Escape 2/20/16 Review

[Biz64]

Just some quick background and info before I get into some thoughts on the cruise. There were 5 of us in the family OV cabin including myself, my wife, and three children ages 10, 8, and 5. Also traveling with us were my brother and his family, and my sister and her family, they were in balconies (4 people each). My family has cruised on Carnival Legend (my wife and I), Disney Dream (with kids), Allure of The Seas (with kids), and my wife and I did a Princess cruise about 13 years ago but I can't remember the ship lol. I don't really have a loyal following to any cruise line, usually we pick based on ship, itinerary, and price. Also, please keep in mind this review is based solely on our experience cruising with younger children, others on the same cruise may have had a completely different experience. Ok, here we go:

 

The ship overall grade: C

The good: very clean, the ship is in great shape (not surprising since it's so new). Everything we encountered worked. The room was one of the roomiest we've had, especially with the kids. The waterfront is nice concept, great place to relax and unwind.

The bad: The most movement we have felt on any ship we've been on! It was swaying, rocking, vibrating, and jerking from the time we departed Miami until we got back, and this was in good weather! I would hate to feel what it would be like in bad weather :eek:. The pool deck is the worst of any of the ships we've been on. One small adult pool that was packed on sea days. The kids pool is 5ft deep at it's shallowest point and there is no seating area around it. My kids basically didn't swim in the pool because it was too deep for them to be able to stand and play in and the water was too wavy from the movement of the ship. Finding a place to sit on sea days is near impossible unless you reserve a chair by 7am. Spice H20 has a nice grotto, but really could use a pool back there. The ship could have also used a pool somewhere on the forward deck as those people that were laying out there were so far away from the pool. Who ever designed the deck areas on this ship needs to be fired :D.

 

Service overall grade: B

Service overall was good to sometimes very good with the only great service being a couple of waiters in O'sheehans and our room steward. Dining room service was probably the worst of the cruises we've been on, not great but not terrible either. For instance we made reservations at the Manhattan Room for the 13 of us to sit together and when we showed up we were split into two tables and basically told "sorry we will try again tomorrow ". The dining service was also very slow, about 2 to 2.5 hours on average, regardless of how many of us there were.

 

Entertainment: B

This one was a tough one to grade. Million Dollar Quartet was awesome! One of the best shows I have ever seen on a cruise and the cast was incredible. After Midnight was not really my thing, but my siblings and their spouses really like it too. My wife and siblings also checked out the comedians and thought they were good. I also really liked Howl At the Moon, they were very good. The cruise director and his crew were all very good and very funny, especially Paquito and Romel.

The main issue I had was that there were not any shows geared toward families with younger kids. The Allure, for example, had How To Train Your Dragon, Monopoly, and a few others. The Escape had nothing.

 

Food: B+

The buffet was very good with lots of choices. The dining rooms all were very good with great desserts, with the only problem being that the menu didn't really change a whole lot. O'sheehans was great! The drinks were very good with lots of top shelf included in the UBP. One thing I wish they had was some type of grill poolside. They had hot dogs, but nothing else. We didn't try any pay restaurants.

 

So overall it was an ok cruise, not my favorite but still better than being at work :D. I don't think I will sail it again, especially not with kids. I really didn't find it to be ideal for a family with younger children. I hated the pool deck, and found the entertainment lacking for families with younger children. It's kind of hard to explain, but it's like they built a big ship with a small ship design :confused:

[Keith1010]

Sorry it was just an OK cruise but thank you for taking the time to write this review/report.

 

Keith

[kchiumento]

How were the kids clubs now that Nickelodeon has departed NCL? We will have 15, 13 and 9 with us. Not too worried for the teenagers, more so the 9 yr old. I don't want him to be bored and wanting to hang with us at night. Mother-of-the-year here wants to put the UBP to good use. [emoji56][emoji12]

[Biz64]

How were the kids clubs now that Nickelodeon has departed NCL? We will have 15, 13 and 9 with us. Not too worried for the teenagers, more so the 9 yr old. I don't want him to be bored and wanting to hang with us at night. Mother-of-the-year here wants to put the UBP to good use. [emoji56][emoji12]

 

Sorry, but I would't know lol. My kids didn't try the kids clubs because they would have to be separated by age and they also had cousins on the ship that they wanted to hang out with. I did walk by the club a few times on the way to our room and on a few occasions I heard kids telling their parents that they didn't want to leave yet, so I'm assuming they were having fun. It's a fun ship during the day, but honestly there isn't much for kids to do after dinner (besides the clubs). For adults though, there is a lot of fun things going on at night!

Edited March 1, 2016 by Biz64

[Clarea]

Thanks for the review.