14 Days on the Escape...A Review of a Great Time

[Arzeena]

21 hours ago, boopsahoy said:

I showed my husband your excel chart--He thought I was crazy for making one!

 

We are going on the 14 day that leaves January 6th. Can't wait so I will be following along. Thanks for posting.

We are also on that one!

Come join the roll call. And we would love to have your company at to the Meet and Greet too.

[boopsahoy]

Just now, Arzeena said:

We are also on that one!

Come join the roll call. And we would love to have your company at to the Meet and Greet too.

Thank you!

[Arzeena]

OP,

I am lloving your review.

And WHERE have we met before?

[jasmyne]

Thank you so much for posting your experience.  I am loving your trip report.  It looks like you had a great time. We are doing this itinerary in Feb.  Since it is has never been done before,  you are answering a lot of my questions . 

[AKR2011]

On 12/15/2018 at 8:49 PM, cathi007 said:

Thanks so much for this. Did you do or hear about canvas and you? It's a painting thing. I really really want to do that, I hope I can get in. Also where and when did you book the comedy club?? Another thing I want to do 🙂

You sign up for Canvas By U at the box office. I kept thinking of going but never did. You book the comedians at the box office too. I did everything as soon as we boarded, but I also went to the box office to make a switch at some point during opening hours. They post when they're open in the dailies.

 

I'LL BE BACK LATER TODAY TO POST AGAIN....HAPPY MONDAY!!

[AKR2011]

Saturday, December 1st

We were SO excited for Grand Cayman. I had been doing a lot of port research and knew that St. Elizabeth Botanic Park would be perfect for a nice walking and some birding for Alex. I also ready about Cayman Crystal Caves, which just opened a few years ago and are the first ever caves open to the public. At first I thought that we could just rent a car, but Cayman Auto Rentals is closed on the weekend, and the other rental companies were much more expensive. Then I looked into tours, but there wasn't anything that covered both places. Public transportation is always an option, but it takes a long time for a bus to get you on that part of the island. Most Grand Cayman tours seemed to focus on the western side of  the island - Hell, Stingray City, Sea Turtle Farm, Seven Mile Beach. I decided to just contact tour companies directly, and I went with Cayman Safari Adventures. They gave me a tour that included seeing Shoe Tree, Pedro St. James Castle, The Blowholes, and lunch - as well as the Botanic Gardens and Caves. It was a bit expensive,  but for a seven-hour tour with everything included, I felt it was worth it. We also got to ride in an awesome safari truck.

 

Shoe Tree is kind like interpretive art. Someone started finding left behind sandals on the beach and started to nail them to a tree. Then other followed suit. It displays all of the litter that is left behind. However, I didn't get a good photo of it. Next up was Pedro St. James Castle, and that's a place where I think that everyone should visit.

When we arrived at the castle, we were taken into the theater for a movie, but this was not your average movie. We sat under a palm roof, and listened to the rain fall around us. Then throughout the movie, there were points where the lights would shine on the props around us, telling the history of the Cayman Islands. It was a really cool show.

We walked outside to explore the grounds next. It rained for just a moment, but it didn't last. Our guide had already put the flaps down on the truck and brought us umbrellas. He was so great! Then we explored the Castle itself and saw some of the things that were highlighted in the movie. We were the only ones visiting Pedro St. James, and that was surprising. Such a cool spot!

There are a series of Blowholes at Grand Cayman, and we were excited to see them! Basically they are a hole in the rock and when the waves crash, they blow water up like a whale. There were also some cool fossils in the rock on the beach. We stayed for about 20 minutes, which was perfect! When I first spoke with the company, they were trying to sell me on beach time, but that's not really our thing. We really like to take advantage of as much of our ports as possible. Maybe we'll slow down when we get older or something, but right now, we just want to see it all.

St. Elizabeth Botanic Park was next, and man, is it BIG! So much to see on all of the trails. Alex is already really familiar with the birds, and we were both fresh our trees thanks to Jamaica. It was nice to walk around and know what a lot of what we saw was. My new favorite tree is the red beach. It's also know as the tourist's tree, because the red peeling bark resembles a sunburned tourist's peeling skin. I thought that was cute. We ran into maybe eight other people in the entire park, so again, I had to wonder where all the people were. It was nice for us, though.

Lunch was next, and I'm sorry that I missed taking photos. It was super yummy. We were able to have fresh fish with rice, beans, and this delicious homemade bread. I also ordered some conch fritters, because I absolutely love them. That was the one thing that I had to pay out of pocket for, but I didn't mind. It was $8 with tip.

At Cayman Crystal Caves, we were the only ones all afternoon, and it was a series of three different caves. They weren't cold or underground like others that we have visited, but they had plenty of stalactites and stalagmites. Many different animals and faces seemed to be in the walls of the cave, so that was fun to see. It was a fair amount of walking too, but nothing that strenuous. After the caves we were taken back to port, and we hopped on a tender. We only had about half an hour left in port, and it had been a full day. We were ready to shower and get ready for the night.

We were originally scheduled for Le Bistro this evening, but I moved that to a different night in favor of attending one of the free shows at Supper Club. Then Alex wasn't really feeling like going there, so we headed to the Manhattan Room instead...but only after we had a few drinks, games, and music at District Brewhouse. This was one of the only two dinners in the main room that we had, but it did not disappoint. After dinner we went for our Mojitos, then we headed down to Headliners for Howl at the Moon. We stayed until they closed, and I drank my fare share of Jameson. At the end of the show, a trip to O'Sheehan's was in store. I decided that a 1am hotdog was a grand idea. Hey, it was Day #7 of vacation - 1 week down and 1 week to go. Why not? We had a new friend back at the room, and we got rest. Tomorrow was a happy day at sea!

 

[AKR2011]

Sunday, December 2^nd

Sea Day!! I managed to sleep in until about 7:00, and Alex got up with me for breakfast as Savor. Besides Sudoku, Trivia, and Progressive Trivia, we really wanted to enjoy the ship.

The Mini Golf Course on The Escape is only nine holes, but it’s a super fun course. We played it a couple times to make it a full game of 18. Then we popped into Margaritaville for drinks. These are covered under the UBP, and some of the drinks you can’t find in other places. We played some Settlers of Catan on my tablet and contemplated ordering Nachos ($8.99 – you do NOT need to buy the whole meal package), but we decided to brave the Garden Café instead. It was confusing, and all I wanted were my two favorites – pesto pasta and pretzel rolls. I eventually found the pasta action station, but there were no pretzel rolls! Man, this is why I prefer the main dining room for lunch. Oh well. We went back to the sports court and played some bocce, then eventually went down to Deck 7 for shuffleboard. It was super hot, so we waited until later in the afternoon (like 5:00ish) to change and do the ropes course.

Alex and I work in the outdoor field and both spent MANY years belaying people on high elements. He is more adventurous than I am, though. Yes, we had the skydiving wedding at all, but we were tandem. I also enjoy being on belay myself. It just feels more comfortable to me. On The Escape, they clip you to start, and then you’re on your own without much direction. You start by going up stairs, and then you have a series of challenges to get through, as well as two ziplines. What’s really cool is that you have choices at many of the stops, so you can choose which obstacle you want to try. You can also go back and try something else. There’s not really a time limit, and when we went, no one else was really going. That took the pressure off of me. I am not a tiny person, but I didn’t really have any problems doing the course myself. My nerves were hard to overcome, but I did it. The plank was NOT open due to the wind at sea, so no photos of that. In fact, no photos of either of us, because we did the course together. Next time I would have someone below taking photos. I kept looking to see if we knew any of the spectators, but alas, no luck. I have no proof that I did the ropes course, but I promise you, I did, and it was awesome!

 

After braving the ropes course, I decided that I needed a drink. NOW! That adrenaline rush was huge. We had been up there for a little over 20 minutes, and the last 5 minutes, I just wanted to get down. As proud of myself as I was, I wanted to be done. I had been brave enough. Margaritaville was closed, but I knew that Spice H2O was close by. As soon as we arrived at the door, however, we saw a sign explaining that it was closed for a private event. A gentleman came out with a pin about getting free money, and I knew exactly what the event was – A Latitudes Party. It was for silver on up, and hey, we’re gold, so I convinced Alex to hang out there and wait for the party. Before we were able to get the “free” UBP, we always went to the Latitudes Party for the free rum punch and snacks. This cruise and the last, I didn’t really pay attention to the parties. It was so nice back there with the sun setting, and Funky Duo was performing. They are VERY talented, and we always enjoyed catching bits of their shows. Unfortunately, the rest of the “party” was pretty boring, just a very small five minute talk about Project Leonardo. I had hoped for much more. They passed a little cheese, but no canapés or anything fancy, and they had a couple drink options. Really, we just stopped in for drinks, but I felt bad for anyone expecting a real “party.”

Dinner tonight was at Supper Club for Choir of Man, and we were not going to miss it! O’Sheehan’s had the Fisherman’s Basket, which I LOVE, so I figured if I didn’t care for the food, I would just go there after. We were able to go up the stage for beer refills and a photo, and we were having a great time – and that was before the show even started! We do like New Castle, and it was awesome that they have a working bar on the stage, and the actors refill you mugs for you. The food was not my favorite – beef wellington – but that was okay. I had my back-up plan. The show was exceptional! Alex loved it so much that he bought the cast recording afterwards. We laughed, we sang along, we enjoyed watching other audience members be brought to the stage…It was a great time. If you see no other show, watch Choir of Man.

 

After the show, I checked out O’Sheehan’s, but they had stopped serving the Fisherman’s Basket. I hoped that it would appear again later in the cruise, but it never did. I had some wings instead, then met up with Alex for Mojitos, followed by beers and games at District Brewhouse. We had a great day at sea, and tomorrow was Harvest Caye – a brand new port for us!

Edited December 17, 2018 by AKR2011

[AKR2011]

Monday, December 3rd

As I was researching Harvest Caye, I learned that many people refer to it as "Fake Belize." I talked to Alex about it, and we both agreed that we needed to get to the mainland. I DID find local tour options that NCL doesn't want us to know about, but we would still have to pay for the ferry, and it was half an hour each way. I don't like to chance my transportation like that, and this was a new place, so I printed up the NCL tour offerings and showed them to Alex. I was already convinced that it wouldn't be a good port. We go with local so we're not on a tour with a bunch of people and herded like cattle. We also give more money to the locals and none to the cruise line, which we also prefer. Everyone is open to their opinions, but that is mine. Alex looked at the options and chose the Mayan Ruins and Spice Farm. 

 

I should mention that we were cleared to get off the ship a little early at every port (except Port Canaveral of course), and there was never any line to get off the ship either. That was a breath of fresh air. No lines down the hallway or crowded elevators, ahhh...

Despite my worries, the tour itself went really smoothly. We were split into smaller groups once we got to the ruins, and our guides were super knowledgeable. They were local and gave lots of info on the LONG bus ride there and back. The worst part of this excursion was definitely the travel time. Half an hour on the ferry, an hour on a bus, and the same to get back. The Mayan Ruins were cool, and we saw about seven of them. We had never been to ruins before, so this was new to us.

There was a pretty overlook at the ruins, and I'm always a sucker for those 🙂

The Spice Farm tour wasn't by foot, but by tram. We definitely would have preferred a walk, but the farm is HUGE! One of the fun facts I learned here is that All Spice is actually one spice, not a mixture of different spices. It was really pretty there. At the gift shop we picked up some local spices to take home and grabbed some wifi. They also had a local lunch available. We picked out a few things to share, and it was quite delicious. We didn't want a lot, but we were a little hungry at that point.

Overall, I feel like NCL has a ways to grow as far as their shore excursions in Belize go, but we enjoyed our day there. Other cruise lines dock at Belize City, and that's four hours away. This is the first tourism that this part of Belize has had, and it's really great for them. The area where we ferried into was really run down. I would predict more tourism to pop up in years to come, so NCL really is helping out this area in that respect. We were happy to have visited the mainland. Back on Harvest Caye, it was like Disneyland. Everything was pretty, no trash, fresh coats of paint. The island was done very well. We bought some chocolate and a Christmas ornament from some vendors before heading back to the ship. It was another great day in port.

 

We showered and had some pre-dinner mojitos, and we also played some Monopoly at District Brew House. Dinner that night was Le Bistro, and we always look forward to that. In hindsight, we should have asked to eat out on the Waterfront. We totally forgot to ask! The food was fabulous as always, though. We also enjoyed some pre-dinner drinks at Tobacco Road. They have a couple things that you can't find anywhere else. I gave the Grass Clippings a try, and I wish I took a photo of that drink. Tiny little pieces of mint that really do look like grass clippings. I just couldn't do that texture. I packed straws and tried using one, but it didn't help. Luckily, the servers were super nice and brought me something else. From this point on, I spent more time at Tobacco Road. It was a pretty great bar.

 

We wanted to go to Howl at the Moon again, but we just couldn't last. It had been a long day, and we had another port day ahead. We needed some rest!

[AKR2011]

Tuesday, December 4th

Alex and I had never been to Costa Maya, and we were excited! Mayan Ruin, here we come! I booked through Native Choice after reading so many positive reviews here on Cruise Critic. No regrets on that one, although but was difficult to find. The map did not make much sense until later when I realized that it started after we left the port area. Getting out of the port was really confusing to us. Once we arrived, it was all good,  but it did take about 20 minutes to walk there, so definitely something so think about with this. Native Choice isn't allowed inside the port since they're not affiliated with the ships. For our tour we had a Mayan Native as our guide, and there were 12 of us on this particular tour. Most were from a Celebrity ship that was in port with us.

These Mayan ruins put Belize to shame! They were HUGE, and we had plenty of time at each one. They also provided plenty of cold water, which was great, because it was HOT. I can't believe I'm here in the Catskills of NY with the wind hollowing, and two weeks ago I was sweating in 90-degrees. I miss that so much 😞

Native Choice works with four local families that open their homes to serve lunch for tour groups. It's a really special experience. One of the people on our tour was doing it for a second time, and I don't blame her. We started by getting a tour of the gardens, and then we learned how to make our own tortillas. Once cooked, we dipped the chips into a salsa made of ground pumpkin seeds and tomato. It may sound like an odd combination, but it was delicious!

They gave us a huge spread of local foods to try, and everything was great and fresh. These ladies worked so hard for us, and we really enjoyed our time here. It was nice to get to know some other passengers from other ships too.

We were able to get our guides to take a photo with the ladies, and then we headed back towards the port. They were able to drop us off closer, so that was nice. We had a little time to explore, and then we headed back to the ship.

Alex really wanted to play Mini Golf again, and there was a challenge at 5:00. I was hot and not really interested, so I deserted him in favor of a Mango Meltdown with a Coors Light as a chaser. Again, it was 90-degrees. I ordered another Mango Meltdown after that and took it with me to Mini Golf. It was just about 5:00 then, and I found Alex playing mini golf with a kid. There were no cruise staff to be found for the Mini Golf Challenge, but they seemed to be having fun. Afterwards we went back to Sugarcane and District Brewhouse for our usual pre-dinner drinks.

 

That night we had dinner at La Cucina. We hadn't been since the Gem in 2013, and I like a good pasta dish. For my main, I had osso bucco, and it was awesome! Alex had some kind of steak, but he said it was nothing special. We shared dessert and then headed down to Headliners for the next comedy show. Mark Klein was the funniest comedian that we saw, and we totally would have gone again. He was GREAT! We called it early after that, because we still had one more day in port.

[cathi007]

12 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

You sign up for Canvas By U at the box office. I kept thinking of going but never did. You book the comedians at the box office too. I did everything as soon as we boarded, but I also went to the box office to make a switch at some point during opening hours. They post when they're open in the dailies.

 

I'LL BE BACK LATER TODAY TO POST AGAIN....HAPPY MONDAY!!

Thanks so much, now I plan to get to the box office asap on the day we get on the ship 🙂

[AKR2011]

Wednesday, December 5^th

Last summer I started getting frustrated with Cozumel. I just couldn’t find anything interesting to do. I handed the port over to Alex, and he thought that we should juts rent a car or something, but he didn’t have any other ideas. This is why I am the planner of these vacations. I knew that it would be our last port AND be the third port day in a row, so I wanted something that would be fun but not super exhausting. That heat in Costa Maya was tiring, so I’m glad that I thought about this. The last time we ported here, we did the Discover Mexico Park. We went to a Mexican history museum, were given a mudslide, made our own chocolate bars, had homemade chips and mole, interacted with a llama, watched an aerial show, ate a homemade taco lunch with margaritas, and then had a tequila tasting. This place is AWESOME, but we didn’t want to go back unless there wasn’t something new and exciting. Most excursions seemed to be beach or food based, and we really wanted more than that.

Here on Cruise Critic, I read a couple reviews about Trikes, and I thought that this might be the answer to Cozumel. I went ahead and booked it, and Alex is the better driver, so I told him that he would be in charge of the bike. At first, he was a little upset. He didn’t think he could drive one, and he was super nervous. I assured him that it would be a lot of fun. We met at Senor Frogs, and then we were all taxied (paid by Trikes) to the Trikes Headquarters. Once we started the tour, Alex started to get comfortable, and he ended up having a great time. I knew that he would. There was one other family on a bike doing the excursion with us, and then our guide had a bike. That made for a special tour.

We mostly drove along the ocean, and we made a few stops along the way. First was a little store with a bathroom, and next was an old Mayan village. We visited a ruin, them we watched a demonstration of black coral being extracted and shaped into jewelry, and we all bought some black coral to take home. I kept searching for an ornament that said Cozumel, but there was nothing that I was sold on.

We stopped at a beautiful beach for a photo op, then went to this place with volcanic rock. At that point, it was getting cloudy, and we had a feeling that we would be riding through the rain. We pulled over at one point to discuss, and as a group, we decided to just gun it. It POURED as we drove, and Ales and I decided that this was the best part of the tour. We’re silly outdoors people with a camp background, so we just started crooning “Singing in the Rain” at the top of our lungs. It was a special moment, and we were having a blast.

We stopped at an open-air pavilion next for our tequila tasting. They had a lot of different kinds, but none of us bought any. Then we were given a yummy lunch of chicken fajitas with homemade tortillas and chips and salsa. Everything was great! They offered s beverages and didn’t tell us that these were not included, but they were only a couple dollars each. After we finished eating, we headed back towards the port and parked at the Mega Grocery Store garage. This was perfect, because I had planned to go to Mega for Mexican candy to bring to my co-workers. Mega is like the Wal-Mart of Mexico. I bought a bunch of treats and paid $12 US for the whole big bag. Not bad. We kept bumping into crew members there too.

After our shopping excursion, we headed back to port. At every port, we were greeted home with cold washcloths and drinks. That’s something that I always love about NCL. The last port of a cruise is always really special, and this one did not disappoint. They had a really nice port party complete with fun music and line dancing. Alex decided to take a nap when we got back, but I had a burst of energy after showering and changing. I went to Tobacco Road to read and drink for a bit, then I stopped by 5:00 Somewhere outside for more drinks and watching for pier runners. Alex eventually found me there, and then we chatted about dinner. I had booked another free supper club, but he wasn’t interested. Instead, we decided that wings at O’Sheehan’s would be great, but not until later. We headed to District Brew House for drink, games, and music, then eventually made it too dinner. Afterwards we went to Howl at the Moon. It was awesome as usual, and we stayed until midnight or so.

[AKR2011]

Thursday, December 6^th

I was finally able to sleep in today…Until 7:30 that is. Alex got up with me, and we grabbed a quick breakfast at Savor before claiming our usual sea day seats in the atrium for Sudoku and Trivia with Kelly and Royce. We all decided to stay put after. There was a “Battle of the Cake Masters” before Progressive Trivia, so we decided to just hold our seats and enjoy the show. I’ve seen the Cake Masters show on other ships, so I had a feeling what was about to happen, and I was right. Alvin started talking about how the pastry chef taught him how to decorate and how Alvin opened up a bakery at home. Of course, Alvin was HORRIBLE at decorating a cake. It was hilarious. An audience member was also chosen to come up and decorate, and she did well. Afterwards we were all invited to eat cake. It was fun.

 

Eventually we went up to the Garden Café for a snack, and they had pretzel rolls! Hooray!! Then Alex wanted to go to this Herbal Remedies thing, and I tagged along. He is an educational gardener and always looking for new things to teach people. However, it was all a big advertisement for these herbal pills available on board, and the doctor was in a rush to get out of there. It was not good. Afterwards I got in line outside the Theater to watch the Crew Talent show, and I thought I took pictures, but I can’t find them. The crew is super talented. One of the housekeeping staff sings better than Beyonce, two other crew members did ethnic dances, and JoJo from the Cruise Director’s Staff sang an incredible song in the style of Michael Buble. I absolutely LOVE the crew talent shows, so this was a nice treat. I had hoped that they would perform “Fountains” like they do on smaller ships, but no such luck. It was still a great show, though.

The sunset was beautiful as we walked a few laps around the deck later that evening. It had been a relaxing day at sea, and we were excited for dinner at the Manhattan Room. We were seated right near the stage, and we had entertainment!

The cast of After Midnight performed a variety of music from the 60s, and it was a great show that lasted about 20 minutes.  Dinner was yummy and fast, and we really had a great time. Tonight’s show was For the Record: The Brat Pack. I LOVE these cheesy 80s movies, but Alex does not. Still, we both had a good time – me more than him of course. I wished that St. Elmo’s Fire was featured, but show was still pretty great.

Howl at the Moon was playing AGAIN, and we stayed late. I eventually decided that I needed a hotdog to offset my Jameson consumption, so I headed up there. While eating my hotdog, I saw that Book Club was being shown in the atrium. Now that movie is funny and all, but it played just about every other day on the ship. So did Rampage. They showed a couple other movies here and there, but mostly those two movies were repeated over and over again. That was a bummer to me. I would have loved to have seen classic Christmas movies (Home Alone, National Lampoon’s, etc), or just some different movies in general. Oh well. We don’t go on vacation to watch movies. The week was winding down, and we were ready for sleep when I met back with Alex at the room. Tomorrow was another happy day at sea.

[BigNance]

Really enjoying your posts! Y'all know how to have a great time!  

[AKR2011]

16 minutes ago, BigNance said:

Really enjoying your posts! Y'all know how to have a great time!  

Thank you!! I live for vacation. We work around the clock, and it's the only time we can really disconnect and focus on each other. I'm lucky that Alex goes along with all of my plans. This vacation was just about perfect. I'll continue posting again tomorrow.

[AKR2011]

Friday, December 7th

This morning was the usual breakfast-Sudoku-Trivia thing. In-between regular Trivia and Progressive, they had a Cupcake Decorating thing in the Atrium, so we decided to stay put. The pastry chef demoed a bunch of cupcakes, and for each one, an audience member was able to come up and decorate. I have a big love of Muppets, and when I heard that Cookie Monster was an option, I jumped up. It was fun, and a yummy little treat. Afterwards they had a big tray of extra cupcakes for everyone that wanted one.

Today was exciting, because we were going to Wine Lovers the Musical! Alex and I enjoy wine a lot. We don't drink a ton on cruises just because we like all of the specialty cocktails that we don't usually have. Although I've skipped writing about most of the drinks that we tried, there were so many options everywhere. Each bar had a specialty drink or two, and then there were the standard drinks that could be found everywhere. I drank a lot of Daydreamer's Daiquiris, Margaritas, and Moscow Mules, as well as anything with whiskey, and frozen daiquiris and such as well. Alex enjoyed the Moscow Mules, Martinis whenever he could find them (not all bars offered them), and a lot of oddball things that weren't always on the menu. We both loved the selection of beers and cocktails at the Brew House and all the mojitos as previously mentioned. These bars were nightly stops.

So...back to the wine. On the Dawn, we went to Wine School at Cellars. That's what I would call it at least. We went to every class offered - Black Glass Tasting, Riedel Glass Tasting, Chocolate and Wine, Cheese and Wine... We LOVED these classes, and we would highly recommend these. Two years later on The Escape, the classes were the same, so we didn't sign up. I had a feeling that would be the case, so I booked the Wine Lovers show online a couple months prior. I thought it would be fun, and it didn't disappoint.

 

I took pictures of the menus for anyone who has not seen them:

 

The show was super fun. It was all about a wine tasting, and a cheesy bell rang every time you were supposed to taste with them. They were the same actors from The Brat Pack, so they were pretty talented. We had a good time and were happy that we were able to get our wine fix.

I spent a good amount of time outside that afternoon. I really wanted to get some sun before it got too cold, but sadly, it was super windy. I didn't last too long. Eventually I gave up and just read my book and drank a bunch of cocktails. Alex did the same. We were just trying to sock in as much vacation time as possible as we knew that the cruise was winding down soon. Dinner that night was at Bayamo. I originally had that on the last night, but I forgot to mention that while we were at La Cucina, Cruise Director Alvin was making rounds. He asked us how the cruise was going, and we talked about how much we LOVED the ship and its entertainment. However, we also mentioned that we missed the connection that we have with the staff - especially the Activities Staff - on the smaller ships.  (He also mentioned that he is friends with Richard Matic - our favorite Cruise Director ever - and he said that Richard is headed to the Jade soon. So for any other Richard fans out there, catch him on that ship!) Alvin felt bad about the staff, and also about the activities not being as fun, and he insisted on us seeing Sharon Wilkins' Cabaret show on the last night. It typically costs $35.94, so that was a super nice gesture. We accepted and thanked him. Alvin really is VERY sweet, and we enjoyed him. We'd be happy to sail with him again too...but we still miss the smaller ships as well.

 

So anyway, dinner was at Bayamo, and everything was AMAZING. I had Lobster,. Alex had salmon, and even the sides were super good. Yes, it was an up-charge, but we did not mind. The only thing was that dinner was late. When Alvin moved it to this night instead, the only time available was 7:45. It was almost 9:00 when we finished dinner, and we were scheduled for the comedy show. Unfortunately, it was standing room only when we made it down to Headliners. No Comedy Show for us 😞 We ended up just walking around the ship a bit (we had to walk after all that food!), and then we turned in a little early. We knew that we wanted to be out late tomorrow and soak in our last day.

 

[AKR2011]

Saturday, December 8^th

Last sea day 😞 We were up around 7:00 and went to Savor. Then the usual Atrium morning. Today in-between Trivia and Progressive Trivia, there was a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration. That was fun to watch. Even better with the drinks flowing. It was the last day of unlimited drinks, and we weren’t about to waste that! We really enjoyed our last few hours with Kelly and Royce. When Team RINY came in for Progressive Trivia, it was a like a big party at the Atrium. The best part of cruising is meeting new people and sharing your vacation – at least for us. We are so thankful for these awesome new friends sharing our fun with us for two weeks. Our Progressive Trivia team never even made the top three, but that’s alright. The winners were the same team that won 95% of all the games, and we expected that. They walked away with the glasses that we won on The Dawn with the signatures cards, as well as a bunch of other NCL Swag.

With all those drinks, we needed some food again, and I wanted one last lunch at Savor. So off we went so that I could get my fish and chips and peanut butter cheesecake. Eventually we made it back to the Atrium, where Kelly was still holding seats for us. We played Hangman Trivia, which repeated a lot of questions from throughout the cruise.  We won these card holders that stick to the back of your phone. It was nice to see something different after 13 days of yellow drink cozies. Then they had Guess the Logo Trivia, so we stayed – enjoying a lot of yummy drinks. Alex was getting a little restless, but it was getting cold outside. I was loving all of the twists on Trivia. Soon we moved up to the Skyline Bar for Afternoon Trivia. It’s hard to hear the questions in such a spread out area, but it was still a good time. We finished our drinks and said goodbye to Kelly and Royce. Then we grabbed some games. Alex and I decided to play another round of Empires at Sea, and we set up in the Brewhouse. We were there a long time. Eventually we made our way up to the room to get ready for dinner.

Ladies in Music with Sharon Wilkins was a fancier show with some weird food. I was also pretty full from lunch, so that was fine. I picked at most of it, but Alex enjoyed it all. As they took away my mostly-full plates, I felt bad. I did try everything and I wanted to like it. It was just very strange stuff. I guess they felt bad, because all of a sudden, a fruit plate showed up. I did not ask for it, and no one else received one. I thought that was a nice gesture. I ate that, and then when dessert came, I ate about half of it. The dessert was actually good.

 

Sharon Wilkins’ show was really good. She is a professional that has acted in many different movies, and also performed in various Broadway shows. She is incredible to watch, and really pulls the audience in. However, I don’t think many people were will to pay almost $35/person to see this show. The Supper Club was only about 1/3 full, and most of the audience was made up of crew members. No wonder Alvin was able to give us tickets. I get it. I wouldn’t spend that much either – not on a ship with so much good food and entertainment everywhere else. I felt bad for Sharon Wilkins, but we really did have a good time.

 

Alex went back to pack after dinner, but I wanted to see the last show. Ben Nemzer was performing again, and he was GREAT! They actually hooked up a camera so we could see him close up magic on the big screen. He also did this milk carton trick that I remember seeing once on America’s Got Talent. Even better were his interactions with the audience. After not really liking his first show, I was really happy that I came to this one.

My big reason for attending the show of course was the farewell performance. I am extremely cheesy, and I insist on attending this on every cruise. In my opinion, it’s the best way to end an amazing vacation. I love listening to the Norwegian song (I’m known to sing along too), and I love when all of the crew flood the aisles and come up on stage. I love cheering for them and appreciating all of their hard work.

Alvin was just outside the theater, and I was able to thank him for the Cabaret show. He really is a gem. Then I headed up to the room to pack myself. With the room being so small, I knew that I needed to give Alex some time. However, he wasn’t finished when I arrived, so it was pretty chaotic. Eventually we finished up. Our room steward stopped by at one point, but we told her not to worry about anything. She was busy enough! We put our suitcases outside and then headed down for Howl at the Moon.

 

I left $14 in ones – one for each day – plus a $10 bill on the nightstand for our steward. She was awesome, and I really wanted to show our appreciation. I grabbed the rest of the ones with me to the show so Alex and I could make some requests. He had a few ones on him too, which was good. We planned on staying for the long haul – and we did. The rest of the entertainment crew must have off. Howl at the Moon was joined by various Choir of Man performers, Chelsea was hanging out, and the MC from the comedy shows during the second half of the cruise came up to sing a couple songs. It was a party, and it was nice to see all of the crew hanging out. They definitely seem like they’re good friends. We really enjoyed this random party of performers, and we stayed until they literally booted us out. The drinks kept flowing, but eventually they played Closing Time. There was no better way to end the show. These guys made our vacation so special, and we’re now trying to see if we can find a venue for Howl at the Moon somewhere on main land.

 

I needed one more O’Sheehan’s hotdog, so I went upstairs while Alex moved towards the room. It was hopping up there! But I had good food as always…and a couple more drinks. Really, why not? It was late when we got to bed, but we didn’t really care. We were planning to stay on the ship until they booted us off!

[AKR2011]

Sunday, November 9^th

Disembarkation Day is the worst. 😞 We knew that our bus wouldn’t come until 10:30/11:00, so we were in no rush. However, the announcements came early and woke us up. We were curious what the weather was like, but we couldn’t find the remote anywhere. We searched high and low to no avail. We were afraid that it got packed in our luggage, but we never did find it. Hopefully the steward did. You can manually turn on the TV without the remote, but you can’t change the channels, so we didn’t know what to expect. BUT, we saved our coats, hats, and gloves, so we were ready. It was definitely cold and windy out there! Eventually we got the courage to move, and we headed up to the buffet. I had my one and only waffle and French toast, but without real maple syrup (I’m spoiled, I know), it just was not the best. Then we headed to the Atrium. Alex wanted a good cup of coffee, and we had a few games in our carry-ons to pass the time. The Atrium Bar was still open, and I was able to get some soda to wake me up from my lack of sleep. They were still serving alcohol too, so I guess you can keep drinking on your last morning.

 

They made a couple last-call announcements to get off the ship around 9:45, so we decided that we should do that. However, the line outside was LONG. We really had no desire to stand there waiting to get into the luggage terminal. We waited just a few minutes longer, and then we just went for it. Man, it was cold!! If NCL could do one thing, they should really revamp the Manhattan Cruise Port. It is way too cold to be forced to wait in a long line on the last day. As we were walking out, we bumped into the passenger who had a service dog with him. He had four HEAVY bags, and he couldn’t manage them with his dog and asked for help. Of course we gave him a hand, since our bags were down below. We felt bad, because we skipped the entire huge line and went to the handicapped line with him. I kept thinking that we shouldn’t be able to skip, but there was no way this guy could carry all of this stuff. We made it to the terminal quickly, and unfortunately, we had to leave the guy there. He saw a porter close by, so that was lucky. Alex and I had our own bags at that point, and there was no way that we could carry any more than that.

 

Outside we waited for our bus in the cold. Eventually we saw it come to drop off the next passengers, but the bus couldn’t pick us up in the same spot. The driver had to go around the block and come back, and that took time. We were outside for about an hour and didn’t leave until almost 11:30. This was probably the worst part of the entire vacation. I wish that there was a heated waiting area for passengers. There were so many people out in the cold, just like us. We were so happy to board the bus and get warm, but sad to leave the beautiful Escape.

 

We drove an hour home after the buss dropped us off, and we were in our house by 3:15. We quickly got dressed and headed to a Christmas party for work. Wine and beer a plenty, but I was already missing my favorite cocktails. It was an amazing two weeks, and I can’t wait to plan the next one.

 

Final Thoughts:

• The Escape is a BEAUTIFUL ship, and the layout really grew on me. I love the 6/7/8 concept, and the stairs in the middle helped a lot. In the end, I never really missed the mid-ship elevators, but if you couldn’t use stairs, that would make it more difficult.
• There’s no way that you can be bored. Entertainment is top notch. And the bartenders and restaurant staff are incredible!
• Our biggest complaint was the Cruise Director’s Staff and the way that they ran activities. That’s the one thing from the small ships that we really missed. Oh, and the signature cards. So much better than all of those stupid yellow drink cozies.
•  For a 14-day cruise, we really loved a bigger ship. The Dawn was great for 14 days, but we had done it all by day 3. On The Escape, there was so much to do, and we really appreciated that.
• Alex lost a little gambling, but overall, our account was very low. I really do love pre-paying the gratuities and having the UBP and Meal Package. It was worth it, and we loved trying so many restaurants this time around.
• Finally, THANK YOU, CRUISE CRITIC! That $3000 gift card was an incredible gift that allowed us the means to do so many awesome things in port and try all of the different restaurants on board. The next time you see a contest on here, ENTER! You just never know.

 

I always purchase a Cruise Next, and this cruise was no different. We haven’t booked anything yet, because the price are super high right now. However, we’re looking at two possible dates. My parents want to take their first cruise, and they want to do it with us. If that happens, they’ll only do seven days. So we would do March 2020 with them on The Bliss out of Manhattan. Alex and I would rather jump on the 10-day Southern Caribbean on The Gem, but I don’t think they’ll go for that. If it’s just us, then we’ll hopefully do the Encore at the end of November 2020. That’s a 13-day partial Panama Canal that ends in Florida. A lot of logistics with that one, but it would be pretty great. Still, I’m not booking anything until the prices go down.

 

Thank you to all who have followed the past week or so. I’ve really enjoyed sharing our experiences with you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

[First Aider]

Thank you for this review!!!! We are on the Escape Feb. 3rd for 2 weeks. This is our first 14 dayer. Looks like you had a blast. I'm sure we will too!!!! Happy Holidays to you too!

[bob brown]

Great review...thanks so much for posting!👍

[cathi007]

Thanks again I enjoyed your review. I will be on her in 29 days 🙂 I am looking forward to my first 14 night cruise. The longest I have done before this one is 11 nights. Hopefully the weather is great. Merry Christmas 🙂

[boopsahoy]

21 minutes ago, cathi007 said:

Thanks again I enjoyed your review. I will be on her in 29 days 🙂 I am looking forward to my first 14 night cruise. The longest I have done before this one is 11 nights. Hopefully the weather is great. Merry Christmas 🙂

You get on when I get off! I will wave to you 

[jlowe420]

My first 14 day is Jan 6th so I’m also getting off when you get in.  I’ve only done a 7 before so this is going to be epic.   I hate feeling like it’s all ending the day you get settled!

[Books4U]

What a great job of journal writing.  I feel like I am back on board.  My apologies about trivia as a member of the Sea Rats.  We all meet via Cruise Critic and had asked if anyone was interested.  The ones who contacted each other meeting at the first game became the Sea Rats team. Hope we can meet on a future cruise and team together.

[cathi007]

21 hours ago, boopsahoy said:

You get on when I get off! I will wave to you 

Lol, have an awesome cruise 🙂

[cathi007]

20 hours ago, jlowe420 said:

My first 14 day is Jan 6th so I’m also getting off when you get in.  I’ve only done a 7 before so this is going to be epic.   I hate feeling like it’s all ending the day you get settled!

You also have an awesome cruise:)