Vacation escape on the Escape - LIVE report, 3-13 August 2022 from Civitavecchia to Greek Islands, Malta and Italy

[Utas2]

1 point per night per person. Usually in Haven suites you get 2.

[Utas2]

Ok, although I do not have high hopes that anyone in NCL reads this “struggle for correct Latitudes points” spin-off, 

upon receiving the negative answer from NCL, I sent the following reaction:

 

”

Thank you for your response.

 

I would like to ask that if I follow the logic you presented below, why did I pay the service fee for a Haven Suite  cabin (20 USD pp/pd) if I am only counted for the Latitudes programme for the “cabin I paid full fare” (disregarding the amount that I paid for the upgrade). Would not then it be correct to calculate the service fee based on the same principle?

 

Grateful for your considerations.

 

Regards,”

 

keep you posted….

[rbxlady]

4 hours ago, Utas2 said:

Ok, although I do not have high hopes that anyone in NCL reads this “struggle for correct Latitudes points” spin-off, 

upon receiving the negative answer from NCL, I sent the following reaction:

 

”

Thank you for your response.

 

I would like to ask that if I follow the logic you presented below, why did I pay the service fee for a Haven Suite  cabin (20 USD pp/pd) if I am only counted for the Latitudes programme for the “cabin I paid full fare” (disregarding the amount that I paid for the upgrade). Would not then it be correct to calculate the service fee based on the same principle?

 

Grateful for your considerations.

 

Regards,”

 

keep you posted….

Hopefully you’ll catch someone on a good day, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

 

I think it’s fair to pay the service fee for the Haven cabin, but I also think it’s fair to give double Latitudes points even if you are upgraded into the Haven. It’s not like that upgrade is free— you just got it at a better price, and for the Haven that amount is never insignificant.

 

And on that last point, if you don’t watch your bids vs decreasing fares, you could pay more with a bid than if you’d upgraded directly. We just upgraded ourselves into the Haven for our October cruise because the fare dropped below our bid, which was at the high end of “fair”. (We have since cancelled all our bids.) So if I’d won a bid for my same cabin, I’d have paid more and gotten 1x points, but because I upgraded myself, I paid less and get 2x points.

[marktwothousand]

Anyone know when the laundry bundle is offered on these sailings? I’m tryna pack for next week!

[ggTexasGal]

When trying to rationalize any expectations vs. NCL rules, it's best to have fully read the Upgrade Advantage FAQ, before engaging in the bidding process.

The topic of "Promotions" (none will be added) is addressed in question number 2 and number 5!

 

https://www.ncl.com/content/upgrade-advantage-faq

[dietermn]

On 8/13/2022 at 10:13 AM, Utas2 said:

Greetings to all fellow CC users from ashore. I hope you took away some useful insights, tips and the overall feeling of this subjective review.

 

First of all the debarkation day:

 

After a really short night you got that “familiar” little shaking of the ship when it arrives to port and gently tells you that it is time to go. So even without the alarm clock I was awake right when we docked in the cloudy Civitavecchia port.

 

we had our final breakfast in the Haven restaurant, saying goodbye to its wonderful staff and to Dilip, the concierge who probably worked all night to make sure that all leaving guests are properly taken care of while already learning about the incoming ones.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze: excellently organised, no queuing, waving staff wishing you to return one day, and the lugagges were already waiting for us ready to be picked up.

 

Of course, there are taxi drivers waiting outside to offer a direct ride to Fiumicino airport, but we bought a train ticket, so we took the free shuttle to the bus terminal, from where we got to the train station by our means very quickly. Note that for 3 euros pp there is a direct bus from the cruise terminal to the train station of Chivitavecchia, too.

 

Leaving around 7am meant that both on the bus and then on the trains to FCO there were no crowds at all.

 

Finally, as a summary of our first cruise after COVID-19 hit the high seas, a conclusion:

 

This was an awesome, relaxing and fun cruising experience with the beautiful and modern Norwegian Escape. We thank all the staff who made it so enjoyable and especially grateful for those who did the extra mile to provide us with yet another unforgettable memory.

 

We will be back, ‘cause we like to “cruise like a Norwegian.”

🙂

 

 

 

Thanks for all the information, it was very nice to recap and I'm excited about my upcoming trip on the Escape in the Haven.  Two questions:

 

1) Do you recall the Haven dining room times for the last day?  I recognize you jumped off early, but we prefer to stay on as long as we can.  Certainly we'll vacate the room so the staff can get that turned over, but enjoying the last few minutes in the Haven dining room at breakfast is always a treat as others stand in long lines to get off the ship.

 

2) Although you were in the Haven you mentioned pre-purchasing Vibe passes, I've sailed a number of times on Encore, Joy and Bliss in the Haven, but they all have a much larger Courtyard Sundeck on top compared to the Escape and even those ships can become busy on SeaDays, I also love the Vibe, but am curious how you found the Sundeck vs the Vibe in Europe, did you find the need for the Vibe passes?

 

Thanks in advance and hope you had a pleasant trip home!

[FlGoodShips]

Looked for list of Officers on the dailies...did not see it.

Do you have list of Officers that were onboard? Thank you.

Your review was spectacular. 

[Utas2]

On 8/23/2022 at 3:31 AM, rbxlady said:

Hopefully you’ll catch someone on a good day, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

 

I think it’s fair to pay the service fee for the Haven cabin, but I also think it’s fair to give double Latitudes points even if you are upgraded into the Haven. It’s not like that upgrade is free— you just got it at a better price, and for the Haven that amount is never insignificant.

 

And on that last point, if you don’t watch your bids vs decreasing fares, you could pay more with a bid than if you’d upgraded directly. We just upgraded ourselves into the Haven for our October cruise because the fare dropped below our bid, which was at the high end of “fair”. (We have since cancelled all our bids.) So if I’d won a bid for my same cabin, I’d have paid more and gotten 1x points, but because I upgraded myself, I paid less and get 2x points.

Good advice, indeed.

 

Since my last post I got the response, basically saying that Latitudes has nothing to do with the upgrade scheme. Which, IMHO, is still unfair. But OK.

[Utas2]

On 8/23/2022 at 10:29 PM, ggTexasGal said:

When trying to rationalize any expectations vs. NCL rules, it's best to have fully read the Upgrade Advantage FAQ, before engaging in the bidding process.

The topic of "Promotions" (none will be added) is addressed in question number 2 and number 5!

 

https://www.ncl.com/content/upgrade-advantage-faq

Thank you. Note though, that the upgrade FAQ has nothing about Latitudes. (Unless we consider that part of promotions, which so far I did not.)

[Utas2]

On 8/26/2022 at 12:10 AM, dietermn said:

 

Thanks for all the information, it was very nice to recap and I'm excited about my upcoming trip on the Escape in the Haven.  Two questions:

 

1) Do you recall the Haven dining room times for the last day?  I recognize you jumped off early, but we prefer to stay on as long as we can.  Certainly we'll vacate the room so the staff can get that turned over, but enjoying the last few minutes in the Haven dining room at breakfast is always a treat as others stand in long lines to get off the ship.

 

2) Although you were in the Haven you mentioned pre-purchasing Vibe passes, I've sailed a number of times on Encore, Joy and Bliss in the Haven, but they all have a much larger Courtyard Sundeck on top compared to the Escape and even those ships can become busy on SeaDays, I also love the Vibe, but am curious how you found the Sundeck vs the Vibe in Europe, did you find the need for the Vibe passes?

 

Thanks in advance and hope you had a pleasant trip home!

Hi, thanks for the feedback!

The debarkation day the Haven Restaurant is open for breakfast from 0600 to 0800. (That basically means that they accept you to arrive before 0800 latest - they will still serve you.) We enjoyed our last breakfast there very much, and the place was not crowded. I think we were there from around 06:45, and then we just picked up the luggage from the cabin and disembarked.

 

The main difference between the two sundecks is that the Vibe has

more vibe (:-))), and the Haven is much more a quiet place, and indeed, much less occupancy. Have I known that I would be upgraded I would not purchased the Vibe, as basically the drink service is more or less the same, only the food options differ.

[Utas2]

On 8/26/2022 at 12:56 AM, FlGoodShips said:

Looked for list of Officers on the dailies...did not see it.

Do you have list of Officers that were onboard? Thank you.

Your review was spectacular. 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

I will look for the list as we were provided with the names of the chief positions.

Until that: the Captain and the Chief Engineer are Croatians, the GM is from Turkey, deputised by a South-African officer (with whom we were able to refresh our Dutch a little bit), the Chef is from India, and Alvin, the Cruise Director I already mentioned.

[Stealthdog]

Thanks for the awesome review!  We are looking at a b2b on the escape dec 2023 and your review is definately pushing us in that direction!