Escape 4/30 - Dalies - H7 - Smoke - CC - Info

[J&Bsail]

Escape 4/30/2016 - 5/7/2016

 

 

For those who like to plan ahead ... pdf files:

 

Welcome Aboard

Welcome Letter

 

Freestyle Daily:

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Leaving Soon

 

Shopping Guides:

St Thomas

Tortola

Nassau

 

Enjoy...up next H7 cabin

Edited May 10, 2016 by J&Bsail
spelling

[J&Bsail]

H7: The Haven Penthouse Forward Facing Suites have a porthole window in the bedroom overlooking the bow and a small side balcony. Staterooms feature a separate living room, dining area, single sofa bed, tv, refrigerator, coffee maker, floor to ceiling windows, large private balcony, king-size bed with pillow top mattress, luxury shower, oversize tub, two vanity sinks, and a water closet.

 

 

 

 

[J&Bsail]

 

 

 

 

 

Up next H7 cabin comments ...

[Clarea]

Gorgeous photos!

[eajusa]

Thanks for the pdf files. Going on my first cruise in June and sailing on the Escape in August.

[TenForward]

Very helpful, thank you!

[remharri]

I was on this cruise and it was wonderful!

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks for posting the files and the beautiful pictures! Very helpful for the rest of us to plan with :D

[Jenjer]

Thank You for the shopping info.

 

Your cabin is beautiful.

[rojoand8]

Do you know if the dalies stay pretty consistent from cruise to cruise? Not cruising until October, but trying to set up a schedule so when my 90 days comes up I can do my reservations.

[J&Bsail]

Before continuing, and subjective comments, a little about us...J, my wife, is young, polite, friendly and outgoing. Myself (B) is old, cranky and somewhat spoiled (description from J). We cruise 2 to 3 time a year and usually in suites. NCL has become our favorite cruise line with the casual atmosphere.

 

The cruise on the Escape was excellent (all cruises are excellent).

 

 

The H7 suite was a good fit for us. The balcony was shaded and a perfect shied for the very windy sea days. The small balcony was perfect for afternoon reading in the shade with a glass of wine. :)

 

In the suite, we moved the chair from the desk to the table (now 4 chairs) and moved the padded chair from in front of the glass sliding door to the desk. This padded chair fit perfectly under the desk. This simplified getting in/out of the balcony.

 

The bathroom was an odd lay-out. If J was putting on makeup, getting out of the shower required her to move. The shower was nice but very narrow, your nose was almost on the glass door when using the shower...but still a good area.

 

I had read that the bedroom had a USB outlet on each side of the bed. No ... but one side of the bed had a clock radio with an iPhone port but the radio did not work. J unplugged the radio and used this area for charging her iPhone.

 

J used the one outlet on the vanity in the bathroom to charge her Apple watch. I used the one outlet on the living room desk to charge d my iPhone and Surface Pro notebook.

 

The room had great closets but we had to wrap the wooden hangers with a towel in the unused closets to minimize the noise of clanking hangers at night. Overall the room was very quiet and we did not hear the neighbors.

 

The new Nespresso coffee maker in the suite was excellent but very noisy. By the end of the trip I enjoyed the taste of the Nespresso products.

 

 

The bow suites were a good distance to the forward elevators. We logged an average of 4 miles per day on this trip. It was fun to compare J's watch step count to my iPhone "heart" app. My count was always more than J's. I told her it was my pacing waiting for her as she shopped in ports. :)

 

Up next - smoke ...

[J&Bsail]

Here are specialty restaurant menus for those that like to plan ...

 

Bayamo

Cagney's

Food Republic

La Cucina

Le Bistro

Margaritaville

Pincho

 

We did not eat at Teppanyaki -- more on food later. :)

 

Brad

Edited May 11, 2016 by J&Bsail

[J&Bsail]

Do you know if the dalies stay pretty consistent from cruise to cruise? Not cruising until October, but trying to set up a schedule so when my 90 days comes up I can do my reservations.

 

Now that the new entertainment schedule is set, the dailies should be good. ;)

 

We booked this cruise 70 days out and had a problem with 7:00 PM reservations. Once on the ship, we were able to change some late dinning times to the 6:45-7:45 time slots.

 

Brad

[Mistizoom]

Thanks for your review so far! Looking forward to more.

[J&Bsail]

Smoking is a touchy topic here on CC. Well J is a cigarette smoker and I like an evening cigar. We follow the current NCL smoking rules.

 

The Escape allows smoking ONLY on deck 17 Sun Deck Bar (Starboard side--very windy), the casino (when playing but never enforced) and the Humidor room on Deck 8 (usually open 24/7). No smoking on the Escape near the pool or outside on the Waterfront (these areas on the Getaway allow smoking in designated areas).

 

Smokers note: On embarkation day, no smoking anywhere on the ship while refueling (inside or outside). So from arrival at the port until after the Life Boat Drill (approximately 4 PM), no smoking anywhere on the ship. The Humidor room is locked until Life Boat Drill completed.

 

 

 

So...we visited the Humidor room at 4:00 PM on embarkation day and the room full of cigarette smokers--most standing. This room was full of smoke and the ventilation inadequate--worse than an old glass airport smoking room. During the week, the mix was 2/3 cigarette smokers to 1/3 cigar smokers and the ventilation of the room was never good.

 

The Humidor room did sell cigars but no cigar menu on tables and prices not posted in humidor. No drink price menus on tables in the Humidor room. :(

 

So what does a cigar smoker do in Nassau (we have been in Nassau many times)?

 

 

We walked to visit the historic Graycliff Hotel. (http://www.graycliff.com) The hotel is easy walking distance from the port (1/2 mile). Very interesting Hotel with Cigar factory (cigars from $7.95 to $29.95 each). The cigar rolling room was an interesting free tour.

 

Up next...CC Meet and Greet...

 

Brad

[BDsquared]

Thank you so much for posting the pdf files! Beautiful pictures! :)

[trmom2]

Now that the new entertainment schedule is set, the dailies should be good. ;)

 

We booked this cruise 70 days out and had a problem with 7:00 PM reservations. Once on the ship, we were able to change some late dinning times to the 6:45-7:45 time slots.

 

Brad

 

Where did you go to change your reservations? On the Breakaway it was in the atrium next to Guest Services. We are leaving in a few days and I want to change a few of our reservations to later times.

[zteamtwo]

Question--where is the "large private balcony" you mentioned in Post #2?

Edited May 12, 2016 by zteamtwo

[esp13]

Re: smoking

 

On the Getaway, smoking was allowed on the Haven sun deck all the way forward. Somebody who was on the Escape transatlantic said that was still true. Is that no longer true?

[J&Bsail]

Question--where is the "large private balcony" you mentioned in Post #2?

 

In the mind of the NCL person who wrote the cabin description for the NCL website. :rolleyes:

[J&Bsail]

Re: smoking

 

On the Getaway, smoking was allowed on the Haven sun deck all the way forward. Somebody who was on the Escape transatlantic said that was still true. Is that no longer true?

 

We were told no smoking anywhere in the Haven area. Did not see any ashtrays on the Haven sun deck.

[J&Bsail]

Where did you go to change your reservations? On the Breakaway it was in the atrium next to Guest Services. We are leaving in a few days and I want to change a few of our reservations to later times.

 

The Escape is the same as the Breakaway...but we used the lady at the concierge desk in the Haven.

 

Brad

[J&Bsail]

The CC Meet & Greet was well attended.

 

 

NCL provided blueberry smoothies and blueberry muffins. J does not like blueberries so the staff offered a peach smoothie and a peach muffin for J (she did not ask--WAY TO GO NCL).

 

NCL staff asked how many of the CC audience read and posted comments about their NCL cruises--most raised their hands. Staff EMPHASIZED if there was a problem or concern, please call one of the staff on the card given to all in attendance. Let NCL solve the concern while we were onboard. It seemed that NCL takes CC reviews and comments seriously.

 

Two days after the cruise got an email survey for the cruise from NCL. Some questions asked in the survey: 1) Had we heard of Cruise Critic. 2) Did we read reviews prior to booking. 3) Did we post comments after the cruise.

 

Looks like Cruise Critic comments are important to NCL! :)

 

Up next ... Info

 

Brad

[TenForward]

 

So what does a cigar smoker do in Nassau (we have been in Nassau many times)?

 

 

We walked to visit the historic Graycliff Hotel. (http://www.graycliff.com) The hotel is easy walking distance from the port (1/2 mile). Very interesting Hotel with Cigar factory (cigars from $7.95 to $29.95 each). The cigar rolling room was an interesting free tour.

 

Up next...CC Meet and Greet...

 

Brad

 

Thanks for this - we will definitely make it one of our stops as DH would enjoy the visit.

 

Also, very glad to hear NCL seems to be paying attention to CC reviews. Gives me hope they'll work out the volume levels before my cruise in October. What was your take on that? Did you find the music throughout to be too loud? I do have my earplugs ready if needed, lol.

[J&Bsail]

Thanks for this - we will definitely make it one of our stops as DH would enjoy the visit.

 

Also, very glad to hear NCL seems to be paying attention to CC reviews. Gives me hope they'll work out the volume levels before my cruise in October. What was your take on that? Did you find the music throughout to be too loud? I do have my earplugs ready if needed, lol.

 

Yes, J and I talked about the high levels of "noise" aboard the Escape. The Humidor room piped music was loud and general public areas had a high level of background noise. :mad:

 

Brad