Escape Inaugural, Hamburg to S-Hampton, photos, menus, & stuff, part 1&2

[Carnac767]

After the dinner show, we just wandered about the ship some more, just trying to soak in as much as we could. In only three days, it's just not possible to do and try everything, even if you do skimp on sleep. We walked to the open area on Deck 6 I've mistakenly called the Atrium in earlier posts, took in a bit of Howl at the Moon, had a drink or three at various places, and took in some of the entertainment at the Atrium.

 

For those of you who crave FSDs.

 

 

 

 

Staircase down to Deck Six amidship

 

Looking up from Deck Six outside Le Bistro. This light changes colors.

[Carnac767]

 

 

Headliners Comedy Club

 

 

 

Dueling pianos at Howl at the Moon. I apologize again for photo quality. I blame Cherie and Kyle.

[Carnac767]

Late night music in the Atrium

 

Nobody up late in the Haven, except us night owls

 

The Haven pool, very late at night

[Carnac767]

I'm not exactly sure what time we arrived in Southampton on Tuesday, but it seemed like it was about two minutes after Sarah and I got to bed. For many passengers, this was the end of a two-day cruise. For the rest of us, it was a port-day on a three-day. Of course, we did have one couple in the roll-call who were doing this three-day, then doing the Trans-Atlantic and then were doing the Miami inaugural. We call these people very lucky (and retired).

 

Blimey, we must be in JOE (Jolly Old England). The Anthem of the Seas in the distance.

 

Since the ship just wouldn't stop with the dis-embarkation announcements, we surrendered, got up, and went to breakfast. Pancakes and bacon in the Haven restaurant. And about six pots of tea.

 

French toast

 

This was a good time to wander about topside, as the ship seemed almost deserted.

 

 

[Carnac767]

 

 

Mini-golf course

 

 

 

[Carnac767]

We thought we'd walk into Southampton but that plan didn't work out too well. By the time we left the ship, the customs and immigration queues had shut down and the doors were shut. We were stuck in the terminal. We did find some workers who let us out onto the pier so we could take some pictures of the ship. So that was our exciting excursion in Southampton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Carnac767]

We returned to our cabin just in time to receive delivery of the usual things you get when staying in a suite, though we still had the fresh flowers and fruit basket from Hamburg. No problemo.

 

Yay, more champagne, always welcome

 

It's never too early to Splice the Main Brace. Mojitos at the Haven Bar. Can't remember if this was before or after lunch. We are on a cruise, after all.

[Carnac767]

Cherie and Kyle had put together yet another terrific function for our gang. We were to meet at Cellars at two. It was advertised as a Farewell/Welcome Party for the Roll Call, which it was, but it was also a Wine Tasting that Cherie had put together. As always, it was a great time.

 

Membership has its privileges

 

Cellars. Though it's hard to see, that's Cherie and Kyle in the foreground

 

Some of the gang in Cellars

 

 

 

Michael, Cellars manager, who conducted the wine tasting

[Carnac767]

One of the featured wines--quite good

 

 

Wise words

 

 

 

[Carnac767]

 

 

 

 

 

Cellars imparts a great deal of wisdom

[Carnac767]

We had dinner in the Haven on our last night aboard. Sarah started with the shrimp cocktail again, while I had the butternut squash soup.

 

A quick word about this soup: AWESOME. All of the soups featured in the Haven were excellent but the butternut squash was a 15 on a scale of ten. I raved about it so much that our server brought DW and me another helping. That was not my intention but I wasn't going to turn it down. I did cancel my salad, though. I had prime rib for my main and Sarah has the mushroom stuffed ravioli.

 

Very good prime rib

 

For dessert, we both had the same thing we'd had the first night. I posted pictures of those deserts earlier.

[jemj]

Love your review

Do u have any pictures of aft balcony from cabin crawl?

Leaving in 7 weeks and have the same cabin would love to see more pics of room and balcony.

[Carnac767]

We had a ten o'clock reservation for this show. The setting is Memphis in 1954 at the studios of Sun Records, which was founded by Sam Phillips. Phillips was the man who first signed such stars as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. A chance meeting with Phillips brings Presley, Perkins, Cash and Lewis together, along with a female companion of Presley's. There is a backstory, but it's unimportant. The music is the thing. This show rocked, in more ways than one. The music was great and the performers were top-notch. At lunch earlier today I'd overheard one of the entertainment coordinators for NCL discussing the process for evaluating and hiring talent for Escape. I won't divulge everything he said, but I will say that NCL is searching out some of the very best talent available. Two of the performers in this particular show had come directly from top Broadway productions. The show lasted about 90 minutes and we loved every minute of it. Just as an aside, the star who portrayed Jerry Lee Lewis was known to pop in for impromptu jam sessions with the Howl at the Moon performers. This was my most favorite show.

[virginia beach girl]

I don't think they have those type machines available in the lounge or restaurant. You have to order those type of coffees.

 

Appreciate the response!

[GoAndHaveFun]

The new Haven dinner menu looks so good! Can't wait for the lobster :D

[happy cruzin]

We had a ten o'clock reservation for this show. The setting is Memphis in 1954 at the studios of Sun Records, which was founded by Sam Phillips. Phillips was the man who first signed such stars as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. A chance meeting with Phillips brings Presley, Perkins, Cash and Lewis together, along with a female companion of Presley's. There is a backstory, but it's unimportant. The music is the thing. This show rocked, in more ways than one. The music was great and the performers were top-notch. At lunch earlier today I'd overheard one of the entertainment coordinators for NCL discussing the process for evaluating and hiring talent for Escape. I won't divulge everything he said, but I will say that NCL is searching out some of the very best talent available. Two of the performers in this particular show had come directly from top Broadway productions. The show lasted about 90 minutes and we loved every minute of it. Just as an aside, the star who portrayed Jerry Lee Lewis was known to pop in for impromptu jam sessions with the Howl at the Moon performers. This was my most favorite show.

 

 

Thanks SO much for your information and photos. It is helping to pass the time....until it's our turn!

 

The new Haven menu looks wonderful - can't wait to try it myself!

[Carnac767]

Love your review

 

Do u have any pictures of aft balcony from cabin crawl?

 

Leaving in 7 weeks and have the same cabin would love to see more pics of room and balcony.

 

 

Thanks. Sorry, but I sort of got caught up with the champagne and forgot to get pics of the H6 balcony. Don't get me wrong, it's still a decent-sized balcony. It's just not the gigantic aft-balcony on deck 9 of the -Aways. You can still have a decent party on it.

[Carnac767]

Happy, you're welcome. You'll really enjoy the food in the Haven.

[speedchef]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this extensive trip report! I really enjoyed reading it and was happy to see the photos of Haven Spa suite 16126. We'll be in that cabin on Dec 5th. Great to read also that Edgar is the Haven Maitre D. He took good care of us on the Breakaway in July. Only 2 more weeks :-)

[happy cruzin]

Great review! The truth comes out...our 3 day group drank all of the Prosecco on the ship. :p

 

 

Do you happen to have more photos of your H6 cabin and balcony?? We are in that same cabin in February and have questions about them layout. Would love to see them - if you do!

 

Thanks!

[Carnac767]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this extensive trip report! I really enjoyed reading it and was happy to see the photos of Haven Spa suite 16126. We'll be in that cabin on Dec 5th. Great to read also that Edgar is the Haven Maitre D. He took good care of us on the Breakaway in July. Only 2 more weeks :-)

 

You're welcome. Edgar does a great job. You'll be in great hands.

[buckeye rob]

Great review and pictures. Like the idea of your son and daughter-in-law going in as 3-4th guest to get Haven privileges. Just found out my daughter and son-in-law can join us in August and that should work out fine. We are in 11312 and they will have a regular aft cabin. Guess the adjoining cabin scheme won't work then but no problem. Again really enjoyed your review. Gerry

[Carnac767]

Leave the kids alone while we're at the show and Bendy Bob and Gretel get too friendly.

 

I forgot to mention that on Day Three we were required to attend the Lifeboat Drill again. Several cruisers who'd done back to backs before, had told us we wouldn't have to and the folks at the Concierge Desk confirmed this. No lifeboat drill for those staying on from Hamburg. This information, of course, was wrong. I was lying in my rack, trying grab a few Zs before the next roll call adventure, when I was rudely interrupted by the announcement that the life boat drill was mandatory for everyone aboard, including those doing the back to back. Evidently I was holding up the parade and my presence was kindly requested at my muster station. So some other tardy cruisers and I went to the theater, sat for thirty seconds, and the drill was over. No complaint. It was funny, actually. I'm glad I hadn't forgotten how to put on my lifejacket in two days.

 

We returned to Southampton in the early morning hours and disembarkation began shortly after eight. We had one final, leisurely breakfast in the Haven restaurant, trying to stretch out this enjoyable experience as long as possible. The food was excellent, as always, but beware of the beans. Beans, you say? Baked beans are a common side dish with breakfast in the UK. We're in England, so I thought I'd have some beans with my steak and eggs. Let's just say the breakfast beans in the Haven aren't English baked beans. They're Texas style barbecue beans. Not a big deal. It was actually sort of funny. And of course our server, Adrien brought us enough tea to satisfy a British battalion. Good stuff.

 

Reluctantly, very reluctantly, we showed up at the Concierge Desk at about nine-thirty. Karen, an assistant concierge who was far more visible than the concierge, had a cabin steward escort us from the ship. He took Sarah's bag and took us on a service elevator down to the disembarkation level. We swiped our keycard one final time and entered the line moving through the terminal. There was no customs or immigration to go through, because that had been taken care of aboard the ship. Leaving the ship was a painless process. Just outside was the taxi queue. We were staying in the UK for a few more days, visiting the village in West Sussex where Sarah lived when she was little. In a little bit of irony, we stood at the very spot where my wife had embarked upon the ship that took her from Southampton to the U.S. when she was seven. She'd come full circle.

 

One last look, just outside the terminal

 

The cab dropped us off at Hertz and we were off on the next part of the vacation. Driving on the left with a manual transmission. It doesn't get any more fun than that.

 

It's hard to write an in-depth review of a new ship, especially one as big as Escape, in only three days, so this has been just a random sampling. All in all, we were very impressed with the ship and wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again. She's beautiful and how many people ever get to experience "new ship smell?" It's like a giant new car. There were some minor kinks, which is to be expected on a new ship with a crew working together for the first time. In the Navy we would have called this a shakedown cruise.

 

In summary:

Embarkation. For Haven guest it was easy. I can't comment on how it was for guests in non-Haven accommodations. I've read the debates on CC about suites versus non-suites. Everyone makes valid points and it's a matter of personal choice. Some would rather pay as little as possible for their cabin in order to sail more. Others want to splurge and perhaps sail less often. As I'd mentioned earlier, I've sailed in suites before but this was the first Haven experience for us. Of course, on Escape, all suites are categorized as Haven, regardless of location on the ship. This is also the case on the Getaway and Breakaway. I'm not sure if that's also true on Epic.

 

As I noted earlier on in this review, porters weren't provided for embarkation or disembarkation. If you were just doing the two or three night sailing, this wasn't a problem, but for the people who were doing follow-on sailings or staying on in Europe for vacation, it was a big problem, because they were lugging a lot of luggage and big bags by themselves. Large suitcases don't roll very well on Escape's carpeting. So if you're ever thinking of doing a short cruise followed by a long one, you might want to see if there will be porter service available. For the very short excursions, there usually isn't.

 

Ship Condition. Well duh, it's a brand new ship. The answer is obvious. It was perfect, though we did notice the carpeting on some of the high traffic areas on the stairways (on the landings) was already fraying. One thing I missed was the stairway art work. On the Jewel Class ships, each stairway has large paintings or murals on every level. Here's an example from Gem:

The stairways on Escape doesn't have this. She just has mirrors and a lot of chrome on each level. It just has a sterile feel to it. It's not a big deal, just an observation.

 

Accommodation. Very nice. Our room was clean, comfortable, and quiet (except for the occasional rattle in the overhead that sounded like a marble rolling around. I thought I was in a remake of Ensign Pulver.) Since we were the first to ever stay in the cabin, it was obviously in pristine condition and Miller kept it spotless. I've highlighted the problem with the TV remote control. The double vanity in the bathroom is very nice. I still don't get the point of separating the toilet with a glass wall that has a few white stripes on it. If that's supposed to provide privacy, it's a major fail. It's not a big deal, though, because there is a main door to the bathroom you can shut. Tip: the glass door to the toilet stall opens both inward and outward. Pull it toward you. If you push it in, you'll be doing weird gyrations trying to get past it and then close it. As to the motion of the ship, it was hardly noticeable.

 

Haven. Love, love, loved it. It was a wonderful experience. The food in the restaurant was great, the bar and bar service was excellent; and the pool, sauna, and hot tubs were very nice to have. I'd like to see the hot in the hot tubs hotter. The pool water was a bit chilly, but going from there to the hot tub did make the latter seem warmer. The sun deck area looks nice but wasn't used because it wasn't warm enough. Our butler was very attentive and was always available. Concierge? Not so much. Other than having someone carry my wife's bag on and off the ship, the concierge was of little utility on this cruise. On other cruises the concierge has been far more pro-active and visible. That may be the case on Escape on longer voyages.

 

Bars. Woo hoo. We had fun at all of them, a lot of fun. I really liked Cellars, Sugarcanes, District Brew House, and Five O'Clock Somewhere.

 

Activities. There were the usual gamut of activities scheduled each day: trivia, games, lounge singers, movies in the atrium, and so on. Between bar hopping and roll call get-togethers, we just didn't have time to partake. But there is no lack of things to do.

 

Casino. Yes, they have one but it wasn't open. I don't know if that has something to do with never leaving EU waters or what. I'm sure everyone is aware of NCL's plan to isolate casino smokers to prevent the proliferation of second hand smoke that's become such a problem on Getaway and Breakaway.

 

Entertainment. First rate overall. I really enjoyed Million Dollar Quartet. After Midnight is very good for jazz lovers. The Brat Pack was a great show but I don't know if it's worth the cost because the food just wasn't that good, and that's the first time I've had a disappointing meal on NCL. I should have smuggled in some cheeseburgers from Margaritaville. Howl at the Moon was a blast and the Golden Octaves in the atrium were also entertaining. If you're not having fun on Escape, summon help quickly. You've died.

 

Crew. I saw a review written by a CC assistant editor on our sailing who said the crew seemed unfriendly and disinterested. I encountered none of these crew members. Everyone I encountered was friendly and cheerful. They were excited to be aboard a new ship and their enthusiasm showed. I can find nothing to complain about here.

 

Crowd. I suppose this is the biggest concern many cruisers have, especially those used to smaller ships. It's funny to think of the Jewel Class as smaller ships, because they are big damn ships. The Titanic and United States were about 50,000 tons and the Jewels tip the scales around 93K. Escape is 165K tons and carries twice as many passengers as the Jewel class ships. This cruise wasn't a fair test because the real test comes on port days. There are some choke points on the ship that get very crowded at times, as previously noted, but overall the ship is big enough and has enough varied venues to spread the crowd out most of the time. I can see the pool area becoming extremely crowded and think that's the Achilles Heel. The age old battle of the Chair Hogs will continue, unless you're in the Haven. But even the Haven pool would be very crowded in every Haven passenger tried to use it at the same time.

 

Roll Call: the most active and fun group I've ever sailed with. Again, thank you so much and a hearty job well done to Cherie, Kyle, and Anita. We always have fun on a cruise and this was some of the most fun we've ever had.

 

In summation, Escape is a wonderful ship and I highly recommend her. I wouldn't hesitate to sail on her again and look forward to the opportunity to do so.