tatibus0913

Thank you so much for all of your posts. I know the effort that takes and it is appreciated. Quick question, is the ship less crowded on evenings that you are in port?

 

 

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Thanks! It felt a bit less crowded but there were definitely still a lot of people around the ship. There isn't a lot to do in Bermuda at night so I think a lot of people stayed on board.

Excellent Review much appreciated. Will be on her next July Thanks:cool::cool:

Thanks!! :D

thanks for the report and absolutely loving the magnet!!!

You're welcome! The magnet is adorable and currently on my refrigerator :hearteyes:

Been living in NYC for 29 years. Regarding taxis, here’s a tip: Do not ever tell the driver where you’re going until you’re in the cab. Tourists are basically the only ones I’ve seen lean in to the driver window to tell their destination. If the driver doesn’t want to go there they drive off. If you’re seated and the doors are closed, they have no choice.

 

On the same note, if the door is locked and the driver insists upon knowing your destination, find another cab. I generally go full on New Yorker on them when they pull that b.s. and don’t bother getting in the car. I live in Queens and drives aren’t too fond of the long trek to my apartment. I never tell them until I’m in the car.

 

 

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Good advice and definitely something that we wished we knew in advance!

Loving this review! Thank you!

 

DH and I just booked our first cruise out of New York City. I'm taking note of good eating establishments based on cruise critic reviews...

 

And I know DH--being a Guinness fan--will loveThe Perfect Pint!

It was a great spot! We didn't eat there but had fun drinking :D

Great review!

 

 

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Thanks!! :D

Great review and pics. When you took the minibus to Horseshoe bay was it $7 pp roundtrip? Or you had to pay $7 to return back to the dockyard?

 

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Thanks! It was $7.00 per person, each way. It was super convenient. If you have a big group though, it might work out to be cheaper to take a taxi, which I believe is about $35 total, each way.

Regarding the Meet and Greet provided by NCL, was there anything else served besides flights of beer and appetizers? I don't drink beer. Thanks!

The only drinks that were being passed by the staff were the different beers. I'm not sure if anyone went up to the bar for something different, but you probably could. Or you could always bring a drink in, just in case! :)

Thanks for sharing your review. I really enjoyed reading about Bermuda. :)

Heather

Thanks so much for such a great review and photos. We are going in October and can't wait. Enjoyed reading all your posts and seeing your photos.

Thanks so much for reading!

Same camera here......bought specifically for the cruise, great camera for the $$

It's a great little camera! I only wish it a little quicker to switch between underwater mode and auto mode, so if you know any tricks for this, let me know!

Is the mojito bar covered with the unlimited drink plan?

Yep! The only thing not covered is the flight of mojitos and the mojito tastings, which there are usually one or two of per cruise. But individual mojitos are all covered. And last time I was on the Escape, the bartenders at the mojito bar mixed up a bunch of specialty shots and just handed them out for everyone to try as well.

I believe you get some type of discount if you order a mojito flight and have the UBP. We just ordered individual drinks and tried different ones. I loved the raspberry guava and ginger ones!

NYC TAXI TIP

 

 

Go to the upper level (where you embark, not the lower level where you go to the street)

Exit the terminal and go to the left.....there are taxis there.

 

 

Since nobody knows about this, almost nobody is there.

The taxi rank is on the other side of the street you exit onto - walk on the zebra crossing to the other side.

I did see the sign that there were also taxis were on the second level, but the elevator was crazy so we just crossed the street.

Great review. We are also going on the Escape to Bermuda in August. I was wondering what kind of camera you were using to take such great pictures.

Thanks! Most of them were taken with my iPhone 8 Plus. The underwater and beach ones were taken with a Fujifilm XP130. We just bought it to replace our old underwater camera and we really liked it!

When we got off the Bliss in May, the taxi line across the street from the terminal covered the block twice. We just walked south on 12th Ave to 50th Street & hailed a cab there. He turned onto 50th where he popped his trunk so we could put the suitcases in, we got in & told him Penn Station. No problems, except he started to move before I was completely in the cab.

There weren't that many taxis when we disembarked, but there was still a good amount. It was about 10:45am by the time we were on the street, so that may have had something to do with it. We ended up walking down W 47th and met the Lyft driver at the corner of W 47th and 11th Ave, in front of a Toyota dealership. It was actually really easy, and we should've just walked the block over and not deal with the the taxis at all. The taxi thing frustrating but it was only a few minutes of our wonderful trip! :)

I believe it is illegal for the taxi drivers to refuse a ride. You could report them to the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission by taking note of the 4 digit number on top of the cab or on their door.

Thanks for the info!

Regarding the rude taxi drivers refusing rides in NYC, I've also had that experience-- hailed a cab, they'd roll down their window, I'd tell them our destination, and they'd just speed off. Had this happen multiple times! My boyfriend (who lived in NYC for years) thinks that's hysterical; he said to NEVER tell them where you're going until you're IN the cab. If they pull up, just get in. They can't kick you out once you're in the car, lol!

 

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lol! We'll have to remember that for next time, although we'll probably just stick with using Lyft and Uber.

Awesome. OP - here is a link to the post with the menu:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56462047&postcount=197

Thanks!! I didn't know you could view a single post - learn something new every day! :)

I posted a photo in my trip report: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2649098&page=10 It is post 197. After you're seated, they ask if there are any allergies, but otherwise it's a set menu. We thought the food was good for what it was. The show itself was amazing and worth the additional cost.

Thanks for posting picture of food from Pincho's Tapas. It looks really good. We sailed on Escape last year but never tried Pincho's. Can you give me an idea of the prices? Is it similar to Food Republic's prices? We ate at Food Republic everyday last year. I'm really enjoying your review.

The menu is in post 195 if you want to look at prices for exact items, but everything was between $3 and $9. I believe we spent $35-40 and we shared everything we ordered. The food was great, especially the Wagyu beef skewers!

Boarding doesn't usually start until around 11:00 at the earliest? So those who arrive at the pier earlier get through security and then are issued a boarding group number. Once boarding begins, they call one group at a time to board.

Right! We were there at 9:45am and checked-in by 10:00am. We could see people still disembarking off the Escape. One of the NCL staff said they'll probably starting boarding around 12:00pm, but they made the announcement that we could board early starting at 11:00am. If you arrive after they start boarding, you may not have to wait that long but the terminal may be busier.

Hey Jessica. Great review!

 

My husband and I are doing a re-do honeymoon since our cruise last year didn't end on a great note (broken propeller and had to fly home). We live just North of Boston and I'm curious about the train/bus. We have always flown to NYC since I hate being in the car for that long. Can you tell me a little bit about the pricing and experience you had on both? Thanks!

That’s unfortunate about your first cruise, but it's great that you're doing a redo! Both were pretty easy. Amtrak originates out of South Station, and has stops at Back Bay and Route 128, which I believe is Westwood. There’s the regional train, which was a little more than 4 hours and the Acela high speed train which is about three and a half hours. We did the saver fares on the regional train, which were $50 a person. I believe you have to book at least two weeks in advance for the saver fares, and they're non-refundable. The high speed trains are much more expensive. Also, there is no luggage storage on the train so we had to lift our bags up into the overhead shelves. Finally, there wasn't any assigned seating so we weren't able to sit together right away. Not an issue for us, but it may be a concern for others. The benefit to the train is of course is no traffic!

There's a few different bus companies that do the Boston - NYC route. We picked Go Buses because it ended at Alewife Station, which was extremely convenient for us. Other bus stations typically use South Station. We paid $28 per person for the bus home. They store your luggage underneath the bus, which was nice. We did hit some traffic leaving the city which made the trip a little longer. It took about 5 hours and 15 minutes to get to Alewife.

We would've preferred to do the train home as well but the only saver fares that were available were either at 10am or 5:00pm. The other train times were $175+ a person, which was why we decided to take at 12:00pm bus home instead. We never even thought to fly haha.

Let me know if you have any other questions!!

Great review. Glad I was finally able to read through it after completing my review.

Thanks! :D

Jessica - Thank you so much for the great thoughts and photos! You've made me so excited to be doing this cruise in 3 months. Thanks again, Suzequ

You're welcome! I have fun doing these types of trip reports! Have an amazing cruise! :D

My next Alaska cruise needs to include Glacier Bay! Even with the fog, it still looks amazing!!

Jessica thanks for the detailed review. It was like going on the cruise we didn't get to have - we were on Breakaway to Bermuda in 2016 but got redirected by Hurricanes to Florida and Nassau. You even did three things I was planning to do!

 

As a New Yorker, I am sorry to hear you were refused taxis several times when you got off the ship in New York. The distance is plenty long for a typical NYC taxi ride. Same as going to Penn Station which I am sure many people would be doing. They are holding out for $50 fares because they know many are going home. Rude and illegal actually. Shame on them.

That's too bad about your Bermuda cruise! Hopefully you'll be able to cruise there one day!

No apologies necessary about the taxis! It was a little frustrating, but we're comfortable using the Lyft/Uber apps so it worked out okay. We did see one woman arguing with the a driver because he was refusing to take her to her hotel in Times Square. I understand that this is their livelihood and they want the higher fares, but it created a lot more confusion and chaos than was necessary.