Disappointed

Norwegian Escape Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 45

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Escape

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 12, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Escape

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 5713

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

I booked this for my family's vacation for spring break. I have been on a cruise but my son had not. It has been my past experience you pay your fare that includes your room and all food on board. I understand I have to pay taxes and port fees that was charged the day I purchases our tickets. The room itself was fine  except the hard bed and the ship was nice, but that being said I have many complaints. I read Nowegian's website before I booked this and thought I was prepared for all costs. I knew there were some restaurants that had surcharges, alcohol and sodas cost extra. I even knew the cost of parking at the port. We start the cruise to find out of the 28 restaurants on board only 5 were included with my fare.  If you wanted steak or lobster in the complimentary restaurants you had to pay an additional $20- $25. The menus seemed limited and the buffet served a lot of the same items everyday. Also the service in the restaurant was terrible, I always had to refills for my water sometimes to the point that I had finished eating before I got a refill. Only 4 of the shows were complimentary the rest you had to pay extra. I do not have endless pockets to pay all of the extra fees. I feel that I did not receive what I paid for. We were even charged a daily fee $13.50 per person per day for what I was told for housekeeping when Norwegian's website states a gratuity is not required. I felt I was nickel and dimed to death. Also there was a medical emergency on board and as a result we skipped our last port, I am understanding of the emergency but I paid for 3 ports but only received 2 and feel that I should receive a partial refund. The port taxes were collected for Nassau  but were not given back even though we did not port there. Some of the contests were funny and Silas did a great job hosting the shows. The four days at sea was beyond boring, the 3rd day I was ready to jump off the ship and swim back. You can only swim so much and most of the events on board was Norwegian trying to sell me something. I would never cruise with Norwegian or would I ever recommend it to anyone.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Majority of the restaurantshows were not included and cost extra

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5
Only 4 of the shows were complimentary

Children's Programs

1 out of 5
My 12 year old said it was boring, he did like playing dodgeball

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
The staff was very friendly but the waiters in restaurants were not attentive to refills of drinks, I always had to ask

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
It was clean and new

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
It was clean and housekeeping did a good job. My only complaint was the bed was hard as a rock like sleeping on the flour.

Ship tip

Bring a lot of money if you plan on doing all the ship has to offer since a small portion is included in your fare.

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

5 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas Did not visit port

Our port was cancelled and we spent an extra day at sea
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