UFLaw

I personally went for a run from the port to Atlantis and back.  Did not have any issues whatsoever.  Sure there is a little shady area, but no one said anything.  Granted, I'm 6'1" and in shape lol.

They are all minors.  13 and 15.  

Thank you for all your input.  

We are on the Harmony of the Seas and my wife and I are in a Grand Suite, our children are in an adjacent Balcony room, are they permitted to accompany us to the Coastal Kitchen and suite areas?  

Today was Costa Maya!!!!

In general a pretty chill port. Meaning it was literally built as a cruise ship destination.

We decided on the Maya Water Park. It is a short walk from the port to the park. Like an idiot I forgot towels!!! I even tried to buy some. So biggest piece of advice: bring towels!!

This park was built with Disney designers. It is a ton of fun. Also it never gets truly busy.

The zip lines are a blast. Well handled by staff. Safety is paramount.

The water slides are great.

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Last night we did dinner in the MDR. It was very well done. However since we were not in the MDR on the first night the staff had to “finagle” a table for us but did a great job.

The staff did an excellent job with all the picky eaters. A few items came out a bit cool but overall was great.

As usual the chilled fruit soups were a huge hit. I’m also really enjoying the fun and great interaction with the 6 kids. No electronics is awesome!!!!

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Sorry but no steel drums. I do love those. They had a mediocre reggae band playing.

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Beautiful weather today. The seas are only running at 2-3 feet and super calm. Sunny and 79 degrees.

Pool area not too busy.

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This morning we enjoyed breakfast at Chops because staying in the suite. However we discovered that we can get the exact same thing in the room so we are doing that tomorrow morning.

The salmon omelet was good however the potatoes were very dry.

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Sorry for the delay. Internet has been awful.

Last night we enjoyed dinner at Giovanni’s. It was fantastic to actually converse with the kids. No internet for them rocks!!!

They served a ton of appetizers and then brought the entrees. As usual way too much food.

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The concierge club is great. Fantastic appetizers. Perfect way to start the evening.

We informed the kids no entry without an adult.

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Hello all. We just did our own personal sail away party on our balcony. Great way to spend leaving from beautiful Fort Lauderdale.

Family Selfie

Fort Lauderdale at sunset

Awesome Balcony in the suite.

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Wanted to give a shout out to all the staff thus far. Great people! Felix the concierge is awesome!

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I surprised my wife for our anniversary!!! The suite life.....

Ahhhhh

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Now this is how you start your cruise!!! The frozen mojito!!!

Bolero is always a favorite.

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Wow! Checking in to Pier 29 sucks!!! No garage! Long line. Old school. Lol.

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Next stop???? Our tradition of hitting the best breakfast place in Fort Lauderdale!!! Foxy Browns!!!!

S’mores waffles

Carrot cake pancakes

Chicken and Waffles!

Hands down an amazing place that we wait till cruise time to visit.

Be Nice!!!

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First stop for me? The airport to pick up my nephew at the airport! Oops, supposed to land at 9:45. Now 9:25. Book it Danno!!!

Not only did we have to “Pull an OJ” and sprint through the airport to get him, but we zoomed in valet parked, ran to the SW airlines desk, begged for a gate pass quick, slide down the bannister to security, and talk TSA into letting us bust the line. But we got to the gate just as the first passengers disembarked.

First stop for DW? An emergency orthodontist appointment for a broken bracket on my nieces braces.

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Good morning. We are about to board the IOS for a 5 night cruise.

A little background, we have been on the IOS three times before and we love the ship. We have done a previous spring break and a Thanksgiving cruise. I did a live NCL Escape review last Spring Break.

For this one, my DW and I are bringing our children (DS 13, DD 13 and DS 12). Also tagging along are my nieces (DN 17,DN14) and my nephew (DNp13).

So yes if you are keeping count that is 6 kids between 12&17 and 2 adults. God save us!!!

I will be attempting to stay live and post as much as I can and yet enjoy the time. So I will probably be intermittent.

Please ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer.

Last: Go Gators!!!! Bring on Chip Kelly!!!

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I am organizing our Sept 2nd M&G on three Escape! I got the confirmation today from the guest event email. We so far have 40+ confirmed and over the next few weeks I'm sure there will be more! My question is, did NCL provide anything? Beverages, snacks, etc? THANK YOU!

Hello:

NCL supplied liquid refreshments. We were in the Brewhouse so beer was provided to everyone. I provided candy for everyone since our M&G fell on Easter Sunday. Definitely keep NCL aware if your group size increases as they may need to move you to a different spot.

Have a blast. I loved the Escape. Great everything!

My wife and I are pescatarians (only eat veggies and seafood) and we had no issues at all on the Escape. There was salmon available every evening and also seafood available at the MDR lunch menu. Also the buffet had seafood always available. Rarely fried.

I would definitely recommend Food Republic as well as the other specialty restaurants as well. Cagneys had an amazing sea bass.

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There are some of the angled balconies that might be able to have a lounger.

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I came across your review this morning...we sail the Escape in 3 weeks so this was such a fun Saturday morning read for me! A few questions...

 

1- behind the scenes tour - we are platinum level...how do we find out when it's offered and book this? My 12 year old son will LOVE this!

 

We paid for it however from what I heard I believe it is on the first at sea day for Platinum members.

 

2- district brewhouse....is there any outdoor seating? We are SO excited to finally get to drink good beer on a cruise for the first time! But don't want to spend too much time Indoors!

 

There is not a service area outside of the District. However, you can certainly grab a beer/drink there and step outside to enjoy your beverages.

 

3- maybe I missed it....Escape room? Did you do it and was it easy to book and would you suggest it? My 12, 14, and 16 year Olds are very excited so I'm hope they aren't disappointed. We've never done one anywhere so at least nothing to compare it to!

 

We missed doing that but our 16&17 year old nieces loved it. Luckily we are going again for thanksgiving and will do it then!

 

Thanks!

Have a blast!!!

What I did was had a slip of paper with all the cabin numbers that said they were going. Then I put them in a jar or other container and had one of the officers draw out names until all the prizes were gone. If a cabin was chosen and that cabin wasn't present went on to the next draw.

I was pretty lucky on getting people who were excited. However I have heard that European cruises tend to not have as many people interested in the M&M as US based (if you are doing a European cruise). If you are going to give away wine you can ask the group coordinator to credit your corkage fee. They might do that! [emoji1]

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I just booked a cruise on Escape on 5/27/17 I have been on 9 cruises never on NCL so I have many questions.

 

2- We got the 3 night specialty dinning package. What specialty dinning restaurants are a must?

 

I would recommend Cagney's, Tepannyaki, and Le Bistro. And a must would also be Food Republic. That was delicious!!!!

 

3- Which are the best shows and must see?

 

We had a blast at "For the Record" and really enjoyed Howl at the Moon and the Dance parties.

 

4- How is the adult area?

 

The adult area is great, however, definitely give a shot at getting Vibe Passes if you would like a more private area, however, they are $100 each and YMMV.

 

Please feel free to provide any other tidbits or advice about the ship I would really appreciate it, thanks.

Check out my recent live review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2485586

Hello Everyone:

Sorry for the delay in replying to the M&M, so here are my thoughts and ideas that we did to get things rolling:

• First, someone from your roll call needs to volunteer. Keep it to just one person who communicates as it can get very confusing if there are multiple people sending messages and making arrangements. However, it may be a good idea to coordinate with someone for assistance in setting up.
  
• About 3-4 weeks before saling reach out to NCL to make arrangements for the M&M. Email address to use is: GroupEvent<ship name>@ncl.com. Simply replace <ship name> with your ship (Dawn, Gem, Jewel, etc). So for our sailing it was: groupeventescape@ncl.com
  
• Get everyone excited about coming to the M&M. Some ideas are:
  
  • Raffle some items off (I did chocolates, wine and champagne but I'm a little crazy :) )
    
  • Get a gift exchange going. People can bring one item from their home town/state and do an exchange. Not everyone usually signs up for this.
    
  • Stress the importance to the roll call of how important it is for Cruise Critic peeps to show for the M&M as it lets NCL know we are a vital part of cruising info.
    

  [*]I did a spreadsheet with everyone's CC name, # of people, names of everyone, and cabin number (hometown too if you want to list it)

  [*]I kept people notified of how many had signed up about once a week

  [*]I set up a separate email address that people could email me (yahoo, gmail, etc) so you don't get it mixed in with personal stuff.

  [*]I kept NCL aware of the number of people as once it went over 50 they moved the group to a larger venue.

  [*]Fortunately I have an assistant so she helped with:

  • Printing and designing name tags (NCL will supply blank ones for you if desired)
    
  • Invitations with room number (these you can hand off to the event coordinator on board on your first day and they will deliver them to the room)
    

  [*]If they change the venue, make sure you let everyone know many times prior. You can also put a sign on the original location, but NCL did not allow me to do that when it moved from 5 O'Clock to The District.

  [*]Encourage children to come along with the parents. I had set up some kids only tables with candy and gifts for the kids (yoyos, bouny balls, bracelets, etc). It allowed some of the kids to meet new friends especially if they weren't into the kids clubs.

  [*]During the Event:

  • Try and mingle with everyone. You really want this to be a fun event not just a sit and listen to the officers speak
    
  • I brought some nice chocolates as a gift for the officers that came to the event
    
  • After the officers left, almost everyone stayed and chatted and had a good time.
    

  [*]Have FUN!!!!! I had a great time putting the event together and meeting everyone from our Roll Call. We had some great people and it was fun seeing them everyone on the ship afterward.

Would I be the coordinator again? Definitely! We had someone that did a slot pull right after the M&M and that was fun as well. It was hard work for the person doing that part as well, so I do recommend having another person coordinate the slot pull if that was going to happen.

Overall, the experience was great. The officers on the NCL Escape were friendly and remembered us whenever we ran into them on the ship.

If anyone has any more questions, please let me know.