Escape Review 4/16-4/23

[Jemmi1218]

I just got off the Escape yesterday from a fantastic cruise! Very many positives and very few negatives (and none that were major). I was traveling with a friend and her parents. My friend and I are both single and in our 30s and her parents are in their 60s and this was their first cruise. My coworker had been on one cruise last March on the Getaway and I cruise 2-3 times a year, mostly on NCL. This will be my first review and I felt that there were so many great things I wanted to share!

 

Arrival: We flew in to West Palm from New England Friday evening and stayed outside Ft. Lauderdale. We wanted Vibe passes and therefore got to the port around 9am after returning our rental car and taking the shuttle to the port. After a 20 minute wait for security to open we were finally on our way. As always, check in went smoothly. I really love the Miami port compared to others (especially New York!). Check in is always quick and painless. We were initially given boarding group 15 (but were within the first 20 people checked in) and I voiced that then ended up with group 3. They fixed that without a blink of an eye and soon we were sitting down reading our books. Boarding started fairly early and we were on board around 1130am. We got our Vibe passes (no mad rush, no chaos), made our dinner reservations and explored the ship until the dining room opened at 1230.

 

Cabin: We had cabin 13888 which was a balcony cabin with the bed by the closet. Oh how I hate that set up especially when the beds are split since I was traveling with a friend. She had to sit on my bed to access the closet which irked me. This is my largest complaint for the whole ship. It was made much worse since we had to split the beds and there was only about 6 inches from my bed to the closet. Had we not had to split them it wouldn't have been -as- bad. Next time I know to make sure the bed is by the window. Our room steward also NEVER intoduced themselves and I have no idea who he/she was. Never saw them all week. This ended up being good- usually they drive me crazy. Our room was always clean, extra towels left, had towel animals and were turned down each night. The fact they never intoduced themselves was no big deal. I'm easy to please, never need anything extra and as long as my room is clean I'm happy. Plus I didn't feel the need to tip them extra and instead that portion of my tips went to someone who truely deserved them.

 

Activities: I can't really comment in this. I didn't participate in ANY activities all week. This is very unusual for me. But this time I had Vibe passes and spent all my time there instead of on the insane pool deck. Usually when I'm on the pool deck I need a break from the craziness. I never needed a break from Vibe. I did go down the tube slide once (which was awesome!), played mini golf (I felt was pretty challenging for a cruise ship and had fun) and did the ropes course on the last sea day. Wow that ropes course is terrifying in the wind! I've done the one of the Breakaway and Getaway with no problems. The first level of this was was fine (with the exception of the moving plank! I still did it but it was terrifying) but the second level in the wind-wow. That was awesome and horrible all at the same time! I loved the zip line over the side! It was awesome and went on it several times.

 

Entertainment: We missed our after midnight show so we never saw it. We walked out of For the Record after the first set-it was that bad. They were so off and sounded horrible together. Individually they were great, especially the beat boxer but it wasn't enough to get us to stay. We also skipped the Brat Pack because the afternoon before our reservations they were sitting near the Internet cafe having a meeting. They were saying how much the show would "suck" that night. (Their words not mine). They were talking about how off their dance moves were and the lights and one still didn't know all the words. I found this terrible. Do not talk about your lack of skills in a public guest area! Needless to say we skipped that show. Others I spoke with said it was okay but nothing special. We LOVED the magician Harry Maurer in the supper club. He was fantastic! Levity was also great (and actually funny). We also enjoyed Howl at the Moon like always. One night I'm pretty sure they were high and we left early. The next day I realized was 4/20 and it made so much more sense!

 

Food: one word: amazing! I have no complaints. At all. We had fantastic meals at La Cucina, Cagneys, Le Bistro and Bayomo. Everything we all got there was great and we loved it. We also ate at Food Repblic twice for lunch and it was amazing and we loved the concept. There wasn't a thing we tried there that we didn't like. We also ate at Margarittaville for lunch and really enjoyed it. We didn't feel like the up charge was too much. We felt it was worth it. The morning buffet was fine (I usually stick with fruit and cereal). We mostly ate in the dining room for breakfast and loved it. We ate in the main dining room once night for dinner. My friend said her food was great. I couldn't find a single thing on the menu that appealed to me. They were more that happy to create a full size salad with grilled salmon for me and it was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. We ate in O'Sheehans twice for dinner on late port days and it was fantastic as always.

 

Vibe: This was the best $100 I have ever spent on any cruise. I spent almost every moment on all the sea days here and at least some time on every port day. Not having to worry about a lounge chair was well worth it. There were many times I was the only person in the hot tub. We also met so many awesome people that we got to know and hung out with during the cruise. Roberto and Romell were by far the two best crew members I have ever experienced on any cruise. They both went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed/wanted. It was a party up in Vibe all week long because of them! I drank more on this cruise that I have in the last five years combined and it was due to Roberto and Romell bringing me a new drink to try all week long! These two got the sole share of my "extra tips" for the week. It was also nice to get to know them as people and learn about life on the ship as well as back home. These guys work so hard I welcomed the chance to know more about them!

 

Excursions: First off, before we left home it was predicted to rain all week long. Thank goodness the weather man doesn't have a clue. We had beautiful weather all week minus a few 10 minute showers on a sea day. We had beautiful days in ports. I had a horrible day in St Thomas due to things out of control of NCL so that port was a wash. But we did the Norman Island snorkle on Tortola and even thought it was too rough to go into the sea caves, we had a great time snorkeling and later on the beach. I would so that excursion again if I ddint want to try other things first. In Naussau we went over to Blue Lagoon which is my excursion on choice if we don't stay on the ship. It was a bit windy and cool but all in all a great day. I will return there again as always.

 

Overall this was a great cruise. I loved the ship even though I think it's identical time the the breakaway and getaway. It felt at home moving around and didn't feel like it was crowded despite it being April vacation week in New England. I'm very easy to please so it's not hard to exceed my expectations when it comes to a cruise. Very little, if anything could "ruin" a cruise for me. Any day on a cruise ship is better than a day at home! :) if you have any questions feel free to ask!

[outtabux]

Thanks for your review! What did you think about the motion/rocking?

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise and I enjoyed your review.

 

Keith

[Jemmi1218]

Thanks for your review! What did you think about the motion/rocking?

 

I didn't think it was any worse than the Getaway or the Breakaway. I don't get seasick at all so it didn't bother me. But I did feel some rocking but nothing more than I expected. I think all the big ships rock more than the smaller ships so I just expect that I will feel it. My friends parents said it was "really bad" but they had nothing to compare it to. They didn't get sick, just couldn't walk a straight line to save their lives!

[srun04]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering which car rental place did you use?

[Jim The Lizard]

Great review! We love Vibe also, glad to hear there was no stress getting the passes.

[stviecruise]

Great review thank you for sharing :)

[LrgPizza]

Ahhh, yet another person who enjoyed the Escape! Thanks for reporting back.

 

Amidst all the negativity on this forum, I love when people actually return from a ship, because it's almost always a good report. That says it all.

[Jemmi1218]

Thanks for the review. I was wondering which car rental place did you use?

 

We use Alamo at the Miami airport since they have a free shuttle to the port with your receipt and free shuttle back to the airport with proof of reservation. I Have never had issues with them and have used them 7-8 times now. :)

[jastrish24]

I too just returned from the Escape and had mixed reviews. We flew in the day of had no problems getting to the port and had no problems at all checking in since we were in the Haven Suites. A last minute upgrade for us and so worth it!!! I was traveling with my husband both of us in our early 40's and my son who is 12. The ship has a very unique layout for sure. We kept finding things each and every day that we had not seen before. Our room was amazing!!! Butler and concierge made our whole trip treats delivered to our stateroom daily from strawberries to club sandwiches, cookies you name it we got it. There was a lot of movement with the boat especially the first night. I have sailed many times on all cruise lines Princess, Royal Carribean, Carnival and NCL and I have never felt the movement of the ship as much as I did on this one!!! And motion does not bother me at all.

 

Dining: we dined at Manhattan the atmosphere nd service were great food was nothing special pretty bland to be honest. The same at Savor and Taste. We had a fabulous meal at Teppanyaki the Japanese restaurant and we highly recommend. Another great dinner at La Cucina as we ate on the outdoor patio it was wonderful. And Cagneys steakhouse the food was great but service was lacking. I'm not a big fan of the prepaid tipping as I feel that the service lacks because of this. We ate breakfast mostly in the Garden Café breakfast options were great, lunch was the same options but good variety. We also ate in the Haven Restaurant twice for breakfast and it was great. Took in lunch one day at Margaritaville cuz we love it but don't feel it is worth the upcharge to be honest. I'm sure it has to do with some contract they have with Jimmy Buffet. Ate at Osheehans one afternoon and the food was horrible came out cold and little taste.

 

Excursions: In St Thomas we did the Captain Nautica Snorkel we had a small group of about 15. Weather was great visibility was clear. We had a very small boat and had some engine problems on the way out but we made it. Bottled water and sodas were included and some fruit and shrimp cocktail. We felt a bit jipped we had this small boat and lots of the other excursions had these huge catamarans and were handing out free rum punch etc. If you are looking for small setting this is the excursion for you.

 

Tortola: We went to the Virgin Gorda Baths and let me tell you it was breathtaking. Red flag was out for seas but it kept no one from entering the water. Once you got past the break of the waves it was smooth and sooo much fun. Baths were a bit of a hike down and you must be in good shape to maneuver the rocks and caves. A great day except we sat on the boat to head back forever as the captain locked himself out of the wheel house and had no extra key so they used a crow bar to open finally!!

 

Nassau: Traveling with my son we headed to Atlantis for the day. Weather was a bit overcast but we had a great day!!!

 

Entertainment: Not a lot of kid friendly options which I was unhappy with. We did see After Midnight it was ok nothing to Rave about. We saw Harry Muer the magician/comedian and that was great. Also loved Brenda Kaye the Hypnotist. Loved the Dueling Pianos but my son did not enjoy as it was no music he knew. My husband and son also took in a comedy show they loved I was feeling under the weather that night. We took in quite a few game shows, played a game of Bingo which seems quite pricey to me for three games.

 

Pools: Sea days are crazy I got up to run the track in the mornings and people were literally out there at 7 am saving deck chairs. Also was not happy that the main pool area is Adults only till 5 pm. The only option for kids 12-18 is the kiddie pool next to the slides which had a bunch of kids in swim diapers in it. My son was like I am not swimming in there with infants etc and I don't blame him. Plus there are two area on the ship that are adult only other than the pool so I was not happy and felt this was not very family oriented. The pool side music was less than desireable as well. What happened to the nice carribean music on other ships we had like a bad imitation of Madonna, heavy metal etc or they showed soccer games on the the big screens all day long!!!

 

Haven Pool wasn't much better as there is literally no sun near the pool even when the glass ceiling is open. Poor design there as I would have hung out there the entire cruise but no sun.

 

Also find it a bit ridiculous that there is bowling in the back of Osheehans but its 5 dollars per person.

 

I paid over 10K for my cruise and I felt like everything was an additional charge. I get the video arcade being a cost but bowling? Again not geared toward those traveling with kids at all.

 

I love Norwegian cruise line but would not sail this ship again would look at other options first. Don't get me wrong we had a fantastic cruise overall but was not as impressed as I thought I would be with a brand new ship.

[Cruzinbabe06]

Thank you both for taking the time to post your reviews!:)

[KarenMF]

Pools: Also was not happy that the main pool area is Adults only till 5 pm.

 

Spice H2O is adult only, but the main pool area is too? Never heard that....

[Aquahound]

Spice H2O is adult only, but the main pool area is too? Never heard that....

 

Yes, it is true. I was on the same cruise. See the white sign right behind the guy sitting at the top, left of the pool? It says Adults Only until 5:00 pm. The rule also applied to the starboard side hot tub. Kids were allowed in the port side hot tub, as you can see in the picture. Kids were only allowed to swim in the pool between the waterslides.

 

[labatsman]

Also just got off the Escape... was so disappointed with pool area. It was so jammed especially sea days which I expected. First sea day I am sunbathing on top sun deck and people are walking up to the deck and carrying down stairs beach chairs because there are none on lower decks , even though there was many at front of ship that were strapped down.

Heard later a few peeps were bashed by these people as they were carrying their chairs to their spots.

The one pool was packed daily and hard to enter some days, Yes one only hot tub for adults and the other was jammed with kids daily.

the kids pool was jammed with kids as it should be. I think there was 2 other hot tubs at spice and 2 others at front of ships which were also jammed on sea days.

Most disappointing pool area I have ever been on any ship.

And yes the music wasn't great and was very loud and even as a soccer fanatic I agree they showed WAY too much on the big screen

[Jenjer]

Thanks for your reviews.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[CruisinHarvey]

Jemmi1218 -

Entertainment: We missed our after midnight show so we never saw it. We walked out of For the Record after the first set-it was that bad. They were so off and sounded horrible together. Individually they were great, especially the beat boxer but it wasn't enough to get us to stay. We also skipped the Brat Pack

 

You got me a little confused. For the Record: the Brat Pack is one show, unless they've changed it when it moved to the Theater. Is it 2 different shows now?