A Few Escape Questions

[cb2367]

I just completed the edocs process, and part of that process was to select an arrival time. I got an 11:30-12:00 arrival time. Is that an indication of the boarding group priority?

 

In St. Thomas and Tortola, is there anything to do within walking distance of the ship? Trying to decide on shore excursions, but don't want to spend too much on excursions. I thought about checking out the Sky Ride.

 

Can you bring bottled water onboard without any problems?

 

For entertainment onboard, options are the Brat Pack and After Midnight. Any opinions on these shows?

[nopqrstuv]

Yes, when you arrive at the port you'll be given a Group Number which is called to allow people on board the ship. We arrived during our actual arrival time (10:30am), so I don't know how well they police this. Once we were there, I was wishing I had maybe picked a later time instead of fighting the crowds of people still disembarking and waiting in the holding room until you could board.

 

We like going into town on St Thomas. Many people walk into town, but a taxi into town is $4 pp each way. However, there are a lot of shops right at the port. A taxi to Coki Beach is $9 pp each way.

 

In Tortola there are some shops at the pier. We walked into town, but not much there. We enjoyed some quiet time on the ship.

 

For water, just slap on a luggage tag on the case and it will arrive in your room. I also brought my insulated cup and got water from the buffet using a buffet cup to fill it with ice and water.

 

We enjoyed After Midnight. Didn't see Brat Pack. Our other choice in addition to After Midnight was Vocal Overdrive that I was not impressed with.

 

Have a GREAT TIME. It's a beautiful ship with wonderful staff. We were on it last week.

[nopqrstuv]

One more thing. The four of us were going to go up to Paradise Point, but it was going to cost us $21pp and we had already been to Coki Beach.

[kayjay76]

How long before your cruise can you do your edocs? Thanks you

[Demonyte]

I just completed the edocs process, and part of that process was to select an arrival time. I got an 11:30-12:00 arrival time. Is that an indication of the boarding group priority?

 

 

No it isn't. The arrival times are not enforced in any way (at least not yet) and exist only to help spreading people's arrival more evenly. You can arrive to the port anytime you want, we prefer arriving earlier (10:30-11:00) so that we can get onboard around noon to have a leisured sit-down lunch in MDR and avoid the mayhem in buffet or O'Sheehan's (also sit-down service but often very slow).

 

After completing the check-in, you will take the escalator to upper floor and if they are still using boarding numbers, your party will be given one - it's strictly first come, first served in the order of arrival to that floor. When the masses have boarded, the numbers are no longer used and you can walk straight onboard.

[Demonyte]

How long before your cruise can you do your edocs? Thanks you

 

 

There is no time limit for being able to do the online check-in but eDocs usually become ready only closer to the cruise.

[packer99]

We took the taxi cab tours that you can get right off the port for St Thomas and Tortola. St Thomas was $25 per person. It was 2 hours. It was kind of fun, stopped at tourist/scenic spots. Also went to Lindbergh Beach and spent a couple hours there. The taxi on the way back was $7 per person. There is a decent amount of shopping in St Thomas that isn't too far from the port.

 

We did the same thing for Tortola. We were already pretty sunburned so heading to the beach wasn't something we wanted to do. LOL. We walked down farther, got a cab for $15. The tour was about 2 hours.

 

Oh, and we had our check in at 12pm. We got there about 11:45. We went thru the process, about an hour maybe? We never were given a group #. We just followed the stream of people on to the ship. Our rooms were ready, dropped our stuff off, got a drink and explored!

Edited April 7, 2016 by packer99

[zdcatc12]

I did a rental car in St. Thomas. It was $50/day. We drove up to Paradise Point and that paid for the car, as the skyride is $25/pp. We also drove up to Mountain Top and Megan's Bay. It was nice being on your own schedule. All of the roads were in my GPS. The Budget office is at the pier.

[blackwing]

St. Thomas - there really isn't a whole lot to do near the ship I don't think. There is a small shopping mall. You can take a taxi bus to downtown for $4 per person. Downtown is just more shopping and restaurants. You can walk there, but it's about a 2.5 mile walk, and it's a LOT farther than it looks.

 

We intended to go to Magen's Bay because I heard it is an amazing beach, but it is quite an expensive taxi ride per person.

 

In Tortola we did the Dolphin Discovery. We booked it on our own as it is a lot cheaper than going through Norwegian, and we got a higher level experience than what was offered by NCL.

 

Shows - on our sailing, they were After Midnight and Vocal Overdrive. Brat Pack, which is moving into the main theatre, was a Supper Club paid show, so we didn't see it.

 

After Midnight - they call it a 1920's Cotton Club Musical inspired by Duke Ellington. The music is jazz and there's a lot of tap dancing. This show may not be everyone's cup of tea. Out of my family of 6, I was the only one that lasted until the end. My wife and kids walked out after 10 minutes, and my inlaws lasted 5 additional minutes. If you don't like the music or the dancing, then you will be bored. My criticism of this show is that there is absolutely no plot or story at all. It's just singing. Then dancing. Then singing and dancing. Then more of the same, a series of singing/dancing performances.

[Maddysdaddy]

My answers are in light blue.

 

I just completed the edocs process, and part of that process was to select an arrival time. I got an 11:30-12:00 arrival time. Is that an indication of the boarding group priority?

 

That was the arrival time that I had for my family's cruise on the Escape last week. Based on what I had read on CC, we showed up at 10:30 and went right through security and check-in. Took the escalator upstairs and there were so many people already there, that we ended up being part of boarding group 16. I don't specifically remember looking at my watch as to what time our group was finally called, but think it must have been after 12:30, since we didn't even have a chance to sit down for lunch before the announcement was made that the rooms were ready.

 

In St. Thomas and Tortola, is there anything to do within walking distance of the ship? Trying to decide on shore excursions, but don't want to spend too much on excursions. I thought about checking out the Sky Ride.

 

Very little to do in Tortola. In St. Thomas, according to my Fitbit, it's about 1.7 miles from the ship to the town, and it's a very easy walk along the water. Both times we have ported in St. Thomas, we've done an excursion in the morning and walked to and from the town in the afternoon.

 

Can you bring bottled water onboard without any problems?

 

Yes, but the water on board was quite good. We only brought a half dozen bottles in our carry-on just to take on excursions.

 

For entertainment onboard, options are the Brat Pack and After Midnight. Any opinions on these shows?

 

I'm in my early 40's and loved the Brat Pack (although the food was not great). My wife, who is much MUCH younger (you're welcome, babe) enjoyed the music, but didn't have as much of a connection to the movies as I did. Our daughter is about to turn 12, and her only exposure to John Hughes is via Ferris Bueller (which they do a couple of minutes on) and P,T&A (which they didn't touch). She was bored stiff.

 

In terms of After Midnight, I love Jazz and really enjoyed the music. My Wife was less enthused, as most of the songs were not what you would consider 'standards'. My daughter has been in dance for years, so appreciated that part of the performance.

 

I do have to say that I have never seen an audience as rude and inconsiderate as that at After Midnight. People getting up and down during the performance to go on alcohol runs. Kids running up and down the stairs with no parental intervention (keeping in mind that the show is definitely not geared to their age bracket, so I don't blame them for being bored - I blame their parents for not monitoring them). People talking and playing games on their phones... I found the whole experience quite disrespectful to the performers.

[cb2367]

I decided to try the Historic Waterfront Run tour in St. Thomas as something different from the usual (i.e. beach break, snorkel, etc.). This tour is just over an hour and I believe it starts about 15 minutes after scheduled docking. Would I be able to go back to the ship, freshen up, and then walk to the sky ride location and check that out?

 

As for bringing water, I know it's available on board. I anticipate having room in my luggage for a few bottles. I wanted to make sure that security wouldn't take it out so as to encourage passengers to purchase drinks on board.

[traveller]

when I went to do port arrival time NOTHING was left.

Travel agent said don't worry...go whenever you want...it's not big deal..

 

We are super past passengers of both Celebrity and Princess but this is just our 3rd NCL.

It was a very last minute decision...just needed to get away for some down time...

 

Andrea

[Nola26]

One more thing. The four of us were going to go up to Paradise Point, but it was going to cost us $21pp and we had already been to Coki Beach.

 

Paradise Point is a gondola ride that is walking distance from ship. Tickets are a little less and returnable if bought on ship. We loved the experience. Taxi to beach, back to ship for showers and buffet, stroll to gondola and back hitting shops along the way.

[mjkacmom]

I decided to try the Historic Waterfront Run tour in St. Thomas as something different from the usual (i.e. beach break, snorkel, etc.). This tour is just over an hour and I believe it starts about 15 minutes after scheduled docking. Would I be able to go back to the ship, freshen up, and then walk to the sky ride location and check that out?

 

As for bringing water, I know it's available on board. I anticipate having room in my luggage for a few bottles. I wanted to make sure that security wouldn't take it out so as to encourage passengers to purchase drinks on board.

 

You can bring on as many cases of water that you want - security won't take it.

[BirdTravels]

I just completed the edocs process, and part of that process was to select an arrival time. I got an 11:30-12:00 arrival time. Is that an indication of the boarding group priority? The check-in times are not really enforced. We show up around 10:30. Boarding starts at 11:30. Getting to the port early puts you in an early boarding group and will get your cruise vacation started earlier. If you doing edocs, your cruise probably doesn't leave until 7 pm, so the final boarding is at 5 pm.

 

Can you bring bottled water onboard without any problems? No problem bringing water and soda onboard. We stick a case in a roller and let the porters bring it onboard. Miami allows you to stick a luggage tag on a case.

 

For entertainment onboard, options are the Brat Pack and After Midnight. Any opinions on these shows? They are free and you should plan to attend. 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm shows alternating in the main theater. The brat pack is based on the 80's movie music of John Hughes (breakfast club, sixteen candles, weird science, etc. After midnight is a dance-based musical based on the cotton club. There is also an additional-fee Cabaret show in the Supper Club. Reservations to the comedy show can be made as soon as you get onboard (early shows are family oriented, late shows are adult oriented). Other shows are open seating (no reservations).

 

Have Fun on the Escape! We are onboard for the second time in a couple of weeks!

[Sand and Seas]

Escape is a great ship! Don't miss the Aqua Racer water slide. You can google Escape's Aqua Racer to get a good preview. The Brat Pack show has gotten some good reviews so we are looking forward to see it on our next Escape cruise. We also loved the small plate dishes in Food Republic. Small charges but big taste. Have fun:D

[Sunshine2U]

We're doing a tour in St. Thomas - booked from a local (go to Ports of Call board for ideas). In Tortola we're taking a taxi tour and hope to have a short stop at CGB beach, Callwood rum distillery, Pussers. For Nassau, you can find some ideas for self-guided walking tours - not sure if I found those here or another well known trip advice website forum. Have fun planning!