Escape Sept 17-24

[Flyingirl]

I think this will be the quickest review in the history of CC. There are so many detailed and concise ones that I just wanted to post what we found. (In no particular order.)

 

The blow dryers were awesome and be sure to bring your own conditioner. We were fine with the shampoo, lotion and shower gel.

 

We bought the Thermal Suites ahead ($200pp no gratuity) and they were $219pp onboard. There was never a sale or promotion on price. The suites were worth every single cent to us. It seemed to be the only calm and quiet place on the ship. I am sad to admit that I took a nap every single day in the heated lounge chairs! 😀 We would hit the main pools for a little each day but 90% of the chairs were saved and unoccupied. There was some quieter jacuzzis up on 17 forward (if my memory is correct). Best deal at the spa was the personalized scrub you could have made for $9 for a large jar. (I had a lavender salt scrub made that I used for 4 days)

 

If you don't have the UBP- the best deal going on the ship is O'Sheehans for pitchers of beer. They are $13.95 and you can have Heineken, Amstel Light or Nut Brown.

 

We found the main dining room food just mediocre as a whole. We only did one speciality restaurant (Moderno) and, our next cruise will be mainly specialty. That was our best dinner hands down. Tried to get into La Cucina the next night (last night at sea) and could not. So, my recommendation- make reservations early on. We wanted to wing it and have no schedule but, should have had a schedule. 😳

 

Talking about reservations, make all your entertainment ones ahead of time. Shows, comedy etc. They sell out too. 😮 We made it to one comedy show and loved it.

 

If you are going to the airport after the cruise- take Uber. BIL headed to Miami and took a cab. It was 8miles and it was $35. We went to FLL which is 24 miles and the ride was $29.

 

In Tortola we used Aristocat or our day snorkeling excursion. There was about 25 of us on the catamaran and the snorkel spots were FANTASTIC! Loved the laid back group and we had a ball. I would repeat in a heartbeat. $120pp included lunch, drinks and snorkel gear. Walked to the port from our port.

 

In St Thomas we used Catania Yacht Charters. We were the only 3 on a 1926 sailboat that the captain was born on. His parents sailed the world 3 times in the boat. It was $150pp and included a fantastic lunch, drinks and snorkel gear. Loved his stories about living aboard the boat as a kid and the history. The spots we went to were secluded and beautiful beaches. Snorkeling was adequate but the scener was awesome. Had to take a taxi to other side of island for this one.

 

The gym onboard was awesome and had great equipment.

 

Should you need anything medicinal after the onboard store is closed- medical was great. This will be entirely TMI but, BIL has had chemo that killed part of the movement of his colon. Needed something late and was able to purchase at medical for $5. They also have a coin operated machine in front that you can buy things like Tylenol, tums and condoms.

 

Breakfast and lunch in Savor and Taste were MEH to all three of us. I was the most disappointed to find the food at the buffet tastier. 😳

 

Hope this helps someone out there!

[AdoraBelle]

Thank you! The med vending machine is new info to me.

 

 

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[Warm Breezes]

Thank you for your review. I have a question on the Thermal Suites. I have an issue with humid rooms and find I have an issue breathing in them. I end up light headed and dizzy and having to leave to get fresh air. This happened to me on CCL Freedom when I was just touring the spa and gym. I would love to try the heated loungers but am afraid to purchase a Thermal Suites package for fear I won't be able to breath in them. Can you tell me if it seemed humid to you in there?

[AdoraBelle]

Thank you for your review. I have a question on the Thermal Suites. I have an issue with humid rooms and find I have an issue breathing in them. I end up light headed and dizzy and having to leave to get fresh air. This happened to me on CCL Freedom when I was just touring the spa and gym. I would love to try the heated loungers but am afraid to purchase a Thermal Suites package for fear I won't be able to breath in them. Can you tell me if it seemed humid to you in there?

 

I've been in the thermal suite on GA twice, and while the air is slightly warm/humid, it's far far less warm/humid than being out on the actual pool deck or standing outside the Port of Miami terminal. :)

 

There is a definite chlorine thing going on though.

[WAHMto5]

Thank you for the review, only a few more days until we get to enjoy the ship!

[Lido_Deck]

You didn't take in After Midnight or Brat Pack?

 

If you didn't, you missed one of the best shows at sea in After Midnight. Brat Pack is good entertainment, but it just wasn't to the level of AM. Your cruise was the last week for the old cast and a new cast came onboard. I spent some time with several of the cast members on my 9/10 sailing and they are good people and cruising was a new experience for them. They were all anxious to get back home, but I told them after a couple of weeks they were going to miss being able to call up room service on a whim to order their meals. They are going to miss not having to shop for groceries, cook, wash dishes, clean or just hangout with their fellow cast members. And they will damn sure miss banking all of their salaries when they start paying bills again.

[Chesneygirl]

Thanks so much for your review! We are sailing the Escape in February and trying to decide between Miami or Fort Lauderdale for airports. What time did you get off the ship? How long was the ride to the airport? What time was your flight?

 

 

 

 

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[Lido_Deck]

Thanks so much for your review! We are sailing the Escape in February and trying to decide between Miami or Fort Lauderdale for airports. What time did you get off the ship? How long was the ride to the airport? What time was your flight?

 

 

 

 

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Be sure to take the ferry to St John when in port in St Thomas, drive to the top of the mountain and see Kenny's house that I helped pay for. I gave him his first headline concert on Feb 13, 1999 just as "How Forever Feels" hit No. 1 on the charts.

[Chesneygirl]

Be sure to take the ferry to St John when in port in St Thomas, drive to the top of the mountain and see Kenny's house that I helped pay for. I gave him his first headline concert on Feb 13, 1999 just as "How Forever Feels" hit No. 1 on the charts.

 

 

We are most definitely planning on doing a day trip to St. John while on this cruise. [emoji106][emoji3]

 

And you can also count me in as one of the many contributors to Kenny's fame and fortune over the years. [emoji12]

 

 

 

 

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[Lido_Deck]

We are most definitely planning on doing a day trip to St. John while on this cruise. [emoji106][emoji3]

 

And you can also count me in as one of the many contributors to Kenny's fame and fortune over the years. [emoji12]

 

 

 

 

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I paid him $11,500.00 for that show. Now it would be something like $1,150,000.00 per show. I worked by butt off to sell 1,972 tickets with the help of Tracy Lawrence announcing a walk-on at the show a week ahead of time. A few weeks ago at Foxborough he sold 111,000 tickets in two shows. What a difference a bunch of #1 hits make.

[volk904]

Where did you find out about the Aristocat tour on Tortola?

 

 

 

 

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[Flyingirl]

@Warm Breezes- we live in Colorado so I am not big on humidity either. The Thermal Suites did not seem at all humid in general. There is also 2 saunas- one that is hot and a little more moist and one that is kept cooler. The salt room was a little too cold for me so I didn't use it much but, it did not seem humid either.

[Flyingirl]

@Lido Deck- we did have reservations one night for Brat Pack but, dinner ran real late and we missed it. I did hear that they were both good but, since we kind of winged dinners- we didn't get much else scheduled. 😂

[Flyingirl]

@Chesney Girl- our BIL flight out of MIA was at 938am. He got off as soon as we were cleared and was there by 8 am. (Ticket was only $95 ow so, worth the gamble).

 

DH and had a noon flight out of FLL. My Uber recipt shows we left at 924am and arrived at 956am. We did walk off and got off the ship about 845 am.

[Flyingirl]

@Volk- I don't remember for sure but I am guessing it was a mix of other CC reviews on Tortola and Trip Advisor. I use both when planning. Honestly the best snorkeling we have had in several years. Probably since Ambergris Caye. And, I loved that it was walking distance over to their dock from our port. I never felt like I had to watch time to account for a taxi ride after.

[SNJCruisers]

We are sailing the Escape in February and trying to decide between Miami or Fort Lauderdale for airports.

Since you're going to be sailing during the first quarter of 2017 when many snowbirds like to flock to southern FLA, it would behoove you to get your flights asap. The only thing that really matters is that you fly in the day before if you can to avoid any undue stress because of weather or mechanical flight problems. Southwest into FLL is great because bags fly free, but YMMV if you live near a getaway city that is cheaper into MIA. Check out LMT Club.com for cheap hotel rates. A free membership code can be obtained with a google search.

[Warm Breezes]

@Warm Breezes- we live in Colorado so I am not big on humidity either. The Thermal Suites did not seem at all humid in general. There is also 2 saunas- one that is hot and a little more moist and one that is kept cooler. The salt room was a little too cold for me so I didn't use it much but, it did not seem humid either.

 

Thanks for the feed back.

[Warm Breezes]

I've been in the thermal suite on GA twice, and while the air is slightly warm/humid, it's far far less warm/humid than being out on the actual pool deck or standing outside the Port of Miami terminal. :)

 

There is a definite chlorine thing going on though.

 

Thanks for the feed back.

[ilovetotravel1977]

I

 

If you don't have the UBP- the best deal going on the ship is O'Sheehans for pitchers of beer. They are $13.95 and you can have Heineken, Amstel Light or Nut Brown.

 

We didn't have the UBP and purchased the 60oz pitchers every night. We bought Stella Draft. We found a great bartender who would "top it up" for free once we got just under half gone. He would always get a good tip from us for his services :P

[gracebest]

@Volk- I don't remember for sure but I am guessing it was a mix of other CC reviews on Tortola and Trip Advisor. I use both when planning. Honestly the best snorkeling we have had in several years. Probably since Ambergris Caye. And, I loved that it was walking distance over to their dock from our port. I never felt like I had to watch time to account for a taxi ride after.

 

Did you do the Norman Island and the Indians or a different one? I didn't think their tours would work with our 7-3 timeframe so I am happy to hear that you were able to do it.

[Flyingirl]

@Gracebest- ours was the Norman Island. That operator has never missed getting people back (which I like) and was well versed in our times that we ported and that we had to be back on board. They customized the times to our ship. (We departed a little earlier and back a little earlier than the website stated.). Only caveat I have is that it would not have been great for kids. But, I don't think kids hanging with adults that have full use of alcohol is ever a good idea.

[williecruz]

Nice review! We too did the Aristocat Charter in Tortola--was by far our best day trip. We also did Norman Island/The Indians!

Glad to hear you enjoyed your sail on St Thomas--we'll look into that for the next time! Great tip on the spa scrub--will try that out too!

[gracebest]

@Gracebest- ours was the Norman Island. That operator has never missed getting people back (which I like) and was well versed in our times that we ported and that we had to be back on board. They customized the times to our ship. (We departed a little earlier and back a little earlier than the website stated.). Only caveat I have is that it would not have been great for kids. But, I don't think kids hanging with adults that have full use of alcohol is ever a good idea.

 

Thank you so much! I emailed them this morning and hope I will hear back soon. Our kids are adults now, but I totally agree with you about it not being a good idea for children.

[parTealady]

Thank you for your review. We are on the Escape Oct. 29-Nov. 5. This will be our first time with NCL.

 

We have snorkeled in St. Thomas, but have never been to Tortola. After reading about your experience with Aristocat, we went ahead and booked the tour for Wed. Nov. 2. Should be great!