My week on the Escape (Chapter 2) Dec 3-10 (Somewhat Live)

So what can I say about Vibe? They are great there! Ruby and Curly at the bar are very personable and mix some pretty good drinks. If you don't know what you want, they will create some concoction that is pretty delicious. Mike is a great waiter who is always there when you need a drink, a towel or anything else. As I've read, Vibe has a hot tub and misting area. They have towels, padded chairs and umbrellas. There is a TV at the bar that had football on today.

We got to Vibe this morning and were greeted by name. While we were given blue bracelets to wear, there was no need. Everyone already new us and welcomed us. I started the day at Vibe with a Miami Vice, then moved on to a Mojito (or two) and then Ruby's Skinny Perfect Margarita.

It was windy up there today. So windy. We found a double padded lounger off to the side just past a wall. That helped block the wind. The sun was out and we settled in. After awhile they came around with some fruit skewers.

Around 2 pm we decided we needed to go get lunch. Not that we were hungry but we certainly couldn't miss a meal.

The dining rooms were closed so we decided to eat at the Garden Cafe. This was my first time eating there on the Escape as we never made it there last time. It seems much bigger than other ships-and reminded me a lot of my son's dining hall at his university with all the various food stations. We did our washy washy on the way in and piled our plates with food. The plan was to not eat too much so would be hungry for dinner-but somehow my plate ended up full. How did that happen? The food quality was fine, although I'm not picky at all. I had a potpourri of different foods and finished with dessert. OK, 2 desserts! So much for a light meal.

I just realized I forgot to mention the Meet and Greet earlier. This was after breakfast earlier before our Vibe visit. It was well attended and we enjoyed meeting and talking to others. As always, it was very well attended by staff and they spent time mingling with all of us.

After our Garden Cafe lunch we returned to Vibe. Husband made a comment that "Who needs Haven when you have Vibe". While I agree with him to a certain extent, I miss my Butler, and I'd like to think she misses me!

We have talked about trying to get Vibe passes since we will not be in the Haven. You have now convinced me that I need to get them. Guess I will wear running shoes on embarkation day!!

We have talked about trying to get Vibe passes since we will not be in the Haven. You have now convinced me that I need to get them. Guess I will wear running shoes on embarkation day!!

Good luck. Amazingly enough, we didn't run. We were right behind the wheel chairs and nobody could get past us. Make sure you are near the embarkation entrance and hopefully you will be good to go.

Sitting in the Big Bang trivia now. Will do my best to catch up with my review this afternoon!!

So picking up where we left off yesterday, we spent the afternoon in Vibe. After some sun, wind and multiple drinks, we returned to the cabin. We relaxed, showered and got ready for the night. We went to Taste for dinner and I had the Chorizo with Potatoes appetizer and Chicken Kiev for the main dish. I ordered a Riesling and the drink and food came out quickly and was good. The service was good and I had no complaints. Then again, when I am cruising I am not picky so rarely do I find something to complain about. In a way I miss my Haven restaurant where everyone knew my name-but I am good, life is good.

Dinner finished on time and we headed to the supper club for our reserved show- Magic and Comedy with Harry Mauer. We had a front row seat and enjoyed the show. Was it truly amazing? No. But we laughed and were entertained. Towards the end of the show, husband was feeling sick and needed to leave. I finished the show on my own (with our new friends sitting at the table with us) then went back to the room after. Husband still wasn't feeling well so we decided to stay in. 10:30 PM and in the cabin for the night. That's a first. We put on the Sunday Night Football game and chilled until we went to bed.

The time changed overnight-forward an hour- and we were a bit confused when we woke up. We didn’t know whether out phones and tablet had the right time or not. Husband's watch said 8 and my phone said 9, so we guessed that my phone had the new time. The captain soon came on the PA and said it was 10. What? I'm so confused! I guess somehow husband's watch went the wrong direction? Since it was 10 am, that meant we missed breakfast in the dining room again and would need to head back to O'Sheehan's. We didn't have to wait for a table, although it took a bit longer for our food. I had the French Toast with hash browns and bacon. It was good- but the bacon was far from crispy. Anyone who read my last review saw that the Haven bacon was Crack for me. Now to be fair, I just ordered bacon, and didn’t ask for it to be crispy. Maybe tomorrow.

following... :)

After breakfast we went to Vibe. It was windy. So windy! I got a mojito and held on to it tight so it wouldn't blow away. Don't get me wrong, it was warm and the sun was out. Just windy. We spent a few hours in Vibe and then went down for lunch. On the deck 19 sundeck and pool deck it was much less windy. I noticed there were lots of chairs available. I had noticed this yesterday too. How strange. Where were the chair hogs?

We went to Pinchos Tapas for lunch. We ordered six plates-with a total bill of $18 plus tip. It was yummy and such great service. After lunch we hit the Atrium for the Big Bang trivia. We have seen every episode a gazillion times so surely we will win. It was hard!! We ended up getting 25 out of 40 questions correct. Not so good.

Time to head back to Vibe and drown our sorrows at the bar.

Once back at Vibe we grabbed a double lounger and Mike came right over for our drink order and to give us a fruit skewer. The lounger was in an atea that helped block the wind so it was calmer than earlier today. Later Mike came by with the best chocolate chip cookies ever. There was a nice large group hanging out in the hot tub but I didn’t feel like getting wet. Too much hassle, LOL. We stayed a few hours reading and relaxing the realized we needed to get moving to make it to our show. I had Ruby make me a Bushwacker to go and brought it back to the cabin and sat on the deck for a few minutes. Once showered, we headed down for our Supper Club reservation to see the Frankie Valli Oh What a Night Show. Both husband and I skipped the food-we weren't hungry yet. I enjoyed the show-it was a quick one lasting only 50 minutes. They sang all the songs you want to hear though and they were energetic and talented. I sipped my Cosmo while everyone else was eating. We ate at the Supper Club last March-once was enough. It wasn't bad but just didn’t do it for me. I'm glad we saw the show though.

Great review!! Can't wait for more!

Great review!! Can't wait for more!

Thanks! We're in St Thomas and enjoying a wind-free Pina Colada in an empty Vibe. Will post more updates soon!

Thanks! We're in St Thomas and enjoying a wind-free Pina Colada in an empty Vibe. Will post more updates soon!

I am beginning to think Vibe is going to be a good substitute for the haven.

Once the show was over around 7 pm we went to the Manhatten Room for dinner, there was no wait for the table and the service was good. I love the atmosphere there with the music and watching the little kids dance. I ate Creme of Cauliflower soup and the Roasted Beef which was good, dinner took about an hour.

After dinner we went and listened to music and The District Brewhouse then hung out a bit at Karaoke at the 5 O'clock Somewhere bar. Drinks tonight varied from Chardonnay, to Margaritas and a Red Light District.

We went back to the cabin to watch the end of Monday Night Football (was it Monday? I was all mixed up but I guess it was).

I am beginning to think Vibe is going to be a good substitute for the haven.

It's definitely a close second!!!

I woke up around 8 am and wanted to roll over and go back to bed. But I didn't want to end up without breakfast choices so I got up. We are in St Thomas! I immediately went to the balcony to open the curtains. I love that first look at a port, and expected to see that nice port view I had last time. Boy was I disappointed. Seems the captain parked the ship the opposite way this time. My view was of Senior Frogs and some not so pretty industrial type buildings. Never fear, at least I can watch the pier runners. I look out again and realize I can't see the dock at all. Up until today I didn't mind this deck 8 overhang under my deck 9 cabin but today it bothered me. Oh well, not really. I'll just head up to Vibe later for a better view. All is well.

We went to Savor for breakfast and as we went to sit down by the window I realized we should have gone to Taste for the better view. We had an amazingly witty and fun waiter who had the best personality. I ordered my Muesli which I had been craving since last March, and a waffle. The food came out quickly and soon we were back in our room getting ready to leave.

Great review. Will wave to you Saturday as you are getting off and we are getting on. Ummm...as you are disembarking and we are embarking! Thanks for the great tips!

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Great review. Will wave to you Saturday as you are getting off and we are getting on. Ummm...as you are disembarking and we are embarking! Thanks for the great tips!

 

 

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Lol!!! And thanks!

Tortola!! And a beautiful balcony view! Love it! Hope to catch up with the review today!

Tortola!! And a beautiful balcony view! Love it! Hope to catch up with the review today!

Are you Port or Starboard side? We will be on the Escape 12/17 and was wondering what side has better views. After doing some research it does seem that they dock the ship in different directions.

Enjoying your review! It's getting us very excited for our trip!

Are you Port or Starboard side? We will be on the Escape 12/17 and was wondering what side has better views. After doing some research it does seem that they dock the ship in different directions.

 

Enjoying your review! It's getting us very excited for our trip!

We are on the port side. Same as last time. And so far we are opposite each day what we had last time. But each trip we have one dock view and one pretty view,

Have a great trip!

We didn’t have any plans for St Thomas but at the last minute decided to get off the ship. We walked around the mall at the dock a bit then decided to venture to the stores downtown. The walk wasn't as far as I expected although it was pretty hot. Once downtown, we spent about an hour checking out the stores and then walked back. We didn't make any purchases but it was nice to get out and walk off our food.....and drinks.

Once back on board we headed up to Vibe.....of course. After a few Miami Vice drinks I moved on to mojitos. It was very hot even with the umbrellas up and I needed to stay hydrated, right? As always the service was exceptional.

At some point we went down to the Garden Cafe for lunch. It was eh- but no worries, I never met food that I didn't like so I still managed to stuff myself.

We returned to our cabin around 4:30 to cool off and I took a cat nap. Then back up to Vibe for sunset and sailaway. OK, and a few more drinks! Once we were on our way (and the bar in Vibe closed) we went back to our cabin.

We hung out in the cabin a bit and watched a movie. Once showered we went to Manhatten for dinner. It was definitely our best dinner so far. We didn't have a reservation but we're seated right away at the best table we've had. Ask for table 79. It's the best! All the way aft along the window with a beautiful aft wake view. It's private, not a lot of tables in the area, you can hear the band but it's not too loud and we had great service. And did I mention the view? I had a yummy salad and the NY Strip which was all delicious. I had the Coconut Souffle for dessert- I figured it was time to venture away from the Chocolate Lava Cake. It was very good. We left very satisfied customers.

After dinner we went to the Atrium to watch the dance contest. This is hilarious no matter how many times you see it. We then went to Howl at the Moon for a few hours until it closed down. Good music and quite a few drunk passengers_always fun to people watch. Drinks consisted of wine, Cosmos and Gin and Tonic. Tyler our cruise director sat in on drums. I read he likes to join in and it was fun to see him play. We went back to the cabin at 12:30 and read the Daily for the next day and watched TV until too late. Morning will come quick!

I'm really enjoying your review! I keep reading about horrible service in the Manhattan room. It seems from your review style you're not a nit picker so I wanted to get your opinion of the service in the Manhattan room. I loved it when I sailed on Epic. I'm looking forward to enjoying it on the Escape next year!:)

I'm really enjoying your review! I keep reading about horrible service in the Manhattan room. It seems from your review style you're not a nit picker so I wanted to get your opinion of the service in the Manhattan room. I loved it when I sailed on Epic. I'm looking forward to enjoying it on the Escape next year!:)

Great question. I'm not picky and am so happy to be cruising I might be more lenient than others. But that said, we've never had to wait for a table despite no reservation and dinner has never lasted more than an hour or so. Our drinks and food come out quickly and all service is with a smile. So at least for us, it couldn't be better. I will say that the hostess told us last night the busiest time is between 7 pm and 8 pm which we haven't gone. So maybe at that time it's a bit slower.