :) We have yet to sail to Bermuda, but it's on my list!

 

Looking forward to more!

[Happy Traveler 0923]

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the direct link, but if you go to Etsy and then look up the CruiseDesignsBB shop, you will find them there!

Just ordered my license plate for our Alaska cruise next month. She was very responsive, I told her that she would probably be getting a few orders from your post.

[tatibus0913]

Thanks. We are excited.

We're celebrating my daughters graduation from high school so it's my wife and myself, our daughter, my 2 nieces and my cousin.

My cousin is a comedy promoter in NYC and Long Island and knows everyone from the area and she was bugging me to find out who would be on our cruise.

This is the best she's getting from me (LOL) and I appreciate you answering me so quickly.

Really looking forward to reading whatever you post in the next couple of days. It sounds like you loved the Escape

 

You're welcome! I'm don't know how often they change comedians but I'm sure whoever it is will be great. NCL always seems to have amazing entertainment!

 

I did love the Escape, it's hands down my favorite ship that we've sailed on so far. I was a little nervous about the size and how many passengers there were, but there was always something going on and it never felt overly crowded. I also really liked being able to reserve the entertainment in advance as well.

[tatibus0913]

Your review is great! Loving all your pictures and seeing the fun you two had. :) We have yet to sail to Bermuda, but it's on my list!

 

Looking forward to more!

 

Thanks! We did have a great time!

[tatibus0913]

Just ordered my license plate for our Alaska cruise next month. She was very responsive, I told her that she would probably be getting a few orders from your post.

 

That's great!! She was wonderful to work with when we ordered ours as well.

[tatibus0913]

Tuesday, June 19th: Day at Sea

 

Another sea day and we were up around 8:00am. The sun burns from embarkation day had faded so we were ready to go find ourselves a pool lounger! We decided to skip breakfast and head to the pool since we were planning on having lunch at Pinchos. It was probably about 9:00am once we were ready to go, and the pool deck was packed. We tried Spice H2O and that was packed as well, probably partly because they soccer game was on the large screen. We left Spice H2O and walked back towards the waterslides and there were plenty of loungers there.

 

Once we were settled, we got “breakfast”! Mudslides totally count as breakfast when you're on vacation.

 

 

I did see the staff walking around putting red stickers on loungers that had been left unattended for a while. They would write the time that the put the sticker on and then put an hour from there. I don’t know if they ever moved anyone’s belongings but it did seem like they were trying to monitor the chairs.

 

We spent the morning on our loungers, enjoying the views. We also did water slide with the tube and went down to the pool for a bit. It was a really nice way to begin our day!

 

We went back to our room, changed and headed to Pinchos right around 12pm. We decided to sit inside since it was a bit windy out. We were seated next to the windows, which was nice, but it was also next to do the door that led to outside seating. It was like a wind tunnel every time the door opened and we kept losing the menus and napkins. I don’t recommend sitting there haha.

 

We started with white and red sangria.

 

 

 

We began with the chef’s selection of cheese, which was three of the four cheeses offered.

 

 

Wagyu beef skewers

 

 

Scallops

 

[tatibus0913]

Pork Montadito

 

 

Salmon

 

 

Patatas bravas

 

 

Everything was delicious and flavorful! It was definitely worth the cost and we really enjoyed our lunch there.

 

After lunch, went to play mini golf. It was 9 holes and we had a lot of fun playing.

 

 

After that, we made a detour for some ice cream and ping pong before returning to our room for a bit.

 

 

 

We ended up back in the spa with our bathing suits this time so that we could use the therapy pool and whirlpool. We also relaxed on the heated tile loungers since there were a couple available. They are amazing. Once again, I fell asleep for a bit. We joked that naps in the spa were becoming a highlight of our vacation.

[Beachiekeen]

We used the thermal suite alot on our cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn and loved it. It was just more relaxing than the crazy pool deck! Your lunch looked delicious.

[tatibus0913]

Eventually, we had to head back to our room to start getting ready for dinner. We decided to run down the 5 o’clock somewhere bar to try out their drinks. I don’t remember the exact names but one had something about sandbar and the other a lizard. The lizard one was bright green but so good.

 

 

We were back in our room and there were chocolate covered strawberries! I imagine we received them because we attended the meet and greet the day before. Such a nice surprise!

Dinner for the evening would be at the Supper Club and we were seeing Choir of Man. I had booked and paid for it prior to the cruise. The show is set at a pub called The Jungle, and nine men perform various songs.

 

 

 

[tatibus0913]

We arrived a little after 5:30PM, and we were seated in the very front, right by the stage. The meal is a preset menu so everyone has a salmon and crab cake, bangers and mash, and a bread pudding dessert. It also comes with unlimited New Castle Brown Ale. We did see someone eating a salad so they can accommodate dietary restrictions and allergies.

 

 

 

 

 

The food was pretty good, but we didn’t care for the beer. Around 6:00pm, some of the performers came out on stage and people could go up to get beer refills if they wanted. They had a working keg on the set, which was really cool.

 

The show itself was really good, the performers are amazingly talented. I do wish we weren’t seated so close to the stage. We were off to the side a bit so we couldn’t see everything that was happening and the performers were super close when they came to the edge of the stage. Also, during the performance, one of the singers came to our table to bring us up on stage. When we hesitated, he said that they needed access to the piano since our table was right next to it. It wasn’t a huge deal since we just sat on a bar stool on stage during the performance but it would’ve been nice if we had been told that when we were seated.

I also had an issue with timing. When I booked it prior to the cruise, it showed up as from 6:00pm-7:00pm. So, I also booked the 7:30pm showing of For the Record since I had thought the show would be done by 7:00pm. It turns out that doors open at 5:30pm and dinner service is until 6:30pm. The show itself doesn’t start until 6:30pm and runs until 7:30pm so we missed our reservation. Again, not a huge deal but I wish it was reflected that it went until 7:30pm so that I could plan accordingly.

 

Fortunately, there was a 10:00pm showing of For the Record, so we decided that we would try to go then. Since we had some time, we stopped in to see the Howl at the Moon piano players. It was really fun! We were able to get seats in the back when it started at 8:30pm but it filled up really quickly and there were a lot of people standing.

 

At 9:30pm, we went up to the theater to see if we could get seats. The gentleman who was scanning the cards said that he had cancellations so we were all set.

 

 

We were only familiar with a couple of the movies that were referenced, but it was a great show!

[tatibus0913]

To end our night, we went to O’Sheehans for some late night food. We decided to share buffalo wings, nachos and chicken fajitas. Everything came out quickly and it was all good.

 

 

 

 

Since we had to be up early for our first day in Bermuda, we called it a night.

 

[tatibus0913]

We used the thermal suite alot on our cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn and loved it. It was just more relaxing than the crazy pool deck! Your lunch looked delicious.

 

We used it a lot more than we initially thought. It was great to just get away from the crowds, especially with three sea days! Lunch was at amazing - it was our favorite meal until we went to Food Republic later in the cruise.

[Beachiekeen]

We used it a lot more than we initially thought. It was great to just get away from the crowds, especially with three sea days! Lunch was at amazing - it was our favorite meal until we went to Food Republic later in the cruise.

 

How much were the thermal passes? I'm already looking at the Escape and trying to decide if it's better to get a spa balcony or just pay for the passes. :)

[Beer Belly]

Keep it comin'.....makes feel like I'm back on the ship. We also saw Choir of Men and enjoyed it, then off to Howl at The Moon....another great show. We wanted to see The Brat Pack, but it was sold out....we tried booking before the sailing (90 days out), but every time slot was cancelled:(

[jigger]

Nice !!

[rmf11699]

Anxious to see those Bermuda pix.

[shaun07]

Great review . Do you happen to have any pics of the dailies ?

[JamieLogical]

I'm doing this itinerary on the Escape in October with my partner. I can't wait and your review and pics have me VERY excited! I seriously almost cried when saw the first batch of pics from the ship. Our first cruise together was on the Escape in February and I an dying to get back on board. We loved it so much!

[rmf11699]

Great review . Do you happen to have any pics of the dailies ?

 

The OP answered your question. "I’m going to do the trip report first with all of the photos and then post the menus and dailies that I have at the end."

[tatibus0913]

How much were the thermal passes? I'm already looking at the Escape and trying to decide if it's better to get a spa balcony or just pay for the passes. :)

 

I believe the passes are $179 a person if you call and book in advance of your cruise, or $199 a person on board. Our passes came with the spa mini-suite that we had so I'm not 100% certain on those numbers. Maybe someone else knows, but I think that's what I've seen on these boards.

[tatibus0913]

Keep it comin'.....makes feel like I'm back on the ship. We also saw Choir of Men and enjoyed it, then off to Howl at The Moon....another great show. We wanted to see The Brat Pack, but it was sold out....we tried booking before the sailing (90 days out), but every time slot was cancelled:(

 

With all of the cruises we've been on, NCL has had amazing entertainment. It's one of the reasons we keep cruising!

[tatibus0913]

I'm doing this itinerary on the Escape in October with my partner. I can't wait and your review and pics have me VERY excited! I seriously almost cried when saw the first batch of pics from the ship. Our first cruise together was on the Escape in February and I an dying to get back on board. We loved it so much!

 

I may have teared up in the taxi when we first saw the Escape! We would absolutely sail it again!

[tatibus0913]

The OP answered your question. "I’m going to do the trip report first with all of the photos and then post the menus and dailies that I have at the end."

 

Thanks! I thought it might be better to do the review first and then post the dailies all at once at the end so that people don't have to search through everything to find the dailies and menus!

[firstmickey]

Great review! I'm cruising on the Escape in three weeks!