netchik

Bailey's and coffee now we're talking!

LOL, we brought on our own too :p

Thanks for posting! Love to follow along!

Thanks so much!

Enjoying your review!

Thank you for following!

I am loving your trip report. Thank You for writing it.

Much appreciated, Jenjer.

Thank you riclop and Yorkvillain for following and for the nice feedback.

Thanks for the great review.

Great review! Thanks for doing this.

Monday Day 3 - At Sea, the Doctor Calls, Margaritaville, Splash Academy, Cagney's, Comedy Show

Ever Wonder How Much an On-board Doctor Visit Costs?:

As the cards played out, BFF's g11 started feeling pretty lousy on Monday at sea. Her throat hurt, she started to develop a fever, and she wasn't hungry. We kept an eye on her and by afternoon she had a high temp, was lethargic. With a history of recurring strep throat her Mom decided to take her to the ship's doctor. $340 and 20 minutes later she left the Dr's. with antibiotics (Z-pak) for strep throat. Spoiler alert, g13 got it 2 days later! :eek:

Margaritaville:

I'd read mixed reviews about Margaritaville, from when it was free to now a nominal fee for food. Hubby and I decided to make a it a date afternoon with a drink and bite to eat at Margaritaville. Margaritaville on the Escape is located in the spot on the Getaway where the small outdoor cuban buffet was at. Close to half of the tables where taken but we found a nice high top to visit at. Unfortunately there was a small live band playing instead of what I had hoped would be Buffet music. The waitress appeared very busy and dropped off menus. I decided to go to the bar to check it out and order hubby a melon margie. They had a watermelon margie that sounded good, until I saw it being poured with no love at all from mix jugs. I hoped it tasted better than it looked, but hubby didn't drink it for it was too sweet. The server came by and I ordered conch fritters but was told they were out..bummer! I settled on chips & queso instead. The chips were stale, the queso a very small portion and bland. What a disappointing visit, I think they need a very hard look at this restaurant concept - it wouldn't take much to make it a fantastic experience with Buffet music, videos, care into their menu and drinks. At least the company was good. :)

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Splash Academy ages 6-9:

My b8 loved Splash Academy the past two years on the Getaway so I suspected this year would be no different, though I vowed from previous experiences not to let him do too many late nights, as he was over-tired by the last day & the long plane ride home. My son had a ball at Splash Academy this year; he wanted to be there all the time after meeting a few friends. They'd see each other on the ship, at the pool, heading out for excursions, at the buffet, and give each other that, 'Hey Dude, 'sup?!' nod, and meet up for shenanigans together at Splash Academy that night. At least I guess that's what was going on :P They had the same kids circus program on the Escape as on the Getaway. Kids pick from one of several circus tricks and practice them throughout the week. On the last sea day, Thursday, the staff holds a kid's circus in the theater for the parents or any other onlookers before bingo. It's a cute production and worthy of proud parent photos/video. What makes Splash Academy so wonderful for the kids and the parents is the staff who really want to be there for the kids, and they change the activity every 2 hours. A couple of times they took the kids to the sports court for ball games, and they played active games in the Splash Academy as well. NCL Splash Academy has been a much better experience than the Carnival Kids Club a few years back. Parents are required to pick the kids up in between 12 & 2P and 5 & 7P each day, unless they are there during port days where the staff take the kids to lunch together. A late night program is available starting at 10:30P for $6/hr.

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Cagney's Steakhouse:

On tap that evening was a 7 PM Cagney's dinner for the adults and the family comedy club showing at 9 PM. I was delayed to dinner, getting kiddo into Splash Academy right at 7PM first. Also, we were on a tight schedule so ordered everything right up front with instructions to not wait on anything since we had show reservations to get to before 9PM. We swiftly received our caesar and wedge salads, crab cake, lobster bisque, followed by surf and turf for each of us. I was hoping they had filet oscar, as I had on the Getaway, but they did not have it on the menu. The food was pretty good and I think if had we had longer to savor both the experience and the food slower, it would have been a more enjoyable experience but it was fine, no complaints. The steak flavor was good, cooked perfectly, and the lobster was also cooked perfectly. We dashed to the comedy club and paged our strep throat patient on the way to see how she was doing and if we needed to escort the girls into the comedy show.

Levity Comedy Club - Family Show:

My kiddo opted for Splash Academy instead of the comedy club so 6 of us headed into the comedy club with reservations, including our strep throat patient who sat leaning against her father at the back high-bar tables and giggled at the comedians. The first female opening act was a little slow to get going, though warmed up nicely in time to hand over the mic to the main act. The main act was really funny (Oakland in the houuuse!), and the lemon drop martini after our wine at dinner was probably a help, too. But it was the re-made lemon drop that made it better, since the server put salt on the rim instead of sugar.... AYE she says with one eye closed and one eye open, salt with a lemon drop was a surprise! :eek: The server was very apologetic and got it rectified swiftly. The comedian's bit about watching the tassel of his grad cap flop around was stinking hysterical, everyone was rolling. The comedians took the family show seriously and did not cross any lines in topic or language. The adults all agreed we'd love to see the adult 11PM showing, which would probably have been stellar, but we found other things to keep us busy and never made it.

...Up next, Day 4!

Following along, enjoying your review and reminiscing on my last cruise. Life is good.

Life is good, the Escape was great! :) Thank you for following.

I was so sad when I got to the bottom and thought I could flip pages to keep on reading and it said end! I'll be eagerly following along as I'll be sailing next Sarurday. Thank you for taking the time to post such an easy to read but informative review, looking forward to the next installments!

Thanks so much for the kind post! Back to reality and the work grind, I wish I could post faster. Thanks for hanging in there, and have a great trip!

Sunday Day 2 - At Sea, Breakfast, Pool/Kid's Splash Area, Atrium Fun, Dinner at Taste

Breakfast Showdown: Garden Cafe Buffet vs. Savor:

Breakfast at the Garden Cafe buffet is an endless sea of possibilities. From cold or hot cereal and all the toppings to hot or cold bakery treats to eggs benedict with ham or sausage, made to order eggs and omelets, breakfast potatoes, waffles, pancakes, biscuits and gravy, banger sausages, bacon, fruit, toast, granola, yogurt, juices, there didn't seem to be anything missing. Well for the food, that is. What you'll experience, or lack, is ambiance. It's a busy beehive of activity, people dodging in and out between plates of food and hot coffee to grab items. Not everyone follows rules for waiting at one end of a station in line for their turn to get to the potatoes. When there's an opening, someone will inevitably jump in the middle of the line and continue through it to the end. Which is fine for a lot of people. However, another wonderful breakfast option is Taste/Savor.

While I realize the Havenites have their personal restaurant which I have read is heaven, I can't compare our experience there. So you'll get my Taste/Savor breakfast comparison :) The few times the BFF & I were able to sneak away to breakfast sans kids or hubbies, we bee-lined it to Savor. Ahh, to be waited on, in the calm tranquil Savor. Where we can order a coffee and bailies or a mimosa along with our wonderful multi-course breakfast and compare cruise notes and do more giggling. Yes, my friends, that was heaven away from the chaos. The muesli, yes it was good, though dare I say without starting a riot, that I saw the same muesli up on the buffet. The Croque Madame was OK, as well as other items we sampled during the week at Savor, but nothing was too amazing or different than the buffet other than the ambiance, which is why Savor won better marks.

Pools & Kid's Aqua Park:

There are two pools on the Escape on Deck 16, one an adults pool and the other a kids pool, separated by a bar and gift shop alley. As many people have noted, the pool areas are entirely too small for the number of guests on the ship. There should be at least one if not two more pools and additional loungers. Deck 17 and above overlook the pools, with a fun Waves Bar that allows smoking on deck 17. We did not go to the Vibe Beach Club though when the kiddo gets older, that's where I'll be! There is a fun kids aqua park adjacent the kids pool that has water cannons and small slides and rope bridges that would be the highlight water experience for many youngins'.

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Sea Days at the Pool:

Sea days are a great time to catch some activity by the pool, check the daily flyer for what's happening when. If the video will load or link, you'll see how crowded, but fun, the festivities are. Tip: Get to the Waves Bar on Deck 17 early for a great view.

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Fun Events in the Atrium:

If loud crowds are not your thing at the pool, there was always something happening in the atrium below O' Sheehan's. Though the comfy chairs get taken early so O' Sheehan's bar railing is another place to catch something going on..

Hubby watching a lounge singer

Our g11 helped decorate a cupcake

Dinner at Taste or should I say, Yay for Cake!:

We opted for dinner at Taste, which was wonderful in its ambiance, but the dinner was a little hit and more miss. I ordered Escargot in puff pastry, soup, and Veal Scaloppini. The Veal was a weird concoction of thin veal steaks with an over-cooked cheese sauce underneath and on top. The veal was horrible, but I was nearly full from the app & soup so picked at some of the veal and saved most of my appetite for the long-awaited warm chocolate lava cake, which was just as scrumptious as I remembered from last year's Getaway trip. YUM-O. Our friend's daughter had steak & lobster with an extra surcharge of $24.99, which seems steep for an upcharge. There was also a full lobster tail entrée on the Taste menu for an upcharge.

...Up next, Day 3 on the Escape...

Following... We board Saturday as well, MeandHer1968! :)

Lucky ducky! Have FUN!

My Escape cruise isn't until October so I'm hanging on every word. Looking forward to more :)

Thank you for following.

Following along - a great review so far. We aren't travelling till October and can't wait. Also can't wait to hear about the splash academy as we will have our DS 10 with us.

Thank you much, DS will love Splash Academy, I will be writing about it.

following along...We get to board this Saturday....Cant wait!!!

There's so much to do, you'll have a blast!

Saturday Day 1 - Getting the lay of the land, Embark, Spa, UBP, Room, iConcierge, Muster drill, O'Sheehans

Boarding:

We were scheduled for 3:30 PM embarkation according to the paperwork, but we asked Jiffy Jeff to pick us up at the hotel by Noon. It looked like NCL wasn't checking Escape boarding times per recent reviews. At 12:45 PM there was a minimal check-in line and we literally walked right on the boat without sitting in the waiting room. No one ever commented on the boarding time. We took in sealed bottled water, soda, and gatorade in our carry-ons.

Mustard Greens drill:

After boarding we dropped off the carry-on bags in the room, met our room steward, headed out to get the spa stickers for the guys, then to and get the kids and adult signers registered for the kids Splash Academy. We toured the ship along the way, pointing out special things (restaurants, bars, casino, gift shop) the guys might want to know about, based on our past Getaway experiences. Soon it was time for the Muster drill, or Mustard Greens drill, as it became known. Our southern guys love their greens and when we reminded them the muster drill was coming up, all they heard was greens, "I thought you said mustard greens", "No, it's the life boat drill before the ship leaves, it's called a muster drill." , "Oh.. but do they have mustard greens on the boat?". That was as attentive as we had them all cruise.

Spa Pass (Thermal Suite):

We got a spa pass for the husbands this trip, each of whom love to go to the gym then spend time in the sauna and steam rooms. Us gals knew we'd be too busy with each other, the kiddos, and excursions to have enough time to use it for the full value ourselves. The husbands used it to their full value however. One husband used the snow room every visit right after heating up in the sauna. No one in our group purchased any spa treatments though they had a good 30% off deal if on Day 1 you booked three treatments for the week.

Balcony Room:

As cruise promotions, each room got the UBP for 2 people and 4 nights specialty dining for 2 people, plus $100 on-board credit. We had adjoining standard balcony rooms on Deck 9 and had our wonderful steward open the balcony divider up so we had one long balcony to visit on. The interior cabin door also opened into each other's room when we wanted to visit that way. My husband is a large guy and fit fine in the room. Even on the balcony we all fit fine. A standard balcony is not a terribly large room nor has a large balcony per se but we did not feel too cramped either, or maybe I'm just used to NCL balconies. Kiddo slept on the sofa which was made into a twin bed, and all of our luggage (amazingly) fit neatly under our bed, small bags inside the large ones.

There were plenty of drawers and shelves under kiddos bed and vanity to fit all the clothes. The stacked shelves in the closet were also nice, used for the extras. Lots of closet space for hanging clothes. There was also a safe, small fridge mini-bar which you can request to be emptied, a small coffee maker, large-sized hair dryer, storage seat for the vanity, ice bucket, wall-mounted TV, and extra large wall mirror. The bathroom was not too small, we each fit fine in the shower and bathroom and there was so much storage in the bathroom under the counter, on the wall shelves, & under the sink, that we had left over room in there as well.

UBP:

We made good use of the Unlimited Beverage Package. We brought on lots of ones for an extra tip per drink, which goes a long way for the bartenders and servers to remember who you are. I saw the majority of the people getting drinks with the UBP. Many people did not do an extra tip, which is each person's prerogative of course. Having worked in the restaurant industry in a previous life I opt to do the extra tip for each drink and it was clearly appreciated by the staff.

iConcierge:

5 of us in our group of 7 purchased the iConcierge app service to stay connected. We were able to text and/or call each other anytime and used it all the time to inform each other where we were, of upcoming plans, and delays. It can also be used to see availability at shows & restaurants, book them, and keep an eye on the bill. A couple of changes I noted from last year's use of the same service; All restaurant menus on the Getaway were available on the app, though no Escape menus were on the app this year. There were quite a few times I would have loved to see the menus. Instead we hoofed it to the restaurants we wanted to look at, only to find places like Cagney's and Moderno not having a menu out in public view and it was too early for any staff to be around ... so we made a few trips to get a peek at menus. The phone portion of the app worked flawlessly for 4 of us, while last year we could not get it to work at all. The 5th in our group went to the iConcierge desk for support after Day 3 because he could hear but no one could hear him. It was a quick fix in his phone's Settings and it worked like a charm from then on.

O'Sheehan's:

We opted for dinner at O'Sheehan's that night, which has typical pub food, and nightly specials depending on the night (Prime Rib, Seafood Basket, Ribs, Prime Rib again). We had burgers, nachos, spinach dip, wings (asian wings were amazing). Without asking, the servers got our group of 7 started with appetizers as we sat down to tide us over before the meal arrived. Through the week we ate several snacks/a lunch/one dinner here and though not fancy, it was consistent each time. They had a fun Deal or No Deal game several times throughout the cruise, in the atrium below O'Sheehan's. I won a free photo one game, woo-hoo!!

...Up next, Escape Day 2

Thank you friends baryton, Ladypeartree, Taxgal87, Shawnkat.

I have a new appreciation for reviews posted on CC. Between the copying, editing, formatting, picture posting, linking, it is a process. Thank you for following.

Hi All,

I am back from a May 2016 sailing on the NCL Escape and decided to chronicle our family adventure, from pre-cruise to the last day of the cruise (tears..). There have been some great reviews of this new ship so I hope to do it justice and offer some additional nuggets of information :) I'll continue my review as time allows Pacific time.

I'll note what we did each day that highlights different areas of the ship and won't repeat any topic I've already touched on, except for two reviews of Food Republic which I feel was warranted. Reviews will include shows, free and upcharge restaurants, bars, kid's activities, excursions, port transfers, spa, some comparison to the NCL Getaway along the way, and more.

Background

A little about us. We were two families traveling together, coming in from different parts of the country. My family hails from Sacratomato, California whilst my best friend and her family is from Lake Charles of the Casino Boats, Louisiana. We bring, in tow, three happy camper kids, mine b8, and hers g11 + her friend g13, and our husbands, who deep down really know the trip is about their wives being able to giggle together all day & night but humor us by not calling it out. Our families know each other very well, friends for 20+ years.

In general, we have a high tolerance for travel mishaps and misses, knowing things happen, and can find humor in most everything. All but friend g13 have cruised before, with NCL and Carnival. Most recently, I've cruised the Getaway twice including last year with said BFF (sans husbands). On the way to the airport from our May 2015 Getaway cruise, we planned for the next NCL cruise to include the husbands. Although I've kept tabs on the reviews on the Escape, which started out horrific and then softened over the sailings, I knew how similar it was to the Getaway so was certain we'd have another epic vacation... and short story, we did! :D

Transportation - Jiffy Jeff & Uber

I researched many transportation companies to get our group of 7 and our extensive luggage entourage between major locations (FLL to hotel, hotel to Port, Port to FLL). I also planned to use Uber where possible. We used a blend of both this trip. For the longer large-person, large-luggage transfers I settled on Jiffy Jeff. His communication & service was awesome!! We all flew into FLL within 1 hour of one another for 3 nights of pre-cruise Miami bliss. Jiffy Jeff arrived exactly where promised and made it an enjoyable and informational ride to the hotel. The rides with Jiffy Jeff were hassle-free and personal, in a newer air-conditioned black Mercedes 4-row shuttle van. Communication is done via email/website/text and the instructions were spot on. I have his number on my phone to use again. Uber was great for short, local trips during our stay.

Pre-Cruise Hotel (3-nts), Hop-on-off Bus, South Beach

After much research we settled on the pre-cruise hotel of Doubletree by Hilton Ocean Point Spa & Resort in Sunny Isles, North Miami Beach. We loved it, every minute of it. We booked two rooms, each a 1-bed ocean-view balcony suite with large full kitchen, full laundry, and enormous bathroom.

After checking in, we used Uber to go to the local Publix supermarket for in-room food. As for the room, kiddos slept on the sofa bed, with adults in the nicely appointed bedroom also with balcony access. This property had fantastic beach access, 2 drinks incl per day, pool bar, large pool, large patio, easy access to many amenities, shops, and restaurants. My condensed review is that I would stay here again in a heart beat. It would be worthy of a week-long stay on it's own.

Pool/Bar/Ocean View

I'd be remiss if I said that we did not venture away from our fabulous hotel beach for the husbands' lure of the famed Miami South Beach. We decided to use the Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour to see South Beach and other key Miami sights on our last full day in Miami. We Hopped On and nothing seemed to go right, from the driver, to the tour guide, to the bus itself. We did make it to South Beach, walked a half-mile across the scorching sand through throngs of people (thongs, throngs, they all sound the same in Miami!). There were a couple of cute topless kittens nearby and we were happy that the gents had some eye candy to help them endure the heat and stifle complaints (it seemed to work) ;). We swam for about 2 hours, then took UberXL directly back to our wonderful hotel beach.

South Beach

..Next up, Day 1 on the Escape..

Fun review!! Thanks for taking the time for the review and the photos. You do have an eye for detail, a few of my questions were answered from the photos. Headed out Wed. for a pre-cruise stay before our 5/21 Escape sailing! :D

Thanks for sharing. We've been excited to try Margaritaville on the Escape after our land-based visits, but the mere fact that No music is playing/displayed on screen cripples the experience entirely, followed by the food experience. Sigh.. Will still add it to my 'try' list, but maybe add the Food Republic tries more often. Thx again.

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Thank you for the great review! I appreciated your positive and honest photo/video review. We're excited to try the Escape in May after 2 fun trips on the Getaway. Being in the same class as the Getaway, we've been interested in the differences. Splash Academy looks like the same program format as Getaway, which was fantastic and kiddo DS8 loved. We love Margaritaville so are excited to have the menu and know it's included in UDP. Loved seeing the menus on the restaurants also seen on the Getaway. Thanks for all of the information, photos, videos, dailies, and for taking the time to do the review. Fantastic job!

Thank you, eroller, for the great review! Having been on the Getaway twice and now booked on the Escape for May, it was great to have a frame of reference when reading your review comparing back to other NCL ships! Looking forward to the new shows on Escape, too. Thanks again.

We have been on the Getaway twice with DS7. Last May 2014 and this past May 16, 2015. The late night fun zone in Splash Academy is as fun as there being friends to play with. Both cruises we saw fewer late night kids earlier in the week than later in the week, when there were many more kids. Last year DS had late night friends so was there more often. The downside was later in the week it was clear he was over-tired from the late nights. This year his new friends didn't go late night so I ended up checking in with him before late night started to see if he wanted to leave or stay. I ended up getting a couple of fun deck parties in :D

Thank you for taking the time to review. We leave for our 2nd Getaway cruise this Sat. 5/16. This will be the first time with the UBP. I enjoyed Moderno too, mostly the salad bar, but the lamb was out of this world. And the Mojitos at Sugar Cane - coolest bar, drinks, & staff. Thx again! :)

Following your enjoyable review. Loved the Getaway last May, am going again this May, and feel as I am reliving my Getaway fun - plus seeing some new sights through your review. Nice to see the current dailies. Great job and Thank you! :D

Thank you for the great & concise review! We'll be on this Saturday's sailing in a Spa balcony too! Excited!