Big beautiful new ship w/attentive cabin stewards but room for improvement

Norwegian Escape Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Norwegian Escape

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 23, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Escape

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 14228

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

First time on NCL - The Escape is a beautiful ship offering great amenities and friendly crew - our cabin steward ALFIE was AWESOME!! He was attentive, engaging and professional throughout the entire cruise. This is impressive especially considering he and other crew members typically work up to 80 hours per week over the course of a 6 or 7 month contract with 2 months off in between contracts! Entertainment... Fortunately, we booked shows months in advance otherwise we would not have seen any shows - Million Dollar Quartet was simply phenomenal! We are both in our mid-late 40s and thoroughly enjoyed this show. Same applies to After Midnight, which delivered a Broadway level performance. Unfortunately the Brat Pack performance was cancelled due to injury - Being true Northeasterners, we were surprised at the number of passengers who had no understanding of theater etiquette - which is no fault of NCL itself. All of the performers delivered great performances only to be disrespected by a NUMBER of passengers walking out and talking during performances. DINING.... The escape offers and number of dining options - Highly recommend the dining option. First the positives... The hibachi (considered Specialty) the chefs were highly skilled and entertaining, the scallops were the best that either of us have had prior to our trip- La Cucina (Italian) Considered specialty dining, was five stars!! Tim had New York Strip and could not stop raving about the juicy texture and seasoning (for someone that eats steak regularly and did so thruout the cruise he found the NY Strip offered by this restaurant to be the best anywhere) I elected for the veal and found it to be very good as well. Casey's Strakhouse (considered Specialty) offered ENORMOUS portions - Tim had the queen size prime rib cut and it was the size of the plate - he could not eat all of it which is VERY rare for him although he did manage to find room to eat the hot chocolate lava cake for dessert! Regular dining rooms like the Manahttan Room, Taste & Savor were essentially the same restaurant (common menu found at all three restaurants) though decor was refined and inviting- wait times were manageable however we did tend to dine somewhat late- Wine Lovers must visit The Cellars - partake in the flight and enjoy the ambiance relaxing in the very comfortable seating located on the ships Boardwalk- NEGATIVES... The following offer room for improvement- The Garden Cafe (ships all day buffet) - does offer a variety of choices HOWEVER the food itself is definelty mall food court quality and sometimes falls short in achieving that status- the scrambled eggs (or so they said) were powdered eggs and absolutely abhorrent- bacon was good, hand dipped ice cream was great and desserts were plentiful (albeit looked better than they tasted) - Salad bar could definelty be improved and lacked spinach, croutons, protein (other than ham) and cheese. SEATING was insufficient during all three peak meal times and unable to accommodate the large number of passengers opting for the included buffet much like the Sundeck - which seemingly was unable to accommodate the large number of passengers looking to soak up the Rays and enjoy pool time. Definetely need to rethink Sundeck layout

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Specialty dining options were FABULOUS- Garden Cafe Buffet seating VERY limited - food quality mall food court

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Plentiful! Something for everyone- Could use an extra bowling lane or two

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Two of three shows that we were able to see were Broadway quality

Children's Programs

3 out of 5
NA - did not travel with children

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
ALFIE our cabin steward was the man! He was attentive - true professional in every sense of the word!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Large beautiful ship - though Sundeck and Garden Cafe could use more options as far seating- Elevators were often an issue and unable to accommodate the large number of passengers

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Beautiful ocean view balcony cabin- showers were AMAZING - cabin steward ALFIE is the man!!

Ship tip

Book your entertainment and excursions as far in advance as possible! Elect the dining and beverage packages well worth it!!

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5
Stay in close proximity of Port

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
Beautiful island offering great beaches, shopping and views

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5
Elect the Tortola Party Tour and ask for Ray as your tour guide - you will not be disappointed!

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5
Elect the Sea Lion and/or Dolphin Encounter- Long boat ride from ship to site but well worth the views and experience

Traveler Photos

Balcony View Mid- Ship Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter Towel Dog created by ALFIE Waterslides
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4 Comments

askoleern    8 years ago

Getting scrambled eggs on any cruise line ,use powdered eggs.

MyTwins    8 years ago

How do you hook the shows?

wlv4ine3    8 years ago

i recently booked a cruise for 2017 and was told that i could book/reserve shows 90 days in advance

lucygu    8 years ago

How far in advance did you reserve for the show & dinner. We are booked for July.

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