Nice cruise, nice itinerary, but ship was a little crowded

Norwegian Escape Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 60

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Escape

7 Night Caribbean: Great Stirrup Cay & Dominican Republic (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 14, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Escape

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9212

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

We were happy with the ship and the itinerary, but it was a little crowded (high season?). I think the service suffered a little bit because of the crowds. Heard a lot of coughing around the ship (and one of us tested positive after we got off).

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
Specialty dining was excellent. Main dining rooms were more crowded than I've ever seen, especially on sea days. This caused service to be a little slow. Buffet was good, though there were times when some of the foods were a little cold

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
Deck Pool was nice, but again, it got really crowded in the afternoon

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Choir of Man was excellent! Howl at the Moon was really good, but the venue was a bit small. They had a really good pop band (in the Pour House) but the venue was so small we only got in to see them once. Magician and comedians were OK.

Children's Programs

no kids

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The staff worked really hard, especially the overworked bartenders

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Size was about expected. Always clean (good steward). Met our needs

Ship tip

Arrive early for any shows at the comedy club (Headliners) and the Pour House. Make dining reservations early - even for the main dining rooms. We never had to do that before but it was so crowded this time

Ports of call

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

5 out of 5
Amber Cove had a really nice pool area and water slide that was free to use for us. It also had a number of nice shops and we enjoyed walking around and up to the sky bar for a great view

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

4 out of 5
Nice area. We just walked into town for a stroll. The 99 Steps was pretty underwhelming.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

4 out of 5
Nice area. Strolled around town. Too many jewelry shops!

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

5 out of 5
Very nice area. Enough beach and chairs for everybody. The bar lines got a little long but the buffet was very good. Bring your own snorkeling equipment (though you can rent it). We did have to tender to get to the island...a pier would be really great if they could build it

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
We walked off with our luggage. Lines were a bit confusing, but once we started moving all went smoothly
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