Yet another live from the Escape but with a twist June 3-10

Hello all, I have been following along on CC for several months now an we finally made it to our first NCL cruise. I have seen a lot of reviews by different people. I have noticed many are not as geared towards the family and never heard of anyone talk in detail about being on the cruise and never drinking alcohol while on the cruise. So that the twist.

Who we are...DW and I are in out late 40's with 2 DS 8 an 10. I was on my first cruise way back in the 70's-80's time frame on one of Carnivals first 3 ships. Didn't cruise again until our honeymoon back in 2005 which was DW first cruise. Again on Carnival. Kids came shortly after so most travel slowed down until recently when we both have reached levels on our career that we started having extra income so started looking at cruising again. We wanted to try one of the mega ships so started looking at RCCL but found a Haven suite that was about half the cost of RCCL at the time. We also love the idea of FreeStyle cruising. We have an aft cabin on deck 15 which we love. Some people have talked about the scraping of chairs from the buffet in other posts. We have heard it already, however, unless you are a light sleeper I doubt it will bother you. It take more then that to wake our family. More on the room later.

We flew in to FLL the day before. I surprised the whole family by renting a limo to our hotel that surprisingly was not that much more then some of the fees I have seen other pay. It was great. The limo driver didn't know it was a surprise but he must have picked up on something and when we exited the terminal he stopped and talked to our kids. He said he had a surprised for them because they were good kids. We waited at the spot for a few mins and then the limo appeared. Our son's eyes lit up. It was great. We stayed at the Marriott right by the port and got a room looking over the cruise terminals. We saw the Friday cruise ships leave and that got the boys hooked even more. We all work up early....real early just from the excitement. It was about 4 am and I saw the first ship of the day pulling in. It was the Carnival Vista, After that another Carnial appeared and then the MSC line's. The last to show was the Escape and got in about 6 am. All 4 turned around right outside our room. We left the hotel around 9-9:30ish and was a quick 5 minute drive. Traffic was crazy the last few hundred feet but got dropped off by the Uber driver right at the door. We got in line right at the steps into the terminal. It was about 10-10:15 when they finally opened security. Went pretty quick. Got into the Haven check-in. Again pretty quick. We stayed in that room for about 20 minutes until it was filling up. Then they took us up stairs and had us in another small area. They had about the same things in the upstairs waitting area as they had down stairs. The down side is they started mixing people right outside of this little holding area because there was no room to sit. It was about 11:15 that they started letting us on board. The line had a mix of Haven and non-Haven guest so they had to try and sort that out. Those who need things like scooters were also being let in about the same time as well.

Once on board we had the week talk in the Haven with the same speech I heard on someone's YouTube post. Were were told we could drop our bags off in our room even though it was not ready yet. The doors to the hallway were closed but asked a crew member about it and they said to just walk in. That was a nice surprise. Got to see the mad rush of getting rooms ready. Every room we past was wide open and crew members everywhere. We got to our room and it was the only one with the door closed. We went in dropped the bag and the room did appear to be ready, but we headed right back out. This was about 11:30-11:40

We ate at Margaritaville for lunch since it was offer free for lunch for those who were in the Haven. I would say we were one of the first 10 groups to get seated. Took a few minutes before our waiter arrived. We placed an order of Nacho's for the kids and DW and I each got a sandwich. It took about 30 mins and the Nacho's finally arrived. It was not until after we finished the Nacho's that the sandwiches arrived. Only problem was kids were done and we just were getting started. Was not a huge issue but would have been nice if we could have gotten it all at once.

After that we went to sign the kids up for the kids club. At this time it was about 1:40 and they finally said the rooms were ready. The elevators just got packed right after that. We went back to our room to see if any of the things we asked for prior to the cruise were there. Only thing I saw was that the frig was cleaned out as asked. There still was the campaign in the room which I asked to not have delivered because we would not drink it.

I left to see about upgrading my WiFi package from the free 250 mins to the high end unlimited. I ran into a couple in the hall who though their room key did not work. Same thing happen to us. Told them the handles are hard to open and really need to push down hard to open the door. Sure enough it worked for them. So a note to new cruises, be ready to man handle the door to your cabin. I got down to the WiFi desk and had a small line, however there was just the one guy working the desk and it took him several minute with everyone...including me and I work in networking...It took a little work to get everything working. It appears they gave me the ultimate Wifi package for the week at the cost of 4 days. I checked the speed and it appears I am getting about 10 meg up and down currently. I have had it just drop for maybe 5 minute a few times but that could be based on the weather.

After the muster drill we had fresh fruit an some other small snacks. It was nice, however one request we asked for prior to the cruise was for M&M's or gummies. Again no huge deal for us but I know some people on here expect a lot so I wanted to report what happened. When we returned 2 of of bags were waiting outside the door. We left 3 with the porter. I figured The missing bag will show up as they state that bags will be there by 7 from what I had read. Shortly after that our butler stopped by and introduced himself. My wife said something and about 30 minute later the bag arrived. I also told the butler that it appears that they may not have shared the requests we had and made before the cruise and he make the other things happen.

We called it a super early night. Kids where in bed by 8:30. We mainly spent the first day just getting everything setup and walked around to see what we could. Even though I have watch tons of video's about the Escape it is surprising. I thought I would have no problem seeing the whole ship the week but I don't see that happening!

I will try to keep posts up....probably much smaller then this one with a neutral stance as I can, so you can be your own judge from what I see, hear and experience on the cruise. So far a great cruise. Not perfect, but still a great experience.

I can imagine the reaction of your kids with your limo surprise. Priceless!

Looking forward to your updates!

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Following! Traveling with 2 sons in Haven as well in 34 days!

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Nice start. Ahhh the Haven experience :). I had an awesome time on the Getaway.

We had gummie bears and M&M peanuts in our cabin every evening except for the last night along with requests for BLT, chips, pitcher of iced tea and Chicken sandwiches for late night snacks. Request what you want again with your Butler.

Going on the Escape Oct. 28 to celebrate my sister's birthday but not in the Haven this time:(.

Enjoy your experience and I'm looking forward to reading your adventure.

Enjoy your trip and thank you for sharing with us! Im cruising Escape on July 8 with my dh and leaving the kids at home for my 50th birthday. We are staying in the Haven, Deck 17. Love the Haven. How is Rashada the concierge? Have you made use of the bar or restaurant in the Haven? Is the Haven bar open late? On Breakaway and Getaway I had wished they would be open later but there is always somewhere else to go.

Enjoy and cant wait to read more!

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Day 2. Today started at sunrise. Seems the slow rock of the ship kept the boys asleep as DW and I woke first which never happens at home.

We went to the Haven for Breakfast even though boys want buffet so they could get in the kids club sooner. We'll let's just say both boys now said they want breakfast in the Haven. Older actually got seafood eggs Benedict and lots Ed it. The young ordered off the kids menu and had a waffle. There was also a small buffet with pastries, fruit, cheese and few other idea. Youngest does not eat much normally but today he did. Will try and upload kids menu later today.

Left the youngest at splash and then the older at the the teen club takeover. And wife and I are just walking around kid free!!!

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Enjoy your trip and thank you for sharing with us! Im cruising Escape on July 8 with my dh and leaving the kids at home for my 50th birthday. We are staying in the Haven, Deck 17. Love the Haven. How is Rashada the concierge? Have you made use of the bar or restaurant in the Haven? Is the Haven bar open late? On Breakaway and Getaway I had wished they would be open later but there is always somewhere else to go.

 

Enjoy and cant wait to read more!

 

 

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We are on this sailing, deck 17 Haven as well!!

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Following. Enjoy the trip. Ill be back on the Escape on July 8th.

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We are on this sailing, deck 17 Haven as well!!

 

 

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Cannot wait! Clothes are pressed and ironed and hanging ready to be packed. Got the toiletries out today. Wanted to do something to make me happy since this New York weather has been absolutely miserable! Have a quick four night JUGS Miami trip (Just Us Girls) with my mom and dd-23 in two weeks and then impatiently waiting for cruise!!

We are flying in day before. How about you?

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Following. Enjoy the trip. Ill be back on the Escape on July 8th.

 

 

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Us too!! Flying in July 7! Will start folding and putting clothes in packing cubes this week and next. Every weekend is full so want it done so Im not stressing a weeknor two before the cruise.

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Sorry that I haven't posted any pics yet. Yesterday was a longer day. The boys stayed In splash for 3 sessions yesterday. First session the younger one was taken up to the sports court. The played dodgeball. Asked how it went and his comment was "I put the dodge in dodgeball" He was happy with it. Second session was a mystery game. But his favorite was the evening session. Went to pick him up and they came back and said he would like to stay for the fashion show. He walked out wearing a home made superman costume since he had a superman shirt on. It was great. We came back about 30 mins later to get him.

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Enjoy your trip and thank you for sharing with us! Im cruising Escape on July 8 with my dh and leaving the kids at home for my 50th birthday. We are staying in the Haven, Deck 17. Love the Haven. How is Rashada the concierge? Have you made use of the bar or restaurant in the Haven? Is the Haven bar open late? On Breakaway and Getaway I had wished they would be open later but there is always somewhere else to go.

 

Enjoy and cant wait to read more!

 

 

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Rashida and her assistant Nimfa are both wonderful and very helpful. (Rashida leaves late July and will be replaced until September by Leah).

The Haven bar on Escape is my favorite place to hang out (11 Haven cruises on Escape). The bartenders are awesome and super creative -- in fact nowhere else on Escape will you get the unique and specially-concocted cocktails that they make. You will love the Haven bar! Usually open until at least 11:00 p.m. but often until midnight or later.

Tracy

Oops hit post Instead of CR.

Older one had the fun at the teen club takeover. Afternoon and evening he was on the sports court.

The one downside is having to pickup at two different places. Deck 5 and 19. Wife took them to the evening session and Almost missed out on getting in our show that starts 30 Mins after splash opens.

DW and I did some of the game shows and just relaxed kids free. Asked a bartender for recommendations for virgin drinks. Virgin mudslides are our favorite so far. Even had other cruisers ask what it was because they liked the way it looked and they ordered the same but with the alcohol.

Wife liked the after midnight. It was OK for me but all shows are OK but not on top of my to do list either at home.

We did hear the bass from Spice H2O but it didn't bother us at all.

I purchased the 3 udp for each of us so last night was the first at Moderno. Youngest is not a big meat water but he loved it and tried everything.

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Hi Cyclops32, who did you use for the limo ride from FLL to Miami? If you don't me asking what was the price?

Thanks

Thanks for sharing and posting during your vacation.

Hi Cyclops32, who did you use for the limo ride from FLL to Miami? If you don't me asking what was the price?

Thanks

We used Miami Unique limousine and had Victor as our driver. We have them again when leaving the port after the cruise. It's ran me about $230 for a ten person Limo. It also had a trunk space that could probably handle 4 large suitcases since our two and a small still had a bunch of room. Still left.

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Great review so far! We are in the Getaway Haven in December with our 2 sons (11 & 14) for my 50th birthday.

Cannot wait! Clothes are pressed and ironed and hanging ready to be packed. Got the toiletries out today. Wanted to do something to make me happy since this New York weather has been absolutely miserable! Have a quick four night JUGS Miami trip (Just Us Girls) with my mom and dd-23 in two weeks and then impatiently waiting for cruise!!

 

We are flying in day before. How about you?

 

 

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We are flying in on Thursday and spending 2 days in Fort Lauderdale. And one night in Miami after the cruise! So excited!! Have to get through the end of the school year before I physically start packing but I'm packed in my head already [emoji847]

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This is a very helpful review for me. We are going to be on the Escape in October and our kids are the exact same age as yours. So any info you can pass along about the kids clubs will be greatly appreciated. It sounds like yours are enjoying it already!

Last night was funny. Youngest son said not to pick him up until the end and he was mad that we got him 15 mins before that.

DW and I did after midnight the prior night and thought the older would like it so DW did that with him. He said it was OK.

Do day we did the sea lion swim. It was great. Both kids loved it. They sold all of the photos they took which was about 30-40 all on a USB stick for $99. Had family and Individuals. The who this g was complete and back at the ship by noon. Boys now are having fun at Waterpark and slides because ship is still pretty empty

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We do not drink alcohol so I'm very interested to hear what virgin drinks are the best. Already looking forward to trying a virgin mudslide when we are on the ship in September.

We also have 2 boys who will be participating in Splash Academy. Glad to hear that it seems to keep their attention and keeps the kids wanting to come back.

Enjoying reading this ... we're on the escape next week!!! 17-24. Not in the Haven, but we have a balcony. I drink, but my mom doesn't so I'm curious about the virgin drinks for her as well. 2 kids 7 & 17; the younger will participate in splash - but the teen probably won't do the teen club.

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Sorry for the delay. Yesterday was a crazy busy day.

We had our butler deliver breakfast to our suite with a 7 am docking. He was actually a little early which made me happy. I learned to that he gets all our breakfast food from the Haven gally as the prior day we only order of the suite breakfast menu but yesterday order of the Haven menu. You just write in what you want.

We had booked a royal swim at dolphin discovery on our own. We got off right at about 7 and walked to the taxi stand. We were at dolphin discovery by 7:30. I just was not sure how hard it would be to get a taxi later and or swim was scheduled at 10. It was bugging my older son because they did open until about 8. We checked in and had the whole park to our selfs. Got to watch the dolphins just swim and play by the self and then saw the trainers do their morning checks. Finally about 9am the ships tours started to arrive. They then offered to do our swim early. We did and it was only the 4 of us doing the royal swim. The rest just did an encounter on another area. It was great having two Dolphins and a trainer to ourselfs. As we finished the ships royal swim started to show up. That was a huge group and they were schedule for 10:30. Really made me happy we showed up early. So tip. If you do this book it on your own and see if you can book a 9 am swim.

We got back to the ship around noon. We'll before the 2:30 all aboard. The boys went on the slides for a bit and then we came back to the cabin to watch the sail away. Tortola was the best. Saw more and more islands as we left.

We ate dinner for the first time tin the Haven. Was really good and they asked when we needed to be done. One down side about NCL is that splash does not open until 7. The younger one is one deck 5 and the older ones nightly activists are on deck 18 at the sports court. Really makes it a challenge to get to a 7:30 show. One of use does the drop off while the other gets seats.

I loved For the Record. Had some comedy and the cast interacted with the audience. A few kids went to the show and some quickly left as they didn't appear to pay attention that it is rated pg-16.

After the show DW and I went back to the Haven restaurant and had our dessert. We then got the older son and he went to sleep by 10. The younger one made his mom pinky promise not to get him until 10:30 so that's what we did. He stopped by the buffet and got some cookies and then was asleep by 11.

I will post the drink list later when we have our compete list.

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Sorry again for the delay. Was having to much fun and never really had a chance to update the thread the last two days of the cruise. So here is the end and final wrap up.

The last sea day we slept in a bit and had our butler deliver breakfast again to the suite, but this time wrote in all of the different items we wanted. The oldest DS wanted another seafood eggs benedict and both the wife and I made special order omelets. We attended some of the events in the atrium like the towel folding demo. A lot of times we just sat at the bar and ordered our drinks and watch from there. BTW, Here is the list of non-alcohol drinks:

Frozen:

Mudslide - Kids favorite

Pina Colada - DW and My favorite

Banana Daquri

Peach Daquri

Mango Daquri

On the rocks

Fruit Punch

Bloody Mary - Seems they may use two different Bloody Mary fix so may be different at different bars

Mojito

I am sure there were more but we kept coming back to the favorites a lot. Also, counter to what I read recently on CC, the kids did not get charged for the frozen drinks and they just had the kids soda package. They ordered items both in the Haven as well as the specialty restaurants multiple times and no charge ever appeared. They always only took my card so not sure if they just made two double orders or what, but it was always free

In the afternoon I attended the Q&A with the captain and the Engineer and it was pretty interesting. They however only had about 15 mins of Q&A and maybe 20 minutes of just providing info before the captain arrived. I stayed there for the Kids Club show. All the kids did some form of carnival skill during the show and where then taken back to Splash Academy. That then was followed by the last Bingo game where they also drew for a free cruise. We played one more time but lost. The last game was packed. It actually ran over too because we had 5:15 dinner reservations at Teppanyaki and DW left Bingo to get the boys and brought them in during the coverall. they loved playing that game...By the Way...Kids can play bingo, but parents have to collect the prize. One kid almost won the cover all too.

Teppenyaki's was great. The boys loved the show and most of the food. The boys again went to splash academy that evening and as usually asked not to be picked up until 10:30.

The last full day we had a quick cafe breakfast and got the boys off to Splash. DW and I went to Escape the Big Top. It was pretty fun. A group from our session won it with 2 mins left. My group almost had it. We messed up one part of it but figured our mistake right after we lost. They did explain everything at the end. There were a few kids but most were teenage. I would agree it may not be the type of puzzles for kids younger then 10 or so. When we left that, we were just docking in Nassau. We went up to the Haven for lunch and then after that most people were off the ship already so we just walked off as normal guests. We already knew we didn't really want to do anything there, so we just looked around at the shops right at the pier and got a few things. One thing to note, this was the only port that offered a shuttle from the ship to the exit of the pier. It helps those who have walking issues, but anyone can take it and it is free...however they do ask for tips. Seems the Escape always has the farthest spot since it arrives so late.

The last dinner we had was at food republic as the ship pulled out. Again everyone loved what we had. By got the burgers, Corn, Korean Wings and a few other items along with a few desserts. again all great. only downside is the kids wanted one more mudslide, and it happened that they didn't do frozen drinks at this restaurant.

Again the boys went to splash for the pillow fight. Youngest son met a girl and they hit it off. Her mom and my wife said they both wanted to make sure they both went the last night. We took pictures of the two together at the pickup and exchanged email address so they could stay in touch. The older soon also made two good friends and both wanted to exchange contact info. One of which actually lives not to far from us and was on the same flight home too. While the boys were at the last event DW and I started packing. our butler talked us into putting out the luggage the night before even though I had planned on doing self-walk off so we could meet our limo at 8.

Morning of the last day started early. DW and I were up by 5 am and I watch the ship pull into port from our balcony. Boys we got up at 6 and then all went up to the Haven for our last breakfast when they opened at 6:30. We were finished by 7:15 and went down to the Haven lobby to wit for disembarkation. at 730ish they let the self-assisted off, however they said we would have to wait until they got a call that Haven luggage was ready. That would be between 8-8:15 which got me nervous. Luckily, they called about 7:45-7:50ih and we got sent down. As we got off the crew elevators they scanned or card for the last time and then got mixed in with the regular guests. It went pretty quickly and we got into the hall about 5 mins later. Found or luggage and right as we went to get in the customs line, one station became free so we walked right up. They just checked our passports and let us exit. We exited the building at 8:03. I called the limo driver who had txt me a few mins earlier. He got us at 8:09 and we were off to FLL. Made it to the airport and checked luggage by 9 am.

All in all a great cruise.

Great info, especially about the non-alcoholic drinks and escape room! Thank you for your review!