NCL Escape - 9/2/18 sailing to Bermuda

[aubreyc1988]

Going to do a quick review of my sailing on the Escape on 9/2. This was my second time on Escape, my first time being right around the time she first debuted. When we first sailed the Escape, I was less than impressed with service and the ship overall + most of the shows on that sailing were cancelled due to staff injury. First time that we sailed the Escape, we had a balcony...but on this sailing we had an inside cabin.

 

- Embarking from NYC was easy, but not my favorite city to visit for sure. We did 2 days pre cruise here and it just exhausted us before the cruise, so won't be doing that again.

 

-We were going to get Vibe passes, but by the time we got to the port (10am), we were in boarding group 9 so that was a no go.

 

- I like the refreshments NCL serves before getting on the ship, really nice. RCI does this too, but somehow they are always out of whatever they are trying to serve and NCL definitely has the edge here on making you feel appreciated and taken care of, no matter what cabin you book

 

- We had a bit of a service issue once we boarded the ship, but the staff on board quickly made it right and continued to make it right for us the whole cruise. I know this is kind of vague, but I don't want to share specific details because you know how people love to game the system. I just wanted to convey that if you have a problem, just talk to someone politely about it and they will do their best to make it right. I saw unhappy guests deal with their complaints rudely and that will get you NO WHERE.

 

- We had stateroom 5101, which is by the wall at the end of the hallway. The overall general area is very small and not very much storage in the "Living area." The bathroom, however, was SO BIG for an inside stateroom. Shower was really quite nice, and I actually ended up storing some of clothes in the bathroom because there was SO MUCH STORAGE in the bathroom! One negative about this room was that our toilet had problems throughout the week, which could have been due to it being the last one in the hallway. Not a huge deal, it was fixed when we asked but it did keep breaking. Our stateroom steward Jerry was SO nice and helpful! Always said hi when I saw him and did a great job throughout the week. On previous NCL cruises, I hardly ever saw the room stewards, but they are much more visible and talkative now!

 

- Meet and Mingle had a huge turnout and was a blast! Gift exchange was fun, didn't win anything during the slot pull, but had a fun time regardless! NCL does a AMAZING job with their meet and mingles, free beer and appetizers were served and a lot of officers showed up!

 

- Casino was still as smokey as I remembered, but I did win a fair amount during my sailing so can't complain. I like that all of the machines are newer and didn't see any that needed to be replaced, like I have seen on some RCI ships. Skyline bar band was not great, lead singer didn't even sing half the time, simply danced around...was kind of weird. Lots of parents with their kids late at night here. I thought it was pretty weird but I don't have kids so who knows, maybe this is a normal place to take your kids after 10pm

 

- Atrium was same as I remembered, too loud and WHY are they still doing game shows in that space? It's really a terrible idea and I can't believe they are still doing it.

 

-Spice H20 was actually really nice. First time I sailed Escape, could NEVER find a deck chair, but it looks like they are policing that much better than before and you can easily find chairs at Spice and at the regular pool areas. We also liked the area outside of Vibe...ended up not even needing the Vibe pass, so theres 250.00 saved :)

 

- Bar service was OK. I never really got to know any of the bartenders like I have in the past. The bartenders in the mojito bar looked tired, worn out, and not happy. They did their jobs well, but you could tell they were not having a good time. This is my first cruise with NCL since they started the premade mojito mix in the barcardi bottles...and it is not AS good as when they were not premixing them. They still are good, they were just better when they were made completely from scratch. At first I thought this must be a time saving method, but I remember other bartenders keeping up with just as many drink orders when they weren't premixing. Still, for free drinks, everything was really good. The drinks I noticed they were premixing were in O'Sheehans and at Mojito Bar. When I got drinks at the pool bar/atrium bar/Mixx Bar/Headliners bar, they were all made from scratch and tasted amazing. I was able to get regular flavored Belvedere/Greygoose in martinis, which surprised me. My husband only paid a little extra once for a scotch, but almost everything included! Wine list was a little limited, especially if you are really into wines.

 

- Shows we went to see were all good - After Midnight, Brat Pack, 1 magician show, Howl at the Moon, 2 Comedians. It was really hard to get into the comedian shows. Once our rooms were ready the first day, we immediately tried getting reservations for the comedians, but they were already sold out. However, a lot of people on the stand by lines DO end up getting in. Brat Pack was probably my favorite show of the week. I didn't go pay to see Choir of Man, maybe next time! Howl at the Moon is really fun, and this is such a unique venue! We also went to 5 o Clock Somewhere Karaoke one night, but not a lot of people were signing up so we left.

 

- Food in the MDR was very good. I was really surprised at the variety and quality of food served at the buffet. Coffee tasted OK for cruise ship drip coffee - drinkable if you add some cream and sugar. Only specialty dining we went to was Food Republic, which was AMAZING. Only negative dining experience was O'Sheehans. Every time we went, service was really slow and the menu is pretty much unreadable. It isn't clear what is a starter or entree, just typed up really strange. Hard to explain, but really a lack luster experience there. Plus, because there is ALWAYS something loud going on in the atrium, it's really impossible to eat at O'Sheehans and even hear the person across from you. We didn't eat at Margaritaville, also something I want to do next time on the Escape. There are just SO many dining options on this ship, didn't get to them all!

 

- Bermuda was GREAT - we were fortunate enough to make it to Bermuda and have BEAUTIFUL weather. My husband did some scuba diving, we went to snorkel park, I went on a Catamaran with Restless Natives, we rented a Boston Whaler for 1/2 day, went to the Bermuda museum in the dockyard area, and went to Horseshoe Bay.

 

My husband loved the scuba diving. The catamaran with Restless Natives was probably the worst I have ever done (and I've done at least 10 catamarans). The snorkel spot they took us to was really bad, hardly any fish, and most people just floated with their noodles for 3 hours. They served us cookies they baked the size of communion wafers...or maybe even smaller (Around the size of a nickel). Staff member was making them that small by putting the cookie dough in an icing piping bag. It was really weird to me, because everyone was an adult and there were maybe only 25-30 onboard, we could have just had adult sized cookies. Personally, I saw better fish at Snorkel Park.

 

The Boston Whaler rental was fun, we were able to drop anchor pretty much where we wanted. We saw some sea turtles so we dropped anchor and swam with them for a while. It was a really cool experience because it was just me and my husband, so the sea turtles were really chill and weren't spooked by hordes of people like when you go on snorkeling excursions. It was really scary returning the Boston Whaler because the seas got rougher than earlier in the day, but I am happy to say we survived and made it back in one piece!

 

Bermuda museum was really cool. I thought it was going to be lame, but I was pretty tired when I went (my husband was scuba diving) so I just walked around and watched them train the dolphins for a few hours. I have decided next time we go to Bermuda, definitely want to do a dolphin encounter there, it looked like so much fun.

 

We really enjoyed Bermuda and are excited to go back and do all the things we didn't get to do on this trip.

 

Overall, we had a great cruise and had an amazing time! NCL has really solved some of the problems that I encountered on my first sailing on the Escape. It's still not a perfect ship with the casino being SO SMOKEY and infecting the other decks with it's smokey vibes and the atrium being SO loud, but I definitely would sail her again

 

Let me know if you have any questions, sorry this review is so disjointed...I wasn't going to do one, but figured I would give back a bit to the CC community :)

[NYcruzzer]

Welcome home. Thanks for taking the time to write a fair, balanced and informative review. Couple of quick questions. When did Vibe go to $125.00 PP ? Also did you have the opportunity to pre-book comedy shows prior to sailing ? If no can they be booked as soon as we board ? I'm on the NYE cruise and want to pre-book as many things as I can to avoid disappointment.

[aubreyc1988]

Welcome home. Thanks for taking the time to write a fair, balanced and informative review. Couple of quick questions. When did Vibe go to $125.00 PP ? Also did you have the opportunity to pre-book comedy shows prior to sailing ? If no can they be booked as soon as we board ? I'm on the NYE cruise and want to pre-book as many things as I can to avoid disappointment.

 

Sorry I think Vibe passes were 115-120pp, I was rounding :) We could prebook Brat Pack, After Midnight, and any of the Paid Shows, but not comedy shows. I don't know if people could book them onboard before the rooms where ready...it seemed like you could do it perhaps on the screens by the elevators but I never was able to get those to work right. I'm guessing the people who sail in Suites get their rooms WAY before everyone else and that is why the comedy books up quickly (Headliners really isn't a huge venue, limited seating unlike the theatre). There was ONE free dinner show in the supper club we were able to reserve...however, my husband's excursion ran late and we had to cancel...also something you couldn't prebook.

[psac]

We haven’t been on yet, but no, you can’t pre-book the comedians, you have to do it on board. BUT people say with the NCL app you can connect to the ship’s WiFi from the NYC dock before you get on board and book from there before you get on!

[NYcruzzer]

Great tip..thanks guys

[iamalmond]

Thanks for this review! We're on the Sept. 30 sailing so I'm hoping for good weather.

[vacation44]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

[vacation44]

Welcome home. Thanks for taking the time to write a fair, balanced and informative review. Couple of quick questions. When did Vibe go to $125.00 PP ? Also did you have the opportunity to pre-book comedy shows prior to sailing ? If no can they be booked as soon as we board ? I'm on the NYE cruise and want to pre-book as many things as I can to avoid disappointment.

 

 

Vibe passes are now $129.

[NYcruzzer]

Vibe passes are now $129.

 

Yep....Costs money to "live the good life"

[JamieLogical]

Thanks for this review! We are going on the Escape to Bermuda in October and had sailed on her in February as well. I had hoped the new air handlers they installed in the casino in March would have solved some of the smokiness problem, but it sounds like they haven't Definitely bringing febreeze with me for this trip so I don't smell like an ash tray after every time I go gambling! I agree about the atrium being a poor venue for the game shows as well. We were on the Gem in June and they used the Spinnaker Lounge for that sort of thing and it was a MUCH better experience in that department (though I definitely preferred the Escape overall).

[aubreyc1988]

Thanks for this review! We are going on the Escape to Bermuda in October and had sailed on her in February as well. I had hoped the new air handlers they installed in the casino in March would have solved some of the smokiness problem, but it sounds like they haven't Definitely bringing febreeze with me for this trip so I don't smell like an ash tray after every time I go gambling! I agree about the atrium being a poor venue for the game shows as well. We were on the Gem in June and they used the Spinnaker Lounge for that sort of thing and it was a MUCH better experience in that department (though I definitely preferred the Escape overall).

 

I had heard the same thing about the air handlers, but really I don't think anything can help it except banning smoking from the Casino. Saw lots of people sitting on penny machines doing 1 line, 1 cent sort of bets only when a casino employee passed by simply so that they could smoke. I don't know what the solution is, all I know is that is is SUFFOCATING in the casino. I couldn't be in there more than 30 min at a time simply because i would get a smoke headache.

 

The atrium is fixable though...I know they want participation, but it is just so disruptive to the rest of the ship's venues and is really hard to even pass through to get to the elevators due to crowds. Spinnaker lounge sounds like a much better area for that!

[JamieLogical]

I had heard the same thing about the air handlers, but really I don't think anything can help it except banning smoking from the Casino. Saw lots of people sitting on penny machines doing 1 line, 1 cent sort of bets only when a casino employee passed by simply so that they could smoke. I don't know what the solution is, all I know is that is is SUFFOCATING in the casino. I couldn't be in there more than 30 min at a time simply because i would get a smoke headache.

 

The atrium is fixable though...I know they want participation, but it is just so disruptive to the rest of the ship's venues and is really hard to even pass through to get to the elevators due to crowds. Spinnaker lounge sounds like a much better area for that!

 

I think they could maybe solve the smoking problem somewhat by having another indoor smoking area. As you mentioned, a LOT of people hang out in the casino just to smoke, because it's the only place they can do so inside. They just sit there and don't play at all or play penny slots with no real intent to gamble.

[TexasCruiser84]

I was also on this sailing, in cabin 5158, and also had a problem with the toilet! Our toilet would occasionally have a delayed flush issue. After pressing the flush button, it would take about 30-60 seconds to actually flush.

[aubreyc1988]

I was also on this sailing, in cabin 5158, and also had a problem with the toilet! Our toilet would occasionally have a delayed flush issue. After pressing the flush button, it would take about 30-60 seconds to actually flush.

 

Oh wow, we are from Texas too! HELLO! Ours was like you had to push down on the TOP of the button (outer casing) to sometimes get to to flush. And then when it didn't work when you did that, 30 minutes later, randomly flushed. So maybe not a "end of the line" toilet issue...wonder if it was our whole floor...who was your room steward? I talked to all of the stewards on that hallway, they were all SO nice, even if they weren't cleaning your cabin for the week

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks for sharing your review with us! I had to read it to DH as we agree with you on so many of the points you made.

[aubreyc1988]

Thanks for sharing your review with us! I had to read it to DH as we agree with you on so many of the points you made.

 

Thanks for reading! I always try to be critical, but fair. We had a great time, as always!

[bbeauty]

Great review, I agree with a lot that you wrote! I was also on this sailing and found there to be a lot of children/teens in Skyline bar after 11pm. On the last night they didn't kick the teenagers out until after 2am. I also did the Restless Natives catamaran cruise and I agree, the spot didn't have that many fish to see while snorkeling. But the group of people were fun and I enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone. The cookies were very tiny, so I just ate 3-5 at a time lol. The smoke in the casino was really really strong, more so that it has been on prior cruises. I could smell the smoke all the way down by Le Bistro. I tried using the slot machines a few times but the smoke was suffocating. And I also agree about the atrium, we had to get there early to hold down a few seats. Spinnakers on the Gem is a much better venue for game shows, I wish they had that on the Breakaway/Breakaway Plus classes.

[aubreyc1988]

Great review, I agree with a lot that you wrote! I was also on this sailing and found there to be a lot of children/teens in Skyline bar after 11pm. On the last night they didn't kick the teenagers out until after 2am. I also did the Restless Natives catamaran cruise and I agree, the spot didn't have that many fish to see while snorkeling. But the group of people were fun and I enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone. The cookies were very tiny, so I just ate 3-5 at a time lol. The smoke in the casino was really really strong, more so that it has been on prior cruises. I could smell the smoke all the way down by Le Bistro. I tried using the slot machines a few times but the smoke was suffocating. And I also agree about the atrium, we had to get there early to hold down a few seats. Spinnakers on the Gem is a much better venue for game shows, I wish they had that on the Breakaway/Breakaway Plus classes.

 

I really laughed out loud when I read that you just ate 3-5 cookies at a time...they were SO TINY! She had like SO many of these tiny little cookies...I was just overall sour about the lack of fish and only one snorkel stop, those tiny cookies put me over the edge. :') I agree, good group of people and staff was nice, just poor execution

[BirdTravels]

Thank you for taking the time to write a great review!:D

[aubreyc1988]

Yep....Costs money to "live the good life"

 

I "lived the good life" on the free waterfront hehe!