NCL ESCAPE - FEBRUARY 11-18 - LIVE REVIEW

[nhtravels]

Our first NCL cruise was the Escape in 2017!  She's still one of our favorite ships.  I can't wait to follow along on your adventure!

[prbffd28]

We sail April 16th so will be closely following along as well. Thanks for taking us along!

[devinelaw]

UPDATE:  If your in Port Canaveral the night before embarkation, a rocket launch was just announced for early on the 11th.  We saw last nights launch from our home in South Florida.  Excited to see one so close up!!

[Panhandle Couple]

1 minute ago, devinelaw said:

UPDATE:  If your in Port Canaveral the night before embarkation, a rocket launch was just announced for early on the 11th.  We saw last nights launch from our home in South Florida.  Excited to see one so close up!!

 

[iKarenE]

We sail on the Escape in April and appreciate all the info you post! We booked the Thermal Suite for the first time too and am curious to see what your thoughts are about it. And we also booked the Jost Van Dyke excursion. Have a great time!

 

[catgags]

5 hours ago, devinelaw said:

UPDATE:  If your in Port Canaveral the night before embarkation, a rocket launch was just announced for early on the 11th.  We saw last nights launch from our home in South Florida.  Excited to see one so close up!!

Thanks for the info! I looked up the next launch! It's Feb 26! I get off the Escape 2/25! Staying in Cocoa Beach for the night and then getting on the Prima Sunday 2/26!! Launch is 2:07AM!

Cat

[Green4me]

Devinelaw,

 

How exciting !  We are staying Friday night at the Radisson for a pre-cruise party.

 

Fingers crossed this launch holds schedule. 🙂

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[2dot2dot]

Do you know if the main dining room is open for lunch on embarkation day?

[coscab]

Almost time for you to board, have a wonderful time starting tomorrow!!

[eileeshb]

6 hours ago, 2dot2dot said:

Do you know if the main dining room is open for lunch on embarkation day?

There are 3 main dining rooms on Escape, Manhattan is the biggest and usually not open for lunch on embarkation day. However one of either Taste or Savor will be open, and if there’s sufficient demand the other may also open. The times will be on the back page of the freestyle daily newsletter you get at check in.

[devinelaw]

UPDATE 2/10/23…..

 

Pre-Cruise Report:

 

Mid-morning Friday we drove up to Cocoa Beach from our home in South Florida.  We are staying  the night at the Cocoa Beach Hilton Garden Inn Oceanfront.  Plans are to do a little shopping, walk on the beach, enjoy a nice dinner and later in the evening watch the SpaceX rocket launch, breakfast Saturday morning prior to getting to the port and arriving at the Port at 8:30am for our 9-9:30am check in time.

 

Hotel:  We are staying at the Cocoa Beach Hilton Garden Inn Oceanside.  We are Hilton Honors members and were able to use some of our points towards the reservation.  We arrived at 1:30pm and sat by the pool area with ocean view and did a little last minute work.  Check in is at 4pm, but we were able to get into our room at 2:30pm.  We have a King/Partial Ocean View.  Nice room, looks  recently remodeled.  Nice desk area for my wife to finish up some of her last minute work before it’s computers off.  The balcony and view facing north up the coast provides a perfect vantage point for the SpaceX launch tonight 🚀

 

Shopping:  We visited RonJon Surf Shop, souvenir spending is off to a healthy start after that visit 🫣 

 

Dinner:  We had dinner at Squid Lips in Cocoa Beach.  Nice riverside view of the Indian River. 

 

We’ll post more in the morning….

[devinelaw]

6 hours ago, 2dot2dot said:

Do you know if the main dining room is open for lunch on embarkation day?

I don’t believe they are, but not totally sure.  I’ll try and post about that tomorrow.

[coscab]

Squidlips is a great spot for sunsets, fun place, we also love fishlips.

 

[coscab]

I didn't know there was a launch tonight, we are only 80 miles up the beach from the cape so we watch from our driveway, do you know what time?

 

[devinelaw]

30 minutes ago, coscab said:

I didn't know there was a launch tonight, we are only 80 miles up the beach from the cape so we watch from our driveway, do you know what time?

 

It’s 2:07 a.m. 

[devinelaw]

Embarkation Day:

 

Arriving at the Port:  After breakfast at Grills Seafood and Tiki Hut at 7am, we left for the Port at 8:15am arriving to drop off our luggage and parking in the Parking Garage.  Very easy process, found a parking spot on first level.  From there we walked over to the NCL terminal entrance to stand in line, we were 8th from the front at 8:30am.  The line started getting very long shortly thereafter.  We put AirTags in our luggage for the first time and were able to track it.  It is actually pretty cool seeing it traverse the port and ship.  The doors opened to go through Security at 9:50am.  There was a delay due to an emergency health issue they said.  Once the line through security opened it was very hectic at the security check point.  Have your passport and your boarding pass ready.  Also have your pockets empty because they will have you empty them then you are rushing to zip things back up in your backpack.  I speak from experience here as I quickly threw my passport card and credit card into one of the pockets then had to totally unpack the backpack once seated to find them.  Once in we moved straight to check in which was expedited because we checked in online, got our key cards and went to seats waiting for our boarding number to be called.  We are boarding number 2.

 

NCL Check-In Inside Terminal:  The terminal is nice.  It gets really crowded quickly once open and within 20 minutes has become packed.  It’s 10:23 and boarding has not yet started.  Tip:  We arrived at 8:15 and drove up to drop our luggage with the porters.  Right by the drop off is the Terminal Entrance.  Had I known this my wife could’ve taken the backpack and got into line while I went to park the car.  It was a short walk from the garage, but could’ve saved her the walk.

[devinelaw]

It’s quickly become standing room only.  Seeing people with boarding cards in the teens.  If all these people are at the pool, I’m so glad we got our Vibe Beach passes again this cruise!!  Betting this ship is going to be packed.

[devinelaw]

14 hours ago, devinelaw said:

It’s 2:07 a.m. 

Launch got moved to Saturday night or Sunday night due to possibility of high winds, so much for a seeing one up close.  At least we live in Florida so can always drive up sometime.

[zzdoug]

That's a lot of people doing a lot of waiting. Once they roll out advance show reservations, is there any reason to board early? My preference is to check in around 1pm but I can show up earlier if there is a benefit to it. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by zzdoug

[devinelaw]

Hot off the Press:

[devinelaw]

Current view, cabins not ready, time for the hot tub, will post embarkation thoughts later…..

[sns1009]

Loving this! Thank you so much for taking the time to post. We board on March 4th.

[KurtMo]

@devinelaw Would love to see photos of wine by the glass lists (specifically reds, but interested in all) from Cellar Masters and MDR if you have the chance.  Thanks.

[devinelaw]

Terminal Wait: We were cleared to start boarding at 10:30 am, Group 2 was called at 10:55 am and we were on board within 5 minutes.

 

Boarding Ship:  

 

Dinner Reservations/Ship embarkation:  We immediately went to Headliners to make a dinner reservation change for Valentines Day and were successful.  We had booked all specialty dining (4 meals) online but wanted to make a change due to an excursion in St. Thomas.  We’ve also booked all MDR times except tomorrow’s which we will play by ear.  We will eat in La Cucina, Cagney’s Steakhouse and Moderno (2x).  Changed Le Bistro for a second Moderno (which we enjoy) because we want outdoor dining option with the view which Le Bistro doesn’t offer.

 

Show Reservations/Ship embarkation:  After the dining change which took all of 10 minutes we headed to the Box Office where we scheduled two comedy shows.  We also plan on attending the comedy show in the theater as well as the magic show.  We’ve seen the Choir of Man and decided to forgo this trip.

 

Lunch:  We went to the Garden Café and had lunch.  It wasn’t too crowded and the food was decent.

 

Spice H2O:  After lunch we went to Spice H2O and found some comfy chairs by the hot tub.  Right behind the grotto is a large all access restroom where we were able to change into our bathing suits and spent an hour or so in the hot tub, lounging in the sun and having the bar tender make frozen concoctions.

 

Onboard Wi-Fi:  We purchased the upgraded Wi-Fi for our two iPhones.  We ultimately had to get the assistance of the Internet café to get connected.  It’s a little cumbersome to figure out.  My wife was set up by the Internet café and by the time she made it back to me on the Waterfront I had set it up by trail and error somehow.  Speed so far seems ok, I’m able to post anyway.  We can also iMessage with family back home.  We are with T-Mobile and four $50 I purchased an International Pass that allows 15 go of data and unlimited calling to the states on the islands we are visiting so we can check in on family and pets.

 

Muster Drill:  Our muster station is F7.  After asking a NCL employee who didn’t know wheee F was I finally was headed to the guest service area and saw on the big screen mystery stations.  Ours was The Manhattan Room.  Note to future sailors, look closely at the daily….it’s in there 🤦🏻‍♂️.  The muster drill is in the daily for 3:30pm.  The NCL employees didn’t come out with muster signs until exactly 3:30pm.  Once it started, you get your card scanned, they go through the process then your done.  One complaint the Cruise Director came over the intercom at 3:45pm and said we’d do a muster drill in exactly 30 minutes.  Muster Drill instructions began at 4:15pm, it was finished by 4:23pm, then began the mad rush to disperse everyone back into the ship.  

 

Aft Cabin Deck 15:  Cabins were not officially ready until X pm.  Some were going behind the signed doors starting staff was working on cabins to see if their cabin was finished.  There obviously are staffing issues as this is the first cruise, in twelve, our cabin hasn’t been ready by at least before the muster drill.  After our hot tub time we made our way to the Waterfront, found a seating area and sat there with a drink waiting for the muster drill.  It was relaxing and made a few new friends while sitting and talking in the view and ocean breeze.

 

Sail Away from Aft Balcony:  Sail out was to be at 4pm, but at 4:15pm we were still sitting in The Manhattan waiting for the muster drill to be completed.  Cabins has still not been announced as ready.  

4:45 CABINS ARE READY AND WE’RE SAILING OUT!!!!!

[coscab]

Watching you sail out right now on the webcam, have a joy filled cruise!