APDMOM

Ships leaving port: Carnival Vista (taken from Garden Cafe): Adventure of the Seas: Goodbye our COVID canceled cabin 7388!! (Got canceled on March 13th while we were waiting at the hotel to board on March 14th, 2020. 😞 DH's worst birthday)

Rooms Ready: It took a bit longer than on other cruises for the rooms to be ready. They announced about 2 decks at a time. Our room was ready just after 2 PM. It was great to have our luggage with us, so we were unpacked and settled within 30 minutes. READY TO CRUISE! "The Storm" Rainy and windy weather continued, and it became more 'stormy' as the afternoon continued. Nothing like a tropical storm or hurricane, but not pleasant outside. I tried to do a ship tour via WhatsApp with my family in South Africa and Namibia, but the ship has no reception inside. I don't know if this was due to the weather, or if NCL has a way of keeping you from using cellular inside the ship - everytime I walked into the ship, I lost them on WhatsApp. This has not happened in the past on MSC or RCL ships. So, with wind and rain, they got a very abbreviated tour. Leaving Early: Due to the forecast of gale force winds, the captain announced that we would try to leave at 4:30 rather than 5:30. It did not quite work out, since there were so many other ships leaving. We started pushing away around 5:15 PM.

Our Lunch Order: Everything we ordered was good to excellent. The hushpuppies were obviously the most popular, since they barely made it to the photo before disappearing. 😆 Hushpuppies: (Will definitely order again) Roasted Tomato Soup: Philly Cheese Steak: Chicken Quesedilla: Orange Chocolate Mousse: Creme Caramel:

Since it was "stormy" outside, we waited in the atrium for Taste and Savor to open for lunch. TIP: If you prefer a more quiet space for lunch, you can sit down for lunch on boarding day in Taste or Savor. You order from a menu, so the options are more limited, but we enjoyed everything we ordered. The MIXX bar outside Taste and Savor is also a great place to go first when you board - less crowded and right outside the restaurants. So, you can wait here until they open for lunch. The Menu:

Luggage: For the first time in all our cruises, we decided to carry our luggage on. We read on another cruiseline, at another port, that luggage got soaking wet due to rain. Since this was such a stormy day and we were early, we felt we would not hold up the security lines if we took our luggage through. TIP: When you get onto the ship, you can go straight to the casino to drop off your luggage. They have security and give you a claim ticket. You can leave carry on luggage here with peace of mind. TIP: If you want to make reservations for shows, Supper Club, and tendering, go straight to the Box office on deck 7 Forward - to the right (Starboard) of the ship. The boarding (gangway) took us straight onto deck 7, so just head forward from there. You can also make reservations at the touch screens or in the app, but this one stop was quick and easy for us. We booked our tender tickets and supper club for one night. We already had a reservation for "The Choir of Man", which we booked a few weeks ago on the app.

Interesting Health Questions: The cruise contract has not been updated to current health questions. It still states that you have to declare if you had COVID in the past 14 days. At the port, the questions were different. You have to answer each question to the agent - they don't give you a form. After you answer, each passenger signs on the sreen. Some of the questions were: "Have you had Covid in the past 10 days?" "Have you been exposed to anyone with Covid in the past 10 days?" "Have you had measles or been exposed to it in the past 14 days?" (That one surprised me) "Have you had diarrhoea or vomiting in the past 48 hours?" "Have you had a fever in the past ? hours?" I think that was also 48 hours. I really wish they would make this digital in the app too - it is much easier to read questions for someone like me who is hearing impaired. Thankfully, it was not too busy and loud. I only. had to ask for one question to be repeated.

My View: Day 1 Port Canaveral Our Timeline: Arrival at Parking Garage - 9:58 (The longest wait of our boarding was to enter the garage) Lost our heating pad - 10:20 (In 43 cruises, this is the first time it was taken. I did not even think it could be a prohibited item.) Thankfully, my back is good! Checked in and waiting to board - 10:41 (No wait in line - walked straight up to agent.) Onboard - just before 11 Boarding was SUPER fast and easy. I was impressed with how organized it was, despite not sitting in sections.

😄 I agree! I love getting as MUCH information as possible for upcoming cruises. Plus, my reviews are a bit of a 'journal' too... many years down the line, when the review is well and buried, I can still access it to relive beautiful memories.

TIP: Escape docked at the same terminal as MSC - Terminal 10 TIP: PARKING: When you get to the terminal and don't want to drop off luggage, choose one of the two far right lanes. Two lanes become 4 lanes for the parking garage inside the port area, but only the right lane splits into 3, leaving the left lane VERY slow. The two right lanes moved along the fastest.

The Storm: I was oblivious to the storm until a co-worker on Friday asked if I was afraid our cruise would be cancelled. I never have time for 'lunch' at work, but took a quick 'lunch break' to see what she was talking about. When I saw that Holland America had already cancelled one ship from FLL, the skeptic in me immediately thought, "What a convenient way to add a couple of days to the prep after refurbishment." 😆 The ultimate Pollyanna, I had no concerns and still worked at 120% to get done 30 minutes early and get home to load up the Maxda CX9 (our COVID land cruiser). We drove from NE Florida to Titusville on Friday night, as we like to spend the night in a hotel close to the port. Even though we only live 3 hours from Port Canaveral, it is one 'splurge' we allow ourselves, because I have been witness too many times of the 7-8 hour lockdowns of I-95 due to fatal crashes. So, we like to make a 'leisurely' entrance to our cruise experience by staying close to the port. Towneplace Suites, Titusville This was our second stay at this hotel prior to a cruise. We like that it is close to the interstate, but with a price much more affordable than anything closer to the port. The hotel is clean and has the BEST soap - eucalyptus lavender... The stairs for the emergency escape are even carpeted, which gives it a classy feel. Breakfast is typical for this type of hotel, including some hot items, waffles, and pastries. A great stay for the price of $171 for a double queen with a kitchen. We were wondering if we would get a text or email asking us to delay our arrival, but nothing came in, so we headed to the ship. First glimpse of the ship: (It's a tradition - even if the picture is grainy and poor... got to capture that first glimpse)

If you are interested in another view of this cruise, @Stealthdog is doing a B2B review, which started last week and helped us count down the days to our boarding day:

Good Morning from NCL Escape! Starting this one a bit later than usual, as day 1 has come and gone! For those who are new to my reviews - I will post TIPS in red so that skim-readers can just get the nitty gritty tips for their cruise planning. We are a family of 3 in an oceanview balcony. Our pitiful upgrade bid to Haven was declined (no surprise, as we are too frugal 🤣). The ship is also sold out, so that may have something to do with it... This is our second experience on Escape - the first was in July 2016. I will post updates during the week of what may be different. Come enjoy a week of Escape from this "winter storm" with us, even if only virtually. Our Itinerary: Our Beautiful Ship (From our previous cruise):

Arrived in Titusville to board tomorrow. 🙂 💃

PS: Can Eric be on my team next week for the trivia? 😁

We hope so too! Especially to get the ship quiet… From our experience, the water at Great Stirrup Cay is quite chilly this time of year, though the island is lovely - probably much better even than our previous visit in 2018.

We will try to accommodate you with an audience from our balcony next week, provided we dock starboard side in one of the “pier runner” ports…and you are a pier runner 😂 (lots of if’s there, but we try to please)

Love all these ideas… I will add a few of my favorites that I don’t think have been mentioned: Individually wrapped wet wipes Door decoration that magnetically sticks to the door. 🙂 This organizer for chargers: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IPJPIFO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

That would be a nice door prize! I wonder about this too… only for Escape. If nobody replies, I guess I will find out firsthand on Sunday😁

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

I’ll be testing this “loophole” on our iPhones next week on Escape - without wifi package for 2 of 3 phones. Will report back 🙂

We used a TA before they went out of business. We monitored prices ourselves, because we assumed they were busy with too many bookings to keep up with price drops. We called in price drops to the TA, and they always adjusted our bookings if we were eligible for the price drop. We liked the extra perks of using a TA, but after experiencing 2 TA’s going out of business, one walking away with our international flight $$$, we now book directly.

So looking forward to joining you in a week! Have a great time! 🙂

@Stealthdog Safe travels tomorrow! Looking forward to boarding virtually 😀

I recently read a review of someone who turned off the wifi and the phone, but they still lost all 150 minutes due to not going to the official logoff page.

Wow! Those are long wait times! Our experiences in Port Canaveral, Tampa, and Miami were no more than 30 minutes each. In Bayonne, we did not have to leave the ship - CBP met us in a lounge… Makes me wonder if this is related to the specific port. Bayonne and Tampa were Royal Caribbean B2B. The other two were MSC.