Norwegian Escape Review 7/16/16 to 7/23/16

[islandbound1day]

Following

Edited July 25, 2016 by StaceyB

[LeslieLea]

excited to read up! we will be on the escape in oct!

[TenForward]

CABIN -- Stateroom 13834 Mid-ship Mini-Suite

 

 

Our cabin is just a few doors down from where yours was so I'm glad to hear it was pretty quiet. How did you find the location as far as getting here and there? I think we're most likely to take the stairs if we can, depending on how many decks we're going.

 

Also, I'm curious of your vantage points in port - we might do Sail Away in our cabin from one.

Edited July 25, 2016 by TenForward

[jimandami]

Enjoying your review! We are fellow Disney lovers who recently cruised the Getaway and will be on the Escape in May. The main pool on the GA is adults only and was exactly the scene you describe...I told DH it looked like Panama City Beach on spring break....thank goodness for the Haven! I did think it was interesting that you said there was an adults only day at the pool...is the Escape pool not adults only like the Getaway?

[panthers_4890]

DINING Part 2 (Specialties)

 

Our promotion included a 4-meal Specialty Dining Plan, and we were pumped to try out some of the amazing restaurants that NCL is known for having! I will list out the restaurants we went to, in order. You'll notice that we went to Bayamo twice, which I'll explain the reason later on...

 

Bayamo

We went to Bayamo after our 2nd day at sea for dinner. It honestly wasn't my first choice...I'm a little iffy when it comes to Spanish-style food, but I gave it a chance. The meal starts with a corn fritter for everyone ("compliments of the chef")...it's only a tiny bite, but it's incredible! After that, I ordered the chilled lobster appetizer and the lobster main course. Both were good. My wife had the duck entree, and she RAVES about it, even now. For dessert, I had a chocolate layer of awesomeness. Our first night, we had a waiter who was filling in for a regular, and he didn't know the menu at all...but I appreciated his honesty. He was great! More on Bayamo later!

 

My wife's duck dish...

 

Moderno

My wife and I went to Moderno for our anniversary date. Brazilian steakhouses are not common around where we live, so this was a treat for us. When you arrive, they go over the whole process...it starts with a trip to the "appetizer bar". That alone could've been enough for a meal. They have so much there...anything from salad to sushi to seafood to meats...so amazing! Then they bring a bowl of bread....a cheddar infused bread that I could eat every meal all the time! WOW!

 

Then come the meats. This is where Moderno became one of our favorites. The servers who bring the meats joke around with you and urge you to take as much as you want. The lamb chops were our absolute favorite! But the filet mignon wrapped in bacon was a very close 2nd! I also usually don't prefer cooked pineapple, but they had a brown sugar cooked pineapple for which I had to request seconds! I ate enough for 3 days, but I didn't care! For dessert, I had the papaya cream...perfect choice! It was so light, but really good.

 

Our waitress, Michele, was also incredible. She wound up being our "Vacation Hero"...she went out of her way to make us feel special. For our anniversary, the staff serenaded us with song and provided a cake that we saved for later. The cake itself was amazing! Overall, I'd want to go back there over and over!

 

The papaya cream dessert...

 

La Cucina

Throughout the week, we tried to make reservations for La Cucina and Cagney's, but they were apparently "full", despite open tables all over the place every time we walked by. So we decided to give La Cucina a try one night. Well, it turns out they actually were full that night, and we had to wait until 9:00 to get a table. That was fine with us, and we passed the time with some drinks at the Tobacco Road bar across the way.

 

La Cucina served a 5-course meal with the dining plan, and that was way too much food. I tried my best to finish it all, but it was impossible. I enjoyed the seafood pasta appetizer, beef carpaccio, caesar salad, and the gorgonzola filet mignon that was simply fantastic. For dessert, I had the ice cream with espresso...very good! Overall, I would eat here again, but I may cut back on how much I order. Oops!

 

The gorgonzola filet...

 

Food Republic

We saved Food Republic for lunch on our last day, assuming it would be our last meal in the dining plan. Well, we didn't realize that they can't use the dining plan there! Everything is a la carte, regardless. Well, that was fine with us...we had heard amazing things and were going to eat there anyway. Plus, it opened up another meal somewhere else (which wound up being Bayamo again).

 

Food Republic had, hands down, the best food on the ship. In fact, my friend and I agreed that the shrimp Pad Thai was the best we had ever eaten. The sushi, steak tacos, pork belly potstickers, and lamb chops were just amazing. I can't say enough how absolutely delicious the food is there! Oh, and their 2 featured desserts....mmmmm! My wife said that the banana dessert with ice cream on top was the best dessert she's ever had. It's a VERY good thing that we didn't go until the last day...our bill may have been much larger with more trips. The chef even came out and asked how our meal was...we raved and raved. We filled out a comment card expressing how amazing our experience was there.

 

The best pad thai ever! Also, you can order straight from the District, which is just on the other side of the Waterfront.

 

Both of these desserts were amazing. I'd have them forever!

 

Bayamo (round 2)

Our group decided to go back to Bayamo that night. Again, I'm not crazy about Spanish food, but I was willing to try it again. Well, round 2 was a huge step up for me. For an app, I tried to spicy watermelon tuna, which was delicious, and for a main course I had the scallops with roasted ox tail. Wow, simply incredible! I ordered the same dessert because it was that good, too.

 

 

NCL is known for its dining experience. Well, now I can see why. All of those restaurants were incredible! For a ship this large, they do fine dining quite well. Bravo, NCL!

 

Note: We tried all week to get into Cagney's, but it was always full. If you want to grab a table there, you HAVE to reserve a spot quickly! If we go back, I'd also love to try Le Bistro.

 

SCORE for Specialty Dining: 10 out of 10

Edited July 25, 2016 by panthers_4890

[eggnoodle]

We then hopped in a rental car at Disney and drove down to the Miami airport the day of Embarkation. For anyone interested, Alamo does still offer a complimentary shuttle from their rental place to the Port of Miami. I tried finding a current update on if that service still existed on CC, but couldn't find anything more recent that last summer. So, yes, it does exist. However, you must present your Alamo receipt in order to utilize the service.

 

I just want to confirm, the Alamo rental is the airport location that you pickup the complimentary shuttle? Do you show the receipt to the front desk? Most of the time, we just drop of the return without checking back in the front desk. Thanks

[panthers_4890]

Our cabin is just a few doors down from where yours was so I'm glad to hear it was pretty quiet. How did you find the location as far as getting here and there? I think we're most likely to take the stairs if we can, depending on how many decks we're going.

 

Also, I'm curious of your vantage points in port - we might do Sail Away in our cabin from one.

 

What are the odds?? Honestly, we had no issues at all with those around us...I was certainly concerned after our experience in Disney, but we loved the clear comaraderie the family next to us had (not sure if you were among them). They seemed to love soaking in the balcony.

 

The location was great for us. We really didn't mind walking to the stairwells since we ate so much and enjoyed a few calorie-rich drinks ;) . We made a rule that if we were going up 5 decks or less, we walk. Going downstairs was always walk. But going up more than 5 was a bit much at times...Honestly, our elevator experience on the Escape was much better than other cruises we've taken.

 

We did the sailaway from the Waterfront, which was a fantastic location. I just couldn't come to grips with the large crowd on the pool deck. The vantage we had in Miami was not very good...I don't like looking at the gangway (reminds us of leaving haha!).

 

For all of the other ports, I didn't mind our view. In fact, I loved our view in Nassau, and I usually don't like much about the port.

 

How did you feel about the location? We certainly felt the ship moving more on Deck 13 than the ones below. I hope you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks for being great neighbors :) I hope we weren't bad....:p

[panthers_4890]

I just want to confirm, the Alamo rental is the airport location that you pickup the complimentary shuttle? Do you show the receipt to the front desk? Most of the time, we just drop of the return without checking back in the front desk. Thanks

 

Yes, the airport location. You take your luggage and receipt to the 4th floor (top level), and there are many shuttles taking people to the pier.

[mabones]

but after the 90-day countdown hit and prices plummeted, we called NCL for an upgrade. The agent on the phone did a nice little switcharoo and voila, we were mid-ship in a mini-suite! The best part is that our original promotions were unchanged by the upgrade (which was awesome because the promos at the time were not nearly as good!).

 

 

Did you book using a Personal Cruise Consultant?

[panthers_4890]

Enjoying your review! We are fellow Disney lovers who recently cruised the Getaway and will be on the Escape in May. The main pool on the GA is adults only and was exactly the scene you describe...I told DH it looked like Panama City Beach on spring break....thank goodness for the Haven! I did think it was interesting that you said there was an adults only day at the pool...is the Escape pool not adults only like the Getaway?

 

Thank you!

 

I don't remember seeing anything about the pool area being adult-only, but after I saw what it was like, I didn't look much into it. I do remember seeing a few kids in the area, which just boggled my mind.

 

I hope you love the Escape...it's an incredible ship!

[panthers_4890]

but after the 90-day countdown hit and prices plummeted, we called NCL for an upgrade. The agent on the phone did a nice little switcharoo and voila, we were mid-ship in a mini-suite! The best part is that our original promotions were unchanged by the upgrade (which was awesome because the promos at the time were not nearly as good!).

 

 

Did you book using a Personal Cruise Consultant?

 

I believe so...we called NCL to book via phone, but the consultant we wound up using to get us the deal was different than the guy we talked to in January. The phone process is pretty painless!

[mabones]

Thanks. I use a PCC & will check in with him when I reach that magic mark. I only have the UBP which we received when it first became available. At that time we did not have to pay the service charge.

[Balcony93]

Yes, the airport location. You take your luggage and receipt to the 4th floor (top level), and there are many shuttles taking people to the pier.

 

Great review so far. Looking forward to more.

 

Do you know if Alamo will pick you up at the pier and take you back to MIA after the cruise if you have a reservation.

[TenForward]

 

How did you feel about the location? We certainly felt the ship moving more on Deck 13 than the ones below. I hope you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks for being great neighbors :) I hope we weren't bad....:p

 

We don't sail until October and your review is making me even more excited - it will be our first :) Really looking forward to the food and afternoons of relaxing on our balcony when not lounging in the sun. Thanks for the info :)

[panthers_4890]

Great review so far. Looking forward to more.

 

Do you know if Alamo will pick you up at the pier and take you back to MIA after the cruise if you have a reservation.

 

Thanks!

 

That is a fantastic question...I really don't know. I don't see why they wouldn't be able to, but I also don't remember the shuttle having any distinct characteristics that advertise it's going back to the car rental. It's worth a phone call, though! Leaving the ship was a little bit chaotic.

[panthers_4890]

We don't sail until October and your review is making me even more excited - it will be our first :) Really looking forward to the food and afternoons of relaxing on our balcony when not lounging in the sun. Thanks for the info :)

 

Gotcha...I misunderstood! Well, you are in for a great time! The location is really convenient to most things. Deck 8 was our go-to, so 5 decks wasn't bad to walk. Deck 16 and above involve anything you'd want to do on the Sun Decks, so 3 flights isn't bad, either!

 

October should be a great time of year!

[ppcox]

Great review so far. Looking forward to more.

 

Do you know if Alamo will pick you up at the pier and take you back to MIA after the cruise if you have a reservation.

 

Yes they do pick up and take you to the airport. There is a stand outside can't quite remember exactly where but we had no trouble finding it.

[wildtky101]

Following and can't wait for more of your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[cincicruisers]

Following

[Victorious8]

Just curious to know the age range of your group. It helps me to better interpret the review! I sail in just under a week and I am SO excited!!! I'm all ready to win the beer competition in The District.

 

Sure thing! The age range of our group goes from 27 up through 33. My wife and I are both educators during the year, so we love having summers to take vacations like this.

 

I am so excited for your trip next week! The District is an amazing place...I wanted to spend every waking moment there, but didn't always get to do so. Good luck in the competition! I think the all-time record was something like 89 beers. I can't even wrap my head around that. By the time I made it to the District at 3:30pm on Embarkation Day, someone was already at 9 beers. No way I can keep up with that pace...:eek:

 

Awesome! I will be turning 28 just two days after the cruise! Really excited for your review. 89 might be hard to beat since my sailing is 6 days. However, 9 on the first afternoon sounds plausible. Thanks to your review I now know I can order from Food Republic which will be wonderful! I am taking the CA Bar Exam this week so I will be ready to drink and forget all about these last 3 years :D:D:D

 

Enjoying the review!

[ssaville0124]

Following...my husband and I will be sailing on the Escape in December!

[panthers_4890]

Awesome! I will be turning 28 just two days after the cruise! Really excited for your review. 89 might be hard to beat since my sailing is 6 days. However, 9 on the first afternoon sounds plausible. Thanks to your review I now know I can order from Food Republic which will be wonderful! I am taking the CA Bar Exam this week so I will be ready to drink and forget all about these last 3 years :D:D:D

 

Enjoying the review!

 

Thanks! Hope you enjoy your much-needed vacation!

 

Just to make sure I explained it correctly...you can order anything on the District menu from Food Republic, but I don't believe you can order from Food Republic while in the District.

 

Enjoy the countdown!

[hbe]

Interesting...we stayed at the French Quarter, and we asked the guy at the front desk if we could somehow print our E-Docs and luggage tags for the cruise. He said we didn't have access to a computer anywhere, but he was very helpful in allowing us to email those documents to him. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get them without logging in to a computer (our phones were being weird). We were able to get the E-Docs printed after about 30 minutes of struggle...which was a little irritating that no one even looked at it at the pier. Oh well!

 

The guy did mention that if we needed to print boarding passes, or even cruise docs for DCL, they were able to do that easily. Overall, he was very helpful, and we thanked him profusely!

 

We just stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and they told us the same thing about printing our boarding passes for our flight home.

[panthers_4890]

ENTERTAINMENT

This category is a pretty broad stroke, so I'll do my best. We tried our best to get to as many shows as we could, but we're only human :)

 

After Midnight

We had booked this show for Sunday night in advance as a trial run, but the reservation got kicked to Monday night for some reason. Either way, the show itself is very good. The theme of the show, as I'm sure many of you already know, is Brooklyn in the 1920's. I'm not sure if there was a storyline that threaded through the show, for if there was, I wasn't able to follow it. However, the performers are excellent! Tap dance is a lost art, and it was refreshing to be able to experience it up-close. The singers were incredible. Our favorite act was the "Don't Advertise Your Man" piece. Hilarious!

 

Magic and Comedy with Harry Maurer

I mistakenly said earlier that we never went to the Supper Club, but looking back, I believe this show was in there. We actually double-booked Monday night with shows, so this one was the prequel to After Midnight. The guy puts on a good show. Some jokes are cheesy, but others are very funny. The tricks are pretty spectacular...how the heck does he do that wedding ring trick??

 

The Brat Pack

Okay, we are very partial to this show. One of our friends from college (Go Hokies!) is in this show as the bass player, so we knew it was going to be good. This show is hands down the best on the ship. We are motivated to watch all of the 80s movies showcased in this one. A word of advice...get there early and get a seat 2 or 3 rows from the mini stage they have built in the audience. Best seats in the house! We were able to chat with a few performers from the show later in the week, and we enjoyed hearing about their lives onboard. Apparently it's not uncommon for guests to give critical feedback after the shows are over....really?! Don't be those people. Truthfully, it's one of the best shows I've ever seen. I remember back in 2011 when I took a cruise on Carnival that the shows were really good. This one beats them all. Do yourself a favor and book this immediately. Also, I recommend the 10pm show...our friend says the actors and musicians are more warmed up for those. Oh, and cheer on our friend! He's on the Escape until October!

 

Comedians

Honestly, there's no use reviewing the specific comedians because they change so frequently. But Andy had me crying in laughter...it's hard to make me do that these days!

 

80's Dance Party

Being on a strict sleeping cycle throughout the school year has its advantages, but the biggest disadvantage comes when you try to stay awake later. This dance party, along with the GLOW party the following night, start at 10:30 in the H2O Spice area. We actually made it to the 80s Dance Party at 10:30, but it took so long for the dancing to crank up that we left and went to bed. From what I hear, it was fun! It was a kid-friendly party for sure, unless that changes later on after it gets going.

 

GLOW Party

I actually planned to make it to this one before the trip even started. Well, it didn't happen. I can't even tell you much about it...no one really talked about it the next day (although the fact that we were in Nassau that day probably didn't help).

 

Miscellaneous

Tyler, Cruise Director: He's one of the youngest in the fleet, but he is not short on energy. He did a great job keeping people engaged throughout the week. My one complaint (and if you have him, you'll notice it quickly)...he asks people to "Make some noise!" way too often. At the Newlywed Not-So Newlywed Game Show, he asked the audience to "MAKE SOME NOISE!" after every response. Maybe a little much...

 

Game Shows: We didn't see many in person, but watched a few on the TV throughout the week. They were good, but some of the contestants didn't appear to be totally into it. Also, Tyler seemed to be forcing the energy onto people with the constant requests.

 

Trivia: Very fun! Most were done in the Atrium for large crowds, but we attended one in the 5 o'Clock Somewhere Bar while in port (which we won!). The best trivia contest is the Harry Potter one. It's very popular and very difficult. We wound up grading the winning team's ticket...a 39/40! Unbelievable. The one they missed was missed by the entire room.

 

Washy-Washy: The guy loves his job. If you don't know now, you will.

 

SCORE: 9.5 out of 10

I struggled a bit with this score. Honestly, the entertainment is so outstanding, but there's something holding me back from an outright 10. I never met Tyler personally, but he seemed like he was trying to force things a bit. And when the CD is a little off, the entertainment can seem a bit awry, especially with game shows. But the Brat Pack alone would make this score a 15...

[hbe]

I just want to confirm, the Alamo rental is the airport location that you pickup the complimentary shuttle? Do you show the receipt to the front desk? Most of the time, we just drop of the return without checking back in the front desk. Thanks

 

The shuttle driver will ask to see your receipt, no need to go to the counter, just head to the shuttle.