Excellent for the ship and crew, Only OK for the Itinerary

Aside from the Itinerary, we absolutely loved the Norwegian Escape.  Things you should know.  We have never had a bad cruise and is the only service we have every used. We are Upstate, NY folk and escape the cold every Feb or early March. We have Sailed Norwegian for past 3 cruises because #1 Better Entertainment, #2 Better food, #3 Staff helpfulness/friendliness. The only negative we heard from other customers was Norwegian "Nickels and Dimes you". We heard complaints from HAVEN passengers that it was over-run by unruly children and parents did nothing about it because they felt they paid that huge rate and could.  We were thrilled not to have the Haven. We, as older adults not sailing with children did not want to hear any screaming or crying. I love children, but wanted peace on my vacation.  We had a Spa balcony that we could have lived without but enjoyed...no children. The Vibe is something we can not live without.  Suggestion to Norweigian...forego the Haven area (we heard from several that at least on this cruise, it was a nightmare) and create more Vibe areas.  That's what people want!  Our happy place was found in the Vibe but it was $99 per person and it is limited and you only get it if you are one of the lucky 1st come first served. We were lucky and arrived 1st and new where to go to get the Vibe passes.  We paid extra per person for the Specialty Dining for 3 nights, which was enough.  The food was fantastic except for the Supper Club. Only the small portion of meat was good, but we left very hungry and had to indulge at the Café too.  The For the Record Show at the Supper Club was worth it. Happy to see they are moving them to the Theater  We liked the atmosphere of the Supper Club, but good GOD Norwegian...change the food!! We felf extra paid food money should not have been used for that. We loved Moderno, Cagneys and sandwiches at Margaritaville.  Had to pay around 14 plus tip for Margaritaville.  Did it, but could live without it.   Don't miss Million Dollar Quartet.  Howl at the Moon was better on the Epic.  Still good though.  On the Epic went three times and on the Escape only a couple of hours.  Bring your own coffee pods for in your room...not K cups if you love coffee. Norwegian has the worst coffee ever. Bitter, Bitter, Bitter. Add 1/2 cup hot water helps.  Overall the Ship was fantastic and the staff were the best ever bar none.  We loved our Steward Rosario on floor 15 forward.  Our cabin was perfect! 15140 and not far from the elevator.  We hardly felt like we were moving. Suggest new cruisers get midship or forward rooms.  The Casino area was EXTREMELY SMOKEY!!! They need to do something about that. I love Blackjack but they hardly had the non-smoking Blackjack area open.  It still stunk over there. Ugh!  Don't get me wrong though, LOVED this ship overall and here it is: If you are a couple, get the Vibe, Splurge if you can to get the Spa Balcony, You don't need the Specialty dining because there are enough options, especially the Manhattan Room-excellent.  We don't drink enough for the Beverage package, but it was included, so he drank a few beers and I had one-2 frozen drinks per day and one glass of wine.  If you are a major drinker...hold out for the free beverage package they offer.  Ports-Tortola frankly sucked! St Thomas was nice but we have done this about 3 times now so just shopped, and Nassau many stayed on the ship.  I LOVE Norwegian.  No desire to change cruiselines although have heard Royal Carribean does not "Nickel and Dime" you.  We will try them some day to compare.  We have already scheduled our next cruise on the Norwegian Breakaway for our Honeymoon with another couple and will definitely return to the Escape when they go to their new itinerary.  Hope this helps someone.  Wish Norwegian would review this and change their coffee and reimburse us for the Specialty dining only in the Supper Club-the worst! Everthing else was perfect!