This was the cruise from "HELL"

Norwegian Escape Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 130

Overall rating:

1 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Escape

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 15, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Escape

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12126

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

I have nothing but complaints about this ship and this cruiseline. I would not recommend this cruise to anyone!! It began with the ncl rep fighting with the shuttlebus driver in ft lauderdale (in torrential rain, lightening, and thunder), who wanted us to load our own luggage, and then tried to drive off with it on the sidewalk. The rooms, and the ship overall, is very poorly designed. The bed was about 1 ft. from the closet doors (which moved constantly so the hangers banged against them all night long). So when you tried to get something from the closet, you fell over on the bed. Sprained my wrist the first day before leaving port, trying to open the balcony door that wasn't on the runner correctly, so it jammed. Then an employee turned on a waterhose on the deck above me, and when I jumped I sprained my toe on the aluminum base of the lawnchair. You can never get a seat in the buffet or anywhere else, because it is wall to wall people all the time. 1 pool for 4200 people, no seat to be found. Hot tubs monopolized all day long. Even in the "free" restaurants, half of the menu you have to pay extra. The noise is deafening everywhere, not a quiet place to be found, unless you pay for a spot on the top deck. To top it off, a virus broke out with over 85 people sick, so if you had any symptoms at all, you were confined to your room for 48 hrs. I wasn't allowed to get off ship for 2 days and missed Nassau, which was the only day we had any sun all week. All I had was a migraine headache, and 1 bout of nausea. Totally undisciplined kids running everywhere, which staff did nothing about. Room service is a "joke", with maybe 30 minutes on hold and then get disconnected, and the food is not worth eating when it comes 2 hrs later. Guest Service Desk the same, long hold only to get disconnected. These kind of problems would not be allowed on most other cruiselines, and you would have received compensation. NCL thinks sending a bottle of wine, to someone who doesn't drink, is enough. Don't waste your money on this one.!!!!!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5
bed too close to closets, tv constantly going off, balcony door jammed, closet doors constantly banging with hangers

Ship tip

Don't sail with Norwegian

Ports of call

Miami, Florida

3 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

1 out of 5
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8 Comments

MnSqAtSea    8 years ago

Wow, it's amazing that we were on this same cruise and we ABSOLUTELY LOVED it. We don't remember seeing those "undisciplined" kids you talk about. We also found several quiet spots on the ship to chill. Spice H2O, the Waterfront and others. No, it wasn't 100% problem free, but what is?? Of the 3 cruises we've taken so far, this was our favorite and we are already planning our next cruise with NCL.

MnSqAtSea    8 years ago

We were on the same cruise, same date and had a completely different experience. I've never seen a cleaner ship. Yes some folks didn't  washy washy enough and brought a bug aboard, but if you're contagious you should be quarantined for the sake of the other 4000 on board.  But the NCL was everywhere disinfecting. We always found a lounge chair, enjoyed the music on deck and really didn't see many children. Yes the buffet is crazy, but with so many restaurants on board, we ate elsewhere.

askeegan    8 years ago

Wow a calamity of errors.  Please do not let this one bad experience ruin your cruising future!

glomarrone    8 years ago

OMG!  Sorry to read that so many things went wrong.  I know for sure that your next cruise will be much better - it couldn't get any worse.  Thanks for posting.  I hope that the venting helped!

meghad23    8 years ago

Sorry to hear about your issues through the cruise.. Getting hurt and the virus outbreak is not fun. What are the other lines you have cruised? Like John said, I would love to hear the differences you have had. 

 

Thanks for the review!

Bubba54    8 years ago

Thanks for the review.

noname111    8 years ago

Thank you for posting your review. It is so very unfortunate when nothing seems to go right, in any situation let alone one's vacation.  

Do not give up on cruising altogether.... try another smaller ship instead of the mega floating brick types.

Johngold    8 years ago

It certainly seems like you picked a real wrong time to cruise on this ship. While I have my own concerns about the Mega Ships I would still want to hear about the differences between this cruise and the others you have taken. I know that others have mentioned the pool issue with this ship, and that may be addressed in the future.

please expand on the differences in further posts.

 

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