Review of Escape 4/21-18 Bermuda (and compared to RCL Allure/Anthem)

[will88]

This is my first cruise on Norwegian. Since I've done 2 RCL last year, those experiences were still fresh on my mind so I compare the three ships. Sadly I must say that Norwegian is like many had lamented, lagging behind other leading cruise lines now.

 

Ship: Escape is quite impressive in size and plan. I like the water slides/park, rope course, and very nice mini golf course. Escape also seems to be rocking harder at similar weather, and definitely shakes (at 6th floor MDR you can clearly feel the tremble - as if someone's shaking legs at your table, and you can feel it at times even in the 16th floor Garden Cafe!). Can't help but think of the listing incident. Our last day had huge wind - 70+ miles, waves several meters high, but we were safe.

Summary: RCL wins because they offer surf simulator and flight simulator. Skating rinks, rock climbing etc. And overall smoother ride.

 

Cabin: Had mini suite on Escape, and Balcony on Allure/Anthem. I like Escape's cabin number plate, with "make up room", "at home", "do not disturb" indicators. Size wise they seem similar, but mini suite had bigger/nicer bathroom. The biggest complaints I have against Escape:

1. Layout - if sofa bed is used, you can't sit at the table with chair, can only sit on bed but that's a little far
2. Lack of electrical outlets - only 3 at the table, none near bed or even in the bathroom?!
3. TVs don't work. The TV in our room had its power unplugged, AND a line was plugged into the headphone jack! Someone tried to make sure even if you plug power in, you can't hear anything! But after I fixed both issues, there was only one channel available - a shopping channel, how convenient. I called service, who fixed the TV issue. Then I found the remote still doesn't work (only volume keys work). They had to be called again to fix that. Our friend who also had minisuite had malfunctioning TV too, and even after fixing they still don't have a number of the channels. This doesn't seem isolated incidents - no wonder first two days the outdoor activities and gym were packed!
4. Don't get me started on the room key. EVERYONE - our friend, neighbors - all complain about the inconsistent unlocking. Sometimes you have to insert/pull out the card 10 times to unlock the door. If you were running for your life in a horror movie, don't try to get into your room! You simply can't unlock it in time!
5. Our bathroom sink also leaked, wetting towels underneath completely.
6. No convenient trashcan in bathroom (had one in cabinet tho).

Summary: Easy win for RCL here.

 

Food: MDR was a semi-disaster. Even if you go there at an early time, you might have to wait a bit to get in. The menu had few things special usually, and you have to wait a super long time for any course. The waiting staff were slow refilling (my water glass was empty and 10 mins past no one filled it up. I finally got a chance to ask the waitress and it took another 10 mins to get it). It was so bad that after the first 2 days, we went to Garden Cafe pretty much all the time. Norwegian claimed "Nobody does dining like Norwegian". They're right - we haven't seen a slower MDR on Carnival, RCL, or Celebrity! Anthem/Allure MDR was quite efficient and always had something interesting to order. I think it's not that Escape staff was bad, but they seem very short on hand in MDR. One waiter has to deal with many tables. It almost makes one think Norwegian deliberately drove traffic to Garden Cafe. But at least Garden Cafe is its saving grace. It's much better than RCL's horrendous windjammer. There's barely any long lines in Garden Cafe AND never ever had one had to wait outside the Cafe waiting to get in. Windjammer of RCL is small and jampacked, had food that's not that good and a few times had lines 20-30 mins long waiting outside to get in! We ended up mostly using MDR on RCL.

Summary: RCL edges out, only slightly. Much better buffet on Escape can't fully compensate for the huge lack of finer dining option (sans paying extra for specialty dining).

 

Entertainment: We booked every show, including escape room (you should book them right after you get on ship, in the box office) on Escape. The main, Broadway-quality show, After Midnight - nearly everyone of us fell asleep during some part of it. It's great singing, great showcase of jazz. But not including other music style AND without a real plot made it boring. The comedy shows were fine, same quality as other ships. The staff talent show - I was wowed. Grace from the O'Sheehan packed a powerful voice. She's in the wrong line of work and deserves a better stage. The Chinese dancer was quite professional and chose music nicely with good choreography. The magician was fine. Later ones were not as good but still quite impressive. The Knights - a huge letdown. They picked mostly obscure songs from the most famous knighted singers, and the few that were famous, you can't tell until the 3rd line! Somehow they managed to take every song and sign it in their own way, and not a good way! Their voices were ranging from OK to very good, but they shouldn't be singing pop songs. One of them should be belting out Broadway hits instead. Dizzy the magician was great! He's really funny and had some very nice tricks that I still scratch my head. But the real surprise was Choir of Men. I never heard of them before but they were fantastic! Like Knights, they took famous songs and sang in their own way, except it's a very good way! One of the Knights member joked at the end of their show said a Choir of Men member "came to watch their show on his off day, just to see how it shouldn't be done". It's actually true. Where Knights failed miserably, Choir of Men triumphed. From a powerful rendition of Adele's Hello to touching love ballade (not sure whose song was it). They chose different voices for different songs and nailed most of them. The bar tender, sadly, did not have a great voice but was tasked on two songs not well suited for him, particularly Sia's Chandelier?? He couldn't really do it, despite the nice harmony created by the team. But overall this is a 5-star show. I'd say don't miss Dizzy's show and definitely not Choir of Men!

Summary: RCL still wins out easily. Anthem had We will rock you and Allure betters with Mamma Mia. Both had some impressive acts flown in to perform some shows and every show on RCL ships were quite good. The escape room on Escape is very similar to the one in 270 on Anthem, so that's even.

 

Pool: Didn't really use it much. Hot tub usually quite busy, including spice H2O. The waterfall was quite gimmicky.

Summary: RCL edges out slightly with bigger and better equipped solarium vs the small spice H2O.

 

Fitness: Escape has decent size, and better classes at a slightly lower price for unlimited. It's way more packed the first two days than both of the RCL ships too. But one equipment had a bad seat from beginning till end of cruise despite that they said they called it in a while ago.

Summary: This might be the only Norwegian win here.

 

Port: Bermuda is nice! I like the beaches all looking different. View from lighthouse was very nice too. We heard various opinions that said Elbow Beach had the pinkest sand, or Horseshoe had the pinkest sad. But as we discovered, Jobson's Cove definitely had the pinkest sand of the 3, and possibly all beaches! One thing though - don't pick up anything translucent on the beach. And if you don't have place for your snorkeling gear, don't worry. Most of the beaches had few fishes. Horseshoe had like 10, Jobson's Cove had 4. My son said he saw more fish at the Garden Cafe... (There is actually reasonable number of fish at Tobacco Bay though, which has nice rock formations too).

BTW surprisingly, even though the water's cold, once you get in, it wasn't so bad. On nice sunny April days, you can swim.

 

Final verdit: While we enjoyed our trip quite a bit, Norwegian was disappointing as it had the same price as RCL but definitely failed to provide the same entertainment and service.

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by will88
added tobacco bay

[thistimeplease]

I hope you're right about the RCL.  Just booked our first cruise to Bermuda on the Anthem and we are already concerned after reading the RCL boards.  It will be tough to beat our outstanding cruises to Bermuda on the BA but the price was right with RCL so we are giving it a try.  Hopefully we will enjoy as much as you do.  Thanks for the review on the Escape, I enjoyed reading it.

[bkrickles1]

10 hours ago, will88 said:

This is my first cruise on Norwegian. Since I've done 2 RCL last year, those experiences were still fresh on my mind so I compare the three ships. Sadly I must say that Norwegian is like many had lamented, lagging behind other leading cruise lines now.

 

Ship: Escape is quite impressive in size and plan. I like the water slides/park, rope course, and very nice mini golf course. Escape also seems to be rocking harder at similar weather, and definitely shakes (at 6th floor MDR you can clearly feel the tremble - as if someone's shaking legs at your table, and you can feel it at times even in the 16th floor Garden Cafe!). Can't help but think of the listing incident. Our last day had huge wind - 70+ miles, waves several meters high, but we were safe.

Summary: RCL wins because they offer surf simulator and flight simulator. Skating rinks, rock climbing etc. And overall smoother ride.

 

Cabin: Had mini suite on Escape, and Balcony on Allure/Anthem. I like Escape's cabin number plate, with "make up room", "at home", "do not disturb" indicators. Size wise they seem similar, but mini suite had bigger/nicer bathroom. The biggest complaints I have against Escape:

1. Layout - if sofa bed is used, you can't sit at the table with chair, can only sit on bed but that's a little far
2. Lack of electrical outlets - only 3 at the table, none near bed or even in the bathroom?!
3. TVs don't work. The TV in our room had its power unplugged, AND a line was plugged into the headphone jack! Someone tried to make sure even if you plug power in, you can't hear anything! But after I fixed both issues, there was only one channel available - a shopping channel, how convenient. I called service, who fixed the TV issue. Then I found the remote still doesn't work (only volume keys work). They had to be called again to fix that. Our friend who also had minisuite had malfunctioning TV too, and even after fixing they still don't have a number of the channels. This doesn't seem isolated incidents - no wonder first two days the outdoor activities and gym were packed!
4. Don't get me started on the room key. EVERYONE - our friend, neighbors - all complain about the inconsistent unlocking. Sometimes you have to insert/pull out the card 10 times to unlock the door. If you were running for your life in a horror movie, don't try to get into your room! You simply can't unlock it in time!
5. Our bathroom sink also leaked, wetting towels underneath completely.
6. No convenient trashcan in bathroom (had one in cabinet tho).

Summary: Easy win for RCL here.

 

Food: MDR was a semi-disaster. Even if you go there at an early time, you might have to wait a bit to get in. The menu had few things special usually, and you have to wait a super long time for any course. The waiting staff were slow refilling (my water glass was empty and 10 mins past no one filled it up. I finally got a chance to ask the waitress and it took another 10 mins to get it). It was so bad that after the first 2 days, we went to Garden Cafe pretty much all the time. Norwegian claimed "Nobody does dining like Norwegian". They're right - we haven't seen a slower MDR on Carnival, RCL, or Celebrity! Anthem/Allure MDR was quite efficient and always had something interesting to order. I think it's not that Escape staff was bad, but they seem very short on hand in MDR. One waiter has to deal with many tables. It almost makes one think Norwegian deliberately drove traffic to Garden Cafe. But at least Garden Cafe is its saving grace. It's much better than RCL's horrendous windjammer. There's barely any long lines in Garden Cafe AND never ever had one had to wait outside the Cafe waiting to get in. Windjammer of RCL is small and jampacked, had food that's not that good and a few times had lines 20-30 mins long waiting outside to get in! We ended up mostly using MDR on RCL.

Summary: RCL edges out, only slightly. Much better buffet on Escape can't fully compensate for the huge lack of finer dining option (sans paying extra for specialty dining).

 

Entertainment: We booked every show, including escape room (you should book them right after you get on ship, in the box office) on Escape. The main, Broadway-quality show, After Midnight - nearly everyone of us fell asleep during some part of it. It's great singing, great showcase of jazz. But not including other music style AND without a real plot made it boring. The comedy shows were fine, same quality as other ships. The staff talent show - I was wowed. Grace from the O'Sheehan packed a powerful voice. She's in the wrong line of work and deserves a better stage. The Chinese dancer was quite professional and chose music nicely with good choreography. The magician was fine. Later ones were not as good but still quite impressive. The Knights - a huge letdown. They picked mostly obscure songs from the most famous knighted singers, and the few that were famous, you can't tell until the 3rd line! Somehow they managed to take every song and sign it in their own way, and not a good way! Their voices were ranging from OK to very good, but they shouldn't be singing pop songs. One of them should be belting out Broadway hits instead. Dizzy the magician was great! He's really funny and had some very nice tricks that I still scratch my head. But the real surprise was Choir of Men. I never heard of them before but they were fantastic! Like Knights, they took famous songs and sang in their own way, except it's a very good way! One of the Knights member joked at the end of their show said a Choir of Men member "came to watch their show on his off day, just to see how it shouldn't be done". It's actually true. Where Knights failed miserably, Choir of Men triumphed. From a powerful rendition of Adele's Hello to touching love ballade (not sure whose song was it). They chose different voices for different songs and nailed most of them. The bar tender, sadly, did not have a great voice but was tasked on two songs not well suited for him, particularly Sia's Chandelier?? He couldn't really do it, despite the nice harmony created by the team. But overall this is a 5-star show. I'd say don't miss Dizzy's show and definitely not Choir of Men!

Summary: RCL still wins out easily. Anthem had We will rock you and Allure betters with Mamma Mia. Both had some impressive acts flown in to perform some shows and every show on RCL ships were quite good. The escape room on Escape is very similar to the one in 270 on Anthem, so that's even.

 

Pool: Didn't really use it much. Hot tub usually quite busy, including spice H2O. The waterfall was quite gimmicky.

Summary: RCL edges out slightly with bigger and better equipped solarium vs the small spice H2O.

 

Fitness: Escape has decent size, and better classes at a slightly lower price for unlimited. It's way more packed the first two days than both of the RCL ships too. But one equipment had a bad seat from beginning till end of cruise despite that they said they called it in a while ago.

Summary: This might be the only Norwegian win here.

 

Port: Bermuda is nice! I like the beaches all looking different. View from lighthouse was very nice too. We heard various opinions that said Elbow Beach had the pinkest sand, or Horseshoe had the pinkest sad. But as we discovered, Jobson's Cove definitely had the pinkest sand of the 3, and possibly all beaches! One thing though - don't pick up anything translucent on the beach. And if you don't have place for your snorkeling gear, don't worry. Most of the beaches had few fishes. Horseshoe had like 10, Jobson's Cove had 4. My son said he saw more fish at the Garden Cafe... (There is actually reasonable number of fish at Tobacco Bay though, which has nice rock formations too).

BTW surprisingly, even though the water's cold, once you get in, it wasn't so bad. On nice sunny April days, you can swim.

 

Final verdit: While we enjoyed our trip quite a bit, Norwegian was disappointing as it had the same price as RCL but definitely failed to provide the same entertainment and service.

 

Sorry to hear you didn't love the Escape.

My crew sailed the Escape last July and the previous year we sailed the Anthem.

While the ships have many differences, I would say that the overall experience was very similar.

We didn't have any of the issues you had with the cabins and thought they were equal to what we had on the Anthem.

I thought the dining experiences were also pretty comparable and I actually think I liked the mdr experience on Escape better.

Overall, dining was pretty much a dead heat for us.

With regards to entertainment, I thought the main theater shows were better on Anthem and RCL in general, but all other entertainment was equal or better on the Escape. I thought it was more lively too.

As you said, Choir of Man is a can't miss and probably the best show I've seen on a cruise ship. We saw it in the supper club before they changed it to the theater. Everyone in my group agreed it was awesome. Also, Howl at the Moon dueling pianos is just so much fun.

Pool area is a win for RCL and Anthem. Escape pool area is way to small and poorly laid out. With that being said, we really liked Spice H2O and we found an area on deck 19 outside of Vibe that had all the amenities, had plenty of loungers and was pretty quiet. We hung out there most sea days and when we wanted a dip in the pool we walked for 60 seconds and went in the pool. It was a very good compromise.

In conclusion, I found RCL and NCL and more specifically the Anthem and Escape to offer quite similar experiences.

So much so that when choosing a cruise for January 2020, I chose the Encore over all the RCL counterparts.

The Encore offered much more value and will be brand new and who doesn't like brand new.

[01Sweetpea]

Thanks for the review.  We are sailing on our first NCL ship (Escape) in 3 weeks and are curious to see how it stacks up versus the other RCI ships we have been on, including Oasis.  We chose this cruise specifically for for 2.5 days in Bermuda. 

[PelicanBill]

Good review.  After 4 trips on NCL Breakaway we are trying Anthem.  Hoping your food comparison is accurate as we definitely found the same issues in MDR on Breakaway.  Breakaway has much better entertainment than Escape I think (allowing that Rock of Ages or any Broadway show will have those who don't like it.)  With Syd's and great Reggae bands and guitar players we've never been disappointed with Breakway entertainment.  I will be doing the reverse comparison (Anthem vs Breakaway) in late June.

[will88]

I must add that embarkation and disembarkation of Norwegian was better than RCL's (despite some attitude by some staff at Manhattan pier) - it was definitely faster disembarkation than both Anthem and Allure, although embarkation of Anthem was a bit faster than Escape.

 

Another thing is that I liked Norwegian's app better than RCL's, especially the fact that you can pay $10/trip/person to get unlimited voice calls/messaging/voice mail on board! That's not available on Anthem and Allure (at least last year). There's more info on Norwegian app but it also lacks some very important info (like it'd show that you booked 2 items today, but not show what or when are they?!)

 

So I missed these two things where Escape was better than Anthem/Allure. But overall my impression of the ships/line stands.

[will88]

9 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

Good review.  After 4 trips on NCL Breakaway we are trying Anthem.  Hoping your food comparison is accurate as we definitely found the same issues in MDR on Breakaway.  Breakaway has much better entertainment than Escape I think (allowing that Rock of Ages or any Broadway show will have those who don't like it.)  With Syd's and great Reggae bands and guitar players we've never been disappointed with Breakway entertainment.  I will be doing the reverse comparison (Anthem vs Breakaway) in late June.

 

On Anthem definitely try the Wonderland specialty restaurant - we all loved it. Very interesting menu, great presentation, and many of them delicious. It's the only specialty restaurant we thought worth trying, and it didn't disappoint.

[will88]

Can't believe that I forgot to add the important internet comparison. This is again an easy win for RCL. Both Anthem and Allure premium internet costs about half the price (a bit over $100 for 7-night purchased online in advance) as Norwegian's (a bit over $200 for 7-night purchased online in advance) and worked several fold better on some apps that demand lower latency (like remote desktop software). Sometimes the Norwegian premium was almost unusuable, which seldom happened on Anthem/Allure. But the premium internet can deal with streaming OK as latency is less critical there, so for most people at least the premium works, at a cost of twice as much as RCL.

 

The difference in latency, as I later read, was due to RCL and Carnival etc. invested big money to get low orbit satellite network usage to reduce latency while Norwegian, it's Norwegian ... That's my overall feeling about Norwegian. It seems to be really into reducing value for money (charge you as much as they can, and serve as little as they can). It's also the ONLY cruise I've had (out of 6) that didn't serve lobster any night - not that I care about it much, which is why I forgot to mention when reviewing food, but it just goes to show you how Norwegian tries to cut corners as much as it can.

 

Norwegian simply isn't a great line, period. We all decided that unless there's an epic deal/itinerary, it's very unlikely for us to cruise Norwegian again as there's nothing that it offers stand out. Food - Celebrity hands down wins. Entertainment - RCL followed by Celebrity. Low cost - Carnival. Service - all other lines are better (and heard Disney is incredible). Its only advantage was that it had the most ships sailing out of NYC I think, so many people who can't fit flying to south into their schedule had to deal with Norwegian.

Edited May 1, 2019 by will88

[bkrickles1]

51 minutes ago, will88 said:

Can't believe that I forgot to add the important internet comparison. This is again an easy win for RCL. Both Anthem and Allure premium internet costs about half the price (a bit over $100 for 7-night purchased online in advance) as Norwegian's (a bit over $200 for 7-night purchased online in advance) and worked several fold better on some apps that demand lower latency (like remote desktop software). Sometimes the Norwegian premium was almost unusuable, which seldom happened on Anthem/Allure. But the premium internet can deal with streaming OK as latency is less critical there, so for most people at least the premium works, at a cost of twice as much as RCL.

 

The difference in latency, as I later read, was due to RCL and Carnival etc. invested big money to get low orbit satellite network usage to reduce latency while Norwegian, it's Norwegian ... That's my overall feeling about Norwegian. It seems to be really into reducing value for money (charge you as much as they can, and serve as little as they can). It's also the ONLY cruise I've had (out of 6) that didn't serve lobster any night - not that I care about it much, which is why I forgot to mention when reviewing food, but it just goes to show you how Norwegian tries to cut corners as much as it can.

 

Norwegian simply isn't a great line, period. We all decided that unless there's an epic deal/itinerary, it's very unlikely for us to cruise Norwegian again as there's nothing that it offers stand out. Food - Celebrity hands down wins. Entertainment - RCL followed by Celebrity. Low cost - Carnival. Service - all other lines are better (and heard Disney is incredible). Its only advantage was that it had the most ships sailing out of NYC I think, so many people who can't fit flying to south into their schedule had to deal with Norwegian.

Personally, the internet isn't that important to me but I agree RCL did seem better in my limited use.

I'll also agree with you that the food on Celebrity is probably the best of the lines although I've found some great things to eat on all my cruises. Again, I found the Escape and the Anthem to be a dead heat on the food front. Food is extremely personal and we all seem to look for different things.

But again, entertainment, except for the theater shows we found the Escape to have more enjoyable/fun entertainment than RCL.

Choir of Man, Howl at the Moon, music in District Brew house (which is an incredible venue), games in the atrium, dance parties, etc. Definitely the edge goes to the Escape there.

Cost.......we are sailing Encore in January out of Miami. 3 of us in a balcony with all 6 perks (which includes r/t airfare from NY) and I'm paying $3500. I checked every other cruise line for the same week and nothing could come close in value.

Service. I haven't cruised Disney, but I've heard good things. Celebrity may have been better, but not really enough to make a significant difference. And I've cruised RCL many more times than NCL (and loved it, btw), but I thought the service was equal. Everyone me and my people dealt with on the Escape gave us excellent service with no complaints. Bar service, cabin steward, wait staff in mdr's were all great.

It's really nice that we all have so many choices and can choose what suits us.

My next cruise will be on the Encore. After that, who knows.

[PelicanBill]

10 hours ago, will88 said:

 

On Anthem definitely try the Wonderland specialty restaurant - we all loved it. Very interesting menu, great presentation, and many of them delicious. It's the only specialty restaurant we thought worth trying, and it didn't disappoint.

That is a definite for our plan, thanks!

[will88]

57 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Personally, the internet isn't that important to me but I agree RCL did seem better in my limited use.

I'll also agree with you that the food on Celebrity is probably the best of the lines although I've found some great things to eat on all my cruises. Again, I found the Escape and the Anthem to be a dead heat on the food front. Food is extremely personal and we all seem to look for different things.

But again, entertainment, except for the theater shows we found the Escape to have more enjoyable/fun entertainment than RCL.

Choir of Man, Howl at the Moon, music in District Brew house (which is an incredible venue), games in the atrium, dance parties, etc. Definitely the edge goes to the Escape there.

Cost.......we are sailing Encore in January out of Miami. 3 of us in a balcony with all 6 perks (which includes r/t airfare from NY) and I'm paying $3500. I checked every other cruise line for the same week and nothing could come close in value.

Service. I haven't cruised Disney, but I've heard good things. Celebrity may have been better, but not really enough to make a significant difference. And I've cruised RCL many more times than NCL (and loved it, btw), but I thought the service was equal. Everyone me and my people dealt with on the Escape gave us excellent service with no complaints. Bar service, cabin steward, wait staff in mdr's were all great.

It's really nice that we all have so many choices and can choose what suits us.

My next cruise will be on the Encore. After that, who knows.

 

Yes, internet isn't that important for most people and Norwegian does win when it comes to using its app to message/call other members in your group. That was great. Foodwise we loved Garden Cafe on Escape more than other buffets (except for Celebrity, it's better than the other lines) so me putting RCL ahead slightly is subjective, as I value a bit finer dining options more and our experience with MDR on Escape was just terrible (and so was everyone on tables around us, as we all waited about the same amount of time). A 3-course meal taking 1.5-2 hrs regularly is just NOT the norm on cruise lines.

Shows, the main ones RCL wins hands down, but Escape had good shows as both of us mentioned. I do agree the Atrium is great, the activities/music around Atrium is better than RCL. Games, not so sure. It's probably even.

I understand you haven't met cabin issues I've encountered (TV, leaking sink), although I'm a bit skeptical you haven't see ANY of the issues I saw. I mean, no trash can in bathroom (except for one on cabinet door), only 3 outlets near table, those are standard on Escape. Everyone had to have met such issues unless maybe you're in Haven. TV issue both of our parties encountered, and room key many encountered same issue. So cabin definitely RCL wins.

 

A lot of the review is subjective, so is part of my statements. If Escape was my first cruise, I would've loved it despite the issues. It's just that I'm pickier now, and probably pickier than you despite that you cruised more. 🙂 But still, I tried to lay out verifiable facts in my review as much as I can to make it helpful for others. Still our conclusions based on those facts and respective (different) experiences might differ of course.

[graphicguy]

Breakaway to Bermuda is one of my all time favorite cruises.  

 

Sorry it didn’t work out for you.

 

But, in fairness, I NEVER had any of the issues you had on NCL.  TVs all worked.  Never found any headphones plugged into them (should be an easy fix....unplug the headphones).  I don’t cruise to watch TV, but all channels on all cruise lines are limited.  Shopping is usually one channel.  The “view from the bridge” is the other.  There’s usually an “international news” channel, and a sports channel.  Movies are available, too.  But, both NCL and RCCL charged for them.

 

Pools....agreed!  I don’t go to the main pool area on any cruise line anymore.  I do spend time in Spice H20 on NCL and the very similar Solarium on Royal.  Those tend to have more room for adults.

 

Feel NCL has the best entertainment at sea out of all the major cruise lines.

 

Weird about waiting in line at the Garden Cafe.  I’ve NEVER seen a line to get into the Garden Cafe....ever.  You might have to wait a minute or so to use the hand washing station, but that’s about it.

 

In brief, having sailed both “Away” ships and Harmony and Anthem on Royal, I can say they are similar.  What tilts it to NCL for me is their excellent entertainment and the “WaterFront” area, which is where I spend most of my time when on the ship....either having cocktails with fellow passengers, relaxing, reading, or dining al fresco.

 

Royal has become very expensive in comparison recently, too.

 

Best of luck with whomever you cruise next time.

[graphicguy]

A review from someone else who was on the same cruise as you.....

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2659426-breakaway-april-21st-through-28th-a-review-without-the-fluff/

[bkrickles1]

48 minutes ago, will88 said:

 

Yes, internet isn't that important for most people and Norwegian does win when it comes to using its app to message/call other members in your group. That was great. Foodwise we loved Garden Cafe on Escape more than other buffets (except for Celebrity, it's better than the other lines) so me putting RCL ahead slightly is subjective, as I value a bit finer dining options more and our experience with MDR on Escape was just terrible (and so was everyone on tables around us, as we all waited about the same amount of time). A 3-course meal taking 1.5-2 hrs regularly is just NOT the norm on cruise lines.

Shows, the main ones RCL wins hands down, but Escape had good shows as both of us mentioned. I do agree the Atrium is great, the activities/music around Atrium is better than RCL. Games, not so sure. It's probably even.

I understand you haven't met cabin issues I've encountered (TV, leaking sink), although I'm a bit skeptical you haven't see ANY of the issues I saw. I mean, no trash can in bathroom (except for one on cabinet door), only 3 outlets near table, those are standard on Escape. Everyone had to have met such issues unless maybe you're in Haven. TV issue both of our parties encountered, and room key many encountered same issue. So cabin definitely RCL wins.

 

A lot of the review is subjective, so is part of my statements. If Escape was my first cruise, I would've loved it despite the issues. It's just that I'm pickier now, and probably pickier than you despite that you cruised more. 🙂 But still, I tried to lay out verifiable facts in my review as much as I can to make it helpful for others. Still our conclusions based on those facts and respective (different) experiences might differ of course.

Of course. And I'm not knocking your opinion. It's just that my experience was different than yours.

And when you say you're skeptical that I haven't seen any of those cabin issues, it's because those things you mention (trash can and amount of outlets) are not issues to me. They are the specs of the ship. I don't remember ever having some garbage and not having a place to put it and the amount of outlets was also not a problem for us.

Our TV worked perfectly well and only had a few channels but we weren't really interested in that either. Our key card worked. Did we sometimes have to do it twice or 3 times, probably but it wasn't a nagging issue. It usually worked the first time for us.

You also mention the 1.5 - 2 hour dinners and actually I've found it to be exactly the same on every cruise I've been on (give or take a few minutes). I have found it to be the norm on Celebrity, RCL and NCL. It's actually one of my pet peeves. In fact, one night on the Escape, to circumvent this particular issue, my people and I ordered something like 3 appetizers each and no main courses or dessert just so we could get out of there within an hour and get to whatever entertainment we had chosen that evening. 

As you said, everyone's experience is subjective and everyone's expectations can be different.

My bottom line is did my group and I have fun, did we have lots of laughs and was it relaxing.

If I can answer yes to those 3, I'm a happy guy.

Edited May 1, 2019 by bkrickles1

[bkrickles1]

18 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

A review from someone else who was on the same cruise as you.....

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2659426-breakaway-april-21st-through-28th-a-review-without-the-fluff/

Unless op got it wrong, I believe the review was about the Escape cruise.

[graphicguy]

6 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Unless op got it wrong, I believe the review was about the Escape cruise.

You’re right.  I mistook this review to be the same cruise given it was the same time frame.  Still, throwing stones about a cruise based on things like no sound on the TV because of headphones being plugged in, or not being able to find the garbage can in the bathroom (it’s there....under the sink), etc seem to be a bit disingenuous.

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by graphicguy

[will88]

13 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

You’re right.  I mistook this review to be the same cruise given it was the same time frame.  Still, throwing stones about a cruise based on things like no sound on the TV because of headphones being plugged in, or not being able to find the garbage can in the bathroom (it’s there....under the sink), etc seem to be a bit disingenuous.

 

Sorry graphicguy, no accusations please? You misread more than one thing (I reviewed for Escape and you thought for Breakaway). I never said I couldn't find garbage can in the bathroom, I said it's in cabinet. It's not where I think it's convenient/useful. The headphones plugged in + TV power cord pulled off, it's not an accident. Have you tried to move the TV on Escape? It's hard to even tilt it, no one would accidentally pull one cord off and plug another one in.

Also I never said I had to wait outside Garden Cafe, I said it's the saving grace of Escape and NEVER had we had to wait outside. Please read others' reviews and reply objectively. Just because you like NCL doesn't mean others are being dishonest when criticizing NCL.

[will88]

38 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Of course. And I'm not knocking your opinion. It's just that my experience was different than yours.

And when you say you're skeptical that I haven't seen any of those cabin issues, it's because those things you mention (trash can and amount of outlets) are not issues to me. They are the specs of the ship. I don't remember ever having some garbage and not having a place to put it and the amount of outlets was also not a problem for us.

Our TV worked perfectly well and only had a few channels but we weren't really interested in that either. Our key card worked. Did we sometimes have to do it twice or 3 times, probably but it wasn't a nagging issue. It usually worked the first time for us.

You also mention the 1.5 - 2 hour dinners and actually I've found it to be exactly the same on every cruise I've been on (give or take a few minutes). I have found it to be the norm on Celebrity, RCL and NCL. It's actually one of my pet peeves. In fact, one night on the Escape, to circumvent this particular issue, my people and I ordered something like 3 appetizers each and no main courses or dessert just so we could get out of there within an hour and get to whatever entertainment we had chosen that evening. 

As you said, everyone's experience is subjective and everyone's expectations can be different.

My bottom line is did my group and I have fun, did we have lots of laughs and was it relaxing.

If I can answer yes to those 3, I'm a happy guy.

Indeed, that's why I said I was pickier. But on RCL I rarely had to spend more than 1 hr in MDR (I remember Celebrity to be similar) - I think it's because of fixed time dining and we chose the earlier one, which has less people. But NCL eliminated fixed time dining, and the result wasn't good IMO.

[graphicguy]

27 minutes ago, will88 said:

Sorry graphicguy, no accusations please? You misread more than one thing (I reviewed for Escape and you thought for Breakaway). I never said I couldn't find garbage can in the bathroom, I said it's in cabinet. It's not where I think it's convenient/useful. The headphones plugged in + TV power cord pulled off, it's not an accident. Have you tried to move the TV on Escape? It's hard to even tilt it, no one would accidentally pull one cord off and plug another one in.

Also I never said I had to wait outside Garden Cafe, I said it's the saving grace of Escape and NEVER had we had to wait outside. Please read others' reviews and reply objectively. Just because you like NCL doesn't mean others are being dishonest when criticizing NCL.

No apology required or expected.

 

I sailed the Escape two months ago on the “listing cruise”.  You sail the Atlantic in Winter, Spring or Fall, and you should expect rough seas.  The Escape is a huge mega-ship.   If you felt any listing, the waters were particularly rough.  

 

I’ve sailed both Anthem and Harmony (and LIberty and Allure) on RCCL.  So, I have first hand experience on them all.

 

I’ve never had reason to move the TV (except to maybe tilt it a little bit) on any cruise line.  There are USB chargers next to the beds.  It sounds like the batteries in your remote needed replacement and the TV was stuck on one channel (shopping) and you couldn’t change it.  Just ask the steward (or Customer Service) for new batteries or another remote and I’d say the problem would have been solved.

 

If you were having problems with your room key, it’s an easy fix.  Just go to customer service and and ask for another.  Also, if you would have reported any sink leaks to customer service, I bet they would have had that fixed very quickly.

 

I found the water grotto to be quite nice in Spice H20.

 

90 minutes for “sit down” dinner in either MDR or specialty restaurant isn’t unusual.  Matter of fact, that’s probably normal.....on any cruise line.  I no longer have any desire to have designated dining times, which is why I like NCL’s FreeStyle.

 

20mbps downloads and about 15mbps uploads is what I was getting on the Escape when I sailed her. That’s some of the fastest internet speeds I’ve ever had while sailing, so no complaints there.  I’ve heard RCCL has fast internet, too.  But, NCL’s isn’t shabby in the least.

 

Sail whichever you want.  But, let’s be fair in our assessments.  There are those here who will look at your review and think NCL is terrible.  They are quite the opposite, and I love sailing them.

Edited May 1, 2019 by graphicguy

[Mid43]

If the Mother/Daughter happen to read this who did the $50 Dolphin encounter Thursday, the photo's I shot came out pretty good! Please reach out to me I still have not received your email.

 

I feel bad as their was another family doing the full dolphin encounter and I have a few beautiful shots of their young daughter's one on one with the dolphin, I was going to reach out to them afterwards to let them know I had these photo's but I lost track of them and missed them after the encounter and could not offer to send them the pictures... bummed.

 

Safe travels all!

[will88]

6 hours ago, graphicguy said:

No apology required or expected.

 

I sailed the Escape two months ago on the “listing cruise”.  You sail the Atlantic in Winter, Spring or Fall, and you should expect rough seas.  The Escape is a huge mega-ship.   If you felt any listing, the waters were particularly rough.  

 

I’ve sailed both Anthem and Harmony (and LIberty and Allure) on RCCL.  So, I have first hand experience on them all.

 

I’ve never had reason to move the TV (except to maybe tilt it a little bit) on any cruise line.  There are USB chargers next to the beds.  It sounds like the batteries in your remote needed replacement and the TV was stuck on one channel (shopping) and you couldn’t change it.  Just ask the steward (or Customer Service) for new batteries or another remote and I’d say the problem would have been solved.

 

If you were having problems with your room key, it’s an easy fix.  Just go to customer service and and ask for another.  Also, if you would have reported any sink leaks to customer service, I bet they would have had that fixed very quickly.

 

I found the water grotto to be quite nice in Spice H20.

 

90 minutes for “sit down” dinner in either MDR or specialty restaurant isn’t unusual.  Matter of fact, that’s probably normal.....on any cruise line.  I no longer have any desire to have designated dining times, which is why I like NCL’s FreeStyle.

 

20mbps downloads and about 15mbps uploads is what I was getting on the Escape when I sailed her. That’s some of the fastest internet speeds I’ve ever had while sailing, so no complaints there.  I’ve heard RCCL has fast internet, too.  But, NCL’s isn’t shabby in the least.

 

Sail whichever you want.  But, let’s be fair in our assessments.  There are those here who will look at your review and think NCL is terrible.  They are quite the opposite, and I love sailing them.

 

That wasn't an apology attempt, more like an "excuse me?". Seriously, I wrote a review for Escape 4/21-28 with Bermuda prominently included in the review, and you said it's the same trip as Breakaway 4/21-28 to Mexico? When someone pointed out your mistake, you argued that "still, [[false statements about what my review stated here and a bit in later post too]]" and then called me "disingenuous". I'm only glad that I wasn't trying to have a political debate with you. I assume others can actually read my review and understand that I put all things that I experienced on different cruise lines out there, and compared them in the hope to give tips about ship, shows, excursions etc and help the fellow cruisers. You might have different experience with the cruises, you can state them here, but don't blatantly misquote what I said and then call me disingenuous. It's really childish, frankly.

[newmexicoNita]

On 4/29/2019 at 10:51 PM, will88 said:

This is my first cruise on Norwegian. Since I've done 2 RCL last year, those experiences were still fresh on my mind so I compare the three ships. Sadly I must say that Norwegian is like many had lamented, lagging behind other leading cruise lines now.

 

Ship: Escape is quite impressive in size and plan. I like the water slides/park, rope course, and very nice mini golf course. Escape also seems to be rocking harder at similar weather, and definitely shakes (at 6th floor MDR you can clearly feel the tremble - as if someone's shaking legs at your table, and you can feel it at times even in the 16th floor Garden Cafe!). Can't help but think of the listing incident. Our last day had huge wind - 70+ miles, waves several meters high, but we were safe.

Summary: RCL wins because they offer surf simulator and flight simulator. Skating rinks, rock climbing etc. And overall smoother ride.

 

Cabin: Had mini suite on Escape, and Balcony on Allure/Anthem. I like Escape's cabin number plate, with "make up room", "at home", "do not disturb" indicators. Size wise they seem similar, but mini suite had bigger/nicer bathroom. The biggest complaints I have against Escape:

1. Layout - if sofa bed is used, you can't sit at the table with chair, can only sit on bed but that's a little far
2. Lack of electrical outlets - only 3 at the table, none near bed or even in the bathroom?!
3. TVs don't work. The TV in our room had its power unplugged, AND a line was plugged into the headphone jack! Someone tried to make sure even if you plug power in, you can't hear anything! But after I fixed both issues, there was only one channel available - a shopping channel, how convenient. I called service, who fixed the TV issue. Then I found the remote still doesn't work (only volume keys work). They had to be called again to fix that. Our friend who also had minisuite had malfunctioning TV too, and even after fixing they still don't have a number of the channels. This doesn't seem isolated incidents - no wonder first two days the outdoor activities and gym were packed!
4. Don't get me started on the room key. EVERYONE - our friend, neighbors - all complain about the inconsistent unlocking. Sometimes you have to insert/pull out the card 10 times to unlock the door. If you were running for your life in a horror movie, don't try to get into your room! You simply can't unlock it in time!
5. Our bathroom sink also leaked, wetting towels underneath completely.
6. No convenient trashcan in bathroom (had one in cabinet tho).

Summary: Easy win for RCL here.

 

Food: MDR was a semi-disaster. Even if you go there at an early time, you might have to wait a bit to get in. The menu had few things special usually, and you have to wait a super long time for any course. The waiting staff were slow refilling (my water glass was empty and 10 mins past no one filled it up. I finally got a chance to ask the waitress and it took another 10 mins to get it). It was so bad that after the first 2 days, we went to Garden Cafe pretty much all the time. Norwegian claimed "Nobody does dining like Norwegian". They're right - we haven't seen a slower MDR on Carnival, RCL, or Celebrity! Anthem/Allure MDR was quite efficient and always had something interesting to order. I think it's not that Escape staff was bad, but they seem very short on hand in MDR. One waiter has to deal with many tables. It almost makes one think Norwegian deliberately drove traffic to Garden Cafe. But at least Garden Cafe is its saving grace. It's much better than RCL's horrendous windjammer. There's barely any long lines in Garden Cafe AND never ever had one had to wait outside the Cafe waiting to get in. Windjammer of RCL is small and jampacked, had food that's not that good and a few times had lines 20-30 mins long waiting outside to get in! We ended up mostly using MDR on RCL.

Summary: RCL edges out, only slightly. Much better buffet on Escape can't fully compensate for the huge lack of finer dining option (sans paying extra for specialty dining).

 

Entertainment: We booked every show, including escape room (you should book them right after you get on ship, in the box office) on Escape. The main, Broadway-quality show, After Midnight - nearly everyone of us fell asleep during some part of it. It's great singing, great showcase of jazz. But not including other music style AND without a real plot made it boring. The comedy shows were fine, same quality as other ships. The staff talent show - I was wowed. Grace from the O'Sheehan packed a powerful voice. She's in the wrong line of work and deserves a better stage. The Chinese dancer was quite professional and chose music nicely with good choreography. The magician was fine. Later ones were not as good but still quite impressive. The Knights - a huge letdown. They picked mostly obscure songs from the most famous knighted singers, and the few that were famous, you can't tell until the 3rd line! Somehow they managed to take every song and sign it in their own way, and not a good way! Their voices were ranging from OK to very good, but they shouldn't be singing pop songs. One of them should be belting out Broadway hits instead. Dizzy the magician was great! He's really funny and had some very nice tricks that I still scratch my head. But the real surprise was Choir of Men. I never heard of them before but they were fantastic! Like Knights, they took famous songs and sang in their own way, except it's a very good way! One of the Knights member joked at the end of their show said a Choir of Men member "came to watch their show on his off day, just to see how it shouldn't be done". It's actually true. Where Knights failed miserably, Choir of Men triumphed. From a powerful rendition of Adele's Hello to touching love ballade (not sure whose song was it). They chose different voices for different songs and nailed most of them. The bar tender, sadly, did not have a great voice but was tasked on two songs not well suited for him, particularly Sia's Chandelier?? He couldn't really do it, despite the nice harmony created by the team. But overall this is a 5-star show. I'd say don't miss Dizzy's show and definitely not Choir of Men!

Summary: RCL still wins out easily. Anthem had We will rock you and Allure betters with Mamma Mia. Both had some impressive acts flown in to perform some shows and every show on RCL ships were quite good. The escape room on Escape is very similar to the one in 270 on Anthem, so that's even.

 

Pool: Didn't really use it much. Hot tub usually quite busy, including spice H2O. The waterfall was quite gimmicky.

Summary: RCL edges out slightly with bigger and better equipped solarium vs the small spice H2O.

 

Fitness: Escape has decent size, and better classes at a slightly lower price for unlimited. It's way more packed the first two days than both of the RCL ships too. But one equipment had a bad seat from beginning till end of cruise despite that they said they called it in a while ago.

Summary: This might be the only Norwegian win here.

 

Port: Bermuda is nice! I like the beaches all looking different. View from lighthouse was very nice too. We heard various opinions that said Elbow Beach had the pinkest sand, or Horseshoe had the pinkest sad. But as we discovered, Jobson's Cove definitely had the pinkest sand of the 3, and possibly all beaches! One thing though - don't pick up anything translucent on the beach. And if you don't have place for your snorkeling gear, don't worry. Most of the beaches had few fishes. Horseshoe had like 10, Jobson's Cove had 4. My son said he saw more fish at the Garden Cafe... (There is actually reasonable number of fish at Tobacco Bay though, which has nice rock formations too).

BTW surprisingly, even though the water's cold, once you get in, it wasn't so bad. On nice sunny April days, you can swim.

 

Final verdit: While we enjoyed our trip quite a bit, Norwegian was disappointing as it had the same price as RCL but definitely failed to provide the same entertainment and service.

 

though I may not totally agree with you on some of your opinions I think you did a great job of giving an objective review as you saw it. I wish all reviews were as honest as yours. Thanks, it will give others some idea of how one person sees the 2 lines. As I said, this doesn't mean I agree but that is what this is all about: opinions As for internet I really am not sure too many who cruise have issues with or a reason to have outstanding internet service. Except for those who have to use it for work related issues, as long as there is service that is the important thing. 

[EllieinNJ]

Hope I'm not too off topic but I have been contemplating booking either the Bliss or the Anthem next winter.  Can you get Anytime dining on the Anthem or just the scheduled dinner seatings?

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

Hope I'm not too off topic but I have been contemplating booking either the Bliss or the Anthem next winter.  Can you get Anytime dining on the Anthem or just the scheduled dinner seatings?

You can get anytime dining on Anthem.  They seem to be hit or miss.  And, I had to wait about 20 minutes before being seated when I sailed.  So, hope they’ve improved since then.

[graphicguy]

Will....best of luck to you in any cruise choices you make.  I’ll just leave you with the idea that NCL probably isn’t the right cruise line for you.  NCL is all about FreeStyle.  If you want set dining times, NCL isn’t going to be to your liking.

 

Clearly, you had issues with the cabin lay out and where some of the cabin’s features are located.  So, it sounds like you’re used to the cabin layout with Royal.  Best to stick with them if that’s important to you.

 

Happy cruising!