My Review Norwegian Escape Oct 8-15, 2016

[stp108]

The review with pictures is on my blog at http://stpittman.blogspot.com/

 

About me: Female, late 50's, married to a wonderful man, three adult children and one fur-baby. I was traveling solo on this trip, as he could not make it and I really needed the R&R. So here are my thoughts on the cruise.

 

Day 1 - October 8 - Miami, FL

It's my birthday and the long awaited embarkation day. My wonderful husband gets up at 4 am on Saturday morning to drive me to the airport, which is approximately 40 miles from our house. After much worry about Hurricane Matthew, no problems with the airline schedule. My plane left Houston (IAH) about 35 minutes late, but it was due to mechanical problems, not weather related (at least that's what we were told). I had only carry-on luggage. I was determined to pack light for this trip, everything in 1 carry-on suitcase and a backpack. (As it turned out there were a few items I didn't wear so I still overpacked). I read and catnapped on the plane. We arrived at Miami airport a little later than scheduled. I really don't recall what the actual time was, but they must have made up time, because we were only about 15 minutes late.

 

I had booked my transportation to the ship through NCL. I had to locate them in baggage claim. They were tucked away and slightly hidden. There was much more activity at the Carnival desk and I was glad I wasn't cruising Carnival. It was long line. I found the NCL desk and gave them my voucher. They told me to have a seat in a very small waiting area. A few minutes later someone else came by with a clipboard and said to follow him. The group of us did and we got on a bus as our luggage was loaded. It took about 20 minutes to get to the ship. We were told to wait on the bus while they unloaded our luggage and then we were able to get off the bus and grab our luggage and move them over to the porter.

 

At that point I walked through security and then went into the room marked for Haven guests. I had upgraded just a few days earlier, from a regular balcony to the Haven. I gave them my credit card, filled out the form, had my picture taken and was told to wait. I got some water and in just a few minutes someone came to escort me to the gangway. I followed her to the ship. I embarrassed myself by falling, not once, but twice. I'm not sure whether it was motion of the ship or my shoes or what. I suspect that my backpack threw me off balance as it was rather full. I was lucky, no injury, not even a bruise. I heard later than someone else fell, fractured her arm in 3 places and had to miss the trip. I felt bad for her. Anyway, my escorts insisted on carrying my backpack and holding on to me. They escorted me to the reception area of the Haven. I may have met Adrian, my concierge, at the point. A week and a day later, there are gaps in the memory, which is why I tried to take notes.

 

The Haven is wonderful. The room was fantastic. A wonderful king sized bed, a small sofa (or oversized chair) that converts to a bed, a small table with two chairs, two closets, plenty of storage, shelves, and of course a balcony. It was narrow, no loungers, but chairs and a small table. The bathroom had a big tub, a nice shower, a long sink with two faucets and of course a toilet. It was well appointed. My room steward came in and put flowers in a vase, but did not introduce himself. In fact I didn't know until the third day who the steward was. I had a note from Adrian welcoming me. There was also a bottle of champagne on ice. At some point, I met Lucky, my butler, in the hallway. He gave me his card with his extension and told me to call him if I needed anything. He said he was going to show me things in the room (I assume how to run the coffee maker and operate the lights) but that never happened.

 

By now, it was a little after noon and I was hungry. Margaritaville is free to Haven guests on embarkation day. There was no one at the hostess stand when I arrived, so I was not sure whether it was self seating or hostess. I walked around and finally someone showed up at the hostess stand. A please wait to be seated sign would have been helpful. It's on deck, everything is open, so it was difficult to tell whether you were to grab a seat or wait. I had fish tacos for lunch and also ordered a margarita. I did not have an unlimited beverage package, so I had to pay for the margarita. It was good, but small for the price.

 

I walked around getting to know the ship and waiting for time for the muster drill. I was to be in the Escape theater in group A. They do a presentation, show you how to put the life jackets on, but don't make you do it. Thank goodness those days are over. After the drill, I went back to my room and unpacked. There were wonderful canapes and chocolate covered strawberries in my room when I returned.

 

Sail away time was 7 pm. I wanted to be on Facetime with my husband so I was on my balcony with him on Facetime so he could at least share that experience, since he was home in Houston. He had ordered a dozen roses for me and they were the most beautiful red roses for my birthday. After I said goodbye to him, I had to decide what to do for dinner. I did not have a specialty dining package either, so I chose the Manhattan room. This is venue is included in the fare price, but they had live music.

 

In the Manhattan room, I was initially seated at a table for four. Once they realized I was alone, they moved me to a back corner. I was not impressed with the service here at all. The room was noisy and my table was right next to a server station. They were clattering dishes or standing around talking. I wanted to try it for the live music, but initially it was recorded loud pop music. I ordered crab and cheese soufflé and shrimp risotto. Soufflé had consistency of flan and I didn't care for the texture, but a nice crab flavor. The shrimp risotto was okay. The band started At 8:15 or so. It was a duet, Rox and Fer. They were pretty good. I usually don't care for female vocalists but she was okay. It was a smooth jazz feel. For dessert I had chocolate lava cake. Again, okay, but not as good as that I had on previous Carnival cruises. After dessert, I checked out the shops and the casino and then went back to my room.

*

I've never been seasick on a ship, but I had concerns about motion sickness. But I really enjoyed the motion of the ship, it rocked me to sleep. I'm not sure why I was worried, except the last time I rode roller coaster, I got queasy. But I had no problems on the ship and we picked up speed and were headed to St. Thomas.

 

The bed was super comfy. I had read that the beds and bedding in the Haven was a better grade than other cabins. I don't know that for sure, only those who have been in both types of room can tell. I had to figure out the lights. There were all kinds of switches and I finally got it dark in the room. I put out my order for coffee and croissants on the door hangtag order form and went to bed.

 

One thing that was disappointing was the selection of TV channels. There were multiple ships channels (navigation, view from bridge, port shopping info, etc.), 1 sports channel, 4 news channels and something called favorite tv shows and favorite movies (neither of which showed any of my favorites). There was a nice selection of movies available for free. I mostly kept it on the navigation channel not only to know where we were, but also they played pretty good music most of the time.

 

Day 2 - October 9 (Full Sea Day)

I woke up shortly before my alarm. Soon my phone rings and it is Lucky letting me know coffee is on the way. Thank goodness! Today is the day the meet and greets are scheduled. The CC one is at 11 and prior to that is the one for a popular social network group. It was nice meeting the folks in person that I had been chatting with for 5 weeks or so. For the CC M&G, SeaShark, aka Len, did a fantastic job organizing. There was coffee, smoothies, juice and pastries. Many ships officers were there and they gave us a card with all of their direct extensions. I was surprised at the tenure of the crew members. Most of them had been there for many years, working their way up through the ranks. It would appear that NCL really takes care of their employees and encourages longevity. I saw this group at a few more events throughout the cruise and they were always smiling. During the M&G, they brought out a birthday cake for one of the officers and we sang happy birthday and shared cake with him. The crew came around and spoke to some of us individually at tables.

 

I walked through the ship looking for activities and I watched a sushi making demo. It made me want sushi, but I didn't eat at Food Republic all week. I had a hard time figuring out exactly what I wanted to do. The shops didn't hold any interest. I tried to shop but just couldn't get interested in anything. I had no interest in going to the main pool. I had passed it a couple of times and there were just so many people. If I had been with friends, I may have spent more time in the pool. I saw people playing cards or games, clearly well-seasoned cruisers. I went through the dailies trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I never did find the bowling alley or mini golf (I didn't look for them either) and no way was I going on the ropes course (serious fear of heights). The water slides didn't seem to have long lines but I didn't climb the stairs. My main objective for this trip was to rest and relax and to spend a lot of quality time reading while enjoying the ship, which is exactly what I did, either in my cabin, on my balcony or in the Haven courtyard.

 

I had lunch at the buffet, just to say that I did. Underwhelmed. There was a large selection. I think I had a piece of Hawaiian pizza and some salad. I got ice cream and put a little chocolate topping on it (the only time the whole trip I had ice cream). I went back changed into my swimsuit, sunscreened up and hung out in the Haven pool area. The roof was open today, a nice breeze. I did not know I could have ordered lunch there. I got in the hot tubs, (well, warm). Mostly I read on my lounge chair. Once they closed the roof, I went back to my cabin and read until time for the captains cocktail party at 7. I don't think he made it to the party but many of the officers I had met earlier were there.

 

I had dinner in the Haven restaurant. While there an announcement came from him that the Coast Guard was evacuating someone for medical reasons. As I sat in the Haven restaurant a lot of noise on the deck above. I wondered if they were clearing the deck for landing. Interesting how much sway the movement of helicopter added to ship. For dinner I had shrimp cocktail, roasted butternut squash soup with duck confit and sea scallops with polenta. Shrimp and soup were excellent. Scallops were good, but not fantastic. For dessert, I had the mocha mousse. This evening service in the Haven restaurant was quite good.

 

Day 3 - October 10 - Sea Day #2

A new day and I slept in. Should have gone on cabin crawl, but decided sleeping was better. Lucky brought coffee and blueberry muffins. I took one bite of muffin. I have not yet met my cabin steward. Sunscreened and then went down to the shops for the "$10 retail madness." It was a bust and totally boring. I've been reading about CruiseNext certificates, but have not decided whether to purchase any. I will do spa suites or better on any future trip, I'm totally spoiled. The roof in Haven is closed today. That's sad. Hopefully it will open up later, as it appeared to be a little rainy earlier.

 

I went to the atrium to watch a cooking demo for the Latin restaurants. It was interesting, but I didn't care to get recipes. I ordered a Bloody Mary and it was very spicy but good. I followed the cooking demo with the How to Run a floating hotel presentation. Many of the ships officers I had met earlier at the M&G were there. The logistics of how to run this type of operation were amazing. That was one of the more interesting presentations. Unfortunately, with the open atrium concept, having the air hockey open above the demos makes it difficult to hear. I have a hard time with accents and the air hockey made it worse. This held true for future events as well. The trivia, dance contests, all sorts of events are held on the 6th floor atrium. The arcade is directly above it, which adds a lot of noise. These things were not well thought out by the designers. I really enjoyed the presentations of the ships hotel staff. It's pretty amazing. They definitely have the customer service thing down. Always friendly.

 

On another note, the rudeness if people boggles my mind. Twice during the cooking demo, people just walked across the stage. Good grief, what happened to manners? This happened several times during various presentations. Waiters in the atrium lounge were hard to come by. I don't know if they've been coached to just pick up empty glasses and not make eye contact, but I found it tough to get service.

*

The sixth floor atrium area is where guest services, shore excursions, internet café and CruiseNext is located. There was a long line for shore excursions. So glad I booked in advance and if I had not, glad I have Adrian. After that presentation, I walked around. Came back to the Haven deck, but it was crowded. Went to my balcony and read for a while. Then I went back to the atrium for the Big Bang theory trivia. That was fun. I thought I would do better than I did. I could not remember stuff, even though I'd seen many episodes. I completely drew a blank on the comic store owner's name (Stewart). And how could I forget "the doppler effect" halloween costume. Fortunately, no money was riding on my memory, just some fun.

 

I was getting hungry, so I stopped at O'Sheehans for lunch. Worst. Gumbo. Ever. The roux was undercooked, the sausage was not andouille and it was finely diced, no rice to be found and just okra. The nachos were not any better. They tasted like Cheez whiz with bacon bits, a drizzle of sour cream and some peppers. It was sad. I went back to my room and there was another delightful tray of hors d'oeuvres that I ate. I sat on my balcony and read. My show is at 7 tonight. I may go to the Haven restaurant again tonight. They want to sing happy birthday. There were more chocolate covered strawberries in my room. I left Lucky a note to please bring me something salty like chips or nuts or something and some iced tea.

*

The show was After Midnight. I was sitting about 4 rows back. These seats looks comfortable, but they pitch forward. But they were plenty wide and had cup holders. The ship has been rocking today, can really feel it in the theater which is on 7 forward. The nav channel says seas are 8 feet. I believe it but it feels like more. I had hoped to get a sunset photo, but there wasn't much of a sunset and it was lightening by 6. I guess the further south we get the earlier it sets?

 

Anyway, back to the show, the performers did a good job and for the most part, I enjoyed it. However, there were no warnings about language that I recall and at one point during the show they used the "f" word. It was totally unnecessary and I don't understand why it was used. Had I brought a young child, I would have been upset. There were plenty of warnings about the other show being unsuitable for young children. After Midnight is supposed to be based on the Cotton Club in Harlem in the 20's and 30's with Duke Ellington music. I enjoyed it for the most part, but I was glad it was over.

 

Dinner ended up being snack mix, chips and cookies. I didn't want the buffet and I didn’t care to go to the restaurant. So, I had snacks and read until I was sleepy.

 

Day 3 - October 12 - St. Thomas

I had left a room service coffee order for Lucky, which arrived promptly. When I woke up and opened the curtains, I saw rain drops on the rail and cloudy skies, but we were already docked in St. Thomas. I awoke around 2 am and we were already in port, so I'm not sure what time we actually arrived. My excursion today is Magen's Bay for some swimming and then shopping in downtown St. Thomas departing at 9:45. I exited the ship and located the line for the excursion. Folks were there with signs to direct you to the right line. I stood in line for a few minutes, not very long. Ultimately, we were taken to a safari bus and loaded up. The driver's name was Tuffest. I sat next to a really nice couple, Carol and Paul, from the Chicago area. We talked a little baseball, some about our grown children, general chat. We stopped at a point overlooking Magen's bay for a photo opportunity. When we got to the location, Tuffest told us what time we needed to board the bus again.

 

Magen's Bay - St. Thomas

We had about 2 hours of swim time. Carol and Paul invited me to hang out with them, which I did. We found a picnic table to stow our stuff and got into the water. The water was not as clear as I had anticipated. We could not see our feet. That was probably residual effects of the hurricane. But the water was a wonderful temperature and we just floated and chatted. It started sprinkling a little bit after about an hour. Before too long it was full on rain. We headed for a covered pavilion not too far away. It had electrical outlets, so Carol plugged in her phone to charge it. The rain stopped and they went back to the water. I stayed with our bags and Carol's phone. Before too long, it was time to reboard the bus. It was to take us downtown for shopping. We walked through a few stores and looked around. Nothing really appealed to me. Then the skies opened up and the rain poured again. We stayed in a jewelry store hoping for a break, but it didn't. I ended up buying a small charm bracelet as a little token souvenir of the trip. We finally gave up on not getting any wetter and headed to find a coffee shop or a bar. We ended up at Husband's Day Care, just a little dive in an alley. We got a beverage and hung out there until it was time to go back to the bus. We made it back in plenty of time and Tuffest returned us to the ship. Reboarding was no problem, showed my drivers license in security and then swiped my cruise card. I was sprayed with hand spray as I boarded. Got on the elevator and headed to my room.

 

I think this was the day I finally met my room steward, Chris. I knew his name from the TV where it said if I needed anything contact him. He was in the hall and said hi and I looked at his nametag. Christopher. Ok, that must be the room steward. He did a fine job, don't get me room, always towels were clean everything was stocked, it is just that I hear so many people talk about how they talked to their room steward and what a wonderful job, etc. etc. This was my third cruise ever (first two on Carnival) and I had one ever met one steward and he was pretty much absent after the first day. So I'm missing the concept. But that's okay, because I had Lucky. It was mid afternoon and Lucky left me a snack. I think today it was a BLT and some cookies. I say I think, because I'm writing this a week later and I forgot to note that. But I poured me an iced tea and at the sandwich. After a wonderful hot shower, I got ready for the show. Tonight's show is For the Record: The Brat Pack. The performers were excellent. The subject matter was of little interest to me. From the NCL Blog, "…is a rock-style musical combining scenes and songs from popular 1980’s Brat Pack movies, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, to name a few."

 

From <https://www.ncl.com/travel-blog/behind-scenes-for-the-record>

 

As advertised, it has profanity and "sexual situations" which I didn't really consider that bad. It was more innuendo than anything, but I would not have wanted young children to see it. Would definitely recommend 16 and up as the age group.

 

After the show, I had dinner in the Haven restaurant. I actually ordered prime rib, which I don't do very often. I'm not much of a red meat eater. The menu in the Haven restaurant does not change. The prime rib was good, for as much as I could eat. It was served with a small baked potato. The server brings the condiments for the potato to your table and adds them there. My first course was roasted beet and arugula salad with goat cheese. The goat cheese was on a crostini and it was absolutely delicious. The beets were good. I'm not a huge arugula fan, but it was fresh. No dessert tonight. I head off to bed as I have an early shore excursion tomorrow.

 

Day 4 - October 13 - Tortola

Awake at 6 am. We are docking, so I stay on the balcony and watch us dock. I have to be in the Escape theater at 7 for a shore excursion called Escape to Jost Van Dyke on the Rebel Yell. Jost Van Dyke is a one of the smallest of the British Virgin Islands. It was about a 30-40 minute boat ride to White Bay, our destination. Our captain, Claudia, warned us that we may not be able to get to JVD, because of the waves from the hurricane (which was now going back out to sea). Sure enough, when we arrived, she could not get close enough for the passengers to get safely off the boat. The excursion information warned us that we may have to swim ashore, but Claudia deemed it was unsafe for that. Apparently there were some potentially dangerous riptides. Other excursions to the Baths and Virgin Gorda were cancelled.

 

We were not able to experience the beautiful beach or the soft white sand. Claudia took us to Norman Island instead. There were a number of people there, as this is also an excursion for snorkeling. Several boats were in the bay. I believe it is also a place for one of the scuba excursions. Norman Island is one the island that is supposed to be the inspiration for Treasure Island. The one restaurant on Norman island was not open and would not open until 11 (it's 8 am). I put my stuff on the sand in a sort of shady spot and got in the water. I was glad I was wearing watershoes, because the bottom was rocky. Crystal clear, but rocky. Lots of little fishes, definitely a snorkeling place. When we arrived, all of the chairs were full, but about 20 minutes later, one boat full of people left, so chairs opened up. I moved my stuff to a lounger and got back in the water for a few minutes.

 

Not much to do and I didn't really want to venture out, especially since I didn't have snorkeling gear. So I read for a while, reapplied sunscreen, read some more, got back in the water, reapplied sunscreen. It was getting hot, and I started to feel my shoulder burn. A little before 11, the crew of the Rebel Yell comes back and says we can stay til noon. Apparently we are much closer to the ship that we would have been on Yost (20 minutes away). So at noon, we reboarded the Rebel Yell. People were getting rum punch, but I didn't want any. I had not had anything to eat and with the sun, I was afraid I would get sick. So we get back to the pier and I walked through the pier shops, but nothing I wanted to purchase. I reboarded the ship (easy peasy again, no line) and went to my room for a soothing shower. My biggest fear this trip was getting sunburned. I'm very fair, freckle and burn easily. I used multiple different types of sunscreen both 50 and 70 SPF and I actually came back with a bit of a tan and no burning. Yay!.

 

I really like the Aveeno protect and hydrate SPF 50 sunscreen. It is very light weight, this was actually for face, but I used it all over. It's water and sweat resistant up to 80 minutes. I also used on this trip, Tommy Bahama brand 70 spf, which I didn't care for as it was rather sticky. I also used L'Oreal sublime and don't really have an opinion on that. It was okay. The Neutrogena suncreen stick was great (remember carry on only, so I had to watch my liquids for the 3-1-1 rule). The sunscreen stick was easy to apply and I liked it. Normally I like spray sunscreen, but didn't want to take it on the plane and did not get a chance to stop. Actually the whole sunscreen and what to take process was an ordeal for me. I took way more than I needed, but I did not want to burn and be miserable.

 

But back to my travels. I stopped at the concierge desk and asked if it was too late to cancel my Nassau excursion. I had been on the fence about that anyway, and with the water all stirred up, I really wasn't into it. I was told to bring my voucher to the desk and they would take care of it. Having a concierge is wonderful.

 

I was starving when I returned to the ship, so after my shower, I went to the Haven restaurant. I was disappointed in the service. I was never offered bread (yes, I could have asked), had to ask for my tea to be refilled and at one point, he brought out my food and set it on the service bar while he did something else. It was weird. Now, to be fair, there was a large table there when I arrived, with the Ship's Captain and they were just finishing up. Also, since a number of excursions were cancelled, it could have been that they were short staffed. But, when you're in the Haven, service is supposed to be primo. I ordered some kind of chicken, I really don't remember what, but I couldn't eat very much of it.

 

I walked around the ship, again, looked at the shops, but found nothing of interest, thought about going to the casino, but decided not to. I had received an "exclusive" invitation to an Art event. I was going for the champagne and canapés, but I got turned off when I got down there. It was a little after 4 and I was hungry again, so I went to the buffet and got a piece of quiche. It was okay, held me over. I came back to my room and finished my complimentary bottle of champagne. I read for a while on the balcony and then came back in to read some more. I took a few pictures of the sunset.

 

At 7, there was a show in the theater with Brenda Kay, a hypnotist. It was a good show, funny. I assume the folks were really hypnotized. I can't say for sure. She asked for volunteers from the audience and had something like 12-14 people on stage. If they were not hypnotized, they did a good job acting.

 

Day 5 - October 13 - Full Sea Day

Well, my notes pretty much stopped yesterday afternoon. I don't know why, I just forgot to take good notes, so now we are relying solely on my memory for the rest of the trip report. Today is the day for the Slot Pull. Diesel Dad (aka Dave) from CC organized a Slot Pull. Entry fee was $16 per person and with that you get 3 pulls on the $1 slot at max bet. Winnings are then divided among the group. The extra dollar and any change from wins goes to a charity. I'm sure he announced what it was, but I don’t remember. Everyone arrived, signed in and those of us who had not paid yet, gave our money. It was a lot of fun, cheering on others. The cruiser before me won $1200 on the pull. I managed to win $10 (I think). It's all being recorded. Once everything is said and done, the group of 33 or so people split the pot and came out with $42 each. Dave had acquired other prizes to give away, so I came away with a bottle of wine as well.

 

After the slot pull, I meandered through the Charm Bracelet sale. I really wanted a pandora ship charm for my bracelet, but I never saw anything pandora. I don't remember the brand, but the bracelets were $19.99 each. Again, no interest here. I had missed the cupcake decorating demo in the atrium, but went down for the 50's and 60's music trivia. I did better here than I had on the Big Bang. Sat next to some folks I had met from the social media group. We laughed and talked about what we remembered and forgot on the music trivia. I stayed for the future cruise presentation. Yes, I ended up buying CruiseNext certificates. It's a pretty good deal. I watched a little bit of the Deal or No Deal game, but was quickly bored with that and was getting hungry so back to the Haven restaurant. I ordered the hamburger with brie and carmelized onions. Oh my….delightful. The meat tasted great, the brie was the perfect melty goodness and the onions were ooey gooey good. After lunch, since I was already in swimsuit and sunscreen, it was to the Haven courtyard for a comfy lounger, some tea and reading my Kindle.

 

I had reservations for the Oh What a Night Dinner show at 7. I went down with the people from the Haven, my personal escort in the "special" elevator. I had a front row seat. It felt a little awkward. The menu was fixed. Appetizer was a trio, crab something, steak and peppers and caprese (tiny mozzarella balls with grape tomatoes). Dinner was a chicken with shrimp and some kind of potato cake. Dessert was a meringue thing with raspberry and a smores brownie. The show was wonderful. The group was fantastic. They were funny and did a good job with the music. They were quick to point out this wasn't "The Jersey Boys," but a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. It was a wonderful show.

 

After the show, I wandered back into the casino and decided to play some of the money I had won earlier in the day. So I put a 20 in the machine, watch it go up and down (I'm playing a 2cent machine, which is a minimum bet of 30 cents). Finally, I'm up to about $40, so I cash out having doubled my money. I go to a different (2 cent) machine and put in the other $20 and watch it go down, down, up, up, down, up. Finally it's back up to almost $30 and I cash out. I collect my winnings and then take the $2 from the slot pull to a 25cent machine, where I promptly lose it. I still came out ahead.

 

To room and to read for a while until I'm sleepy. The bed is so comfy. Could stay here forever, but I know they are going to make me leave on Saturday.

 

Friday - October 14 - Nassau

I did not order coffee today, so I used the Nespresso machine to make coffee. I had booked a spa appointment for a manicure and pedicure at 9:00 am. It was a very expensive mani/pedi and the polish on my fingernails didn't last beyond the flight back to Houston. Anyway, while I was having my toesies done, we pulled into the Bahamas. The spa has these huge windows and it was neat to watch us pull into port. We are docked and for a few minutes when I look out, I'm regretting canceling my excursions. The beach that I can see is beautiful. But I'm looking forward to the peace and quiet of the ship, while most people are away. So after the mani/pedi, I go back to my room, get my kindle and claim a chair in the courtyard. I had lunch there. It's a limited menu, but they do have burgers and onion rings, so that's what I had and asked them to put brie on the burger. It was delicious. For the rest of the afternoon, I read in between catnaps. I stayed there until some crying baby woke me up. This was an anger cry. There were many more children than I expected on the ship, during the school year, but it was fall break in some areas. We don't have fall break here. Most of the children were well behaved. I was just annoyed that I was awakened by a crying kid. I realized that people were coming back from their shore excursions and I looked at the time and it was 4:00. I had no plans for the evening. I walked around the ship as people were returning and met up with my friends from St. Thomas, Paul and Carol. They were taking pictures of each other, so I took a picture of them, and they took a picture of me. We chatted for a few minutes and then I wandered around some more. There were not any activities that interested me. I went to see if there were any bargains in the shops. T-shirts were 2 for $20, but I did not purchase any.

 

Back to my room, for canapes and cookies, shower and packing. My luggage had to be outside the room by 11, tagged and ready for transportation back to the airport. I watched us pull away from the Bahamas and took pictures of the sunset. Eventually, I went up to the restaurant for the last dinner of the trip. I had shrimp risotto, the butternut squash soup and the three layer cake. I had some of the wine that I won at the slot pull. Not much of a white wine drinker, unless it's a reisling. I didn't like it that much. I put out my coffee order for Lucky and off to bed I go.

 

Saturday - October 15 - Miami

I'm awake at 7. We are in Miami and docked. At 7:30 or so Darrell texted me and says he can see the ship on the Miami port webcam. About the same time Lucky brings my coffee and I thank him and give him his tip. I ask him to give my flowers to someone who will appreciate them as they are still beautiful. He takes them to the concierge desk. I get one last look at them as I head out. I'm leaving in the 9:25 group, so I go to the desk and am escorted in the special Haven elevator (it's the employee elevator bank) to the exit point on deck 6. I swipe my card key one last time, say goodbye to Adrian. I follow the signs to find my luggage. I keep walking and walking past many color groups until I finally find the orange group. There's my bag. I grab it and go through customs. There's one couple ahead of me in line. I give my passport and my declaration for the $20 bracelet and my $50 oil I purchased from the spa (yes, I was suckered). I don’t even know if I had to declare that, but it's on there. He hands me back my passport and I head out to find the bus. I give the man my luggage, board the bus and wait. By now it's maybe 10:00. My flight is 2:15. I get to the airport, print my boarding pass at a kiosk and go through security. I didn't realize that going back I was TSA-pre checked. I wasn't going there. But the line wasn't bad, I didn't have to take off my shoes (but I did remove my liquids bag). I look for food. I see a starbucks and I ordered a sandwich, a pumpkin scone and iced tea. I ate part of the sandwich, it wasn't that great. I did not eat the muffin (because I had ordered a scone) and I drank my tea. While I waited, I cleaned out my email (I had managed to avoid looking at work email all week). So while I had some free time, I cleaned out everything that I was copied on or that had been handled by someone else. That took about an hour. Then I read until time to board. Boarded the plane, read some more, landed, texted Darrell and he was waiting for me in the cellphone lot. It's 4:00 and I'm headed home.

 

Summary:

It was a great week. I missed my husband, but for the most part, I was fine alone. I have no complaints about NCL. Overall I think their customer service is very good. The food was not that impressive, it was okay, sometimes a little salty with the exception of O'Sheehans, that was just bad. I would not have eaten in Margaritaville, except that it was free on the first day for Haven guests. I never tried the main dining rooms other than Manhattan room (I understand it's all the same menu). The buffet had a lot of food available, you could never go hungry. I did miss the chocoholic buffet and deliberately stayed away from prime rib night and seafood night.

 

I used the Norwegian app for my phone to follow the schedule. One of the enhancements for future will be to have items be able to be added to a calendar from the app. I would miss something because I didn't read the daily well enough. I did not have a highlighter with me, but I would take one for the next trip.

 

The price of my trip dropped and my travel agent was able to negotiate an on-board credit for which I was grateful. That was primarily what I used for adult beverages. I did end up spending money for the spa (but I had cancelled an excursion) and I bought the CruiseNext certificates. I did not have an unlimited beverage package or a specialty dining package. My original room was a guaranteed balcony, so it did not come with the "free at sea" promotion. I called the upsell department a week before and purchased the upgrade to the Haven. I had purchased a spa pass, but I got credit for that and applied it to the upgrade. Except for the fact that I really liked the Haven restaurant and the afternoon snacks, I would have also liked the pools in the thermal spa. What I really want for my next trip is a spa room with access to the Haven. The best of all worlds. It was nice to easily be able to cancel my excursion, book reservations, etc. without standing in a line. That was super nice.

 

With the beverage package, as you can imagine there was a lot of drinking going on. I only saw a couple of people who were really drunk and there was some general rudeness about elevators and walking across the stage as already mentioned. But then, I was pretty isolated in the Haven. I'm permanently and irrevocably spoiled. All future cruises will have to be "top shelf."

 

The excursions were fine, just everything didn't work out as expected, but that was no fault of NCL or the excursion vendor. Hurricane Matthew was the culprit and if you are going to cruise the Caribbean and reduced rates during hurricane season, it goes with the territory. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

 

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[purpletequila]

Thank you for your review. Glad you had a nice time!

[cincicruisers]

Excellent review. Thanks for sharing with us.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[easyboy]

Great review. Thanks.

[bazbov]

Hello STP. Thank you for taking the time to write about your cruise experience. Sounds as if you enjoyed yourself. I love reading about others experiences. Happy cruising. :)

[js]

Thank you very much for taking the time to post your review.

I also went to your blog and looked at the pictures. Thank you!

[17cruisesnsl]

Thanks for your review. Glad you enjoyed yourself.

SeaShark, Len, did a great job on our Escape Feb 2016 Meet and Greet.

We loved the Escape so much that we booked her again - this time in the Haven, so I really appreciated your Haven comments.