My week on the Escape (Chapter 2) Dec 3-10 (Somewhat Live)

[ShannonSC2]

We slept until 9 am today. Husband said I snored- I don't believe him. I think I could have slept all day! But- I had places to go and people to see so up I went! I went out on the balcony to feel the warm sun. It was windy and not really so warm. Oh well, it's not cold so all is good. It was 9:45 by the time we were dressed and ready to go so we went to O`Sheehans for breakfast since it went to 11. I wasn`the too hungry so just got the assorted pastries (that just counts AS ONE item right?) and a bowl of oatmeal. It came out fast and was fine. I usually love breakfast but I just wasn't too into it today.

 

After breakfast we went to buy some suntan lotion. I couldn't bring any since I didn't check my bag. It was $10.99 for 6 Oz. Yikes. Then off to the cabin to put on suits and head to Vibe.

 

It is funny that you slept in. Something about being away without kids makes me "relax" a lot more. I can actually sleep better and I can do what I want without waiting on anyone to get ready! :)

 

Also your school trips sound like mine. We were lucky to go to a small town close by for our trips to see the park or museum. I would have loved to gone to the Bahamas! :)

[ljrfrm]

It is funny that you slept in. Something about being away without kids makes me "relax" a lot more. I can actually sleep better and I can do what I want without waiting on anyone to get ready! :)

 

Also your school trips sound like mine. We were lucky to go to a small town close by for our trips to see the park or museum. I would have loved to gone to the Bahamas! :)

 

I've been reading the Bahamas blogs from son's field trip. Looks like they had a great time. One last sleep and it's back to reality. This went way too quick!

[ljrfrm]

Really enjoying your review. Thanks for taking time to share with us.

 

Thanks! Sorry I'm behind. Will catch up and finish tomorrow.

[ljrfrm]

Put my jeans on for the first time in a week. Oh my, they are tight. So sad we are back in Miami but I think my waistline is thanking me.

 

Lots of time at the airport so should be able to catch up on my Escapades (get it? ESCAPADES, Escape?) then. Off for the last breakfast now.......

[ljrfrm]

After the comedy show we headed back to our cabin. I had just been thinking how unloved we were that we hadn't received any afternoon treats from anyone. When we were in the Haven we got treats from our Butler each afternoon plus an occasional something something from an officer or someone we may have chatted with the day. This trip....nothing. not that I expected anything really. Well, walking in to our cabin this night we found a plate of chocolate covered strawberries from the assistant maitre'd at Manhatten. We had chatted with her the night before telling her how much we loved our special aft table. We are loved afterall! Now- we were stuffed and couldn't possibly squeeze them in so shoved them in the fridge. You never know if we might have a food emergency tomorrow and need them to survive! We watched a bit of TV (Two Broke Girls) and went to sleep.

[ljrfrm]

We woke up around 8:30 the next morning and I excitedly threw open the balcony curtain to see the beautiful sunny day. It was our last day on board and I planned to soak in the sunshine all day long. What greeted me outside was a gray, dull, cloudy sky. Yuck. No worries, I was confident it would burn off and my sunshine would eventually arrive.

 

Now on a side note I had misplaced my $10.99 little bottle of suntan lotion (I left it overnight on the table at Vibe. Ruby told me that the clean up staff probably took it down to guest services. I checked but they couldn't find it. I refused to buy another for the last day so I had a feeling a sunburn was in my future).

 

We went to Savor for breakfast. I had the Muesli and Poached Eggs on a biscuit. And just to make sure I never experience hunger again, I also asked for some chocolate croissants. We saw our Manhatten waiter Thomas there, and once again our waitress Naza from Modernos. They must wonder where I put all this food!

[ljrfrm]

After breakfast we swung by Skyline as we were supposed to have a last 15 min meeting with the lady from Vacationality. We waited for about 15 minutes but she was with another couple. After the 15 minutes we had alotted, we went and told her we had to leave. We weren't buying anything and I gave her the allotted time promised for our $50. There was no hard sell and she was fine with us leaving. We had already received our $50 on board credit.

 

By this time it was almost 11 am. We threw on our suits and headed up to Vibe. Mike had a mojito in my hand almost before I sat down. I was still in search of the sun, but I wouldn't be stopped. We watched as we pulled up to dock in Nassau. It initially seemed like the port side would be facing Atlantis this time, but we circled around and pulled in the other way. Our port side cabin would have a beautiful view of the Royal Princess cruise ship instead. Ha ha, my ship is bigger than your ship!!

 

Although we arrived in Nassau closer to 11 am, the passengers weren't cleared to disembark until almost noon. This was our arrival time so no delays today. We decided to stay on board again although with the not so great weather, I started considering getting dressed and going out for a walk. We never did make it off the ship-who needs sun to have a good time. I moved on to Ruby's skinny Margarita and turned my chair around to face the sun, or lack thereof. We stayed in Vibe for another hour until we realized we had to go eat lunch because if we ate any later we wouldn't be hungry for dinner. See, its all about strategic eating!

[ljrfrm]

We decided to try Margaritaville for lunch. Why not. We headed down there and grabbed a table. It was a bit windy and honestly I was cold during lunch. I ordered a Incommunicado to drink and husband and I shared the Nachos. I then had the Quesadillas and he ate the fish tacos. We were chatting with our server-who had just brought me a second Incommunicado-about the Nachos. He asked what we thought of them. Husband told him that he was not impressed. Now, I've never met a plate of Nachos that I don't love. But husband told him that he thought they were skimpy. Now the plate was huge, but it was mostly all chips and cheese whiz. There was only one top layer of real cheese with very little meat and beans, etc. The server told us that they used to put all the ingredients on the first level, then add more chips and top with everything again, then add another level, etc. etc. They've now been told by Corporate to only add all the ingredients to the top level.

 

The server evidently mentioned husband's comment to the officer that was nearby. Now, we weren't complaining and even with husband's comment, neither of us felt the nachos were bad. Actually, I thought they were great. But there was a lot of chips vs. toppings. Anyhow, the officer told the server not to charge us for the nachos and they planned to share our feedback. They also brought us a slice of Key Lime Pie on the house. It was SO good! He told us that they don't make it on the ship but rather buy it pre-made. It was delicious! Lunch cost us less than $20, which included a decent tip for our server.

[ljrfrm]

After lunch we went back to Vibe and spent the afternoon hanging out and soaking in the hot tub. At one point we thought it started to rain but then realized they were just washing the ship. The sun never did come out but it wasn't really too cold other than when we got out of the hot tub. We never needed our missing suntan lotion. Maybe that's a good thing?

 

Around 4:30 we headed back down to the cabin to pack. We opened the balcony door and music was blaring. I never did figure out if it was coming from the dock or other ship-although my guess is it was from the dock party below. Remember, we couldn't see down so who know what was happening down there. We finished packing, showered and then went back up to the Vibe bar for last drinks and goodbyes.

 

After a few drinks we said goodbye to Ruby, Curly and Mike. We gave them each a tip, a giant hug and thanked them for spoiling us all week. As I sit on the plane writing this, I realize they are now serving another group of Vibe guests with the same friendliness and energy they gave to us. I'm sure they've already learned everyone's names!

[ljrfrm]

After we left Vibe, we took our last trip to the Manhatten restaurant. We asked to be seated in Thomas' section but it was full. We were seated right away at around 7 pm. Just as we sat down we realized we were rocking-which must mean we've left Nassau.

 

After ordering a glass of wine, I ordered Fried Brie and Steak Fries. The food came quickly and was good. As I was all set to order dessert, husband informed me he wanted to order a second entree. What? I guess go big or go home! He already had ordered two appetizers too. Amazing. I went ahead and ordered a Chocolate Lava Cake which I enjoyed while he ate his shrimp. Luckily for his digestion, he decided to skip dessert. Every night we planned to hit O'Sheehan's for a late night snack but we never could squeeze anymore food in. Clearly tonight would be a no-good as well. We rolled ourselves out of Manhatten at around 8:15.

[ljrfrm]

We made our way to the Supper Club for the 9:15 show. This was a drop in show with no reservations required so we wanted to get there early to get a seat. The show was called Showmen starring Tezz from After Midnight. It was a tribute to Showmen such as Prince, Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire, Sammie Davis Jr, etc. The show included singing and dancing including some tap. We got a great seat up front and we were glad we arrived early, as in the end it was standing room only.

 

The show was very good and Tezz is a personable and talented actor. I heard he was leaving the Escape the next day, otherwise I would definitely recommend seeing it. Once the show ended we went to Sugarcane as we realized we hadn't made it over to see Bong yet. We each had a Coco Mojito and then went to our cabin to put our suitcases out. This was real now-our cruise was ending. Boo!

[Ontario cruise duo]

I had previously booked an Escape cruise that was supposed to be the same week that you are writing about. After much consideration I cancelled it back in August partly due to the weak Canadian $ versus the American $. I've been somewhat regretting having done that, but we also have a 1 week land based vacation for Florida this coming March (2017) and couldn't/shouldn't do both. DH is retired, but gets a nice "Monthly cash for Life" deposit (pension) in his bank account every month while I still work 4 days a week. Nonetheless, enjoyed your review and have been thinking to myself, I should NOT have cancelled this cruise. Oh well, back to reality and hoping for a better exchange rate next year and the possibility of re-booking this same cruise once again! THANKS for posting about your week!

[ljrfrm]

As I wasn't ready for the cruise to end yet, we headed out once again and went to Howl at the Moon. We stayed for about 30 minutes or so. It wasn't as crowded as I expected to be, although several of the drunk "regulars" were there. As I knew we'd be getting up early, we headed back to the cabin. We watched an episode of Elementary and then drifted off to sleep. I woke up a few times wondering if we were arriving in Miami yet, but rolled over and fell back to sleep until the alarm went off this morning.

 

Our alarm was set for 7:30 the next morning. Once again, I jumped out of bed and immediately went to open the balcony curtain. I knew we had arrived (or at least I thought we had) and I expected to see the same view I had when we left (facing away from port - definitely the prettier view). What I saw instead was the port. Once again, the captain tricked me and parked his ship facing the other way. This captain always has something up his sleeve. The weather looked terrible, and it was gray and rainy. Gloomy. Just how I feel inside for having to go home.

 

After dressing (I have NO idea who exchanged my jeans during the week with another smaller pair! These ones don't fit me at all!) we went for our last breakfast at Savor. We sat at the window facing port, and watched busloads of new Escape workers arriving and boarding. It seemed like so many, but even if we saw 100-200 come on board, that's such a small number I guess compared to how many are on board. Once again I order a few chocolate croissants (because clearly the whole jeans don't fit thing doesn't bother me!), Muesli and the french toast. Breakfast lasted about 40 minutes and we then went back to the cabin until 9 am.

 

We chose "gray" luggage tags the day before, which had a 9:35 am bye bye time. The plan was to leave the cabin at 9 am (the latest we could stay) and then go hang out elsewhere until 9:35. My flight wasn't until 2:13 so we had plenty of time. I heard Gray called at 9:00 am, and since we had to be out of the cabin anyways, we figured we might as well head to the airport.

 

We walked down to deck 7 and saw a line to disembark. Ugh - I thought about going to sit for awhile to avoid the line but then realized it was moving quickly. Very quickly. We left our cabin at 9 am and were at the airport by 9:45. The line to disembark took literally 5 minutes. We found our suitcases right away, and then got in line for customs. That line seemed long but went pretty quick as well. We walked outside and called our Uber, which arrived less than 5 minutes later.

 

Once at the airport, I had 4 hours until I boarded my flight. Husband had 5 hours, as he was heading back to Mexico for work. We went to the American Express lounge to wait. As if we hadn't eaten enough, we got a bit of food for lunch, then around 1:30 said goodbye to each other and I went to my flight. My American Airlines flight was on time and I updated this review, watched the movie Bad Moms and checked out Facebook. A quick 2 1/2 hours later I landed, and took an Uber home.

 

So, here I am at home with a very happy puppy. I'll write a few more posts later tonight, as I realized that I still haven't talked about my cabin and will share a few final thoughts as well. I find myself thinking of the passengers on the Escape right now who should sailing in 20 minutes. How I wish I could have found a way to stay on for another week. Wishing them great weather, good food and many new friendships!

[ljrfrm]

I had previously booked an Escape cruise that was supposed to be the same week that you are writing about. After much consideration I cancelled it back in August partly due to the weak Canadian $ versus the American $. I've been somewhat regretting having done that, but we also have a 1 week land based vacation for Florida this coming March (2017) and couldn't/shouldn't do both. DH is retired, but gets a nice "Monthly cash for Life" deposit (pension) in his bank account every month while I still work 4 days a week. Nonetheless, enjoyed your review and have been thinking to myself, I should NOT have cancelled this cruise. Oh well, back to reality and hoping for a better exchange rate next year and the possibility of re-booking this same cruise once again! THANKS for posting about your week!

 

Your welcome. It must be hard with the exchange rate. We were able to throw this almost last minute cruise in as we were able to get a great rate. Hope you have a great Florida vacation and make it on board the Escape at some point soon.

[Gemsy10]

Thanks so much for your review! We are sailing on the escape in January & reading this has got me excited all over again! We sailed for 2 weeks in the summer & managed to get vibe passes for both weeks......so planning to arrive early & get them again this time! I think its a case of once u get vibe there is no going back! The staff are awesome :) We missed lots of the daytime poolside activities last time as we seemed to spend too much time in vibe, but hoping to do more of that this time....if I can tear myself away from the mudslides & fruit skewers!! Looking forward to hearing your last few comments :)

[ljrfrm]

Thanks so much for your review! We are sailing on the escape in January & reading this has got me excited all over again! We sailed for 2 weeks in the summer & managed to get vibe passes for both weeks......so planning to arrive early & get them again this time! I think its a case of once u get vibe there is no going back! The staff are awesome :) We missed lots of the daytime poolside activities last time as we seemed to spend too much time in vibe, but hoping to do more of that this time....if I can tear myself away from the mudslides & fruit skewers!! Looking forward to hearing your last few comments :)

 

Oh my, those mudslides were SO good! I too used to love the music and poolside activities, but given the pool area gets so crowded, the Vibe was perfect for us.

[ljrfrm]

So, we booked a BF, which is a guarantee cabin with perks. We were immediately assigned a B3, cabin 9176. I scoured Cruise Critic and the Internet for information on this cabin, and couldn't find anything. From the deck plans, the first thing I noticed was that this cabin clearly had something around the outside of the balcony. At least I thought that's what it was - either that or it had a super sized balcony. I know that couldn't be it, or I would have seen something posted about this cabin. I then noticed that it was over The District Brewhouse. I remembered reading about noise complaints with cabins over The District. I googled a bit more, and it didn't look good. I held out hope that my bids would be accepted and I would be moved. I placed 4 different bids, but they were all in the "poor" range. Despite my prayers, there wouldn't be any upgrade. I just hoped this cabin would be ok.

 

The verdict? The cabin was perfect for us. For anyone who might have this cabin in the future, the bed is by the closet. I really liked that and the small space between the bed and closet wasn't ever an issue. There was tons of storage space - although there were no drawers, there were so many shelves that we didn't use them all. The bathroom was a decent size, and although I'd love to have had a Haven suite, the room was comfortable. We kept an old hotel card key in the slot the entire time, and there was plenty of lighting.

 

Our cabin steward was Franky. He did a great job, and although we didn't see him often, the room was always taken care of (despite our varying hours we left the room each day) and he even made the effort to come meet us the second afternoon when we hadn't run into each other yet. He always had our ice filled, and gave me my extra towels I requested. As with all cruises, the towel animals were fun - especially the cute little ones he'd leave hiding for me in the bathroom unexpectedly.

 

So, here's the scoop on the two "cons" of the room. Obviously, this is our opinion - so you may think differently. But hopefully this will help anyone who may be considering that cabin.

 

1) Location: We LOVED the location and it worked perfectly for us. Being that it was foward, it was a straight shot up to The Vibe. We were right near the stairs, which made it so convenient. It was also just above the Escape Theater and Supper Club. We really liked being on Deck 9. Decks 6, 7 and 8 were so close and an easy stair trip away. While I'd go back to the Haven in an instant, it was very nice being so close to decks 6,7 and 8. Being right above The District was very convenient to drop in for a quick drink. As for the noise, this turned out to be a non-issue for us. The music played each night (except Monday Night Football night) until 11:45 am. We were only in our cabin one time before while the music was still on. I could hear the music, but it wasn't obnoxiously loud. It was loud enough for me to sing along to Piano Man though. If you are an early sleeper, this might not be the room for you. That said, again - the music wasn't even close to blaring - but you could hear it.

 

2) Obstructed View: So, this wasn't a deal breaker either. I took a few photos that I'll try to get posted tomorrow. You could easily see out onto the water and I hardly ever was bothered by the deck 8 obstruction below. The only time it annoyed me was when I couldn't see down to the dock. As we were right above The District, the part that stuck out from under us was the glass area around the District seating. At night with the Brewhouse lights on, I could see into the bar (glass ceilings facing up to me) and see people sitting and talking (for anyone that's been there, the view is of the leather seats off to the side of where the piano is, near the windows). During the day, I couldn't see in, so it just looked like glass. I actually prefer that than lifeboats for some reason. Anyhow, so while it's not ideal - it wasn't a big deal. I still sat on my balcony and watched the sunsets, took great photos of the water and watched us sailaway.

 

So that was my cabin - for better or for worse. Would I specifically choose it again? Probably not. But if I got it again, I wouldn't mind at all. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to get the photo posted soon.

[ljrfrm]

One thing I haven't written about yet - when husband got sick. I briefly mentioned that on Sunday night he left the magic show because he wasn't feeling well. He got sick. Really, he got violently sick. He was sick for about 4-5 hours all together - and the following day probably felt "eh" for the first half of the day. While we aren't 100% sure exactly what he ate that was bad, husband thinks it was the fish he had - I wonder if it was the escargot. Whatever it was, I was scared for him at one point and was just about ready to have him see the doctor. It was the middle of the night so he wanted to wait for the morning. By the morning, he was all better.

 

We decided that we probably should say something to someone, just in case somebody else was sick too. I asked the hostess at Manhatten who we should talk to (I didn't have any phone numbers or contact information from the Meet and Greet unfortunately). The hostess told us to go to Guest Services to make a report. We made a report and they asked if husband needed to see the doctor. He was absolutely fine then so we said no. She told us that if he changed his mind just to let them know and they would make it happen - and that she would give the nurse a heads up about this. We never did hear back from anyone again and we didn't follow up on it.

 

Really this was our only downer of the trip. It was a huge downer, but it quickly because a distant memory. I sure felt bad for husband though while it was happening!

Edited December 12, 2016 by ljrfrm

[ljrfrm]

I didn't take many photos at all this trip.

 

Here is Ruby, Mike and Curly on the last night

 

And this was taken the first sea day - notice no cushions, it was so windy they didn't want them to blow away.

 

If someone can help me figure out why the photos keep flipping sideways, I'll post a few more.

Edited December 12, 2016 by ljrfrm

[Gemsy10]

I didn't take many photos at all this trip.

 

 

 

Here is Ruby, Mike and Curly on the last night

 

[ATTACH]399962[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

And this was taken the first sea day - notice no cushions, it was so windy they didn't want them to blow away.

 

[ATTACH]399963[/ATTACH]

 

 

 

If someone can help me figure out why the photos keep flipping sideways, I'll post a few more.

 

 

Do you know if this is the same Ruby who works or did work in howl at the moon/headliners in the summer? It looks like her & we did wonder if it was her that was in vibe now. She was lovely if it's the same one! Hopefully she will be there in January when we go! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ljrfrm]

Do you know if this is the same Ruby who works or did work in howl at the moon/headliners in the summer? It looks like her & we did wonder if it was her that was in vibe now. She was lovely if it's the same one! Hopefully she will be there in January when we go! :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Someone else might know for sure, but my guess is yes. I know she was schduled to work in the Escape theater one night so it could easily have been her in Headliners.