Vacation escape on the Escape - LIVE report, 3-13 August 2022 from Civitavecchia to Greek Islands, Malta and Italy

[Utas2]

Hello CC community,

 

This will be our return to cruising after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the seas, and I try to celebrate our long awaited vacation on NCL Escape with a live report.

Still hoping to catch an upgrade, but in any case we are perfectly fine with our booked Club Balcony Suite already, and excited to hit the Med from Civitavecchia to visit around the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini, Athens/Piraeus, and then to head to Malta/La Valetta, before touring along the Italian coast, stopping at Sicily/Messina, Naples and Livorno.

7th time with NCL, first time on the Escape, and a big fan of freestyle cruising.

Pre-booked the Vibe Beach Club on board, plus the perks provided by the promo package.

 

Stay tuned for the sail away on 3 August!

 

Utas2

 

[diddydoormouse]

looking forward to this review, were on the same itinerary Sept. Could you please check if the duty free spirits/Tobacco are open onboard as i have seen different report depending on the ports of call. Thanks 

[Utas2]

Packing has started…..:-)

[jimbri]

Sounds like a wonderful cruise.  Enjoy.

[Utas2]

Just to recap the itinerary of the cruise.

[Utas2]

And here comes the upgrade, NCL was teasing me to the last minute with this: bid was accepted and a H9 Spa Suite with Balcony awaits us on the Escape!

:-))))

[alibabaxx]

following this as we are on this ship when you get off ... please could you note if the splash academy was all working and back to normal? Enjoy 😁

[Utas2]

The gamble of “making it or not” in 2022: we are in the hands of KLM to make it to Rome tonight via AMS. Unfortunate turmoil in the air travel industry that we have to accept as the rules of sudden delays. So far our plane from BUD to AMS is a “only” 25 mins delay.

 

 

[marktwothousand]

Following for my September 2 excape 

[rbxlady]

My brother and his girlfriend are on this cruise, also in club balcony. We are from the US, so they left on Sunday night to be absolutely 100% sure they are there for embarkation. Thank you in advance for posting, and I'm looking forward to following along!

[Nikoladoig12]

We just arrived home from this cruise today and were in an H9, 16112. We had such a great time, enjoy every minute! 

[Utas2]

Welcome CC community aboard from beautiful Norwegian Escape!
Here is a brief summary of the happennings and experiences from the first day of the cruise:

 

As we landed in Rome FCO airport pretty late (KLM did a very nice service, their cabin crew is one of the best), we pre-booked the Air Rooms hotel by HelloSky which is basically within the landside premises, although it was not easy to find. Quite a basic hotel.

After a short night we headed to the railway station at FCO, to take a regional train to Rome Trastevere, there to change to another regional to Civitavecchia. We bought the tickets online, costing 22 euro pp, that was by far the cheapest option.

 

The trip was a bit of a pain: the train was really packed, with lots of cruisers in board…..:-)

Once arrived to Chivitavecchia (approx. 90 mins trip) do not make the mistake we did: walking to the port. It was hot, I mean really hot under the sun. We should have taken the local bus for 3 eur pp….

 

So after a bit of a “sightseeing” and losing a few kilos due to dehidration we arrived to the port bus terminal, joining the queue of cruisers (there were other ships like Costa, MSC and Europa2 at port).

Check-in at Civitavecchia is fairly quick, first the check of Covid vaccination, then the drop off the baggage, then security and check-in. About 20-25 mins and we had the first cold drinks in the Haven lounge before boarding.

 

to be continued….

 

[Utas2]

The lounge, and finally the first look of her….

[MISSGJ]

Hi! Great start, thanks for “taking us along.” Can I ask what your winning bid was for the Haven? 

Edited August 4, 2022 by MISSGJ

[Utas2]

2 hours ago, MISSGJ said:

Hi! Great start, thanks for “taking us along.” Can I ask what your winning bid was for the Haven? 

Well, it was in the “strong” category….:-)

[Utas2]

This is a public announcement in case you are to attend the CC Meet and Mingle: according to the latest info the event has been rescheduled for 11AM this morning (was planned at 12).

 

Place is the same.

[Utas2]

Norwegian uses face recognition which is a nice development. Still, for the first entry you need to present the card, and that is perfectly understandable.

After boarding you are immediately directed to your assigned safety station for a quick recap of the safety features. Then you can head to grab a food or to the cabin. The cabins were announced as accessible at 13:30 hrs.

Some photos on the cabin, before I continue.

[Utas2]

We decided to visit the Haven restaurant. Excellent, high end service, tranquil environment, just what we needed after the hassle to the port:-))))

[Utas2]

To all my friends in Hungary who also follow this topic: yes, we live in a wonderful place, and I hope you follow me on this cruise. I have quite some experiences to tell. 
 

The ship is working at 80% full. And I started to like how the design works…

Edited August 4, 2022 by Utas2

[rbxlady]

5 hours ago, Utas2 said:

Well, it was in the “strong” category….:-)

Ha, well there you go 🙂

My brother is on your cruise in club balcony, and he was bidding into the Haven, but they did a "live bidding" scenario on one of the Haven suites. It told him there were something like 35 bids ahead of him on this particular suite, so he raised his bid. It then said he was still being outbid, and he was so annoyed by it that he withdrew his bids. (I started a thread on this the other day because I had never heard of this live bidding thing.) I think he was silly to withdraw his bids because he is no worse off if any or all of his bids get rejected.

 

But congratulations on the upgrade! I am hopeful for an upgrade to the Haven from club balcony in October (7-day Caribbean), so now I am extra interested in seeing your experience.

Edited August 4, 2022 by rbxlady
a word

[rbxlady]

That Brie burger description is making me hungry!

[Utas2]

I am running a bit late, but still let me share some first impression photos that were taken during the exploring of the ship.

After the EPIC and the Getaway I found that Escape has a concept of “compactness”, meaning that the different places are not huge, but still can hold quite a sizeable crowd, and they are really easy to navigate. The pool area is for instance is really not large, still, you do not have the feeling of overcrowded. There are so many places on this ship….

[Utas2]

Some more photos from the sea-day, apologies for mixing the dates a bit:-)))

Just arrived to Santorini, awaiting for the tender.

Will explain later.

[Utas2]

[Utas2]

So yes, the splash academy is in full swing:-)))