NCL Escape cruise 01/03/2020 synopsis

[jrbeccles]

NCL Escape cruise 01/03/2020 synopsis 

 

Just got off the Escape after five days. Below is a briefing of what I thought 

 

The Ship 

We were on the Escape in 2015 when she was brand new. And you'd be hard pressed to see many signs of wear on her. A few rust spots on the balcony, and our bathroom sink had a small crack in it. Apart from that she looks great. 

 

The Crew 

Of course, the most important subject. The Escape crew were the absolute best. Super nice, very helpful and I think they’d do anything to help you. We hang out at the bars and the bar tenders were brilliant. Wait staff in the dining rooms fantastic, room steward a bit shy but did a great job. This is my third cruise since September and the other two ships crew were very nice, but Escape fell over themselves to help you. 

 

 Cabin 

Had a balcony room 9878, which I highly recommend. Large outside balcony with a slant, and right next to the elevator and easy ride up to Garden Café and two flights down to the Manhattan dining room.  

 

Masks and passenger count 

I was only (very politely) reminded once about not having my mask on! It's so easy to forget. Almost no one abused the policy that I saw. Once you get used to it it's really no problem. There were 1400 passengers on this cruise. I asked and they expected 1600 but with so many flight problem and folks cancelling at the last minute, the actual number really went down. It's going to be hard to get used to a full ship again.  There was a good size contingent of late 20’s early 30’s on board who partied hard at the pool and got a little rowdy at some spots late at night, but they were just having fun.  Rest were my age (mid 60’s) and enjoyed the quite bars like Mixx and especially Prime Meridian bar by Cagneys. However, we had a lot of fun with the crazy bartenders at the Atrium bar while we played Trivia.  

 

Food 

We only ate at one specialty restaurant, Moderno, which was great but way too much food for me! But fantastic meats and staff. The other four night we ate at Manhattan, where they had live music which was lovely. Menus there very good, lots of choices, and absolutely no waiting for food. Just a few minutes after we ordered the starters showed up. I'm sure that has to because of low headcount and full waitstaff. In fact, on the last night, we asked the waiter to slow down the delivery of food so we could listen to the band and enjoy the experience. Wine steward also showed up right away. We had the drink package, and he got us lovely wines that were in the package. 

 

Embarkation 

This process was in my humble opinion a bit Mickey Mouse. We arrived at 9.45 and dropped off the luggage. Then we were directed the “three tents”.  First tent checked your passports, vaccination cards, and were asking you to have your CVS barcodes ready. These are the barcodes you get when you do your check-in process, and you'll get an email from Minutecliniccare. Print these out and take them with you to speed up the process. Second tent is where they scan the bar code and administer the test ( well you do the test and they watch). They give you a card with the time off the test and then you go to the third tent. Here is where it got a bit strange. They tell you that 20 minutes after the time on your card to raise your hand. What they didn’t tell you is they were expecting you to check your email where you get the results of the test. Worked fine for three of my six travel companions, but I could not get my  CVS website to open up, and my other two friends are 80 years old and have flip phones and don’t have a clue. I asked the NCL attendant that surely there must be someone in the tent who gets the results. But apparently not. So, the guy (who was nice) just said we were ok and gave us the arm bands that showed we passed the covid test! 

Then across the street to a “normal” check-in process. Its 10.45 now, and they said we would start boarding at 11am. I have no idea what happened but we didn’t start boarding until 11.50.  It’s a long long walk so if you have some who has problems get a wheel chair. Went right to the muster station, got scanned, and then had lunch at Savor, and straight away you could tell how nice the staff were going to be.  

 

Activities and Ports 

We are easily amused. Like trivia a lot, and bar hopping. We live in Florida so no sun for us thanks. There was plenty to do. They did cancel the big shows and replaced them with smaller 45-minute events at the Supper Club. We did the Beatles Tribute, Bamboozled (its hard but fun). The only thing we did not like was the Howl at the Moon piano show. WAY too loud and a they players constantly reminding you to give them money. Not fun, and there was plenty of great music around with having to shell for cash. Smoked cigars at the cigar bar room – very nice. No martini tastings unfortunately, but boring mojito and beer tasting every day. Mojito bar empty all day. NCL needs to realize that mojitos were fad, and almost no one drinks them anymore. I expect no one from NCL Corp sails on the ships and are clueless. 

Cozumel is Cozumel. We just got off and walked around a bit, and the ladies enjoyed exploring the large grocery store near the ship. Had some $2 Coronas and back to the ship.  

The bad news was on the morning at Great Stirrup Cay, the captain said they had been refused entry by the Bahamian authorities. I can only guess it was because there were cases of Covid on board, but I have no evidence to back that up. So, they quickly printed up revised dailies, and it was still a nice day, if not a bit chaotic for the activities staff, who tried their best.  

 

And yes, lighting strikes twice. In 2015 when we were on the Escape, someone jumped overboard at about 9pm one night. The crew went into full emergency mode, and after some time launching lifeboats and the ship circling, they found the person. So, imagine our surprise when we were sitting at the Skyline bar, and heard over the intercom “Code Oscar port side”, and the ship stopping. We knew that Code Oscar stood for Man overboard. Long story short it turned out the object people though was a person jumping overboard was a big party balloon! 

 

Synopsis 

We had a really good time on this Escape cruise.  Lots of good food, drinks, music, and activities in the Atrium. Dancing for the wife's until 1am every night, so they were in heaven. Not NCLs fault that the island was closed. Wearing a mask, no big deal.  Highly recommend it!! 

 

[ramdoggiesmom]

Thank you for your review! I am assuming this was 1/3/21 cruise?

[Sixtytwo]

Really appreciate your review and all the details you provided! We are scheduled on Gem in late April so have been trying to see how folks are managing now with the dreaded Covid, missed ports, and limited activities on board. I have seen so many pictures from recent cruises where no one in sight has a mask on, so glad you shared your experiences with masks!

Thanks!!

[Burrata]

nice report! thanks for sharing!

[debenson0723]

Thanks for sharing and glad you had a good time.  Hoping to be onboard the Escape on February 5th.  Will be my 4th NCL cruise since the restart and the first 3 have been fabulous. 

[Photoc]

2 hours ago, ramdoggiesmom said:

Thank you for your review! I am assuming this was 1/3/21 cruise?

Pretty good chance it wasn't the 21 cruise. I'm betting this is the same one I was on 1/3/22. 😁

[etopoleski12]

Thanks for the update! Planning to sail on the Escape in April and we have seen lots of guests rescheduling due to the recent outbreak. Happy to see that most things went according to plan!

[Photoc]

3 hours ago, jrbeccles said:

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, jrbeccles said:

Went right to the muster station, got scanned, and then had lunch at Savor, and straight away you could tell how nice the staff were going to be.  

 

I think you were the ones that came in right after I did. I was the only person in Savor sitting by the window after getting on with boarding group 7. I know everyone heads to the buffet and pool deck when they get on so I wanted some peace and quiet before the partying started.  Then headed to the Mojito bar and I was the only one there until people realized it was open with me sitting there, then it started to fill up. 

[Analog187]

I was on the same cruise and the mojito bar was pretty busy.  I couldn't even get in one night cause it was so busy.  Last night it was full as well but then a group left so it was only half full at that point.  

 

Almost no one abused the policy?   Did you see last night?   Tons of people without masks especially when the 9pm comedy show let out.  2 of the 4 engineering students (if you saw the 9pm show you know who they are) did not wear a mask ever.  I'd say 10% abused it up to last night where it got to 15% or more especially at night. 

[snooper1225]

9 hours ago, jrbeccles said:

NCL Escape cruise 01/03/2020 synopsis 

 

Just got off the Escape after five days. Below is a briefing of what I thought 

 

The Ship 

We were on the Escape in 2015 when she was brand new. And you'd be hard pressed to see many signs of wear on her. A few rust spots on the balcony, and our bathroom sink had a small crack in it. Apart from that she looks great. 

 

The Crew 

Of course, the most important subject. The Escape crew were the absolute best. Super nice, very helpful and I think they’d do anything to help you. We hang out at the bars and the bar tenders were brilliant. Wait staff in the dining rooms fantastic, room steward a bit shy but did a great job. This is my third cruise since September and the other two ships crew were very nice, but Escape fell over themselves to help you. 

 

 Cabin 

Had a balcony room 9878, which I highly recommend. Large outside balcony with a slant, and right next to the elevator and easy ride up to Garden Café and two flights down to the Manhattan dining room.  

 

Masks and passenger count 

I was only (very politely) reminded once about not having my mask on! It's so easy to forget. Almost no one abused the policy that I saw. Once you get used to it it's really no problem. There were 1400 passengers on this cruise. I asked and they expected 1600 but with so many flight problem and folks cancelling at the last minute, the actual number really went down. It's going to be hard to get used to a full ship again.  There was a good size contingent of late 20’s early 30’s on board who partied hard at the pool and got a little rowdy at some spots late at night, but they were just having fun.  Rest were my age (mid 60’s) and enjoyed the quite bars like Mixx and especially Prime Meridian bar by Cagneys. However, we had a lot of fun with the crazy bartenders at the Atrium bar while we played Trivia.  

 

Food 

We only ate at one specialty restaurant, Moderno, which was great but way too much food for me! But fantastic meats and staff. The other four night we ate at Manhattan, where they had live music which was lovely. Menus there very good, lots of choices, and absolutely no waiting for food. Just a few minutes after we ordered the starters showed up. I'm sure that has to because of low headcount and full waitstaff. In fact, on the last night, we asked the waiter to slow down the delivery of food so we could listen to the band and enjoy the experience. Wine steward also showed up right away. We had the drink package, and he got us lovely wines that were in the package. 

 

Embarkation 

This process was in my humble opinion a bit Mickey Mouse. We arrived at 9.45 and dropped off the luggage. Then we were directed the “three tents”.  First tent checked your passports, vaccination cards, and were asking you to have your CVS barcodes ready. These are the barcodes you get when you do your check-in process, and you'll get an email from Minutecliniccare. Print these out and take them with you to speed up the process. Second tent is where they scan the bar code and administer the test ( well you do the test and they watch). They give you a card with the time off the test and then you go to the third tent. Here is where it got a bit strange. They tell you that 20 minutes after the time on your card to raise your hand. What they didn’t tell you is they were expecting you to check your email where you get the results of the test. Worked fine for three of my six travel companions, but I could not get my  CVS website to open up, and my other two friends are 80 years old and have flip phones and don’t have a clue. I asked the NCL attendant that surely there must be someone in the tent who gets the results. But apparently not. So, the guy (who was nice) just said we were ok and gave us the arm bands that showed we passed the covid test! 

Then across the street to a “normal” check-in process. Its 10.45 now, and they said we would start boarding at 11am. I have no idea what happened but we didn’t start boarding until 11.50.  It’s a long long walk so if you have some who has problems get a wheel chair. Went right to the muster station, got scanned, and then had lunch at Savor, and straight away you could tell how nice the staff were going to be.  

 

Activities and Ports 

We are easily amused. Like trivia a lot, and bar hopping. We live in Florida so no sun for us thanks. There was plenty to do. They did cancel the big shows and replaced them with smaller 45-minute events at the Supper Club. We did the Beatles Tribute, Bamboozled (its hard but fun). The only thing we did not like was the Howl at the Moon piano show. WAY too loud and a they players constantly reminding you to give them money. Not fun, and there was plenty of great music around with having to shell for cash. Smoked cigars at the cigar bar room – very nice. No martini tastings unfortunately, but boring mojito and beer tasting every day. Mojito bar empty all day. NCL needs to realize that mojitos were fad, and almost no one drinks them anymore. I expect no one from NCL Corp sails on the ships and are clueless. 

Cozumel is Cozumel. We just got off and walked around a bit, and the ladies enjoyed exploring the large grocery store near the ship. Had some $2 Coronas and back to the ship.  

The bad news was on the morning at Great Stirrup Cay, the captain said they had been refused entry by the Bahamian authorities. I can only guess it was because there were cases of Covid on board, but I have no evidence to back that up. So, they quickly printed up revised dailies, and it was still a nice day, if not a bit chaotic for the activities staff, who tried their best.  

 

And yes, lighting strikes twice. In 2015 when we were on the Escape, someone jumped overboard at about 9pm one night. The crew went into full emergency mode, and after some time launching lifeboats and the ship circling, they found the person. So, imagine our surprise when we were sitting at the Skyline bar, and heard over the intercom “Code Oscar port side”, and the ship stopping. We knew that Code Oscar stood for Man overboard. Long story short it turned out the object people though was a person jumping overboard was a big party balloon! 

 

Synopsis 

We had a really good time on this Escape cruise.  Lots of good food, drinks, music, and activities in the Atrium. Dancing for the wife's until 1am every night, so they were in heaven. Not NCLs fault that the island was closed. Wearing a mask, no big deal.  Highly recommend it!! 

 

 

[snooper1225]

Thank you for the review! 

How was the entertainment crew, cruise director?

[jrbeccles]

14 hours ago, Photoc said:

Pretty good chance it wasn't the 21 cruise. I'm betting this is the same one I was on 1/3/22. 😁

Sorry yes of course it was 01/03/2022!! Still not used to the year...

[jrbeccles]

13 hours ago, Analog187 said:

I was on the same cruise and the mojito bar was pretty busy.  I couldn't even get in one night cause it was so busy.  Last night it was full as well but then a group left so it was only half full at that point.  

 

Almost no one abused the policy?   Did you see last night?   Tons of people without masks especially when the 9pm comedy show let out.  2 of the 4 engineering students (if you saw the 9pm show you know who they are) did not wear a mask ever.  I'd say 10% abused it up to last night where it got to 15% or more especially at night. 

Thats fair enough. We were doing our best to avoid the "younger crowd" by hanging out at the quieter bars, and events like the Beatles tribute was average age was 60 plus! I sure when the kids were plastered they did abuse the mask policy, but we were staying far away.

[#55worktoplay]

Thanks for the recap. I was supposed to be on this sailing for my first NCL cruise but cancelled due to all the hoops to get back to Canada and the “what if’s”

 

I will get on NCL eventually but not interested at this time. 

[Bonobochick]

19 hours ago, jrbeccles said:

Mojito bar empty all day. NCL needs to realize that mojitos were fad, and almost no one drinks them anymore. I expect no one from NCL Corp sails on the ships and are clueless. 

 

I was on the 12/23/21 Escape cruise and IIRC, The Mojito bar is only open from 5-10p daily and it was packed whenever I walked by during those hours. 

 

I was also on the Gem 11/28/21 cruise and the bar was popular plus also only open in the evening. On this cruise I had a drinks package so I hit it up fairly often for a yummy raspberry or ginger mojito. 

[Diver2014]

That's exactly what I wanted to hear!  We're boarding next Saturday (Jan 15) and am glad we never had any inclination to cancel.  Just to be on a ship again after two years......

[CruizinKittie40]

20 hours ago, ramdoggiesmom said:

Thank you for your review! I am assuming this was 1/3/21 cruise?

lol trying to correct someone and you still got it wrong

[disneykins]

Thanks for the review, we Escape for B2B in Feb. First cruise since March 2020. You sound like the same kind of cruiser as us, mid-60s looking for a quiet relaxing cruise. Was there a charge for the supper club shows? Do you need to reserve them and is there food included?

Thanks,

Tony and Debbie

[ramdoggiesmom]

34 minutes ago, CruizinKittie40 said:

lol trying to correct someone and you still got it wrong

I know! Guess I should double check my posts! 

[jrbeccles]

54 minutes ago, disneykins said:

Thanks for the review, we Escape for B2B in Feb. First cruise since March 2020. You sound like the same kind of cruiser as us, mid-60s looking for a quiet relaxing cruise. Was there a charge for the supper club shows? Do you need to reserve them and is there food included?

Thanks,

Tony and Debbie

If they are tribute shows (like the Beatles and Eagles shows they had, plus the Bambozzled activity) no charge but you do have to make reservations. There were a few shows where yes there was food and there was a charge. 

[Analog187]

6 hours ago, jrbeccles said:

I sure when the kids were plastered they did abuse the mask policy, but we were staying far away.

 

I saw the maskless range in age from 20 to 70.  On Friday night I saw 2 elderly woman walk by me without a mask within 2 minutes of each other.  When the comedy show let out, over a dozen people didn't out a mask on.  Most were over 50 I'd assume.  People really stopped caring by then it seemed.  

[KimPossible1]

20 minutes ago, Analog187 said:

 

I saw the maskless range in age from 20 to 70.  On Friday night I saw 2 elderly woman walk by me without a mask within 2 minutes of each other.  When the comedy show let out, over a dozen people didn't out a mask on.  Most were over 50 I'd assume.  People really stopped caring by then it seemed.  

I was on that cruise too and I think you are right, there didn't seem to be any particular age group not wearing masks, it was pretty general.  I didn't care for all the people in the atrium not wearing them even when not drinking.  The cruise people didn't wear them while doing the trivia and games, so they didn't set an example or precedent.  Lots of people not wearing them in hallways or on elevators until they saw other people.  I saw an older lady, maybe in her late 60's/early 70's at the buffet not have one on and wipe her nose and place her hands face down on the counter while waiting for her drink and then when asked to wear a mask, huffed off and said "it's at my table"  People are going to be people so I had the opinion that only I can control me and if I don't like a situation I'll move.  I do agree by the last day, there were a lot of people not wearing masks.