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ESCAPE: My Cruise & thoughts

ReaderDame

By ReaderDame,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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ReaderDame

ReaderDame

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This is my first post on Cruise Critic, so please forgive me if this review doesn't end up in the right place/forum:

We took the ESCAPE on Dec. 12-19. We were a party of 6 (Myself, DH, DS, DD, & their two friends-Age 54, 52, 25, 24, 21, & 20 )

We had booked our cruise back in March, 2015, anxiously anticipating our cruise on a brand new ship. It was our first cruise on NCL. I discovered Cruise Critic a few months before we took this cruise. Unfortunately, by a lot of the reviews, I was feeling very anxious about the cruise. I now know that you have to make your own judgements and have your own experiences. The reviews should be used for guidelines and ideas, but not taken serious enough to make you doubt your choice before even getting on the boat! Please forgive me if this review is sort of all over the place, as I am not a professional writer. We arrived at the port/ship about 11:30 am and although there was a long line, it moved very quickly, and we were boarding the ship by 12:30pm. We found our cabin(s) (Mid-ship, Deck 11: 1 Balcony cabin & 2 inside cabins )

I have been on several cruise ships, and found this balcony cabin to be very roomy) After having read reviews about how "tiny" the balconies were, I was a bit apprehensive. The balcony had 2 chairs and a small table and was a good size. No, it didn't have loungers, but we didn't pay for the bigger suite room, so wasn't expecting a huge balcony. It was certainly big enough to sit outside, watch the sea roll by, and enjoy our coffee and breakfast in the mornings, and drinks during the day. I will start by saying we had the Ultimate Drink Package so after dropping some belongings off in the cabin that we had carried on, we headed off to find a bar, as well as tour this most awesome ship! By reading these message boards thoroughly before our cruise, I was made aware that we would be charged port taxes on any drinks we ordered while still in Miami, but nothing more. There was nothing to sign when ordering a drink except when you were in port. You can order anything you want, as long as the drink doesn't total more than $15. You can order any brand of liquor, you can ask for "a double", "a floater on top", anything!!! As is clearly written in the fine print, bottled water, nor fresh squeezed juices are included, but everything else is! The choices of wines, beers, and liquors were plentiful! I had booked our entertainment before the cruise, and found it easy to do online. I read up on the shows beforehand, so I knew what they would be about...what to expect. Million Dollar Quartet & After Midnight had both been on broadway before. I simply googled them, and even was able to find videos on YOU TUBE, so I knew what to expect. Although the young adults in our party weren't totally enthralled, I asked that they at least join us to watch the shows, and if they were totally miserable, they could leave! Both shows were first class, excellent, and thoroughly entertaining! Live music, great stage presence and costumes! These two shows were in the main theater, which was a beautiful venue with comfy seats, and not a bad seat in the house! The dinner theater show, "For the Record" Brat Pack, did cost approx. $35 per person/ with gratuities included. The reason for a cost with this show, is that you were provided with a meal, along with the entertainment included. This venue was beautiful. It reminded me of a true dinner theater experience, as you sat at tables like in a restaurant, but the actors actually would come off stage, and perform in the aisles, between the tables, so you had up close and personal contact with them as well as watching them perform on stage! This show had a live band, and most of the performers played instruments as well. The jist of this show is music from the 80s from John Hughes movies (think: The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, etc...) If you grew up and listended to the radio anytime in the last 3 or 4 decades, you have heard a good portion of these songs! They also reenacted scenes from these movies as well. The cast was Ages 20-35'ish, and were all fabulous! The food served was "meh!", but again, because I had read what would be served ahead of time, there were no surprises. It wasn't your usual service as App, Salad, Entrée w/ Veggies and dessert... it was more like 3 plates served separately, starting with 3 different appetizers on a plate, 1 plate with entrees (Shrimp & Short Ribs), and 1 more plate brought out with small bite desserts. Everyone is served the same food, so there is no choice. I would agree that the show is not for kids younger than 14'ish... Just the food alone is something that would not please most teenagers! Unless your teen is really artsy, and in to live perfomances, I'm not sure they would enjoy it. Send the younger ones to the teen lounge and save your money! If you are not able to book this show online, don't fret, you can book a show as soon as you get on board. Another thing... if you don't get a reservation; you can show up about 20 minutes before show time, and they will let you get in a separate line for folks who don't have reservations... if people don't show up for their reservations, they will let those in the waiting line into the show. We actually missed our Million Dollar Quartet reservation, and did this. We not only got into the show this way, but had good seats as well. All in all, the entertainment was top notch! Our party ate in one of the MDR on our first night aboard. There are 3 MDR, and as has been mentioned, has the same menu. Although they change the menus daily, it is the same menu that day, at all 3 MDR. I was disappointed with the quality of the food in the MDR. Yes, it was edible, and I know that everyone can't be pleased. It's just that I remember the days of cruising where I felt like I was dining in a 5star establishment everynight at dinner. The service was excellent and great teamwork. You could order more than one appetizer if you wished, but we did not try to order more than one entrée each. We ate 2 of the nights in the MDR, and the experience was about the same. Not unpleasant, just nothing to rave about. The only specialty restaurant besides the dinner theater meal we ate in was Teppenyaki, and I had made reservations online for that. The food and staff were excellent, and we enjoyed ourselves that evening. Allow yourselves approx. 90 min. for the Teppenyaki meal. We saw the comedian show in the "Sideliners" lounge (where Howl at the Moon is also held). This is not a theater, it's more like a dark lounge with chairs lined up in rows. They squeeze quite a few people into a small space, so if you are claustrophobic, this is not the place for you! The comedian show lasts about an hour. They perform several shows each night, so don't panic if you can't get in when trying on the first night. They also had a Comedy show one of the nights in the main theater, so you will have plenty of opportunities to see the show. The comics were excellent! Howl at the Moon is not held every night of the cruise, they swap off with the comedian shows, since they both share the same place. The same for the shows in the theater: Million Dollar Quartet & After Midnight swap off with each other on separate nights in the main theater. We ate a few meals at O'Sheehan's. This is a complimentary restaurant that has an Irish Pub vibe to it. It is on Deck 7 above the main Atrium area and has a high top bar around it's perimeter so if you are sitting there, you can see down into the main Atrium where various shows, trivia contests, are held at all times during the day & night. It has some video games, a pool table, basketball hoop(s) shooting games, and is always playing good music too. The menu is pretty casual, wings, burgers, etc... We all thought the chicken wings were amazing, although they will only serve 6 per order, but you can ask for 2 orders if you wish. There is also a large bar at O'Sheehans. They had good soup each day, and the Rueben sandwich, although not HUGE, was delicious. Their salads were fresh and cold, the fries were great! A good place to eat with picky eaters and kids, as there is always Chicken fingers, fries, hotdogs, etc... and/or you are tired of eating in the buffet. The buffet, although not GREAT, wasn't always bad. If you spent the time to walk around the entire circumference of this dining room before grabbing a plate, you could familiarize yourself with what is being served, and where to find it. The buffet is in a very LARGE area, and it has a lot of duplicates , such as several beverage stations, several dessert areas and ice cream machines. There was always both soft serve ice cream in the machines, and a few flavors of the scoop ice cream also. The eggs at breakfast were the lousy scrambled powdered kind, greasy piles of bacon and sausage, etc... but there were always several chefs making fresh omelets and the omelet lines moved very quickly. Each chef had 3or 4 burners so they were multi-tasking at the omelet stations, and all ingrediants were FRESH, so we were always able to have a fresh omelet each morning. Most tables in the dining room were either at or next to a floor to ceiling window, so the sea view was always available! Tables looked filled, but emptied out quickly, and the workers in the dining room were always quick to clean and prepare empty tables. The silverware were wrapped in cloth napkins and placed in small baskets on each table, so that was one thing less to wrestle with while preparing your plate at the buffet. The beverage stations were well stocked with plenty of cups , coffee, tea, iced tea, lemonade, flavored waters, etc... the drinks are complimentary . A few of the ice machines were out of order, but they would have large buckets of ice and a scoop when this occurred. There is a large open air bar in the center of the buffet, so you could order your cocktails, beers, wine, or soft drinks there without having to leave the dining room. The buffet does close down for a short amount of time between each main meal, but they keep out several items to snack on in between. For example, we had a late breakfast, so we didn't go into the buffet until 3:30 to grab lunch. They had removed all of the lunch food, but had started setting out large platters of cheese, crackers, fruit, sandwich fixings and some cookies for a mid day snack. We never went hungry. O'Sheehans is open 24/7. The hours for all dining facilities are listed in the daily schedules that are delivered to your cabins each evening. As long as you peruse these, you will know what is open when. Here's the news about Room Service: There are still plenty of items you can order complimentary for breakfast: Coffee, Tea, Juices, Milk, Pastriess, Muffins, Yogurt, & Fruit---these can be ordered by phone, or fill out a form and place on your doorknob at night. These are delivered at No Charge, although we would slip the staff member that delivered it a tip, as we have always done. If you want bigger items for breakfast, and/or any other food items : there is a $7.95 charge. This is the delivery fee, only. There is still a large menu for room service with lots & lots of food choices, and no matter how many you order for your cabin, you pay the $7.95 charge once during that order (not per person). No charge for the room service food, just the $7.95 charge. Think of it as the convenience charge of not having to dress and head upstairs to the dining rooms or buffet.

 

I almost forgot... we did eat at FOOD REPUBLIC one evening for dinner and it was AMAZING!!! There were three of us and we ordered 6 or 7 items off the menu. These are all individually prepared items and priced between $5-9 a piece. Our bill, with gratuity was $52, and we had leftovers! I always tend to over order at Tapas, and/or Sushi places because it all looks so good! Everything was fresh! We did not have reservations ... we just walked up at about 6:30, and were seated right away. It was not crowded at all. Speaking of crowds... I was worried with 4200 passengers, that it would feel like cattle call at most venues; but this was NEVER the case! No matter where we went, it was a comfortable feeling, some places more crowded than others, but not overly so. No, we couldn't find loungers right by the pool, but we had walked all over the ship to get the feel of the layout on the first day, so we noted where there were nice areas with loungers, set out of the way. Our son & his friend spent a lot of time on the sports court near the back of the ship...there were plenty of chairs up there, and the area looked over the top of the H20 area on the deck below, so when there would be open chairs down there, later in the day, we could just move our stuff down there. H20 is a lovely open air area at the back of the ship that is Adults Only for most of the time. It does not have a pool, but does have a grotto area that one can go into to cool off with cold water splashing water fall areas. There is a great bar out there and restrooms and hot tubs. They also have a large screened TV and we watched NFL football game while laying in the sun! It just doesn't get much better than that! The Bars: I had read a lot of reviews of people stating they always had to wait for a drink at crowded bars. We simply did not ever have this situation. Every bar we went to was staffed with plenty of staff and the longest we waited for a drink was 5-7 minutes, but most times a bartender was waiting and ready as soon as we walked up! We had some bartenders that remembered us, our names, and what our drink of choice and liquor preference was. This is a good time to mention, as I learned from this site (simply reiterating) bring plenty of $1s on the cruise, as there isn't a way to give an extra tip if you have the Drink Package, since you are not signing a check, and there is no cash register/Till onboard. One of the errands we ran the day before the cruise was to hit the bank for 50- $1s. Even though the gratuity has already been added , it never hurts to give well deserving bar staff an extra buck per drink. If I just walked up and grabbed a beer and walked off, I didn't always give extra money, but certainly the bars we sat at and drank, or any table service, we always gave a little something extra. We found the best bloody marys were made in the Atrium bar, and we had one daily after our breakfast as we sat with our schedule and planned our day. "Lovely" was our bartender, and she always greeted us by name and started preparing them as soon as she saw us approaching. I had one at a couple other bars, but none as good as the one she made! (And always with double Grey Goose as requested !) My husband and I are not huge drinkers, but this package made it so easy to imbibe without worrying about how much something was going to cost! The Atrium did get crowded at certain times in the evening, but if it was too crowded, we'd just walk around, go look at the Art in the gallery (posted in the main galley walk way between restaurants, comedy club, and Atrium), or walk around for awhile, and when we came back we could find a seat. One of our favorite hangouts was the District Brewhouse! Although it was tucked in sort of an out of the way area, it was easy to find, and always nice if we wanted music or trivia games at night. It was quiet and relaxing during the day, with lots of windows to watch the sea roll by. Their choices of beers were amazing! And it was always served ice cold! 24 draft brews, and 50+ bottled beers. And NO KIDS ALLOWED ! They also showed the NFL games. When you cruise during football season, you can watch several on Sunday, one on Monday Night, and one on Thursday night! All 6 in our party purchased the IConcierge phone app for the ability to communicate and keep in touch with each other while on board. It was well worth the $7.95 cost. Sometimes the call to each other, or the text wouldn't go through right away, but if we walked to another area onboard, it would. It worked 90% of the time and really helped when trying to track each other down for a show, dinner arrangement, or something as simple as, "Hey, if you're down in the room, will you bring my sunscreen when you come up?", or "We are at the District Brewhouse, the Michael Jackson Trivia game is starting in 15 minutes, why don't you guys head on up?" Although I have read tons & tons of posts about the smokey smell coming from the casino (and which I was very distressed to read about prior to our cruise)...we just did not find it to be unbearable. I am a reformed smoker 28+ years, and I absolutely hate the smell of smoke, so I was worried! I must say, we simply did not find the smell to be bad at all. We don't gamble, so don't spend a ton of time in the casino area, but I love to walk through and watch the gamers, and the excitement of the casino. We did not smell strong smoke odor anywhere! And I purposely was waiting for it! We were in and around the casino area a lot and I am pleased to report, there weren't any offensive odors! I know everyone's sense of smell is different, but my husband, who has never smoked said he never smelt it either! Please let me report about the dress code expectations onboard this ship. If you feel like dressing up, dress up, if you feel like being casual the entire cruise, by all means, go casual! We saw plenty of shorts, flip flops, and T-shirts in the dining room. Although the NCL literature mentions no shorts in the MDR, and collared shirts on men, nothing was said to those ! I know that part of the ambiance of a cruise ship in the days of old was dressing formal for dinner and the theaters, this just isn't the case anymore. I saw beautiful formal wear on ladies, a few men in suits, slacks & long sleeve button up shirts or polo style tops on men, and I saw plenty of shorts, tank tops, jeans, flip flops, etc... If you are the type that is offended if everyone doesn't "dress for dinner", this may not be the cruise for you. NCL wants their passengers to be comfortable. We brought plenty of nice clothes, but most nights my husband, our son, and his friend, wore cargo shorts, a nice polo, and sneakers, or flip flops. I brought high heels, and blingy stuff, but most nights we dressed casual. (not sloppy, just casual). We are from Florida, and nice shorts and flip flops are the routine dress code here...even in nice restaurants. So don't stress about how formal you or your kids have to be...no one cares! I was one of the many disappointed upcoming travelers that was livid when NCL took away Margaritaville as one of their complimentary restaurants! It is a nice , colorful , open air restaurants onboard and almost always had live music, a good band playing. The bar area is tucked into the back of the restaurant and truly was nothing special. They only serve the Margaritaville brands of tequila, LandShark beer, (a couple other domestic ones too). The margarita (I had 2 different types) were really nothing special. I personally am a margarita snob, and don't like pre-made mixers, nor do I care for their brand of tequila, so I'm not a good judge. All drinks are served in clear, plastic Solo style cups, which I hate, cause salt never properly sticks to the rim! LOL I found this funny because there were glass bottles of beer served all over the entire ship, around the pools too! My daughter and her friend ate dinner there one night and they both said it was okay. The Surcharge prices here are much less than if you were eating at a Margaritaville on land, but people are still mad about the bait and switch tatic of NCL! Margaritaville was never crowded the entire week we were onboard! They had a party onboard one night, and allowed guests to get behind the bar and mix their own drinks, had some dance contests, etc... but the way they described it in the daily schedule, made it seem that this would all be free, and it was not! We stayed on the go the entire week, and still were not able to see or do everything on this beautiful floating resort! I love wine, and never even made it to the Mondavi Wine Bar. We saw the Five Aclock Somewhere Bar from our stroll on the Waterfront, but never made it in for a drink or entertainment. The schedule showed that they always had Karaoke and other live entertainment in the evenings, late into the night. We were just always too busy and too tired when things did slow down. Our strolls along the Waterfront were beautiful and there was plenty of seating areas to sit and lounge around, read a book, listen to your IPod, take a nap, or just watch the sea go by! Although we did not hang out long, we went in to H2O for the Glow Party on Thursday night, and that place was Hoppin' ! Just a lovely vibe of happy, dancing people. Everyone wearing DayGlo clothing or White, and plenty in regular clothing. Great music, lots of dancing , happy people, even kids with their parents having fun! Young people get so few opportunities to dance and enjoy music in a club scene, so this was a big hit for them too! The party went on late into the night and fun was had by all! We had one unfortunate mishap while onboard, and one of our party spent several hours in the infirmary (onboard hospital). I am in the medical field and I must say, this was a beautifully maintained, up to date, state of the art facility! I accompanied our traveling friend to the ER and sat with her while they kept her for observation for 5 hours. The doctor and nurses were excellent, and I felt very confident that she was in good hands.! Hopefully not, but should I ever have an onboard emergency, I now know that this ship is well equipped! I have left off the excursions that we did while in the 3 ports, but am sure you all are tired of reading this long winded post. I will get back on at some point and review those as well. All and all, we had a fabulous cruise on this beauty, and are already planning another one with other friends in another year or so! Although far from perfect (although almost), the GREAT far outweighed the not so great. If you are looking for gourmet food for free (as part of your cruise package), you will probably not find it here. Besides the average food, everything else about this cruise was GREAT!

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Please don't be offended but I've made your post a little larger and put into paragraph format to make it easier to read. Your post was interesting and it is a shame to have it passed by.

 

This is my first post on Cruise Critic, so please forgive me if this review doesn't end up in the right place/forum:

We took the ESCAPE on Dec. 12-19. We were a party of 6 (Myself, DH, DS, DD, & their two friends-Age 54, 52, 25, 24, 21, & 20 ) We had booked our cruise back in March, 2015, anxiously anticipating our cruise on a brand new ship. It was our first cruise on NCL. I discovered Cruise Critic a few months before we took this cruise. Unfortunately, by a lot of the reviews, I was feeling very anxious about the cruise. I now know that you have to make your own judgements and have your own experiences. The reviews should be used for guidelines and ideas, but not taken serious enough to make you doubt your choice before even getting on the boat! Please forgive me if this review is sort of all over the place, as I am not a professional writer. We arrived at the port/ship about 11:30 am and although there was a long line, it moved very quickly, and we were boarding the ship by 12:30pm.

 

We found our cabin(s) (Mid-ship, Deck 11: 1 Balcony cabin & 2 inside cabins ) I have been on several cruise ships, and found this balcony cabin to be very roomy) After having read reviews about how "tiny" the balconies were, I was a bit apprehensive. The balcony had 2 chairs and a small table and was a good size. No, it didn't have loungers, but we didn't pay for the bigger suite room, so wasn't expecting a huge balcony. It was certainly big enough to sit outside, watch the sea roll by, and enjoy our coffee and breakfast in the mornings, and drinks during the day.

 

I will start by saying we had the Ultimate Drink Package so after dropping some belongings off in the cabin that we had carried on, we headed off to find a bar, as well as tour this most awesome ship! By reading these message boards thoroughly before our cruise, I was made aware that we would be charged port taxes on any drinks we ordered while still in Miami, but nothing more. There was nothing to sign when ordering a drink except when you were in port. You can order anything you want, as long as the drink doesn't total more than $15. You can order any brand of liquor, you can ask for "a double", "a floater on top", anything!!! As is clearly written in the fine print, bottled water, nor fresh squeezed juices are included, but everything else is! The choices of wines, beers, and liquors were plentiful! I had booked our entertainment before the cruise, and found it easy to do online.

 

I read up on the shows beforehand, so I knew what they would be about...what to expect. Million Dollar Quartet & After Midnight had both been on broadway before. I simply googled them, and even was able to find videos on YOU TUBE, so I knew what to expect. Although the young adults in our party weren't totally enthralled, I asked that they at least join us to watch the shows, and if they were totally miserable, they could leave! Both shows were first class, excellent, and thoroughly entertaining! Live music, great stage presence and costumes! These two shows were in the main theater, which was a beautiful venue with comfy seats, and not a bad seat in the house! The dinner theater show, "For the Record" Brat Pack, did cost approx. $35 per person/ with gratuities included. The reason for a cost with this show, is that you were provided with a meal, along with the entertainment included. This venue was beautiful. It reminded me of a true dinner theater experience, as you sat at tables like in a restaurant, but the actors actually would come off stage, and perform in the aisles, between the tables, so you had up close and personal contact with them as well as watching them perform on stage! This show had a live band, and most of the performers played instruments as well. The jist of this show is music from the 80s from John Hughes movies (think: The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, etc...) If you grew up and listended to the radio anytime in the last 3 or 4 decades, you have heard a good portion of these songs! They also reenacted scenes from these movies as well. The cast was Ages 20-35'ish, and were all fabulous! The food served was "meh!", but again, because I had read what would be served ahead of time, there were no surprises. It wasn't your usual service as App, Salad, Entrée w/ Veggies and dessert... it was more like 3 plates served separately, starting with 3 different appetizers on a plate, 1 plate with entrees (Shrimp & Short Ribs), and 1 more plate brought out with small bite desserts. Everyone is served the same food, so there is no choice. I would agree that the show is not for kids younger than 14'ish... Just the food alone is something that would not please most teenagers! Unless your teen is really artsy, and in to live perfomances, I'm not sure they would enjoy it. Send the younger ones to the teen lounge and save your money! If you are not able to book this show online, don't fret, you can book a show as soon as you get on board. Another thing... if you don't get a reservation; you can show up about 20 minutes before show time, and they will let you get in a separate line for folks who don't have reservations... if people don't show up for their reservations, they will let those in the waiting line into the show. We actually missed our Million Dollar Quartet reservation, and did this. We not only got into the show this way, but had good seats as well. All in all, the entertainment was top notch!

 

Our party ate in one of the MDR on our first night aboard. There are 3 MDR, and as has been mentioned, has the same menu. Although they change the menus daily, it is the same menu that day, at all 3 MDR. I was disappointed with the quality of the food in the MDR. Yes, it was edible, and I know that everyone can't be pleased. It's just that I remember the days of cruising where I felt like I was dining in a 5star establishment everynight at dinner. The service was excellent and great teamwork. You could order more than one appetizer if you wished, but we did not try to order more than one entrée each. We ate 2 of the nights in the MDR, and the experience was about the same. Not unpleasant, just nothing to rave about.

 

The only specialty restaurant besides the dinner theater meal we ate in was Teppenyaki, and I had made reservations online for that. The food and staff were excellent, and we enjoyed ourselves that evening. Allow yourselves approx. 90 min. for the Teppenyaki meal.

 

We saw the comedian show in the "Sideliners" lounge (where Howl at the Moon is also held). This is not a theater, it's more like a dark lounge with chairs lined up in rows. They squeeze quite a few people into a small space, so if you are claustrophobic, this is not the place for you! The comedian show lasts about an hour. They perform several shows each night, so don't panic if you can't get in when trying on the first night. They also had a Comedy show one of the nights in the main theater, so you will have plenty of opportunities to see the show. The comics were excellent! Howl at the Moon is not held every night of the cruise, they swap off with the comedian shows, since they both share the same place. The same for the shows in the theater: Million Dollar Quartet & After Midnight swap off with each other on separate nights in the main theater.

 

We ate a few meals at O'Sheehan's. This is a complimentary restaurant that has an Irish Pub vibe to it. It is on Deck 7 above the main Atrium area and has a high top bar around it's perimeter so if you are sitting there, you can see down into the main Atrium where various shows, trivia contests, are held at all times during the day & night. It has some video games, a pool table, basketball hoop(s) shooting games, and is always playing good music too. The menu is pretty casual, wings, burgers, etc... We all thought the chicken wings were amazing, although they will only serve 6 per order, but you can ask for 2 orders if you wish. There is also a large bar at O'Sheehans. They had good soup each day, and the Rueben sandwich, although not HUGE, was delicious. Their salads were fresh and cold, the fries were great! A good place to eat with picky eaters and kids, as there is always Chicken fingers, fries, hotdogs, etc... and/or you are tired of eating in the buffet.

 

The buffet, although not GREAT, wasn't always bad. If you spent the time to walk around the entire circumference of this dining room before grabbing a plate, you could familiarize yourself with what is being served, and where to find it. The buffet is in a very LARGE area, and it has a lot of duplicates , such as several beverage stations, several dessert areas and ice cream machines. There was always both soft serve ice cream in the machines, and a few flavors of the scoop ice cream also. The eggs at breakfast were the lousy scrambled powdered kind, greasy piles of bacon and sausage, etc... but there were always several chefs making fresh omelets and the omelet lines moved very quickly. Each chef had 3or 4 burners so they were multi-tasking at the omelet stations, and all ingrediants were FRESH, so we were always able to have a fresh omelet each morning. Most tables in the dining room were either at or next to a floor to ceiling window, so the sea view was always available! Tables looked filled, but emptied out quickly, and the workers in the dining room were always quick to clean and prepare empty tables. The silverware were wrapped in cloth napkins and placed in small baskets on each table, so that was one thing less to wrestle with while preparing your plate at the buffet. The beverage stations were well stocked with plenty of cups , coffee, tea, iced tea, lemonade, flavored waters, etc... the drinks are complimentary . A few of the ice machines were out of order, but they would have large buckets of ice and a scoop when this occurred. There is a large open air bar in the center of the buffet, so you could order your cocktails, beers, wine, or soft drinks there without having to leave the dining room. The buffet does close down for a short amount of time between each main meal, but they keep out several items to snack on in between. For example, we had a late breakfast, so we didn't go into the buffet until 3:30 to grab lunch. They had removed all of the lunch food, but had started setting out large platters of cheese, crackers, fruit, sandwich fixings and some cookies for a mid day snack.

 

We never went hungry. O'Sheehans is open 24/7. The hours for all dining facilities are listed in the daily schedules that are delivered to your cabins each evening. As long as you peruse these, you will know what is open when.

 

Here's the news about Room Service: There are still plenty of items you can order complimentary for breakfast: Coffee, Tea, Juices, Milk, Pastriess, Muffins, Yogurt, & Fruit---these can be ordered by phone, or fill out a form and place on your doorknob at night. These are delivered at No Charge, although we would slip the staff member that delivered it a tip, as we have always done. If you want bigger items for breakfast, and/or any other food items : there is a $7.95 charge. This is the delivery fee, only. There is still a large menu for room service with lots & lots of food choices, and no matter how many you order for your cabin, you pay the $7.95 charge once during that order (not per person). No charge for the room service food, just the $7.95 charge. Think of it as the convenience charge of not having to dress and head upstairs to the dining rooms or buffet.

 

I almost forgot... we did eat at FOOD REPUBLIC one evening for dinner and it was AMAZING!!! There were three of us and we ordered 6 or 7 items off the menu. These are all individually prepared items and priced between $5-9 a piece. Our bill, with gratuity was $52, and we had leftovers! I always tend to over order at Tapas, and/or Sushi places because it all looks so good! Everything was fresh! We did not have reservations ... we just walked up at about 6:30, and were seated right away. It was not crowded at all.

 

Speaking of crowds... I was worried with 4200 passengers, that it would feel like cattle call at most venues; but this was NEVER the case! No matter where we went, it was a comfortable feeling, some places more crowded than others, but not overly so. No, we couldn't find loungers right by the pool, but we had walked all over the ship to get the feel of the layout on the first day, so we noted where there were nice areas with loungers, set out of the way. Our son & his friend spent a lot of time on the sports court near the back of the ship...there were plenty of chairs up there, and the area looked over the top of the H20 area on the deck below, so when there would be open chairs down there, later in the day, we could just move our stuff down there. H20 is a lovely open air area at the back of the ship that is Adults Only for most of the time. It does not have a pool, but does have a grotto area that one can go into to cool off with cold water splashing water fall areas. There is a great bar out there and restrooms and hot tubs. They also have a large screened TV and we watched NFL football game while laying in the sun! It just doesn't get much better than that!

 

The Bars: I had read a lot of reviews of people stating they always had to wait for a drink at crowded bars. We simply did not ever have this situation. Every bar we went to was staffed with plenty of staff and the longest we waited for a drink was 5-7 minutes, but most times a bartender was waiting and ready as soon as we walked up! We had some bartenders that remembered us, our names, and what our drink of choice and liquor preference was. This is a good time to mention, as I learned from this site (simply reiterating) bring plenty of $1s on the cruise, as there isn't a way to give an extra tip if you have the Drink Package, since you are not signing a check, and there is no cash register/Till onboard. One of the errands we ran the day before the cruise was to hit the bank for 50- $1s. Even though the gratuity has already been added , it never hurts to give well deserving bar staff an extra buck per drink. If I just walked up and grabbed a beer and walked off, I didn't always give extra money, but certainly the bars we sat at and drank, or any table service, we always gave a little something extra. We found the best bloody marys were made in the Atrium bar, and we had one daily after our breakfast as we sat with our schedule and planned our day. "Lovely" was our bartender, and she always greeted us by name and started preparing them as soon as she saw us approaching. I had one at a couple other bars, but none as good as the one she made! (And always with double Grey Goose as requested !) My husband and I are not huge drinkers, but this package made it so easy to imbibe without worrying about how much something was going to cost! The Atrium did get crowded at certain times in the evening, but if it was too crowded, we'd just walk around, go look at the Art in the gallery (posted in the main galley walk way between restaurants, comedy club, and Atrium), or walk around for awhile, and when we came back we could find a seat. One of our favorite hangouts was the District Brewhouse! Although it was tucked in sort of an out of the way area, it was easy to find, and always nice if we wanted music or trivia games at night. It was quiet and relaxing during the day, with lots of windows to watch the sea roll by. Their choices of beers were amazing! And it was always served ice cold! 24 draft brews, and 50+ bottled beers. And NO KIDS ALLOWED ! They also showed the NFL games. When you cruise during football season, you can watch several on Sunday, one on Monday Night, and one on Thursday night!

 

All 6 in our party purchased the IConcierge phone app for the ability to communicate and keep in touch with each other while on board. It was well worth the $7.95 cost. Sometimes the call to each other, or the text wouldn't go through right away, but if we walked to another area onboard, it would. It worked 90% of the time and really helped when trying to track each other down for a show, dinner arrangement, or something as simple as, "Hey, if you're down in the room, will you bring my sunscreen when you come up?", or "We are at the District Brewhouse, the Michael Jackson Trivia game is starting in 15 minutes, why don't you guys head on up?"

 

Although I have read tons & tons of posts about the smokey smell coming from the casino (and which I was very distressed to read about prior to our cruise)...we just did not find it to be unbearable. I am a reformed smoker 28+ years, and I absolutely hate the smell of smoke, so I was worried! I must say, we simply did not find the smell to be bad at all. We don't gamble, so don't spend a ton of time in the casino area, but I love to walk through and watch the gamers, and the excitement of the casino. We did not smell strong smoke odor anywhere! And I purposely was waiting for it! We were in and around the casino area a lot and I am pleased to report, there weren't any offensive odors! I know everyone's sense of smell is different, but my husband, who has never smoked said he never smelt it either!

 

Please let me report about the dress code expectations onboard this ship. If you feel like dressing up, dress up, if you feel like being casual the entire cruise, by all means, go casual! We saw plenty of shorts, flip flops, and T-shirts in the dining room. Although the NCL literature mentions no shorts in the MDR, and collared shirts on men, nothing was said to those ! I know that part of the ambiance of a cruise ship in the days of old was dressing formal for dinner and the theaters, this just isn't the case anymore. I saw beautiful formal wear on ladies, a few men in suits, slacks & long sleeve button up shirts or polo style tops on men, and I saw plenty of shorts, tank tops, jeans, flip flops, etc... If you are the type that is offended if everyone doesn't "dress for dinner", this may not be the cruise for you. NCL wants their passengers to be comfortable. We brought plenty of nice clothes, but most nights my husband, our son, and his friend, wore cargo shorts, a nice polo, and sneakers, or flip flops. I brought high heels, and blingy stuff, but most nights we dressed casual. (not sloppy, just casual). We are from Florida, and nice shorts and flip flops are the routine dress code here...even in nice restaurants. So don't stress about how formal you or your kids have to be...no one cares!

 

I was one of the many disappointed upcoming travelers that was livid when NCL took away Margaritaville as one of their complimentary restaurants! It is a nice , colorful , open air restaurants onboard and almost always had live music, a good band playing. The bar area is tucked into the back of the restaurant and truly was nothing special. They only serve the Margaritaville brands of tequila, LandShark beer, (a couple other domestic ones too). The margarita (I had 2 different types) were really nothing special. I personally am a margarita snob, and don't like pre-made mixers, nor do I care for their brand of tequila, so I'm not a good judge. All drinks are served in clear, plastic Solo style cups, which I hate, cause salt never properly sticks to the rim! LOL I found this funny because there were glass bottles of beer served all over the entire ship, around the pools too! My daughter and her friend ate dinner there one night and they both said it was okay. The Surcharge prices here are much less than if you were eating at a Margaritaville on land, but people are still mad about the bait and switch tatic of NCL! Margaritaville was never crowded the entire week we were onboard! They had a party onboard one night, and allowed guests to get behind the bar and mix their own drinks, had some dance contests, etc... but the way they described it in the daily schedule, made it seem that this would all be free, and it was not!

 

We stayed on the go the entire week, and still were not able to see or do everything on this beautiful floating resort! I love wine, and never even made it to the Mondavi Wine Bar. We saw the Five Aclock Somewhere Bar from our stroll on the Waterfront, but never made it in for a drink or entertainment. The schedule showed that they always had Karaoke and other live entertainment in the evenings, late into the night. We were just always too busy and too tired when things did slow down. Our strolls along the Waterfront were beautiful and there was plenty of seating areas to sit and lounge around, read a book, listen to your IPod, take a nap, or just watch the sea go by! Although we did not hang out long, we went in to H2O for the Glow Party on Thursday night, and that place was Hoppin' ! Just a lovely vibe of happy, dancing people. Everyone wearing DayGlo clothing or White, and plenty in regular clothing. Great music, lots of dancing , happy people, even kids with their parents having fun! Young people get so few opportunities to dance and enjoy music in a club scene, so this was a big hit for them too! The party went on late into the night and fun was had by all!

 

We had one unfortunate mishap while onboard, and one of our party spent several hours in the infirmary (onboard hospital). I am in the medical field and I must say, this was a beautifully maintained, up to date, state of the art facility! I accompanied our traveling friend to the ER and sat with her while they kept her for observation for 5 hours. The doctor and nurses were excellent, and I felt very confident that she was in good hands.! Hopefully not, but should I ever have an onboard emergency, I now know that this ship is well equipped!

 

I have left off the excursions that we did while in the 3 ports, but am sure you all are tired of reading this long winded post. I will get back on at some point and review those as well. All and all, we had a fabulous cruise on this beauty, and are already planning another one with other friends in another year or so! Although far from perfect (although almost), the GREAT far outweighed the not so great. If you are looking for gourmet food for free (as part of your cruise package), you will probably not find it here. Besides the average food, everything else about this cruise was GREAT!

 

larger version of ReaderDame's Escape review/report

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Kdiamond55

Kdiamond55

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Posted (edited)

Thanks for the review!

 

I was on the Escape on its first little 3-day from Miami and they made us sign the bill every time we got a drink (had the UBP also) so we always tipped on there. Are you saying they don't make you sign the bill at the bar anymore at all?

 

Can anyone else say if that's the case on their sailings as well? I definitely need to know to bring $1's if so!

 

I agree Food Republic is awesome and I'll be back at that place nightly on our next cruise! I booked the 80's dinner show so glad to know it was good. We're not show people but I'm dragging my hubby to this one. LOL

 

I also wanted to comment that we were on the Escape when Margaritaville was complementary and we could NEVER get into there without wait times of 1-1 1/2 hours! So I kinda understand why they did that. They have a similar place on the Oasis that is a la carte and it does quite well (though you can always get in) so maybe that's what they are expecting will eventually happen.

Edited by Kdiamond55
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sid_9169 "Live from...." Rare

sid_9169

Posted
Posted
Thanks for the review!

 

I was on the Escape on its first little 3-day from Miami and they made us sign the bill every time we got a drink (had the UBP also) so we always tipped on there. Are you saying they don't make you sign the bill at the bar anymore at all?

 

Can anyone else say if that's the case on their sailings as well? I definitely need to know to bring $1's if so!

 

I agree Food Republic is awesome and I'll be back at that place nightly on our next cruise! I booked the 80's dinner show so glad to know it was good. We're not show people but I'm dragging my hubby to this one. LOL

 

I also wanted to comment that we were on the Escape when Margaritaville was complementary and we could NEVER get into there without wait times of 1-1 1/2 hours! So I kinda understand why they did that. They have a similar place on the Oasis that is a la carte and it does quite well (though you can always get in) so maybe that's what they are expecting will eventually happen.

 

Yes, you are only required to sign slips while in the port of Miami, and for the first few miles after sail away... After that, no more slips to sign unless you ask for it...

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davesgirl51

davesgirl51

Posted
Posted (edited)

Outstanding and honest review of the newest edition to NCL's fleet and Kjquilts ... You are a hoot !

[/color]

We returned a week ago from 3 weeks on the Escape and had a great time. We spent one week in the Haven in an Owner's Suite 17100 and two weeks in a large balcony 9120.

 

The Haven is beautiful - the restaurant and food outstanding with real cold water lobster and the atmosphere very relaxing. My only two issues (being very subjective) are that I think it is almost TOO large and there is no restroom on the dining room level (deck 18). The latter can be problematic for the elderly. There is an elevator that spans deck 17-19.

 

Other than that, enjoy !:)[/color][/color]

Edited by davesgirl51
Grammar lol
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Kdiamond55

Kdiamond55

Posted
Posted
Yes, you are only required to sign slips while in the port of Miami, and for the first few miles after sail away... After that, no more slips to sign unless you ask for it...

 

That's actually good, and probably hurries things along because there was always such a backup waiting for the bartenders to print out the slips. Thanks for the info! Gotta hit the bank.

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ReaderDame

ReaderDame

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Thank you for editing my Escape Review and making font bigger, paragraph form, etc... As I said, I am not a professional writer. Help! I cannot find where this review ended up: In other words, I thought this would appear in the Norwegian Crusie Line / ESCAPE forum; but I can't find it there? I will also add the reviews of the Shore Excursions, but as I said, I want this to specifically be on the ESCAPE forum. Thanks

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ReaderDame

ReaderDame

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To answer what the 20 somethings did while onboard: the girls spent time lying in the sun and riding the water slides. They also did the ropes course a couple times, and attended the shows onboard with us. My DD gets very seasick even on calm seas, so she spent a bit of time napping in her cabin. The boys (both ex high school basketball players) spent a ton of time at the Sports Court playing basketball, a lot of time eating in O'Sheehans, played some video games, mini golf, and napping in their cabins. None of them were big partiers, or social butterflies, so they didn't do much of the night time partys! I did see on the Daily Schedule that there was a Meet & Greet every night for cruisers Ages 18-24 in one of the bars.

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TAMUPhD

TAMUPhD

Posted
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I have perhaps the most important follow-up question to your wonderful review....Does O'Sheehan's still serve chicken tenders/fingers with honey mustard dipping sauce?

 

This is most likely the make or break question as to whether we sail on the Escape or on the Oasis of the Seas in September for our Honeymoon cruise. My bride-to-be fell in love with them on the EPIC last year and we have heard rumors that they are no longer on the menu. We are pretty much torn between the two ships and itineraries so something has to break the tie!!:D:cool:

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helen haywood

helen haywood

Posted
Posted
Outstanding and honest review of the newest edition to NCL's fleet and Kjquilts ... You are a hoot !

[/color]

We returned a week ago from 3 weeks on the Escape and had a great time. We spent one week in the Haven in an Owner's Suite 17100 and two weeks in a large balcony 9120.

 

We will be in 9126 in a few days! Can you tell me what chairs you had on the balcony?

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orlandodolly

orlandodolly

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Posted

thank you for a wonderful review of your cruise. We are seasoned cruisers (51 in all) and have never been on Norwegian. We are sailing the Escape in May and was a bit apprehensive with hearing quite a few negative comments. I feel a whole lot better after reading your review.

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beerman2

beerman2

Posted
Posted
I have perhaps the most important follow-up question to your wonderful review....Does O'Sheehan's still serve chicken tenders/fingers with honey mustard dipping sauce?

 

This is most likely the make or break question as to whether we sail on the Escape or on the Oasis of the Seas in September for our Honeymoon cruise. My bride-to-be fell in love with them on the EPIC last year and we have heard rumors that they are no longer on the menu. We are pretty much torn between the two ships and itineraries so something has to break the tie!!:D:cool:

 

If I recall correctly she said they DO have chicken fingers in O'Sheehans.

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