Live Review: Escape, July 2-9

[CandiceK7187]

Got a Vibe day pass and it was so worth it.

 

I had some trouble getting drink service on the Haven Sundeck so I thought I'd try to get a day pass to Vibe. The first Haven concierge I asked about it told me there were only day passes available for port days. But thankfully I tried back later in the evening and the lady (I'm terrible with names sorry!) hooked me right up with no issue.

 

It was so peaceful and the service was great! If you can get passes I definitely recommend it ....even if you are in the Haven. The pool area stays crowded in the courtyard stays crowded until the early evening and there were several kids playing in the pool. (This is not a criticism just an observation). The Sundeck on 19 isn't too rowdy but I was looking to get some drinks and (pardon the pun) a different vibe.

 

I sat down and within a few minutes had a drink and some water. I was also by a speaker and really enjoyed the music they have piped in.

 

I'm so tempted to get another day pass but with just one full sea day left, I'll give the Haven another shot.

 

 

 

 

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[pmk515]

Thanks for your review. We will be on the Escape 7/9 sailing. I was wondering if the smoke infused drinks were available in other bars on the ship or just the Haven bar. I know one is on the menu at Tobacco Road, but wanted to know if there are others and at what bars.

 

 

 

Mary Ann

 

I'll try to double check for you tonight or tomorrow night, but I get the feeling that Tobacco Road and the Haven Bar are pretty similar. Only difference I've spotted is that Tobacco Road doesn't have self-infused liquors at their bar while Haven has several (6 IIRC). I'll double check while walking past TR tonight.

 

But the Haven bartender did confirm that TR does the smoke infused drinks when I asked her about them as she was making it. Pretty cool experience to watch.

[pmk515]

Allow me to translate "Candice-ese" for everyone

 

Following

 

 

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"I'm not so sure I want to be associated with you on this site at the moment, but I also don't want you to say anything too stupid for words, so I just want you to know I'm watching. Love you."

 

Hi all - wife here so I may chime in with some extra things here and there.

 

Word of advice. Unless you like being woken up at 8am daily by deck chairs being scraped across the deck above....done stay in room 18110. [emoji19]

 

On a better note, but a party patch I think they're 100% effective [emoji322][emoji12]

 

 

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"You have not embarrassed me yet, so I will admit to knowingly marrying you three and a half years ago.

 

...but I can't make posts without typos on my iPhone because Androids are an infinitely superior product and it is only my stubbornness that doesn't allow me to be released from Apple's clutches. That and my iTunes account. Love you."

Edited July 4, 2016 by pmk515

[CandiceK7187]

I'll throw you overboard.

 

 

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[pmk515]

Adding to Candice's note about the noise from above...

 

The deck chair noise is a nuisance at around 8/830 in the morning, at least for our cabin. I remember reading other reviews from people on deck 18 where they didn't have this issue and our friends farther forward on 18 have no issues at all, so it could just be a location thing.

 

It isn't the worst thing in the world, but it can be an irritating noise to wake you up about 30 minutes before the dreaded alarm clock is supposed to be the one waking you up.

 

 

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I will be downloading the Tapatalk app tomorrow in St. Thomas once in the range of some decent WiFi and will start uploading pictures in earnest once that happens. Thanks for the tip!

 

 

 

 

Happy 4th, everyone!

[pmk515]

Translation:

 

I'll throw you overboard.

 

 

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"I'll throw you overboard."

 

 

 

Hmmm, sometimes my translations are not needed it seems!

[UFMOM]

Thanks for checking on the drinks. I will definitely be checking out Tobacco Road. So looking forward to it. We will be saying hi to Escape as you are saying bye. Have a great time the rest of the week.

 

 

 

 

Mary Ann

[teach2cruise86]

Thank you for the updates. We will be on the Escape July 9th.

 

Allison

[csbarton]

Thank you for the updates. We will be on the Escape July 9th.

 

Allison

 

Hi! I'm on the Escape 9th as well! Are you on our roll call? Coming to Meet and Greet?

 

(sorry to hijack board everyone)

[ForSharonB]

Allow me to translate "Candice-ese" for everyone

 

 

 

"I'm not so sure I want to be associated with you on this site at the moment, but I also don't want you to say anything too stupid for words, so I just want you to know I'm watching. Love you."

 

 

 

 

"You have not embarrassed me yet, so I will admit to knowingly marrying you three and a half years ago.

 

...but I can't make posts without typos on my iPhone because Androids are an infinitely superior product and it is only my stubbornness that doesn't allow me to be released from Apple's clutches. That and my iTunes account. Love you."

 

I'll throw you overboard.

 

 

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LOL! You guys are so funny!!! Thanks for your posts.

Did you get a Wi-Fi package? And are you sharing?

Hoping sharing will work for me and my daughter when we sail 8/20.

Thanks!

[rjo_bc]

Thanks for the review. I will be on Escape in October. Being a big IPA drinker can you tell me what other IPA's are available in The District? Draft or Bottle. Thanks.

[Choochala]

Excited to read your review - we are on the Escape in December - have fun!!!!

[pmk515]

LOL! You guys are so funny!!! Thanks for your posts.

Did you get a Wi-Fi package? And are you sharing?

Hoping sharing will work for me and my daughter when we sail 8/20.

Thanks!

We got the "package" but that was just for 250 mins total for us to "share" and we couldn't both be on at the same time.

 

What we ended up doing is buying the unlimited package for her day 1 and had me use the 250 minutes that day and buy the unlimited package day 2 for 30 dollars less. Would have done it even later but you can't buy the unlimited package after 10pm on the 2nd day.

[pmk515]

 

The seagulls were losing their minds as we left port. I don't know why they were so upset, I promised I would write them every day.

 

(This was really just a test of the Tapatalk apps ability for me to post pictures.)

[tinkr2]

This is a great review. I especially loved the piano singer story, she sounded EXCELLENT. I hope you review some of the restaurants. keep up the humor, this board needs it, a lot of angry people on here lol

[Sand and Seas]

Enjoying your review! Thanks for sharing with us. Have a great cruise:D

[tinkr2]

Oh and I am a bartender and want to know more about these smoke cocktails. They were not making them in the haven on Getaway in May. Are they on the Tobacco Road cocktail list? What are they...

[pmk515]

Went to La Cucina tonight. So very very good

 

Apps we had the buffalo mozzarella caprese salad and veal stuffed eggplant

 

 

For the 2nd course we had spinach and ricotta tortellini with a sage butter sauce and veal meatballs with rigatoni

 

 

 

Main course we had lobster Fettuccini in a spicy marinara sauce and gorgonzola crusted filet mignon (perfectly cooked medium rare as you'll see)

 

 

 

And finally for dessert we had the ricotta cheesecake and blackberry marsala sauced panacotta (sp?)

 

 

We were very impressed with the food and service. If we cared much about the presentation I would say it was lacking a bit -- sloppy-ish -- but the taste was so good that it made up for it.

 

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[pmk515]

Oh and I am a bartender and want to know more about these smoke cocktails. They were not making them in the haven on Getaway in May. Are they on the Tobacco Road cocktail list? What are they...

I was mistaken earlier. They don't do the smoke cocktails in TR. A "smokey" old fashioned but not truly smoke infused. This from Sylvia in the Haven Lounge.

 

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[LrgPizza]

My wife and I talked a few of my new friends from the meet n greet / bar hop to come to The District tonight to watch Tom "not his real name" Wolf perform. He was again very entertaining and I have henceforth been dubbed "buttercup" as a result of my apparent over-exuberance during that certain The Foundations song. Sorry, I'm not sorry that I have a loud voice that carries when I sing a song I happen to enjoy.

 

Aside from Mr. Wolf, the best part of the evening was Jeannie (I hope I spelled that correctly) as she not only advised on drink choices but made sure they were spot on to each of our specific tastes or she would take them back and fix it. Amazing service from her and I cannot speak highly enough of the job she did tonight.

 

Another special mention is deserving by Sylvia in the Haven Lounge/Bar. The pride she takes into her drinks is remarkable and it shows in their quality. I've had some good Hendrick's Gimlets in my days, but this one just blows others away. She also does the fancy smoke infused drinks that I've read about on previous reviews, I haven't sampled one myself yet, but I plan to do so tomorrow as it is another sea day. Soooo WEEEEEEEE!

Tom Wolf was in The District on our Transatlantic! He's wonderful.

[Choochala]

Mmmmmmm food porn...............

[tinkr2]

i am so pleased to see your pics of La Cucina. I have them booked for sailaway and all I have read is bad reviews. That foods look plenty delish to me!

[CandiceK7187]

Internets been down all day and just came back up. Unless you really need it I'd recommend to unplug for the week.

 

 

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[CandiceK7187]

We did an excursion in St Thomas yesterday to Abi Beach. It's was a 3 hour excursion so it really flew by.

 

We met off the boat at 9:50 and boarded a pirate ship where they took us over to Abi Beach. The crew on the boat were great - they were all from Texas originally (I think here is where PMK515 would say "Hook 'em Horns"). I believe it was full but we never felt crowded on the boat. They gave us cold waters and played some good tunes.

 

Getting to Abi Beach...you get on the dingy and ride to shore. They can only take 8 at a time so if you're in the last group to head to shore it will cut into your beach time. The chairs on the beach were included but pretty full as other excursions arrived before us (it cleared out significantly around 11:30). PMK515 and I found some chairs in the shade (he is a vampire and is deathly afraid of the sun) and then he went to get in line for drinks. I sat around for 12 hours (ok maybe 15 minutes but it felt like 12 hours) and he brought over some drinks. Then we decided to rent two big floating mats. $10 each for 2 hours. After we wrestled with the mats and ran into a bunch of rocks (so rocky and the bottom of the ocean here is just thick seaweed- wear some water shoes!) we floated for a bit. By the time we got out of the water it was time to go.

 

Notes - you can order food here too and the restrooms were pretty decent. You can also rent snorkel gear and kayaks.

 

Back on the dingy to the Pirate Ship- we were promptly served some rum drinks and enjoyed a slow ride back to the port

 

Overall I give this excursion 4 out of 5 stars. Ship crew was great. Beach was crowded at first so it may be hard to find a chair but hey...at least you don't have to pay to rent them! Drink lines were long. Beautiful location (it's no Meghan's Bay but it is still pretty). Rum drinks!

 

Once back in port and we hiked it to the KMart to find razors that wouldn't scrape my skin off (another note....don't leave your good razor at you hotel the day you leave for the cruise!). I give the St Thomas Kmart 1.5 stars. [emoji1]

 

 

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[pmk515]

INTERNET!!!

 

Oh, how I missed you so. Was probably out for guests (and crew according to some of them and guests services) for about 18 hours since last night. The iConcierge app never stopped working though, so the intranet was stable, they just couldn't get anything from off the boat for some reason. We've been told they will refund at least 1 day's worth of the package for both of us (and presumably any others that have the unlimited internet package.)

 

Went to Food Republic today for lunch while never getting off the ship in Tortola. Food pics to come in a few...