Escape Aft Cabin Input

[teamkern]

We recently booked for next summer and chose deck 15 as we will have an aft facing suite. I have read all the threads about which balcony is larger, layout of the room, as well as which deck would be closer to other amenities, and hope we have made the right choice. It is interesting that for the cruise we chose, all the Haven Aft rooms are gone for decks 13, 14, & 15, but available for decks 9-12. It seems like deck 9 has the largest balcony and is very popular amongst some.

 

Any thoughts on why the lower decks are still available? If 9 is a better choice I was considering changing. Thanks for your thoughts.

[Two Wheels Only]

On deck 15, the Garden Cafe is directly above you and Spice H2O is directly above that.

 

For some, the possibility of noise from above (morning and late night) makes the lower decks more desirable.

[Frick_&_Frack]

I try to "sandwich" between decks of cabins due to the possibility of noise. Also, there are 2 different room configurations - so you need to be careful which you choose (if it matters to you). Personally, I prefer the main bathroom by the balcony, but there are fewer designed that way. :)

[sandebeach]

We had a Haven aft suite on deck 9 on the Escape in April, and loved it. The balcony was not only wide, but very deep. My hubby still raves about it as the best aft balcony we have ever had. We had a round eating table with two chairs, two regular chairs with a small round low table, and two loungers, and still had lots of space around us. It was also very private back there, was not bothered by the walkway below us on deck 8. I didn't see the other decks, so I can't tell you if they were larger, but we loved Deck 9.

[Two Wheels Only]

Also, there are 2 different room configurations - so you need to be careful which you choose (if it matters to you). Personally, I prefer the main bathroom by the balcony, but there are fewer designed that way. :)

 

For Escape, that would be decks 11 and 14 for the H6.

 

We had a Haven aft suite on deck 9 on the Escape...I didn't see the other decks, so I can't tell you if they were larger, but we loved Deck 9.

 

If you had deck 9, you had the largest. (That's true for Escape, Breakaway and Getaway).

Edited August 6, 2016 by Two Wheels Only

[Frick_&_Frack]

For Escape, that would be decks 11 and 14 for the H6.

 

 

 

If you had deck 9, you had the largest. (That's true for Escape, Breakaway and Getaway).

 

Sorry, should have been more clear and added the deck numbers for the bath by balcony ones. :)

[ccndfw]

We just returned from the Escape and were on Deck 9. We loved the size of the balcony, but be advised we could hear the music from the Manhattan room in our cabin... Thankfully, it didn't go too late so it wasn't a problem for us. Would stay on deck 9 again.

[sctexan]

We were on deck 11 in 11312 and you could definitely feel slight shaking of the ship all the time. Several time up in the Garden Cafe I was literally swaying back and forth at the table. I can only imagine that an aft cabin on deck 15 would sway like that too.

 

It really just depends on what you feel comfortable with. After my experience on the Escape I would not stay in a forward or aft cabin on such a high deck as 15. This is the first cruise I've ever been on that it took me almost a week to get me land legs back. :)

 

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Edited August 7, 2016 by sctexan

[rfkeith10]

We had a Haven aft suite on deck 9 on the Escape in April, and loved it. The balcony was not only wide, but very deep. My hubby still raves about it as the best aft balcony we have ever had. We had a round eating table with two chairs, two regular chairs with a small round low table, and two loungers, and still had lots of space around us. It was also very private back there, was not bothered by the walkway below us on deck 8. I didn't see the other decks, so I can't tell you if they were larger, but we loved Deck 9.

 

We enjoyed your post and comments about your Deck 9 aft experiences. We are booked in 9918 for an October cruise. It's our first time staying in an Aft suite. The large balcony was the main selling point for me.

 

I was surprised to read that you had two loungers. From what I have read and pictures I have seen, I thought the Escape only had one lounger. Did you have to request the second one or was it just there? We also had some concern about the noise from the walkway on Deck 8. Glad to hear that was not an issue.

 

Ray

[cruisecrazy82]

We had cabin 12312 on the Escape and it was perfect. Easy up and easy down for dining and such and super quiet. We had two loungers and 2 chairs with a small table and the balcony was huge!!! Would definitely stay in that cabin again. It was also oddly the best I have ever slept on a cruise and our stateroom attendant was AWESOME!![emoji4]

Edited August 7, 2016 by cruisecrazy82

[happy cruzin]

We enjoyed your post and comments about your Deck 9 aft experiences. We are booked in 9918 for an October cruise. It's our first time staying in an Aft suite. The large balcony was the main selling point for me.

 

 

 

I was surprised to read that you had two loungers. From what I have read and pictures I have seen, I thought the Escape only had one lounger. Did you have to request the second one or was it just there? We also had some concern about the noise from the walkway on Deck 8. Glad to hear that was not an issue.

 

 

 

Ray

 

 

We had two when we sailed in February - but one was a "Haven longer" and the other was just a "regular one".

 

https://im1.shutterfly.com/procsimple?imageID=04wq1xPzaIBtveAs6z4yswHQdUcL4d0mwop4VwsW.ZUEEx-onmuRjCDcOOSG4KdStrvJQk6IFfcsrLe.QcadxzD&rotation=0&cropll=0.0,0.0&cropur=1.0,1.0&effect=AUTO&DATA=v4GAz8IWPwSqkNqqeQS..rZauRCOUVSuhC.4IA0Hn3nS6BoFf8zk9d9R-rKUIKCpGNtU6eGsvjtqxnncxMSTpY9aCZGfgD-bvk&rendersize=fit1000x1000

[keeponcruising]

I had 2 relatives with aft cabins on deck 15 directly under the garden café. They said never again to deck 15 aft cabins. The area of the garden café above their cabins was tiled, so needless to say, they did not get much sleep from the constant dragging of the chairs throughout the night.

Edited August 7, 2016 by keeponcruising
misspelled word

[sandebeach]

We enjoyed your post and comments about your Deck 9 aft experiences. We are booked in 9918 for an October cruise. It's our first time staying in an Aft suite. The large balcony was the main selling point for me.

 

I was surprised to read that you had two loungers. From what I have read and pictures I have seen, I thought the Escape only had one lounger. Did you have to request the second one or was it just there? We also had some concern about the noise from the walkway on Deck 8. Glad to hear that was not an issue.

 

Ray

 

Yes, two loungers. As another poster noted, one was a Haven "wicker" lounger with the aqua-colored lounger pad, and one was a regular dark blue lounger. They were both there on the balcony when we got to the room. Also, the round dining table had four chairs, not two!

[MikeBTN]

Stayed in 9918 in May. Amazing cabin. Steakhouse is directly below but we heard no noise. By the time we were in bed it was shut down, and its not open in the morning. The largest balcony was definitely worth it, IMO. On 15 you have Garden Cafe directly above. Always noisy. That's probably the one deck I would not do an Aft cabin on.

[teamkern]

Stayed in 9918 in May. Amazing cabin. Steakhouse is directly below but we heard no noise. By the time we were in bed it was shut down, and its not open in the morning. The largest balcony was definitely worth it, IMO. On 15 you have Garden Cafe directly above. Always noisy. That's probably the one deck I would not do an Aft cabin on.

 

Did you find yourself using the Haven less being so far from it? I initially chose the deck 15 as it would be a walk to the other end and then up two flights of stairs? I guess it's the same walk, and then just wait for the elevator.

[MikeBTN]

Did you find yourself using the Haven less being so far from it? I initially chose the deck 15 as it would be a walk to the other end and then up two flights of stairs? I guess it's the same walk, and then just wait for the elevator.

 

Not at all. We had the kids, so we didn't use the lounge or sun deck as much as we would had they not been with us (we are sailing again over New Years, just the two of us! Can't wait!), but we dined in The Haven each of our non-specialty dining nights and several times for breakfast and lunch. The kids really enjoyed the pool and made a few new friends. We went back and forth between upselling to the Aft or the 2-bedroom suites IN the Haven, and we definitely made the right choice. Layout of the suites is similar, but we used the balcony quite a bit.

[VideoTech]

Did you find yourself using the Haven less being so far from it? I initially chose the deck 15 as it would be a walk to the other end and then up two flights of stairs? I guess it's the same walk, and then just wait for the elevator.

 

We had an aft suite on deck 14 on our recent Escape cruise. What a fantastic cabin! The balcony was absolutely the largest we've ever had on an NCL ship, except for the OS balcony on Pride of America.

 

The balcony had two lounge chairs, two regular chairs, and a dining table with a full set of 4 chairs.

 

As others have mentioned, we always try to pick our cabins sandwiched between other decks of cabins, so as to minimize noise problems from restaurants and clubs. The only night we heard anything was the night of the "white hot" party in spice H2O, and that was gone by midnight.

 

About the only drawback to this balcony, for a summer Caribbean cruise, is due to the swept back nature of the stern of the ship. You don't get much shade on the balcony during the day, because the deck above you steps back so far. This would be fine on a winter Caribbean cruise, with milder temperatures, but in the summer, it gets hot out there!

 

We knew we'd have a hike to the Haven, but it didn't bother us. We were up in the Haven quite a bit, and ate most of our meals in the Haven restaurant, which is wonderful. I don't think we used the Haven any less than on previous cruises.

[MikeBTN]

We had an aft suite on deck 14 on our recent Escape cruise. What a fantastic cabin! The balcony was absolutely the largest we've ever had on an NCL ship, except for the OS balcony on Pride of America.

 

The balcony had two lounge chairs, two regular chairs, and a dining table with a full set of 4 chairs.

 

As others have mentioned, we always try to pick our cabins sandwiched between other decks of cabins, so as to minimize noise problems from restaurants and clubs. The only night we heard anything was the night of the "white hot" party in spice H2O, and that was gone by midnight.

 

About the only drawback to this balcony, for a summer Caribbean cruise, is due to the swept back nature of the stern of the ship. You don't get much shade on the balcony during the day, because the deck above you steps back so far. This would be fine on a winter Caribbean cruise, with milder temperatures, but in the summer, it gets hot out there!

 

We knew we'd have a hike to the Haven, but it didn't bother us. We were up in the Haven quite a bit, and ate most of our meals in the Haven restaurant, which is wonderful. I don't think we used the Haven any less than on previous cruises.

 

The layout of 9 solves this - you have plenty of coverage by deck 10 for shade, but also a lot of room in the sun if that's what you want. Best of both worlds!

[teamkern]

I appreciate all the input from folks. Called and changed our room to deck 9 today.

 

 

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[happy cruzin]

I appreciate all the input from folks. Called and changed our room to deck 9 today.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

I think you will be happy that you did!!

[Sand and Seas]

We had cabin 12312 on the Escape and it was perfect. Easy up and easy down for dining and such and super quiet. We had two loungers and 2 chairs with a small table and the balcony was huge!!! Would definitely stay in that cabin again. It was also oddly the best I have ever slept on a cruise and our stateroom attendant was AWESOME!![emoji4]

 

I was so excited to find this post as we just took an upsell to this cabin. The first cabin they offered us was on Deck 13 and I had read enough here to know Deck 12 was deeper. (Deck 9 was gone). It definitely pays to study up on this site:cool:

 

Thanks for for posting about this cabin!

[teamkern]

We enjoyed your post and comments about your Deck 9 aft experiences. We are booked in 9918 for an October cruise. It's our first time staying in an Aft suite. The large balcony was the main selling point for me.

 

Ray

 

So how was your cruise and your experience on Deck 9? Did you find the distance from the Haven a problem?

[rfkeith10]

So how was your cruise and your experience on Deck 9? Did you find the distance from the Haven a problem?

 

Our cruise was one of the best we have ever taken. As I said before, it was our first aft Suite. The best part was the size of the balcony on Deck 9. It was very large and comfortable. We spent a lot of time on the balcony. The suite itself was very nice. It appeared to be larger in videos and photos that I had seen but it was adequate.

 

I guess because of the great balcony, we didn't visit the Haven all that often. We ate breakfast there every day and had dinner once. Most of the time we walked the length of the deck 9 corridor to the forward bank of elevators and took them up to the Haven. I have some mobility issues and was concerned about the "hike" to the Haven but I had no problems.

 

We were so impressed with the aft suite and large balcony that we would book it again on a similar ship.

 

Ray

[Two Wheels Only]

We were so impressed with the aft suite and large balcony that we would book it again on a similar ship.

 

Keep in mind that the ships similar to Escape are Breakaway/Getaway and on those ships, deck 9 has a larger balcony than deck 9 on Escape. However, the room configuration is the opposite. On deck 9 for BA/GA, the master bathroom overlooks the balcony but there is no 2nd access door to outside.

[rfkeith10]

Keep in mind that the ships similar to Escape are Breakaway/Getaway and on those ships, deck 9 has a larger balcony than deck 9 on Escape. However, the room configuration is the opposite. On deck 9 for BA/GA, the master bathroom overlooks the balcony but there is no 2nd access door to outside.

 

Thanks for the info. I did not realize the configuration was different on the BA/GA. I don't think that makes any difference to us.

 

Ray