Escape Review May 7 - 14 - Meh (But Maybe That's Our Fault.)

[Coastalbreezes]

Gosh, I wish them a nice well deserved holiday but I will be bummed now if they are still on vacation for our 8/20 cruise. I had planned on making the Haven Bar a mini HQ anyways but didn't realize the depth of the talent pool there until reading these threads. :( Gerry

 

I am pretty sure they'll be back by August 13.

 

Tracy

[CruzinMel]

Your writing style is excellent! It is good to see different perspectives within the same sailing. I don't have to say that we were not impressed with Cagney's either, those oysters....

 

Can't wait to see how your cruise evolves. I have a feeling that at one point you crossed our very loud group :D

 

Gambee, if I'd have crossed your group, I'd have wanted to join in!!! I was so excited to see you were on this cruise, since I've enjoyed your reviews so much in the past.

[CruzinMel]

Craft cocktail bars will dispense bitters, absinthe/Herbsaint/Pernod via eye droppers as a little goes a long way. It adds depth and dimension to a cocktail and the fact they do this indicates they are serious Mixologists. Very good to hear!!

 

We joked that they were making potions out of Harry Potter, because lined up on the bar were about 8 stoppered bottles of different colored bitters - they were pretty to look at, and Marc/Branko were constantly dipping into one or two or four of them to make drinks. They used smoke to make some drink (the Smoky Old Fashioned), and Marc created his own blackberry liqueur, distilled from real berries. I was quite impressed.

 

I really got a kick out of seeing them create - it was a big difference from just walking up to a bar and seeing the bartender throw things together.

[CruzinMel]

The sea days have blurred together in my mind, so I am going to lump all 3 of them together. . . .

 

I couldn't sleep that first night - I don't know if I was excited or over tired or what, but I couldn't settle down even after sinking into the comfortable bed, with its crisp, clean sheets and multitude of fluffy pillows (seriously - we had six pillows on our bed, and three on Mom's). Our steward was Maribeth, and she was a doll - sweet and very attentive, even after we had to call her back to the room the first afternoon to clean up a little bathroom mess that she missed the first time - she Cloroxed that bathroom within an inch of its life.

 

SOMEONE had decided that she wanted breakfast in the room each morning and MY job was to make it happen. On the desk in the cabin's main room, there are bits of paper with breakfast menus on them and little hooks so you can hang them on the door (kind of like "do not disturb" signs, but more like "bring me breakfast" signs). If you have it on your door by 4 am, someone will grab it during the night and your butler will bring your breakfast at whatever time you indicate on the form - service starts at 6, if I remember right. If you don't like what you see on the menu, you can just write whatever you want and they will fix it.

 

So, each night, the last thing I did before bed was write Mom's breakfast order on the slip and hang it on the door. In my sleep, I would scribble a smiley face and write "2 eggs over medium, 2 bowls of grits, bacon, pot of coffee, English muffins, butter, jelly, orange juice". Some days I managed to get myself an omelet and DH French toast. And Pepsis. We had the mini bar cleaned out, and then ordered Pepsis every dang day, 3 and 4 of them at a time.

 

The first night, Mom advised me she wanted her breakfast at 8 am. 8 AM!!!!! Dutiful daughter that I am, I set it up. What I didn't know is that exactly 5 minutes before they ring the doorbell, the butler calls the room. And since the phone was in our room. . . DH would answer, growl to me "the D@*M breakfast is here", and go back to sleep while I threw on a robe (the room comes with deliciously soft robes and slippers) and dashed to the door just in time for the butler to ring the bell.

 

A word about the butler. . . .God, but I miss that man. Tonight at dinner, Mom and I were talking about how much we miss him. Our butler's name was Rexson, and he was the best dang thing on the cruise, hands down. Not only was he very pleasant to look at, but he was also kind, intelligent, attentive, dutiful, creative, prompt, helpful and friendly but not too friendly. Mom tipped him $100 the first time she met him, but I have the feeling that he'd have worked just as diligently if she'd given him nothing the whole trip. I later learned that Rexson has not been a butler for terribly long - he used to be an attendant who pushed folks around in wheelchairs and the medical staff remembered him fondly, but he did his job so well that his boss recommended him for the promotion. It's pretty clear that the best folks end up working in the Haven and in Rexson's case I see why.

 

Each morning, then, Rexson would ring the bell after the phone call, and no matter how disheveled I was, he would give me a friendly smile and a muted "good morning!", then prop the door open and Spread the Feast. White tablecloth, cloth napkins, covered plates, the works. Half the time he did it in the dim darkness because I had trouble figuring out the lights in the cabin (I got it on the next to last day.) Half the time, I confused the kitchen staff by accidentally ordering multiple breakfasts - I meant to order 1 for Mom, but I marked that there were 3 guests on the form, so they would give me 3 breakfasts plus whatever else I marked down. Which, really, is the definition of a First World Problem - "Oh, no, the butler brought me too many bowls of grits! Whatever shall I do???" The only thing worse was the day I calmly mentioned to Rexson that the kitchen folks forgot the bacon - poor thing threw his hands in the air, muttering excitedly, and literally ran down the hallway while I tried to flag him down because we weren't upset about it. He came back with triple bacon and I hope he wasn't too hard on the kitchen folks - Rexson takes his work very seriously.

 

Sea Day #1's 8 am breakfast brought Mom out of a sound sleep to levitate across the room on the sweet coffee-scented air. Seriously - I poked my head in the door, said "Your breakfast's here!" and she popped out of the bed like she was on springs. I ditched her and Sleeping DH, because I was on a mission: muesli.

 

On Getaway, I discovered that I am addicted to muesli. I have no idea what's in it, but they serve big vats of it in the buffet of Getaway and Escape - it's kind of like cold oatmeal with bran and chunks of fruit drowned in milk, and quite delicious. I'm too lazy to make it at home, but on board it's my breakfast of choice. So while Mom had her butler-delivered room breakfast, I went to the buffet. At 8 am, it was pretty empty. It's not a bad walk, going from forward in the Haven to aft at the buffet - I took a stroll past the pools, which already had folks in them despite what I thought was chilly weather, and a few pool people were already camping out in the sun. I ate a delicious bowl of muesli outside, watching the sea stream by, and ahhhhhh. . . vacation.

 

Back at the cabin, I got showered and re-dressed while DH stayed in bed as long as possible. Ah, vacation! No schedule! Mom and I went exploring a bit and I showed her the pool deck, the upstairs deck and the sun deck. The little boy from embarkation who ran into the pole was in the pool with his mom (and bonked his head on a bench - that baby needs a helmet!). The mom looked to be enjoying a mimosa - good for her! Actually, on second glance, the pool was pretty well populated by families with small children - not slammed, exactly, but busier than I wanted to be. The upstairs deck was virtually empty - I never saw more than one or two folks on it. The "upstairs deck" is on deck 19, looking down on the Haven pool, with padded, terry-cloth covered loungers and rattan chairs and tables. I differentiate it from the sun deck because it is within the covered glass area that can be opened and closed for the Haven pool (you just need to look at a video or some pics, because it's hard for me to describe this). It has just as much sun as the outer deck but no wind, it's air conditioned even with the ceiling open to the sun, and is very peaceful and quiet - the pool noise is muted and there are so few folks who take advantage of it that you could hide away for a whole day in peace. And take a nap with your book on your lap. Covered up with some towels. . . . I don't think I snored. Much.

 

You pass through the upstairs deck to get to the Haven's sun deck, which oddly enough is right next to Vibe - if you take the Haven elevator to deck 19, when you get off you can look through a key-carded glass door into Vibe. I guess if you have a Vibe pass, you could go into Vibe from there, but I don't know why you'd want to if you had Haven. The Haven's sun deck is sunny - it's the forward quarter of deck 19 and there was always a place to lounge or sit. We didn't spend much time there because it was so windy, though - and I'm not talking about a light breeze, but about gusty wind that made conversation unpleasant because you had to shout a little bit. I guess it's because the deck is so far forward? I had planned to stake out the loungers that are at the very front, where you can sit under an umbrella and watch what's coming, but I just never could get happy with the wind. I imagine that on a port day, it would have been perfect, but I didn't manage it.

 

The sun deck has padded, terry-cloth-covered loungers, small tables, umbrellas, a private jacuzzi and bar service from the Haven. There are also the most clever double loungers with big, aqua cushions and brown pillows, situated on the wall underneath these scoop-looking umbrellas. I spent some time on one and found it very comfortable, but the wind drove me away - I was huddled under a towel and was too cold. I wish I had tried it on a port day - it might have been my happy place.

 

At this point, the vacation kicked in - the first two sea days are a blur. We didn't do much of anything - which put the meh in the vacation for me, because it turns out that I prefer active vacations to bummy ones. (Good to learn at 46, eh?) Despite the plethora of activities on ship - and there is something to do every minute of every day if you want - nobody in my cabin but me wanted to do a planned activity. I didn't want to do them by myself, so nothing got done. There was a lot of wandering around and stopping to see this, that or the other thing - DH and I watched a show in the Atrium, for example, and we shopped a bit because I wanted a watch but didn't want to pay a ton of money for one. We watched a few rolls of craps, but DH is very particular about when/how/with whom he plays. We took Mom to the arcade, but she didn't want to play the games. We meant to play putt putt, but didn't because kids. We meant to do the ropes course but didn't because . . . well, I don't know why. I had signed up for the meet and greet (primarily to meet Gambee!) but got sidetracked getting Mom to her massage and by the time I made my way to Cagney's, it was over. I booked shows - I love shows! - but my folks didn't want to go; after they refused to go to After Midnight, went to sleep rather than seeing the hypnotist, told me I had set up the wrong time for the Brat Pack, passed on the comedy, pooh-poohed Howl at the Moon and could not be persuaded to get excited about the Frankie Valli tribute show . . . we did not see a single show. Not one! We didn't even go see Beau Tahana at the District, and Piano Tunes with Darren was dismissed as "muzak, and we've seen Jim Brickman do better." (Jim Brickman is rather awesome, actually.)

 

We did nothing. Doing nothing was the point of this vacation, and the only reason I didn't drag somebody with me to do something was that I had agreed to do . . . nothing. (Last time I do that, I promise you.) Mom's main activity was sleeping, when she wasn't eating grits. If I ever misplaced DH, he was at the bar chatting with fellow pax and putting a dent in Marc and Branko's Crown Royal supply. I spent one afternoon with my Nook at the bar, while DH drank and watched sports and talked to folks - I can read anywhere, including the bar on a cruise ship. When I wasn't reading, I was cracking jokes with the other folks at the bar - it really was a good group of folks. The most strenuous thing I did was lift a glass or fork to my lips.

 

The only other thing I remember about the sea days is that DH and I ate at Margaritaville and Food Republic - which brings me to food. Unfortunately, the food was the big meh in our cruise. Usually, I have never eaten anything that wasn't wonderful on a cruise, even in the buffet. Our first cruise was on Royal, but our others have been on NCL and oh, the food! I have such good memories of delicious dinners and marvelous desserts, served hot and fresh and divine! On this cruise I never had one completely delicious meal from start to finish. The best meal I ate was at Margaritaville, for which we paid $38. (That's before DH tipped Irfan our server $15 for keeping his Crown and Pepsi's coming - Irfan remembered us on the last sea day when he encountered us in the buffet: "Hello, Mr. Crown Royal and Mrs. Zombie!") Even the buffet, which we usually enjoy because everybody can find something at a buffet, was a bust except for the soups - Norwegian knows its way around a cream soup. There was a cauliflower cream soup that I remembered from Getaway - it was just as delicious on Escape.

 

What was tasty: shrimp cocktail at Cagney's and at the Haven restaurant. Scalloped potatoes at Cagney's. Scallops at the Haven restaurant (would have been a perfect meal, except it took an hour and a half for lunch. Painfully slow. I originally ordered lamb, but the server suggested I order something that would cook faster - and we were the first ones there at the time.) Surf and turf (mmm, lobster!) at the Haven restaurant, and museli and Steak and Eggs at the Haven restaurant. Carpaccio at La Cucina. Fish tacos and the Volcano Nachos at Margaritaville. Cauliflower soup at the buffet. Muesli (which is hard to screw up.) Roasted pineapple, lamb chop and flank steak at Moderno. Yakisoba, sliders, chicken on a stick, kimchi fried rice without the kichi and grilled shrimp at Food Republic (actually, everything at Food Republic was good except the dumplings, but we ate there on the last sea day and DH by that point was so unimpressed with everything that I didn't enjoy it like I would have otherwise.)

 

Not tasty? Everything else. The steaks at Cagneys were just average, despite being very tender - there was little seasoning. I had Osso Bucco at La Cucina - on Getaway, it melted off my fork but on Escape I had to work to get it away from the bone and the risotto wasn't cooked evenly. Mom's pasta sauce was . . . kind of like Ragu. I make better. Moderno was the biggest disappointment of all, because we've had the experience on Epic, Getaway and Escape, so we know what it *should* be - but the chicken was dry, and the picanha did not have the right melty, beefy, tender texture. In desperation, I tried to book Teppanyaki because it's really, really difficult to screw up fried rice and grilled chicken - but we couldn't get in. I'm the only one who likes Le Bistro, and we were all nervous about the smoke smell - Le Bistro is outside the Atrium on deck 6, and the casino smoke drifts down until you have to duck through the miasma to get into the restaurant - we weren't interested in having a smoky dinner. The first sea day is the seafood night at the buffet, but I had a difficult time finding any seafood - there was a spicy seafood soup, some mussels, chilled shrimp in a dill dressing, etc, but they have stopped the tiny lobster tails and the other dishes weren't impressive. DH had a variety of cheeseburgers - Brie burger at the Haven Restaurant, Cheeseburger in Paradise and a plain burger in the buffet - and prounounced the buffet burger the best. (But that's not fair, because we've got some dang good burger joints here at home, and nothing from a commercial kitchen will compare with hand-formed patties from the Grey Goose here in town - I like me a Clucking Gooseburger.)

 

I should have fought the hordes at O'Sheehan's and gotten the prime rib. But then again, I loved it on Getaway and if it had been unimpressive on Escape, I might have cried.

 

I love food - I love to eat it, to cook it, to watch it being prepared. I love watching cooking demonstrations in the Atrium, and I really, really want to be on a ship that has a Chef's table. I deeply regret not ditching my family and going to the Cellars for a wine experience. Disappointing food will ruin an experience for me. . . so that was a big piece of the "meh" of our Escape trip. If the Haven was amazing, the dining was a letdown.

 

Sigh.

Edited May 21, 2016 by CruzinMel

[gambee]

It was good that you did not rush to go to CC meeting, as mom and I did not even make it. We were too busy having drinks in Vibe :D

 

I am really enjoying reading your review. It is quite interesting how people have completely different vacations on the same Voyage.

 

Now let me ask you a question, I hope that I am not being offensive in any way. But I am curious. Do you think if you would have stayed in a regular balcony room and payed less money, would your opinion be different? I guess the question relates to money invested vs product received?

 

It seems like you really enjoyed your time in the Haven area. And to me it seems like most of your issues where show coordination, and lack of doing activities. There a few cruises that I have felt like that, I guess the best example would be on Celebrity. I was quite bored on that cruise.

 

I have always wondered how it is traveling in Haven. My friend did it and she loved it, she said she was spoiled by it. Right now it is just out of our price range.

[cruisemainiac]

Muesli, muesli, muesli. My wife is the same way.

The day hasn't officially started without her muesli. She's a first shift type of person. After "sleeping in" until around 8am on the first day, she's up at 6am. Someplace between 7 and when I get up, say around 9ish(not always by choice) she has taken a walk, had her muesli fixed her face and is sitting on the bed telling me it's time for breakfast(again). Hey it's a cruise, it's a sea day, I can always sleep latter, right? :D

[CruzinMel]

It was good that you did not rush to go to CC meeting, as mom and I did not even make it. We were too busy having drinks in Vibe :D

 

I am really enjoying reading your review. It is quite interesting how people have completely different vacations on the same Voyage.

 

Now let me ask you a question, I hope that I am not being offensive in any way. But I am curious. Do you think if you would have stayed in a regular balcony room and payed less money, would your opinion be different? I guess the question relates to money invested vs product received?

 

It seems like you really enjoyed your time in the Haven area. And to me it seems like most of your issues where show coordination, and lack of doing activities. There a few cruises that I have felt like that, I guess the best example would be on Celebrity. I was quite bored on that cruise.

 

I have always wondered how it is traveling in Haven. My friend did it and she loved it, she said she was spoiled by it. Right now it is just out of our price range.

 

I don't find the question offensive at all - our experience in the Haven was wonderful but I think it impacted our experience of the ship in a less than positive way. (I'll edit later - just wanted to get this started.)

[Jldevlin]

Well it looks like Muesli is on my eating bucket list now ...

[ljrfrm]

I discovered Muesli on the Dawn this past summer and enjoyed it on the Escape too. Funny because whenever I ate it, it looked like I was the only one! Guess there are other fans out there too! :)

[boopsahoy]

I discovered Muesli on the Dawn this past summer and enjoyed it on the Escape too. Funny because whenever I ate it, it looked like I was the only one! Guess there are other fans out there too! :)

 

I love it with dates and slivered almonds! I discovered muesli on my first cruise 20-ish years ago, and I look for it every cruise!

[CruzinMel]

Seriously - you will get hooked. I am going to find a good muesli recipe, and make vats of it for myself.

[Nator72]

Hi. I'm following your review and loving it. I'm sailing June 18. I've never had Muesli, but I'm going to give it a try because you make it sound so good.

[CruzinMel]

I want to finish this up, since I noticed that I am waxing longer than long, and I've been home over a week. I'm going to highlight the ports we visited, sum up my thoughts, and answer a very insightful question from Gambee.

 

ST. THOMAS, or, "Godfrey owes me 20 bucks": After careful consideration, we have decided St. Thomas is not for us. On our last cruise, we ended up spending the day at Senor Frogs, and so didn't experience the island at all. This time, I booked Godfrey's Tours at the last minute, because none of the ship's tours did what I wanted and because Sunny Liston's tours were reviewed as being rather raucous and Godfrey's were calmer. I wanted a bit of shopping for Mom, an island tour, and a beach, and Godfrey's tour looked like it hit the high points. Unfortunately, while I received a receipt from Paypal for my deposit, I did NOT receive an email from Godfrey. I should have called or emailed, but the bottom line was that Godfrey got my money but never showed up at the port for us. Mom was disgusted and refused to leave the ship; Sunny Liston's tours kindly put us on a bus and took us shopping. I have yet to send Godfrey a nasty note asking for my money back, but the bottom line is always to make sure you get a confirmation email! Sunny Liston's tour was pretty ok; I hate shopping, but DH and I wandered the shops of St. Thomas for about 45 minutes before getting sandwiched into a tour bus and going up and down the hills of St. Thomas at breakneck speed. Mountain Top did indeed have delicious banana daquiris and an amazing view of Megan's Bay, but we didn't enjoy it because we spent so much time standing in line for the daquiri. Not Sunny's fault. For the beach, we chose Coki, but it started raining and I wasn't impressed with the beach - I'm not sure if it's because of where we got dropped off, or that I was hot, tired, disgusted with Godfrey and unimpressed with St. Thomas. WE should have tried Magen's Bay, maybe, but the beach was for Mom and without her, I saw no reason to torture DH unless the beach was as stellar as the one we visited on St. Maarten. (DH hates water - I think he was a cat in a past life.) We ditched Coki Beach and went back to the ship early - along the way, we got a completely extraneous tour of the other side of the island.

 

Important to remember for later: when we walked back onto the ship, looking for Mom, we found her at the Haven courtyard. She had spent the last 6 hours sitting poolside, drinking daquiris and getting some sun. Without sunscreen, but it didn't look very sunny in the courtyard - not blistering, like the usual Caribbean sun. Her little legs looked a little burnt, but not too bad - she browns up very quickly (unlike me - I glow in the dark, I'm so pale), so I wasn't worried. She'd have hated the tour, so I'm kind of glad she didn't go. Next time (if there is one), I will book the St. John's champagne snorkel. We hadn't eaten since breakfast, so the three of us went to the buffet, but didn't find anything exciting. I thought about O'Sheehan's, but it was slammed, so we made do with the buffet and spent the evening at the Haven bar (since nobody but me was excited about the comedy show.)

 

Tortola/Jost Van Dyke, or, Rum Punch, Crown and Painkillers in Paradise: If you go to Tortola, you must, must, must go to Jost Van Dyke. It is the stereotypical Caribbean beach you see in the movies - white sand beach, bathtub-clear waters, gentle waves, beachside bars, and a bay full of catamarans and small boats. It was the best day of the cruise, all things told, and everything that my mom wanted for her YOLO trip. We were picked up at the pier in a catamaran called the Rebel Yell, exactly as the video on YouTube shows - we had heard that a lot of folks have had to swim in when the catamaran drops you off, but all we had to do was wade through calf-high water. The ride to Jost Van Dyke is about 45 minutes each way, but there is a lot to look at and the ship's crew is informative and friendly. The Soggy Dollar Bar is famous (or, infamous, depending on who you talk to) but we spent our day in front of a brand new place called Hendo's Hideaway. Mom never got out of the water, DH never left the bar, and I and my never-empty Painkiller went between DH and Mom, in and out of the waves and up on thee never-crowded beach. It was a delightful day, if it was a little bit short - we were tthere for about 4 hours, but I could have stayed longer. My skin, not so much - despite being slathered in SPF 70, reapplied at 30 minute intervals, I came back with tan lines. Mom got burned.

 

DH, who never left the bar, put a serious dent in Hendo's Crown Royal supply. On the catamaran back to the Escape, the crew liberally serves a wicked rum punch. DH got a little too in love with it, and had about 7 little cups of it. By the time we poured him into the cabin, he was content to sit on the floor and watch me get ready for dinner. By the time I was dressed, he was asleep in the bed. He didn't get up for 16 hours, and didn't drink another alcoholic beverage for the rest of the cruise. Jost Van Dyke = Waterloo for DH.

 

Mom and I ate at La Cucina, and back to the cabin for some rest. I enjoyed reading my Nook on the balcony, listening to the waves rush by. Tortola waits for another trip - Jost Van Dyke was a perfect day.

 

Unfortunately, Jost Van Dyke was Mom's Sun Waterloo. She started complaining of sharp, stabbing pain in her legs at dinner; I had her call the medical center, but when she heard that they would charge her $184 just to see her, she decided to tough it out. The next day, DH and I decided that she had a terrible sunburn and bought the blue goo with the lidocaine in it. She slathered it on and turned her bedding smurf blue. Nassau morning, we met for breakfast in the Haven restaurant, but she had an upset stomach and couldn't wear shoes; she reluctantly agreed that she wouldn't be getting off the ship, and went back to bed.

 

Nassau, or, "Never Again": The whole point of this trip was Nassau, because Mom wanted to go to Atlantis and I talked her into cruising rather than flying over and staying in the hotel. Her goal was to ride the lazy river at the water park (which I wouldn't have allowed, because she has grown weak over the year and while she is a solid dog-paddler, she's wobbly and has no stamina.) I reluctantly agreed to pay the $189/each for ship's tours to Atlantis, even though I didn't like paying that kind of money for 4 hours at the park. I waited to book it, because I knew it wouldn't sell out and I hoped to entice her into a dolphin encounter instead. While I deeply, deeply regretted that she woke up sick with lobster-red legs, I wasn't sad to be missing Atlantis. DH and I walked around Nassau for a few hours, then went back to check on Mom.

 

Mom was in bad shape, and I insisted that she go to the med bay, where we met the delightful Dr. Farah and Mom got an IV. Three hours and $679 later, Mom sprang magically back to life (nothing like reading your Nook for 3 hours in a hospital room). We ate at the buffet (more soup) and . . . went back to bed. I sat out on the balcony and tried to catch a sliver of a sunset.

 

Miami, or, Going Home: After seeing Mom being wheeled to the Medical Center in a wheelchair (she couldn't walk), Adrian very kindly advised me he would get a wheelchair for disembarkation. I told him that our car was meeting us at 9:30 and after a brief mental calculation, he said to be downstairs at 8:30 for the chair. I probably should have told him that DH and I planned to carry the luggage, because the Haven disembarkation is beyond swift - we met in the lobby at 8:30, went straight to the staff elevators in the Haven, down to deck 7, through a kiosk manned by Adrian himself, past the Crew Farewell gauntlet (I almost rolled over the Captain's foot with my luggage), through customs and poof - we were off the ship and at the curb by 9. Larry's driver found us with some difficulty, but we coordinated by phone and were at the airport getting yet another chair by 9:30. Poor Mom, struggling again with nausea, embarrassment and general misery, got pulled by the TSA and wanded, but she handled it like a former beauty queen - kept her big sunglasses on and her lace-edged hanky firmly over her nose. The kind staff member pushing the chair took us straight to the gate, where we hung out for 2 hours; back onto Delta first class (I love first class), another chair at Hartsfield, into a car and home, sweet home.

 

Hindsight is 20/20, OR, Gambee's Question: I can't say we enjoyed our cruise. I can't say it's all our fault - but certainly is our fault in part.

 

• The Haven: The Haven was an oasis of peace and comfort on the ship. I never felt "pampered", exactly, but we weren't very demanding passengers (outside of Mom's breakfasts.) I felt like I was in a different world from the rest of the ship - it is very possible to spend an entire cruise without leaving the Haven, and never regretting it. For us, leaving the peace and spaciousness of the Haven felt jarring, because in comparison the other parts of the ship were busy, crowded and chaotic. Ordinarily, I love that busy, crazy, crowded atmosphere, especially because as the week goes by it calms down and folks find their "spots." I love the hustle and bustle and constant go-go-go. I notice the crowds, but they don't bother me because everybody is having a good time. Being in the Haven made me notice the crowds, made me notice the frenetic atmosphere, and made me glad that I had a place to go to away from all that. It also made it easy to skip the shows - I frequently lost track of time and since I was the only one in my group interested in shows, it was easy to let them drift by. Gambee's question was very insightful - paradoxically, being in the Haven is one of the things that led me not to enjoy this cruise as much as others.
  
• The Haven was beautiful, but I probably wouldn't book it again. Aside from avoiding the every-increasing price point, I can get what I want from a cruise with a balcony room and a spa pass - or maybe a spa balcony for the bathtub and shower and peace of the thermal suite. I think I would have felt more a part of the ship's atmosphere if I had been less isolated. If, however, you are a cruiser who prefers that peace and isolation, then the Haven is a marvelous, peaceful place.
  
• You cannot beat the Haven for speed and ease of embarkation and disembarkation. Period.
  
• Food: I have never, in 5 cruises, been so disappointed in the food on a ship as on Escape. I am shocked that we only really enjoyed 1 good meal (from start to finish - Food Republic), and that my favorite meal of the trip involved nachos and fish tacos at a floating burger joint. My beloved muesli remained a high point, and I will remember the yakisoba from FR forever, but when you can't find anything reliable at a buffet besides cold bran/oatmeal cereal and cream soups, something is very, very, very wrong. I don't understand it, because I believe that the recipes are fleet wide and the menus are likely planned fleet wide, but something is missing in the kitchens on the Escape.
  
• Service: The oddest combination of good and bad service ever. When the service on Escape is good, it is unforgettable - which is why two weeks later, I'm writing about folks by name and feeling guilty about ragging on anybody. When it's bad, however, it's abysmal. Ignoring passengers in the bars is bad. Failing to look (much less smile) at passengers as you slam silverware into the bin on the buffet table while they are mid-meal is rude. Complaining to passengers about the level of drunkenness of the other passengers is funny, but inappropriate. Shouting at drunken passengers at a boat drill, while understandable as an urge, is unprofessional in a crew member. Slow service in the most expensive restaurant on the ship and in the least expensive restaurant on the ship is untenable. I don't if they are understaffed, under trained, or under incentivized, but something is wrong with the crew on the Escape. The crew members are some of the hardest working folks I have ever met, and compared to my standard of living, they are working for peanuts - I hate complaining about any one of them. But, that said. . . as Mama repeated to me today, "This ship was bad."
  

Would I sail Norwegian again? We put down 2 CruiseNext Deposits, so yes. Will I sail Escape again? No. She was not impressive, even with the caveat that I did not take full advantage of everything she had to offer - the things that were vital to me were not strengths of this ship. Will I take another cruise where I agree not to go to shows? Absolutely not!

 

 

 

Thank you for putting up with my long-winded posts! I hope that there has been some useful nugget of information here, and if not, I appreciate the chance to put up a travel journal. Until the next sailing. . . au'voir!

 

 

[postSCRIPT: I should point out that my problems with Nassau are absolutely personal. 2 years ago on Getaway, my dad had a heart attack on the ship while it was pulling into Nassau. He received excellent care from Getaway's medical staff and was sent to the hospital on Nassau overnight and then medevaced home to Atlanta. Mom stayed with Dad to coordinate his care, while DH and I sailed away to coordinate getting our belongings packed up, off the ship and driven back home. Nassau will never be my favorite port. Sadly, Dad passed away last May; we booked this trip to distract Mom from the first anniversary of his death. I found it supremely ironic that on the anniversary day itself, in Nassau, I was in a medical bay again, this time with Mom. If I can manage it, we're never going to Nassau again.]

Edited May 23, 2016 by CruzinMel
added PS

[CruzinMel]

On a whim, I googled "Norwegian Cruise Line Museli" and danged if I'm not the only person ever to fall in love with it - this blogger has copycatted the recipe specifically because she fell in love with Norwegian's muesli!

 

http://www.mygrandcentralkitchen.com/2013/05/30/bircher-muesli-vacation-in-a-bowl/

[gambee]

Thank you for sharing. It was a good thing that I never experienced bad service. Maybe we lucked out?

 

 

Which Jost Van Dyke sailing where you on? The 9am one? If so, some of our group was in that sailing, they said they had a blast!

[ljrfrm]

Great review. Your thoughts about the Haven are interesting. I told my husband that I want to go on the Escape again outside the Haven to compare. While I loved every moment in the Haven, I feel like I missed out on many experiences by being in there. It was definitely a different type of cruise. I wouldn't trade our Haven time (and honestly, with another upsell I'd do it again in an instant) but it definitely made it a different trip!

 

I'm so sorry to read about your father. The anniversary must have been a hard day made even more difficult with your mom's health concerns. I hope your mom felt better quickly - and hoping you all have some special YOLO moments.

 

My big question is.....did you do the drop slide? Or did my review scare you away from it? :)

[cruisemainiac]

Seriously - you will get hooked. I am going to find a good muesli recipe, and make vats of it for myself.

 

My wife says Alpine Muesli is good but not as good as on board.

[Cruzinbabe06]

I enjoyed your review!

 

Some parts had me laughing out loud.:p

 

We leave Friday for Saturdays sailing and I'm so excited.:D

[Hawks LOB]

On a whim, I googled "Norwegian Cruise Line Museli" and danged if I'm not the only person ever to fall in love with it - this blogger has copycatted the recipe specifically because she fell in love with Norwegian's muesli!

 

http://www.mygrandcentralkitchen.com/2013/05/30/bircher-muesli-vacation-in-a-bowl/

 

Thanks for posting the Museli recipe! I too absolutely loved it and ate it every day! I didn't know what it was called because there was no label on it when we were on the Escape in April so I called it "cold oatmeal with fruit" when describing it to my husband. :)

[herdingdogmom]

Thanks for your review. I cruise with my Mom and have also spent some time with the ship doctors and nurses. Be sure to submit your mom's bills to her medical insurance. All of my Mom's were reimbursed.

 

Thanks for the info on Jost Van Dyke. That is the excursion we have planned in November. We haven't tried the mega ships, but doubt they are for us.

 

Thanks again for your review. Happy cruising.

[TrixieBel]

Been following along on this and am amazed at the cultural difference brought up by muesli. Muesli is a standard breakfast staple in both Australia and New Zealand. Probably 1/2 of the cereal aisle in a supermarket is dedicated to all different brands and kinds of muesli. It's quite amazing to me that you think it's so new [emoji106][emoji3]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cardbucfan]

Thanks for a great review!

[Jenjer]

Thank You so much for your review. Glad your mom is recovering.

 

You have solidified my booked of Jost what time did you go I think its 7:30 or 9

[CruzinMel]

Thank You so much for your review. Glad your mom is recovering.

 

You have solidified my booked of Jost what time did you go I think its 7:30 or 9

 

Thsnks foe your kind words - she's better, and has very tan legs now....

 

We took the 915 trip. The timing worked for us because it was not a terribly hot day and it let us have breakfast and be a bit leisurely. The 715 group went back a while before we did - I was not paying attention to time at all, but it doesn't appear that the 715 trip gets any extra beach time. I think it all depends on what time you want to get up in the morning!

[CruzinMel]

Thank you for sharing. It was a good thing that I never experienced bad service. Maybe we lucked out?

 

 

Which Jost Van Dyke sailing where you on? The 9am one? If so, some of our group was in that sailing, they said they had a blast!

 

Maybe I went to the wrong places!!

 

We were at the 915 Jost trip, and your friends are right - it was incredible!