Shadowmeboy's Escape to the Western Caribbean!

[Cap'n Ron]

Really enjoyed your review, thank you for taking the time to share your trip on the Escape! She is a beautiful ship and we loved our cruise on her last summer. We are considering going on the Getaway next summer on the western itinerary, so your pictures and excursion information are very much appreciated!

 

 

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[tooters111]

Did you have to purchase the glow sticks or do they just pass them out? Really loving your review!!

[shadowmeboy]

Did you have to purchase the glow sticks or do they just pass them out? Really loving your review!!

 

The ones I was wearing we bought ourselves. We bought a big pack and put some of the glow sticks in the giveaway bags at the Meet & Greet.

[shadowmeboy]

Really enjoyed your review' date=' thank you for taking the time to share your trip on the Escape! She is a beautiful ship and we loved our cruise on her last summer. We are considering going on the Getaway next summer on the western itinerary, so your pictures and excursion information are very much appreciated!

 

 

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Thank you for reading! Enjoy your cruise on the Getaway!

[shadowmeboy]

Your pictures of WA are beautiful. I've only had the pleasure of seeing WA once and loved it, esp Mt Ranier.

 

 

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I love the diversity of climates. Literally can go from ocean to farmland to mountains to desert in 4 hours total. I could have taken a ton more pictures. I was tired though, I took a nap!

[tgloersen]

Thanks! Hey keep the same week we cruised this year open in 2019. We want to do something out of NYC or Boston that year.

That would be awesome, you got my info, let me know.

[bonniboo1]

Thank you so much for this review! When I board on 6/10/18 I will even be more excited now. I generally host the Meet & Greets just to make sure that we have one. It looks like you did a bang up job as did the

Staff of the Escape. Did you bring the door prizes yourself? I did on the the

Last M&G. If NCL had some prizes that would even be better! Thank you again.

 

Bonni

 

After Jovo and Tyler were done. We did some fun giveaways. Most active posters, 1st poster, Slot Pull organizer, plus several random ones. Then we did the gift exchange.

 

Gift Exchange gifts

 

 

The Meet & Greet was awesome. we had excellent participation from our roll call, and had over 50 to 70 people attend. If you were on our sailing ,Thank you for coming.

 

At 1 pm, we headed down to the Casino and 27 of us did the Slot Pull. Thank you Cyndi_at_home for organizing. Cyndi pictured with Fran who was helping her!

 

 

We had a lot of fun and made lots of noise.

 

 

No big jackpots, but we all had a ton of fun!

 

Mom, Dad, Susan and I headed to O'Sheehans for a late lunch.

 

 

Mom was leary of going back because they did not have a great experience the night before on the Prime Rib night. Her's was tough and not very good in her opinion.

 

Nacho's without Jalepeno's

 

[shadowmeboy]

Thank you so much for this review! When I board on 6/10/18 I will even be more excited now. I generally host the Meet & Greets just to make sure that we have one. It looks like you did a bang up job as did the

 

Staff of the Escape. Did you bring the door prizes yourself? I did on the the

 

Last M&G. If NCL had some prizes that would even be better! Thank you again.

 

 

 

Bonni

 

 

 

Yes, I brought my own. I wanted to highlight a few people. Plus people got a kick out of the wristbands for the most active poster!

 

 

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[Tminish]

Yes, I brought my own. I wanted to highlight a few people. Plus people got a kick out of the wristbands for the most active poster!

 

 

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I am hosting the Meet & Greet for my cruise in October. What type of things did you want to highlight? The first poster? Who posted the most? etc? Just curious as I would like to do something like this as well. What kind of things did you put in your goody bags? Also, what all did you guys do? Did you just let people mingle after the officers said what they needed to say? I see you had a gift exchange. Most in my roll call would prefer not to do that and I would feel bad for leaving people out if they didn't bring a gift. Lol. I would just like to know what others do. This if my first time hosting a Meet & Greet but I've attended them before.

[zencruisers]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Great pictures too!

[shadowmeboy]

Pros and Cons

 

There were very few cons.

 

 

O'sheehans had slow service and bad food. Mom said no more O'sheehans by day 3. She had a bad experience there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

 

Pool area - its been said before on here a thousand times, the pool area is much to small.

 

 

Pro's

 

 

The staff and food were wonderful (except O'sheehans).

 

 

Easy on/off with limited waiting at Ports.

 

 

Great Entertainment

 

 

The list goes on and on!

 

 

I was concerned about having never sailed a Breakaway class or bigger ship, and whether I would like it or not. I loved it, and there very few times you felt overwhelmed with people (Pool deck).

 

 

Shout outs to Ramesh (Moderno), Gustav (waiter in Taste/Manhattan (evenings)), and Jesse (Room Steward) for above and beyond.

 

 

The Caribbean was fun and different. Way too hot, but its the time of year. Weather cooperated and made the trip enjoyable.

 

 

Next two cruises are on the Star and Jewel, so we shall see how a smaller ship compares to the bigger ship vibe.

 

 

To everyone on the Roll Call, thank you for coming and participating. we rocked it! It was awesome meeting you all!

 

 

Cindi_at_home - great slot pull!

 

 

Tgloersen - Till we meet again and we plan to meet again. Keep working your goals! You can do it!

 

 

To everyone who read this review: Thank you.

 

 

Just because I finished my part, doesn't mean you all still can't contribute and ask questions!

[shadowmeboy]

I am hosting the Meet & Greet for my cruise in October. What type of things did you want to highlight? The first poster? Who posted the most? etc? Just curious as I would like to do something like this as well. What kind of things did you put in your goody bags? Also, what all did you guys do? Did you just let people mingle after the officers said what they needed to say? I see you had a gift exchange. Most in my roll call would prefer not to do that and I would feel bad for leaving people out if they didn't bring a gift. Lol. I would just like to know what others do. This if my first time hosting a Meet & Greet but I've attended them before.

 

On the Sun, we didn't have one. Our roll call for the Escape said they would bring stuff, so we had one. There is no one way to do a roll call. Each sailing is different.

 

I did: First poster; 2 most active posters; slot pull organizer; plus 3 random ones for everyone.

 

random ones had glow sticks, a candy bar, and glow paint. Keep it simple. Remember, I had to fly this stuff across the country, so I went simple.

 

The gift exchange was done off the side, and those who brought something participated and those who didn't kept mingling.

 

We had 70 signup and almost everyone showed for the Meet and Greet and we had 27 at the slot pull.

 

you know your roll call, make it fit your roll call.

[shadowmeboy]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to do it. Great pictures too!

 

Thank you for reading through it and contributing!

[sun_lovin!1]

I'm gonna be on the Escape in about 6 week to celebrate my birthday. Thanks so much for your complete review!

 

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[Tiggertastic]

Brilliant review thanks

 

 

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[shadowmeboy]

I'm gonna be on the Escape in about 6 week to celebrate my birthday. Thanks so much for your complete review!

 

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Your welcome! Enjoy your cruise!

 

 

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[shadowmeboy]

Brilliant review thanks

 

 

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Thanks for reading and your compliments!

 

 

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[Beefcrinkle]

I plan to read all of this great review, but before searching I figured I would ask. What did the plane tickets run You? I'm going to fly out of Portland but I choose Mia and never checked Orlando

[shadowmeboy]

I plan to read all of this great review, but before searching I figured I would ask. What did the plane tickets run You? I'm going to fly out of Portland but I choose Mia and never checked Orlando

 

Round trip 2 people 1st class using some Alaska miles to discount PDX to MCO was $1870.

[paradiseawaitsme]

Really enjoyed reading about your cruise and seeing all the great pics. Some great excursion ideas.

So excited about our September 30th Escape and your review brought it closer!! Thank you

[shadowmeboy]

Special Feature: a sneak peak to my next review:

 

Shadowmeboy's Christmas Mexican Riviera Star studded review!

 

Hi, I am Shadowmeboy!

 

My wife, Susan, and I, Matthew, love to cruise and do it any chance we can.

 

In 2016 we sailed the Norwegian Sun on a Southbound Cruise from Seward, Alaska to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. You can read the review here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2529761

 

The Norwegian Sun is pictured below in Sitka, AK.

 

 

 

My beautiful wife and I outside of Whittier, AK.

 

In June of 2017, We sailed the Norwegian Escape to the Western Caribbean. Review: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2516206

 

The Norwegian Escape pictured below in Costa Maya, Mexico

 

 

 

Standing in the Atlantic Ocean on a Florida beach!

 

My wife, Susan, is a school teacher and I work for a grocery store. Susan and I have been married 10 years! Due to her school schedule, we cannot sail as much as we would like.

 

We live in the Pacific Northwest, so we have sailed Alaska several times. The Escape was our first Caribbean Cruise. We live along the Columbia River on the "dry" side of Washington State among the Apple and Cherry Orchards.

 

This will be our first cruise over Christmas and we cannot wait.

 

(Insert My Picture of the Norwegian Star here ;p)

 

(insert our picture standing together somewhere in Mexico here ;p)

 

Most of the pictures are taken with my Canon Rebel T5 DSLR, My Iphone, or our Fuji waterproof camera.

 

Let's get this Christmas adventure started!

[shadowmeboy]

Back in July, Susan and I traveled to Kansas City for the Convention of the direct Selling company we are apart of, Scentsy.

 

We flew out of Seattle, a hub for Alaska Airlines. Can you tell?

 

 

 

You're probably asking why I am starting in July for a Christmas Cruise to Mexico. Well, Susan didn't know about the trip yet.

 

 

We got boarded and situated in our seats. I was absolutely giddy by this time.

 

After takeoff, I get some fabulous pictures of the Pacific Northwest.

 

 

Puget Sound

 

 

Mt. Rainier

 

 

Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens

[shadowmeboy]

 

Mt Rainier (far right), Mt. Adams (left), and Oregon's Mt. Hood (top rear).

 

 

Flying over Snoqualmie Pass and I-90

 

I pull out Susan's birthday present!

 

A card, a Starbucks gift card, and a puzzle....

 

 

Susan reading the instructions to her gift.

 

 

Starting to work on the crossword puzzle.

 

 

 

Reading the clues...

 

When all was said and done, Susan found out her birthday gift was a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Norwegian Star out of LA over Christmas. She was over the clouds with excitement! Literally, over the clouds as we were in an airplane.

 

This adventure to be continued...

[SenatorsFan]

I'll be looking forward to your next review, since I've enjoyed the others and all the great pictures. I liked how you documented the entire trip :)

In 51 days I will be "Escape-ing" too and am really looking forward to it. Do you happen to remember when the latest time to be off the ship was?

Thanks,

Heather

[shadowmeboy]

I'll be looking forward to your next review, since I've enjoyed the others and all the great pictures. I liked how you documented the entire trip :)

 

In 51 days I will be "Escape-ing" too and am really looking forward to it. Do you happen to remember when the latest time to be off the ship was?

 

Thanks,

 

Heather

 

 

 

It was like 10am

 

 

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