recently off escape with family of 5

[periatza34]

I sailed the Escape from April 23rd to April 30th with my wife and 3 kids, ages 16,14, and 5.  This is my first cruise since 2016 which was with my wife for our honeymoon on the Getaway.  We had a family oceanview room on deck 5 by the splash academy(that my daughter didn't use) that sleeps 5.  Room worked for us and somehow we were able to rotate well enough for bathroom use.  Ill briefly go over some of the good, some of the bad, and some of the change.

 

Good:

Service in most areas and crew members were amazing!  So friendly!

The ports were awesome.  Puerto Plata, Taino Bay specifically, has an awesome port with a pool and lazy river with hammocks, clamshells and chairs all at no cost. We went to magens bay in st thomas which the views were breathtaking on the way there to the water being so clear.  The two older kids got to experience snorkeling for the first time here and they absolutely fell in love with it.  We got off the ship for a little while in Tortola but the times were 6am-12:30pm so we didnt do much.  Great stirrup Cay was my wife's favorite as the water is clear and there is plenty of seating on the beach.  Very hot and not much shade to find so be warned.  Kids once again went snorkeling here.

Entertainment was great.  I enjoyed Will, the cruise director, along with the other staff who ran the shows.  

 

Bad:  

Plan out your whole vacation ahead of time!  The last cruise I took, I don't remember having an issue getting a reservation somewhere, but this trip, everything was reserved before day 1 it seemed.  I couldn't reserve anything!  At least the main dining rooms(savor/taste) would allow walk ups.  I went to Moderno one night to use our specialty up and they turned us away. I asked them what I could do as everything was full for the rest of the trip.  They basically told me I was out of luck.  My wife and I walked to La Cucina after which had no line and didn't look busy at all.  Asked if there was a way we could get seated and he said that he was so booked up that we would have to take outdoor waterside seating.  The hostess did mention to me that people will book multiple things and not show up which I think shouldn't be allowed.  At this point we would take anything and did.  All 4 shows of choir of man were sold out as long as all the other entertainment you could book.

The ship was full, and most every passenger it seemed was entitled.  Very rude people.  I don't remember that being the case my last cruise.  People have no regards to others and it just puts you in a bad mood. The elevators would be full all the time!  You are on deck 16 going to deck 5, waiting for 5 minutes it seems for an elevator to come and as soon as it would, someone would run in front of you to hop on and take your spot.  

The bars were packed!  I had to wait up to 10/15 minutes sometimes to get a drink.  I am also one who tips every single time I get a drink.  Not saying that I should get preferential treatment for this, but I know some of you will come back at me and say I need to tip to get good service.

 

Changes:

Some entertainment that used to be in the theater was changed to the atrium.  I don't mind entertainment being there but it was just too small for the amount of people that would show up.  If you didn't show up at least 45 minutes before the show, good luck finding somewhere to sit, let alone even see what's going on.  Also, good luck getting a drink at the atrium bar.  You were better off finding a server walking around and ordering a drink from them.

Room being serviced changed to once a day.  This isn't really a big deal for me but I never had any clue on when my room would get serviced.  We had a pullman bed that just stayed down the whole cruise for people wondering.  Last cruise we would get towel animals on our bed and now we don't.  My 5 year old daughter was pretty dissapointed she didn't get to see one.

 

All in all, we had an amazing vacation with plenty of memories and firsts for the kids.  If I were to go again, I'd somehow either try to find a ship that isn't as booked, or at least plan out my whole vacation to the hour before going.  I hate doing that.  I hope this little review helps some of you in cruising in the near future and I'll try to answer any questions that I can.  I don't have pictures of dailys.

[cruisinmeme]

It was a learning curve for sure. Everyone pretty well books their dinning 120 days before the cruise. Need to be spot on to get the times you want. If you have any changes you take care of that immediately after boarding the ship. I may be wrong but not sure any specialty restaurants take walk ups.

 

[craig01020]

1 hour ago, cruisinmeme said:

Everyone pretty well books their dinning 120 days before the cruise.

I do that too, but it kind of kills the whole "freestyle" concept.

[Jeffffffs]

They haven't done towel animals for a while now, but if you ask your room steward nicely they've always done them for our kids.

[TeresaJ]

We have sailed the Escape and really enjoyed our cruise. But really, having to book all your dining and shows before the cruise negates the whole freestyle thing. They should have availability especially if the places aren't busy! Also, cruising during spring break definitely is more crowded. Glad you still enjoyed your vacation!

[periatza34]

9 hours ago, TeresaJ said:

We have sailed the Escape and really enjoyed our cruise. But really, having to book all your dining and shows before the cruise negates the whole freestyle thing. They should have availability especially if the places aren't busy! Also, cruising during spring break definitely is more crowded. Glad you still enjoyed your vacation!

I'll know for the future to book my dining way in advance.  I didn't this trip as I wasn't sure how things would be going with the whole family.  You live and learn.  Our honeymoon cruise was memorial week which surprisingly wasnt all that busy.  I assumed that two weeks after easter everyone would have their spring break vacation in already.  I think I'll have to wait a few more weeks.

[periatza34]

14 hours ago, Jeffffffs said:

They haven't done towel animals for a while now, but if you ask your room steward nicely they've always done them for our kids.

I had asked and even left a 5 dollar bill on the bed for one and the steward said he never learned how.

[SimplyAlbert]

23 minutes ago, periatza34 said:

I'll know for the future to book my dining way in advance.  I didn't this trip as I wasn't sure how things would be going with the whole family.  You live and learn.  Our honeymoon cruise was memorial week which surprisingly wasnt all that busy.  I assumed that two weeks after easter everyone would have their spring break vacation in already.  I think I'll have to wait a few more weeks.

 

From these boards (and others) I've found out that schools are on winter break/spring break beginning the second week in February through the last week of April.  Colleges tend to have their spring break during the month of March.  When my children were in school we had the last week of February for winter break and last week of April for spring break.  I think that we were one of the few school systems who had a spring break that late, so it wasn't too crowded.

[schmoopie17]

Are they still doing the lame "Washy-Washy" songs in the buffet? The first morning it was (sort of) cute, but after hearing it every morning for 16 days on a TA it got to be annoying.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, periatza34 said:

I'll know for the future to book my dining way in advance.  I didn't this trip as I wasn't sure how things would be going with the whole family.  You live and learn.  Our honeymoon cruise was memorial week which surprisingly wasnt all that busy.  I assumed that two weeks after easter everyone would have their spring break vacation in already.  I think I'll have to wait a few more weeks.

Specialty dining yes, it wasn’t a problem before they started offering it as a perk. Our family of 7 has sailed during busy weeks and have never made a MDR reservation, on the older ships show reservations aren’t taken and there is no need.

[eileeshb]

1 hour ago, SimplyAlbert said:

 

From these boards (and others) I've found out that schools are on winter break/spring break beginning the second week in February through the last week of April.  Colleges tend to have their spring break during the month of March.  When my children were in school we had the last week of February for winter break and last week of April for spring break.  I think that we were one of the few school systems who had a spring break that late, so it wasn't too crowded.

On one of my cruises it was mid-term break for a lot of French schools and Quebec so there were a bunch of french speakers aboard and that was a sailing from Miami. 

[periatza34]

23 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Are they still doing the lame "Washy-Washy" songs in the buffet? The first morning it was (sort of) cute, but after hearing it every morning for 16 days on a TA it got to be annoying.

I only heard the washy washy 1 time on my cruise.  Most of the time someone was just standing there greeting you as you walked in.  I probably ate at the buffet a handful of times.  Went there a lot for ice cream though!