NCL Escape Review - 8-Night Sailing - Aug 20-28

[Shawnkat]

Dinner tonight was at Moderno.

I think I forgot my camera this evening so no food porn. Sorry. :mad:

 

We were seated promptly and didn't have to wait. Our server was very friendly and explained how this restaurant works. At each place setting is a marker that looks like a drink coaster. One side is red and the other side is green. When you're hungry flip it to the green side and let the meat fest begin. Once you're ready to bust, or just need a break, flip it to red. Red means stop. Green means go. Very simple. Since we've all been to Brazilian Churrascaria type restaurants before, we knew how it works.

 

Before the main course, you're invited to visit their salad bar. At every one of these restaurants that I've been to before, the salad bars usually offer much more than just salad items and enough choice to easily make a meal by itself. The salad bar at Moderno was not a let down. I knew what was coming after so I made sure to "behave" at the salad bar. Only small tastes of what interested me that night. I was saving myself for the main event!

 

Once we were done with salad, it was time to flip our coasters to green. It was as if we lit the bat signal. The servers were coming at us with their long skewers of meat really quickly. Almost too quickly. There was sirloin, filet mignon, chicken, pork, sausage, lamb, etc... If you are a vegetarian or vegan, this is not the place for you. However, as I mentioned the salad bar has enough variety to be a meal in itself. Side dishes are served family style for the table. Rice, mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, and fried yucca. Everything was very good. We all know that you're likely to gain weight on a cruise. This restaurant is very, very dangerous. You've been warned. :p

 

 

After dinner I joined my parents at After Midnight. Although we didn't stay for the entire show, the jazz and the production were entertaining.

 

 

Tomorrow we'll be in St. Thomas. We heard tonight that the Freedom of the Seas had already rerouted due to the storms that were forming and moving westward from the coast of Africa. I believe this was tropical storm Fiona. So far the Escape was staying on course and on schedule and there wasn't any talk (yet) about rerouting as well. It's been smooth sailing so far. Hopefully it will stay that way. Fingers crossed.

[liser1232]

Really enjoying your review!!

 

Hoping to book the Escape for Spring 2017, and I wondered when the CDN promotion was advertised?

 

I am in Ontario, and with the exchange this will be an expensive trip! So if Ivan grab a similar deal Id love it!!

 

I'm from Toronto and was on this cruise! Best week of my life with my family! Loving the review so far. Brings back memories.

 

As for the CDN promotion. I booked two months ahead and just made the window for the Canadian at par promotion. Made it very affordable. Only "problem" is we didn't quality for any other promotions.

[easyboy]

Following.

[Shawnkat]

Apologies for my absence. Sometimes life just gets in the way.

 

 

We arrived on schedule in St. Thomas. As I mentioned, the Freedom of the Seas had already rerouted so we were the only ship in port that day. The weather was overcast on arrival and kept on changing throughout the day. Sometimes it was cloudy, sometimes it was raining, sometimes it was sunny.

 

Here's a shot taken at about 10:30 AM. Looks like the weather might cooperate.

 

 

 

Now here is a similar shot taken about an hour later at 11:30 AM.

 

 

Needless to say, we were not in any rush to get off the ship. Luckily we had no excursions planned today. After a late breakfast the weather cleared up a bit so we took a cab to the main shopping area of Charlotte Amalie. We've been to St. Thomas before so there was no urgency in seeing the sights. Our plan was to simply walk around while the weather was okay.

 

One thing about St. Thomas, there is no shortage of jewellery stores. Of course there are the typical ones like Diamonds International within the cruise port, but there are many many independent stores in St. Thomas. Like many other tourists, it's always fun to visit the shops. My plan was simply to window shop. I quickly discovered that my family had other plans in mind. :p

 

DS has been asking for a long time for a gold necklace and was even willing to pay for one himself. Now, at 16 years old he isn't truly aware of the price of solid gold and the value of what he is asking for. It's very different from the cost of the plated gold by the inch on-board the ship. In any case, it doesn't cost anything to try on, right??? The next thing I know we found a chain that looked fantastic on him and then the negotiations start. At this point I've conceded the fact that a purchase is going to be made. Once I think we're about to finalize a deal, Mother Nature decided to get involved in the action. The skies opened up and all you can see outside was a wall of rain. We weren't going anywhere. We were now trapped in this jewellery store and there is nowhere to hide. That's when they brought out the heavy artillery. Would DW like to try on tennis bracelets? Sure! How about some earrings? Of course. I knew I was doomed. All kidding aside, DW and DS walked out very happy and they both deserved it. No regrets or second thoughts.

 

Finally the rain let up and we continued on our walking tour. After a while we decided to head back to the ship. DW met up with some new friends and DD just wanted to read her book. Although it was raining again, Kat and I decided we weren't going to let it ruin our fun. So we changed into bathing suits and headed to Spice H20 at the rear of the ship. This was our first time visiting this part of the ship and it was great. With the exception of a few others, we had the deck to ourselves. I have to say, soaking in a hot tub in the rain is very relaxing, almost therapeutic. So if you're stuck in the rain at sea, don't hide inside, enjoy the hot tubs. They also won't be as full.

 

Dinner tonight was at Food Republic. I forgot to bring my camera tonight so no food porn. Sorry. One thing about Food Republic, they don't take advance reservations. Since we were a party of 6, we had to wait about an hour. So we spent time at the Tabacco Road bar and would check back from time to time if our table was ready. Finally it was and, overall, I'd say it was worth the wait. Since there were 6 of us we were able to try to good variety of dishes. The menu is electronic via a tablet at the table. You can see pictures and descriptions of every item. Just select the ones you want and submit your order. I don't think there was any dish that we didn't enjoy. The sushi was fantastic!

 

Later that night we saw For the Record: The Brat Pack. For anyone who grew up in the era of John Hughes films and associated music, this is the show for you. It was a good blend of themes from the many movies with the music to match. I couldn't help but think to myself that most of actors in the show are probably too young to have really connected to the script and music. They probably all had to binge watch the movies and listen to the all the soundtracks. :D In any case, they did a good job. A fun show!

 

That's it for Day 5.

More to come...

[SMSACE6]

thanks for the update:)

[Iusedtobeyoungandpretty]

Loving your review....Teen Club ? We will be with our DD who will be 12. I see that the Teen Club is 13+....will they question us about her age? There is no way in h%ll she will go into Kids club:eek:

[Thrilled2012]

So glad you came back to continue :D. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy life to write a great review

[L1211]

For a family of 4, having connection cabins had it's advantages. The inside doors between the cabins stayed open for most of the cruise. Effectively this doubled our floor space and made it feel like a much larger cabin, similar to a suite. We had lots of space for all clothing and double the power and USB outlets so everyone can charge their devices at the same time without any arguments. Without a doubt the best benefit has to be two bathrooms and two showers. On past cruises when we were all in one room I remember being thankful that there were public restrooms fairly close to our cabin location. :eek:

 

For any family contemplating one cabin or two, I strongly recommend going with two. Yes, there are 3rd and 4th passenger 50% off or free promotions from time to time, but if your budget can handle it, I think the benefits of the second cabin are worth the added cost. IMO

 

We had the divider between our balconies opened up so the space felt much larger. The regular balconies on the Escape are rather small. There is barely room for two chairs and a small table. Opening the space and doubling the width made a big difference.

 

Further forward on the ship and one deck below, you can see the deck 8 "secret" mini-suite extra-long balconies that JW refers to in his review. I think I saw JW or Jerome a couple of times from above. :cool:

 

 

 

After spending time at the pool and on the slides, we went back to the rooms to shower, change and relax on our extra-wide balcony. When we arrived back at our cabins we found a nice surprise.

 

 

There were two plates in our cabin and two plates in our kids' cabin. There was a note "compliments of Jovo, Hotel Director". My parents had two plates in their cabin as well. We received it again one or two more times later in the cruise as well. I don't know if this was a result of signing in at the CC meet & greet or if every passenger received it. Who cares. They were yummy! :D

 

Loving your review! We are on Escape in December. We were on Getaway in July and we too had two side by side rooms. We travel with teens and honestly, there is nothing like NOT sharing a space with them! But, we didn't have connecting rooms, booked late and those were not available. Any chance you have a pic of how the rooms connect? We were talking, not much free wall space for a door so we assumed the connection was just the balcony. We had two large balconies on 9 and they refused to open the balconies so we did lots of leaning over and yelling to the room next door. Not terribly convenient. Sounds like you had both interior connection and open balconies. Sounds like the perfect way to both enjoy and not "share" with the teens!

[Shawnkat]

Loving your review....Teen Club ? We will be with our DD who will be 12. I see that the Teen Club is 13+....will they question us about her age? There is no way in h%ll she will go into Kids club:eek:

 

 

Since my DD is now 13 we didn't have any issues. On past cruises when DD and DS were in different age groups, this did pose a challenge as the cruise lines tended to stick to the rules.

 

I never got to see the kids club so I can't provide any feedback on it. I suggest you at least visit the kids club on the first or second day. If your daughter can make some new friends quickly, then everything should fall into place after that. Good luck.

[Shawnkat]

Loving your review! We are on Escape in December. We were on Getaway in July and we too had two side by side rooms. We travel with teens and honestly, there is nothing like NOT sharing a space with them! But, we didn't have connecting rooms, booked late and those were not available. Any chance you have a pic of how the rooms connect? We were talking, not much free wall space for a door so we assumed the connection was just the balcony. We had two large balconies on 9 and they refused to open the balconies so we did lots of leaning over and yelling to the room next door. Not terribly convenient. Sounds like you had both interior connection and open balconies. Sounds like the perfect way to both enjoy and not "share" with the teens!

 

 

Yes, we have both connecting doors between the cabins as well as the open divider on the balconies. It was great. The inside door is on the common wall, just after the bathroom.

 

The following images show the positioning of the connecting door between the cabins. The view into the room shows part of the door on the left. The view from the balcony shows the door on the right.

 

 

[L1211]

Super helpful! Thank you so much. So, no concern about opening the balcony for you? We were told it was a fire hazard. My sister had been on Escape one week earlier in two Haven rooms. They opened the balcony for her. Then I was told that was because she was in the Haven. How odd, ok for the Haven to burn? Who did you request it through? Thanks again! Sounds like I need to be more persistent in December.

[Shawnkat]

Super helpful! Thank you so much. So, no concern about opening the balcony for you? We were told it was a fire hazard. My sister had been on Escape one week earlier in two Haven rooms. They opened the balcony for her. Then I was told that was because she was in the Haven. How odd, ok for the Haven to burn? Who did you request it through? Thanks again! Sounds like I need to be more persistent in December.

 

We asked our room steward. We met him quickly enough after we went to our rooms the first time. After some introductions and a nice chat, I made the request and he did it right away. From other posts that I've read, it seems that different people react differently to the request. Not sure why.