Just Off Norwegian Escape -- I'll Take an Obnoxious Cruise Director for $1000, Alex

[mmmmbacon]

So here is my review of our cruise on the Norwegian Escape -- departing Miami on August 19. We were originally scheduled to enjoy a Western Caribbean cruise (Cozumel, Belize, Roatan) but because of Hurricane Harvey, we were rerouted to St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Nassau. You could hear a collective sigh of disappointment from the Garden Cafe since most people had already traveled to those ports and were looking for something different (including me), but it was an enjoyable cruise -- with perfect weather -- nonetheless.

 

I traveled with my husband and his parents -- it was their first cruise ever and their first time ever seeing the ocean. (They live in Wisconsin and had never traveled to the sea before.)

 

Here's a recap of things we loved and didn't like so much:

 

We loved the food on the ship. We enjoyed a few specialty dinners: La Cucina (awesome food except for the osso bucco), Le Bistro (sooooo much better on the Escape than on other NCCL ships), and Cagney's (phenomenal, but way too much food. No lobster available, but tasty shrimp.) We also enjoyed lunch at Food Republic, which was top-notch and amazingly fresh. We looooooved the atmosphere and the cuisine.

 

The service at each of these restaurants was friendly, professional, and attentive. In fact, the service at every venue, including the bars and Garden Cafe, was impressive. I must say that we didn't really care for the dinner at O'Sheehan's....there really wasn't anything wrong with the food (and the server was super sweet and friendly) but it wasn't as exciting as food in the specialty restaurants. Taste and Savor were very good with plenty of options!

 

We loved our balcony staterooms on the 10th floor. My in-laws had a spacious handicapped suite, which offered plenty of room and many handicap-accessible amenities, including bars on the balcony and the shower. Our stateroom attendants, Yenni and Alma, were friendly, personable, and very attentive.

 

We hated (is that too strong of a word?) the obnoxiousness of some of the passengers. Some people were simply rude and just trashy. I thought it was very nervy of people to "reserve" lounge chairs in Spice H20 around 7:40 am with their towels and then take off for breakfast and who knows what else for the next three hours. Oh, I'm sorry. You were upset that I had removed the towels and placed them on the railing so a couple who actually wanted to lay out in the sun could use chairs instead? We were so amazed by the level of entitlement exhibited by some people!!

 

We hated (I can definitely use the word here) the elevator situation. Elevators are small and a bit claustrophobic....the worse part was that the elevator banks operate independently, so passengers would press buttons on both sides of the elevators (to double their chances of getting one). This would mean elevators would constantly stop at floors where the passengers had already taken the elevator on the other side.

 

We really liked the Meet and Greet organized through Cruise Critic. It was held in the brewhouse, and the staff offered us tasty appetizers and flights of different beers. We were introduced to a few crew members (not the captain) and the organizers (not the cruise ship) gave out a few raffle items they had purchased themselves. I do prefer the Meet and Greets on RCCL since the raffle prizes include specialty dinners, bottles of wine, and cruise paraphernalia. After the Meet and Greet, a group of 29 of us did the Slot Pull. The machine sucked (we each chipped in $15 and walked away with $10) but it was fun.

 

We decided not to partake in any excursion offered by the cruise ship, mostly because my father-in-law would need to use a wheelchair and we would not want to slow down other passengers.

 

--On St. Maarten, we took a taxi to the Westin at Dawn Beach and spent the day at the resort. $7 per person to the beach in an air-conditioned van. The best part was the Westin gave us a beautiful day room, so after spending time at the beach, we were able to take showers and freshen up before returning to the ship. We decided not to go to Philipsburg since the port area had plenty of shops.

 

--In St. Thomas, we simply walked around the port area since it was super hot that day...plenty of shops to explore in the port area.

 

--In Nassau, we took a cab to Atlantis so my in-laws could spend a little time at the casino. $4 per person each way...we were in a van with about 5 other people. Atlantis is definitely looking tired, and there was a lot of construction (and a heck of a lot of people) around, so we didn't stay too long. We walked around downtown Nassau for a bit....we returned to Greek Islands Restaurant for a Kalik and the best conch fritters in town.

 

We loved the Spice H20 area and the Grotto, which was pretty empty for the first few hours every morning. The Grotto was really refreshing after laying out in the sun all morning, but the pool attendants should be a bit more vigilant about not allowing people to go into the area with glass bottles. We wished the Escape would play a movie or something on the wide screen, but the "serenity show" was peaceful and relaxing.

 

We really liked the Broadway-style show After Midnight. (Damn, some of those women have amazingly powerful voices!) We did not go to the Brat Pack show after seeing a preview of it on TV -- the acting seemed pretty terrible, so we passed on that show. The magician was entertaining but nothing spectacular, and the Howl at the Moon dueling banjos was enjoyable.

 

We were appalled by the attitude of the cruise directly, Tyler....he was so obnoxious and inappropriate that we felt so uncomfortable. He is the type of guy who thinks he is being funny, but he's not. We thought he was so rude to the elderly couple at the Love and Marriage game that we felt genuinely sorry for them. He is by far the worst cruise director that we had encountered, and when we saw him start another activity, we decided not to watch and moved on to something else.

 

We found embarkation and debarkation to go very smoothly...we decided to take advantage of transfers to the Fort Lauderdale airport. We left the ship around 8:15 am and we were on the bus and off within a half hour.

 

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind!

 

1. A little extra tip for the stateroom attendant goes a long way. We gave $20 to our stateroom attendant in advance, and she gave us robes and extra special attention.

 

2. We brought a $100 bottle of wine on board to celebrate my in-law's 50th anniversary. It was taken out of our suitcase and we had to pay the $15 corkage fee to have it returned.

 

3. We thought it was rude for the cruise staff to berate us for bringing the bottles of Aquafina water back on board the ship after we had PURCHASED them on board but did not finish them when we went off the ship in St. Maarten. It's water that we paid for!

 

4. We felt the Art Auction was run like a scam. The auctioneer was obnoxious, and if I never see another Peter Max painting in my life, I will be happy. The auctioneer would offer a painting for a very cheap price and THEN say there are four or five other paintings in the series, so the person who wanted one painting could no longer purchase it unless he bought the entire series. There were many angry people, and we were so turned off, we left after 15 minutes.

 

5. We bought a $10 bracelet from the sale in the promenade for my mother-in-law. During dinner, as she was simply sitting at La Cucina, the pin came off and it fell apart. Fortunately, we returned it and our money was refunded.

 

6. The ropes course on the Escape was MUCH more challenging than the one on the Breakaway. We thought my mother-in-law would be able to do it, but she would not be able to get past the first obstacle. We were very glad that we tried it, however!

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise!! Washy washy!

[Sauer-kraut]

2. We brought a $100 bottle of wine on board to celebrate my in-law's 50th anniversary. It was taken out of our suitcase and we had to pay the $15 corkage fee to have it returned.

There is always a corkage fee when bringing on wine on NCL. This is not new and you probably could have saved the hassle if you had it packed in your carry on bag so you could have paid it when embarking the ship.

[NYcruzzer]

Welcome home. Love the title of your post ! Thanks for taking the time to write a fair and honest review. How much was the Westin at Dawn Beach P.P ?

[Blanche Vesuvio]

There is always a corkage fee when bringing on wine on NCL. This is not new and you probably could have saved the hassle if you had it packed in your carry on bag so you could have paid it when embarking the ship.

 

 

 

Nice scolding - I'm sure the op has benefited from it. ;(

 

 

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[Two Wheels Only]

3. We thought it was rude for the cruise staff to berate us for bringing the bottles of Aquafina water back on board the ship after we had PURCHASED them on board but did not finish them when we went off the ship in St. Maarten. It's water that we paid for!

It's been NCL policy for over a year...

 

"Open beverages of any kind must be consumed or discarded at the security check-point, on embarkation day and at any port of call." - LINK

[garycarla]

Nice scolding - I'm sure the op has benefited from it. ;(

 

 

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I do not think it was scolding. They were only pointing out to anyone reading here about a policy that has been in effect for 5 years - maybe 10?

[uneamie]

There is always a corkage fee when bringing on wine on NCL. This is not new and you probably could have saved the hassle if you had it packed in your carry on bag so you could have paid it when embarking the ship.

"We brought a $100 bottle of wine on board to celebrate my in-law's 50th anniversary. It was taken out of our suitcase and we had to pay the $15 corkage fee to have it returned." This was a "TIP" not a complaint.

[perditax]

You'd didn't miss anything by skipping Brat Pack. John Hughes would have rolled in his grave.

[Two Wheels Only]

This was a "TIP" not a complaint.

It was also a tip to bring the bottle as a carry-on instead of in the suitcase.

[bluesea777]

 

3. We thought it was rude for the cruise staff to berate us for bringing the bottles of Aquafina water back on board the ship after we had PURCHASED them on board but did not finish them when we went off the ship in St. Maarten. It's water that we paid for!

 

 

Well .... one cruise a few years ago we got off ship in St. Thomas to go to the Havensight shops ... we shared a shuttle with a lady off same ship (we were docked at far end of pier, hence they provided shuttles) ... after an hour or so walking around the shops we ended up at a shuttle stop outside a liquor store and waited for the bus. The lady was already there sitting on bench busily pouring vodka from liquor bottles into the empty litre water bottles she brought off ship (she had a big carry bag), and then polished off what was left - neat - and threw away the liquor bottles before the shuttle arrived. We boarded the ship before her so we didn't hang around to see what happened to her. She was pretty sloshed.

 

So we weren't really surprised when NCL and other cruise lines made the move to ban the passengers from bringing any liquid onto the ships.

 

P.S. excellent review - glad that you all enjoyed the cruise! If it were us on your cruise we'd have cheered at the itinerary change announcement ... no way to enjoy cruise with winds, rain, rough seas, etc.

 

Aug 2010 we went on Epic B2B West and East but we repeated the West the second week when hurricane hit the East - and we had wonderful 2nd week with calm seas and bright sunshine.

 

Storm happens!

[LD Silver]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review!

 

I do the same as you after watching a lounger that has flip flops or a towel "reserving" it. After 30 minutes I dump it and the lounger is mine. When they show up, I just say "the lounger was open when I showed up...not sure how your stuff ended up on the deck."

 

I like Tyler Gray last year on our cruise on the Escape. Lots of energy and very personable. Hoping he is to on board for our November 11 sailing this year on the Escape.

[dbail4]

Thank you :)

[riclop]

Thanks for the review and for the love of the CD.lol

[Two Wheels Only]

I do the same as you after watching a lounger that has flip flops or a towel "reserving" it. After 30 minutes I dump it and the lounger is mine. When they show up, I just say "the lounger was open when I showed up...not sure how your stuff ended up on the deck."

NCL dailies state that items are to be removed (by NCL staff) after 1 hour...if it matters to anyone.

[4Suzyq]

Nice post. Thank you for sharing, I appreciate your honest thoughts.

[Caribbean Drifters]

It's been NCL policy for over a year...

 

"Open beverages of any kind must be consumed or discarded at the security check-point, on embarkation day and at any port of call." - LINK

 

Lots of assumptions going on here. OP simply stated that they brought purchased water to port and brought back the bottles they had not finished. They never indicated the the bottles were open. According to what the OP actually said they could have brought a 6 pack of water and brought 2 unopened bottle back.

 

More assumptions:

Saurt-kraut said:

 

There is always a corkage fee when bringing on wine on NCL. This is not new and you probably could have saved the hassle if you had it packed in your carry on bag so you could have paid it when embarking the ship.

 

 

You assume you know the policy, but the wording of the policy never specifies where to store bottle of wine, and it's very vague as to how they would charge a corkage fee. Nowhere in the policy do they indicate that they will hold your wine tie you pay the fee.

Wine & Champagne Policy

Guests may bring bottles of wine and champagne on board. When bottles are brought on board and served or consumed in any restaurant, public room area or in their stateroom, a corkage fee will be charged according to bottle sizes noted below.

750 ml Bottle: $15.00

1,500 ml Magnum: $30.00

Wine or champagne sent directly to the ship by travel agents, friends, family, etc. or from another retail source, are subject to the same fees. Box wines are not allowed on board.

NCL's beverage program is all around arcane, and not up to industry standards. NCL may deliver overall a better cruise experience that Carnival, but Carnival's beverage policies are much more pleasurable and less nickel and dimey. CCL has cheap bottle water for purchase, NCL charges a premium. CCL's soda package offers anything non alcoholic for the bars(juice, virgin drinks), NCL's soda package only offers whats on the gun. CCL, you can bring on a bottle of wine in you carry on and only he'd a corkage fee if open d in a restaurant, NCL they hold your bottle hostage until you pay up, in who knows what kind of conditions. CCL you can brink a 12 pack of non-alcoholic canned beverage of your choice, NCL no liquid's (besides wine/champagne) unless for medical needs or nursing.

As for Tyler, I'm with you OP, I'm hope he is gone off of Bliss by the time I sail her.

[Two Wheels Only]

Lots of assumptions going on here. OP simply stated that they brought purchased water to port and brought back the bottles they had not finished. They never indicated the the bottles were open. According to what the OP actually said they could have brought a 6 pack of water and brought 2 unopened bottle back

It does not matter if the bottles of water were opened or factory sealed. They cannot be brought onto the ship. Even water that was purchased onboard cannot be brought back onto the ship. That is what the policy is and has been for over a year.

[NCLfamily]

I liked Tyler. He played drums in HATM for an hour one night and then I did shots with him at the bar [emoji3]

 

 

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[Two Wheels Only]

You assume you know the policy, but the wording of the policy never specifies where to store bottle of wine,...

Saurt-kraut gave advise ("you probably could have saved the hassle if you had it packed in your carry on bag so you could have paid it when embarking the ship") as to where the wine should be carried while boarding the ship. Putting it in a carry-on and paying the corkage fee is easier than putting it in a suitcase, having it removed from the suitcase, being called down to retrieve it, and paying the corkage fee.

....and it's very vague as to how they would charge a corkage fee.

What part is vague? The amounts per volume of wine are clearly stated.

 

Nowhere in the policy do they indicate that they will hold your wine tie you pay the fee.

Can I still bring wine on board?

Yes, guests may bring sealed bottles of wine on board for personal consumption. They will be checked prior to embarkation and a corkage fee applied at that time of $15.00 USD for a 750 ml Bottle or $30.00 USD for a 1,500 ml Magnum bottle. Box wines are not allowed on board. If guests do not wish to pay the corkage fee, the wine will be held onboard and returned to the guests at the end of the cruise. - FAQ

 

They indicate that they will hold your wine until you pay the fee.

[SquishTheWhale]

I find it interesting that in almost every review of the Escape I've read, people mention that they either love or hate Tyler. He certainly makes an impression one way or the other!

 

I don't really like loud people, so although of course I approach everything with an open mind, at least I am prepared that I may find him annoying. But I didn't like the CD on the Epic either and it was more of a source of amusement than annoyance.

[jcollin]

Hi mmmmbacon. Thanks for the review. Can you tell me more about transfers to the Fort Lauderdale airport?

[Smacciemac]

There is always a corkage fee when bringing on wine on NCL. This is not new and you probably could have saved the hassle if you had it packed in your carry on bag so you could have paid it when embarking the ship.

 

 

 

I thought NcL had a strict no beverages of any kind allowed to be brought on board policy?

 

 

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[Two Wheels Only]

I thought NcL had a strict no beverages of any kind allowed to be brought on board policy?

 

Can I bring water or soda on board? - FAQ

 

Effective for sailings July 15, 2016 and beyond, guests are prohibited from bringing any beverages -- including liquor, beer and non-alcoholic drinks such as water, soda and juices -- on board either as carry-on or checked luggage, with the exception of purified or distilled water in factory-sealed containers for use in conjunction with medical devices or for the reconstitution of infant formula; and fully sealed and/or corked wine bottles for personal consumption onboard that is subject to screening and a corkage fee (for guests 21 years of age or older).

[Smacciemac]

Can I bring water or soda on board? - FAQ

 

 

 

Effective for sailings July 15, 2016 and beyond, guests are prohibited from bringing any beverages -- including liquor, beer and non-alcoholic drinks such as water, soda and juices -- on board either as carry-on or checked luggage, with the exception of purified or distilled water in factory-sealed containers for use in conjunction with medical devices or for the reconstitution of infant formula; and fully sealed and/or corked wine bottles for personal consumption onboard that is subject to screening and a corkage fee (for guests 21 years of age or older).

 

 

 

Thanks.. I read all that and stopped after "Liquor" .. I didn't read far enough to see the wine part heh .. Sorry .. first time cruiser here going out on The Escape on Oct 7th. :)

 

 

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[Cruisingfor40]

Nice review. Included a lot of information, but didn't take very long to read. I will be on the Escape for first time in October. I greatly enjoyed the Getaway in January.