Norwegian Escape Trip Report 3/12 - 3/19. OK, Pre-Trip report for a little while!

[TrojanDrew]

Forgot a picture from the last one...our family in the Manhattan room...

 

 

Slept in just a little bit...and everyone seemed to have slept well. Nick, having found friends was up about 8:15 to go work out. Apparently the friends were from Canada and Florida and are athletes too (Nick is a football player). We didn't see him again until much later in the day.

 

DW, Connor and I went up to breakfast. It was day 1 of breakfast Buffet....time for bacon and syrup. If you have not had the opportunity to try this....do it. Ideally get a big pile of bacon and get a cereal bowl with syrup in it (no not filled up all the way, that would be ridiculous. But maybe an inch or so. you need to have room to dip your bacon in. So then go back to your table, ignore all the funny looks from the people around you, pick up your glorious piece of bacon which is about to be even more glorious. Thoroughly dip it in the bowl of syrup, lean over the bowl so you don't spill stickiness all over you (yes that tip is from personal experience), put in your mouth, chew, swallow, then repeat. You are welcome. :D

 

After breakfast we went up to do the ropes course. Well we intended to. So there are signs about wearing close toed shoes..and then once our in line you can see the sign for no cell phones or anything in your pockets. I, of course, your faithful journalist had my phone to take pictures of everything. I faithfully put the phone in my cargo pocket of my shorts...figuring no big deal. They let a few guys go with stuff in their pockets ahead of me...but then it was my turn. He asked if I had a cell phone. I, of course, flat out lied. Nope. He points to my pocket..what's what? I look down...clearly outlined in my pocket is my phone. Oh that. That's my cell phone. So I got kicked out of line. Hmm. DW and Connor got to go anyway. I was pretty pissed because they let other people go with stuff in their pockets...and I was annoyed that they picked me out. But fair enough that they did have it written on the wall. However I think they could have someone at the beginning, or have the rules out by the entrance instead of against the wall. kind of annoying to wait a long time and then not get to go. But I digress.

 

DW and Connor had a good time, I took a few pictures, and tried to convince both of them to walk the plank, but neither would do so because it was windy. Connor ended up doing the second plank..but not DW. Maybe later in the week. Oh I should mention she is afraid of heights...so we should give her a pass for that, right? No way jose. Time to suck it up. We will go another time and Connor and I have a plan..he will go in front of her and I will go behind her and block her exit. Take that! She must walk the plank before we get off the ship. She says she will in port...we shall see.

 

Connor starting across and DW holding on for dear life.

 

Connor on the Zip line

 

Deanna ready to go on the Zip line.

 

Connor's official walk the plank picture. As you can see it was REALLY windy!

[TrojanDrew]

While they finished I went and got a Bloody Mary and headed down to the room. Here I discovered that not all bartenders are created equal, and we heard that a lot through the cruise. Some are great, others are just ok....and won't go above and beyond. See, a Bloody Mary is not just vodka and Blood Mary mix. Well, ok, it TECHNICALLY is that....but it needs Worcestershire sauce, and lots of tabasco, salt and pepper to truly be a Bloody Mary. I got vodka and Bloody Mary mix. I took a few sips and dumped it. I'm not just looking to get drunk..I enjoy a good Bloody Mary. I went back to the room changed into my suit and relaxed for a bit.

 

My not so good bloody mary

 

Connor and DW showed up not long after and they also got swimsuits on and we headed for the pool, and the never ending quest to find chairs on the deck. This is no easy task and even maneuvering through the chairs is not for the faint of heart. The chairs are quite close together and that bad enough. If you get behind someone in a wheel chair (which I did), those poor people had to maneuver the obstacle course of chairs that are pulled out, people being lovingly oblivious to what's going on, I'm sure many drunk people, kids running, and of course adults being rude and forcing their way through. Needless to say, that show American Ninja Warrior could be filmed on Deck 17 of the Norwegian Escape. LOL

 

We did eventually find three chairs for us and plopped down, got our tip money ready to go and settled in with our books. Or in Connor's case he settled into take a nap. gotta love the kid.

 

Nice to be able to sleep anywhere.

 

At some point Ben and Kim wandered by and we told them about the ropes course so they headed over there to do that. Now serious book reading time.

 

Eventually it was lunch time and we decided to try O'sheehans or whatever it is called. We wandered down there, and were sat down pretty quickly. I had read some bad reviews about the service, so I was a little worried, but our guy took good care of us. We ordered the Nachos, spinach dip and Deanna ordered wings. I ordered the Rueben and Connor ordered a hot dog, with sauerkraut. I challenged him to try something new every day, and that was his something new.

 

The Nachos, wings and spinach dip came out pretty quick. The nachos were sad. It looked like someone sneezed a small amount of cheese and sour cream on them, sprinkled a tiny bit of bacon and a jalapeno or two. And the cheese was not warm. The spinach dip was watery and cold. Hmmm. The wings got good reviews. I decided to try something. When our dude came back I ordered more nachos with double everything...cheese, bacon and jalapenos. When this came out it was great..and it reminded me of cruise 101. If you don't like what you get...ask for it a different way. So if you go, ask for double or triple everything on the nachos. Don't be afraid to order off the menu (someone else came in asked for chips with salsa and nacho cheese on the side.). It's YOUR vacation. So enjoy it. :)

 

After lunch we went on another chair hunt, we were not yet comfortable with leaving our towels on the chairs like all the other chair hogs! We found some more chairs this time by the waterslides. It was time to try the drop slides. I stripped my watch and ring, I shall be following the rules this time.

 

We went up and only one drop slide was open...so Connor went first...woosh. I was second, the guy asked if I had done it before, which I had not. He explained that I should cross my arms on my chest. He also said I would scream. I said "scream?". he nodded and said "a little bit". A few seconds later the floor dropped out behind me. and I screamed. just a little bit. LOL.

 

It was quite a rush dropping basically straight down and being shot over a hill. I got a big taste of water after cresting the top of the tube (hint, keep your mouth shut), and then got a schnoz full of water at the end (hint: plug your nose at the end). But I have to say it was quite fun and I plan to do it again. And likely again.

 

At some point during our exploring we found the bake shop. I was shocked at the prices. but people were buying them. So they must be good! Maybe someone that has gone can report on how good they were?

 

We decided to go to O'Sheehans for dinner (I'm pretty sure I spelled it wrong the first time I put it in here...but likely I'll forget to go fix that as I'm typing this on the ship...even though I won't post it until we get off! Note as I'm posting this...I DID remember. Yup I'm that good). It was seafood basket night at O'Sheehans and we thought that would be good. Turned out to be a coupe onion rings, 2 shrimp a couple of calamari and some fries. Mediocre at best....way to much breading, and no shrimp cocktail to dip it into. Oh it had a couple of fish filets in there too. Our waiter was TERRIBLE and really, really slow to the point that we finally left without getting desert and headed up to the buffet. This was kind of what we had read about it, so not completely shocking. But a disappointment after lunch which had pretty good service. It is what it is.

 

Our Group at O'Sheehans

 

Headed up to the buffet, I grabbed hand dipped ice cream (butter pecan...yum!) which would become my staple. but the kids found the Crepe station at the back of the buffet. More on this later as I didn't bother to get a crepe but should have. Everyone else got one. Live and learn. Damn you emoticons!

 

After that the kids all wandered off with their friends, and the 4 adults went looking for a place to have a drink and chat. all of the bars on deck 8 had VERY loud music playing...so no way to have a conversation...and a bit frustrating as this was kind of the theme for the whole cruise...loud to the point you could not even talk. I know, I know, I'm getting old...but it went the other way later in the cruise....but you will have to wait to find out about that! Yes, I even do foreshadowing!

 

About 10pm we headed back to the room to go to sleep. Connor was already back, Nick strolled in around 1pm...nice life of a teenager and once again...I've gotten old.

 

Our towel animal

 

Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks for putting up with my slow posting!

Next up: Chapter 4: Sea day #2 and medical emergency #1

[tiggrbaby]

Subbing! DCL is my fav, but we can't afford them anymore (I just retired!). I do like NCL, and we areheading out on the Escape in a few weeks, so you are helping me to get ready!

[TrojanDrew]

Subbing! DCL is my fav, but we can't afford them anymore (I just retired!). I do like NCL, and we areheading out on the Escape in a few weeks, so you are helping me to get ready!

 

Welcome aboard. and I hear you..you have to dig deep to find cheap disney cruises. And the service you can definitely tell, but honestly the food was much better on Norwegian. Only thing I missed was the on-deck pizza and burgers. That was nice and much easier than going down to the buffet!

 

thanks for the post!

 

Drew

[pats4ever]

Welcome aboard. and I hear you..you have to dig deep to find cheap disney cruises. And the service you can definitely tell, but honestly the food was much better on Norwegian. Only thing I missed was the on-deck pizza and burgers. That was nice and much easier than going down to the buffet!

 

thanks for the post!

 

Drew

 

I don't thing there is such a thing anymore as "cheap" disney cruises. I wish they would bring back the kids sail free...that was the best. Maybe once the 2 new Disney ships are done prices will come down...highly unlikely, but you never know. But then again, both our kids will be out of the house by then, so much more affordable to go with 2 rather than 4:D

[mistycruiser]

We must be almost neighbor's because we're in Tracy and from your description sounds like you must be close by. We're going on the Escape May 7th so I'm really enjoying your review. We're flying out of SFO also but we have a really early flight so I'm hoping we don't hit traffic but we do have TrackPass so maybe we can use the carpool lane also. Haven't tried it yet but I'm certainly tempted if the traffic's bad.

[pats4ever]

We must be almost neighbor's because we're in Tracy and from your description sounds like you must be close by. We're going on the Escape May 7th so I'm really enjoying your review. We're flying out of SFO also but we have a really early flight so I'm hoping we don't hit traffic but we do have TrackPass so maybe we can use the carpool lane also. Haven't tried it yet but I'm certainly tempted if the traffic's bad.

 

We are close...Brentwood. We go the Fastrack transponder just for this trip into the airport...the first one we got didn't have the carpool capability, so we had to get a second one so we could use the carpool for free. It was so much better traffic wise. 580 was a breeze at 7:30am on a Friday. I hope you have a great cruise!

[mistycruiser]

Thanks neighbor for the info on Fastrak. I imagine ours aren't carpool capable because we've had them for years. Oh well, we'll be leaving around 4 a.m. so it should be clear. Thanks.

[pats4ever]

no problem...just so you know, you can get the carpool ones for free...just log onto your account and request one...they sent it to us for no extra cost. I was actually surprised they didn't charge us for it. But since you are leaving so early you should be fine!

[Aussiegrlfl]

well...here is where I need more emoticons. I apologize but do not know how to do a trip report...which is very personal..without being personal. So...probably best to not follow along.

 

Sorry if I offend anyone with my TR....but I am who I am. I promise to not give you my social security number. :)

 

Drew

 

 

 

It's ok grannyfrimpy must be a "frump".....I'm loving your sense of humour....but us Aussies know how to laugh in life......:)

[TrojanDrew]

It's ok grannyfrimpy must be a "frump".....I'm loving your sense of humour....but us Aussies know how to laugh in life......:)

HA! that was generally my thinking there...kind of a strange comment. As I said..not sure how else you can do a trip report...other than giving private thoughts and information! Thanks for the post!

Drew

[TrojanDrew]

This is the point where I need to thank DW as she is the one who writes all this stuff down for me. While I might be able to keep up on the cruise, I will almost always forget things. Sometimes it is like she was on a whole other cruise! Nope, not known for my memories. LOL

 

We rolled out of the room about 9, bumped into Kim and Ben in the hallway and all headed up to the buffet for breakfast. I woke up that night not feeling so hot, and with nothing to drink to settle my stomach. As I'm known to do when I feel bad in the middle of the night I swear I won't eat all the terrible things I normally do for breakfast, and as I did not throw up I had to stay at least somewhat true to that. See, living up to promises....that's me.

 

I toasted a bagel, added cream cheese, capers and lox. and had a big scoop of fruit. Not bad at all if i do say so myself...we won't talk about what I wanted to have. But I lived up to my promise (and made a mental note to never go to bed again with out having water available should I need it, oh and to actually drink water during the day as I am pretty sure I was dehydrated. Damn you alcohol!).

 

We intended to do the ropes course right after breakfast (yes attempt number 2, and I did not bring a phone or anything else that would be in my pockets and considered contraband by the ropes course contraband police). However the line was way to long, so we decided to get our suits on and head to the pool. Connor opted to stay behind in the room. Gotta love the kid, he is comfortable in his own skin, just likes hanging out. As long as there are fries. Lots of fries.

 

Since we were kidless we decided to try Spice H2O. We couldn't find any lounge chairs but did find some regular chairs facing the screen. Screen...what is a screen for? oh yeah, playing movies, programing, something, anything. But apparently Norweigan feels the rolling film of islands and stuff that repeats every 5 minutes is enertainment enough. I'm perplexed by this as I feel that it would be easy to have movies or sports playing there all day long. A bit strange to me. Spice H2O is nice, I think we had at least a few visitors who were not adults...but the no kid thing was kind of nice.

 

Ben and I spent some time in the Grotto which was pretty cool. They have rocks formed basically like benches so you can hang out in there nice and cool and chat or whatever. The people watching is fabulous in there as people are shocked by how cold the water is or whatever. Pretty entertaining and I highly recommend it. We had a great spot with a view of the ocean and over the whole Spice H2O. Wonderful place to relax even if you don't get a lounge chair. Beware though, at exactly 4:30 they start breaking down the whole place. if you leave your lounge chair it will disappear and be stacked. Not sure why they stack things so early. I know that it becomes open to everyone, and they play movies there at night..but they take away so many seating locations...leaving the whole middle open. Perplexing to me. but I digress. As usual!

 

Ben and I in the Grotto

 

This is actually from the day before but I forgot them. Played a little mini golf. Not sure what the woman in the background is doing....

 

One of the few pictures of Matt. He was looking for Nick, but we made him play mini golf with us. LOL

 

Yes me showing off my skills.

 

We hit the buffet for lunch (what can I say...it's a buffet. They do have some good stuff. Honestly I really liked the pizza. and to honor Connor, the french fries were awesome. And of course they have hand dipped ice cream...so that was always a good ending to lunch!.

 

Then it was back to Spice for the afternoon. Ben and I took longer than the ladies and when we got there they had snagged some lounge chairs. More importantly one of them was by an umbrella. I like to sit in the shade. Not a huge sun worshipper. I burn easily and don't enjoy that...but I'll sit in the shade all day and read my book. But one comment here....Not sure if anyone else experienced this, but the lounge chairs were not the most comfortable. My rear end would fall asleep after a time of sitting...so you had to move around a lot. I found that strange and it was the first time on a cruise ship that I noticed that. now...I'm a lot bigger than my last cruise...so maybe that was it? Not sure...but it was noticeable. I guess a reason to be up in the Haven. oh to be rich!

 

Headed back to the room to hang out and get ready for dinner. On the menu tonight was O'sheahans again, this time for Prime Rib. We assume they do the dinner specials there to keep people out of the other restaurants? It's kind of interesting. Service was, again, very, very, very slow. The Prime Rib was good though so that was a good thing, but once again no desert there because we were 1.5 hours in and no sign of a server bothering to come check on us. Again probably the most disappointing part of the cruise for us. We will not return there again for Dinner. Lunch, yes...dinner no.

 

Selfie with Wifey

 

 

We had reservations for the acapella group Vocal Overdrive at 10. So we headed up there, grabbed drinks and some seats. So as far as this show...well...DW and Kim both loved it. I loved the beat boxing which was really cool, that guy was supremely talented. The rest of the show was just OK for me, not overwhelming. Ben agreed. But what can you do, not all shows can be everything for everyone, so I get that.

 

At some point during the afternoon we noticed that the ship picked up speed. Noticeable speed as the ship typically would not run fast during the day so it would be smooth while people were up and about. But This was pretty interesting. Late in the afternoon they announced that we had a medical emergency and that we sped up so we would make it to St. Thomas in the middle of the night instead of the morning. No big deal to our plans. Found out later that someone had a compound fracture which was why we had to do it. I think they were lucky that we were hitting a US island...if they didn't have insurance. Which brings me to another point....highly recommend insurance. Honestly we never have been consistent with it...but after this cruise (and medical emergency number 2 which will come later), I think we will going forward just in case.

 

Lost track of which towel animal came when...so you just get a random one. monkey!

 

Next up: Chapter 5 St. Thomas and FIRE!

[luvcruzing]

I agree about the lounge chairs. They seem to be a popular style, though. Don't know why.:rolleyes:

[luvcruzing]

Whenever we've been on a cruise, and prime rib was the special at O'Sheehan's, it was also on the menu in the main dining rooms.

[TrojanDrew]

I agree about the lounge chairs. They seem to be a popular style, though. Don't know why.:rolleyes:

so when your butt is sore you decide next time I'm going Haven! LOL

 

Whenever we've been on a cruise, and prime rib was the special at O'Sheehan's, it was also on the menu in the main dining rooms.

True I think it was. but I think they advertise it to get at least some people there. Of course could be people don't go there because the service is terrible at night...just sayin!