We enjoyed our cruise very much. We have sailed 9 times on Carnival, twice on RCCL, ,and this was our first cruise with NCL. We would sail any of them again. RCCL is our favorite so far, and Carnival and NCL are tied for second. NCL wins hands down for entertainment, and Carnival has a slight edge for staff and food.
I would love to pass along some excellent advice I received from seasoned cruisers: Don't get stuck in the rut of sailing only one cruiseline. Try them all and see for yourself. IMO, it's not worth limiting ourselves to one cruiseline to reach priority level. We were determined to reach Platinum on Carnival, but forum friends convinced us to branch out. We are so glad we did. If we ever get priority status on a cruise line, that will be great, but at this point, we will sail on the ship with the best bang for our buck for our desired itinerary.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Food was plentiful, but mostly just meh. Moderno was excellent. OSheehans was a disappointment to us, both in food and in service. Two different staff members were just short of rude. There was one server who was excellent.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Shows were incredible!! Entertainment on this ship knocks Carnival out of the water, and edges out Royal Caribbean. IMO, Brat Pack was Broadway quality, and Choir of Man was unbelievable, both in music and interaction with audience. After Midnight was also top notch.
The live music was not so great in quality, but the songs and energy helped make up for that.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
Our 4 and 6 year old grands begged to go to Splash Academy. The staff were wonderful with them. They even put on a performance the last afternoon. I couldn't believe how they were able to get all the kids onstage to perform skits after a week. Even the 3-5 year olds participated and we really enjoyed the show.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The ship was huge but it didn't take to long to figure out where things were. Staff was great about helping out if needed.
The elevators were s-l-o-w. They are the reason I didn't give the ship 5 stars. There are no midship elevators, and not enough elevators for the number of passengers. Getting back up to 15 after muster on 7 was a nightmare. People were so rude--saw elderly folks literally shoved aside by people old enough to know better. Took forever.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Cabin was spacious enough for the three of us--bathroom was larger than we are accustomed to on a ship. Great location--quiet and very convenient to forward elevators. This is a spa balcony cabin.
Ship tip
If I were elderly or mobility challenged, I would probably consider another ship due to Escape's size and the number of elevators.
Not a bad experience, but chaotic as it always seems to be on any ship. We were on 15 and disembarkation is on deck 7, so we took our suitcases down to our daughters room on 5 the night before. Turned out to be a very smart decision on our part. The day before disembarkation, luggage tags are made available. Check the daily paper for location. We chose self disembarkation. Luckily, my daughter thought to check, and luggage tags are required for self-disembark as well. We chose green, the earliest time slot. Staff didn't appear to be checking tag color, as we saw later time luggage tags on several folks' bags. Port staff was rude, but we were off the ship quickly. We crossed the street and caught an Uber to JFK relatively quickly. I didn't think to check the time, but I believe we were off by 8 AM.
Great review.. we too stuck with Carnival but began branching out to other cruise lines due to their destinations, port of departure and activities we knew our son would love.
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