Just booked NCL Escape!!

[CamaCama]

Kinda nervous as there will obviously not be any reviews until a week or two before we sail in November!! I am BIG on reviews for anything I purchase... but will hope for the best with this. :)

 

I've been reading a lot of Getaway reviews... does anyone know what will be different on Escape???

 

Soooooo excited! Our first time doing a full week cruise!

[DoubleC33]

Congrats! Ill hop on this bandwagon for details as well, as my wife and I just booked the Escape last night for '17. Of course by then Ill have all the videos, pics and reviews I need haha.

 

Have a great cruise!

[cliffd64]

Here are some of the unique offerings of Escape:

 

There will be some different dining/bar venues on Escape.

Previously announced for the ship were the first Margaritaville at sea as well as a version of Miami's famed Tobacco Road blues bar. Joining the South Florida flavor will be the District Brew House, a craft beer hall partnering with Wynwood Brewing Company, known for La Rubia Blonde Ale but also set to create a microbrew exclusive to the ship. The hall will feature 50 bottled beers and a menu with pub-style food offerings as well as handcrafted cocktails from the ship's mixed-drink venue, Bar Lab.

 

Dining will also get a Miami twist with the partnership with restaurateurs Jose Mendin, Andreas Schreiner and Sergio Navarro of The Pubbelly Restaurant Group, which has opened six dining concepts in South Florida in the past three years. For the Escape, the group will bring Food Republic, a modern option that features global cuisine for sampling and sharing, with small-plate à la carte cuisine from around the world. Example menu options include dates with chorizo featuring smoked bacon, spicy tomato and goat cheese crema and Japanese Amberjack with lemongrass romesco, charred tomato and hazelnuts.

 

James Beard Award-winning chef Jose Garces will bring two venues to the ship. Bayamo will be cuisine with Cuban and Spanish influences. Example menu items include Berenjenas, a roasted eggplant with tomato rice and a saffron emulsion and Bacalao Carbonizado, a black cod with a squid ink glaze, saffron, and tomato and chorizo rice. Sugarcane Mojito Bar, which appears on other Norwegian ships, will also be aboard the Escape at the entrance to Bayamo offering drinks and live Latin music.

 

The other venue from Garces will be the Pincho Tapas Bar, with Spanish à la carte dishes.

 

One other drink venue coming is The Cellars, A Michael Mondavi Family Wine Bar, the Mondavi family's first partnership with Norwegian Cruise Line. The bar, which will feature 35 grape varietals, will offer tastings, classes and tapas-style food accompaniments in either the indoor tasting room or an outdoor wine bar along the ship's "Waterfront" dining complex.

 

For entertainment: "After Midnight" is a musical that just finished a run on Broadway with big-band songs of Duke Ellington evoking the 1920s and 1930s at Harlem nightclub the Cotton Club. It features an on-stage jazz band that during its Broadway run was as much a draw as the singing and dancing. This is the first time the show will have been performed at sea.

 

Also slated for the ship is another musical revue "Million Dollar Quartet" that's based on a one-time recording session in 1956 with icons Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Songs like "Blue Suede Shoes," "Great Balls of Fire" and "Walk the Line" are part of the performance.

 

For children of the '80s, there's a new concept Madsen described as "a post-modern cabaret" titled "For The Record presents Dear John Hughes," which will put the audience in a 360-degree dinner show venue. The line says will guests will spend the evening with "a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal" and pull music from the classic 80s-movie soundtracks of Hughes' films such as "16 Candles," "Pretty in Pink" and "Weird Science."

[TSUmom]

Congrats! Ill hop on this bandwagon for details as well, as my wife and I just booked the Escape last night for '17. Of course by then Ill have all the videos, pics and reviews I need haha.

 

Have a great cruise!

 

We also booked a few weeks ago for 2017 and will be looking forward to pictures and reviews when they come in.

[DoubleC33]

We also booked a few weeks ago for 2017 and will be looking forward to pictures and reviews when they come in.

 

Awesome! This will be my first Norwegian cruise. And first time over 5 nights. I cannot wait! Going to celebrate my 30th onboard :D

[LrgPizza]

If you subscribe and follow the Everything Escape post, it has loads of information, and someone is always updating it with the latest and greatest info.

 

Also, there are complete, detailed floor plans of the Escape available on NCL.com which will show you all the differences between Escape and Getaway. NCL.com also has detailed info about dining, shows, etc.

 

Those things should keep you occupied for a while... Maybe until your actual cruise! LOL

[missdixie]

We are booked for December this year. Thanks for the information cliffd64. I am really looking forward to this cruise.

[Abear2]

I am booked for the December 26th sailing and now I am excited to see the new additions to this ship! Thanks :)

[CamaCama]

Thank you cliffd, that was fun to read! Will look on the NCL site too! Can't wait!!

[CamaCama]

Seems like they didn't make many rooms connecting on this ship. There were no connecting interior rooms available for us when we booked... we got 2 together but not connecting. Do you think they will open up? I loved having connecting on our last cruise... and anything above interior category is too expensive on this cruise!!

Edited March 3, 2015 by CamaCama

[Babiblues75]

Kinda nervous as there will obviously not be any reviews until a week or two before we sail in November!! I am BIG on reviews for anything I purchase... but will hope for the best with this. :)

 

I've been reading a lot of Getaway reviews... does anyone know what will be different on Escape???

 

Soooooo excited! Our first time doing a full week cruise!

 

I'm booked on the same cruise date. I think it's kinda neat booking a cruise before knowing all the details. I've done it for the Breakaway and the Getaway - I had no clue what I was in for and honestly made for a better cruise. Funny thing I had the same cabin/room number on the Breakaway and Getaway and it's almost the same cabin/room number on the Escape Plus I find out by booking the ships when there is lack of information out there; the prices are much lower. The prices of the cabin we have has gone up a lot (I was able to get the bonus perks also -UDP, UBP, and $300 onboard)

Edited March 3, 2015 by Babiblues75

[islandcrazy]

We are booked for the Escape in November 2016, can't wait to see all the information and pictures after Nov 2015. We are taking my father on his first cruise for his 75th Birthday :)

[kchiumento]

We are right now trying to decide on Escape or Getaway.

 

 

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[legion3]

We also booked escape for April 2016. I usually show the kids the ships we will be sailing on and when I showed them the current state of Escape...well lets say they hope it will be in one piece before our cruise. :D

[sea wanderer]

Booked 01/23/16 can't wait first NCL cruise looking forward to that new ship smell. Keep up with her construction at http://www.meyerwerft.com they update a webcam picture about once a week.

[hockeyluver]

After 16 cruises on Carnival, we booked our first NCL on the Escape for Feb 2016!! not a clue what to expect from the ship or cruiseline :p

[Susie51]

Thanks Cliffd for all of the details.

[Diver2014]

Four of us (in 2 staterooms) on the Escape in December. Sounds exciting! I was thrilled when the Epic first sailed into Miami. I got off work early, walked over to Bicentennial Park with my 'Welcome To Miami, Norwegian Epic' sign, taped it to the concrete wall and watched as she sailed into Govt Cut. When she got to the turning basin, I waved my arms and got a 'toot' back from the ships horn. Made my day. We sailed on the Epic later on. Maybe I can make a sign for the day Escape comes in....:cool: NCL has always been my fave cruise line - my very first cruise was on SS Norway and also our honeymoon on the Norway...such a fine ship. Been on the Pearl a couple of times and will be again next Feb. We go on other cruise lines but always come back to NCL for special occasions.

Edited March 29, 2015 by Diver2014

[Rob0519]

We just booked the Escape for November 14 of this year. It will be our first NCL cruise and the first on a ship of this size. We have two connecting staterooms with balconies on Deck 9. They were not our first choice, but I guess we deliberated just a little too long. Since it will be a brand new ship we, like the rest of you have no idea what to expect as to how crowded it will feel with 3 sea days in a 7 day itinerary.

[Sand and Seas]

We are sailing on her in January. We have already been on the Getaway and Breakaway so I'm confident we will LOVE the Escape! The entertainment sounds great. We have seen Million Dollar Quartet several times in Las Vegas and really enjoyed it. Also looking forward to Margaritaville:D

[TSOH]

Booked for Nov 14, 2015!

[Diver2014]

We just booked the Escape for November 14 of this year. It will be our first NCL cruise and the first on a ship of this size. We have two connecting staterooms with balconies on Deck 9. They were not our first choice, but I guess we deliberated just a little too long. Since it will be a brand new ship we, like the rest of you have no idea what to expect as to how crowded it will feel with 3 sea days in a 7 day itinerary.

 

You won't feel crowded. We like big ships and have found that they have plenty of space and have never felt like we were on a ship with 4000+ passengers. The only crowds we encounter on a regular basis is at the elevators near the theaters after a show, in the buffet line on embarkation day (go to the main dining room for lunch!) and trying to get through customs after the cruise when only 3 agents are working. The rest of the time, you'd never know you were on a 'big' ship.

[HarpHarp]

Yeah! Come join our roll call:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2019673&page=32

[Zevo]

Diver2014, my first cruise was also on the SS Norway. Very classy ship.

[Diver2014]

Diver2014, my first cruise was also on the SS Norway. Very classy ship.

 

I feel so lucky now to have cruised on the SS Norway twice, especially the second time in 1995. We were sitting in Crawdaddy's Restaurant at the end of Government Cut (now Smith & Wollensky) watching the Norway sail away from Miami when my now husband gave me my engagement ring. Exactly a year later, we were on the SS Norway on our honeymoon, watching as we sailed past Crawdaddy's. Such wonderful memories. It's now exactly 20 years later and next month, we celebrate our 20th anniversary. Sadly, no SS Norway but we are going to have dinner at the 94th Aero Squadron in near MIA, where we got married.

The SS Norway was the classiest ship of her time. Such fond memories.