Norwegian - No thank you!
Norwegian Escape Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 19, 2016
Ship: Norwegian Escape
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 15220
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
I have cruised on Carnival and Royal Caribbean and thought I'd try Norwegian to see what cruise line I preferred. After our Thanksgiving cruise (7 night) last week on the Norwegian Escape, I will never go back to Norwegian again. Royal Caribbean cruise line has been the best cruise line for me for lots of reasons!
1) Norwegian Escape has the MAIN pool for ADULTS ONLY every day, all day until 5pm!! Of course, they let the kids swim after 5pm because no kids are around then. The parents are done for the day and everyone is taking showers and getting ready for dinner. So if you have kids, this is NOT the cruise ship for you!
2) The kids can go to the "kiddy" pool for those ages of "infant" to "18 years of age" and the pool is VERY small. The kiddy slides block the pool so there is hardly any sun in the pool and if you have kids that are between 8-18, forget it! Those age kids don't want to be in this small pool, with screaming kids and their parents!
3) The main deck where the pool is and the daytime activity is all on one level. This was a HUGE mistake that Norwegian made! If you don't have elevated seating, it's really hard to see or participate in what activity is taking place. Sometimes (not always!), they would display the activity on the 2 smaller screens but if you are not in the 1st row of seats, it's real difficult to even see what they are doing!
4) The back of the ship has a huge screen where they show movies and they also have a grouto (yep, for adults only!). This is a huge area that Norwegian has wasted space with! Most of the time, YEP, you guessed it! It's ADULT ONLY!! There is plenty of room to put a pool in under the big screen and have that area for ADULTS only all the time, NOT AT THE MAIN POOL AREA!
5) Norwegian staff were very rude! I can name 3 people on the entire ship that I could give a "thank you" too! All the bartenders and buffet staff had NO personality and weren't not helpful at all!
The list could go on and on....I am not a picky person but I was really disappointed in this cruise line/ship!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
You will spend more on the ship than you had planned because you will be surprised how much isn't included in your cruise cost. They charge for everything!
Ports of call
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
7 Comments
stephenroth 7 years ago
MrChocoholic 7 years ago
Here's my dos centavos: you picked the wrong ship at the wrong time. You should have tried the congee for breakfast. Delicious! I concur that your family may have been more satisfied on Carnival or Disney. NCL's kids programs are good, almost as comprehensive as Carnival or Disney. The ships are exceptionally friendly, almost at remembering your name as Carnival. I've been on two classes of NCL's ships (NOT the biggest ones) and found them to be the exact opposite of your description. My kid never missed the water slide.
noname111 7 years ago
Thank you for posting a review. It is unfortunate that you did not find more positives in order to enjoy your vacation. It sounds as if you were pretty miserable during the entire voyage.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion... and people's opinions of the same cruise vary wildly. Hope you find a happy medium but if you want a truly family friendly experience, Disney is probably your best shot... just be prepared to pay Disney prices.
BY THE WAY - all of the popular cruise lines upsell. This is not a phenomenon specific to NCL. It is a fact of cruising life so get used to it. :/
JusMe 7 years ago
Thanks for a good balanced review with examples of what you did not like and why. If you know and like RCI and Carnival they are both good lines to stick with. I have also run into bad service on a NCL ship but on a different NCL ship service was good. You may have just been on a bad ship or a bad cruise.
If spending time with the kids is your major goal, have you thought of a Disney cruise ?
BAK1061 7 years ago
The only thing I can say is, since you are cruising more for your children than the adults, then yes, Carnival and Royal Caribbean might be better choices. We will be taking our 10th cruise with NCL in about a month, and have never had the experience of rude employees. All cruise lines have cut back on staff, so many are overworked. Bartenders seldom have time to engage customers in conversation. Especially the bartenders near the pools.
Never say never ( re: sailing NCL ). You could sail Carnival tomorrow and be disappointed.
capeman 7 years ago
I am so sorry to read you had such a bad time on the ship, I agree they dropped the ball on the pool deck big time, Nobody can beat Royal Cariibbean there on that point. To read the staff was rude, this I can't believe? I always met the nicest of staff on this ship and the Getaway, I have found the staff so friend on Norwegian Line. I have had many warm and friendly conversations with officers and staff alike, and I am diamond on Royal, I haven't found this on Royal. I hope your cruises only get better from here on, be safe and travel well.