Escape Review by a Couple in our 50's - Aug 28-Sept 3

[FloridaGram]

Signing on for updates, this sounds like a lot of fun!

[gamecockmom]

Day 3 - Roatan, Honduras

 

We got up early and headed once again to the Garden Café for a quick breakfast. It was already crowded because of so many trying to get off the ship to make it to their excursions. We get off the ship and are greeted by local dancers and of course the photo guys wanting to get pictures with the passengers as they get off. We did this because we had intended to buy the pictures later if they were decent. We also stopped by the local dancers and left a them a little tip. There's the usual things you see at port of "come see our beach", "come tour", etc. but to us they didn't seem as bad or pushy as some of the ports we've been in. We try to remember they're only doing their jobs.

 

We had intended to book an excursion through NCL but waited too late to do this before we left. So the night before we left, we did a little research and decided to make reservations for "Little French Key" directly from their website. It was highly rated and we read reviews and comments on Cruise Critic telling how beautiful if was. What the reviews or the website did NOT tell you is it's a little confusing to get to their shuttle. So, I hope this helps.

As we walked down through the port area, we made a little right turn under an archway and down the main alleyway. There are more little booths set up on each side with advertising. We were looking for something that stated "Little French Key". Nothing. When we made it to the end, there's tons of buses, shuttles, taxis all waiting to take you wherever you need to go. We finally asked somebody where to find "Dave" or "Larry" the drivers for the LFK Excursion. The guy we asked explained that "Dave" or "Larry" would be down the street and pointed where to go. So, we walk to our left a very short way, turn left beside this little building and walk down another little street (kind of looks like a driveway) and at the end we see "Dave" standing there with a sign to our right. There are other groups meeting there for their excursions too so you're not on a back alley street by yourself. The reason I'm explaining this in such detail is we were getting a little concerned that we were being directed somewhere we really didn't need to go. It is a very short walk, it sounds further than it is. I'm guessing because it took us a little while to figure out exactly where to go, we missed the first shuttle. But "Dave" explained that "Larry" was at the port where Carnival was docked and that he'd be by shortly to pick up us. He was also waiting on a group of 12 from our ship who never showed and I'm guessing they also had trouble finding him. So, after about 30 minutes, and he kept apologizing for the wait, he flagged down a taxi driver who he knew and directed him to take us at no charge. He said we had waited too long already and he wanted us to enjoy as much time at LFK as possible. Off we go with our taxi driver. He spoke a little English and we know a little Spanish, so it was an interesting and enjoyable 25-30 minute ride. He pointed out different sites to us during our ride so we got a little extra island tour. Once we arrived at LFK we were directed to "French's 44". There's also a scuba charter there so make sure you check in at the right place. You pay once you get there for your package...you pay nothing in advance you only make reservations. One suggestion...take cash !! We paid by credit/debit card so we ended up paying 15% more...:eek: Our package included transportation to and from the port, the little ferry ride to the island (about a 5 minute ride), use of all non-motorized sporting equipment, 2 drinks each and lunch (you get tickets for these) zoo tour, and access to all the beaches. We boarded the little ferry and we're headed towards the island. Reminds you of Gilligan's Island...it's so cute. As we got off the ferry we were greeted by "Harold" the General Manager. He walks you through the zoo area and tells you about the animals and how some of them were rescued. These areas are very clean and you can tell all the animals are well cared for, feed and loved. They have plenty of room to move around in and there are keepers constantly working and cleaning around the areas. Yes, there was the normal smell around the chicken and duck areas. There's plenty of shade trees and even the sand in the walkway areas are freshly raked. He gives the feeding times and says for an additional charge you can interact with some of the birds, monkeys and even a baby tiger. You have to see Leo the Lion...he's beautiful. His story is sad, but he's one happy big cat now :) Once past the zoo area you get to the first of four beach areas. There's also restrooms and changing areas. There are several little restaurants, and bar areas along with other beach areas all having nice loungers. There is rope swings, kayaks, paddle boards , hammocks and swim up bars. The water is crystal clear and very clean and so are the beach areas. We were talking more to Harold and he had explained that this was actually their off season so it wasn't crowded at all. This was not included in our package but there's also horseback riding and you get to ride on the beach and in the water. Of course I had to go pet and love on the horses a little. And again, they are kept in the stalls with shade, they are in an area that had a great breeze, they had water and were being rode in the water. So all good with the care of the horses too.

We spent a little time at each one of the beach areas, had some great drinks, enjoyed swimming in the water and lunch was great !!! Lobster, shrimp, jerk chicken, beans & rice, slaw and pico de gallo. I'm not sure if there were other options available. When we were ready for lunch, we handed them our ticket and they brought our plates. You can go to the bar for your drinks or they'll bring them to you. When you're ready for lunch, you can walk to one of the little restaurants or they will also bring that to you. We didn't buy additional drinks so I'm not sure of the prices. We decided about 2:00 that we should go ahead and start back to the ship. There were several others catching the ferry also. Once off the ferry, the shuttle took about 10 of us back to the ship. If you're looking for a real private beach experience, Little French Key is a great option.

After our showers we thought we'd go sit at the District Brew House, relax and have a drink while watching the late arrivals coming back from their excursions RUN to catch the ship before it leaves...LOL This can be entertaining. There were several other passengers doing the same thing. However, when they started paging the same 3 passengers several times, it wasn't funny anymore. I hated to see anyone get left behind. We found out the next day that they were able to get someone with a speedboat catch up with the ship before we got too far out and the Captain let them board.

Our dinner reservations tonight were at the Manhattan Room. There's music and dancing and I wish I could remember the name of the band that was playing that night but I can't. I do know they played several locations on the boat throughout the week and were very good. The food and service were wonderful. We actually filled out a comment card for our waitress because she was so good. Hubby had Caesar salad, roast, potatoes and steamed veggies and the Drunkin Melon Trio for Dessert. I had Caesar salad, pecan crusted chicken and potatoes and Sherbet Ice Cream for Dessert. I wish I had taken pictures of our plates. After dinner we wanted to get to the Atrium in time for good seats for the "Sing it if you Know it" Game. That's always fun. Scored good seats and met up with a couple of guys we had met earlier in the week who were from Canada. They had really gotten a laugh out of my southern accent. Hubby was in the military so his accent is not as pronounced as mine. I'm glad we were on the same team (side of the room) as them because one of the guys, Simon, stole the show !!!! He could have easily passed as one of the entertainers on the ship with is singing. Hubby guarded our seats as we ran back and forth to the front singing and dancing. Yes, more liquid courage for me but it doesn't take much. After the game was over, we started to stay and watch some of the "Dancing with the Crew" but three lovely ladies saw my redneck side after they continued to hang over the back of my hubby's chair. We, rather I, told them to take our chairs since they were all up over top of him and me anyway :mad: No, I didn't cuss, yell or scream...Bless their hearts...if you're from the south, you'll know what that means. It was almost time to meet our friends at "Cowboy's Bar" anyway so we headed to the Waterfront. I feel like we're in an Episode of "Cheer's"...Where Everybody Knows Your Name. Tonight's drink was some type of yummy frozen concoction that Cowboy came up with. It tasted like chocolate covered cherries. It was frozen and resembled a mudslide in consistency but not as heavy feeling. I have no idea what it was called. When you ask, he would just smile and give his evil laugh. There were others ordering something we had earlier in the week. Ron Ron called it "Mustard & Ketchup" but it's actually a Mango Meltdown with mango and strawberry. We've had a busy day so after a while it's time to head to our room. We find that Jimmy has done his magic again with more mints and a towel doggie. I guess we're doing something right because we also have more complimentary chocolate covered strawberries. YUM !!

 

I hope you're enjoying because I'm trying to make it fun to read...along with giving you helpful information

Day 4 to follow Later....

Edited September 13, 2016 by gamecockmom

[gamecockmom]

Great review! Looking forward to more, I will be boarding in 12 days. Can I ask a question, what time was the muster drill? I'm guessing you set sail at the new 7pm time.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

 

Our sail away was supposed to be at 4:00...we were a little late leaving port because someone forgot to take one of the lines loose ... Ooopppsss. We weren't delayed more than maybe 10-15 minutes.

 

Hubby went and looked at our daily and it said 3:30 for the muster. We were trying remember for sure but just can't. This time we did not even need our vest, we just reported to our stations and presented our key cards to get checked in.

[cincicruisers]

Great review, more please...

[easyboy]

Enjoying the review.

[gamecockmom]

Hubby and Me at the 5 O'clock Somewhere Bar on the Waterfront

[KatEnz]

Love your detailed review of Little French Key. We have made reservations to go there in Nov. Excited!

[txhomeschoolmom]

Really enjoying your review... thanks much for posting 😊

 

Sent from my SM-N930T using Tapatalk

[gamecockmom]

Love your detailed review of Little French Key. We have made reservations to go there in Nov. Excited!

 

Here's a few pictures. It was beautiful !!!

[KatEnz]

Amazing! Thank you.

 

 

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[Jana60]

Day 2 - Sea Day:

Partial quote........We realized we hadn't eaten dinner tonight but didn't really want anything so we went for something to drink before heading to our Cabin. It was supposed to be one drink. Which turned in to several and met some amazing new friends and where at but the 5 O'clock Somewhere Bar on the Waterfront or as I've been calling it "Cowboy's". Now ,it's time to call it a night. Arrived back at our Cabin and Jimmy had made up the cutest towel elephant, chocolates on our pillows AND complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from Jovo, the Hotel Director. We met him at the M&M and Lattitudes Members Meeting. Super nice guy.

 

Day 3 Later:

 

I cruised with one sister on Escape in July and will be taking the other sister in October. I love the 5 o'clock somewhere bar mainly because I love to sing and really enjoyed the karaoke. Did they still have karaoke there in the evenings on your cruise?

 

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[gamecockmom]

Day 4 - Belize:

 

HOT...Just HOT :eek: We arrived in Belize and I walked outside to take a look and Belize is beautiful but it's almost too hot to even stay out on our balcony for a long period of time. There's no breeze at all. We have no plans today or excursions planned in Belize so we take our time getting off the ship. Thinking back, this would have been the perfect morning to go to one of the main dining rooms for a nice, quiet breakfast. But we did our usual and went to the Garden Café. At least we got lucky and scored a table by the window. Took our time with our breakfast and talked about trying to find something to do today. Finally made the decision to just go into the port and shop for a while and come back to the ship and spend some time by the pool and relax. We needed to catch the tender into Belize so we go down to the Theater to wait our turn. The crew does a very good job routing passengers in groups so that everybody is moving in the right direction to the loading area. The tender ride into Belize is approximately 15-20 minutes. The tender boat we were on was a double decker so those on the top deck were exposed to the sun on the ride over. Did I mention it was HOT !!! Thank Heavens we were on the lower deck with some shade. At port you have your usual greeters, dancers and photo opportunities. The NCL and Carnival tender docks are side-by-side so there's a lot of people already walking around and shopping. There are the usual shops to browse through and we choose to go into several just because they were air conditioned. There's a couple of bars along the way and we saw some Carnival passengers who were already feeling the effects of their excess consumption of alcohol !! Wow... Don't nobody need to see all that stuff... About that time, a young lady approached me and asked if I wanted my hair braided. I had no intention of coming home with corn rows and beads in my hair but she showed me a picture of a cute double French Braid with a bun to one side. Very elegant and I thought it would be nice for dinner tonight and it would be cooler since it was so dang HOT. So, 15 minutes later I have a head full of coconut oil that smells great, French Braided hair and a slight headache. And the young lady got a nice tip which made her happy. A little further down the port on the right was a shop that made chocolate candy. We walked into the door and we were both like Mmmmmmmm .... Choc...co...late. I could feel the pounds basically jumping onto my body just by sniffing this Heavenly sweetness. Just outside the shop was a very talented local guy singing, of all things, country music. We stood and listened to him and his little band for a few minutes before heading back towards the tender dock. There were more shops past him but they were all basically the same things that all the other shops had. It was getting close to lunchtime so we boarded the tender and headed back to the ship. And you remember I said it was HOT. Once back, we went to O'Sheehan's for a little lunch. Hubby decided on the Rueben with fries and I had a Nathan's hot dog and fries. O'Sheehan's has great comfort food and it's always good.

After eating, we changed into bathing suits and headed to H20 to see what was going on and how crowded it was. There was hardly anybody there so we figured we just go to the pool. We love the pool on port days because it's less crowded and you have no trouble finding a lounge chair. I like the sun and hubby needs some shade. On the Getaway, we spent a lot of time at H20 during sea days. Since the weather wasn't great on our first sea day this time, before now we had just walked out here and looked around a few minutes. The pool was nice, the music wasn't too loud so it was nice to get some sun and relax a while. Hubby took a little nap in the shade ;) By the way, the bartender by the pool makes great banana daiquiris :D One thing we did notice is it clearly says "Adult Pool Only" but it also says children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult. I believe this goes for the hot tubs in the adult pool area too. The adult pool is 6'8" deep with a tanning ledge on each side. But there are kids that are jumping and diving into the deeper ends of the pool. At one point there were 5-6 in one of the hot tubs. If any of them were being supervised by adults, those adults were invisible or oblivious. Even though it wasn't very crowded, it's the principal and if something would have happened to these children, NCL would have been blamed. Parents, I know you're on vacation, but supervise and watch your kids. And I love kids that's not the issue, the issue is responsibility or lack of. Okay, off my soapbox.

After a while, passengers had started coming back and we were ready for showers so we headed to our cabin. First stop before dinner was Cowboy's bar. My before dinner drink of choice for tonight was Tranquil Waters. Hubby decided on a Margarita, over the rocks, no salt. It was supposed to be 80's night at H20 and we were looking forward to attending that later. However, remember I kept mentioning it was HOT ? Well, the heat had gotten to me more than I thought and I had that slight headache. I suggested we go to the Garden Café and let me try to find some fruit or something to help me feel better. Nope. I think it was the combo of the heat and not drinking much water. The headache was most likely the hair braid and being slighted dehydrated. So, there would be no dancing for us tonight. On a brighter note, when we got to our cabin, Jimmy had already done his turndown service and we had mints, a towel penquin, complimentary truffles and chocolate covered strawberries..again !!! We also had an invite only invitation to a social on Friday at the District Brew House...don't we feel special.

So...when you go to Belize... It's HOT !! Drink plenty of water, stay hydrated, rest and stay out of sun. The party at H20 sounded fun !! We could hear and enjoy the music from our balcony. And if you're wondering about noise on an Aft Balcony on Deck 14 from H20, once you come back in and close the sliding door, you don't hear the activity above.

 

Day 5 tomorrow...

[gamecockmom]

I cruised with one sister on Escape in July and will be taking the other sister in October. I love the 5 o'clock somewhere bar mainly because I love to sing and really enjoyed the karaoke. Did they still have karaoke there in the evenings on your cruise?

 

Sent from my SM-N910T using Forums mobile app

 

Yes, they do still have karaoke in the evenings. There were also some trivia games there too. I love to sing also and sing solos often at our church but even with my "liquid courage" intake, I couldn't bring myself to be brave enough this trip. Maybe I needed more "courage"...LOL :eek:

[Montanagirlalways]

Thank you for such a good review. I was wondering if there is a charge for spice h20 I believe it is called? Sounds like a great place for adults. Will be on the Escape the end of October for Halloween.

[paradiseawaitsme]

No charge for spice H20. They charge is for VIBE passes

[TSUmom]

Still following and enjoying. Besides making your head hurt how did you like your braid? I always consider getting it done because I have naturally curly hair and look like Shirley Temple when I am on a cruise. Did you take a picture?

[gamecockmom]

Still following and enjoying. Besides making your head hurt how did you like your braid? I always consider getting it done because I have naturally curly hair and look like Shirley Temple when I am on a cruise. Did you take a picture?

 

I really think my head hurt more from the heat and not feeling well than the braids. My hairs curls like crazy too !! :eek: That's one reason she put so much coconut oil on it. I had it pulled up already in a ponytail but the braids were much cooler. I did take a picture but accidentally deleted it along with several others :mad: I have a picture from the front...she left my bangs out and it really was super cute. I'd probably have it done again !!!

[TSUmom]

I really think my head hurt more from the heat and not feeling well than the braids. My hairs curls like crazy too !! :eek: That's one reason she put so much coconut oil on it. I had it pulled up already in a ponytail but the braids were much cooler. I did take a picture but accidentally deleted it along with several others :mad: I have a picture from the front...she left my bangs out and it really was super cute. I'd probably have it done again !!!

 

I just might give it a try next time. I too always have it pulled up or attempt to French braid it myself...

[gamecockmom]

Day 5 - Cozumel:

 

Got up early and headed to the balcony. We were just coming into Cozumel when I walked out. My headache is gone and I'm feeling much better after a good nights sleep. We've visited Cozumel several times in the past so I'm very excited to be back. Besides Maui, this is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. Our first trip here was in 2008 while on the Jewel. We liked it so much we flew directly here several times for a weeks vacation and stayed at one of the all-inclusive resorts, Park Royal. I made myself a cup of coffee and decided to sit and enjoy the view coming into port. Hubby is still sleeping :p There's two places for ships to dock here and we're going to be at the one closest to town. The one further down is where and Carnival & the RC ships will be. Park Royal is really close to that dock and we used to watch the ships leave out in the evenings. About the time we get docked, the hubby wakes up and joins me outside. It's already cooler than the day before because it's a little overcast. We shower, dress and we're ready to go. We skipped breakfast because we intended to get an early lunch in town. We have two places we want to visit today. The first being a place another passenger had told us that we needed to try, "The Thirsty Cougar". We've done the tourist stuff of Senor Frogs, Margaritaville, etc. so we wanted to try something different.

Walking into the port area, if you go directly across the street there are lots of little stores and shops in a two story mall. If you want to go towards Margaritaville, go to your right. If you want to go towards Senor Frogs, go left. Going this direction you can actually get some very good pictures of the Escape docked at port. There's all kinds of little shops right there and they ALL want to show you their treasures and the jewelry stores are the worst. They get you in by offering free earrings, or some other "gift" then start showing you the good stuff. We walk into a few just to look around a little. We already have a specific jewelry store we want to visit today. Across the street from the port, there's also street vendors with paintings and other handmade items. Word of warning, there are people dressed up and standing perfectly still. They look like metal statues and every once in a while as you pass, they move, scaring the beegezzes out of you :eek: They do this for tips and are actually very good at looking straight ahead and standing so still. This time there was a Captain Jack from the Pirates movies and a guy dressed and painted completely in gold. There was also a third one but neither me or hubby can remember what he or she was dressed like. Find a bench and sit and watch for a while if you want a good laugh. According to hubby's GPS on his phone, we need to proceed to our left and go past Senor Frogs to find "The Thirsty Cougar". We're walking and looking around in some shops when we hear "Come try our peanut butter/reese cup tequila". Okay, you had me at peanut butter ;). Inside we go because we're just crazy and curious enough to try peanut butter tequila. Besides, it's 5 o'clock somewhere and we're in Mexico !! You HAVE to drink tequila while in Mexico !! The guy is a nut and has us laughing before we even try the "shot" he's offering. He mixes us chocolate and peanut butter tequila in a shot glass and there you have it, peanut butter/reese cup. It was great !!! He then asked if we liked coffee. I do, but hubby does not. He then pours me coffee and chocolate tequila together. OMGosh, it's amazing. Hubby tried the Jolly Rancher tequila and liked it but liked the peanut butter and chocolate better. I think we probably could have stood there all day and he would have kept pouring us shots of different flavors. We left with a bottle of peanut butter, a bottle of chocolate and a bottle of coffee tequila. Of course, hubby enjoyed the "Let's Make a Deal" game that most of the shop owners play. We leave the tequila shop and we're still following the GPS on hubby's phone and looking for "The Thirsty Cougar". It takes us down a little side street and we are approached by this guy who asks us if we need a "Pharmacy". Okay, time to turn around. We've gotten too far off the main street. We get back to the main street and realize that on the corner where we had turned right to walk down the side street was "The Thirsty Cougar". We were paying so much attention to his phone GPS, that we had not realized we had walked right by it. Stupid GPS. We sit down at one of the outside tables and they tell us they're not serving lunch yet but we can have a beer. What, it's 11:00. No lunch yet, but beer. Well, heck we've already had several shots of tequila, so why not...LOL We order our beer and sit and people watch for a while. I guess we'll try lunch there another time :confused:

Our next stop is down the street a little ways. It's a jewelry store we had purchased from in the past. We couldn't remember the name of it but knew we'd recognize the location when we got to it. We go in with the intention of just looking around. We leave with a ring that matches the bracelet we had previously purchased :D It's an early Anniversary gift so I'm grinning from ear to ear. They started out showing us items extremely too high for our budget and we passed and went to walk out. Of course they didn't want that to happen so then starts the serious negotiations. I'll not post what we paid, but I will say they came off $900 from the appraised value. Jewelry has a huge markup anyway so they still made money I'm sure. The salesman tells hubby that anybody that buys from him, takes a shot of tequila. And believe it or not there is a bottle of tequila sitting right there on the jewelry counter with disposable plastic cups. Hubby takes his shot, salesman shakes his hand and tells us my ring will be ready in an hour. It was too big and needed to be sized down. Now I'm excited, and starving !!! We walk to a little place we had passed earlier called Palmeras. It's open air seating but has ceiling fans so it's a nice place to enjoy a relaxing lunch. We sit right by one of the open windows and have a great view of the water and people walking by. They are still serving breakfast but are also serving lunch. We notice orders coming by and realize the portions are huge so we decide to split a club sandwich and fries. They've already brought chips and homemade salsa to the table and we have both been munching on those. While we are waiting on our lunch a guy with his guitar comes to the window and starts singing and playing. Of course we let him finish, thank and tip him because it was very nice and he was good. Next, a lady comes to our table with a note pad and needs our first names. Well, I'm thinking she's with the restaurant. A few minutes later she's back with drawings with our names on them and the name of the restaurant and the date. We ask how much, because the drawings would be a great souvenir. We pay her and she moves on. Then it starts...we are the "Mark" and all these people keep coming over to our table trying to get us to let them play or get us to buy something. Sorry, guys. We just smiled and started saying "No, Thank You". I know they work for tips, but enough is enough. We finish our lunch and head back to the jewelry store. My ring is ready when we get there and the salesman starts about the earrings again but we told him maybe on our next trip.

The trip back to the boat was much faster because we walked on the other side of the road close to the water. This way we avoided being stopped by all the shop keepers and vendors. Once back on board, we had to check in our tequila and they told us it would be delivered to our cabin the night before we got back to Miami. We went to our cabin from here to rest a little while before heading out for pool time again. Got lucky once again with a sunny spot for me and a shady spot for hubby. For some reason my favorite drink for by the pool is a banana daiquiri. We both had a couple before returning to our cabin to shower and dress for dinner at Savor.

Before dinner we stopped by the CruiseNext Desk and did the $500 deposit for the $250 on board credit. I think I mentioned before that we usually do this because we know we will be cruising again.

We are seated by a window at Savor and the food and service was absolutely wonderful. Hubby had a salad and prime rib and I had a salad and the chicken parmigiana. Sorry Olive Garden, you got nothing on this ship's chicken parmigiana. Once again we passed on dessert because we were too full to really enjoy it. We finished our dinner and made a quick stop by "Cowboy's" for a drink. We had reservations for "For the Record...The Brat Pack" and wanted to get there a little early for good seats. This is music and movies I knew well from the 80's and I was super excited. If you're unfamiliar with John Hughes movies, watch a few of them before going on the cruise and seeing this show. You'll enjoy it so much more if you know a little about the movies and hear the soundtracks. The show was amazing, incredible, fabulous !!! High energy and very talented performers. After the show, you can meet the cast in front of the Theater and get pictures if you'd like. Now, I'm going to get on my soapbox again. This is NOT a show for children. It's got very suggestive dialogue, has adult humor and even some suggestive movements. And the information about the show clearly states that. So, don't get all offended if little Johnny or little Susie hears the F Bomb dropped...and it does get dropped. You were warned and there's plenty of family friendly activities on the ship without you dragging your children to this show and then getting all bent out of shape because they heard or saw something they shouldn't have.

Shows over and we on our way to the Glow Party at H2O. We enjoyed the Hot White Party so much on the Sky and so we figured it would be about the same. Well, it was so crowded you couldn't even make your way to the dance floor and the music was so loud it hurt your ears. I'm not saying this in a negative way because it looked really fun and if we had stayed around a little while, we could have probably gotten through the crowd to dance and gotten to the side of the speakers so it wouldn't be so loud. But as you enter H2O, you're directly in front of speakers and where the crowd is just sort of standing around. We decided to pass and head to a less crowded location for a drink and some friendly conversation with our new friends at "Cowboy's Bar". It closed at 12:00 and it had been a long day so we headed to our home away from home. Jimmy's towel talent tonight was a crab with chocolate mints on his claws and for his eyes. These towels animals are so stinking cute. I didn't want to mess them up so I lined them up across our little couch.

 

Day 6 - Sea Day (Final Day) Later

[Warm Breezes]

I love reading your review but could I ask a favor? Could you separate your paragraphs with a blank line? My eyes have a hard time reading it when it all runs together on the left hand side and a little separation usually helps. Thank you. Continue on. I am enjoying what I have been able to read so far.

[TSUmom]

Thank you for sharing. Love all of the detail. We love Cozumel too but have never sampled those tequilas...I believe we will be looking for them on our next trip;)

[gamecockmom]

Day 6 - Sea Day - Final Full Day :(:

 

I guess I'm just used to waking up early. I'm already on the balcony with my cup of coffee when hubby wakes up and comes out to join me. It looks like its going to be a little cloudy this morning but will most likely clear up in the afternoon. We have the private party at 12:30 in the District Brew House and I'm anxious to see what that is all about. It's nice to sit outside and watch the water. You can tell we aren't moving near as fast today as other days because of the trail the ship is leaving behind in the water. I don't know why I find this is so cool but love seeing were we've been :p

 

We take our time with showers and dressing before going for breakfast at the Garden Café. Again, this would have been a perfect day to go to one of the main dinning rooms for a nice, quiet, relaxing breakfast but we really didn't want a full meal. I've noticed this in the past to be true also, but as the week goes on, passengers going to buffet finally learn which direction things move and it becomes less chaotic. People are becoming more familiar with each other too and so there's lots of conversations going on between tables that would most likely not have taken place earlier in the week. It's sad that about the time everybody starts getting really comfortable, the trip is about over.

 

After breakfast we still have time to spare so we just took a casual walk down the Waterfront, checked out the crowd starting to gather by the pools and took some pictures. Basically just killing time and talking about the things we've done during the week, the things we wanted to do next time and how much we had enjoyed this vacation.

 

We arrive at District Brew House about 12:15 and there's a few people there but its not really crowded. We have NO idea what we're here for and we don't want to looks like idiots so we just find a seat by the windows on one of the couches and sit :o While sitting there we figured out that we weren't the only ones who had no clue what we were invited to. It was a relief to see the confused looks on other faces too. A really nice couple sat down on the couch across from us and we starting talking with them. They knew what was going on because when some of the Officers started to come in, they were calling each other by first names. We learned later, they cruise A LOT and knew not only these Officers well but Officers on other NCL ships. Okay, so what was this private, invite only, social all about....it was a beer tasting. If you're unfamiliar with the District Brew House, they have probably 100+ different kinds of beer. The wait staff would be bring around paddles with 5 or 6 small glasses of beer on them. They would go around the room with one kind of beer and tell you what you're sampling and then move on to the next one. They were also bringing around hor d'oeuvres and would tell you what they were. Half the time I couldn't understand what they were telling us but they looked so pretty and tasted really good so I figured I probably really didn't want to know :eek: I'm adventurous so what the heck. During the time we were there we tried maybe 4-5 different kinds of beer. It was really fun and I would love to get invited to another one.

 

When the social was over, we went to our cabin to change into our bathing suits before going up to H20. We're waiting for the elevator when we decided to try and see if we could go look in VIBE. I think I mentioned earlier that we talked about trying to get passes but figured we didn't have a chance. We'd never seen VIBE but it looked really great according the pictures. Since this may be something we'd like to do on future cruises, we thought it would be nice to see for ourselves. Up to Deck 19 we go. There's hardly anybody up here and we see the glass entrance marked VIBE. There's a bar right there and you can clearly tell it joins VIBE Bar. So we asked the Bartender what our chances were of taking a look inside. He goes over to the VIBE side and the Bartender on that side buzzes us in. And we're SOLD !! Loved what we saw. Super comfy looking lounge chairs, shade so hubby doesn't become a lobster, cool mist spraying area, hot tub and bar. It's not crowded at all and I think I read somewhere that there are only 70 passes sold. There's no where near 70 people there right now and even if it were, it still would not be as packed as the main pool area can get. There's music playing but it's not overly loud...maybe a little lower than they play at H20 during the day. We could have probably stayed if we had asked since it was the last sea day and it wasn't crowded but we didn't ask. Since we were already in outside areas we had not been before we explored a little. I know I've seen complaints about not being able to find a place to sit on sea days. Yes, directly around the children/family pool and main pool were packed !! Even the deck directly above the pool area that overlooks the pool was packed. You may see and chair scattered here or there but for the most part it was full. However, there was so many empty loungers on decks 18 and 19. They even had lounge chairs stacked up that weren't being used. I'm wondering if those who have complained in the past, looked for other places to go ? And, I understand the prime location would be by the pool, but saying there were NO chairs available and saying there were no chairs BY THE POOL available are two totally different impressions you could give future cruisers.

 

After our little exploring adventure we make our way to Spice H20 for our afternoon of sun and frozen drinks. H20 is busy but not overly crowded. They have umbrellas open but seating around those are pretty much taken unless you want to sit in a straight chair and we wanted loungers. We get lucky and the big board is shading part of the main floor so once again hubby gets a little shade and I can get in the sun. If we can't get VIBE passes next time I'm good with H20. It's got good drinks, music and a really good breeze. I really wanted to try out the Grotto because it looked so cool. We loved the water feature on the Getaway and it was a great place to cool off. Hubby has his Gamecock hat on as always when outside and we talk to several people who are other college football fans. His hat is a great conversation starter. By this time we've spent so much time talking, socializing and enjoying our frozen drinks that we just realized we never ate anything for lunch and it's almost time to shower and get ready for dinner. So, I didn't get to try out the Grotto. Maybe next time. I also needed to start packing some of things so I don't have so much left to do later. It's so much more funny packing to go on vacation than repacking to return home. Sad feelings here.

 

We have dinner reservation for tonight at Moderno. On the Jewel we had tried Cagney's and loved it. On the Getaway we tried Moderno and loved it even more. We talked about trying one of the other specialty restaurants this time but hubby won me over and I remembered how well I loved the grilled pineapple. If you haven't tried this specialty restaurant, I strongly recommend it. The service is outstanding and the food was probably the best we had the entire time. Don't misunderstand, there was NOTHING to complain about with anything or anywhere else we ate in our opinion. At the bar the night one night we had mentioned we had reservations at Moderno. They didn't want to go because they said they didn't want to eat just meat. It's not just meat if that's what you're thinking also. They have a huge salad bar with your normal salad fixings, imported cheeses, crackers, pasta salads, and soups. They also bring out a bread basket and three sides. The sides we had were sautéed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes and butter rice. We learned while on the Getaway how this works. If you want one of the Gauchos (servers) to stop at your table while they are walking around with different skewers of meat, you leave your card on green. If you aren't ready for more, you turn it over to red. They are very good at asking how large of a portion you want. I think there are like 10 or 11 different selections to choose from but there was no way we could try them all. I think I stopped after three because I wanted to save room for the grilled pineapple :p

 

We finish this fabulous meal and try to decide since it's our last night what we really wanted to do. We've scheduled an excursion for early the next morning in Miami to kill time before our flight so our luggage has to be out by our door by mid-night. We have to meet in the Theater at 8:30. There's so many things to choose from but we decided we really wanted to spend time with the people we had gotten to know so well at Cowboy's Bar. We wanted to get some pictures and some of us had talked about exchanging email addresses. So that's where we ended up. And just as expected we had a wonderful time. Drinks and laughs as always and there was no other way we would have wanted to end this evening. We left about 11:45 which was just enough time to throw some of the last minute things in our luggage. Jimmy had already come by and our farewell towel animal was a really cute frog. He had put my sunglasses on him for the eyes and of course there were more chocolate mints. At some point, our liquor we purchased in Cozumel had been delivered to our room, so he had neatly placed it where we would find it. I haven't mentioned Jimmy, our Room Steward, very much but he was really good. We aren't very needy, high maintenance or messy people so we didn't request much from him. But I have no doubt if we had requested something, he would have done his best. He was always around and would talk and smile in the hall as we passed. He would ask us if we had plans for the day or in the evenings ask if we had a good day. Our cabin was always clean, bed made, fresh linens, turn down at night always good with chocolate mints and cute towel animals. We left him a thank you note and a little extra tip :) We place our bags in the hall and kept just what we needed for the next day with us to carry off. I'm sad and can't believe our wonderful experience on the Escape is about over.

 

 

Day 7 Miami - Later

[Warm Breezes]

Thank you for the great review (and for breaking up the paragraphs...much easier on my eyes :D).

[gamecockmom]

Thank you for the great review (and for breaking up the paragraphs...much easier on my eyes :D).

 

 

You're welcome... :D

[gamecockmom]

Day 7 - Miami:

 

Had to get up earlier than I normally do. It was just getting daylight when we were coming into the Port of Miami. We showered and went to the Garden Café for me to get coffee and us both the get a little something to eat. It was going to be a long day since we weren't scheduled to arrive back at Columbia until 11:52 tonight. It's hard to believe that the week had passed by as fast as it had but it had been a great week of new friendships and adventures. We finished our breakfast and headed back to our cabin for a final check to make sure we had gotten everything we brought with us. It was time to for us to leave cabin 14904. We made our way to the Theater. We needed to be there by 8:30 and were scheduled for a the "Tour of Miami" excursion to put in some time before our flight to Atlanta.

 

Bye - Bye for now Escape :( We will visit you again soon.

 

 

We hope you have enjoyed our review. This was a wonderful vacation and I can't imagine it being any better. No we didn't see every show on the ship or visit every restaurant. We did not run every minute of every day trying to take everything in. We needed to relax and unwind and that's exactly what the Escape gave us the opportunity to do. We met so many wonderful people, passengers and crew. Take care fellow cruisers !!

 

Vivian and Jim Hicks

York, SC.