Platinum cruiser just off the Escape from Bermduda - a quick and dirty review

[PortFees45]

Overall a wonderful cruise. I truly believe the Escape is NCL's "last good ship" before they jumped the shark with the new ships and disgusting moves like closing off massive portions of the upper deck to the general passengers. Escape, while obviously with plenty of room for "premium" cruisers (much larger Haven than Breakaway and Getaway) still manages to strike the right balance of everything. I'll be very sad to see the Escape leave NYC in the Fall and be replaced by the Norwegian Blech. Here's a smattering of observations/reactions from the week at sea. 

 

- No more ice buckets in the rooms. Not a big deal, asked for one and it was quickly provided. Have to admit it was nice not hearing the constant sound of ice being scooped out of a cooler from the hallway. 

 

- Confirmed there is no more turndown service. I never wanted it to begin with, but it was a little strange to see the cabin hallways totally clear at 6pmish, when normally they'd be swarmed with cabin stewards. That said, if the cabin stewards workload is essentially being reduced by 50%, does that mean NCL is downsizing the # of stewards on a ship, or did the company decide to make the lives of these hardworking employees less miserable? 

 

- Shrimp cocktail surcharge removed, but massive price increase at Cagney's. Cagney's sucked, but I'll get to that in a minute. 

 

- I spent a lot of time on the port and forward sundecks that are now blocked off on the Getaway, Bliss, Joy and Encore. At peak sea days that area was always packed. At those times the Vibe was maybe moderately full, but not remotely close to full. Besides using those upper sundecks during the day, many passengers enjoyed strolling along them in the evening, watching the sunset, etc. During these hours the Vibe was shutdown entirely, so if this whole area were the Vibe it would be sitting empty and unused, instead of giving general passengers a lovely open area away from the pool deck. Shame on you, Norwegian, for "Titanic-izing" your new ships like this. Shame on you. 

 

- The buffet on the Escape was excellent. I've been on the Breakaway, Gem, Getaway and Escape, and the Escape blows the rest out of the water with the buffet food. Great variety, good value. You could tell the chefs preparing the buffet food really cared and weren't just feeding slop to the masses. The pizza in particular is GREAT. On other ships the pizza was a joke, and as a New Yorker I'm a snob, but the Escape just nails it. Perfect thin crust, great cheese distribution. I can't tell you how many times I said "Oh I'll just go to the buffet and grab an apple or something" and wound up getting a slice or two.

 

- On that note, I noticed a lot more crew/staff eating in the buffet than on other ships. I've read some posts in the past with some a-holes complaining about that (who are you, Princess Diana?), but I think it's great. It was always after peak hours, usually 9pm on. I wonder if this is a deliberate policy on the Escape. The crew for sure seemed happier and less stressed out than on the Getaway. Maybe a little gesture like this has something to do with it?

 

- MDR food and O'Sheehans was great. Zero complaints. Some longer waits at busy times, but that's par for the course. Everything was hot, well prepared, well seasoned. Out of the ships I've sailed on NCL, Escape has the best food hands down. Another reason I'm so sad to see it go. 

 

- Cagney's was just awful. I used a Platinum certificate so I didn't really care that much (went up to the buffet and got pizza later), but this was the only really noticeable stumble. As I mentioned shrimp cocktail surcharge was gone, and the shrimp were okay but had that distinct texture of being defrosted a little too quickly. The filet requested medium with sauce on the side came out rare and slathered in sauce. The sides were disgusting. Now clearly sides at Cagney's won't ruin a cruise, but with the prices they charge now they have to step up the quality. Fries were soggy vastly inferior to the ones in O'sheehan's. The "sauteed" broccoli was just steamed, unseasoned broccoli in an a half inch of water. Service was fine, but if I'd actually paid for the meal I'd be furious.

 

- Moderno was fine. Again used a Platinum certificate. Wouldn't be REMOTELY worth it at the new price point. The meats were...fine. Nothing special, just a solid B. I didn't notice any of the cutbacks on the salad bar people have noticed. Everything seemed the same, except one change. Again not going to ruin a cruise, but the "parmigiano reggiano" was clearly not the real dea. PR has a distinct nutty, salty flavor. This stuff was bland and obviously some kind of cheeper parmesean. 

 

- Howl At The Moon was a huge hit. Lucky to see Rhonda again for the first time since last year. That woman pours her heart out every performance. I can't for the life of me understand why NCL eliminated this on their new ships. Venue was PACKED every night to the back walls, with everyone in the room having an absolute blast for 4 hours straight. Howl is by far my favorite indoor activity on the NCL ships, and it's another reason I really have zero interest in the Bliss and hate to see the Escape go. 

 

- I didn't spend a lot of time in District Brewhouse (not really a beer guy), but even if I was not sure how I could have stood the singer/piano player. I hate to be cruel, but he just wasn't very good. A a very mediocre piano player, and just an okay singer, seemingly belting out "Sweet Caroline" "Come Sail Away" and "Miss American Pie" on constant repeat...and he was turned up SO LOUD. It was loud even outside the venue by the elevators.

 

- Escape does a great job with disembarkation. Self-assist lines up in the Manhattan Room. I got on the small line at around 7:05 and was off the ship by 7:20. Love that they have enough staff on hand to keep people from just barreling through lines, etc. Another contrast with the Getaway. 

 

- Alvin was the cruise director. Seems like he's the cruise director on every sailing I book, regardless of the ship. CD doesn't really impact my experience that much, but some people seem to want to know this.

 

Everything else seemed pretty standard. Any specific questions I'll be happy to answer them. 

[perditax]

Just got off the same cruise. Not sure what you mean by 'no turndown service', but every evening I got my room made up, new pool towel and the next day's planner (and one thousand sales flyers) left on bed, decorative throw cushions removed from bed. 

 

In fact, I could have sworn from previous cruises that they don't do evening service on the last night of the cruise, but this morning (disembark) I had a card on my door saying they'd tried to service the room last night but didn't because I had the DND light on.

 

Maybe you mean something different by turndown service. 

[PortFees45]

Oh, forgot to mention the Thermal Suite. 

 

Relaxing as always, but WAY too much chlorine in the pool. I got some mist in my eyes from the big wavepool thing, and it felt like I'd been maced. Except for the area right by the steam room (which smelled like pleasant eucalyptus) the entire place just stank of chlorine. It burned your eyes even on the tile loungers. 

 

And with that much chlorine, I was surprised to find the pool kinda nasty. Not the pool itself, but the metal pipe that runs around it beneath the buttons you use to activate the jets. Covered in brown slime. Pretty gross.

[Steff79]

thanks for the review, i love the Escape. i hope they don´t change her at the next dry dock.

looking for a 2020 cruise with her.

[gmbhardy]

I would hope there is still some form of turn down service. Fresh towels, light cleaning of bathroom etc. Ice buckets by request makes sense.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the comments.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[Son of a son of a ...]

I’m back, too ... so I’ll post under your thread ... thanks!

 

Just back from a seven day cruise from NYC to Bermuda on the Escape ... a few observations.

We took Amtrak to Penn Station.  Train was on time and the cab fare to the port was under $20.

Platinum priority boarding line was definitely shorter than the general boarding line.  The general boarding line had approximately 150 people.  We were on the ship by 1130.

We went to the Savor for lunch.  The food was salty (as expected) and the service was extremely slow.  NCL seats sections and then paces service.  If you are seated early in the section, then service is very slow.  Luckily, this was our only experience with slow service.

We had a spa balcony.  The spa was great!  Almost no one there on embarkation day.  Throughout the week, the available seating was abundant with even a few heated loungers open every time we went.  

We didn’t use the spa on port days because, after spending the day in the sun and water, we were already relaxed.  

The Choir of Man was as good as everyone says.  Get there early for a good seat as it is a popular show.  I couldn’t believe they have a license for “contemporary” songs.  They announced that they are going on tour in the near future and there will be another COM replacing them.  

At the Welcome Aboard Show, it was announced that towel animals were being discontinued.

NCL needs to address marijuana vaping onboard.  We could smell it morning, noon, and night on the balcony.  Several times we could smell it in the hallways.  Maybe NCL is turning a blind eye, but it was readily apparent by smell that folks were partaking.

We arrived in Bermuda a day early to drop off an ill passenger via pilot boat and then went back out to sea for the day and night to make circles until the next morning.

Bermuda weather was hot and sunny. Indeed, we had great weather the entire cruise.  

On day one in Bermuda, we took the minibus to Horseshoe Beach.  The ride was $14 per person round trip.  The beach was crowded, the water and rocks were beautiful.  We got an umbrella and beach chairs for $48.

On day two, we to the NCL excursion to Clearwater Beach Triangle.  It started with the NCL ferry to St George and a short driving tour around St George.  At the beach, lunch, drink, umbrella and chairs were all available.  Bring your own goggles and snorkel - you can find cheap ones in the states.  The venue had masks and snorkels for use, but no one was washing them out between use.  This excursion was great!  A lot of sun and water.

On day three, we walked around the naval yard.  There is a beach within short walking distance from the ship, but we were “sunned out” by then.  We toured the fort, which was very informative.  It cost $15 pp.  Afterward, went shopping.  The t shirt prices were high so we waited until the next sea day to buy Bermuda shirts on the ship - 2 for $20.  We did buy some rum cake souvenirs on shore.

The chair hogs were out in strong force on all sea days.  You could not find a chair and NCL’s attempts to control squatting failed miserably.  The pool was completely taken over and kids were in Spice H2O.  We were glad we got the spa!  Give that we had three days in Bermuda, we didn’t miss the deck time.

We ate at Tepenaki, Cagneys (x2) and La Cucina (x2).  We had early reservations on most nights.  Food and service were excellent.  We leaving some nights, we noticed very long lines waiting to get into the restaurants.

We went to the magic show ... aside from the woman’s singing, the rest of the show was very blah and used simple, common props or slight of hand.  2 out of 10.

We went to the comedy show in the main theater - the host and two comedians.  The first comedian completely bombed.  No one was laughing and the comic knew his set stunk.  He abruptly closed and walked off.  I felt a bit sorry for him.  The second comedian was somewhat better, but after the first one bombing, the threshold was low.  4 out of 10.

The casino was very tight, then loose, then very tight, and ended very loose. We made enough money to pay off our bill and take some home.  Sorry to those folks coming onboard next because all the money was sucked out last night!

Disembarkation was a bit of a cluster. All told it took 45 minutes.  If you are in a rush, get a porter.
 

We bought cruise next vouchers and will cruising with NCL again.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Son of a son of a ...

[PortFees45]

Bermuda does aggressive sweeps with K9 units of the passenger hallways. If there was as much of what you think you smelled, they'd have been hauling people off the ship. You likely smelled normal tobacco vaping, which is actually much more fragrant than THC oil. 

[perditax]

Glad I’m not losing my mind re: thermal suite sponsored by Clorox. 

[mking8288]

K-9 teams on the pier here at Dockyard last November ... spotted them while docked in Nassau and Mexico ports on other sailings.  If and when caught in Bermuda, the fines are very, very steep ! 

[PortFees45]

7 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

K-9 teams on the pier here at Dockyard last November ... spotted them while docked in Nassau and Mexico ports on other sailings.  If and when caught in Bermuda, the fines are very, very steep ! 

Yeah and once the majority of pax disembark they bring the doggos onboard and sweep the ship.

 

OP likely smelled the flavored e-tobacco juice. THC oil is actually designed to be nearly scent-free for obvious reasons (not scent free to the dogs, though). 

[NLH Arizona]

1 hour ago, perditax said:

Just got off the same cruise. Not sure what you mean by 'no turndown service', but every evening I got my room made up, new pool towel and the next day's planner (and one thousand sales flyers) left on bed, decorative throw cushions removed from bed. 

 

In fact, I could have sworn from previous cruises that they don't do evening service on the last night of the cruise, but this morning (disembark) I had a card on my door saying they'd tried to service the room last night but didn't because I had the DND light on.

 

Maybe you mean something different by turndown service. 

Or maybe he just had a lazy Cabin Steward.

[PortFees45]

1 minute ago, NLH Arizona said:

Or maybe he just had a lazy Cabin Steward.

She wasn't lazy at all. Did a fine job. I keep my DND light on a good bit, so maybe that was it, but the hallways were noticeably absent of cabin stewards during the evening dinner hours.

[dexddd]

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

K-9 teams on the pier here at Dockyard last November ... spotted them while docked in Nassau and Mexico ports on other sailings.  If and when caught in Bermuda, the fines are very, very steep ! 

Those are therapy dogs, for your convenience, of course.

[NLH Arizona]

18 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

She wasn't lazy at all. Did a fine job. I keep my DND light on a good bit, so maybe that was it, but the hallways were noticeably absent of cabin stewards during the evening dinner hours.

Sorry, but if you would have said you kept your DND light on a good big instead of "Confirmed there is no more turndown service", I would have never made the comment about the Cabin Steward being lazy.  My apologies to your Cabin Steward. 

 

On my Breakaway cruise, I have an early dinners and when I got back to my cabin to change, around 8 or so, the Cabin Stewards were usually always done and gone by then.  

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[gmbhardy]

5 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

Sorry, but if you would have said you kept your DND light on a good big instead of "Confirmed there is no more turndown service", I would have never made the comment about the Cabin Steward being lazy.  My apologies to your Cabin Steward. 

 

I agree with you. The OP’s “confirmed” comment was totally misleading.

[PortFees45]

30 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

I agree with you. The OP’s “confirmed” comment was totally misleading.

I'm not the first person to mention a reduction/elimination in turndown service. I said "confirmed" because I seemed to be seeing what I'd already read about on these boards for myself. 

[PortFees45]

Oh, forgot to mention (and can't edit for some reason?) that I was surprised to find the balconies on the Escape are noticeably larger than the Breakaway and Getaway. Really makes a difference. Not sure if they did this by shaving some room off the interior, but whatever they did the balcony felt just the right size. On the Breakaway/Getaway I feel like I'm on a ledge. 

[BirdTravels]

Thanks for the review. We were on the Escape in April and enjoyed the cruise. We had the same observation about Cagney's,,,, worst service ever (and we cruise on NCL 4-5 times a year). We canceled a second reservation there. And brought the poor experience to the Assistant Hotel Manager (who then followed us around for the rest of the cruise). 

[gmbhardy]

35 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

Oh, forgot to mention (and can't edit for some reason?) that I was surprised to find the balconies on the Escape are noticeably larger than the Breakaway and Getaway. Really makes a difference. Not sure if they did this by shaving some room off the interior, but whatever they did the balcony felt just the right size. On the Breakaway/Getaway I feel like I'm on a ledge. 

 

You’re right, they are appreciably larger. The balconies on the Epic are even larger.

[Two Wheels Only]

51 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

Oh, forgot to mention (and can't edit for some reason?) that I was surprised to find the balconies on the Escape are noticeably larger than the Breakaway and Getaway. Really makes a difference. Not sure if they did this by shaving some room off the interior, but whatever they did the balcony felt just the right size. On the Breakaway/Getaway I feel like I'm on a ledge. 

 

One of the improvements from the Breakaway Class to the Breakaway Plus Class is that since the BA Plus Class is wider, the standard balconies along the side of the ship are deeper.

[bobsfamily]

15 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Thanks for the review. We were on the Escape in April and enjoyed the cruise. We had the same observation about Cagney's,,,, worst service ever (and we cruise on NCL 4-5 times a year). We canceled a second reservation there. And brought the poor experience to the Assistant Hotel Manager (who then followed us around for the rest of the cruise). 

On the Breakaway in May our "experience" in Cagney's was so bad we walked out after being served cold baked potatoes, horribly cooked filet.  They didn't even notice, got a call in my cabin later wanting to know what happened and could I come sign my "ticket". I told them exactly what happened and there would be no signature, I will admit whoever I was talking to assured me that there would be no charge (well duh!) and please come back and they would make it up to us. Service and food so bad I walked out?  No way was I trying it again (they offered it with no charge) after that.

[Shidah]

This is the second instance I’ve read about kids in Spice recently.  If that occurs, is there someone that passengers can notify or bring to someone’s attention to rectify the issue on board?  Won’t affect us since we are likely getting Vibe passes, but I have read over and over how many people enjoy Spice as a respite from kids.  The few times I have been to Spice to get a drink from the bar it was a zoo with just the adults, couldn’t imagine it with kids present.

[PortFees45]

1 minute ago, Shidah said:

This is the second instance I’ve read about kids in Spice recently.  If that occurs, is there someone that passengers can notify or bring to someone’s attention to rectify the issue on board?  Won’t affect us since we are likely getting Vibe passes, but I have read over and over how many people enjoy Spice as a respite from kids.  The few times I have been to Spice to get a drink from the bar it was a zoo with just the adults, couldn’t imagine it with kids present.

I don't hang out in SpiceH20 much, but there were some kids in the adult pool at one point. Granted they were with their family, but I went right to the nearest NCL employee and let him know. He immediately notified the deck supervisor and the kids were ejected within 5 minutes.