Escaping to Bermuda - June 2018 Trip Report!

[amydandrea]

following along....we are doing the NYC to Bermuda in Sept..!

[Beachiekeen]

Following! We have also done the Dawn to Bermuda but would also like to go again out of NY so looking forward to reading.

[Karlsgirl]

Following - we will be on the Escape in August! Can't wait to board the ship.

[dexddd]

Looking forward to this to compare it with our trip the week before. Crew was saying your cruise was going to have twice the amount of kids ours did.

 

Yes, we heard that too. From 800 to 1600.

[tatibus0913]

Many thanks to everyone following along so far! I have all of day two ready to go so I'm going to post that today. Unfortunately, I'm having some issues with the photos on my phone - when I put my phone in airplane mode and shut off the automatic time zone detection during the cruise, it put all of my photos 4 hours ahead! So now, when I upload them with the photos from my camera, everything is seriously out of order. I should be able to spend some time tomorrow editing them. Thanks for your patience!! :)

[tatibus0913]

following...so interesting. Thanks for sharing. :)

 

Great start, can't wait to read more! Love all the pictures:cool:

 

Thanks so much for following along!

[tatibus0913]

Looking forward to reading about your trip... I'll be in NYC for 3 nights before boarding the Escape in a few weeks time.

 

That's great - there's so much to do in NYC!

[tatibus0913]

Thanks for the report.

 

Enjoying reading your review so far and looking forward to the rest. Thank you for taking the time.

 

You're welcome! Thanks for reading along!

[tatibus0913]

following along....we are doing the NYC to Bermuda in Sept..!

 

Following - we will be on the Escape in August! Can't wait to board the ship.

 

Ahh I'm so jealous! Take me with you ;p You'll both have an amazing time!

[tatibus0913]

Following! We have also done the Dawn to Bermuda but would also like to go again out of NY so looking forward to reading.

 

We really enjoyed cruising out of NYC and on the bigger ship. I also really liked that we arrived in Bermuda on Wednesday, instead of Sunday like the Dawn does.

[tatibus0913]

Yes, we heard that too. From 800 to 1600.

 

I'm not surprised, and I'm sure there will be more kids on board this summer. I think the Escape is a great ship for families, and the 3 days in Bermuda probably makes it a bit easier to plan activities. We didn't have any issues with the kids on board, they all seemed pretty well behaved.

[tatibus0913]

Sunday, June 17th: Boarding the Escape

 

Sunday morning we were up early. I knew I wanted to be at the port between 9:30am and 10:00am, but I also wanted a bagel. I had found a place called Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish that was about a 15 minute walk from the hotel, and since it was a nice morning, we headed over.

 

 

 

It was a small place but since it was 8:00am on a Sunday morning, there weren’t a lot of people there yet. We each ordered breakfast sandwiches, and they were huge! We definitely could’ve shared one. However, they were delicious.

 

 

 

We headed back to the hotel and got everything packed back up. We checked out, and were in a taxi at 9:30am.

 

Our first view of the Escape!

 

 

We arrived at the terminal by about 9:45am, and a porter took our luggage right away. We breezed through security and walked all the way to the back of the terminal, where they were checking in our deck. Check-in took all of five minutes, and were sitting with our boarding card at 10:00am.

 

[tatibus0913]

Since we had arrived so early, I had assumed we’d be sitting in the terminal until about 12:00pm or so. Much to my surprise, they made an announcement that they were ready for us to board the ship at 11:00am! We boarded the ship and walked in to see this beautiful chandelier.

 

 

We decided that weren’t hungry from breakfast, so we went to snag some lounge chairs by the pool.

 

 

We also decided to start using our UBP right away and kicked off the cruise with a mudslide and bushwhacker.

 

 

We finished our drinks and changed in our bathing suits since it was really hot. We went to the pool, which was freezing! But it felt good to put our feet in and cool down. After a while, we saw that they were serving hot dogs at a cart outside, so we grabbed one of those for lunch.

 

 

At 1:30pm, they made the announcement that all of the rooms were ready, so we decided to head inside. I took a few photos of the skyscrapers before we went to our room.

 

[tatibus0913]

Our room was on deck 15, which was one deck below the pool deck. Originally, we booked a balcony room and then received the upgrade email. We put in a bid for a mini-suite, and a few days before the cruise, we were notified that we were upgraded a spa mini-suite!

 

 

 

 

It was a great a room for us. It felt really spacious and we were both able to get ready at the same time. There was tons of storage all around the room. The balcony was small but we used it every day to sit outside. We also had access to the thermal spa, but I’ll touch more on that later. Oh and I can’t forget the door magnet I ordered from Etsy!

 

[Eenjinusa]

Fun to read about your trip so far, Jessica. Can’t wait for your report on Bermuda. We will depart on our cruise on Sunday and we will be Bermuda later in July. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, tips and pictures so far.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[tatibus0913]

We hung out in our room for a bit and then headed out to figure out where were needed to be for the muster drill. Just before the bars closed, we stopped at the mojito bar for drinks to go. The raspberry guava and pineapple coconut mojitos quickly became our favorite drinks on the ship.

 

 

After the muster drill, we headed back to our room for sailaway on our balcony. We had great views of New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano-Narrows bridge.

 

 

 

 

Our luggage also arrived a little before 5:00pm so we were able to get a lot of our unpacking done before our dinner reservation.

[tatibus0913]

Prior to the cruise, I had made all of our dinner reservations online. This first evening was the only time that we’d be having dinner in the main dining room, so I picked the Manhattan Room with its live music. The music was great and added to the ambiance of the dining room.

 

Our appetizers were smoked mozzarella raviolis and shrimp cakes.

 

 

Entrees were steak medallions and chicken piccata.

 

 

 

Desserts were lava cake (my absolute favorite) and strawberry shortcake.

 

Overall, the food was good, with the exception of my steak medallions being overcooked. Service was great and it was a well paced meal. At the end of the meal, the server brought over vacation hero cards and asked us for our feedback. It was a little strange but it happened at a few different restaurants so maybe it’s something that they’re starting to do more. Regardless, the service was great so that was what we wrote!

[tatibus0913]

After dinner, we went to check out the district brew house.

 

We ordered a couple of beers - I know one of them is the District IPA and I think the other was the Brooklyn Lager.

 

 

 

We also had the pleasure of seeing Beau perform. He’s an amazing performer, playing the piano and signing. We saw him a couple of times throughout the week.

 

 

We decided to head back to our room early, and met our room steward Billy. He was so friendly and definitely the best room steward we’ve ever had. We were treated to this this beautiful sunset from our balcony.

 

 

After the sunset, we called it a night. We had two very busy days and there was a lot more coming up!

[tatibus0913]

Fun to read about your trip so far, Jessica. Can’t wait for your report on Bermuda. We will depart on our cruise on Sunday and we will be Bermuda later in July. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, tips and pictures so far.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Thanks so much for reading! Bermuda is a beautiful island and I'm excited to share the photos from there!

[Eenjinusa]

[emoji106]

[Kitten112]

Our room was on deck 15, which was one deck below the pool deck. Originally, we booked a balcony room and then received the upgrade email. We put in a bid for a mini-suite, and a few days before the cruise, we were notified that we were upgraded a spa mini-suite!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great a room for us. It felt really spacious and we were both able to get ready at the same time. There was tons of storage all around the room. The balcony was small but we used it every day to sit outside. We also had access to the thermal spa, but I’ll touch more on that later. Oh and I can’t forget the door magnet I ordered from Etsy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome review! Thank you! Where did you order the door magnet from on Etsy?? I am going on the Escape in October and would love one!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[MandyMommyof2]

Looks like we are off to a great start ;) I cannot wait to read all about your trip. Bermuda is on my list. We originally were booked for next month to finally go there, but changed up our itinerary due to other family members wanting to cruise. Maybe next year. The pictures are great! Loved seeing the pictures of NYC also. Thanks for taking the time to write such a great review!!

[NJcruisemom]

Love it...and following. 23 of us will be on Escape in Aug.

 

Did you see us waving to you from NJ...lol

[johnrich]

Loving your review so far. The pics are awesome! We will be on the Escape to Bermuda in September. We have a spa balcony on Deck 15. Can’t wait to read the rest. Thank you for taking the time to do this. We appreciate the time and energy you are putting into it!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mccallister]

I’m loving this! Thanks so much for taking the time to share. You and your wife are beautiful! I am sailing on the Escape September 30. It will be my first cruise! 🌈