Great value

Item: Norwegian Escape
Rating: 4.4
Author: Shewi128

Norwegian Escape Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Shewi128

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 10

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5

Verified Review

11 Night Mediterranean: Italy France & Greece (Trieste To Barcelona)

Sail date: August 21, 2024

Ship: Norwegian Escape

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 12854

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 2 months ago

Review summary

This was a great value for a family of 4. The 3rd and 4th guests were "free", and we absolutely had an amazing time. The Escape was a better ship compared to the Breakaway (our last cruise).

Embarkation

5 out of 5

We had check-in time at 10:30 AM. We showed up at the Trieste port then, and we literally breezed right through security and on to the ship. It's the earliest we've ever boarded a ship and the most seamless experience we've had.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

The food is ok for mass-produced cruise ship food. I consider myself a foodie, and the food was mostly acceptable. The food was at appropriate temperatures most of the time. The breakfast buffet was my least favorite--no hashbrowns and minimal variety!--but the lunch and dinner buffets were acceptable. The buffet desserts were bad most of the time. The main dining room was fairly decent, and I was happily surprised with the taste, temperature, and flavor of most of the foods. The specialty dining restaurants we went to were Food Republic and Bayamo. Food Republic had unique options, and the servings were fairly large. The food was pretty good, but not great. Bayamo had our favorite meals and desserts.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

We did most of the activities, like the ropes course, mini golf, drop slides, splash pad, teen/kids club, arcade, etc. Minus the adult pool and the chair hogs around the pool, we had a great time.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

We missed not having any comedians on board and only having 1 large scale show. Choir of Man was fantastic, however. We enjoyed the game shows (paid and unpaid), trivia, etc. However, some kids/families dominated the shows and made it difficult to enjoy some of the time.

Children's Programs

4 out of 5

My kids both really enjoyed the Splash Academy and Entourage. Some of the activities in the teen club were canceled randomly, and they did have random rules regarding gaming that annoyed my teen.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

No issues. Our stateroom steward was super hard-working and cleaned our room well every day,

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

I saw people cleaning every inch of the ship literally every day.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

This is an angled balcony cabin, which was great to have more room outside. However, a lounger would have been nice. The stateroom had more than enough room for our family of 4 and all of our clothes. The water pressure sucks for the shower. The stateroom is right between 2 stairwells, so we had easy access to other floors. It was also quiet and we couldn't hear our neighbors.