NCL Escape Review - 1 Month Later

[MrMike45]

Was on this same cruise, and literally didn't encounter a single one of these issues.  Maybe it's cause I'm one of those 30-60 year olds with tattoos who like to drink.  

 

With all due respect...sounds like the OP would be better off on an off-season cruise to Canada or something where the demographic tends to be an older crowd.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

The OP's review should be taken with a grain of salt IMO.  I read nothing in the review that would "vex" me for over a month before feeling compelled to start a review thread.  In fact, the part about the ship being poorly built implies that it wasn't sea-worthy or safe.  Clearly, that would not be the case and seems like a very extreme conclusion on the part of the OP.  I can appreciate that everyone's cruise experience is different and I'm not saying OP shouldn't feel they way he does about his experience, but I would never base a decision to book a cruise on the Escape on this review. 

Edited June 21, 2019 by Georgia_Peaches

[metgame24]

Although I have never sailed on the Escape, I always sail from NY with the exception of one past trip. Only two occasions we experienced delays, one was major (ship was delayed an entire day). From all I read on all the boards, this can happen any time at any given port. And food reviews are so subjective. We enjoy the food on NCL and have avoided cruising Royal recently as we found their food to be rather boring, bland and not exciting....see subjective!  I don't like to complain at all about the staff...ever! Any issues, unless life threatening, we take up directly with them. If problem does not go away, we just deal and then unfortunately it gets reflected in the additional tip amount at the end of the trip. (and those comment cards have come to mean a lot to the staff for reviews by their superiors. Anything negative written there has a huge impact!)

I understand that everyone has different experiences to share, just that like the saying goes....any cruise is a good cruise!

Enjoy!!

(and I am not even going to comment about the statements about the passenger demographics...I mean really??##!!!)

[thistimeplease]

How can you take this review seriously when the OP says that the Horseshoe Bay was underwelding and the sand not so pink.  Lol

[CookieShip]

1 hour ago, thistimeplease said:

How can you take this review seriously when the OP says that the Horseshoe Bay was underwelding and the sand not so pink.  Lol

Yea, sounds like they drove by it and were expecting to see some hot neon pinkness. 

My dad even conceded it was impressive after visiting and we only went a little bit of the way over to the coves on the left (we have beaches somewhat locally and was he in the mindset of they connect to the same ocean, what is so special?).

 

I do agree with the OP about the running track being along side some smoking areas. Hard to hold your breath even while just walking past those.

 

 I went on the same cruise a few months ago and had a pleasant time, looking forward to snagging a deal to go again in the fall. I do hope that "comedy magician" is off the ship by then. He was the worst entertainer by far. After Midnight wasn't really my thing, but it was a well done production. I don't know why OP said it was poor. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Wedgie23]

I wasn't on this exact cruise but did take the Escape from NYC to Bermuda about a week or so later. I don't find the review to be too far off my experience but I think it comes down to how much you allow the small things to bother you, I still had a great time. I don't know how many passengers were on my sailing but the overcrowding was certainly an issue. Very long lines for bars, shows and restaurants booked up immediately which doesn't really lend itself to 'freestyle'. While I anticipated standing room only for the Artium shows, both levels were so packed with those standing and watching you couldn't see them. Elevators... well you can imagine. 

 

The employees though I have to completely disagree, everyone we interacted with including our steward were fantastic. Bar tenders were very overwhelmed so you needed to give them a grain of salt. I think the difference of opinion may be how many people were on one sailing from another. I don't know if I went during one of the 3-4 free deals but I imagine it adds to the congestion and overall experience considerably to have that many more people on board the same ship. 

 

As for other passengers most were just fine, the ones that weren't made themselves known but you can't really judge 4,000+ people based on the dozen or so you see making butts out of themselves. The casino did get a touch scary and downright filthy on the last night. I guess they were putting off cleaning up until it shut down. A couple times I overheard other groups of passengers talking about not showing up at this reservation or that reservation which irritated me because everything was booked so early. It seems some people get on board and reserve every show time and restaurant they can on the off chance they will feel like doing it.

 

There did seem to be an uptick in nickel and diming and down turn in small things where I can understands OPs assertion that the overall quality and value has decreased in just a few years. There was certainly more aggressive up-selling than I recall from the Breakaway 2 years ago. I suppose if you go more frequently the small things may be less noticeable to you because they appeared more gradual.

[vamom76]

Unfortunately, we've all had vacations that didn't live up to all of our planning; but overall NCL is a good cruise line. No cruise line, or product, is perfect with may variables taken into consideration. In our 20 years of cruising on NCL, some cruises were better than others.

[Peachypooh]

On 6/20/2019 at 9:49 PM, Rob031 said:

Was thinking of booking the Escape but I am now having second thoughts  "Blued collared passengers with tattoos that were drinking alcohol" who can't tell the difference between burgers and Kobe steak, from the New York area, imagine that.  I may have to look at a port in south and hope to sail with some classy folk 🧐 😎

If you cruise on a ship with the demographics mostly under  45  a huge percentage will have tattoos. Doesn't make them bad people just young people keeping up with current trends. Quite a few decent family oriented professionals in our family have them. 

[Rob031]

7 hours ago, Peachypooh said:

If you cruise on a ship with the demographics mostly under  45  a huge percentage will have tattoos. Doesn't make them bad people just young people keeping up with current trends. Quite a few decent family oriented professionals in our family have them. 

Ditto  that was my point