Just off the Escape

[Cruzmermaid12]

Review of the Escape

Seeing as this is my 3rd year in a row on thesame ship, same week… You might have guessed I love this ship. There were a lotof great things on this cruise, but there were some very disappointing things Ifound this year…..

The Good Stuff

Embarkation and debarkation were the best I have ever had.Embarkation took me no more than 30 minutes from my car to sitting in thewaiting area to board!!!!! We were group 4… not bad J Debarkation I think took lessthan 30 minutes from my room to the car! We did self-debarkation and did notleave the room until about 9:15am.

Every bartender on the ship was great!!! I cannot say enoughgood stuff about them. Everyone remembers us, our drinks and engages inconversation. They handled the “rude ones” well also. By far the best bar wasoutside VIBE.

The art auction was great. All of the people working therewere helpful and nice.

The weather was fabulous and I was on a cruise…. So that initself makes it a fantastic week! No cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, nodriving and NO PHONE! LOVE IT!!!

The Bad Stuff

First thing I did was sign up for the week spa pass for myhusband and I… a week of relaxation in a quiet place sounded fantastic…..Unfortunately, the spa is LOUD… It says quiet place, but it is not. The poolitself is loud and echoes throughout the entire room. Then people talking whilein the pool or spa… again echoes! Everyone was talking while walking by chairsand not in a whispering voice… outside voices instead of inside. I cannot sayit was overly crowded when I went, but you could never get a thermal chairoverlooking the water because they were all “reserved” which is not allowed….But that doesn’t stop people from being disrespectful of the rules and otherpeople. I have to say after paying over $500 for some peace and quiet…. I wasVERY disappointed.

I never seen my room steward… This is so unusual. I havebeen on several cruises and they are always around. That being said… my roomwas kept in impeccable shape the entire cruise.

The servers in the restaurants were terrible even thespecialty. The regular restaurants: Taste, Savor and Manhattan, every time wewaited a good 15 minutes before anyone came over to us to fill up our water andtake our drink orders. I asked one to leave the water on the table because ittook too long to refill our glasses. The food was also not very good and againtook a long time. We ate in the 3 specialty restaurants that we normally love,Moderno, Cagney, La Cucina.

La Cucina was good but not as wonderful as the last 4 timesI have eaten there. I feel like I could have gotten the same meal at OliveGarden at home. Cagney’s was not good at all. This is the 2nd out of 3 times Ihave found been very disappointed. The food was terrible and the service againwas slow. On the upside, the brownie sundae was unbelievable! The shining star is Moderno!!! It is alwayswonderful and did not disappoint this time. My next trip I may just book the 3nights in Moderno… of course I don’t think my stomach could handle that either J

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review/report.

 

Keith

[bbryan5]

I'll be on the Escape soon for the first time! Couple questions if you don't mind?

 

Did you spend any time in district brew house? How is it? Seems like a cool place

 

How's the casino on the Escape? Same as the "away" ships?

 

We usually enjoy Cagneys, what did you get there that you didn't enjoy (so I avoid it lol)

 

Thanks for any feedback!

[chapo31]

I'll be on the Escape soon for the first time! Couple questions if you don't mind?

 

Did you spend any time in district brew house? How is it? Seems like a cool place

 

How's the casino on the Escape? Same as the "away" ships?

 

We usually enjoy Cagneys, what did you get there that you didn't enjoy (so I avoid it lol)

 

Thanks for any feedback!

 

I was just on the same cruise.

 

The District Brewhouse is heaven. Never crowded, adults only and Beau Tahana is a joy to watch as is Orly. We were there every night.

 

I don't go into the casino on cruise ships.

 

I have not been to Cagneys on the Escape but I did on the Sky and thought it was great. We had a great server and the food was cooked perfectly.

[bbryan5]

I was just on the same cruise.

 

The District Brewhouse is heaven. Never crowded, adults only and Beau Tahana is a joy to watch as is Orly. We were there every night.

 

I don't go into the casino on cruise ships.

 

I have not been to Cagneys on the Escape but I did on the Sky and thought it was great. We had a great server and the food was cooked perfectly.

 

Thanks for your info!

[Cruzmermaid12]

I'll be on the Escape soon for the first time! Couple questions if you don't mind?

 

Did you spend any time in district brew house? How is it? Seems like a cool place

 

How's the casino on the Escape? Same as the "away" ships?

 

We usually enjoy Cagneys, what did you get there that you didn't enjoy (so I avoid it lol)

 

Thanks for any feedback!

 

 

The Brew House is the best place on the entire ship! Great atmosphere, not very crowded and live music.

 

The casino was good... we even won a little :) Only issue is the smoke.

 

I got the Filet and it was dry... but get the brownie sundae.. it is heaven!

[havanadaydreaming]

I didn't care for Brew House. singer there kept saying "holler, then swaller" between songs. but it was quiet and quaint.

 

I liked the outdoor bar at the top rear of boat, where movies played.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

[bbryan5]

The Brew House is the best place on the entire ship! Great atmosphere, not very crowded and live music.

 

The casino was good... we even won a little :) Only issue is the smoke.

 

I got the Filet and it was dry... but get the brownie sundae.. it is heaven!

 

Thank you very much for the info!

[chapo31]

I didn't care for Brew House. singer there kept saying "holler, then swaller" between songs. but it was quiet and quaint.

 

I liked the outdoor bar at the top rear of boat, where movies played.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

 

What singer are you referring to? Never once heard that.

[BirdTravels]

Good Information.

[Gershep]

Thanks for review.

[Barefoot Gypsy]

Review of the Escape

Seeing as this is my 3rd year in a row on thesame ship, same week… You might have guessed I love this ship. There were a lotof great things on this cruise, but there were some very disappointing things Ifound this year…..

The Good Stuff

Embarkation and debarkation were the best I have ever had.Embarkation took me no more than 30 minutes from my car to sitting in thewaiting area to board!!!!! We were group 4… not bad J Debarkation I think took lessthan 30 minutes from my room to the car! We did self-debarkation and did notleave the room until about 9:15am.

Every bartender on the ship was great!!! I cannot say enoughgood stuff about them. Everyone remembers us, our drinks and engages inconversation. They handled the “rude ones” well also. By far the best bar wasoutside VIBE.

The art auction was great. All of the people working therewere helpful and nice.

The weather was fabulous and I was on a cruise…. So that initself makes it a fantastic week! No cooking, no cleaning, no laundry, nodriving and NO PHONE! LOVE IT!!!

The Bad Stuff

First thing I did was sign up for the week spa pass for myhusband and I… a week of relaxation in a quiet place sounded fantastic…..Unfortunately, the spa is LOUD… It says quiet place, but it is not. The poolitself is loud and echoes throughout the entire room. Then people talking whilein the pool or spa… again echoes! Everyone was talking while walking by chairsand not in a whispering voice… outside voices instead of inside. I cannot sayit was overly crowded when I went, but you could never get a thermal chairoverlooking the water because they were all “reserved” which is not allowed….But that doesn’t stop people from being disrespectful of the rules and otherpeople. I have to say after paying over $500 for some peace and quiet…. I wasVERY disappointed.

I never seen my room steward… This is so unusual. I havebeen on several cruises and they are always around. That being said… my roomwas kept in impeccable shape the entire cruise.

The servers in the restaurants were terrible even thespecialty. The regular restaurants: Taste, Savor and Manhattan, every time wewaited a good 15 minutes before anyone came over to us to fill up our water andtake our drink orders. I asked one to leave the water on the table because ittook too long to refill our glasses. The food was also not very good and againtook a long time. We ate in the 3 specialty restaurants that we normally love,Moderno, Cagney, La Cucina.

La Cucina was good but not as wonderful as the last 4 timesI have eaten there. I feel like I could have gotten the same meal at OliveGarden at home. Cagney’s was not good at all. This is the 2nd out of 3 times Ihave found been very disappointed. The food was terrible and the service againwas slow. On the upside, the brownie sundae was unbelievable! The shining star is Moderno!!! It is alwayswonderful and did not disappoint this time. My next trip I may just book the 3nights in Moderno… of course I don’t think my stomach could handle that either J

 

We were on the Escape March 3. I, too, never saw my room steward. I was in the Spa on a day pass..ship was in Nassau, so there weren't many people in the Spa and a very low noise level. We found the food In Taste to be so-so. A few people in our group went to the speciality restaurants and raved about the food there. One pool for 4,200 people was a big mistake on NCLs part. We found the..officers, bartenders and waiters to be A+. We were a group of 26 and found reserving shows to be better for small groups or couples. It was difficult getting the word out to everyone which show we were going to and when..the shows were good but nothing you wouldnt find on other cruise ships. We found that having to reserve shows actually fragmented our group. The ship is beautiful, thats for sure but we felt NCL sacrificed 2nd pool for all the toys on top of the ship.

[robmac330]

I never seen my room steward… This is so unusual. I havebeen on several cruises and they are always around. That being said… my roomwas kept in impeccable shape the entire cruise.

 

I never even met my steward, it seemed to be a theme among some of the solo cruisers at my end of the hallway. Our steward was Chang, and we would all be out of our rooms at different times but seemed to agree that Chang stood for Cleaning Happens After Noon, Guaranteed! He would do a great job, it just always seemed to be done later in the day.

[dlynn0366]

I was also on the Escape last week for 2nd year in a row ....ate at Cagney’s twice & loved it ...Moderno’s once ... we got our sides at end of meal ....the highlight was the piece of meat which was suppose to be a medium done cut but the poor cow was still mooing when it landed on my plate