Escape, Escape - Two Times the Escape. Live Review B2B NCL Escape, Dec 9-16 & Dec 16-23

[Stealthdog]

Day 1 Daily.  I’ll have some time this afternoon to post Day 1 things.  Have the loyalty ship tour this morning the and M&G.  Will provide some info on the box office, first impressions of Wi-Fi, Le Bistro (dinner last night), and some ship photos. 

[Stealthdog]

Some pictures of departure. It was fun watching the parade of ships leaving.  Carnival left first, then Royal, then us.  I think there was a MSC ship elsewhere in port, but couldn’t tell.  Disney left after us so we didnt hear their horns.  

[Stealthdog]

After boarding yesterday, we knocked out all of our required reservations. First stop was Cruise next to book the Latitude loyalty events - ship tour and wine tasting event. The line was really short and we got the reservations completed.  After that we split up to do the box office and restaurant reservations.

 

At the Box Office you can make reservations with a NCL rep or at a kiosk for Choir of Man and the Supper Club.  We already booked Choir or Man online, so only needed Supper Club.  When I tried to book them, I was told I could only book 1 show, even though there were different shows.  Not a big deal to me, because we are B2B, but pretty crummy for other cruisers who can’t see all the shows.  We will see the West End show this cruise and the Divas on 2nd cruise.
 

The Box office also gives all the information for all shows that require and don’t require reservations. So even if you aren’t making a reservation, stop by and get the pamphlet.

 

Dinner reservations were able to be done at Teppanyaki.  We canceled and added the extra dinings we needed to make with no issues getting reasonable times.  We made most of our reservations already when the app opened reservations.

[Stealthdog]

One of the perks of the club balcony is the size of the bathroom.  It’s is really nice.  Many other room classes don’t give you much space.  The shower is a tub/shower which may be challenging for taller people.  I’m 5,8” and I only clear the ceiling by an inch or two. So for anyone above average height, you will have to duck while taking the shower. A few bathroom pics below to show how it’s laid out.  Standard shampoo/conditioner combo and body wash are in dispensers.  If you prefer bar soap, or need more specialized shampoos, bring them with you.  

[Stealthdog]

Last night we did Le Bistro, and overall it was fantastic.  We used our AMEX dining perk, and I don’t know if it made a difference, but we were told we could only order one from the appetizer/soup/salad list and one from the entree list.   We ended being to get one appetizer, one soup/salad, and one entree.  
 

The escargot was ok - it’s standard for cruise ships with 6 pieces of escargot in the buttery sauce.  Eric loved the scallops, but one of them was undercooked.  So, always be careful with scallops and cut into them first to make sure they arent raw.

The onion soup and goat cheese salads were both great.  One of the better onion soups I have had on a cruise ship.  It wasn’t overly salty and the cheese wasn’t too crusted on top.  
 

Eric loved the lamb - it was cooked exactly medium rare, which is often a challenge in restaurants (both ship and shore), and he thought the quality of the meat used was very good.  Eric did think the sauce used in the lamb meal was too salty.  I had the Coq Au Vin and it was pretty good - especially the sauce and the way the mushrooms were sautéed.  I wouldn’t normally use a dining for chicken, but because we will be in Bistro a couple other times I went with it.  It wasn’t a disappointment. 
 

We had standard deserts - I got the flottante (a variation of crème brûlée) and Eric got the strawberry desert.  Both were very good.  We both got an ok port wine that is covered in the beverage package. 
 

The service in Bistro (from the maitre D, to the server, to the sommelier) was fantastic.  We will keep our future reservations and go back on the second cruise again.  Definitely recommend Le Bistro as a solid option to use a dining package on.

 

[Stealthdog]

Now for a negative critique.  We are more than 24 hours on the ship and in the room and we still haven’t seen our room attendant.  We only had 2 towels in our bathroom and there was no turndown service last night, so we had to use still wet and dirty towels this morning.  After we left this morning for the ship tour, we had a late breakfast before heading back to the room late morning, and the room still hadn’t been serviced.  If this keeps up, we will be making several visits to guest services or will just call the hotel manager directly. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Stealthdog

[www3traveler]

20 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

Now for a negative critique.  We are more than 24 hours on the ship and in the room and we still haven’t seen our room attendant.  We only had 2 towels in our bathroom and there was no turndown service last night, so we had to use still wet and dirty towels this morning.  After we left this morning for the ship tour, we had a late breakfast before heading back to the room late morning, and the room still hadn’t been serviced.  If this keeps up, we will be making several visits to guest services or will just call the hotel manager directly. 

The person to contact would be the Executive Housekeeper.  Since they only are supposed to service cabins once a day now, I doubt they are doing an evening turndown service.  Housekeeping services have been cut back for almost a year now.

[CruzinMel]

I'm following along - we will be on Escape in a couple of weeks and in a club balcony for the first time - thank you for those bathroom pics!  I hate that about the servicing of the room...I could survive with once a day, but wet towels are a big no.  Hopefully they will work it out!

Edited December 11, 2023 by CruzinMel

[Stealthdog]

15 hours ago, www3traveler said:

The person to contact would be the Executive Housekeeper.  Since they only are supposed to service cabins once a day now, I doubt they are doing an evening turndown service.  Housekeeping services have been cut back for almost a year now.

After our engagement with guest services, we had 3 different people reach out to us.   One was the Executive Housekeeper.  Everything has been resolved and we will chalk it up as just bad timing or miscommunication on Day 1. 😁

Edited December 11, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

I’ll post the Day 2 and Day 3 dailys this morning.  My Day 2 are upside down, so have to retake them.  We are Day 3 onboard and approaching Puerto Plata.  I’ll post day 2 reviews today - Eric wants to have a spa day on board, so we probably wont be doing much.  Yesterday we did the Latitudes Behind the scene tour, cruise critic meet and greet, putt putt, supper club, howl at the moon, and a few other things to write about. 

[slavetoabunny]

Inquiring minds want to know......it being the holiday season, is there eggnog available on the ship?

[Stealthdog]

Day 2 daily.  We just backed into port - watching a huge cruise ship back into a port was awesome!!!!!

[Stealthdog]

9 minutes ago, slavetoabunny said:

Inquiring minds want to know......it being the holiday season, is there eggnog available on the ship?

I’ll look, but haven’t seen anything yet.  They are still getting decorations for the holidays done.  In the ship tour we saw all the gingerbread decorations being made in the galley.

[slavetoabunny]

8 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

I’ll look, but haven’t seen anything yet.  They are still getting decorations for the holidays done.  In the ship tour we saw all the gingerbread decorations being made in the galley.

Sweet!  By the time I get on board on the 16th, it should be decorated.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, Stealthdog said:

I’ll post the Day 2 and Day 3 dailys this morning.  My Day 2 are upside down, so have to retake them.  We are Day 3 onboard and approaching Puerto Plata.  I’ll post day 2 reviews today - Eric wants to have a spa day on board, so we probably wont be doing much.  Yesterday we did the Latitudes Behind the scene tour, cruise critic meet and greet, putt putt, supper club, howl at the moon, and a few other things to write about. 

Your Eric is a smart man! Spa days are always wonderful!! Enjoy rubbery legs and arms after a soak in those tubs, some good hard sweating in the sauna and ohhhhh the thermal loungers! Ahhhhh!! 

 

Especially after you had such a hectic sea day!

[wilmingtech]

Backing into port

[Stealthdog]

Catching up from Day 2.

 

Supper Club - West End Show.  The show was great.  All 4 singers were really good and did a great job harmonizing through a very wide range of songs from West End musicals, Broadway, and several other singers (like Beyoncé and songs from Frozen).  The venue itself only seats about 200 people and it has an old school lounge feeling to it.  if you are fewer than 4 people, you will be sat with others.  It looked like all of the tables were 4 or 6 top tables, and booths.  
 

The food we could have done without - it’s a fixed menu of a basic mixed salad, chicken Parmesan (or eggplant as replacement) and Carrot cake.  I get that they are mass producing the food quickly for a couple hundred guests.  I personally found the salad boring, the chicken basic and the pasta what you get from the buffet.  But, if you are picky with food, plan to eat elsewhere (we ate at Osheehans later).  

Still go because the show itself was worth it.  We got there about 15 minutes before the show and it looked like people had been waiting on line for a while because the venue was already almost full and all the best tables were gone.  The show itself could have been a little longer.  The entertainers were done before our desert arrived. 
 

I love the small venue entertainment concept in venues outside theater because the audience is smaller and it feels more intimate.  We saw the guys in Taino Bay today and that’s fun seeing entertainments off the ship. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Stealthdog

[D_And_K_gocruising]

Our room was always serviced, and I felt sorry for Michael, as I'm an early bird, my wife isnt.  So there were days when you know he was just wishing the room would empty lol.. We saw him a couple of times, and it was fine.. I wasnt expecting anything crazy out of housekeeping, and it was fine..  Nothing exceptional, nothing bad at all.  Only complaint was we did ask for extra towels and got them, but maybe he thought we just wanted extras THAT DAY because the next day was back to normal amounts.. We suffered thru it though.   We were spa club balcony and took me days to realize we had a container of water and a bottle of something that was "ours" had no price tag on it lol.. left the bottle, took the water.. Got little desserts one day and cookies another.. Cookies were hard to come by on the ship lol. 

[Stealthdog]

We also went to Howl at the Moon.  We have done it on a prior NCL ship and had a great time.  Last night was also a blast.  Similar to the Supper Club, almost all the seats were “taken”’when we got there, which was about 20 minutes before the show. It was particularly annoying that one person was holding a whole row of empty seats - there were several cases of that.  NCL should enforce first come, first serve and not allow one person to block 6-8 seats.  We got the last laugh because oddly 4 seats in front of the piano were empty.  I guess people were afraid to sit there, thinking they would be targeted by the singers. Nope….wrong type of show.  😂

 

For those unfamiliar with the concept, 3 singers rotate between 2 pianos and sing songs on request by audience members.  If you provide a small donation to the performers, your song will be done.  If you just provide the song request on its own, it may or may not get done.  Donors get front of the line priority.

 

Most of the songs done are well known songs that people can (and often encouraged to) sing along to.  It’s a fun environment.  All 3 singers were ok - but it’s more about the atmosphere and the crowd involvement.  We stayed for about 2 hours and had a blast.  It looks like they do it 3 times per cruise - we probably won’t go again because i suspect it will be the same songs played every show.

When we got there, both pianos were filled with song requests. 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Stealthdog

[Stealthdog]

Day 2 was the loyalty Behind the Scenes tour at 745am.  If you are platinum or above, I recommend you take advantage of the perk and do it.  At worst, you have the opportunity to ask the cruise next guide loyalty questions.  Our guide gave us our tender tickets for Great Stirrup Cay at the end of the tour.

 

It wasn’t as extensive a tour as a paid ship tour we have done - this loyalty tour does not take you to the bridge or engineer spaces.  But, it does show you the behind the scenes of laundry, the galley, and the theater.

 

We were split into 2 groups of about 15 people.  If you are unable to use stairs, that’s ok because security accompanies the group to help escort people who need to use the elevators.  
 

We were able to see the crew bar, crew dining room, and several other places in addition to the galley spaces, laundry areas, and theater.  Really interesting information from the cruise next guide, security, and reps from each of the stations we visited.  We would definitely do it again on a different ship! 

[slavetoabunny]

3 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

It wasn’t as extensive a tour as a paid ship tour we have done - this loyalty tour does not take you to the bridge or engineer spaces.  But, it does show you the behind the scenes of laundry, the galley, and the theater.

 

We have the paid tour booked for our sailing.  It was a bit pricey, but my husband is a captain (on much smaller vessels) and it's something I know he would enjoy.

[Stealthdog]

Have a little more catchup to from yesterday, but just got done with the gym, and need to get cleaned up and ready to watch pier runners in 25 minutes!

[wilmingtech]

It's 5:16, Allaboard was 4:30.  We are waiting for 48 more passengers

[APDMOM]

1 minute ago, wilmingtech said:

It's 5:16, Allaboard was 4:30.  We are waiting for 48 more passengers

Yikes!  With that many, my guess is a shore excursion ran late.

[D_And_K_gocruising]

LOL was trying to figure out the time... Maybe they were too 😄  For that many, must've been an NCL excursion.