Escape From Miami - Kinda, Sorta "Live From" - October 7-14, 2017

[xznwfd]

We will soon be on our first NCL ship - also the Escape (January, 2018). In my slightly obsessive quest for information on the boards, I was thrilled to see that POA1 and Huskerchick were actually going on the same ship before our cruise! I have read every one of your HAL reviews (sometimes more than once, if it has been an especially bad day at work) and adore both your writing style and the complete content coverage you always provide. Thank you so much for doing this thread, and I will be anxiously awaiting all your updates. Thank you too for the wine information - I'm more of a wine person than a mixed drink person, but as we also have the UBP I will do my best to broaden my horizons.

[Tommy3putts]

Stumbled on to this review by accident (I’m an RCI/Celebrity cruiser). This is a really well done and entertaining live review.

 

So what are you impressions of the ship’s waterfront area? Al fresco dining and drinking is an intriguing and appealing aspect of an NCL cruise.

 

Thanks for the review. I look forward to following your exploits for the rest of your voyage.

 

Cheers

Tom

[POA1]

And now for the lazy man's way to post the wine bar's by the glass list. Don't get too excited though, the restaurant list is not this expansive.

 

[POA1]

Next three

[TonyFred]

Sorry for the delay on this. The person I spoke to said that the spa was closed "temporarily" and may not be open for next week.

 

Thank you kind citizen. It sounds like the folks onboard arent quite sure of how long it will be closed either. Hoping to get a few days in as that huge therapy pool performs amazing therapy with my lower back!

[POA1]

More whites...

[POA1]

I was trying to post six images at a time, but the Deluxe Beach Villa WiFi is a little anemic.

 

[POA1]

We're going to have to take a break from the wine uploads. The tortoises that's powering the Deluxe Beach Villa WiFi seems to have gone on strike. Images don't want to upload.

[grandmarnnurse]

Stumbled on to this review by accident (I’m an RCI/Celebrity cruiser). This is a really well done and entertaining live review.

 

So what are you impressions of the ship’s waterfront area? Al fresco dining and drinking is an intriguing and appealing aspect of an NCL cruise.

 

Thanks for the review. I look forward to following your exploits for the rest of your voyage.

 

Cheers

Tom

 

That was actually what intrigued us to try NCL. That, and Freestyle Cruising. We sailed the Getaway last January, and fell in love with NCL! The Waterfront is awesome! We are booked again on the Getaway for this coming January.

[POA1]

Trying again...

 

[POA1]

And on to the rosés

 

[POA1]

The reds begin

 

[POA1]

More red...

[POA1]

Still more...

 

[POA1]

In the home stretch

 

[POA1]

I think that's all. I'll double check when I'm not on the beach. There's a lot of glare.

[POA1]

This morning's question comes from the Buch sisters, Rita and Rhoda of Accident, Maryland. The Buch sisters would like to know how we decided which specialty restaurants we wanted to try.

 

 

Excellent question ladies!

 

 

We looked over the list of restaurants on the Escape, including the menus. Based on this meticulous research, we let our wives pick. DBIL and DSIL have been on quite a few NCL cruises and their favorites are Cagney's and Moderno. Bayamo was new to everyone, so we all wanted to try it. DW and I, as well as AlexandNessa like French cuisine, which put Le Bistro on the list. We rounded the list out with La Cuchina because the group preferred it to Teppanaki. We do have one dinner that's unscheduled: tomorrow, so it's likely we will either try Food Republic or dine, once again, in the MDR.

 

DW & I might treat her father to Pincho y Tapas for lunch on our last sea day. We hate the thought of not giving Norwegian more money for food, and that's about the only place left.

[POA1]

This is another port where the ship and local time are different.

[Mycykfamilytime]

We're pulling in to Harvest Caye, NCL's private island off the coast of Belize. The weather is... Dark.

 

 

Back to the weather... There was a FB group for this cruise and many of the participants obsessed about the weather and how there was a 100% chance of rain every day. Did we worry? Absolutely not! DW and I have these magic rain prevention ponchos that we bought when we lived in Maine. They don't prevent the rain in Maine, but they stop the precipitation on vacation. .

 

 

 

Loving your review!! I had to stop lurking and comment once I saw you once lived in Maine!! I’m a Mainer... now in Pittsburgh... thanks to all the various departments for their tireless work on our behalf!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[POA1]

This afternoon's question comes from Randy Gauntlet of Cranky Corner, Louisiana. Randy would like to know, "Is the National Institute of Cheer a real thing? And do you have any job openings?"

 

Excellent questions, Randy!

 

First, I can assure you that The Institute is a REAL THING. We have a domain name and a logo. We also have email addresses and a somewhat passable website. These are all the hallmarks of a genuine research institution, especially the logo part. The little logo dude is wearing a lab coat, so you can tell we're legit.

 

 

Second: Sure, we're always looking for good people. Our gifted team of academics, scholars, and intellectuals is continually looking for new talent. We routinely have the following positions available:

 

• Researchers or research team members = people with whom we're traveling. I must warn you that this position, one of our most coveted, is the hardest to get.
  
  
• Research associates = bartenders, bar servers
  
  
• Distinguished research associates = really good bartenders
  
  
• Adjunct researchers = other passengers who provide valuable scientific insight. This is our entry level position.
  
  
• Research fellows = Wine stewards, sommeliers.
  

[POA1]

The Department of Scanning Things is working off a slight backlog. Here's yesterday's Freestyle Daily. Once again, you don't have to install Evernote, you can simply click on the link in the Evernote page.

 

We ran OCR on this file, so you should be able to copy text from it - because we care!

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFjJoMsxq2ZEHrSYg5YklNQmu1F_QVAbjck/

[POA1]

The Department of Scanning Things is pleased to provide a status update on our recent Freestyle Daily backlog. We are now caught up.

 

Here's the daily program for Harvest Caye.

 

http://www.evernote.com/l/AFiRqsXqsmdA-oKZete-CE50BUSm3hnQsJ8/

[POA1]

I just realized that we're scheduled to participate in "Escape The Big Top,: NCL's Escape Room thingamajig tonight after dinner and our entire team is still in the cabanas, fairly well lit. (And not just because it's sunny.)

 

This could be a problem... or at least an excuse.if we don't do well.

 

Fun fact: I don't drink alcohol on the beach. I'm strictly a water guy. I can play catch up at dinner tonight, and I'm sure I'll get close.

[POA1]

This was DW's and my first visit to Harvest Caye. Our previous cruise line private island experiences have all been with Holland America's Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. Carnival also has port calls on Half Moon Cay, but never when HAL is there.

 

One of the nicest things about Harvest Caye is that your ship docks there, saving you from the need to tender. That's a huge plus given the relative sizes of the ships. HAL's "big" ships are only between 1,900 and 2,600 passengers, half the size of the Escape. The ability to walk-off and walk-on is a big advantage. As far as I know, the only other private island that allows for docking is Disney's Castaway Cay.

 

It's nice that Harvest Caye has a pool and you're not limited to the ocean only. The pool is 1,400 square meters, or 12% larger than an Olympic sized pool (1,250 sq. m.) The pool's equipped with fountains, geysers, and hydro-massagers. It also features a swim up bar. While a "larger-than-Olympic sized pool" sounds huge, you don't typically see hundreds and hundreds of people in the pool at the Olympics. It can get a little crowded. If you are on one of the smaller Norwegian ships, it's probably a more comfy fit.

 

We rented one of the Luxury Beach Villas. Each villa can accommodate up to six guests. They (the villas, not the guests) have both indoor and outdoor seating areas. The interior is air conditioned and the exterior porch has a canvas sail roof. The villas have a hammock, some Adirondack chairs, and a private slice of beach with additional loungers. They've also got a private bathroom and an outside rain shower. We have photos on our camera, but it's still at the beach with Huskerchick. (The anticipation is exciting though, isn't it?)

 

As far as the beach goes, the sand isn't going to win any prizes. It's quite coarse. We're not exactly beach sand connoisseurs, but we do live right on Fort Lauderdale Beach, so it takes nice sand to impress us. I've read some reviews that said that you couldn't walk barefoot. The sand is rough, certainly compared to most other Caribbean beaches, but it's not the worst I've ever seen. Still, I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time walking barefoot on Harvest Caye's beach. Water shoes are highly recommended.

 

Several people in our party got stung by jellyfish. I'm not sure if they were Deluxe Cabana Jellyfish or if everyone gets them. At home, the lifeguard stations would have purple flags out for "Dangerous Sea Creatures" - technically it's Marine Life Hazard Warning, but "Dangerous Sea Creatures" sounds cooler.

 

Harvest Caye did strike me as small. I couldn't quite tell if it was the number of passengers or if it is really smaller than I expected. (Spoiler: It's pretty small.) There's a tool on Util.io that allows you to see any two Google map locations drawn to the same scale. You can try it here if you want:

 

http://util.io/compare-maps

 

The Institute of Cheer has more sophisticated tools at its disposal, so I just used them to create a comparison of the Holland America's Half Moon Cay and Harvest Caye. If

 

 

Harvest Caye is a 75 acre island. Half Moon Cay is 2,400 acres - with about 50 acres under development. Ironically, Half Moon Cay was once owned by NCL. Norwegian's Great Stirrup Cay is 250 acres. Disney's Castaway Cay is 1,000 acres - with 55 acres under development. Princess Cays is 40 acres. Rounding out our exciting list of private islands and their land masses is Royal Caribbean's CoCo Cay at 140 acres.

[POA1]

If you can swing the cost of the Luxury Beach Villa in your budget, it does make for a much nicer day. The beach is closed off to the rest of the passengers and you do have your own dedicated space. There are bar and food service people who can bring you drinks and food, neither of which are included in the cabana price.