NORWEGIAN ESCAPE Review October 13 - 20, 2019

[stungazed]

This is my review of the Norwegian Escape on the October 13 - 20, 2019 sailing.


Norwegian Escape:
This cruise was booked as my annual "free" cruise for being 7* with Caesars Entertainment. This perk offers a balcony cabin. I had to pay $140 in their B.S. “administration” fees and the port charges. I also had to pay the service charge on the Drink Package.

I took this cruise with my parents who booked their own mini-suite.

I booked this cruise back in July shortly after I made it to 7* with Caesars Entertainment.

I thought the ship was a bit nicer than the Breakaway but with more passengers I don't think they added any space for the public areas. You would think they would have learned from the Breakaway/Getaway that the pool area and atrium are way too small for a ship of this size.

The other design flaw with these ships is the location of the casino and cigarette smoke. Smokiness of course varies from voyage to voyage based on the number of smokers. This particular cruise was VERY smokey. You could smell the smoke all of the way down to the entrance of the Manhattan Dining room. The Escape was built with the casino in the center on the 7^th floor open air to the floors above and below it. The smoke does travel to these areas. Down on the 6^th floor it went as far as the atrium. It also went in the other direction almost as far. Up on the 8^th floor it went into the center area and down the hallway a bit in each direction. I was glad to see they didn't have that stupid little smoking lounge on the pool deck like the Breakaway has. Instead smoking was allowed at the bar above the pool deck.

 

One other area that smoke was occasionally an issue was on my balcony which was above the Waterfront.


The ship had all the amenities of most ships with shops, a casino, gym, bars, night clubs and of course lots and lots FOOD! They also had the ropes course, water slides, mini golf and a boccie court among other things.

Overall I thought the ship was in good condition and well maintained. The décor was nicer in some areas than the Breakaway.

Below is my review of the stateroom, food, and entertainment and ports of call and more. I’ve broken it down by category.

Pre-cruise Hotel:
I live about an hour away from the pier in NYC. It is nice not having to fly and check into a hotel the night before the cruise. However, the parking fees at the terminal are VERY high at $280 for the week. One of the perks my parents had with their cruise was a $50 parking reimbursement.


Embarkation:
We were originally planning to get to the pier at about 10am but got there quite a bit earlier than that. There was a delay in the previous passengers disembarking because the ship got back to NY later than it usually does.

 

Things seemed very organized here when we arrived. Security wasn't open yet and the lines were beginning to form. Once they opened things up it moved well and after going through security, checking in only took a few minutes. We were then directed to the "staging" area where we waited for the current passengers to continue to disembark and the ship to clear.

 

Around 11am boarding started. This was pretty organized but as always a few a-holes can't follow instructions and a few employees are clueless.

We made our first stop the buffet for lunch and were among the first to arrive. This buffet design is almost identical to the Breakaway and huge.

 

After lunch we wandered the ship and then between 1:00 – 1:30 the announcement was made that rooms were ready.

 

We sailed away at 4PM and were off to Bermuda.

Stateroom:
I had a balcony cabin 14244. Standard cabin design for NCL Breakaway/Breakaway Plus class ships. Plenty of space in the room with a couch and one of the smallest balconies at sea.

My only real issue with the room was the bed. Being alone I had the 2 twin beds set as a queen. The beds were very worn out and both of them had deep impressions in them. They were probably the worst beds I've ever encountered on a cruise or in a hotel.

The bathroom was also standard NCL issue. It's nice to have a glass door as opposed to the shower curtain that sticks to you on other lines.

There were no issues with the room other than the bed. Everything was in working order and everything was spotless.


The room steward was totally stealth and I didn't see him for the first 5 days of the cruise. Of course he decided to wait until day 5 when my do not disturb sign was out to call my room to introduce himself. I didn't see him again until the morning I disembarked.

 

Captain & Cruise Director:
The Captain was Giovanni Cutugno. Our Cruise director was Alvin. I thought Alvin was fine as a cruise director but nothing outstanding like has been reports on Cruise Critic. Then again, a cruise director doesn't make or break my cruise like it does for many.

Dinner:
We ate all of our dinners in the main dining room, Manhattan. We never had a wait to get in when we dined between 5-7pm. I thought the food and presentation was much better on this ship than the previous trips I took on the Breakaway. Not sure if it's just this ship or if there has been an upgrade company wide. Just about everything I had was good.

Service in the dining rooms was varied day to day. Some servers were excellent and others not so much. One issue we had multiple nights was the time it took for appetizers to come out. Three different nights it took over 20 minutes before anything arrived. One night it was another 20 minutes after we were finished with appetizers before the entrees arrived.

 

One thing that I thought was VERY odd is there was never prime rib served in the dining room. My mother also noted that there was no shrimp cocktail ever served which is something I didn't even notice because I don't like it. Prime rib was available in O'Sheehans the first few nights we were on board but I prefer not to eat dinner there. I figured I'd wait until it was served in the main dining room which it never was. This is a first in all of my cruises and I hope it doesn't become a trend.

 

Other Dining:
Garden Cafe (Buffet):
A HUGE room with many different stations and selections. Laid out pretty well and a huge assortment of food. All of our breakfasts were here and most lunches. Not much changed from day to day but it's breakfast, and there's only so much you can do with it. There was normally plenty of seating too unless you were there right at prime time, then it was a bit packed. Dirty dishes never sat around for more than a few minutes before they were cleared.

 

We also had most of our lunches here as well. There was more of a rotation for lunch each day as well as the standards that were offered each day.

We didn't eat dinner here but every day Gerald (anyone that's been on an NCL ship knows who he is) advertised a different theme each night during breakfast while he and Rowan sang Washy-Washy songs.


O Sheehans:
Had late night snacks here a few times and also a few lunches. Service was spotty a few times. One night I ordered chicken wings and 20 minutes later my waiter brought me a basket of fries. It was corrected a few minutes later. One day at lunch my father ordered dessert that never came. Other than those 2 things service here was pretty good and the food was quite good.

 

Desserts:
Some of the desserts were excellent while others were lacking. Nothing really stands out as really good or really bad though.



Entertainment:
We booked reservations for a few shows on board for the shows in the main theater.

 

Welcome Aboard Show:

This was just a teaser of each of the main shows that were offered with a scene from each one and a comedian.

Choir of Man:
Fun and entertaining with a little audience participation and free beer handed out. (You'd think there was a beer shortage the way people run up to the stage to get it).

 

After Midnight:

Not a bad show but not my type of music. Show was based in a Harlem Speakeasy in the 40's.

Other:
We also checked out some of the smaller acts like Golden Octaves, Piano Bar with comedy of Justin Golan (a John Valby wannabe), Howl at the Moon and a few others that I can't recall.




Casino:
I got this cruise for free from a casino so it’s no surprise that I’d spend time here on this cruise. They had most of the newer popular slot machines and a large amount of table games. I pretty much played Craps. The craps game had a $10 minimum for the week with 3-4-5x odds. The casino staff was very good Since I was brought in through the casino, I was offered a card that allowed free drinks in the casino. I didn't really need that though with the drink package as part of my cruise. One interesting thing to note was the lady that was seemingly addicted to the quarter pushers. She was at these quite often and firing coins in a a rapid pace. She seemed to be having fun though so why not?

In Room TV:
The in room TV was interactive and you could look up your account on it. Very few channels to watch other than “commercials” for NCL products and shops.

Ports of Call:
Bermuda:
This port was our only port for 3 days. We used the ferry and bus system to get around the island. The first day we walked around Hamilton and took the bus back to the Dockyard. Great way to see the island and only a few bucks. We also went to the Aquarium in Flatts. The aquarium is a nice place with fish and a small zoo. The price is right at $10 per person with discounts for seniors ($5).

 

The 3^rd day we stayed onboard. Around 2:30pm (all aboard time) I started looking towards the dock and saw people making their way back to the ship. I always like to look for pier runners in Bermuda that can't seem to get back on time. With minutes to spare a few people came running down the pier. They all got on. But as the ropes were being lifted a few more people weren't so lucky. We saw two women not make it back. They waved as we sailed away.



Disembarkation:
We did self assist and were lined up when disembarkation started. It went well and we were off the ship pretty quickly.

 

Customs was the fastest I've ever been though now that they are using facial recognition. About 1 minute in line and 10 seconds at the check point and we were on our way back tot he car.

Other:
The seas were like glass this trip. Rarely did I even feel the ship moving.

The weather was nice most of the trip. The exception would be the last sea day on the way back to NY. It was cold and windy out. Unless you were in the sun it was quite chilly. Bermuda was excellent weather the 2.5 days we were there.


I don't have anything booked with NCL in the future but I have a 7* voyage available for 2020 which I will probably use and I get offers from land based casinos all of the time for NCL.

 

My next cruise is in January on MSC Divina on a short 3 day to the Bahamas just to get out of cold NY for a few days.

 

Questions and comments can be posted or e-mailed to me directly.

[waterjock]

Thank  you for your review. Very well done covered every part of your cruise.

[Biris]

Thank you for taking time to do a short but thorough  review. 

[Csmommy1]

Thank you for your review.  Wewill be on the Escape this Friday & were wondering what time to get there. We have been told be NCL to be there at noon, even though it is our 1st cruise I know we should get there earlier. I take it you recommend 10am. 

[Gershep]

Thank you for review.