eynsteinp

My wife and I were selected by the mentalist about a year ago. I must say that it was the most incredible experience. I don't want to give away anything so please stop reading here if you don;t want to know the tricks the mentalist did when I saw him. I have no idea how they were done but I don't want to ruin anything for anyone reading this.

For those of you who kept reading, he had me think of any word in the english language and he had that word written on a piece of paper sitting in front of the stage the entire time. I thought of a celebrity (dead or alive) and he was able to have my wife guess the same celebrity as she wrote down a name on a piece of paper and it matched the name I said. Finally, he had me tear a page from a book and the page was in a sealed envelope that my wife was holding the whole time. To this day I have no idea how it was done and can't recommend going to this show enough. Great show in my opinion, well worth the price.

I've sailed both ships in the last year and definitely liked the Getaway better. While the ships are similar, I did not feel like the Escape added anything that made a large positive but added more people to ship, creating more congestion. I also did not care for the entertainment on the Escape as much as the Getaway. I really enjoyed the Illusionarium and felt like the shows offered on the Getaway were a better mix. The Escape only has musicals and not particularly interesting to me personally. Finally, I was disappointed in the Escape since the ropes course was one of the main activities offered and a large portion, including 2 of the 3 zip lines were closed when I sailed on her. The Escape eliminated the rock wall which was fun to do as well, making the ropes course even more important for activities. I did enjoy the Escape but definitely preferred the Getaway.

NCL lacks evening entertainment/shows for family and especially tweens and teens. Illusionarium was a big hit with my 13yo nephew. A year later we sail the Escape with The Brat Pack(kids won't know those movies) and After Midnight (a period show). While those can both be good shows they'll likely make our 14yo yawn.

I agree with this completely. My wife and I saw the Illusionarium show and thought it was great and my children would love it. We decided to sail the Escape last week instead of the Getaway and my children (14 year old twins) had zero desire to see any of the three shows on the Escape. I was thinking we would bring them on the Getaway instead of the Escape next time partly because of the Illusionarium because it would give them some nighttime entertainment. I think NCL is moving away from the family entertainment and gearing it towards adults. The Escape had 3 musicals and little for teens at night which was a bit of a let down.

I agree the ropes course was a lot of fun. When I was on it only one of the planks was open as well as the two zip lines. While the course as a whole is definitely fun, the zip line that goes over the edge of the ship would have been the highlight for both my son and me. I just wish that NCL had a little more urgency when it came to making sure everything was working since the zip lines are a large part of the draw for the ropes course, especially for the kids and teens.

If you book a cabin on Deck 18 you're very likely to hear scraping noises on deck 19 as the crew sets up the deck chairs above.

 

Deck 17 cabins are much quieter (except for the ones near the crew entry doors).

 

Tracy

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I stayed in 18118 last week and the deck chairs scraping on the floor was very noticeable and woke us up each morning. When I asked about it, the concierge gave us earplugs which helped. If you can book deck 17 do so over 18 for sure.

I was on the July 9 - 16 cruise and two of the three zip lines were closed the entire cruise. Worse, I believe that they will be remaining closed for quite some time based upon what the gentleman working the ropes course said. I have said this in another thread but I think it is very unfortunate that NCL can't seem to get this right as there have been constant closures since the Escape started sailing. The zip lines are even more important on the Escape than the Breakaway or Getaway since the eliminated the rock wall. This limited some of the activities that my 14 year olds wanted to do.

I suspect that the Steward was concerned that it might impact how he is evaluated by his supervisor. The time frame you mentioned would also fit. On day one you indicated that he did not have a problem with it, but the rest of the week he did. That would fit with him discussing the matter with his supervisor and having them tell him that he still needed to clean it before his break. Rather then put the steward in the middle, between your wishes and his jobs requirements, you might have contacted hotel operations and made the request there that morning service not be performed.

I have to be honest, it really should not be my problem to have to contact supervisors. Whether it was his boss was giving him problems or not, my family and I should not have been made to feel uncomfortable. IF the supervisor was responsible then he or she is wrong and they should have wanted to accommodate a guest's wishes. Whether it was the supervisor or the room steward, they should deal with it and not make the guest feel bad or uncomfortable about their trip.

Had anyone tried Skype on board? We'll be leaving our kids at home and want to check in a few times. Also, is it possible to share a WiFi package with our friends in the cabin next to us? Wasn't sure how that worked.

You cannot share the wifi as far as I could tell. I believe that each cabin needs their own. As far as Skype, under the current speeds I do not think there is anyway to Skype or stream anything. I know they are supposed to be upgrading the Wifi this summer and it will be much faster (supposedly) which may allow for Skype to work.

I wonder why so many postings about this family's experience sound a bit hostile? They are fortunate to sail in the Haven but for the huge difference in cost I would expect much better service (and attitude) than they received. We always choose a balcony cabin and have never been treated badly about a late sleeper (the other one). I can't imagine spending an amount close to buying a new economy car and receiving less than steller attitude. I also suspect that the OP knows how to report an employee and was being kind. Just my opinion here.

I appreciate your post. You are absolutely correct in that I know how to report someone if I wanted to. I was not looking to get the person in trouble but I certainly did not tip him extra as I did the the individuals that were friendly and/or helpful. Also, I have tried to avoid justifying why my family is often in our cabin but as another poster stated, there are medical reasons why some people keep different schedules. In my case, my son is Autistic and often needs to have some down time away from the noise and stimulus so he goes back into the cabin where it is quiet and we can prevent him from having problems. I was just reporting my experience which I hope is an outlier and not the norm in the future. At the end of the day, it cost him money and made my trip less enjoyable. It was an unnecessary unpleasantry that I felt should not happen to any guest regardless of cabin type, much less in the Haven.

I also thought Tyler was very good. My wife was selected for Deal or No deal which he hosted and he did a very good job keeping the crowd engaged and helped make that one of the highlights of the cruise. He was pretty visible throughout the cruise. As another poster said, I don't recall seeing the captain at anytime throughout the cruise so I cannot comment on him except to say the ship had almost no movement and the seas seemed extremely calm throughout.

I was on last week and got the unlimited for I think $179 on day 2 of the cruise vs $209 if you get it on the first day. It was very slow much of the cruise though so by the minute would not have been very cost effective.

I guess I have a slightly different opinion then some. As far as the room steward goes, I never told him he had to clean at 6:00 p.m., in fact I told him that I don't care if he just wanted to change out towels and empty the garbage cans that would be fine. Regardless though, I do believe that there is no reason for him to make me and/or my family feel uncomfortable about it. I did not complain to anyone about it because my point was not to cause him or anyone else trouble, it was just an observation that I had. I have had three cruises on NCL, all in the Haven, and never had any staff member give off that type of vibe before. However, I do feel that, while not the most convenient for him, he should have accommodated my schedule without any type of attitude. Honestly, it did not ruin my cruise but it resulted in him not receiving a $100 tip that I have given to my room stewards on each of my other cruises because I know that my family's schedule is not "normal" and I try to recognize that extra service deserves to be recognized in the tip you provide. Also, keep in mind that I would bet anything that the cruise line prefers my wife and/or I to be out late in the casino gambling and then sleeping in rather in the room by 10:00 p.m. so I can be out for the room to be cleaned each morning. Again just an observation about this particular cruise that I felt was worth mentioning as I have never had that experience on my previous cruises with NCL.

First, as to the shows, the problem is that neither younger children or teenagers are interested in a show about Frankie Vallie, 1980's movies or the cotton club. As I said, I don't expect NCL to cater to families per se but offering one show, even for a fee as Illusionarium and Cirque are, would be better than three shows no child, younger or teenager, would have any desire to see. Also, there were many warnings that the Brat Pack Show is not appropriate for children and has many sexual topics in addition to language. So this show would definitely not be good for younger children. The Cotton Club show was a longer show with a lot of dancing which would likely bore most younger children as well. Just my opinion.

Next, as to the Room Steward, I feel strongly that the attitude he displayed was inappropriate regardless if I was in a Suite or an Inside Cabin. I live in Las Vegas which is the pacific time zone (3 hours earlier than Miami) so I tend to sleep in especially late given the time change. Either way, the fact is that it is the passenger's vacation and unless the request is unreasonable they should try to accommodate it, it is the service industry. Furthermore, to be clear, I did not even ask him to clean the room at 6:00, he told me he was forced to since my family was not out of the room early enough to meet his regular schedule. I simply told him that it was fine with me.

Finally, I am not sure what the reason was that the two zippiness and one of the plank's was closed the entire trip but this seems to be a fairly regular problem for NCL. I think not having the rock wall on this ship makes the rope course even more important to be working.

Finally, to be clear, I had a nice trip but these issues made it a lesser cruise when compared to both the Breakaway and Getaway.

If you want your cabin cleaned early...you need to get out of it! So simple! If you plan on "sleeping in", then expect only the evening service.

I'm not sure about the hostility but I as I stated, I did not care if the room was not cleaned early. I went out of my way to let him know that cleaning it in the evening was preferred since we sleep in. It was the room stewart that did not like having to clean it in the evening.

As far as the zip line, I got the feeling that the two zip lines including the one that goes over the edge of the ship are going to be closed for quite a while still. The man working the ropes course said that he couldn't give details but it is closed indefinitely as they could not fix it themselves.

Finally, I agree, Illusionarium is far superior to anything they have in the Supper Club. I really think that they are way over doing it with all three major shows being musicals.

The show other than the three musicals was a magician. I forgot his name but they advertised him as a comedy magic show from Atlantic City. I did not see the show so I cannot say if he was any good or not.

I just got off of the Escape yesterday (7/16/16) after a very nice one week stay in a two bedroom Haven suite. I travelled with my wife and 14 year old twins (boy/girl). While the trip was a good one there are a few things I noticed that prevented this trip from being as good as my Getaway and Breakaway cruises (also Haven stays). First and foremost, the entertainment on the ship offered little variety. By this I mean that on the Getaway they have the Illusionarium and on Breakaway Cirque. The Escape offers three different shows but all three are musicals and none are suited for kids which limited family entertainment at night. I know my kids were not interested in Entourage so at night there was very limited options for them. Having a family oriented show would have filled at least one night and given us an opportunity to spend some additional time together other than at dinner.

Next, I am not sure what the problem was but two of the three zip lines were closed on the rope course, including the one that went over the side of the ship. This was not a deal breaker but a disappointment, especially since the man working the ropes course said its been closed for a few cruises now. Again, not the end of the world but it was one of the things we were looking forward to doing.

Finally, the single biggest complaint I have is that the room stewart was less then friendly. We tend to spend a lot of time in the room in the mornings and he was clearly not happy that he could not clean our room on his schedule. I was told he is on break at 2:00 and needed to be able to clean by 1:00 or he would not clean it until 6:00 p.m.. I told him that I understood but could not guarantee what time we would all be out of the room since we like to sleep in (as my wife and I like to spend time in the casino at night and often don't get back until later in the night- if things are going well :) and if he did not clean it before his break it was not a problem for me if he did it at 6:00 p.m. He told me on day two that this was fine but for the next five days he made it clear that it was not fine with him. Honestly, it was so clear that he was unhappy with our schedule that he made it uncomfortable overtime we saw him. This was really disappointing because the service on NCL in general and in the Haven in particular is usually what makes the cruise so special.

Regardless, we had a nice time no the cruise but felt that our experience on both the Breakaway and Getaway were far superior. If anyone has any questions I would be glad to try to answer them. Hope all have a great time if they cruise the Escape.

I just got off of the Escape yesterday and they were advertising the Frankie Valli show. I did not go to it so I don't know the details but I saw a sign for it. I can say one thing after being on the Breakaway, Getaway and Escape, I think the Escape is missing an illusionarium - family show or a cirque show. The problem is that all three shows are musicals and it simply does not give passengers enough variety in the choices. I loved illusionarium and enjoyed the cirque show but the three shows on the Escape are all musicals and offer way too much of the same thing in my opinion.

I am following as well. I am in a room just a few doors down next week!! Hope you have a great time!

Thanks for the review. Glad you had a good trip. When you talked about the swaying of the ship do you think it had more to due with the seas or the ship?

Not to start a fight or anything but I think everyone who is upset should take a breath until we see what the replacement is. So far it does not sound like NCL is downgrading anything necessarily, only making changes. I too am booked on the Escape and was looking forward to MDQ but will have to adjust plans once we see what the changes turn out to be. It is frustrating sometimes when things change after booking and paying but not all change is meant to punish the guests (although the Margaritaville one was!). I just think we all need to wait and see, maybe we will be pleasantly surprised with the replacement.

I tend to favor NCL over other lines so I may be biased but I think this comes down to whether the waterslides are important to your children or not. I know my son (not so important to my daughter) absolutely loves waterslides and the getaway and escape both have very good waterslides. If they are not important then I think it's a matter of price and benefits your receiving versus the shows on Royal which as a whole I think may be more kid friendly. I do think both Royal and NCL offer similar activities in general and the kids will love both lines so you really can't lose wither way.

I'm sailing in June in a two bedroom Haven suite so I am very excited to see your thoughts on this trip. What room number were you in? Was there any noise issues? Thanks for posting your review. I'll be following.

I know all this is very frustrating but I would say give the front-line people at the call centers and on the ship a break here. I work in IT supporting enterprise systems and there have been plenty of times in the past management has made decisions and told IT to "figure it out". I feel the same scenario is going on here. There appears to be bugs in their systems and it will take time for it to get ironed out. I have hit this scenario with NCL when booking shore excursions. My upcoming cruise on the Escape I have the $50 shore excursion credit per port. I have already decided what excursions I wanted to do. I was unable to book them online and utilize my shore excursion credit--I had to call the 1-800 number and wait on hold to speak with an agent to get these excursions booked. I would have much rather booked them online.

While I usually agree with the thought that you need to be patient, in this case I think NCL is simply incompetent. I sailed in September and had the same issue. I tried to deal with the guest services and the Haven concierge to absolutely no avail. I think that passengers have a right to be frustrated with this situation as it is a major glitch in their system and they appear to be making no effort to fix it. I talked to the guest services one the phone and on the ship and no-one showed any desire to fix this exact issue on the Getaway for me. I love sailing NCL and this is not a major dollar issue but it is wrong and NCL should be embarrassed by their lack of concern or response.

If you can afford it I would do it hands down. There is nothing even close to comparable between being in the Haven versus a Balcony in my opinion. The restaurant menu doesn't really change except for specials but the food its wonderful and the service is impeccable. I believe that the Haven pool on the Escape has a retractable roof so if it is good weather it will be open and it can still be used even in bad weather. I find the experience to be much more relaxing and enjoyable but it is impossible to say if you will find it worth it or not. I honestly will only sail in the Haven if it is something I can afford to do.

The inability to book the specialty dinner shows without using a SDP is a major flaw in the system. I had the exact problem on the Getaway in September with the Illusionarium. I had a 3 day dining package and then booked the Illusionarium separately. NCL screwed up everything and I ended up paying for mine as I wanted but my wife's UDP was used to discount the show for her. This resulted in an additional charge for Teppanyaki as she ran out of dining since they used it for Illusionarium against my request. It was a complete mess and I need up paying more than I would have if they had just let me pay the $35 for the show/dinner and left the 3 dining reservations alone. I tried to get them to fix it but they refused. Honestly I was so frustrated and it just wasn't worth the fight as I was ruining my cruise with the aggravation over the $15 or so dollars extra I need up paying. NCL really needs to fix this as it is not right to try and fore people to use the SDP for the discount on the show/dinner as it only gives you a $15 discount when you could have used it on a dining venue and save $30. I hope this makes sense as I was rambling as I felt my frustration coming back! :-)