Feb 27 Escape Review with pictures (+comparing with Oasis)

[danny6514]

I am a 24 year old travelling with my girlfriend and my university classmates. We're both from Vancouver in Canada and my friends are from Toronto. This cruise is my second cruise, but my first one on NCL (the previous one was on the Oasis). It is also my friends first time cruising. I'll be sharing some of my thoughts about this trip as well as comparing with my last cruise on the Oasis of the Seas. I'm going to put out a disclaimer that the Escape gave a pretty bad first impression but well redeemed itself by the end of the trip. So please don't bash on me for saying bad things about the ship :) I'll be breaking the review into separate sections, each with its own post.

Edited March 20, 2016 by danny6514

[danny6514]

A day before the cruise I flew from Vancouver to Dallas and stayed over night there. Since our flight from Dallas to Miami was at 7am, we had to wake very very early. Together with being overly excited for our cruise, guess what that spells? Very little sleep.

 

Hotel room at Hyatt Regency DFW:

 

Regardless, we made it to our flight well before boarding time and made it to the ship by noon. I can't tell you guys how happy I am to make the ship. Little story from last year's cruise (skip to next paragraph if you don't want to hear the story), we also flew into Dallas to transfer to Ft Lauderdale the same day. However, since Dallas was having a "snow storm" with snow up to....2CM?? Sorry having lived in Toronto before, I can't believe that was enough to almost shut the whole airport down. Our connecting flight to Ft Lauderdale was delayed to 9pm from 5pm. Seeing that the majority of flights were cancelled out of Dallas, we were quite relieved ours wasn't. At 9pm, we all boarded, the plane went out to line up for de-icing. After 1 hour of waiting, the flight suddenly turned back and the pilot informed us he has maxed out his working hours and the flight was cancelled. It really really sucked, to add insult to the injury, every single flight to Ft. Lauderdale was cancelled the next day. We had to beg the people at the assistance desk to put us on another flight. Thankfully, we were put on a flight to Miami at 5am. At 5am, after a whole night of airport exploration and absolutely 0 sleep, we boarded our flight. It went out for de-icing, no problem, and, guess what? Went right back to the gate AGAIN. Why? Medical emergency. By that time, you could see people on the plane losing it, questioning whether a plane actually flies. Trust me, after hours of torture and multiple cancellations, you really do wonder if planes actually fly. After what felt like forever (1 hour), we departed and arrived in Miami. Yay right? Nope, after arriving at Miami, they informed us our luggage didn't follow us and is still in Dallas. At that point, I really don't care anymore, I just want to get on my ship. And so, that's exactly what I did, went on the cruise without my luggage. Fortunately, RC was more than helpful and arranged my luggage to be sent to our next stop. So people, be happy every single time you make it to your cruise with your luggage, some people aren't so lucky. :)

 

GOING BACK ON TOPIC, we arrived at Miami port at around noon. The check in was fast, we were on the ship within ~20 minutes. We have nothing to complain about other than the fact we felt Port of Miami (atleast the check in part) was pretty run down and worse than Port Everglades.

 

Picture I took before landing, what do you guys see in the distance?:

 

Other ships in port at Miami:

Edited March 20, 2016 by danny6514

[danny6514]

Boarding the ship:

 

Seeing the Escape for the first time ever, I have to say, it's one good looking ship. Compared to Oasis, I like the paintings on the Escape a lot more. After stepping foot on the ship through the bridge, we walked on the outside walkway of the ship towards the back, and entered the ship through a crew staircase area near the hall filled with slot machines beside the atrium. This was one place I thought Escape could learn from Oasis. When passengers step onto your ship for the first time, you're supposed to let them see something beautiful and grand, not through a crew staircase then enter a hallway filled with slot machines. On the Oasis, the first thing we saw was the promenade, which was spectacular. After we entered the Escape's interior, we saw the shiny lights hanging down from the ceiling above Le Bistro, it was beautiful. Ofcourse, we walked over to get a better look of it.

 

 

However, as soon as we got there, there was a very strong cigarette smell. So yes, just like a lot of you have complained, the smell is there, and pretty strong (atleast to me). Through the whole cruise, the smell would sometimes go away, and sometimes I could smell it all the way from near guest services area.

 

Sunset of first night with Miami in the far distant:

Edited March 20, 2016 by danny6514

[danny6514]

Since we had the SDP, we ate at many restaurants including: Manhattan Room, Taste, Moderno, La Cucina, Teppanyaki, Food Republic, and Cagney's.

 

Manhattan Room:

We found the food to be average at the Manhattan Room. Given that it is a complimentary option, we didn't expect it to be specialty dining quality. I order the Steak Frites 2-3 times, and it was decent and consistent everytime, no complaints here. Service was normal everytime except for the first time. On the first night, the service was exceptional there. Our server checked up on us multiple times and insisted if there is anything we needed help with or anything we did not like, make sure to let him know. Everytime we ordered something, he would get it very quickly. This guy's service blew any server I've had both on land and cruise away. Overall, we found the food to be mediocre, a step below Oasis. Interesting end to the meal: At the end of the meal, since it was my friend's first time cruising, he was not used to just leaving after a meal. He wanted me to stand up first, because he felt like he was dine and dashing. I never thought of it that way, but it does feel pretty darn good just finishing your meal and leaving.

 

Taste:

Honestly, same as Manhattan Room minus the live music.

 

Moderno:

Having been a little seasick when I ate at Moderno, things probably didn't taste as good as it actually is. However, I still enjoyed most of the food here, especially the chicken drumsticks there, it was very tender and were not dry like the ones found in the buffet or the MDR. The buffet in Moderno was decent, but nothing special. It has the usual such as salad and soup. What surprised me was that there was actually sushi and it was quite decent. Service was great, the people who bring the food to your table (sorry I do not know the names for them) were all great and almost feels overly energetic haha.

 

La Cucina:

Me and my girlfriend both enjoyed this place. The fact we were pasta lovers might have played a role here. We ordered the Caesar salad, vegetable soup (might be called something else), Lobster pasta, some other pasta I can't remember the name of, and Calamari. There weren't any food we felt was bad. The service was good with the exception of the person standing at the entrance. Since we've had luck dropping by a little earlier than our reservation time and we were very hungry, we decided to simply drop by and ask if they had any tables available. Without really letting me finish, she just coldly says "Come back at 9:30pm." I was a little surprised at her attitude, but I didn't make a big fuzz and just said thank you to her. (Why did I even?) I felt she could have atleast politely said "No we don't, please come back at 9:30pm." Anyways, that did not ruin our vacation definitely and we enjoyed our meal there later that night. Comparing with Giovanni's Table on the Oasis, it's a tough one. Given that this restaurant came with my SDP, it was definitely worth it. However, if I was to pay ala carte compared to the cover charge on Oasis (which they give 50% off on the second night sometimes = $15), Giovanni's Table might give a bit more value. Food wise, tie, both good!

 

Lamb:

 

Lobster Pasta:

 

Teppanyaki:

Having been to a Teppanyaki on land before, I kind of already knew what to expect. However, my meal that night surpassed by expectations by a lot, especially in the service aspect. After getting seated and orders taken, the chef came and greeted everyone. Not only was he able to cook the food wonderfully, he managed to succeed in every trick he showed us. Seeing that the chef behind him did not have that sort of luck, I was pretty amazed at his skills. The food was great, and the quantity is DEFINITELY much more than I expected. On land, I would typically leave the restaurant "just full" and sometimes less than that. So, for those that was wondering how the portion was, it's big. Reason being they seem to always make more fried rice than needed. I got to have 3 full bowls of fried rice. Even better, he made too much lobster. Yes, lobster. He gave me some of those even though I didn't order it. I always saw these places as paying for the show rather than the food. However, I definitely felt like I got both that day, and free too! I did make sure to leave the chef a big tip though.

 

Food Republic:

Due to our La Cucina reservation being at 9:30pm, we stopped by here at 7pm to grab a small snack. Here, we ordered the korean chicken wings, pad thai, and mochi as desert. The mochi was great, and the other two we felt as good/normal. It might have been that I had such a high expectation of this place that made it taste not as good as expected. Don't get me wrong, it was good, and I definitely felt the money was well spent, but I wouldn't put this place any higher than the rest of the specialty restaurants.

 

Pretty empty when I went:

 

Pad Thai:

 

Korean Chicken Wings:

 

Garden Cafe:

I loved how I could just walk into this place anytime I want to grab on random food to munch on. Yes it is buffet quality, but I still liked having it available to me. I really enjoyed the omelette station in the morning, pasta station in the afternoon, and just the freedom of getting whatever I want without waiting. After a nice SPA at 3pm and feeling hungry? No problem. Too much partying and want to eat something at 10pm or 11pm? No problem. We ate here many times for lunch and breakfast, it was great.

 

O'Sheehans:

I loved the wings here and how it's 24/7. After the Glow Party at like 2 or 3am, guess what's open? O'Sheehans! We played cards at this place while having some food and drinks, so much better than Oasis. All they had was a very mediocre pizza place that was open 24/7. Can't go back to that anymore.

Edited March 20, 2016 by danny6514

[danny6514]

Cagney's:

A place of mixed feeling. The service fell below our expectations here, but the food was great. Having heard that people had luck putting all the appetizers on the bills of people who have SDP, I thickfacedly asked our server if that could be done. He just shook his head without saying anything. When I said to give us a few more minutes with the menu, he just walked away. Except for taking our orders, he never checked up on us even once. He must be having a pretty bad day. I ordered the 32 ounce porterhouse steak here, it was great, but it caused me to not want to touch steak for a while. (even though I ordered another one the day after, yes I'm weird I know) It was way toooooo much meat. I left the restaurant feeling like I couldn't move anymore. But honestly, it still felt great, isn't that what cruising is about? eat, eat and eat!

 

32ounce Porterhouse Steak (compare size with the fork):

Edited March 20, 2016 by danny6514

[danny6514]

Except for the random slot machines in the hallways and the smoke in the Le Bistro area, we liked everything else about the ship. Other than the pool deck during sea days, we never felt like it was overly crowded. Bar wait times? What's that? We never had to wait for more than ~2 minutes at any bar we visited. If you really want to go up to the pool bar when there are 20 people surrounding it, you can't possibly expect them to give you your drink immediately. Go elsewhere if you want faster service. Margaritaville, as others have reported, was pretty empty. I could probably count with my fingers how many groups of people I saw actually eating food there the whole cruise. However, I actually liked ordering drinks from the bar there, they always put up a great show and had big smiles on their faces there. It might have to do with the fact traffic is so little there that they're not overworked like the other bartenders. Seating was great too, never had trouble finding a seat in this super empty section of the ship. Another hot topic I've read on CC, ship movement! Yes, we definitely felt the ship moving almost the whole cruise. For the most part, it felt "normal" and was well within our tolerance except for one night. However, having only Oasis to compare to, it rocked a lot. I cannot comment further how it is compared to other ships. Speaking of Oasis, one thing that could be improved on the Escape is the availability of pools/hot tubs. I think any basic research would show that Oasis has MUCH MORE pools and hot tubs than Escape. Adjusting for the capacity difference, without any scientific proof, I felt Oasis wins hands down in this area. For this very reason, we actually purchased the Thermal Suite Pass. Even though we did not use it as much as we would've liked, it was still worth it.

 

Pool deck during sea day:

 

Pool deck at night:

[danny6514]

Given our age, we were not very interested in shows like Burn the Floor (sorry). However, we really enjoyed the parties at night at Spice H2O. The best one we went to was the Glow Party. We went when it first started, and stayed all the way to the end. I believe we were one of the 3 groups of people left at the end. My friend who was very happy and tipsy went up to the DJ and asked him to play Gangnam Style. He actually did. You could see some people give that "what's this?" face, but it was still pretty awesome and we had a great time. Oasis had nothing like this, and this was actually one factor that's making us go back to NCL again.

 

Here's a special clip showing the best dancer on the whole cruise ship:

 

More videos of the party: https://goo.gl/photos/mTuLjtWqAhdMYt7H9

 

Party!

 

In addition, we also went to Howl at the Moon and found the live performances to be great. I really liked how interactive they were with the audience. They would actively be chatting with the people below the stage, inviting them up to the stage and do all sorts of weird things. People would be buying them drinks, and they would actually drink them. They must have a really high tolerance eh? It just felt great and you could feel everyone was enjoying their times there. We also went to the karaoke event in 5 o'clock somewhere bar. The first few groups of people to sign up sang very well and we enjoyed the performance. However, towards the end, you could see some tipsy people up there "singing." Nevertheless, it was great and we enjoyed our time there.

 

Another highlight of the cruise is the cruise director! Silas was great, he was there for a bunch of events including the parties at Spice H2O and stuff that happens in the atrium. I wonder how he has so much energy to always stay so happy and pumped. We really liked the Newly Wed game show he hosted one night. We got many good laughs from that show and it became a major highlight of our cruise. Silas managed to keep most people entertained through the show and by the end, there was a massive crowd surrounding the atrium.

[danny6514]

Ropes course was great and terrifying. Having watched many YouTube videos on that, I thought it would be easy peasy. Guess who was the one up there "hugging" the pole? Yup, me. I quickly overcame my fear, but the first time you're up there, it's quite scary. I always thought the rope that you're tied to would be "tight" such that even if you let go, you would just hang where you are without dropping. But noooooo, the rope was quite long and if I did fall, I would still plunge a bit. I guess it's the feeling of not having any sort of support that make it really scary. However, after easing in a bit, it became quite fun. The first time I attempted the zipline, I kind of walked to the edge and just pushed myself a bit, but by the second time, I was running down the thing trying to gain more speed. Awesome feeling. Compared to Oasis' activities, I prefer this one much much more. We also played mini golf. We liked how there are small structures that we could attempt to hit the ball into. It made it more fun than the other mini golfs I've been to. It got to a point where our main goal was to hit things into that box than to actually score anything.

 

Sorry no pictures here, ropes course didn't allow us to bring anything.

[danny6514]

St. Thomas:

We got off the ship, grabbed a taxi, and headed straight to Coki Beach. The ride was a tad long at 20-30 minutes each way. It was 9 dollars per person per way if I'm not mistakened. Compared to whatever NCL was trying to sell us, it was a great deal. Adding together all the rental costs and taxi, we probably spent 25 dollars per person max that whole day. Since we were one of the earlier ones there, we got a really great spot to put our beach chairs at. We thoroughly enjoyed our 4 hours there. The water was great, my friend loved the snorkel there, and together with the great sunshine (coming from Vancouver, also known as Raincouver), it was awesome. Towards the end, the beach did get incredibly crowded though. At the end, we had a row of beach chairs in front of us, and behind us.

 

Coki Beach:

 

Tortola:

Way too early. Only if they could arrive and depart a little bit later. Since it was our first time at Tortola and the time is so short, we signed up for NCL's Virgin Gorda excursion. Right at 7am, we met at the Escape Theatre and we got off the ship soon after. After getting off the ship, we got on a Speedy's Ferry which took us to Virgin Gorda in about 25 minutes (?). Compared to the "Barf Express" at Cozumel, the ride was surprisingly much more smooth. After getting off the ferry at Virgin Gorda, we got on a bus that took us to the Baths in about 5-10 minutes. At The Baths, we followed the crowd down to the rocks first as opposed to the beach. I've read mixed reviews as to which one to go first but I decided to just go to the rocks first. As others have said, boy was it crowded. No matter which direction you look, there are always a ton of people. However, after we got to the beach, we finally manged to find a good place to relax and take pictures without getting photobombed. All in all, was the Baths nice? Yup. Was it worth 90 USD per person? Not really. It was a great first experience, but we probably won't go again.

 

[danny6514]

On the ferry getting back to the ship:

 

The comedian on the ship said: "I feel so sorry for the other ship because it is sooo small."

 

Nassau:

Nassau the shopping port. With the Canadian dollar sucking so badly right now, we had no intention of buying anything off the ship. All we really did was walk around, buy some small souvenirs and that's about it. I'll probably try to avoid this port when I search for my future cruises, it's really either a really expensive Atlantis trip, or just shopping. We ended up going back on the ship well before 7pm. The surprise was when we were getting back on the ship. I really liked how they basically threw a party right at the dock at Nassau. They had a row of people dancing and welcoming you back to the ship along with some loud music. It created a great vacation-vibe. The Carnival passengers that walked by our ship all looked at our ship and gave me "what the??" reaction. They're probably just jealous they have nothing ;)

 

Video of the "party": https://goo.gl/photos/591WYq3SVPxPdCjX6

 

Other ships in port:

 

Andddd, at the end of the day, will I go back to NCL? Yes, the drinks package along with the entertainment, parties and everything make it more worth it than RC for me. Infact, I have already booked my next year's cruise on the Getaway!

 

Ending the review with a nice night time shot of the logo:

Edited March 20, 2016 by danny6514

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

 

Keith

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review!

[danny6514]

Thank you both, this is my first review so I'm glad someone enjoys it :)

 

 

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[JosephinePicerno]

Great review, thank you for taking the time to write that. I always wondered if NCL was better than RC. It's so much cheaper! I've done NCL a couple of times and loved it compared to Carnival and Princess.

 

 

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[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[Sand and Seas]

Excellent Review! Really enjoyed your comparison with the Oasis as we have been sailing exclusively with NCL for the last few years and you always wonder ;) The Escape is a wonderful ship and we have already booked another cruise on her. You would probably enjoy the Getaway or Breakaway also.

[kathylynnt]

Danny, that was an awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[Jim The Lizard]

Nice job!. Gave some great insight, and sounds like you had a great cruise.

[jimbri]

Great review!

[jbetten1]

Thanks for the report and pictures. We sail on the Escape this Saturday and and looking forward to enjoying everything she has to offer. Can't wait for the Glow Party...looks super fun!

[StephRefreshmentsNarcotic]

Awesome review!

 

 

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[beerman2]

Thank you!

[Kfamilycruise]

Great review! Thanks for the pictures! Totally agree about the Bahamas. I haven't been on the Escape yet, but frankly the motion issue is keeping me off of it for now. We were on the Getaway last year and are going again on her this year. Loved that ship! We've also been on the Oasis and think the Getaway wins hands down. Still has a bit of the pool crowding issue, but you can lay out in other places, not just around the pool.

[Jenjer]

Thank You for your review and photos.

[remharri]

Great review! You hit on everything I wanted to hear, thanks for sharing!