NCL ESCAPE - FEBRUARY 11-18 - LIVE REVIEW

[BenDover]

Please go by Cellars and tell Dragisa, Micheal says 👋.

He will take care of all your wine needs 😎

Edited February 11, 2023 by BenDover

[zzdoug]

Thanks for all the details. Very helpful to see which shows can be booked in advance. Great report so far, very much appreciated but please don't let it keep you from enjoying your vacation!

 

[devinelaw]

3 hours ago, zzdoug said:

Thanks for all the details. Very helpful to see which shows can be booked in advance. Great report so far, very much appreciated but please don't let it keep you from enjoying your vacation!

 

Yes, my sweetheart of 33 years has reminded of that 😜🫣

[devinelaw]

CAPTAINS LOG, STAR DATE 2/11/2023 😂. It’s late.  

NCL ESCAPE LIVE REVIEW…..

 

Saturday Evening, Day One:

 

Dinner:  Dinner was in Savor’s at 8:45pm.  It was very good!!  See pics!

 

Guest Services:  Had to stop by, had $410 in onboard credit’s but only info on $270 dropped by room but got it resolved.  Also didn’t have our Thermal Spa passes dropped in room but learned you get those taken care of in Spa, checked that box off.  We’re supposed to have 12 bottled waters with FAS Plus, still working on that.

 

Shows: We attended the Dazzling Deceptions Magic Show with Brian Ledbetter from Seattle in the Theater at 9pm.  Great show!!  He starts in Branson Missouri in March through December.

At 11pm we watched the Comedy Night with Vince Acevedo at Headliners.  Very very funny, was an equal opportunity offender.  

 

Vibe Beach Club:  We have sailed NCL three times and got passes for the Vibe BC each time.  It’s one of our favorite places.  One piece of advice for NCL.  In the past we had to purchase passes online and got the entrance card or band once you purchased allowing access on the day we boarded.  This time they we purchased online and were put in our cabins which were not ready until late so this kept us from going to the Vibe BC to hangout on Saturday.  We found other things to do but would’ve been nice to have access since we paid a premium for it.

 

Starbucks:  Stopped by SB and got my Hot Venti White Chocolate Mocha with whipped cream & 5x shots ☕️, maybe that’ll keep me awake.  Wife got same but iced w/o shots and whipped cream.

 

Luggage & Misc.:  Some had asked specifically about usb fan we packed being confiscated, it made it to room and case of mini cokes and sprites we packed they made it to room too as well as all our room snacks!  Actually everything we packed was there.  Did use TSA approved locks, not sure if that made a difference or not.  Also with cokes, they have Coke Zero and just about every time we order a Coke they give us a can.

 

Editors Note 😂:  Excuse any typos in the posts, spell correct and fast typing may happen from time to time.  My sweetheart 🥰 is monitoring my posts and lovingly pointed them out.  She’s an accountant, very particular, I’m an attorney and go for accuracy but also move fast, I’ve usually got people for catching things in review, but she wouldn’t volunteer for that on the cruise 😜😂

It’s midnight and we’re tired and going to bed 😴😴😴😴

[devinelaw]

Copies of Freestyle Dailies…..

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  Thank you for taking the time to post reviews and especially food pictures!

[mcmomny]

Thank you! On this cruise next month!

Loving the pictures and review!

[vettesale]

10 hours ago, devinelaw said:

CAPTAINS LOG, STAR DATE 2/11/2023 😂. It’s late.  

NCL ESCAPE LIVE REVIEW…..

 

Saturday Evening, Day One:

 

Dinner:  Dinner was in Savor’s at 8:45pm.  It was very good!!  See pics!

 

Guest Services:  Had to stop by, had $410 in onboard credit’s but only info on $270 dropped by room but got it resolved.  Also didn’t have our Thermal Spa passes dropped in room but learned you get those taken care of in Spa, checked that box off.  We’re supposed to have 12 bottled waters with FAS Plus, still working on that.

 

Shows: We attended the Dazzling Deceptions Magic Show with Brian Ledbetter from Seattle in the Theater at 9pm.  Great show!!  He starts in Branson Missouri in March through December.

At 11pm we watched the Comedy Night with Vince Acevedo at Headliners.  Very very funny, was an equal opportunity offender.  

 

Vibe Beach Club:  We have sailed NCL three times and got passes for the Vibe BC each time.  It’s one of our favorite places.  One piece of advice for NCL.  In the past we had to purchase passes online and got the entrance card or band once you purchased allowing access on the day we boarded.  This time they we purchased online and were put in our cabins which were not ready until late so this kept us from going to the Vibe BC to hangout on Saturday.  We found other things to do but would’ve been nice to have access since we paid a premium for it.

 

Starbucks:  Stopped by SB and got my Hot Venti White Chocolate Mocha with whipped cream & 5x shots ☕️, maybe that’ll keep me awake.  Wife got same but iced w/o shots and whipped cream.

 

Luggage & Misc.:  Some had asked specifically about usb fan we packed being confiscated, it made it to room and case of mini cokes and sprites we packed they made it to room too as well as all our room snacks!  Actually everything we packed was there.  Did use TSA approved locks, not sure if that made a difference or not.  Also with cokes, they have Coke Zero and just about every time we order a Coke they give us a can.

 

Editors Note 😂:  Excuse any typos in the posts, spell correct and fast typing may happen from time to time.  My sweetheart 🥰 is monitoring my posts and lovingly pointed them out.  She’s an accountant, very particular, I’m an attorney and go for accuracy but also move fast, I’ve usually got people for catching things in review, but she wouldn’t volunteer for that on the cruise 😜😂

 

It’s midnight and we’re tired and going to bed 😴😴😴😴

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. These reviews and tips will come in handy for when we board next month.

[Lionkingrichard]

$360 for a Massage?😱

[disneylover89]

Thank you so much for posting all this great info!  I did not see a sign up for Bamboozled on the entertainment sheet, do you know how and when you can sign up for it?

[zzdoug]

23 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

$360 for a Massage?😱

It's ridiculous. We usually look for a day spa in a port where we don't have any other special plans.  Costs are maybe a quarter of that. 

[BenDover]

42 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

$360 for a Massage?😱

And that’s before they hard sell you $200+ in products 😳

[Lionkingrichard]

54 minutes ago, zzdoug said:

It's ridiculous. We usually look for a day spa in a port where we don't have any other special plans.  Costs are maybe a quarter of that. 

Loved going to the Tropicante in Costa Maya. I think it was $30 under the Palms. Was awesome!

[Travelicious]

21 hours ago, devinelaw said:

 Cabins were not officially ready until X pm.  

Is this 10:00 p.m.?  Surely not.

[eileeshb]

4 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

$360 for a Massage?😱

That is absolutely nuts, I’ve had a Swedish massage on the ship in the past and it was never that price even before the port day discount.  You can get a thermal spa pass for that price for the entire week and let the jets and heat do the work instead. I’m going to see if I can find a pricelist from a past cruise…

[eileeshb]

Found a pricelist from 2018… price on the left is standard, price on the right is the reduced price when in port. 

[Lionkingrichard]

9 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

Found a pricelist from 2018… price on the left is standard, price on the right is the reduced price when in port. 

Thanks. Find me on the ship and I will do it for half price. Casino chips or cash. lol

[jerseyjjs]

According to the Feb 12, Day 2 Freestyle, there's no listing of the Super Bowl being shown anywhere.  Really??

[sns1009]

19 minutes ago, jerseyjjs said:

According to the Feb 12, Day 2 Freestyle, there's no listing of the Super Bowl being shown anywhere.  Really??

It was kind of hiden in there, but looks like it's playing in lots of areas. 

[IslandHppy]

Thanks for the daily programs.  Live music and dancing choices seem very limited given the size of the ship.    

[tee3240]

Thank you for sharing! This will be us in 3 weeks!!

 

[devinelaw]

Sunday, Sea Day, Day Two:

 

Miscellaneous:  Finally fell asleep at 2am only to wake up at 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep 🤷🏻‍♂️ So checked email and posts at 5am, went to Guest Services at 5:30am (No Line😂) as there was a $119 charge for the wine at Savor the night before on our account and shouldn’t have been as we have FAS Plus.  Tip, the waiter said the wine listed on a menu that are by bottle and glass are included in FAS Premium drink package, those that are only listed by bottle, not by glass, are not, but you get 40% discount.  Anyway, the Guest Services Rep couldn’t get anyone from the Beverage Department night shift so said she’d take care of it when day shift came in at 7:30am and would get our account corrected.  

 

Then went to the Fitness area of the Spa and walked a few miles on the treadmill. 

 

At 10am went down to the Theater and picked up Port information and at 12:30pm back to the Theater to pick up Port Shopping information.

 

Vibe Beach Club: ***A bit of an issue first thing this morning with the VBC.  First they had the upper deck roped off with a sign stating closed due to inclement weather.  We went to Guest Services to see if the VBC was closed but they had no information and said it should be open for access.   Once in it was windy but no more so than Deck 18 or most of Deck 17.  Bar staff started showing up so thinking maybe Deck 19 was roped off overnight and they merely hadn’t reopened it yet.  The ship is moving at a healthy clip too so that affects wind too, so as it was 8:30am maybe the Captain would slow down later so it is not so windy.  The hot tub was also dirty, filled with what looked like black ash and also the button to turn on the jets didn’t work.  Nevertheless, VBC beats not having a crowded area, but starting out to not be like our prior two experiences.  They did come and clean the hot tub but at 11am they closed the deck including the VBC because of wind, so we and the other three couples had to leave.  We walked Deck 18 and 17 just below and they were just as windy but didn’t close them.  Wondering if it has more to do with the low numbers in VBC this morning and deploying staff elsewhere on a full ship.  Frustrating to pay for this area to avoid crowds then they shut it down.  This resulted in our Sun day being cut short because the other decks were packed.  We will see how they handle VBC rest of week, but each of the three NCL cruises we’ve gotten VBC passes and each time the ship has been packed so glad we did.  We’ve said each time if we didn’t have the VBC, NCL wouldn’t be worth sailing due to the crowd.  If we have another day with VBC closed we will likely not sail NCL again anytime soon.***

 

Thermal Suite:  Once we were told to vacate the VBC we headed over to the thermal suite.  It was interesting.  The show room was nice and cold, tried the sauna and sanarium.  The heated stone loungers were nice as was the therapy pool and whirlpool.  We’re glad we tried it this cruise and we’ll use it throughout the week, but both agreed it’s not something we’d do again for $600.  Nice but not quite worth that in our opinion.

 

 

Breakfast:  After my workout, went back to the cabin at 6:45am and woke my sweetheart up and convinced her to go get breakfast with me.  We headed up to the Garden Café one floor up had breakfast with a back of ship view then went back to the cabin and got ready for a day at the VBC.

 

Lunch:  Stopped by the Garden Café and had a quick bite.  Then headed to the American Diner and had a milkshake.  Very milky, in that it was almost regular milk,  not really frozen and definitely not worth the $7 each.  

 

Dinner:  As it’s Super Bowl Sunday we decided to forgo the dining room and ate dinner at O’Sheehans.  Had wings (very good), nachos (average), chili (good), cheeseburger (good) and Rueben (no sauerkraut and American cheese, not really a Rueben).  This was a location playing the game, waitstaff seemed off kilter that people were talking their time and not turning over tables as normal.  They don’t seem to comprehend the the hype over the Super Bowl.

 

Starbucks:  Stopped by to grab our SB and headed back to cabin to finish the game.  Go Chiefs!!

 

VIP Reception in Haven:  Were invited to a cocktail party in the Haven Courtyard with the Captain and Ship General Manager but it’s at 7pm and there’s a Super Bowl, so as much as it would be interesting to see the Haven area not going to miss the game for it.

 
TOMORROW’S PREVIEW:  Amber Cove and Anniversary Day (35 years ago tomorrow, at the ages of 20 & 21, proposed to my sweetheart  (we will celebrate 34 years of marriage in June)

[devinelaw]

5 hours ago, Travelicious said:

Is this 10:00 p.m.?  Surely not.

No typo, they were ready after Muster Drill at 4:45pn

[devinelaw]

3 hours ago, jerseyjjs said:

According to the Feb 12, Day 2 Freestyle, there's no listing of the Super Bowl being shown anywhere.  Really??

They are showing it in Atrium, Headliners, O’Sheehans, Spice H2O and stateroom tvs

[devinelaw]

9 hours ago, disneylover89 said:

Thank you so much for posting all this great info!  I did not see a sign up for Bamboozled on the entertainment sheet, do you know how and when you can sign up for it?

It’s in Supper Club which you sign up for at the Super Club location