Mini Review NCL Escape July 31 Western

[floridian1]

Sailed on the NCL Escape July 31 with 2 adults, 2 kids

 

Quick Thoughts:

 

Getaway vs Escape: Both very similar ships, we preferred the Escape because of the additional dining options.

 

FOOD options on escape is superior to Getaway. We loved Food Republic and District Brewhouse. While I did miss the free cuban food buffet, margaritaville prices weren't bad. We also liked the new Wine bar and Tapas. Had slow service in Manhattan room and Savor & Taste. Had great service and food in OSheehans, Cagneys, Teppanyaki and Moderno. The morning buffet had the same foods every morning and it was VERY hard to find a table. Lunch and dinner buffet was always pretty good and no issues finding a table. A LOT of people were pushing their water bottles up the spouts instead of using a cup to transfer the water...simply DISGUSTING. The Water was expensive on board. DESSERTS - The hand scooped icecream was great as well as the chocolate covered marshmallows...the rest of the deserts in the buffet and restaurants were lacking in flavor/sugar.

 

DRINKS - Had the UBP and had fast service almost everywhere but the pool deck. Our favorite were sugarcane and District brew house...sometimes it was easier during the day to just run down to deck 8 to get a drink instead of the pool bar. Speaking of Deck 8... The waterfront was always empty the times we went every day. Very enjoyable.

 

WATER BOTTLES - I was very annoyed with their new policy. I packed a few small water bottles in our suitcases. The Price of water bottles onboard is price gauging. We drink a lot of water, especially in the cabin at night and while in port. The cups in the buffet are pretty small, I would encourage people to bring their own plastic water bottles..but not after I saw how people would fill them in the buffet, which was ridiculously disgusting. Maybe the WASHY WASHY HAPPY HAPPY guy could make up a new song about no FILLY FILLY the Water Bottles with out a GLASSY GLASSY.

 

The POOL DECK was always a hot mess. We live in Florida so we don't even bother with the pools. The Children's aqua park's hours and the slides were 10am-6pm. This is probably my BIGGEST complaint of the cruise. WHY do the slides and childs water area not open earlier? I doubt its a staffing issue because there is only 1 staff member in the child's aqua play area and 4 for the slides. The slides were fun and the children enjoyed the water park...but the times it was open was the biggest disappointment. Spiceh20 grotto was neat!

 

The ROPE COURSE was a lot of Fun! I love the 2 levels and the zipline that went along the side of the ship, the line also moved fairly quickly.

 

The MINI GOLF and PINGPONG had enough rackets/clubs but not enough balls the 2 times we went.

 

NCL APP/WIFI - Paid the $10 to be able to text...app worked about 60% off the time. Was constantly having to open and close the app...pretty frustrating.

 

SPLASH ACADEMY - Both of my boys enjoyed it, I had one in the 3-5 age group and another in the 6-9. They would go for 1-2 hours every night. Infact one night my son told me he didnt want to eat dinner with us, he'd rather go to the club!! My older son said the Getaway Splash Academy felt bigger, I never made it to open house so I can't comment on that personally.

 

SHOWS: Only made it to the comedy magic show and the adult only comedy, both shows were OK, nothing special. GLOW party, stayed 10 minutes. The kids thought it was fun. They got glow sticks and these foam lights as well as some face paint.

 

STATEROOM: Had a Balcony on Deck 14 AFT near the elevators. we LOVED the location of our room. Also, the Balcony was a nice size. I highly reccomend 14 AFT, only 2 floors away from the buffet and pool deck and didnt feel as busy as the Forward elevators. Stateroom host was nice. The room is a decent size for 2 adults and 2 kids, but more than 2 adults would be a tight squeeze. The bed was comfortable. The kids would watch TV while we were getting ready..FYI parents..there is NOT a dedicated kids channel..there is occasionally a kids show on..or not. Might be better to preload something they enjoy watching onto an ipad. Not a big deal..they ended up watching the Guy Harvey channel anyways.

 

ITINERARY - Western Caribbean.

ROATAN - Booked a private tour with Ronystours, great price, very nice driver. Went to Daniel Johnsons Sloth & Monkey sanctuary and West Bay Beach (banarama). Had a GREAT time, nice clean island with nice people...the people on the beach could be a little pushy selling stuff but respected when I said no thank you.

BELIZE - Missed it because of Hurricane

COZUMEL - Rented a car from Alamo before we left, drove to the other side of the island and ate at a restaurant at Chen Rio. Nice natural lagoon beach that is free. Got ripped off at the Gas station, Alamo tried to rip us off when we got back and wanted to charge us an extra $50 ..good thing I kept the contract. A Lady at a store in port also tried to rip me off on the price of some jewerly, told me the price correctly in US dollars but added an extra 40 pesos to it when I said I only had pesos..I knew this wasnt true..already did the conversion..i had pesos since the starbucks "CLAIMED" they didnt have any US dollars for change (I believe that was also a LIE)...Do you see a Pattern here? Not a huge fan of Cozumel

NASSAU - This port replaced Belize, have been many times. Went to Blue Lagoon Island. Had a nice time, there is fantastic snorkeling in the back of the island.

[SMSACE6]

thanks for your review. I have booked the Escape for my 2017 cruise, and looking forward to it. I may have missed it in your review, but did you buy an internet package or time? if so, how was it. I keep hearing that it is bad, and I need to stay in touch with home, due to elderly parents, so this is my only concern. Thanks again:) ahhhh, disregard...now I see your comment about wifi. But thanks for the review

Edited August 6, 2016 by SMSACE6

[TheDougOut]

Interesting observations with water bottles - I wonder how much this has increased with the restrictive carry-on policy, and if NCL will feel the need to address it some how.

[floridian1]

thanks for your review. I have booked the Escape for my 2017 cruise, and looking forward to it. I may have missed it in your review, but did you buy an internet package or time? if so, how was it. I keep hearing that it is bad, and I need to stay in touch with home, due to elderly parents, so this is my only concern. Thanks again:) ahhhh, disregard...now I see your comment about wifi. But thanks for the review

 

Hi! The Escape is a great ship..you have much to look forward to and I bet the internet improves before your trip.

 

You must be connected to the wifi on board to use the app..the app is free..the wifi is free to use the app..

 

if you want to browse the internet and look at websites..send emails you will need a plan..which is expensive and not worth it at the current internet speeds on board. However if you NEED it I'm sure you could make it work..just be patient...lots of people complaining about internet and the app. So I found a minor loop hole if you want to check sports score/weather/some news. you can search with google..so I would go to google.com and search for things..like weather radar...weather in Cozumel. etc and as long as the information you are searching for showed up in a google search you could see it..you just cant click on the links. You could also browse google images. Some news articles I could open as well if it said AMP next to the article (Accelerated Mobile Pages). Weather shows up in the top of the google search page.

 

hope that helps

Edited August 6, 2016 by floridian1

[floridian1]

Interesting observations with water bottles - I wonder how much this has increased with the restrictive carry-on policy, and if NCL will feel the need to address it some how.

 

On every water/ice machine there was a small sign that said to use a clean glass to fill water bottles...clearly people ignored it...perhaps a solution would be to have a designated water fountain ONLY for water bottles..so people can be gross in one place.

[SMSACE6]

yes that helps:) I don't have to make final payment till next July, so my plan is to just wait and see how it goes re internet/email, and hope that they get it improved by then. I really want to sail on this ship! And the deal I got is very good imo. So, I will just wait, and hope for some improvement:)

[Nola26]

Thanks for the review. We'll be on the ship in 3wks. The things you highlighted won't even impact us, kind of cool that same ship and itinerary will lead to different vacations.

 

We were on Getaway last summer and had a blast. Think I will miss Flamingo Grill and the complimentary Asian options, but sure I'll find something to love on the Escape.

 

We are excited, going to start the packing process this weekend. Not planning to buy anything new, but want to make sure I have everything.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Nola26

[floridian1]

Thanks for the review. We'll be on the ship in 3wks. The things you highlighted won't even impact us, kind of cool that same ship and itinerary will lead to different vacations.

 

We were on Getaway last summer and had a blast. Think I will miss Flamingo Grill and the complimentary Asian options, but sure I'll find something to love on the Escape.

 

We are excited, going to start the packing process this weekend. Not planning to buy anything new, but want to make sure I have everything.

 

Hi! You're going to have a blast on the escape..I did miss the Flamingo grill...Getaway was a fun ship too. Have a great trip!

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[SquishTheWhale]

Thanks for the review! We have booked Western on the Escape for Oct 2017 so was hoping someone would post a review. As a previous commenter said your main annoyance with the hours of the kids pool etc won't impact us so it looks like we can look forward to a great cruise!

 

Can you tell me a little more about the tour you took in Roatan? What was the sanctuary like? Not too bothered about monkeys but I do like sloths so this could be an option for us. Did you get any drinks/lunch or anything included? I was thinking of Tabyaba beach break as it's our first time, but the sanctuary sounds kind of cute.

[floridian1]

Can you tell me a little more about the tour you took in Roatan? What was the sanctuary like? Not too bothered about monkeys but I do like sloths so this could be an option for us. Did you get any drinks/lunch or anything included? I was thinking of Tabyaba beach break as it's our first time, but the sanctuary sounds kind of cute.

 

I booked our day in Roatan with RonysTours[dot]com after reading reviews on cruisecritic and tripadvisor. There are many tour options on the website and I believe some include lunch. We purchase the Private tour for $25 per person. We had a driver meet us right outside the port gates. You can make the private tour however you'd like. There are many options of where they can take you depending on what you would like to do. We went to Daniel Johnsons Monkey/Sloth Sanctuary for $10 per person. We had a GREAT time, its a small sanctuary with some sloths (not caged) and monkeys (caged..but he allows them out for a few hours each day) as well as beautiful birds and other animals. The owner is very nice and he gave us the tour himself and explains how they are all rescued/abandoned..he seems to really love the animals (you can google them..they have a facebook and tripadvisor page). The highlight is being able to hold the sloth, sweet animal. When we were done our tourguide/driver took us to the other side of the island to West Bay Beach and paid $10 per person at the Banarama resort to be able to use their facilities and beach chairs, they were very friendly. ...West Bay Beach is the SAME beach as Tabyana. Tabayana is just one end of the beach. Infact family we traveled with booked the Gumbalimba/tabayana NCL excursion and paid a lot of money. We ended up seeing MORE animals than they did, spent MORE time on the beach and with the animals than they did..and we ended up hanging out with them at the beach once they arrived (we were already there for almost 2 hours before them!!). Everything was at OUR pace. We LOVED our time in Roatan, also GREAT snorkleing off West Bay Beach near Tabayana I highly recommend Ronys Tours. Our driver was Hector..he was very nice. If we go back I wouldnt hesitate to book Ronystours again..maybe to focus more on snorkeling for something different.

Edited August 7, 2016 by floridian1

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing.

[SquishTheWhale]

Thank you so much for the info :) gives us a lot to think about!

[easyboy]

Thanks for the review.

[mumfob]

Can you speak to the kids menu? Was it offered in all the restaurants, even specialty? What did it consist of? We have selective eaters and I contemplating if we make reservations at the specialty restaurants. Thanks for your help.

[Dayana]

Do you happen to still have the rallies and able to post them?

 

 

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[Dayana]

Do you happen to still have the rallies and able to post them?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Sorry.....dailies.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[floridian1]

Do you happen to still have the rallies and able to post them?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Hi, no I'm sorry..i do not:( but im pretty sure i read another thread that someone said they would scan them in from my cruise.