My View: NCL Escape - Did she top the charts?

[Yorkvillain]

Great review so far. Loved the quick recap in the beginning.

[APDMOM]

Rooms were ready at 1 p.m. As noted before, we were assigned room 10882, since we booked a balcony guarantee. It was great to have staterooms above and below us. We were fairly close to the evening action, and usually crossed from aft to forward on deck 8 (either through the shops, or around the Waterfront) to get to the atrium or O’Sheehans. We did not want to cross the ship on deck 7, as the casino is right in the center and you have to walk through it.

 

Our balcony was slightly larger than those on Carnival, but smaller than what we had on Royal Caribbean. It was still adequate for us to enjoy. We do spend a lot of time on the balcony, so it is worth the splurge for us. The bed was by the closet. We have never had a bed by the balcony, so I do not quite grasp the preference to have a bed by the balcony. This layout works well for us, and our son used the couch as a converted bed.

 

The room at day and night: (Some of the photos are poor quality, as I am still getting used to my iPhone... I was one of the last to teansition from my flip phone. In fact, DH still only has a flip phone without texting. LOL! Part of the cruise budget)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Tip: I always pack these heavy duty magnets for hats, jackets, wet swim stuff, etc. They work in the room and the bathroom, even in the shower, since most of the walls are metal. To my surprise, the walls by the bed were not metal, so I could not hang my flashlight by the bed. This may also be why we could hear our neighbors. Apparently, NCL builds the room divider walls differently than other ships. This is the first time I encountered a non-metal wall between rooms. This only applied to the wall on the bed’s side. The other one was metal.

 

 

I really looked forward to the in-room coffee maker, but I was a bit disappointed in the quality and taste of the coffee. It was okay for an ‘emergency cup’ or the convenient cup, but I typically went to the Garden Café to get coffee, or splurged on a latté at The Atrium Café. Coffee was very hit-or-miss too. Depending on the station in the Garden Café, you could get a great cup of coffee or a weak imitation. The same applied to the morning coffee on the Waterfront. Sometimes, it was good, another time it was so strong, I could not drink it. So, ‘shop around’ for your coffee.

 

Be sure to place the bag the right side up. The first time, I made it in the dark, placed the bag upside down, and had a weak cup of coffee as result...

 

 

Coffee with a view:

 

Edited July 29, 2016 by APDMOM
Tips

[APDMOM]

We loved the bathroom layout. The shower door is great, the size is perfect, and the water flow worked well for us.

 

 

 

 

Another note… That hairdryer - Wow! It was the best hair dryer! So nice that I took several pictures to look for it on Amazon. So far, no luck. It seems you can only find them in UK/Europe and ship them over.

 

 

One of my favorite views of or room… more rainbows to follow in this review:

 

[APDMOM]

Let's move on to sailaway. Our safety briefing was very painless in the comfort of Taste/Savor (I still get the two mixed up!)

 

A few views of Miami and surrounding area - one of my favorite ports for a sailaway. It is a beautiful city from a distance:

 

 

 

 

View forward from our room (Not so pretty):

 

View aft:

 

Our parking garage:

[APDMOM]

Carnival Splendor leaving before us:

 

 

Our sailaway:

 

 

 

 

 

Bye, Miami! (MSC Dinina is the ship following us out)

 

[APDMOM]

Since sailaway was at 7 p.m., we decided to grab dinner in the Garden Café. We did not want to be stuck in the main dining room and miss sailaway.

 

This evening, we discovered our favorite live musician group in 21 cruises. Before this cruise, The Black Jack band (which was on Carnival Dream) had that "honorary" title since our cruise in March 2011.

 

Tonight, Port Royal crushed that record. They sang excellent classics by Elton John, Frank Sinatra, Bob Marley, Alan Jackson, etc. They are very talented with good variety. The Atrium was packed by the second night. Don't miss this Italian group of musicians!

 

 

 

I will try to insert a video here by editing the post on the computer:

 

[YOUTUBE]h1FlNnGbjEA[/YOUTUBE]

 

I have elaborate a bit on the entertainment. Royal Caribbean can learn a thing or two from Norwegian about talent scouting and the scheduling for live musicians. It was great to have the enjoyable, early evening live music in several venues. Evening music started around 5:15 pm every day, and it was spread out throughout the ship with many styles to choose from. This was one of the main things that we enjoyed on this cruise!

 

At 8:30 pm was the shopping raffle, which we attended but left empty-handed.

 

We called an early night, as the first day of the cruise is usually pretty exhausting, but fun!

 

That is the end of our first cruise day... I will continue tomorrow.

 

Thanks, again for following along!

Edited July 29, 2016 by APDMOM
Add youtube video

[queenschick9b]

Great review! Can't wait to read the rest!

[Juvesgirl]

Do you have to pay to use the app at all, or just if you want to use the texting feature?

[williecruz]

Loving the review and the pics...Can't wait for more!

[knots4crewzing]

Thanks so much for your review.:) As you can tell we have mostly sailed Royal Caribbean.

 

But, we want a longer stay in Bermuda and have heard great things about the Breakaway that we decided to give her a try next year.

 

Can't wait to read the rest!

 

Liz & Ed:)

[APDMOM]

Do you have to pay to use the app at all, or just if you want to use the texting feature?

 

No, It is totally free if you just use it to look at the Dailies, make reservations, even track your onboard spending.

 

Tip: Just make sure you download the app at home where you have wifi or access to a data plan. You cannot download the app on the ship without paid internet wifi package or your data plan. We did not buy the internet package, and used the app a lot. :)

[Juvesgirl]

 

No, It is totally free if you just use it to look at the Dailies, make reservations, even track your onboard spending.

 

Tip: Just make sure you download the app at home where you have wifi or access to a data plan. You cannot download the app on the ship without paid internet wifi package or your data plan. We did not buy the internet package, and used the app a lot. :)

 

Very helpful, thanks so much!!

[Lupush]

Excellent review! Getting excited for our cruise in a few weeks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[The Merrill]

I'm reading with great excitement!! We sail in a little over a month! Keep it coming ...

 

Cheryl

[tggs726]

Following along! Trying to re-live our week!

 

We really loved her!

 

-Matt

[BeachBecky]

 

No, It is totally free if you just use it to look at the Dailies, make reservations, even track your onboard spending.

 

Tip: Just make sure you download the app at home where you have wifi or access to a data plan. You cannot download the app on the ship without paid internet wifi package or your data plan. We did not buy the internet package, and used the app a lot. :)

 

Will the app help you stay on ship time on ship and port?

[APDMOM]

I'm Back!

 

Glad to see so may future "Escapees" following along! Thanks for all the positive comments.

 

I am trying not to elaborate on our daily activities on the ship so that this can be helpful for all. I had to do a 'crash course' on the Escape since our cruise was so last-minute (for us) and I basically only read 2 picture reviews and got a ton of helpful info!

 

Here we go for day 2...

[APDMOM]

Following along! Trying to re-live our week!

 

We really loved her!

 

-Matt

 

Thanks for joining in, Matt! And thank you for coordinating our roll call to help make a great success of our meet and mingle.

 

TIP: If anyone has questions about setting up the meet and mingle, ask tggs725 aka Matt. :)

[APDMOM]

Will the app help you stay on ship time on ship and port?

 

I am not sure about this, Becky. The time you see on the app is actually my iPhone time. I did not notice that our time was ever different from the islands, since this was a summer cruise. I think it only becomes a problem when you are cruising after daylight savings time ends... maybe someone else can help.

[APDMOM]

Good morning from our beautiful view on day 2 - Our first sea day:

 

 

[APDMOM]

If you have been reading my reviews, you know I am an early riser to get pictures of the quiet ship. This trip was no exception. I was not quite as diligent about getting pictures of all the areas this time, but will post some of the main areas as we go along.

 

Let’s head to the pool areas today.

 

The adult only pool (Not too crowded at 6 a.m... LOL!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Woot! Woot! Rugby on the big screen:

 

[APDMOM]

The Main Pool is the only pool that children can use. As mentioned before, I measured it with my flip-flops and it came out to be about 29 feet by 15 feet. It truly is small, and we avoided the pools entirely during ‘rush hour’. We used the pools early in the morning (around 8:30 until 10) or while in port.

 

Tip: If you want a relatively quiet pool, get there before 9, or use them while in port.

 

The Main Pool rules:

 

Another view:

 

Moving on the slides:

This was our favorite water attraction. However, the hours for the slides were more limited than the pools. Typically, the kids would storm the slides right at 10 a.m. on sea days, so it tended to be busy. We enjoyed the slides on port days, though.

 

When you first arrive at the slides, make sure you check the rules. There is even a scale to weigh yourself (or your children), if you are not sure:

 

 

 

DH was brave enough to try the Aqua Loop. He was not allowed to ride with his shirt, as they stated it may cause him to get stuck in the slide. They did allow him to hold the shirt while sliding:

 

Edited July 29, 2016 by APDMOM
Highlight tips

[APDMOM]

Our favorite slide was definitely the Aqua Racer. It was not much of a “race", but it was fun to ride.

 

TIP: You can bring a camera on this slide. I even brought my non-waterproof camera, as the slide does not splash much. I just held it up in the air closer to the end.

 

We loved the opening over the ocean, and the fact that two could ride close together on separate tubes. When I first read reviews, I thought they had double tubes. However, the tubes are all single, but they allow two tubes to go down together. There are adult sized tubes (blue) and kid sized tubes (yellow).

 

You pick the tubes up at the end of the slide:

 

 

Whee!!! St. Thomas is in the background:

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a video of us going down the Aqua Racer:

 

[YOUTUBE]RWISUna-cx4[/YOUTUBE]

Edited July 29, 2016 by APDMOM
Add video and tips

[APDMOM]

A few more views of the slides: