Escape 10/6-10/13 NYC to Bermuda trip report

[CookieShip]

Just a quickie trip report since it was my second time on this cruise. I went on the same itinerary just a few months ago.
Had an inside cabin 13 aft. I was hoping to upgrade to a balcony, but that didn't happen. Should of booked it outright as the balcony prices actually increased as we got closer to the cruise date and I did not win via bidding. Last time I was able to upgrade for just $75pp! There was some type of casino at sea event going on, which may have had to do it.

We took a bus to the Port Authority in NYC and was able to split a cab with another couple also going to the cruise terminal. It was amazing that the cabbie actually got 4 big adults and our luggage into his little (Prius) cab? I didn't think it would work, but it was only just a little snug. We got there about 11:15 AM.

Since we were on deck 13, we had to walk way into the back of terminal for check in. I hadn't gone that far back before so I wasn't sure if we were even heading into the right direction until we finally see a sign indicating where to check in. Check in was easy, but I didn't get one of the dailies. Not sure if they are suppose to give one automatically or not, but many others seemed to have them. Went to the desk to try to obtain one and one lady took the last two. She would not share her second copy which she later just gave to her husband. We had a short wait before we could board the ship, but checking the timestamp of my photo in one of the mdr, we were seated by 11:59AM! I learned to avoid the buffet and it was easy to just go down one deck when boarding aft so the long terminal walk worked out just fine. We had a little lunch and did a little exploring towards the forward area of the ship to get to the box office to get those reservations in! I didn't get to do Escape the Big Top last time and really wanted to try it out this time. 

On the first sea day, I did the CC meet up and the cabin crawl. The forward family oceanview was ridiculous! It has an odd circle window on the front of the ship, but the space in the room insane. In front of the main bed was enough space to play some twister! Then there was a partitioned off couch area as well, which could sleep one. There were other cabins, including havens, but that was the room that impressed me the most. 

One of the things I wanted to do was try the volcano nachos at Margaritaville. So we decide to do that for an early dinner. The nachos looked great,just like the mouth watering photos I had been seeing. However, they tasted so very disappointing. I would not get those again. There wasn't anything to really bring the "volcano" across, thought there be some spicy cheese to do that. Outside of that, the bottom was soggy. There was a poor quality chili on the chips. 

We took it easy the second sea day.

First day in Bermuda we had good looking weather so we made the trip over to Horseshoe Bay. Decide to take the bus there since since I have some of the tickets from the last trip. Bus driver did say I was suppose to use my 14 zone tickets instead of 3 zone tickets? I'm not sure if she was right since it was only 5 miles from the Dockyards and I had previously seen it was 3 zone from other posts here. There was also a large wedding party from the ship trying to get on the bus. I think most of them made it on with the bride/groom opting to take a taxi. 

I did some snorkeling in the little shallows on the right for a bit. Perfect spot for a weak swimmer like me. I got to see a variety of fishes in the little area. We decided to head back to the ship to get cleaned up from the beach. There was an air conditioned mini bus waiting for passengers, an older couple was already on it. We wait and wait for the mini bus to fill up, I'm sure at least half an hour has passed (who knows how much longer for the older couple). A number of the passengers get off to try to get a taxi back to the ship, finally a smaller and non-conditioned mini bus driver offers to take all of us now (9 passengers). Boyfriend was not feeling well and weather was looking not so good, so we decide to take it easy after getting back to the ship.

Second day in Bermuda, it is pouring rain unfortunately. We take the ferry to St George and hope for the best. Still pouring by the time the ferry gets there and boyfriend still isn't feeling great, so we head back to the ship. The weather starts looking a little better, we get some meds for the boyfriend at the Dockyard Pharmacy (it also has an ice cream shop and other miscellaneous things for purchase) as well as walk around inside the mall. 

Getting back on the ship, we stop by the atrium bar for some drinks. They are about to start Apollo 11 and introduce some ladies who actually worked on the Apollo 11 project which was pretty cool. I can't recall their names, but they worked at RCA on cameras that were used on Apollo 11. Boyfriend goes to rest and I do some more exploring around the dockyard by taking the little train/tram thing around. The sun is no joke and I end up getting a bit sunburned from not re-applying sunscreen. 

That evening, we go to the Escape the Big Top in the Supper Club. They request your party arrive together as you'll be split up into groups as you arrive. It seemed each group had about 8 people in each. I had heard before this was more of series of puzzles, which is accurate. It's not a physical escape room and you're not just working to solve all the puzzles, but also to solve them before the other teams (seemed to be about 10?). I found it enjoyable, our team worked well together, and of course we won! We had just under 10 minutes left. The prizes were pen and badge clip holder thing.

Last day in Bermuda, I had planned going to the museum just beside the ship and seeing the dolphins. At the moongate, near the ship is also a tour that leaves at 9:30 on Friday. There isn't much of a crowd so I join. It's about 45 minutes and walks around the Dockyard a bit. The tour ends somewhat near the clocktowers of the mall so I wait for tram to take me over to the museum. Quite a bit to see and the dolphins are a plus. I was surprised by the number of cannons all over the place. I head back to the ship, they have refreshments (in addition to the smalls drinks and cool towels, they also had ice pops and jello) as we get onboard. The ships has a timely departure from Bermuda at 3. We try to catch a sunset at sea later, but clouds are in the way. 

Our third sea day is ROUGH! We're bouncing around all over the place and I'm not feeling great. My fitbit recorded me doing over 150 flight of stairs on this day. The captain was trying to speed us up due to storms so they could go slower when they hit the rougher part of the storms. They had the sickness bags out all over the ship and the apples at the MDRs. We take things easy on this final night of the cruise and pack up for self assisted disembarkation tomorrow. 

We have an early breakfast and then head to 7 with our luggage. We figured we could hang out in the bar near the Manhattan dining room until our color is called (we had hung out there when waiting the Manhattan dining room to open for our muster drill). Little did we know, that is the area where the wheelchair and other assistance passengers wait. Certainly learned for next time. It was a bit lengthier than expecting after we got off the ship and then had to clear customs. The facial recognition was in use, I moved inadvertently the first pass so it turned blue. They had me rescanned again and it was green, then I was able to proceed.
 

The cruise directors don't really impact my cruise that much, but I did find that I liked our last CD Jacky more than CD Alvin. Alvin was just kind of always cracking himself up. Since we didn't have a balcony this time, we spent more time on the waterfront area of the ship. And still plenty of new things to do the ship and in Bermuda where I could probably do this one more time, lol. 

[Charles4515]

23 minutes ago, CookieShip said:

Bus driver did say I was suppose to use my 14 zone tickets instead of 3 zone tickets? I'm not sure if she was right since it was only 5 miles from the Dockyards and I had previously seen it was 3 zone from other posts here.

 

The bus driver was correct. Dockyard to Horseshoe Bay requires 14 zone tickets from the Dockyard. It is the number of zones you go thru and it is over 3 zones from the Dockyard. 

 

I have mentioned elsewhere that the Bermuda  minibus drivers have become greedy. They used to leave when they had nine or ten passengers when they had 12 to 15 capacity minibuses. Now they have 30 seat minibuses and won't leave until they fill. So I have been taking taxis if I can get 3 or 4 people to share.

Edited October 20, 2019 by Charles4515

[CookieShip]

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

The bus driver was correct. Dockyard to Horseshoe Bay requires 14 zone tickets from the Dockyard. It is the number of zones you go thru and it is over 3 zones from the Dockyard. 

 

I have mentioned elsewhere that the Bermuda  minibus drivers have become greedy. They used to leave when they had nine or ten passengers when they had 12 to 15 capacity minibuses. Now they have 30 seat minibuses and won't leave until they fill. So I have been taking taxis if I can get 3 or 4 people to share.

Thanks for confirming about the bus, I'm prepared for next time.

 

[bluesea777]

2 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

The bus driver was correct. Dockyard to Horseshoe Bay requires 14 zone tickets from the Dockyard. It is the number of zones you go thru and it is over 3 zones from the Dockyard. 

 

 

Yes, but you can use two Zone 3 tickets in place of one Zone 14.

 

 

[Gershep]

Great review.

[Shidah]

Nice review, sorry your partner wasn’t feeling well during the trip.

[luvcruzing]

1 hour ago, CookieShip said:

I have mentioned elsewhere that the Bermuda  minibus drivers have become greedy.

On our cruise in June, the bus was full, and the driver wanted a man to sit in the last jumpseat next to him and for his wife to sit on someone’s lap. 😳

[themutis]

Thanks!  Great review!  We are on next month.

[redwave]

Great review. Thanks. If someone has the dailies from this sailing, can u please post. 

[redwave]

How often does the free ncl ferry run btw dock and st georges?

[TenForward]

Got this schedule on the Escape last week from Guest Services. 

[redwave]

What is the cost of a taxi from the dockyard to horseshoe bay and are there plenty of taxis during busy return times and is the return price the same? Ty

[Charles4515]

22 minutes ago, redwave said:

What is the cost of a taxi from the dockyard to horseshoe bay and are there plenty of taxis during busy return times and is the return price the same? Ty

For 1-4 passengers the taxi would be about $32.50 plus tip, 5-7 passengers would be $42.50 plus tip. If it is a Sunday there is an additional surcharge. Taxis are plentiful at normal times. Taxis fares are metered by government regulation so the price will be about the same both ways. 
 

 

Edited October 24, 2019 by Charles4515