I feel any cruise is a great cruise, and I did enjoy my week aboard the Escape. My biggest complaint is, to me, the ship did not have enough public space for 4000+ passengers. Maybe I am not a mega ship person, but I always felt like a was part of a herd cattle round up. I was also not a fan of the anytime dining or having to make dinner/show reservations. I feel if you are a "traditional" type cruiser you will not like the Escape. However, if you like the freedom of not having set activities or schedules, you will love it. Another plus for the Escape was the solo cabins. My friend loved them and the fact they had what seemed like their own private club. They met every evening together to have dinner, and had the opportunity to mingle with other single passengers.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
We arrived at the port approximately 10:30AM. The entire process was very slow. It took almost 3 hours for us to get to the check in agent. I'm not sure if there was something going on that day, or if this was the norm for check in. I felt it was total chaos. y get to
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food in the specialty restaurants was fantastic. I also liked the food in the complimentary restaurants. What I didn't care for is the fact they seem to all have the same menu. Each restaurant had a different decoration and name, but the exact same menu. I feel the menus should have varied. The buffet had an abundance of food, but during peak times, it was a crazy house. Just too much congestion with too many bodies. The food was basically good, although sometime cold.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
On board actives where ok. The pool size was not large enough for a ship of this size. The lounge chairs were very close to each other, and there was no room for personal space. The children's pool was separated from the adult pool and had little room for parents to sit and relax while their children played. The entire pool area was just crammed. The fitness center was nice, although I did not have the opportunity to use them.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
I feel the stage shows and musicians were all excellent. Choir of Men and After Midnight were both entertaining and well done. The musicians throughout the cruise were all very good. I do wish they had more than the two stage shows. I enjoy seeing a stage show every night. I did not have the opportunity to go to any of the comedy shows because the times they were available conflicted with my schedule.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
My granddaughter loved the children's programs. She was excited to participate in their circus play production on the "big" stage.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
My room steward was awesome. On the first day of the cruise, She asked us what were our wishes and desires. She saw to it that everything we requested was done! In the specialty restaurants the waiters, staff and service was top notch. In the complimentary restaurants, service was a bit slow, and waiters and staff were so-so. I don't think it was their fault. I had the feeling their job was to get you in and out as quickly as possible. I really missed the causal chat with waiters about how my day went or the feel of sitting back and enjoying a leisure meal.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
I found the ship to be very clean and well maintained. I did not like the ships design. For the amount of people on this ship, I feel it does not have enough elevators, or enough public space to handle the capacity of the ship. The atrium is not designed to hold even half the capacity of the ship. Still there where activities held through out the day in the atrium. People were standing everywhere because there was not enough room.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
My balcony cabin was comfortable and had plenty of storage for two adults and one child. We spent a lot of time on our balcony, although it was very small.
Ship tip
Download the app and make your dinner reservations and excursions reservations as soon as they allow you. Everything fills up very quickly. If you can't do this, then I suggest you make all of your reservations as soon as you get on the ship. There were several things we couldn't do because they were totally booked by the time we were on the ship.
Only did any excursion of horseback riding which was ok. We briefly walked trough the port area, It was your typical port area with some shops and places to eat.
Very quick. I did like the fact we could choose the time we wanted to disembark. We were off the ship and finished with customs/immigration in about 10 minutes.
I like posters comments about feeling like part of the herd of "cattle" on ship. There is no escaping it on a mega ship in common areas. I am hoping one day that mega ships will go the way of jumbo jets and retired and replaced by smaller models.
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