I had researched many of the cruise lines before picking NCL, and thought it would be a great fit for us. I read about all the things the ship had to offer and the positive reviews posted. I had cruised before with Princess and was looking forward to comparing the differences. For me it was kind of like it looked/seemed better in the pictures than in reality. Very crowded in many of the popular things to do so couldn't even try things out. I can only sail when schools are out so sailing at other times isn't an option. I thought the passengers on the cruise were very friendly and seemed to be behaved even with all the drinking. The kids didn't seem to be out of control either.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Getting on the ship was okay, long lines. It took us about 2 hour from puling up to the peir to sitting down to get something to eat once on board.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
We ate at 3 specialty restaurants, LeBistro, Teppanaki, Cagney's. LeBistro was our least favorite. The entrees at Teppanaki were very good, dessert and soup not so much. At Cagney's my husband got the filet mingion, which was good. I got the rib eye which was very fatty. I was glad I didn't pay for any of the restaurants as I didn't feel they were worth the extra fee. We ate at Taste and Savor and felt their food was about he same as the specialty ones. The service was the best at Cagney's. We ate breakfast and some lunches at the Garden Cafe. The food there was average to poor. They had mostly all the same food everyday on repeat with a few new ones thrown in. After eating we felt full, but not satisfied like after eating a decent meal. The buffets were often crowded and you felt like you had to be aggressive to get in line or get a table. Hand washing before getting in line at the buffet was non-existent. I saw very few people use the machine, yuck. The seats were stained and often wet from people's wet bathing suits.
The drinks were very hit or miss, either too weak/strong or wrong. Some were so bad I had to just discard them and try getting a drink from a different bar. By the end of the cruise I was just getting seltzer not to deal with the inconsistencies. Thankfully we had the UBP so we weren't paying out of pocket for poor drinks.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Many were very crowded or had long lines so we didn't want to deal with the hassle. The pool was very crowded wall to wall people. Too small of a pool for all those people. We bought the spa package to void the pools and on certain days it was hard to find loungers there because people were saving them or sleeping on the thermal ones (only supposed to be used for 30 min). The steam room was either not working or not working well on 3 days out of the 7. The staff seemed to care less when it was brought to there attention. We attempted to go to Bingo but the cheapest bundle/package was $39+ so we skipped that.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We saw Brat Pack, After Midnight, comedians, Howl at the Moon, juggler, and guitarist. All of them were great. Better than on other cruises. Really was looking forward to going to the Glow party but it was so packed we left after a few minutes as you couldn't even move.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
Most not very friendly. They would say hello once we initiated it. We had only staff member ask us about our trip and that was so she could get our room number as she was looking for ratings. We never meet her nor did she ever serve us before so not really sure what I would comment on. She was going from table to table in the buffet. No one walking around with coffee refills as on other cruises. I had one person ask if we wanted drinks while at the casino. Mostly we had to hunt them down. The bartenders seemed stressed and short as they were very busy with all the people.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Kind of a pain that floors don't go straight through from aft to forward. The public bathrooms were not well cleaned, toilet paper and "water" in many of the stalls. The elevator floors were very sticky from people spilling drinks and not being mopped. The only day I saw staff cleaning hand rails etc was one day when we got into port.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Bed next to the balcony door was nice. Space was tight around bed.
Ship tip
Make reservations for everything before you leave. Glad we did as most things were sold out when we got onboard. Watch your account for charges. Carry on/off your bags. They lost one of ours. I finally found it after I went to look for it myself. The staff didn't seem to be too concerned about it.
Loved Bermuda! We had a great time in port. The water and the beaches were beautiful. We went to Hamilton on the ferry, Horseshoe bay, Jobson Cove and snorkeling. We did the helmet dive with Hartley great fun!
We were on the Escape two weeks ago and I felt the staff were very friendly and were good at their jobs. I commented to a officer this at dinner and later that evening a complimentary plate of little cakes showed up at our room which I thought was awesome. Our room and the ship was clean and we went right through embarkation and onboard in less than a hour.
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