Mitsugirly needed to ESCAPE from the cold weather

[mitsugirly]

PERSPECTIVES PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

ATRIUM

 

 

The place to get coffee, espressos, cappuccinos, beer, wine, and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

ATRIUM CAFE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

CRUISE CONSULTANT AREA

 

Where you buy your future Cruise Next certificates.

 

 

 

INTERNET CAFE

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

LE BISTRO FRENCH RESTAURANT

 

A la carte

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

TEPPANYAKI

 

Authentic Japanese restaurant that put on a show right in front of you. $39 per adult.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

HEADLINERS COMEDY CLUB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

ART GALLERY AREA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

MIXX BAR

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

TASTE & SAVOR main dinning rooms are on this level as well, and even though I ate there, I completely forgot to go back for pictures. LOL  Oopsy.

 

Here are just a few odd ball pictures

 

 

 

 

Crazy looking walls in the elevators

 

 

 

Don't forget the direction the fish are swimming=to the front of the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now I do realize I managed to forget to take pictures in some places (like the bakery that was never open any of the times we tried to go there) and I didn't find out until I got home that I actually missed spots or didn't even know they existed (like the Vibe Beach Club and public sundeck on deck 19 & 20. It also says there are several hot tubs up there).

 

Ehh, you win some you lose some. I did my best trying to cover most things and it wasn't easy walking the entire ship to do so. Sorry for the things I missed.

 

[mitsugirly]

5 hours ago, reeinaz said:

What is the room in Spice H2O with the chairs facing each other?

 

It's the hall you are walking down after going through the doors to H20 and before coming out into the open.

 

 

4 hours ago, kenlyn said:

Is the five o clock somewhere bar part of the drink package? Looks interesting.....thanks for the great review and pictures. I got so excited as I am down to 8 days before I board. But who's counting right?

 

I'm honestly not sure and hopefully someone else can answer your question. We decided not to get the drink package this time due to my condition and being on meds this time around.

 

 

3 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

Another FABULOUS review....really enjoying it.  We have never sailed NCL.  Quick question, how does the size of the balcony cabin you had compare to the size of a balcony cabin on Carnival....smaller, larger, same?  Thanks.

 

Most of the balconies are the same IMO. Unless you upgrade to a bigger one. I have done that before on cove balconies.

[AKR2011]

Just a heads up...The Box Office is where you can book shows. When I was on The Escape last year, we went there first thing to book everything that we couldn't get ahead of time. This included some free shows at the Supper Club. I was on a 14 day, so I think we had more options, but there were a few free shows along with the paid ones. It saddens me that these may be gone?

[herdingdogmom]

43 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

Now I do realize I managed to forget to take pictures in some places.

 

I did my best trying to cover most things and it wasn't easy walking the entire ship to do so. 

 

I can’t believe how much of the ship you covered.  I was on the Escape last month and completely missed deck 18.  I walked past Cellars several times but never saw those cool grape vine base tables.  Thanks for your great pictures.

I think the At Home indicator in your room goes on if you have a card in the slot to turn on the power/lights.

 

Have you talked about the crowded elevators yet?  Was it difficult to get an elevator in a wheelchair? 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by herdingdogmom

[AKR2011]

36 minutes ago, mitsugirly said:

I'm honestly not sure and hopefully someone else can answer your question. We decided not to get the drink package this time due to my condition and being on meds this time around.

Yes, drinks up to $15 are in at all bars, including 5:00 Somewhere, Margaritaville, etc. Yiu just pay the difference if a drink is over $15. Lots of cocktail choices, less wine choices unfortunately. 

[JoeTec]

16 hours ago, reeinaz said:

What is the room in Spice H2O with the chairs facing each other?

I was on the Escape in Aug & everytime we went to Spice H20 all those chairs were empty any time of the day. I couldn't figure out why they were there 

[SandyMc]

I love your reviews and think I have read all of them.  Particularly interested in this one since you had the wheelchair.  I finally broke down and bought a power wheelchair after my Escape cruise last year and will be taking it on it's first cruise in February on the Joy.  Did you have much trouble getting your chair in and out of your room?  I just wonder if I will have to fold mine up every time I go to the room......

[DeltaOne]

10 minutes ago, SandyMc said:

Did you have much trouble getting your chair in and out of your room?  I just wonder if I will have to fold mine up every time I go to the room......

 

We travel with someone that uses a power wheelchair.  It does not fold up and would not fit through a regular cabin door.  We have to book an accessible cabin and that means booking 9 to 12 months out...or else all the accessible rooms are taken.

 

The hallway problem mentioned is a real one.  Two cruises ago, on the Breakaway, our room was on deck 13 at the front of the ship.  That meant a long walk down the hallway to reach the elevators.  Between 8 am and noon and 4 pm to 8 pm the person in the wheelchair needed someone to accompany them to or from the room -- to move the steward carts so they could get by.  

 

The stewards tried to help in that when they saw us coming they would move the cart forward or backward so the wheelchair could use the indented door areas to get by.  But often the steward was working in a room and didn't see us coming.

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

mitsugirly ~ thanks for noting my retirement status, lol!

Loving your review which is getting me really excited for my 5th Epic cruise in 40 days!!

I love O'Sheehans too & look forward to not having to pay $3.65 for a Coke each lunch as I have the drink package for the very 1st time!

 

Looking forward to seeing your ports & how it went with your wheel chair.

 

~ Jo ~ 😊

[mitsugirly]

13 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Just a heads up...The Box Office is where you can book shows. When I was on The Escape last year, we went there first thing to book everything that we couldn't get ahead of time. This included some free shows at the Supper Club. I was on a 14 day, so I think we had more options, but there were a few free shows along with the paid ones. It saddens me that these may be gone?

 

I thought that's what that place was for. There was never anyone there when we looked in or the show we went to. I just think it's crappy that you have to actually "book" a free show. I understand that there are tons of people that might want to see a certain show, but it's always been first come first serve and you find a seat. If not, catch the next. That's the one thing I can't stand about being on a big ship. I've never been on any of the other cruise line big ships where you ever have to book a show in the theater. Only on NCL ships like Breakaway, Escape and so on. Blah

 

 

13 hours ago, herdingdogmom said:

I can’t believe how much of the ship you covered.  I was on the Escape last month and completely missed deck 18.  I walked past Cellars several times but never saw those cool grape vine base tables.  Thanks for your great pictures.

I think the At Home indicator in your room goes on if you have a card in the slot to turn on the power/lights.

 

Have you talked about the crowded elevators yet?  Was it difficult to get an elevator in a wheelchair? 

 

 

Yea, and here I thought I covered it all only to get home to see there were other areas I missed.

 

The cool tables you would have to actually walk into the Cellar and turn to the left and it's back in the cut. One big table back there. I almost didn't catch it because I wasn't looking down and then seen it and was like oh how cool!

 

As for the "At Home", that makes sense but I do believe that we almost always had a card in the slot...unless Sakari pulled it up a little at times when we left. But, that's probably the case.

 

Haven't talked about the elevators yet. We didn't find them crowded UNLESS everyone was coming back from a port and then it was crazy. You learn to take an elevator going in the opposite direction, just to get on, and ride it down then up. But, for the most part, I had people that were pretty crowded in an elevator and you wouldn't think I could make it on with a wheelchair and they held the door and said "come on, we got you" and squeezed together and made room. They were so nice.

 

 

13 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Yes, drinks up to $15 are in at all bars, including 5:00 Somewhere, Margaritaville, etc. Yiu just pay the difference if a drink is over $15. Lots of cocktail choices, less wine choices unfortunately. 

 

I figured that was the case but didn't want to steer anyone wrong. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

 

3 hours ago, JoeTec said:

I was on the Escape in Aug & everytime we went to Spice H20 all those chairs were empty any time of the day. I couldn't figure out why they were there 

 

Yea, I'm not sure why they have them there unless they are an overflow of chairs, when they are not on the deck, and then maybe they put them out for functions like the GloParty for more people to sit in when it's crowded? Just a thought but not sure.

 

1 hour ago, SandyMc said:

I love your reviews and think I have read all of them.  Particularly interested in this one since you had the wheelchair.  I finally broke down and bought a power wheelchair after my Escape cruise last year and will be taking it on it's first cruise in February on the Joy.  Did you have much trouble getting your chair in and out of your room?  I just wonder if I will have to fold mine up every time I go to the room......

 

In order to get my chair in and out of the door, it had to be folded up. You have a power wheelchair that folds up? I didn't realize they did that.

 

41 minutes ago, Paul from Maryland said:

 

We travel with someone that uses a power wheelchair.  It does not fold up and would not fit through a regular cabin door.  We have to book an accessible cabin and that means booking 9 to 12 months out...or else all the accessible rooms are taken.

 

The hallway problem mentioned is a real one.  Two cruises ago, on the Breakaway, our room was on deck 13 at the front of the ship.  That meant a long walk down the hallway to reach the elevators.  Between 8 am and noon and 4 pm to 8 pm the person in the wheelchair needed someone to accompany them to or from the room -- to move the steward carts so they could get by.  

 

The stewards tried to help in that when they saw us coming they would move the cart forward or backward so the wheelchair could use the indented door areas to get by.  But often the steward was working in a room and didn't see us coming.

 

Really? 9-12 months out? That's crazy and such an inconvenience. I feel so bad for handicapped people that are permanently disabled. When I booked this cruise, it was only about 1 1/2 months out and they had 1 accessible room available at the time and it was an interior. I wanted a balcony because the price difference was so little that it wasn't worth it to book an interior. When I first started looking, they did have an accessible balcony, but I waited too long to make up my mind about cruising. :(

 

When stewards in our hallway seen me coming, they would move the carts into the indented areas by the room doors so that I would have a straight shot down the hallway. It was nice of them.

 

These hallways need to be bigger!!!

 

 

3 minutes ago, retiring soon said:

Hi all!

 

mitsugirly ~ thanks for noting my retirement status, lol!

Loving your review which is getting me really excited for my 5th Epic cruise in 40 days!!

I love O'Sheehans too & look forward to not having to pay $3.65 for a Coke each lunch as I have the drink package for the very 1st time!

 

Looking forward to seeing your ports & how it went with your wheel chair.

 

~ Jo ~ 😊

 

Jo, I hope you are enjoying your cruising retirement!

 

Wow, your 5th Epic cruise? You must really like the Epic! It's one of my favorites too and holds a special place in my heart.

 

The drink package is awesome! I couldn't live without it...especially now that you are no longer permitted to bring your own soda on board with you (even though there hasn't been a time that I didn't buy the soda package when I did that).

 

Glad you are here for the review!

[mitsugirly]

DAY 2: SUNDAY

 

 

 

 

 

This would be our first real full sea day. I honestly don't care for sea days, unless it's the very last day so that I can get things packed up, and try to pick cruises with as many ports as possible. But, it is what it is and we would try to keep ourselves busy.

 

Since we weren't on any type of time frame, I believe we slept in until around 9:30am or so and then decided to head out to breakfast. I wanted something different than going to the buffet because I knew we would be stuck going there on port days for a quick bite to eat.

 

O'Sheehan's it was then and off we went.

 

We arrived, gave them our room card, and were led to a table. I requested that we have a booth and they said "certainly". The place was not crowded at all, so I didn't feel bad about taking up an entire booth that could have fit 6 people in it. If it was crowded, I wouldn't have done that knowing that others may have needed to use it.

 

We were seated and they filled our glasses with water as we pulled out our soda card and presented it to them. Everyone knows I'm a popoholic and if I paid for that card, I plan on using it as much as possible.

 

Our food arrived minutes after we ordered! I couldn't believe how fast it came.

 

My meal

 

 

 

Sakari's meal (she used to be a scrambled eggs kinda girl but has recently changed things up and loves herself some omelettes with bacon and cheese).

 

 

 

The hubby being cute with his meal....do you see it?

 

 

 

 

It's a happy face! 🤣

 

The hubby's meal was supposed to come with a variety danish basket...which never came. I had also ordered an extra danish basket...which never came. I ended up having to flag our waiter down, when he was at the table behind us, and tell him that our danish baskets never came. He went and got one and put it on the table as he flew by to the next table shouting "fresh for you" and I was left there with my finger up in the air, as in wait a minute, and my mouth open with nothing coming out because he was just too fast. I never did get my danish basket...so we shared.

 

 

The danish basket comes with a variety of items and just like the bread basket, there's always those certain items that everyone likes and wants, and those that no one likes or wants. So, two baskets, like I requested, would have been nice.

 

Also, it was not "fresh for you" and not even warm. Plus, it had one muffin in it and all of the rest of the items were all the same!!! I glanced over at everyone else's tabled and they definitely had a "variety". We just ended up with a "vari" and not the "ety". Blah

 

 

 

 

[SandyMc]

Thanks for comments about wheelchairs.  I have tried two different scooters but finally ordered a powered wheelchair after finding the scooters just too inconvenient having to park it in restaurants and bars and finding they just required too much space - especially in elevators.  Loving the idea I can just ride wheelchair to table and not have to always be leaving it somewhere.  My Air Hawk wheelchair can be folded but they say the cabin doors are 26” wide and the wheelchair is only 23” wide so hope I don’t have to fold all the time though glad I have that option.

[mitsugirly]

After breakfast, Sakari shouted "ropes course, ropes course, ropes course". She really wanted to do it yesterday, but by the time she was done swimming they were closed.

 

So, off to the ropes course we went. I asked her if she thought they would let me do it in my boot? "No mommy, are you crazy? You'll fall and break your other leg!"  I guess she had a point. LOL  So, it was just her and daddy this time around and I would sit down below to take pictures of their wild adventures that I was missing out on.

 

Did I mention I decided to strap my walking boot on and walk today? Whew! I walk pretty good in the boot, but it's just really heavy. Plus, I can't walk long distances because I tire easily. But, I managed to make it up to the ropes course and if anyone has been on these particular Breakaway class ships, you'll know that there is NO seating anywhere on this sports deck. However, there is several large heavy duty boxes under the stairs leading up to the basketball court and I would gladly use that as a seat for this adventurei'mnotapartof. 😕

 

They waited and waited and waited in line. They were almost there for an hour. At one point, I decided to waddle back over to the line to see what was going on. The workers said they allow groups to go and until that entire group was DONE and off the course, the next group couldn't go. 😲 Say what? Breakaway and Getaway wasn't like that! When people came down, others went up! So this meant A LOT of waiting time for everyone!

 

 

 

Then all of a sudden, after I had went back and sat down on my box, the hubby and Sakari came walking around the corner. "They shut it down saying it was too windy!!!!!!" Sakari says. She was so upset that she wasn't going to get to go and they were next in line and the hubby wasn't too happy he waited all that time either. Honestly, it wasn't that windy!

 

So, what could make it better? Water rides of course!!! I hobbled down to the next deck to try to find somewhere to sit. I managed to snap a lounger right under the water slides and in the shade. I'm a sun loving goddess...but only if I can get in the water to cool off. This wasn't going to be one of "those" cruises, so shade was good!

 

Sakari and daddy made it up to the DROP slide. We knew in advance that they don't allow you to wear ANYTHING on that slide. That meant the hubby had to remove his wedding ring (which was quite the task) and Sakari had to remove her necklace, bracelet, glasses of course, and lanyard. Ugh, they make it so hard on you!

 

Sakari peeking at me from the stairs.

 

 

 

Almost there!!!

 

 

 

 

THEY MADE IT! Here we go!!! Sakari is waving and I knew she was excited. Not nervous at all. I'm so proud of her. Her fears that she managed to develop over the last few years has finally subsided.

 

 

 

She had a blast. Not so sure that the hubby enjoyed it as much because he was worried about water getting in his ears and developing an infection. (If anyone remembers, the hubby has no eardrums from an injury when he was a teen so any water in the ears becomes an instant problem for him). He managed to cross his arms in front of him, like they make you, and the minute he dropped...plugged his ears on the way down instead. LOL

 

They came back and Sakari let me know how much fun it was and she was ready to do the next...daddy was not. She pouted about him putting up a fight about not wanting to go again right away and I gave him the "you're on daddy duty and must oblige to your daughters request to have fun" and he hung his head down and away they went with Sakari grinning from ear to ear.

 

Next up was the blue tube!

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile....it was time to take my walking boot off and get my leg propped up.

 

 

 

Here's a short video of them on the water slides:

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

While I was sitting around, I decided to try to make reservations for our specialty dining that we get for free for being platinum. On the Getaway 4 months ago, everything was COMPLETELY booked up...like the entire cruise. I only managed to get in because there were some cancellations during the middle of the cruise.

 

This time, it was a different story. Everything was open every single day! Who Hoo!

 

My pick for this cruise was La Cucina (since we didn't go last time) and I decided we would go tonight since it is a sea day.

 

 

 

Then I also picked Cagney's Steakhouse, which we had never been to because I don't like steak.

 

 

 

 

 

After all of the fun activities at the water park, it was time to head back to the room to change into dry clothes and relax for awhile.

 

Sakari was busy checking out everything in the room and discovering all the little hidden places to store things. Then all of a sudden she opened up the cabinet that had the hidden refrigerator behind it. "What's this?" She opened up the refrigerator and BOOM! All of a sudden I heard a loud pitched screech. Pop was spewing out everywhere. I made a mad sloth rush to get to it, locate the pinhole, plug it with my finger and ...... now what? "Ok, grab me a glass to put this in. We are not wasting it!"

 

That was a mighty expensive blooper there. Did they rig that thing so you are forced to pay over inflated prices for their pop? Ugh!

 

Here she is enjoying that pop she managed to get. "Well, I was thirsty anyhow mommy!" LOL I told her she better savor the flavor of every little drop of it and not waste any!

 

 

 

While we are on the subject of the mini bar...here's the menu:

 

 

Notice how it lists Pepsi $3.00 above? Also in the book was this:

 

 

Do you see the difference? The price of soda is listed as $3.45 above. Did prices go up and they didn't remove the other sheets?

 

Room Service: Order and place on your door by 4am. $7.95 fee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All day menu:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Occasion menu for additional prices:

 

 

 

 

[bunnyette]

16 hours ago, mitsugirly said:

Now I do realize I managed to forget to take pictures in some places (like the bakery that was never open any of the times we tried to go there) and I didn't find out until I got home that I actually missed spots or didn't even know they existed (like the Vibe Beach Club and public sundeck on deck 19 & 20. It also says there are several hot tubs up there).

 

Ehh, you win some you lose some. I did my best trying to cover most things and it wasn't easy walking the entire ship to do so. Sorry for the things I missed.

 

No need to apologize- you could have easily skipped doing a review given your difficulties getting around!