Norwegian Escape B2B Review: July 23 - August 6, 2016

[davidwar]

We did 4 excursions over the 2 weeks. I realize that may not seem like much, but in St. Thomas we shopped, in Tortola we just decided to stay on the ship. The first time we got to Nassau it rained and the second time we went there (because the ship got diverted from Belize due to the hurricane) we took the shore excursion listed below.

 

Here's brief reviews on these 4:

 

St. Maarten: Orient Beach Rendezvous - Short ride to a beautiful beach with free wifi and a small enclosure where we were served lunch. I think we got one free drink. Gorgeous beach. At lunch very large green iguana came up to our table looking for a snack. Scared the bejesus out of us.

 

Roatan: Maya Key Private Island Retreat (with lunch) - very short boat ride to this place from the ship. It's part resort, part wildlife sanctuary. Saw lots of parrots and some monkeys. Beach was beautiful and in the afternoon people started going back to the ship, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Lunch was ok, passable (some sort of chicken, rich and beans). Had a few alcoholic beverages, reasonably priced

 

Cozumel: Tulum Mayan Ruins - I didn't go on this one but my daughter and my niece did. I told them it was going to be a really long bus trip and very hot when they got there (I've been there before) which is exactly what the said it was. They enjoyed seeing the ruins though.

 

Nassau: Balmoral Island Beach Break With Lunch - Beautiful boat ride to this place, which is located right next to Sandals' beach. Had a few pools, nice beach with very warm water. Was told this is where the Beatles filmed the beach scene in "Help". Lunch was OK, we had sandwiches and salads. Glad it came included. They mistakenly didn't realize we had lunch included and told us the bill was over $50 for 3 meals. On the boat trip back, they pointed out Eddie Murphy's private island. Huge! They did drop you off right near the straw market, so on a really hot and humid day you had walk a good distance back to slog through the crowd of the people from the four other ships trying to get back at the same time.

 

An interesting story. We thought that since we were going to be on the ship the second week (B2B) that we would be able to book shore excursions for the second week at the shore excursion desk during the first week. No such luck. Were told that we would have to wait until Sunday (first day of the second week). We did and were promptly told that all the shore excursions we wanted were sold out. Wasn't feeling too good about this. I suppose I could have booked them in advance or used one of their computers and do it online, but I thought there was something screwy about this.

 

So when I went to my second Cruise Critics Meet n Greet on Monday, when some of the officers went around and asked if I was enjoying myself, I told them about this. Two guys took my name and cabin number and lo and behold, when I got back to the cabin a half hour later, the phone rang and I was told that space miraculously opened up on all the excursions we were interested in! So as the saying goes, "if you see something say something". God bless Cruise Critics and NCL for taking care of us.

 

In summary, we really enjoyed ourselves on the cruise even though there were a few glitches (read through the whole thread), nothing major. As for a B2B, as crazy as this may sound, by the middle of the second week, I was ready to go home, not because I wasn't having a good time, it just seemed a bit too long. I missed sitting in my living room, driving my car, etc. I will probably stick to a 9 or 10 night cruise in the future.

 

Well that's it. I took my older daughter to college for her freshman year, so I'm feeling a little old today and a little depressed. We are in NJ and a tropical storm is coming too. I guess I'll just have to start planning my next cruise!

[TenForward]

Thanks David for taking time to post your review. I enjoyed reading it. I'm in NJ too, awaiting the same Tropical Storm but in nearly 30 days, I'll be on my cruise...

[17cruisesnsl]

Thanks for a great review.

 

Booked a B2B on the Escape in Jan/Feb 2017 and debating cancelling the second week. While we love cruising, we haven't done a b2b before -- we've done 10 day cruises and think they are the perfect length and are discussing whether 14 days may be excessive. However, the thought of Escaping a NJ winter for two weeks is very appealing

 

Hope everyone fares well in the storm.

 

We're in NJ also, in Ocean County, and while the Governor has declared a state of emergency for the shore counties, thankfully, no evacuations have been required.

[SNJCruisers]

Thanks for a great review.

 

Booked a B2B on the Escape in Jan/Feb 2017 and debating cancelling the second week.

Most people do a B2B when the ship alternates Eastern/Western so the ports are not repetitive. Even though the Escape is a great ship, if the ports are important to you, then doing the same cruise two consecutive weeks in a row is not a good value. Other second week options out of Miami would be the Celebrity Reflection for 7 days going to St. Maarten, St Kitts and San Juan on 2/4, the NCL Getaway for 7 days doing 4 ports to the West on 2/5 or the new Carnival Vista for 6 days doing 3 ports to the West on 2/5.

[Honestlee314]

As a Jersey girl, I love your references :) Also, Hells Kitchen is a favorite of mine and I HAD to go to AC to try the Beef Wellington at the pub in Caesars. Did you spend days poolside or at Spice? Also, just sailed the BA in August and a lot of the mix drinks were pre made as well.

[davidwar]

As a Jersey girl, I love your references :) Also, Hells Kitchen is a favorite of mine and I HAD to go to AC to try the Beef Wellington at the pub in Caesars. Did you spend days poolside or at Spice? Also, just sailed the BA in August and a lot of the mix drinks were pre made as well.

 

I tended to go to Spice. The pool was a zoo on sea days. If you go early in the morning (around 9) you will basically have Spice to yourself. The Grotto water feature they have there is very refreshing. There was a bartender named Brent who made my LI Iced Teas correctly and also made a great Bloody Mary. When facing the bar to the right, smoking is allowed, so go to the other side if that bothers you.

[Honestlee314]

Thanks for the info about Spice, we loved it on the BA, and the pictures of the Escapes look AMAZING! One more (series of) question, as you are from NJ... Did you fly in and if so, did you stay a night before/after? And if yes what are your recommendations? Thanks!

[17cruisesnsl]

We sailed the Escape in February so we flew out of Newark the day before and of course it was snowing.

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Miami Airport East. There is a shuttle available from Miami airport to the hotel. The hotel was only a few months old so there were a few glitches but overall it was fine and we are staying there again this year. The hotel has a shuttle to the port which you can book for a fee. We used Uber which cost the same, around $20 with tip.

 

Dougout's fabulous Escape review includes a review of the hotel

 

Enjoy your cruise, the Escape is a wonderful ship.

[cruisetimeforme]

We'll be staying at the same Hyatt in a few weeks looking forward to our upcoming back to back on the Getaway. Great review and agree with your comments on Danilo the room steward. We were in cabin 9292 on Escape back in June. We had our cabin inspected during one of our port days which was the same day he was assigned to do the crew life boat drill. We felt bad for him that day as I'm sure they do so to see if any of them were slacking off on their cleaning because of it. Thanks to all who commented on their experiences with NCL's way of handling back to back passengers. We've only done two of these both with Celebrity, Once we were given a free lunch at Bistro on Five and the last time a group tour of the Bridge and an invite to sailaway from a port out on the helipad. My longest cruise to date is 45 days and I still didn't want it to end. I love being on vacation!

[davidwar]

Thanks for the info about Spice, we loved it on the BA, and the pictures of the Escapes look AMAZING! One more (series of) question, as you are from NJ... Did you fly in and if so, did you stay a night before/after? And if yes what are your recommendations? Thanks!

 

We took our chances and flew the morning of embarkation from Newark to Miami. We had a 6:00 AM flight and were on the bus on our way to the cruise terminal by 10:30. Remember this was in the middle of July, not in the middle of winter, so the chances of any weather-related issues were much less. Not sure if we would do the same thing in the middle of February.