The open dining,for our party of 9, never ended up being a longer wait than 10 minutes even with NO reservations as we don't like time constraints on a vacation! The option of sitdown/menu dining at OSheehan's and Marquaritaville was a personal FAVE with our group and me and my husband never ate a the buffet or open Café one time. The entertainment crew and cruise director, Tyler, were the Best of the Best and their mission was to make EVERYONE have a good time and feel included...from young to old. ALL of us were SO impressed with their energy and people skills! We did have a problem with something on the ship and we were told that we couldn't make our stop in Nassau, Bahamas. The captain announced it, the cruise director announced it again and then they wrote a letter for everyone explaining and gave all rooms a $50 credit for it and refunded excursions, if any. Some people were all butt-hurt, but crap happens and our group did NOT think it was a huge deal and when we figured up the $50 credit times the number of cabins it was a good chunk of change that NCL gave back. I don't think such an event can be held against NCL - it's about the REST of how they made you feel on your vacation....But you can never please everyone. (lus, we have been to Bahamas before and it's a least favorite spot...so not a HUGE loss to us anyway.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The BEST we have had on any cruise!! NEVER had anything we didn't rave about! And the options of menu/anytime dining at O'Sheehans was awesome and we liked it better than the buffet. Also enjoyed Maguaritaville a TON...Mile high nachos would feed 3 people and were incredible.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The entertainment/Cruise director was the best we have ever had...by far! The entertainment crew/staff always looked like they were having the time of their life and it was very infectious. They were really good at appealing to all ages and kinds of people and we were all impressed, from 9 year old to 20 year old to 44 year old...that's not an easy task, but they did it!!
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
It's still new and super clean!! Loved enjoying the newness. Decent sized bathrooms, nice layout and GREAT enclosed shower with great pressure (that was a first for us!) Loved the balcony room and the sliding glass door. Having a true KING bed was amazing and we ALL said the mattress was good and we slept well on it.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
LOVED the size of the room and the balcony size with 2 chairs and a table! Will never cruise without a balcony room again, its worth the extra price to have sliding glass doors open to the sound of the ocean and the sea air coming in!
Ship tip
We are personally NOT a fan of buffet style eating and on the Norwegian Escape we ended up NEVER eating at the buffet/Café except for breakfast on the last day of disembarking. O'Sheehans was midship and was a sitdown, menu eating with most items complimentary and it was GREAT food.
We booked a tour ourselves with a local company, recommended online of course. It was named 'Speedy's' and it was GREAT! VERY friendly and accommodating to what we wanted. We got an extension tour with commentary the whole time, which we loved, then taken to a local restaurant that was GREAT and then 2 hours of beach time at our chosen beach spot. Highly recommend them.
If you are doing the BATHS in Virgin Gorda, book your excursion thru the cruise ship, even though it costs more. We tried to save money and in the end we paid with a horrible ferry experience and not enough time to even see the Baths. All while we watched those who booked thru the cruise get drive on service to the ferry, while we worried again that the ferry was oversold and we would be pushed back another hour and may not make back to ship in time. In the end we made it, but it was NOT worth the stress and anxiety for the money we saved.
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