Take 2: Our Norwegian Escape Experience - June 24th Western Caribbean

[tripleboom]

Loving your review. Working as a claims adjuster also I can understand throwing caution in the wind.

 

I will join your "I'm really pale and have a farmer's tan club". When I'm at the beach I always wear a surf water proof type shirt. I admire your bravery of going shirtless. I'm scared to death of sun burn. Had sun poisoning once and will never again. Lol annndddd I live in Florida.

 

Oh believe me, we slathered on the SPF 50 each day and regularly again throughout the day. Stacy got some tender shoulders after the first couple of days in the sun, but I managed to dodge the bullet altogether. :cool:

[Suna]

Loving your trip report! Sounds like so much fun!

 

 

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[tripleboom]

The next day brought us to Harvest Caye in Belize. This was the one day we had decided not to plan any excursions, but instead just enjoy the beach/pool day. While it's hardly an authentic way to experience Belize, the island is quite nice. As others have commented, the water on the beach is still pretty murky, but I'd say that's to be expected for the next little while until all the shifting sands settle after construction.

 

 

We had a relaxing start to the day with breakfast up in the Garden Cafe, and then changed into our beachwear and headed down. We had brought along our Yetis on the trip so we could bring our own beverages down to the island. Knowing that we'd have to pay more for food and drink on the island we came prepared :-) With 32 oz tumblers full of Bushwackers and Mudslides we headed off.

 

We hoofed it from the gangway down the long, covered dock to the main entrance to Harvest Caye. We ducked off to the Belize sign near the entrance for a quick photo op

 

 

We took a walk past the pool and quickly realized that a) that was far too crowded for our liking and b) there was insufficient shade even if we had wanted to endure the crowds. So we headed toward the beach and found a pair of chairs to set up in under the shade of a palm tree.

 

 

The frequent buzz of zipliners over head was distracting me from my reading, and made both Stacy and me begin to reconsider our lazy beach day. It looked so fun!

 

 

After a bit, we did decide to head down the beach and into the water. Be warned, because the beach is so new, the sand here is still rather coarse. Lots of seashells for the picking though!

 

 

[tripleboom]

Hmmmm.. What's with the colorful flags?

 

 

And what's that sign on the back of the lifeguard's chair?

 

 

Oh...

 

 

But are we talking sharks... or what? Oh, Jellyfish! FUN!!

 

 

Seriously though, I'm not sure I heard of any reports of stings in the water. But, I'm sure that's at least part of the reason the beach and water were easier to find spots at than the pool. While I'm sure a loaded swim diaper at the pool is no treat, it's still probably better than a jellyfish sting.

[tripleboom]

After getting back out of the water we headed back to the beach chairs and resumed reading and watching the zipliners stream overhead.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm a very persuasive person when my wife lets me persuade her, and so after watching dozens of these people having a blast, we decided it was time to cancel our lazy beach day and trade it in for some adventure! I marched over to the Flighthouse, verified they could still squeeze us in today, and then we made the LOOOOONG trek back to the ship to get a change of clothes and close toed shoes. It probably took us about 10-12 minutes from the beach to get back to the gangway.

 

 

[tripleboom]

After hitting the buffet for a quick bite to eat, we got our change of clothes and headed back down to Harvest Caye to catch our appointment for the Flighthouse Zipline. A slight bit of annoyance here. When we checked on availability earlier they quoted us a time to come back. I asked "island time or ship time?" since they was an hour difference. The staffer looked at her watch, and then I showed her my watch on ship time, and she said "your ship's time." When we showed back up at the designated time, we were told they were all on lunch and that the time HAD been island time. Fortunately, they were an hour BEHIND us. So we grabbed some beach chairs again, but had left our books back on the ship. Oh well. Minor inconvenience.

 

Once the correct time rolled around, we stowed our extra items in the lockers ($5 charged to your stateroom), I grabed the GoPro, and we hopped in line to get outfitted in our rigs.

 

 

After getting strapped up, cinched down, and gloved up, the staff helped me secure the GoPro to their provided helmets using my head strap. Perfect! We were ready to go! We headed up to the top of the lighthouse via the freight elevator that's in the center of the lighthouse. No stairs! Yay! Once up at the top we waited in a line about 6 deep before it was our turn to head down the first set of zips. They basically go out away from the lighthouse, the next one makes a little right hand sloping turn, then you climb an enclosed net back upward so you've got some height for the last zipline back to the base of the lighthouse.

 

 

 

 

The beach cabanas are visible on the left side of these next two photos.

 

 

[yankees111]

How long do the yetis keep your frozen drinks cold for and how many frozen drinks does it hold? Thanks!

 

 

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[tripleboom]

How long do the yetis keep your frozen drinks cold for and how many frozen drinks does it hold? Thanks!

 

Mine stayed frozen long enough for me to have polished it off, but Stacy's a slower drinker than I. Hers seemed to hold up pretty well though and was still mostly frozen when we were heading back to the ship around 12:30. So it was good for the first 3 hours and change. And it was HOT.

 

I had our bartender pour us two bushwackers into NCL cups, then I poured it into the Yeti. He had no problem fulfilling another order right away and those two NCL cups were poured into the other Yeti. It didn't quite fill it, but I'd say the 32 oz Yeti was about 3/4 full.

[tripleboom]

Once at the bottom of the first set of zip lines we were directed back into the shack below the lighthouse. Once there the staff removed the harness we were first set up in, and were then helped into the Superman Zipline harness set. It essentially looks like you're wearing an oversized apron with all the hardware on your back. Once suited up we headed back to the freight elevator and to the other side of the lighthouse. Stacy went first. They hook you up to the zip with stunning speed and efficiency. While the speed was honestly kind of alarming, there's nothing to make me think they weren't being safe. Just well trained and able to get the job done quickly. Once Stacy was hooked up while still upright, they then had her lean forward until she was suspended in air. Once the final checks were made, they let go of the line, and off she went!

 

 

They did the same for me, and within a minute of Stacy's safe arrival on the other end, they sent me on my way as well.

 

 

Waving to my constituents below.

 

 

What would have been an 8-10 minute walk from the lighthouse (if taking the land route of course. No matter what my boys think, I can't walk on water) was done in about 30 seconds. INCREDIBLE!! I hit the brakes at the end and screeched to a halt. Once lowered through the hole in the platform I was detached, hopped on a golf cart, and we caught a lift back to the lighthouse to collect our belongings from the locker.

 

A video of the highlights of our Flighthouse Zipline experience is here:

HEbwYbdjjA8

[tripleboom]

After leaving the Flighthouse we were ready to call it a day, and so were most of the other cruisers. It was a pressure cooker on this day and the sun was plenty hot. They had already shut down the pool for cleaning, so rather than risk it over at Jellyfish Beach, it seemed most people were headed back to the dock.

 

 

 

On our way back to the ship we browsed the shops briefly, but saw this young man tending to a kiosk selling artwork. We noticed all the artwork looked to be signed by only two different people. Sure enough, the man tending the shop was Omar. So we bought a piece of art done by each of the brothers. Nice to score some local art!

 

 

 

We finally worked our way back to the ship, up to the room, and not long after the lines were cast off, and we were on our way to Mexico!

 

 

[tripleboom]

Once we cast off we headed up to Deck 17. No better way to cool off on a hot day than to shuttle between the Spice H2O bar and the grotto!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Carolina Girl 99]

The next day brought us to Harvest Caye in Belize. This was the one day we had decided not to plan any excursions, but instead just enjoy the beach/pool day. While it's hardly an authentic way to experience Belize, the island is quite nice. As others have commented, the water on the beach is still pretty murky, but I'd say that's to be expected for the next little while until all the shifting sands settle after construction.

 

 

 

 

LOVE THIS SHOT!! It should be on some sort of advertisement for HC. Also really enjoyed the stop motion animation of Donatello and the pizza :cool:

[tripleboom]

Our schedule didn't quite allow for a full, main dining room dinner tonight, so we hit O'Sheehan's for supper. Stacy went with fajitas which she said were quite good.

 

 

The special tonight was spare ribs with onion rings and a baked potato. It was somewhere between ok and meh, but it was food and it came quickly. Good enough for me!

 

 

Leonardo and I found dessert to be much more pleasing.

 

 

After supper Leonardo ran up the tab on the video games. Darn, irresponsible Teenage Turtles.

 

 

[tripleboom]

After O'Sheehan's we killed some time listening to Andrew Boyer again in the District Brewhouse. The guy is just so darn good! Then, after catching his magic show the first night, we were really looking forward to catching Ryan Joyce's hypnosis show tonight. The theater was already filling up quickly when we arrived. We scooted into seats near the far wall enjoyed the show. Neither of us have ANY interest in being hypnotized, but we sure enjoyed laughing at those that were willing. :D

 

Here we have several of the victi.... volunteers I mean... serving as ship's security. They were on a singular mission to keep people from laughing on board the ship. They weren't terribly happy as we continued to chortle jovially despite their intimidation tactics.

 

 

And here we have a lovely woman who was convinced that a) the ship was being overrun by Sasquatches and b) she could only speak what she thought was Mandarin Chinese.

 

 

And finally, a young man who was convinced he had lost his pants and was left stark naked in front of us.

David: "Sir! You're naked! Have you ever lost your pants like this before??"

 

 

Victim: "Once in Miami!" :D

 

 

Such a fun night, but we had another early wake up call tomorrow morning. We needed to be well rested for a trip through the jungles on ATVs tomorrow!!

[tripleboom]

LOVE THIS SHOT!! It should be on some sort of advertisement for HC. Also really enjoyed the stop motion animation of Donatello and the pizza :cool:

 

Well thanks! I'm a couple grand short of a quality camera, but it's amazing what I can do with Google Photo's integrated editing software ;p The boys ask to watch Donatello eat the pizza on a pretty regular basis. It cracks them up :D

[canadadreamer]

Thanks for the info on the zip linning, my boys will love that!

[SquishTheWhale]

Love the little picture of the turtle you bought, how cute! Were they expensive? Looks like you had a good time on Harvest Caye, but eek jellyfish!

[tripleboom]

Love the little picture of the turtle you bought, how cute! Were they expensive? Looks like you had a good time on Harvest Caye, but eek jellyfish!

 

Took me longer than I care to admit to realize you weren't talking about the Ninja Turtles :D We paid $20 for each of the paintings on canvas and they are about 12" x 12" in size.

[SquishTheWhale]

Took me longer than I care to admit to realize you weren't talking about the Ninja Turtles :D We paid $20 for each of the paintings on canvas and they are about 12" x 12" in size.

 

Haha tell me you didn't forget to snap a pic with the ninja turtles and the turtle picture!

[usckatieh]

I love the zip line video! What a fun way to see the island!

[purpleally]

Go Wings!

[tripleboom]

Haha tell me you didn't forget to snap a pic with the ninja turtles and the turtle picture!

 

Oh man I totally should have! When we got back to the room I stuck the paintings in the closet right away and didn't touch them again until it was time to pack up! Could have had a little Turtle Turf War. ;p

 

I love the zip line video! What a fun way to see the island!

 

It really was incredible! For whatever reason that video makes it look like we were crawling, but we really were hauling!

[tripleboom]

Go Wings!

 

It seems odd for a kid from Iowa to be a Detroit sports fan, but my dad grew up a fan so I did too. Heading to the Tigers v. Twins game up in Minneapolis in a couple of weeks. And as every foolish Lions fan says annually: "Maybe this is the year!"

[anonmom]

Awesome review! Did you take pics of the current menus? I would especially love to see the MDR dinner menus, since CruiseLifeRick didn't post those on his review. Going on the Escape in December for our honeymoon and can't wait!!

[L1211]

What a great review! Congrats on your 10th anniversary. Been on Escape twice in the last year. Before you know it, those boys will be older teens and you'll be singing to Howl and dancing to 80's night with them!! Cruising is one of they few things we've found that keeps the older teens having fun while with us! Enjoy it all.

 

 

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