Review of Escape 3/31/18 Spring Break!

[rxlowry]

Spring break with me and 5300 others!

A little background: This is our 18th NCL cruise and my 35th cruise. I'm not a fan of huge ships and the Getaway is my least favorite NCL ship so far. My husband and I sailed with our 15 year old daughter and friends joined us with their two daughters (9 and 14) who never cruised before

 

Pre-cruise: We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Brickell. Awesome Hampton Inn! Very cute rooftop pool, welcome drink as well as breakfast. It has a boutique hotel feel with neat art work throughout lobby. Very easy to take train from airport with short walk to hotel. It is also close to the people mover.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the port around 10:15 to find a long line outside of the building. It moved rather slowly. However, once past security we went to the Platinum member line and walked right up to the counter. We were given boarding group 11 and they were already on 9 when we were up the escalator. We did not wait long, no more than 5-7 minutes and we were in line to board the ship.

The first thing we did was head to Le Bistro to make reservations for our Platinum dinners at Le Bistro and La Cucina. We had no trouble getting seatings we wanted for 7 people. Lunch wasn't served until 12 so we went and bought spa passes for the two of us.

 

Cabin: We had balcony cabins on deck 13 aft. The rooms were nice. I liked how the balcony was bigger than the Getaway. The only awkward part was the proximity of the closet to the bed. However, if the cabin has the bed near the balcony, it is fine. Our room steward was fantastic. Very friendly as well.

 

Food:

Lunch in Savor on day one: EXCELLENT. It's a cruise tradition to avoid the buffet chaos and eat in the main dining room. We had great service and the the food was very good.

 

Manhattan Room: We ate most our dinners in the Manhattan Room. The food was about the same as previous cruises. No complaints. Service was very good as well. Most nights we had little to no wait for a table for 7 during peak times. I enjoy dancing with my husband and was disappointed to see the dance floor was covered with additional tables. I'm sure this was due to sailing with 5300 on board. Later in the week, there was more dance space. However, some allowed their children to use this as a play area to run around.

 

Buffet: We enjoyed lunches at the buffet as well as dinner the last night (30 minute wait so we headed to buffet). Due to the times we ate there, it was never crazy crowded and it wasn't a struggle to find a table. However, it did disturb me that there are multiple entrances to the buffet and "washy washy" is only at one. I watched people just pass the sinks and sanitizers by. Not a fan of this but what can you do.

 

Le Bistro: Used our platinum coupon. Great meal with excellent service. It's always been my favorite and it didn't disappoint. I still miss the old days before ala carte pricing. Some old favorites were gone from the menu but some in our party tried some new dishes to good reviews.

 

La Cucina: Another great meal. We had reservations for the show and our server was very adept at handling it. Menu was new for us and I think it is much improved!

 

O'Sheehans: The girls loved going her for snacks after the deck parties. Although it was busy, the service was still good!

 

Food Republic: The three of us had lunch here on the second sea day (the other family went to Savor because they really enjoyed it on day one). My daughter dined her before on a cruise with her grandparents and came home raving about it. We all enjoyed it. It cost about 55 dollars for us to have lunch. I don't think it's a great value but the food was super tasty and interesting! She said the menu had changed and was sad to see some omissions but she enjoyed all the dishes we tried! We also liked the cocktails we had there, toro toro and the Thai coconut drink (can't remember the real name)

 

Entertainment:

I am an old school cruiser who enjoys a different show with no reservations needed each night. I also enjoy live music with dancing. On the Escape, this is not the style. Yes, you can try to walk-up but reservations seemed a must during this busy cruise.

For the Record: Brat Pack was the only main production we saw. The show was well done but it did get a tad repetitive towards the end.

Comedy: We only saw the comedians when they performed in the main theater because you didn't need reservations but they were both funny.

Howl at the Moon: Always a good time for us. We went twice and had fun. One night we tried to go but couldn't get seats.

 

Bands and Dancing: In-Ovation was the best band on board. The other bands were not very good they used for dancing. I missed having a Spinnaker lounge for this entertainment. Skyline was acceptable but some night the bands started later than the schedule and played odd music for dancing. The music was mostly R&B or Latin it seemed.

 

Bars: Our go-to bar was Tobacco Road for pre-dinner drinks. The Woodford Old Fashioned was my favorite. After dinner, we usually hit Skyline or the Atrium. My husband and I popped into the District to grab drinks too. We didn't stay because it is adults only and we wanted the girls to be able to find us.

 

Cruise staff and Entertainment: I hate shows in the atrium. It is so tacky to cram in and sit on folded chairs. I enjoy watching and participating in the games but it's not as much fun on these ships. My husband did make the finals of the dancing game so that was fun to watch. I just wish it had a better space. I missed the Quest game but I can't see away that would work on a ship this size.

Teen club was at maximum capacity and my daughter wasn't feeling it. She typically loves the activities but she said it was too crowded.

The dance parties in Spice were a blast! We loved dancing as a group each of the nights. The only night that was bad was the 90s night. It was mostly Spring Breakers and I went with just my daughter and the 9 year old. There was lots of smoking on the dance floor. To NCL's credit, security was out and about. Security was trying hard to tell them to stop. Drinking seemed a tad nuts that night too so the girls and I cut that one short before the 9 year old saw something I didn't want to explain! It wasn't a good vibe. The other parties were GREAT!!!!

 

Smoking: Lots of smoke in casino and it did drift down to outside Le Bistro at times. Our balcony neighbors smoked in the morning and our cabin would reek if the balcony door was open for even a few seconds. We called to complain the first and second morning. I never smelled it again so NCL dealt with the issue.

 

Room Service: My husband and I used it each morning for coffee and pastries. This was all we ate for breakfast while the others went to the buffet each day. Very prompt and courteous. We gave a tip each day for this.

 

Ports:

Jamaica: Used a ship tour...VIP Dunn's River Falls and Bamboo Beach. AWESOME tour!! Highly recommend!! The tour guides were very entertaining on the long bus ride to the falls. The last time I was at the falls was on our honeymoon which was 20 years ago. Way more crowded! The beach break was really great. They gave us a welcome drink (mimosa or juice) and took us to beach chairs. Soon, they came around with different fruity rum drinks but also would get you a beer or soda. The food was served tapas style and plates were brought to your chairs. Great food! Mahi mahi ceviche was first, followed by jerk chicken spring rolls. Then a large plate with jerk chicken, lobster tail, mashed potato, plantain and vegetables as a main. I skipped dessert but it was ice cream with a pound cake. The food and drink was plentiful. The beach was rocky but we managed. We had water shoes (needed for falls) and that helped.

Grand Cayman: We used Captain Marvin's. Not the most luxurious of tours but the price was right! Two snorkel stops and Stingray City.

Tendering process was great but I'm not sure if we just lucked out with timing after I saw the queue set up on board to scan card back on! We were just about last to board tender and first ones off!

Costa Maya: Went to Almaplena. We picked it because of reviews saying the water was clearest there. Not sure if there had been storms but beach and water LOADED with sea grass. Drinks were flowing and food was very good. I had read you could snorkel there as the reef is close to shore but we were told not to snorkel due to visibility. Still a fun day though.

 

Nassau: If we weren't traveling with newbies, we would've likely stayed on board. We booked a snorkel tour. My daughter and I opted out of this one but the others really enjoyed it. It took them to two stops near Balmoral Island. They snorkeled with turtles at one stop and dove for sand dollars at the other.

 

Meet and Greet: We didn't stay very long but it was so well done in the District. Kudos to NCL!!!!

 

Platinum musings: We didn't get any information about Behind the Scenes tour. Went to inquire the first sea day and it had already happened! Never any information on priority disembarkation. We used to get gold tags delivered to cabin or a note on how to get them. We had a late flight so we didn't worry and just got the last color tags. Usually there is a phone number for the concierge provided and this was missing as well. It seems as if on the larger ships they do not want platinum to use these benefits.

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! I've read many a review on cruise critic and wanted to give the same service to others!

If you have any questions, ask away!!

[klfhngr]

Great info., thanks!!!!

[jdvmd]

Excellent review! Thanks!

[MandyMommyof2]

Great review! Sounds like a great spring break. We contemplated staying at the Hampton Inn Brickell, but our flight gets into MIA later, so we opted to stay at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon near the airport. I'm tempted to switch now :)

[catgags]

Glad you all had a great time!!

I sailed on the Escape end of Feb. It was my first time platinum. First day my rewards packet was in my cabin. Did behind the scenes Sunday then when right to our meet &

greet. Priority disembarkation tags and info was delivered to cabin.

It was my third time on the Escape and I noticed the menu changes in most of the restaurants.

We had a great cruise! Next up will be The Bliss!!

[bbryan5]

Excellent write-up! I am going on the Escape for the first time ever this coming May, and your post was a huge help.. so thanks!

[wizdiz]

I enjoyed your review very much!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the very detailed report!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[Pookie092403]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the escape next month. Quick question. I have a 12 and 14 year old, do you think they could watch the brat pack show? I haven’t heard much about it and we saw rock of ages on the breakaway and did not bring kids as many people warned against. Any insight you could offer would be amazing. Thank you!

[rxlowry]

Thanks for the review. We will be on the escape next month. Quick question. I have a 12 and 14 year old, do you think they could watch the brat pack show? I haven’t heard much about it and we saw rock of ages on the breakaway and did not bring kids as many people warned against. Any insight you could offer would be amazing. Thank you!

 

They give tons of warnings about content. And like food, this is subjective. I think it was fine for the 14 and 15 year old and even the 9 year old. There's some language and suggestions that is of mature nature but nothing the older ones haven't heard or not know about. I know my daughter has probably heard me say most of the words. I think some of the suggestion might have gone over the younger ones head. I also think that it could be the start for dialog between you as well which I feel is always a good thing. They do give plenty of warnings which leads me to believe they've had plenty of complaints. I think your kid's ages are fine. My daughter saw it the summer before with her grandparents and I asked her if she felt weird/awkward watching it with them before we went to the show. She said she didn't and my parents both told me they enjoyed the show. I used that to gauge wether the 9 year old should go.