NCL Escapees from Reality LIVE!

[carsonbeeching]

Andre was awesome when we sailed the week of 3/25. We loved our cruise and it looks like you did as well.

 

 

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[luvcruzing]

Thank you and welcome home.

[cookie*]

I'm sad your trip is over! Thanks for posting along the way!

 

 

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[ilovetotravel1977]

After that we decided the GLOW party was next on the itinerary!!!!

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How was the volume? On our Escape cruise, they had the volume turn to 10 for everything! Plus, the CD or Activity Host would yell into the mic. Needless to say, we didn't stay for the party LOL

[FamilyBoatTrip]

How was the volume? On our Escape cruise, they had the volume turn to 10 for everything! Plus, the CD or Activity Host would yell into the mic. Needless to say, we didn't stay for the party LOL

 

 

We were on the same sailing as UFlaw (who was an awesome m&m host!). You are right - the volume was very high. Thanks to tips from Cruise Critic, we brought earplugs and were able to enjoy the family glow party.

 

 

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[UFLaw]

I wanted to mention that with the exception of an Alaskan cruise this was by far my favorite cruise (and that cruise was in the Haven).

 

 

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[Direland]

Do you know if you are able to purchase wine in a package of 6 or 12 bottles? My sister in law didn't get your UBP and is hoping to buy wine once on the ship.

 

 

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[UFLaw]

They do have wine packages. However, I brought my own wine on board and paid the $15 per bottle. I found that the wine on board is OK. It was worth it for me as I get great wine in Fort Lauderdale.

 

 

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[anonmom]

Will do! First drinks in Le Vibe!

Frozen Mojitos

 

 

 

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What was the quality of the drinks like on the Escape? We cruised on the Jade last year and many of the drinks were absolutely amazing. This year, on the Getaway, the same drinks were tasty, but nothing special. I think they used more premade mixes and less fresh juices, etc. Not sure if this is a cost-cutting measure or if it's a classic ship vs. mega ship thing.

 

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[UFLaw]

We had great drinks. The mojito bar was great, Vibe drinks always good, Atrium bar had outstanding bartenders. I would say the least tasty drinks were at the pool bar, but those guys are slammed.

 

 

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[Direland]

Thanks for you quick reply!! We are flying in from Toronto so she won't be able to bring wine from home. Last year I was on a cruise with RCL and you could purchase a 6 or 12 bottle package. I'm hoping there will be something similar.

 

 

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[RedRover96]

Thanks for you quick reply!! We are flying in from Toronto so she won't be able to bring wine from home. Last year I was on a cruise with RCL and you could purchase a 6 or 12 bottle package. I'm hoping there will be something similar. Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

If you have time and are taking a taxi/Uber do a little research and stop @ a local store on your way to the port or if overnighting, pick some wine up in FL?

[UFLaw]

Thanks for you quick reply!! We are flying in from Toronto so she won't be able to bring wine from home. Last year I was on a cruise with RCL and you could purchase a 6 or 12 bottle package. I'm hoping there will be something similar.

 

 

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Where are you flying in to? If Fort Lauderdale, there is a place called Wine Watch (great deals) in Fort Lauderdale and there is a Total Wine, both are close to the airport (relatively) within 5 miles.

 

If coming into Miami, there is a place called Wine by the Bay. It is right near the port entrance. Could do a quick stop there.

 

Again, this all depends upon how you feel about your wine. If you don't mind dragging 6 bottle on board with you and like good wine, then go for it. Personally, I really enjoyed opening a bottle (brought Champagne and wine) in the cabin and then chilling out on the balcony.

[cookie*]

What was the quality of the drinks like on the Escape? We cruised on the Jade last year and many of the drinks were absolutely amazing. This year, on the Getaway, the same drinks were tasty, but nothing special. I think they used more premade mixes and less fresh juices, etc. Not sure if this is a cost-cutting measure or if it's a classic ship vs. mega ship thing.

 

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We had great drinks. The mojito bar was great, Vibe drinks always good, Atrium bar had outstanding bartenders. I would say the least tasty drinks were at the pool bar, but those guys are slammed.

 

 

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I agree-we had MANY really great drinks as well, but we did not like the drinks that were premixed like Bahama Mama or Painkiller.

 

 

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[Direland]

She is flying into Miami UFLaw, so I will tell her about the store by the port. Thanks for the great info!!

 

 

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[debenson0723]

For the M&M I'll post some tips after we get back.

 

 

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Great review...very fun! So what are some of those tips for the M&M??

[tripleboom]

Great review...very fun! So what are some of those tips for the M&M??

 

Seconded! I'm planning our Escape cruise's meet and greet, but must confess I've only got a cursory idea of how to make it fun. How about it OP? Show us your ways! :D

[Rulers Mom]

Seconded! I'm planning our Escape cruise's meet and greet, but must confess I've only got a cursory idea of how to make it fun. How about it OP? Show us your ways! :D

 

 

Wish Cruise Critic had a "like" button!

 

 

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[UFLaw]

Hello Everyone:

 

Sorry for the delay in replying to the M&M, so here are my thoughts and ideas that we did to get things rolling:

 

• First, someone from your roll call needs to volunteer. Keep it to just one person who communicates as it can get very confusing if there are multiple people sending messages and making arrangements. However, it may be a good idea to coordinate with someone for assistance in setting up.
  
• About 3-4 weeks before saling reach out to NCL to make arrangements for the M&M. Email address to use is: GroupEvent<ship name>@ncl.com. Simply replace <ship name> with your ship (Dawn, Gem, Jewel, etc). So for our sailing it was: groupeventescape@ncl.com
  
• Get everyone excited about coming to the M&M. Some ideas are:
  
  • Raffle some items off (I did chocolates, wine and champagne but I'm a little crazy :) )
    
  • Get a gift exchange going. People can bring one item from their home town/state and do an exchange. Not everyone usually signs up for this.
    
  • Stress the importance to the roll call of how important it is for Cruise Critic peeps to show for the M&M as it lets NCL know we are a vital part of cruising info.
    

  [*]I did a spreadsheet with everyone's CC name, # of people, names of everyone, and cabin number (hometown too if you want to list it)

  [*]I kept people notified of how many had signed up about once a week

  [*]I set up a separate email address that people could email me (yahoo, gmail, etc) so you don't get it mixed in with personal stuff.

  [*]I kept NCL aware of the number of people as once it went over 50 they moved the group to a larger venue.

  [*]Fortunately I have an assistant so she helped with:

  • Printing and designing name tags (NCL will supply blank ones for you if desired)
    
  • Invitations with room number (these you can hand off to the event coordinator on board on your first day and they will deliver them to the room)
    

  [*]If they change the venue, make sure you let everyone know many times prior. You can also put a sign on the original location, but NCL did not allow me to do that when it moved from 5 O'Clock to The District.

  [*]Encourage children to come along with the parents. I had set up some kids only tables with candy and gifts for the kids (yoyos, bouny balls, bracelets, etc). It allowed some of the kids to meet new friends especially if they weren't into the kids clubs.

  [*]During the Event:

  • Try and mingle with everyone. You really want this to be a fun event not just a sit and listen to the officers speak
    
  • I brought some nice chocolates as a gift for the officers that came to the event
    
  • After the officers left, almost everyone stayed and chatted and had a good time.
    

  [*]Have FUN!!!!! I had a great time putting the event together and meeting everyone from our Roll Call. We had some great people and it was fun seeing them everyone on the ship afterward.

Would I be the coordinator again? Definitely! We had someone that did a slot pull right after the M&M and that was fun as well. It was hard work for the person doing that part as well, so I do recommend having another person coordinate the slot pull if that was going to happen.

 

 

Overall, the experience was great. The officers on the NCL Escape were friendly and remembered us whenever we ran into them on the ship.

 

 

If anyone has any more questions, please let me know.

[debenson0723]

Hello Everyone:

 

Sorry for the delay in replying to the M&M, so here are my thoughts and ideas that we did to get things rolling:

 

• First, someone from your roll call needs to volunteer. Keep it to just one person who communicates as it can get very confusing if there are multiple people sending messages and making arrangements. However, it may be a good idea to coordinate with someone for assistance in setting up.
  
• About 3-4 weeks before saling reach out to NCL to make arrangements for the M&M. Email address to use is: GroupEvent<ship name>@ncl.com. Simply replace <ship name> with your ship (Dawn, Gem, Jewel, etc). So for our sailing it was: groupeventescape@ncl.com
  
• Get everyone excited about coming to the M&M. Some ideas are:
  
  • Raffle some items off (I did chocolates, wine and champagne but I'm a little crazy :) )
    
  • Get a gift exchange going. People can bring one item from their home town/state and do an exchange. Not everyone usually signs up for this.
    
  • Stress the importance to the roll call of how important it is for Cruise Critic peeps to show for the M&M as it lets NCL know we are a vital part of cruising info.
    

  [*]I did a spreadsheet with everyone's CC name, # of people, names of everyone, and cabin number (hometown too if you want to list it)

  [*]I kept people notified of how many had signed up about once a week

  [*]I set up a separate email address that people could email me (yahoo, gmail, etc) so you don't get it mixed in with personal stuff.

  [*]I kept NCL aware of the number of people as once it went over 50 they moved the group to a larger venue.

  [*]Fortunately I have an assistant so she helped with:

  • Printing and designing name tags (NCL will supply blank ones for you if desired)
    
  • Invitations with room number (these you can hand off to the event coordinator on board on your first day and they will deliver them to the room)
    

  [*]If they change the venue, make sure you let everyone know many times prior. You can also put a sign on the original location, but NCL did not allow me to do that when it moved from 5 O'Clock to The District.

  [*]Encourage children to come along with the parents. I had set up some kids only tables with candy and gifts for the kids (yoyos, bouny balls, bracelets, etc). It allowed some of the kids to meet new friends especially if they weren't into the kids clubs.

  [*]During the Event:

  • Try and mingle with everyone. You really want this to be a fun event not just a sit and listen to the officers speak
    
  • I brought some nice chocolates as a gift for the officers that came to the event
    
  • After the officers left, almost everyone stayed and chatted and had a good time.
    

  [*]Have FUN!!!!! I had a great time putting the event together and meeting everyone from our Roll Call. We had some great people and it was fun seeing them everyone on the ship afterward.

Would I be the coordinator again? Definitely! We had someone that did a slot pull right after the M&M and that was fun as well. It was hard work for the person doing that part as well, so I do recommend having another person coordinate the slot pull if that was going to happen.

 

 

Overall, the experience was great. The officers on the NCL Escape were friendly and remembered us whenever we ran into them on the ship.

 

 

If anyone has any more questions, please let me know.

 

Thanks so much. I have everything set up for the one I am hosting and have about 80 people that have responded. My problem is no one is interested in a gift exchange, no one has let me know if they are celebrating anything (anniversary, birthday, graduation, divorce) so I can get a special cake and no response to a cabin crawl (so that is off the table). I am used to the much more involved group for these events.

 

 

So how did you handle the raffle? Pass out little tickets upon entry? Trivia contest? I need some help! ;pDid you bring the wine/champagne on board with you? I will be in Europe for a week pre-cruise so am liking the chocolate idea...easy to pack and who doesn't like chocolate? Thanks again for responding...I really appreciate it. (y)

[UFLaw]

What I did was had a slip of paper with all the cabin numbers that said they were going. Then I put them in a jar or other container and had one of the officers draw out names until all the prizes were gone. If a cabin was chosen and that cabin wasn't present went on to the next draw.

 

I was pretty lucky on getting people who were excited. However I have heard that European cruises tend to not have as many people interested in the M&M as US based (if you are doing a European cruise). If you are going to give away wine you can ask the group coordinator to credit your corkage fee. They might do that! [emoji1]

 

 

 

 

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[debenson0723]

What I did was had a slip of paper with all the cabin numbers that said they were going. Then I put them in a jar or other container and had one of the officers draw out names until all the prizes were gone. If a cabin was chosen and that cabin wasn't present went on to the next draw.

 

I was pretty lucky on getting people who were excited. However I have heard that European cruises tend to not have as many people interested in the M&M as US based (if you are doing a European cruise). If you are going to give away wine you can ask the group coordinator to credit your corkage fee. They might do that! [emoji1]

 

 

 

 

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What a great idea for the raffle! Thank you so much for sharing (and yes, it is a European cruise...I hadn't thought about that vs a Caribbean cruise). Happy sailing :ship:

[tcrandal]

They do have wine packages. However, I brought my own wine on board and paid the $15 per bottle. I found that the wine on board is OK. It was worth it for me as I get great wine in Fort Lauderdale.

 

 

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Thanks again for all your work on the M&M, being back to reality sucks! I plan on posting some video trip reports for our voyage once I get a chance to edit all the video, so far I only have the 2 days leading up to our cruise with our stay at the Pompano beach Marriott. I took a short amount of video in the M&M, but unfortunately, didn't video tape the introductions.

 

Had lots of fun, can't wait until the next one!

[Time2CruiseAgain]

Hello Everyone:

 

 

 

Sorry for the delay in replying to the M&M, so here are my thoughts and ideas that we did to get things rolling:

 

 

 

• 
   
  
• First, someone from your roll call needs to volunteer. Keep it to just one person who communicates as it can get very confusing if there are multiple people sending messages and making arrangements. However, it may be a good idea to coordinate with someone for assistance in setting up.
   
  
• About 3-4 weeks before saling reach out to NCL to make arrangements for the M&M. Email address to use is: GroupEvent<ship name>@ncl.com. Simply replace <ship name> with your ship (Dawn, Gem, Jewel, etc). So for our sailing it was: groupeventescape@ncl.com
   
  
• Get everyone excited about coming to the M&M. Some ideas are:
   
  
  • 
     
    
  • Raffle some items off (I did chocolates, wine and champagne but I'm a little crazy :) )
     
    
  • Get a gift exchange going. People can bring one item from their home town/state and do an exchange. Not everyone usually signs up for this.
     
    
  • Stress the importance to the roll call of how important it is for Cruise Critic peeps to show for the M&M as it lets NCL know we are a vital part of cruising info.
     
    

   

  [*]I did a spreadsheet with everyone's CC name, # of people, names of everyone, and cabin number (hometown too if you want to list it)

   

  [*]I kept people notified of how many had signed up about once a week

   

  [*]I set up a separate email address that people could email me (yahoo, gmail, etc) so you don't get it mixed in with personal stuff.

   

  [*]I kept NCL aware of the number of people as once it went over 50 they moved the group to a larger venue.

   

  [*]Fortunately I have an assistant so she helped with:

   

  • 
     
    
  • Printing and designing name tags (NCL will supply blank ones for you if desired)
     
    
  • Invitations with room number (these you can hand off to the event coordinator on board on your first day and they will deliver them to the room)
     
    

   

  [*]If they change the venue, make sure you let everyone know many times prior. You can also put a sign on the original location, but NCL did not allow me to do that when it moved from 5 O'Clock to The District.

   

  [*]Encourage children to come along with the parents. I had set up some kids only tables with candy and gifts for the kids (yoyos, bouny balls, bracelets, etc). It allowed some of the kids to meet new friends especially if they weren't into the kids clubs.

   

  [*]During the Event:

   

  • 
     
    
  • Try and mingle with everyone. You really want this to be a fun event not just a sit and listen to the officers speak
     
    
  • I brought some nice chocolates as a gift for the officers that came to the event
     
    
  • After the officers left, almost everyone stayed and chatted and had a good time.
     
    

   

  [*]Have FUN!!!!! I had a great time putting the event together and meeting everyone from our Roll Call. We had some great people and it was fun seeing them everyone on the ship afterward.

   

Would I be the coordinator again? Definitely! We had someone that did a slot pull right after the M&M and that was fun as well. It was hard work for the person doing that part as well, so I do recommend having another person coordinate the slot pull if that was going to happen.

 

 

 

 

 

Overall, the experience was great. The officers on the NCL Escape were friendly and remembered us whenever we ran into them on the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone has any more questions, please let me know.

 

 

Your

[Time2CruiseAgain]

Had a hard time replying above! Anyway!! What an AWESOME review!! We are sailing in September, aft balcony!! Can't wait! First time on NCL, other cruises Carnival and Disney! Thanks so much for the M&M TIPS - I'm organizing ours and appreciate the tips! I've organized one on Carnival and we did a shot glass exchange, which was a lot of fun! Love the idea for the kids table! Thanks again!