NCL Escape July 15 2017 Review

[miataman19]

First some background. I'm in my early 60's GF in her late 50's. We are both experienced cruisers. We chose this cruise for the itinerary and it was my birthday. Ann Marie has never been to St. Thomas or Tortola (Lost Van Dyke). Nassau is the 3rd stop. I've been to all 3 many times. Drove down from Orlando (Home) on Friday and stayed at Ann Marie's cousins house in Hollywood Fl. Saturday morning we Ubere'd to the port arriving at 10am (cost $29). Much better than the $144 to park at the pier. Embarkation was not the best this trip. Asked one of the officers, when we finally got on at noon, what the issue was. He explained that occasionally on the Western sailing, because of the stop in Belize, customs is more strict at checking everything. Don't know what's going on there but that's his explanation. When we got on we went to the spa to secure week passes, no problem. Didn't try for Vibe as we were in Boarding group 6 and the line at Headliners was ridiculous. Lunch At Savor. FYI, Taste and Savor is a much more relaxed lunch. Avoid the buffet.Then went up to Spice H2O for an informal Meet & Mingle with our CC friends, some already there with their Mardis Gras beads on. The lead bartender, Shane, was great throughout the entire cruise. He and his staff there never missed a beat. Rooms opened up around 1ish. Dropped off our carryon's and to our surprise our checked bags had already arrived. Our cabin 9320 is an Aft Balcony. Normal size balcony room however we had an enormous balcony, did some research on this before we left. Deck 9 and 12 aft balconies have the largest. It had 2 chairs a table and 2 loungers with plenty of room to walk around. Had breakfast out there 4 times during the trip. FYI, no soot issues at all. Went to Muster drill, as always it seems, somebody didn't get the memo, took about 15 minutes longer than normal. Sail away at Spice H20 was a good time. We ventured to the main pool area and that place was rocking. Spice for a more laid back sail away and main pool for the craziness (Hot, Hot, Hot). Dinner on first night at Savor. Ann Marie has a Gluten, Dairy allergy which we alerted NCL to before sailing. Right after we sat down one of the Asst. Maitre'd's came over to the table to talk to Ann Marie about her allergies and helped with her menu selection. Meal and service was perfect. She then came by at the end of the meal and inquired about our next evenings meal location. We had booked Cagney's for my birthday. She proceeded to show us a Cagney's menu and discuss with Ann Marie her meal for the following night. This was done EVERY evening for the next night. Thank you NCL for your serious concern about food allergies. First sea day was uneventful. I've been on Getaway and this ship is very similar. Added Haven suites and some new restaurants. Thermal Spa was heaven. Spent about 4 hours there Sunday afternoon. If you can swing it it is worth the $219. Next trip we'll try and book a spa stateroom. Birthday dinner at Cagney's was perfect. Porterhouse was cooked as ordered and AM's filet also cooked to perfection. Service was superb. Monday, 2nd sea day was spent on deck and at the spa. Had diner at La Cucina Italian restaurant. Sat outside on the Waterfront. Was concerned about the wind and humidity, no issues with either. Had a great meal. I'm going to stop here for now and resume later tonight with our ports of call.

[Dina7]

Enjoying your review so far! Very informative :)

[ashpam]

Thank you for taking the time to share!

 

 

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[fabnfortysomething]

promising start

 

however if you add paragraphs/spaces between lines it makes much easier to read than a solid block of text

[Sand and Seas]

Following....Thanks for sharing:)

[easyboy]

Glad Ann Marie's dietary needs were taken cared of. Following.

[miataman19]

First Port of Call St. Thomas

Couldn't get our early preferred excursion, St. Johns Champagne Snorkel. So we opted for the 1pm time slot. This allowed us to have a leisurely breakfast at Savor. TIP, Taste and Savor never had a wait for breakfast. No crowds and good food to start your day. We also had a visit from our favorite Asst. Maitre D' Diana inquiring about our dinner last night. We had some extra time so we decided to check out Paradise Point.

 

FYI, don't use the ships excursion for this one. Just leave the ship and exit the Havensight shopping area, turn left. It's about a block up the street. Its also cheaper to purchase the Skyride Cable car there. There are the usual souvenir shops and a very nice restaurant up there. They have a very diverse food and drink menu. The prices are somewhat reasonable for a tourist trap area. Spent about 2 hours there.

 

Came down and met up with our tour group and proceeded to get in a 25 person open bus for the ridiculously crazy ride to the catamaran dock on the other side of the island. Forgot how nuts that trip is (I've taken this tour before). Narrow roads on inclines of, seems like, 45 degrees with alot of traffic.

 

Boarded the Catamaran and took the 25 min. sail to St. John. No alcohol or food before you snorkel. The 3 crew members did a good job. One was in a dinghy and helping the snorkelers. The Captain and the bartender stayed on board. I didn't snorkel, AM wanted to snorkel so we chose this excursion. As soon as the last person jumped in I heard, BARS OPEN, and the bartender tossed me a Presedente Beer. After about 5 beers it was time to sail back to the ship. The crew brought out a nice variety of cheese & crackers, fruit and much Run Punch, Champagne and beer.

 

Made it back to Havensight with some time to do some shopping. Got back to the ship with 20 minutes to spare. Pier running not necessary. (almost but, no). AM made a comment that there was nobody at the gangway to greet us except 1 officer and a security guard. More on that later...lol

 

When we got to our cabin we had a nice surprise. Deepak Punia the Hotel Director invited us to dinner in The Haven Restaurant. He even bought us a bottle of wine. I stayed in The Haven on the Getaway so the food and service are top notch. Nice ending to a nice day.

 

Next Port...Tortola / Jost Van Dyke

Edited July 31, 2017 by miataman19

[Tiggertastic]

Thanks for the cable car tip

 

 

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[miataman19]

Having trouble posting pictures. I'll attach them until I figure it out.

Edited July 31, 2017 by miataman19

[oscardog]

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to reading more.

[zencruisers]

Following along. Thinking of taking this itinerary next year.

[miataman19]

Tortola/Jost Van Dyke..

Again, we made the mistake of not booking our excursions prior to getting on the ship. TIP: If you really want to go on a specific excursion, book it online as soon as it becomes available. We did the, oh, it will be available when we get on the ship....NOT!!!!.. There are 2 tours to Jost Van Dyke, 2 time slots for each tour, total 4 tours.

 

 

Ultimate Adventure & Jost Van Dyke a

Rigid Inflatable Boat with limited capacity (about 12 people per boat, 2 boats per tour). Escape to Jost Van Dyke. Catamaran Rebel Yell with a larger capacity, don't know that capacity.

 

However, sometimes thing happen. We had been on the waiting list for the tours. Got up on Weds and headed for the Tour desk. Nope, sorry no cancellations. OK, lets just go have breakfast (Savor) and we'll do the Taxi, ferry, taxi thing to Jost Van Dyke. After breakfast the hoards of people had gotten off the ship and the deck 4 exit was clear. We walked to the end of the pier to the information Kiosk on the right. Started talking to a very nice lady about how to get a cab and ferry to JVD. She wanted to know what we wanted to do over there. We said we just want to spend the day at The Soggy Dollar Bar. Oh, let me make a call. While she was on the phone a gentleman standing behind us said, Hey you guys looking to go to JVD, YES!!, we need 1 more couple to fill the charter we got. ALL RIGHT, lets go baby!!! A very nice 45 ft. cruiser ( thanks to Captain Rudy, he does this for a living and lives on the boat)) with plenty of room for the 3 couples. Cost was $70 per person (plus tip) and we got to JVD and The Soggy Dollar at about 9:30 - 9:45. He stayed with us the whole time until we left at 1pm to make it back to the ship. Takes 1 hr to get from Tortola to JVD. Sat in the Soggy Dollar with our Painkillers and watched all 4 ship tours come and go. Awesome day at JVD.

 

 

If I remember correctly that was the night we had been invited to have dinner with some of the ships officers in the Taste Private Dinning Room. Very nice dinner.

Next Port...Nassau

 

 

 

 

 

 

[billion8]

Thanks for the review, especially the non-cruiseline tours are very interesting. How much did the St. Johns Snorkel tour cost? Do you need to negotiate price with people on the street or is it like a fixed price stands? Was the snorkeling good, do you think it would be suitable for 9 and 12 years old?

 

 

The Cable Car tickets, do you mean by the entrance to the Cable Cars or another place?

 

 

Was The Soggy Dollar Bar beach/JvD good for snorkeling?

 

 

Going on Escape Eastern on Aug. 12 and looking desperately for good and safe snorkeling places suitable for kids.

[Suna]

You don't happen to know the name of the charter for JVD do you? Wonder if that is something I can book ahead of time.

 

 

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[brookie848]

Thanks for the review, especially the non-cruiseline tours are very interesting. How much did the St. Johns Snorkel tour cost? Do you need to negotiate price with people on the street or is it like a fixed price stands? Was the snorkeling good, do you think it would be suitable for 9 and 12 years old?

 

 

The Cable Car tickets, do you mean by the entrance to the Cable Cars or another place?

 

 

Was The Soggy Dollar Bar beach/JvD good for snorkeling?

 

 

Going on Escape Eastern on Aug. 12 and looking desperately for good and safe snorkeling places suitable for kids.

 

One place mentioned a lot for good snorkeling on the itinerary is Coki beach. If you find Mitsugirly's reviews, she lists all of her destinations and her primary goal is snorkeling (with her young daughter) so that might be a good starting point for your research.

[billion8]

One place mentioned a lot for good snorkeling on the itinerary is Coki beach. If you find Mitsugirly's reviews, she lists all of her destinations and her primary goal is snorkeling (with her young daughter) so that might be a good starting point for your research.

 

Sorry for mini thread cap but feel I have to warn people about Coki Beach

 

Thanks but Coki has been our only snorkeling experience in the Caribbean and it was awful. My kids got very scared of the people there, full of insects, some local people pretty much forced you to rent their chairs/umbrellas and they were completely disgusting. Hundreds (thousands?) of cruise line guests here, and this beach is very small. I too had read wonderful things about this place but it seems its only valid on weekends, when no cruiselines comes here.

 

Found this review on Tripadvis and its spot on (take a look at the picture they posted and you will see how crowded this place can be).

 

"Stay away on Mon-Thur since the crusie ship people will be everywhere. The locals are very shady in this area so lock your car and dont leave any valuables laying out. There were many drunk and high locals here all day bothering people for money. The beach is pretty nice if you can ignore the locals.

"

[billion8]

If you find Mitsugirly's reviews, she lists all of her destinations and her primary goal is snorkeling (with her young daughter) so that might be a good starting point for your research.

 

Will do, thanks!

[miataman19]

You don't happen to know the name of the charter for JVD do you? Wonder if that is something I can book ahead of time.

 

 

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He's on Facebook.

Rudys Magic II Charters

 

 

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[Suna]

He's on Facebook.

Rudys Magic II Charters

 

 

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Thanks ;)

 

 

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[taylortime05]

Tortola/Jost Van Dyke..

Again, we made the mistake of not booking our excursions prior to getting on the ship. TIP: If you really want to go on a specific excursion, book it online as soon as it becomes available. We did the, oh, it will be available when we get on the ship....NOT!!!!.. There are 2 tours to Jost Van Dyke, 2 time slots for each tour, total 4 tours.

Ultimate Adventure & Jost Van Dyke a

Rigid Inflatable Boat with limited capacity (about 12 people per boat, 2 boats per tour). Escape to Jost Van Dyke. Catamaran Rebel Yell with a larger capacity, don't know that capacity.

However, sometimes thing happen. We had been on the waiting list for the tours. Got up on Weds and headed for the Tour desk. Nope, sorry no cancellations. OK, lets just go have breakfast (Savor) and we'll do the Taxi, ferry, taxi thing to Jost Van Dyke. After breakfast the hoards of people had gotten off the ship and the deck 4 exit was clear. We walked to the end of the pier to the information Kiosk on the right. Started talking to a very nice lady about how to get a cab and ferry to JVD. She wanted to know what we wanted to do over there. We said we just want to spend the day at The Soggy Dollar Bar. Oh, let me make a call. While she was on the phone a gentleman standing behind us said, Hey you guys looking to go to JVD, YES!!, we need 1 more couple to fill the charter we got. ALL RIGHT, lets go baby!!! A very nice 45 ft. cruiser ( thanks to Captain Rudy, he does this for a living and lives on the boat)) with plenty of room for the 3 couples. Cost was $70 per person (plus tip) and we got to JVD and The Soggy Dollar at about 9:30 - 9:45. He stayed with us the whole time until we left at 1pm to make it back to the ship. Takes 1 hr to get from Tortola to JVD. Sat in the Soggy Dollar with our Painkillers and watched all 4 ship tours come and go. Awesome day at JVD.

 

If I remember correctly that was the night we had been invited to have dinner with some of the ships officers in the Taste Private Dinning Room. Very nice dinner.

Next Port...Nassau

 

 

I'm really enjoying your review. We are going on our 1st NCL cruise on Escape in November. Do you cruise alot with NCL and is that why you are getting the special dinner invitations?

[miataman19]

I'm really enjoying your review. We are going on our 1st NCL cruise on Escape in November. Do you cruise alot with NCL and is that why you are getting the special dinner invitations?

Yes, I believe so. I also hosted the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle. I'm sure that between the 2 I did get some extra attention...lol

[miataman19]

Thanks for the review, especially the non-cruiseline tours are very interesting. How much did the St. Johns Snorkel tour cost? Do you need to negotiate price with people on the street or is it like a fixed price stands? Was the snorkeling good, do you think it would be suitable for 9 and 12 years old?

 

 

The Cable Car tickets, do you mean by the entrance to the Cable Cars or another place?

The ticket booth for the Cable Cars is right at the base of the Tramway to Paradise Point

 

Was The Soggy Dollar Bar beach/JvD good for snorkeling?

There is snorkeling there but not the best. You will see some fish but minimal coral.

 

Going on Escape Eastern on Aug. 12 and looking desperately for good and safe snorkeling places suitable for kids.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147411-d208083-Reviews-National_Park_Underwater_Trail-Virgin_Islands_National_Park_St_John_U_S_Virgin_Isl.html

Very safe for kids..

[miataman19]

Thursday was a sea day so we slept in and spent most of the day at the Spa. TIP: If you go to one ship function make sure you attend THE GLOW PARTY (great for the kids also).... It is held at Spice H2O. Bring a totally white outfit and some glow necklaces and bracelets (any dollar store carry's them). Tyler, the CD, was an amazing DJ helper. DJ was very good mixing the music. The dance floor was a giant mosh pit of jumping and fun. There are areas off to each side of the dance floor for smaller kids and just to watch the fun. I'm not a club person and at 62 can't hang as well as I use to but this was ONE GREAT PARTY. Again do not miss this event.

 

Nassau:

Today was the day we were going to do the ropes course and the water slides while the hoards invaded the Straw Market.....didn't happen. I did do them on The Getaway and they are fun. Especially the vertical water slides. Ropes course is challenging and fun. Make sure you walk the plank. Escape has 2 planks with a zip line on one of them, ahhhh, no thanks..lol. Spa for a couple of hrs. then shopping on Bay St. Usually don't get off the ship here but AM wanted to do some shopping. Received some excellent service from John Bull, Del Sol (bought some sheets, Cariloha) and Little Switzerland. Bought a couple of watches at Little Switzerland. They signed us up for their credit card, zero interest for 6 months. Made the purchases a little more inviting. We had planned on the purchase but they made it easy (not a commercial, they just treated us very well). Wanted to co to the straw market to pick up some souvenirs but never made it.

 

We actually made it back to the ship with an hour and a half to spare. They had the usual party going on the pier. AM was flabbergasted. What are all the crew members doing out here, she asked? I told her that they do this at every port if you get back in time and not with 10 minutes before sail away...lol.

 

Dinner tonight was at Bayamo by Jose Garces. It is a seafood restaurant with a Latin twist. We both ordered Enchilada de Langosta, the roasted Maine lobster stuffed with cachucha peppers. I didn't think I was going to like his take on lobster but it was very good. Service, as throughout the cruise, was perfect.

 

Back to the stateroom to do the hated packing and get you stuff outside by midnight. That's when it hits you that the cruise is over.

 

Disembarkation was easy spezy (had Priority Disembarkation). Got picked up by AM's cousin and headed back to Hollywood Fl. Decided to spend the night there before the trip back home to Orlando (went to the Boardwalk and Margaritaville).

 

Kudos to the Escape crew for a very memorable cruise. Especially:

Deepak Punia / Hotel Director and the Hotel Director Secretary / Pamela Mallari

Cyril Fernandes / Executive Sous Chef

Diana / Asst. Maitre D'

 

AWESOME JOB TO ALL ON NCL ESCAPE

[Suna]

Thanks for sharing you trip

 

 

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[cyndepet]

Thanks for your review! 24 days to go for us ;-)