Escape Family Spring Break - Part 2

My wife and two children (9 and 12) just returned from our second cruise on the Escape yesterday. We sailed the same week last year and this time around was just as good if not even better than last year. In fact, the experience left my daughter saying “wait, so we can’t go on the Escape again next spring break?!?!” The only reason we wouldn’t consider doing so is we want new ports of call to visit. So without further ado, here are my observations from this past week …

Pre-Embarkation (coming from FortLauderdale):

We flew in Friday evening because my wife is a teacher and that’s the earliest we could arrive. We had originally booked a 2 queen bed suite at the Homewood Suites by the airport but when we got there, the desk clerk offered some vague explanation about broken air conditioning. She then asked if we would stay at the Fairfield Inn across the street in essentially the same suite FOR FREE. She didn’t have to ask twice! Saved $300+! As if that wasn’t enough, Larry’s Limos sent a brand new Lincoln MKT stretch limo the next morning to pick us up and take us to Miami as part ofthe SUV guarantee package we had booked. Score! Friendly, attentive driver, who did everything short of shoving us in the front door of the cruise terminal.

Embarkation:

We rolled into the terminal around 10:45 and were assigned group 16. Groups were called fast and furious. If we were to do the Escape next year, I would get there relatively close to when they let you actually board instead as the wait is not long at all regardless of when youarrive. No sense in waiting around the cruise terminal longer than you have to.

Dining:

I’ll start with dining as that’s where we began each cruise, with a nice relaxing lunch in one of the dining rooms. We ate in the ManhattanMDR 5 nights. Services was great each night and relatively quick (2 hours or less). I enjoyed the meals 4 out of the 5 nights and the 5th was mainly due to the fact that nothing wowed me that evening. We only ate in the buffet one lunch because to be honest, we just found the food bland and kids walking around licking their fingers (including mine) just sort of grosses me out. So most lunches were in O’Sheehans, which was good.

We ate in Cagney’s one night (great) and La Cucina (good) the other. I must say one of the highlights of the trip was when the assistant waiter said she and “Ricky” would be our waiters for the evening. Could it be? Ricky L from last year’s MDR experience? The same gentleman who nicknamed my son “Mr. No Sauce” for liking all of his food plainand standing behind my daughter chanting her name trying to get her to eat more? And when that failed, created napkin animals and had them ask her to? It was and while he had to be a little more sophisticated in the specialty restaurant, he was still by far the best waiter in terms of service and personality the entire cruise. NCL should have him train in all of their new waiters!

Saving the best for last was Food Republic. We spent just over sixty dollars and ordered 8 dishes for lunch one day and surprisingly the kids ate about everything but the sliders, which we thought they would like the most. My wife said it was the best food she had by far on the cruise. Well worth the extra expense. Also worth the extra expense was Gelato, Macaroons, and Cupcakes from the Bake Shop. And the three espresso martinis I had (on three separate evenings) before dinner. On top of the UBP, NCL charges you $3.58 per martini, including gratuity because of the premium liquor and theshot of espresso. They are good with three Os.

Stateroom:

Last year, we stayed in two connecting large balconies and I commented to my wife that we could easily done and cut the expense nearly in half. So we did this year and it worked out well. There was more than enough storage and having the large bed, single sofabed and Pullman bed above worked out perfectly. The large balcony really made everything feel larger as well. If you like to spend a lot of time in your room, then this set up might not be for your family but we sleep and get ready there essentially. Our room on deck 9 was also a short walk from the District Brewhouse which made an afternoon beer on the balcony very convenient.

Activities:

I know the pool areas are sooo small on the Escape but I will say for us, the activities outweigh that negative. The kids and parents love Aqua Racer and the Ropes Course, etc. Plus we had $100 in arcade credits which the kids overspent by $10. I tell them, just know that Dad sees everything you spend on his NCL app and that keeps them in budget. In fact, they can usually quote their spend to the 50 cent mark. One thing to note, we felt like there were way less kids on this cruise than last year’s sailing, which was during Easter. I don’t know if this is true but it seemed like it. The lines were not long for any of the activities at any point from our perspective.

We also played Bingo twice and though we lost each time (daughter one $450 last year and is hooked, we had fun). At the Thursday game, NCL gave away a cruise for 2 and the Bingo callers asked a little girl to come up on stage to draw the winning raffle ticket and she drew her own family’s ticket, which is sort of unbelievable! Very cool. Thursday night we saw a comedian/magician in the Supper Club. It was a short, 45 minute show but very entertaining. The kids wished the show was much longer.

Ports:

In St. Thomas, we visited Sapphire Beach on our own. The taxi was $10 a person each way and very convenient. The snorkeling was awesome. There is a break as far as you can go to the left on the beach. Swim out and you will encounter a huge reef with fish of all kinds. It was absolutely beautiful even without the fish. In Tortola, we did Brewer’s Bay, which was $8 per person each way. Very good snorkeling and relaxing. Both beaches had rentals, bathrooms and bars and grills.

In Nassau we did Atlantis. I have heard the lines for the slides can ruin your day. This was not the case at all. We rode the slides many times over and had a blast. What was not fun was the HOUR we waited in line to get our pre-paid passes we had purchased months ago validated and wrist bands issued. An HOUR. Atlantis had our money so why do they care how long we spend there. Ok, there, it’s out. Otherwise, it was worth the expense to at least try it out once. My kids want to go back for a regular vacation but my wife and I looked at each other and thought, a week at a waterpark, ah, no thanks. A little stressful. And as my good friend says, he (or he and she) who pays, makes the decision.

Photos:

Finally, we got the 50 free photo package with our booking and got formal and fun photos taken everywhere. The ship’s photographers are very helpful and produce a great product. One young woman who was taking our photos noticed my daughter was squinting in the sun in Tortola and ran over and put her sunglasses on her. She was also on the ropes course taking photos. Talk about hazards of the job! Photos turned out great and we purchased the corresponding USB with all the images for $19.95.

My wife also booked a private photo session for the family with the Perspectives Photo Studio on board, which someone on Cruise Critic advised doing. I wasn’t sure this was part of the photo package and asked right away and it is not. Still, knowing it would cost more, my wife got her hair done in the salon and we all went for an hour session on Monday night with Sid. I have to tell you, it was one of the most fun experiences of the cruise. We were laughing so hard at the fun poses that followed the formal ones my sidesliterally hurt. Tuesday night, we went back for another hour long session where Sid and fellow portrait artist Gabrielle showed us a slide show and helped uspick out our pictures. You purchase a canvas photo arrangement for the wall and can buy all of your images on a USB drive with the arrangement for a discounted price. We filled out two hero cards for this cruise and Sid and Gabrielle were included on one of them.

Overall, I have to say I am a little sad we will not be sailing on the Escape next year but these past two cruises have hooked us. We are already planning the next adventure for 2018a nd have decided on the Carnival Vista, which I plan to book this afternoon. 7 hours in the Miami airport and 3.5 hours on the plane gives you time to cruise shop on the iPad.

Watching some Vlogs online, I notice a lot of similarities between the two ships and the 8 night Eastern Caribbean cruise (Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Maarten,and St Kitts) on Vista fits with our spring break next year. The other NCL options were the Epic (same stops as the Escape) or the Getaway. Per the latter, we weren’t crazy about the itinerary and wanted to try a different ship with a bigger pool layout. The Vista appears to reverse the itinerary of the Escape as well, with lots of ports right away and several sea days at the end. That will be fun to try as well.

Thanks for reading. If I had more time, I would have strived for more brevity!

If you had boarded later do you still think you would have been able to book all the shows at the times you wanted? I'm trying to figure out if I want to get there around 9:30 or later. I really don't care about Vibe, but I want to book the shows on the times I want.

Great review.

Thanks! That's a great point. Definitely need to get on board first to get Vibe passes. We booked the comedian/magician Sunday morning and there were a few shows left to choose from. A lot of people got into that show on standby. We booked all of our specialty dining right at the three month mark online when we could. Last year, I booked the dining using the ship's wifi in the terminal during the short wait so that is another option. Have fun!