Escape review June 25-July 2

[Db8coach]

I just got off the Escape yesterday and since I'm an avid user of the boards I thought I would pay it forward and finally contribute with my own review. I'm not going to do a chronological review but update with some tips, highlights and disappointments so you can peruse the sections of most interest. I will also upload some photos from my phone later. So, here's a little about me (I share this account with my Mother) so you know my perspective...

 

I'm a corporate lawyer in my late 30's and I travel with my 70's parent a few times per year. It was my birthday on the 24th so we booked this cruise last minute to celebrate (within 2 weeks of sailing)! This is my 10th cruise (3 NCL, 2 Princess, 2 Celebrity, and 3 Carnival). We had a fabulous time on the NCL Jade (Penthouse Suite) in the Mediterranean 3 years ago and a horrible experience on the NCL Getaway (large balcony mini suite) last year, but the timing worked so we thought we would give NCL another go. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and give the cruise a positive rating and hope the Getaway was just a fluke experience.

 

So here goes...

Embarkation: Positive. We were given a 3:30 boarding time but since we would not miss a full day on the ship arrived at the port around 11:35 and there was no line. The previous year we were all held in the loading area until 2:00 because people refused to leave the ship and boarding was a mess. However, we walked through the medal detectors, I had my trusty pen ready to fill out the health form in line and we were at the desk in 5 minutes. No problem with the credit card setup and we got the UBP and 3 UDP as specials (last year they misapplied the credit card and our account was shut down the first 2 days of the cruise until they sorted it out). We then followed the path right onto the ship! No boarding cards or wait so that was a pleasant surprise. Since the ship is similar to the Getaway in setup we knew to go right to 6 and the main dining room (taste/savor) for a seated lunch. We don't like getting pushed up to the buffet on day 1. Everything was fine, just know that while in port of MIA you get charged tax on your tasty alcoholic beverages so my Long Island cost me $0.88 and my Dad's beer was $0.52. After lunch we dropped our stuff off in the room and explored the ship until the mandatory muster drill (ours was 4pm for a 7pm sailing) so we went to the District Brewhouse and had 2 more $0.52 beers. Note: they stopped all ship services at 3:30 because of the Muster.

 

Muster: Positive (because we knew what to do). Muster on NCL is not as organized as other cruise lines, but after our last fiasco on the Getaway knew what to do. We did not wait for the alarm to sound to makie our way to the station but arrived early. My Mom is not as spry as she once was and making her walk down 8 flights of stairs from the room would have been torture. I probably would be huffing and puffing at 8 flights myself! We found out our station was in the casino, but there are no marking for Sections 1-7, so we found seats at a machine and waited 30 minutes. When the staff showed, we scanned our cards and resumed our seats so we were comfortable during the drill. Could not see or hear anything because of the banks of slot machines but we cruised enough to know the drill. People were arriving with luggage to the muster since the late boarding times and it was super crowded. Glad we thought ahead!

 

Room: Positive. We were in 15210, which is a balcony mini-suite. It is the top floor of room beneath the buffet and pool deck so the balcony is completely covered. We really enjoyed that, but there were only 2 small chairs (no lounge chairs like the large balconies on the lower floors) and a tiny side table (that the third person would sit on if we were all outside). I read up on staying beneath the pool deck and while some CC reviews said it was noisy because of the deck chair set ups, we never heard that except on the very last day at 6:00am since we were already awake. You did hear the stomping of running children but that was not too terrible. The location was great, directly between the forward and Aft elevators. NOTE: When we walked toward the Forward elevators and passed the rooms from 15180-15190 the hallway reaked of chlorine. If that was our room we would have had issues with the smell, but fortunate for us, there was no smell by our room.

 

Outlets: Positive. There were 2 USB outlets by the lights in the room to charge your portable devices. I brought my USB charger that has 4 extra USB ports so we could charge many devices art once.

 

Bathroom. Positive. The mini-suite bathroom is great, especially the shower. It has 6 massaging heads that can move, the only issue is trying to figure out how the strange thing works! They have dispensers for shampoos/conditioner, body wash and hand soap and give you one bar of soap and a bottle of lotion. The scent is a lemongrass so if you don't like that - pack your own. Ladies, if you use the public bathroom, this is how you tell if the stall is occupied or not (if below the handle the lock is horizontal it is occupied, if vertical, it is vacant. Also, they auto flush in public.

 

Steward. Very Disappointing. So, while the room was always clean, our steward was not in the "customer service" frame of mind. This was a room for 3 people and he only set it for 2. 2 glasses, 2 coffee mugs, 2 packets of coffee, 2 towels, etc. We asked for extra decaf, towels, etc. Not only did he not bring that the first night but always had an excuse. Told us on day 2 they were out of decaf coffee and didn't give us any. Funnily enough on day 3 they must have been miraculously airlifted another shipment because it appeared. I had to get a mug from the buffet so we all could drink a cup in the morning. The first evening we came back to the room and still only had 2 towels and the couch made up for the first person was so hard, I decided to sleep on top of the blanket and need a flat sheet for cover. I called housekeeping, the operator, and concierge and the phone range 100 times with no answer. I then dialed the steward directly, and he did pick up and said, "I'm off duty call housekeeping." I told him they are not picking up and he said "try again." Now if he had set the room for 3 like we asked earlier in the day it would not be a problem. So after trying for 30 minutes someone finally picked up and we got the extra towels and sheet 15 minutes later. This was not a great start. Then after sleeping on the rock hard couch, we asked our steward in the morning for extra padding to make it softer. My Dad used the word "mattress," and I said padding, this is very important because our steward liked to play upon semantics. He came back later in the day with another blanket and said that was the best he could do. We went to the latitudes reception (we are silver - 4 away from Gold status) and the Housekeeping Manager happened to stop by. I said, the room was very nice but the couch is really uncomfortable. He then asked if I would like an egg crate to make it softer and I replied, "yes" and he said no problem. I never thought about this again, until our steward yelled at me. Seriously, he did. We were walking in the hallway later that afternoon and he confronted me and my Mom saying, "you never asked me for an egg crate. You asked for a mattress and that would make it high. You got me in trouble." I said to him, we were at the reception and the Housekeeping Manager offered the egg crate to make it softer (which is what he should have done) and I accepted. He kept arguing you never asked for an egg crate but a mattress. Eventually we just walked away and we tried to stay clear from him the rest of the cruise. He did not speak to us either, which was fine, as he made me very uncomfortable. My Dad had to ask him for our nightly chocolates as latitudes members as he didn't give to us the first 2 nights and the excuse was he never got the list. Funny, he was able to put on our table day 1 the notice of the reception. So, overall this was very disappointing. Also, not very smart because we normally tip extra (over the pre-set daily gratuities) for good service, which normally includes to steward. Like the Seinfeld Soup **** says, "No [Tip] for you!"

 

Ship cleanliness: Positive. Staff is constantly cleaning the bathrooms, deck, carpet, railings, it was very impressive and I made sure to thank the people as they worked.

 

So, that's my start....will write more later after my flight home to Northern VA.

[cincicruisers]

Yikes, sorry you had all those issues with your room steward. I hope your trip improves from there.

[CruisinHarvey]

Sounds like the cabin steward needed to get a reprimand for more than the egg crate. He needed an attitude adjustment for sure. Sorry to hear about it.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.