Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I sailed on June 10th and I really enjoyed this ship. Most everyone was friendly. I found myself bored most of the time because I didn't feel like sitting by the pool because it was always crowded. I wish they had more pools to diverse the crowd. I would recommend doing the ropes course on board. it's a lot of fun but it probably isn't for someone that is afraid of heights. The Garden Cafe was huge and had tons of food of different varities. The food there also tastes great!

Beautiful ship and that is about it. Due to the size of the ship, you must book majority of entertainment days prior. No daily, lets go to the (theater) show tonight...Then the daily entertainment like, "deal or no deal" and other little games were held in the Atrium that COULD NOT handle the crowd who wanted to properly view and play. Constant problems with the TV in the room, to include purchased movies stopping and having to restart the movie (and call guest services for credit- for restarting). Lacking in "needed items" in the gift shop and the prices exceed 4 times a normal price. Gift shops were impersonal and lacking "draw appeal". Food on the buffet was scattered about, some salad here and the rest of items for salads over here.... Go to full service dining for "hot food, good service"  Daily handout in the room often had errors.  The pub (24/7) WAS NOT that.  Often waited in line for it to "open" so watch the daily hand out, it had the times also printed though typically 15 mins off.  So many people that a handicap person could easily be pushed/shoved by inconsiderate passengers.  PS, nice size casino, but no electronic table games for handicap person to play comfortably (like roulette, which allows 8 people to play with out manually having to place chips for every play). ALSO, VERY POOR SERVICE at PORT OF MIAMI FOR handicapped people needing a wheelchair. We could not get one UNTIL we stood in line 30 mins to get into the building (policy of Port of Miami). Very hard on my Parkinson husband who had problem with only short term walking abilities.  Was told by NCL booking agent "just request one when you get to port".

pool was way too small and poorly laid out. 6 ft deep so no one could stand.  Everyone congregated around the edge.   WAY TOO CROWDED AND NOT EHOUGH LOUNGE CHAIRS.  I left to get lunch at noon and came back and my spot had been given up and pool was so crowded I couldn't have a lounge chair the rest of the day 

Just got off the Escape today. Loved everything about this ship and crew. Loved The itinerary. Well, not Nassau. The only complaint I would have is the other guests. We're all on vacation, doesn't give you the right to be rude to other guests or crew members. Also, watch your kids! I don't want them running up and down the halls being loud and disructive. It's not up to the crew to watch them. I researched so was prepared for the lack of pool time but when we did go to the pool deck for the slides there was never an issue finding a lounger for our things. Only did the complimentary dining. Always was great! Loved dressing up. Or not. Going at anytime. Made for a great vacation and first ever cruise! Ready to book another!

Awesome cruise. Great staff overall. Food is excellent specialty dinning is a must!!!! I’ve been on it twice I wouldn’t mind going on a third time! 😄👍🏽

This was a FABULOUS vacation! We have 3 teenagers, ages 13, 15, and 18, and this was our first cruise as a family. The ship was very clean, the cabins were just big enough with plenty of storage (we stayed in a family suite), the crew was very friendly and super helpful, and the food was all pretty good with a few standouts (you've got to have their pineapple sorbet!). Yes, the ship was a bit crowded as it is huge, but we only really noticed it on the first embarkation day before the staterooms were open and when waiting for elevators. We never had to wait long, if ever, for anything. My biggest tip: reserve all of the shows you want to see and all of your dinners ahead of time on My NCL. It costs nothing, but things do fill up quickly and you won't be able to get in without reservations. Many of the shows are great, so you won't want to miss them. We'd definitely cruise with Norwegian again!

Updated review Boarding was a breeze😊 Our room attendant was one of the best from any cruise we had been on!🙂 The staff was always pleasant and helpful🙂 The room itself was awesome aft balcony. Bad part the bed was actually broken, somehow a piece of metal was protruding out of the center. We did notify, unfortunately nothing was done during sailing. After sailing they did investigate and addressed the problem. " I called soon as we got in port" They sent us a letter and issued a $400.00 credit each. There customer service is top notch! I never complain on cruises. I believe they are what you make them, we always have a great time. But this was totally unacceptable and needed addressed so the next guest could sleep! Lawn chairs are not ideal😬 The food would have been great, but I have Celiacs Disease, so eating anywhere but home is difficult for me. I did keep asking what was available as told to, but was directed towards pizza 9 times out of 10. There was pre packaged items that were available. Unfortunately I was told the last day. "Keep in mind I asked multiple times a day" They did have some Indian dishes that were so awesome a few nights! I did get sick on the ship, probably from cross contamination.😔 Honestly I expected it, I do anytime I did not prepare the food myself. Just wanted to include that part for anyone who has celiacs. Just ask for specific items you want they have them, cookies and all🙂 If you don't ask specifically, you will get told the same thing. My husband enjoyed all the regular food. He especially loved the Italian restaurant! I had steak and it was AMAZING! He said it is not to be missed😉 Overall I would sail again. We do love NCL🙂❤️

The house keeping service was great! Water slides, rope course and zip lining were great! Cagney's and Teppanyaki's were perfect! Garden Cafe and O Sheehan's were good. The process of getting on and off at piers was good.

I'm sad to say most other services were disappointing. The first day we had to correct some Specialty Dining reservations. The person helping us was rude and condescending.

The Savor and Taste restaurants were poor in service. Took too long to get food and several times gave wrong orders. Host were rude and unfriendly.

The Entertainment was vulgar. Using the "f" word multiple times in a show is unacceptable. The Brat Pack was in poor taste for a cruise show.

Also, the comedian in Headliners at the 9 PM show said he thinks everybody should smoke marijuana - he was serious - not joking. Those kind of comments are inappropriate.

This was my 2nd cruise with NCL and 1st time on the escape. We cruised on the getaway in 2015. The escape was way to crowded!!!! The adult pool looked like Panama City beach spring break! The adults never left the pool during the day...which left me thinking wow they must be peeing in the water:/. Lounge chairs were very hard to find one open due to people leaving their towels at 5am and going back to their cabins. The food was just ok. We didn't purchase the dining package on the escape so we just ate in the buffet or dinning rooms. We had cabin 5774 and was happy with the size seeing there was 5 of us. I have a 13 year old and we rarely got to use the child's pool due to younger kids either pooping or throwing up in the pool and having it closed for 4 to 6 hrs to clean. This happened everyday and it sucked caused the main pool is adult only. Staff was friendly and the shows were good. Thinking that the bigger ships just have way to many people! Really didn't like the cruise director on the escape. Over all we did have a good time but very little time in the sun on sea days due to over crowding.

Overall a FABULOUS trip. I highly recommend NCL as well as the Escape. The staff was great Jorge our butler, who was also our butler from our cruise last year, was the best! He and our cabin steward Ryan kept our cabin spotless. We did not even have to ask for anything it was just there. For dining we mainly ate in the Haven restaurant. It was fantastic. We also ate at Le Bistro but our favorite was Cagney's, you can't go wrong at either. As far as the entertainment we saw both "For the Record: The Brat Pack" and "After Midnight". While we enjoyed both the talent and production value of "After Midnight" was far superior! If you are only planning on seeing one, my recommendation would be "After Midnight." We also saw Kristen Key and Kenny Mock in the 11:00 PM show if was just OK. If I could do it over again we would have seen Keith Alberstadt, who we had seen last year. We also saw Bob Brizantine (sic) the magician he too was certainly worth seeing and we would go see him again. Embarkation and dis-embarkation was simple and painless, but that could be from being in The Haven. Those who have booked a Haven cabin, you should know that the rules are different than the main pool deck. Kids are allowed in the pool, hot tubes and sauna all day not just after 5:00. Our only issue was, other passengers who, while telling my daughter that reserving seats is not allowed, reserved 4 chairs and walked away for hours each day. I am sure you'll agree that if this is our only complaint, it was truly a FABULOUS trip!

My son and I were one NCL Escape last week, and we had an amazingly awesome time!  The food was outstanding no matter where we ate and the entertainment was all very entertaining!

Loved this ship! Great entertainment! Or favorite bartender and hangout spot was looking over the pool. My dad said he would never fly nor cruise but he agreed to for my mom; he can't wait for our next cruise!

I wouldn't have given it one star if I didn't have too in order to review. We have sailed Carnival and Royal Caribbean and Norwegian was worse than awful. The service was terrible and I mean flat out rude staff. I've never been treated so bad on a cruise ship...EVER!!!! It wasn't just us either. Other cruisers around us complained often. Our room was not kept very well either. The food was just "ok". Please do yourself a favor and never cruise Norwegian.

Very clean ship. Housekeeping crew were great. However, the ship was overcrowded and the food was disappointing. Cruise director was not good either.

We went with another couple for our 2nd cruise together and we all had a really good time.  The ship and staff were really good but we felt that our 2016 cruise was more attentive.  Nothing to complain about but there was a little extra care on the Getaway.  Also we felt the 2016 Gateway theater shows were far better.   A couple of the comedy shows were repeats.  It would be nice to have fresh material for all shows.  Our favorite show on both cruises was the "Howling at the Moon" dueling pianos.  They were fantastic!  Must see this show!  We went every time they played and enjoyed ever minute of it.  The 2017 Escape was really good and we really like the free style dining so we can decide when and where we eat.  Its nice not having to schedule around your meals.  Don't read too much negativity into my comments they are only minor adjusts we would recommend in improvements.  We had a good time and plan to go again. 

We sailed the Escape May 13-20 and from the start it was very enjoyable ! Embarkation was very simple, maybe 35 mins in total before we were on the ship ! The sail away party was so much fun, this was my first cruise and I was pleasantly overwhelmed by it all. The crew did a great job keeping us all entertained, cruise director Tyler is the right choice for a ship this big. We went to Moderno twice, was my favorite by far. I've never had better filet ! We also went to Cagneys and Teppenyaki and they were also fantastic. If you have the UBP you won't be disappointed in the amount of alcohol in the drinks, certainly weren't stingy. The garden cafe had everything, and it was always hot and well-seasoned, that is one thing I noticed most, all the food was seasoned perfectly. You must go to the Howl At the Moon dueling pianos it was great ! Audience participation is key and makes for a fun night. There was always something going on, always something fun to do. We were never bored. The staff were helpful and friendly. I am so surprised reading bad reviews about this ship, especially some saying the food was horrible. Horrible?? Seriously? Where do you normally eat? lol Yes the ship was crowded. There are 4200 passengers alone. Of course it's going to be loud and the pool area will be packed. We always managed to find a seat even when we showed up late. And going into this I knew it was going to be like this so I was not upset, this is a vacation and a ship, if you want quiet or less people, go to an all inclusive. I just don't get the complainers at all! Why spend so much money to complain lol. All in all I loved it, my boyfriend loved it, and we will sail with NCL again.

NCL Escape is the 8th largest cruise ship in the world and the first day at sea you become sorely aware.  4,248 guests + 1,100+ crew all trying to get a seat by the pool when not claiming a seat in the cafe (the go-to restaurant).  On the plus side there are a multitude of nice restaurants, upscale restaurants, a large main theater plus smaller clubs focused on first rate entertainment that provided guests with a personal touch atmosphere.  Smaller ships have a large theater and maybe a second club (outside of the bar around every porthole).  Once we got to the first port the crowds on ship seemed more manageable.  Outside of the crowds NCL Escape and staff are first rate. 

Once in our first port, Roatan Honduras, it was a mad house.  31 large Greyhound size buses plus countless passenger vans and taxis waiting on guests for excursions.  We had arranged our own off ship excursion so we weren't even a part of the mega parking lot craziness.  The 2 lane street at the port entrance was nuts.  Finding our guide host outside the gate was part of the adventure.  After our zip line and beach fun waiting on our guide to pick us up while the ship prepared to sail made us quite nervous. 

At the second port we were the first group ever to leave Harvest Caye on our own.  EVER.  Unless you were part of an NCL excursion you were trapped on this small cheesy tourist NCL exclusive island . . . . until now.  The tour guides were asking how the water taxi worked and so on.  Like I said, we were literally the first group off the island and the very first group with this rafting tour.  Because of this the town of Placencia, Belize is not as developed as other ports.  We liked that. 

Our 3rd port was Costa Maya and it was as cheesy as Harvest Caye except you could escape by ground taxi into town if you wanted.  We'd already done Mayan tours and this port focuses on that so we spent a day chilling out on ship.  Outside the little manufactured cheesy shop village was an imitation Mayan temple that looked from a distance to have a giant slide down one side and zip line down the other.  Really?

Finally our last port of Cozumel turns out to be a bustling tourist metropolis.  Again the cheesy tourist shops getting off the pier.  Our tour was sail & snorkel where we motored by catamaran to "the 2nd largest reef in the world" which turned out to be some bottom patches of coral with lots of small striped fish (nothing else).  After waiting for 2 other groups to float down stream they dropped us in and floated with the current in 10 - 12 ft of water.  After sufficient time they moved us 100 yards to our "2nd reef", a deeper spot, while one of our younger guests fed the fishes multiple times with his previous night's liquid entertainment before droping us in again.  Snorkel time was sufficient but this coral isn't anything to get excited about and nothing like those excursion photos in the brochure.  In addition there was an enforcement vessel to make sure you wore your orange floatie (deflated) and didn't disturb what little coral was left.  Afterwards the crew raised the sail and, passing 3 of 5 large cruise ships in port, motored directly into the wind back to our dock.  So much for "sailing".  They did serve tasty pineapple, guacamole, chips and margaritas.  The crew was great and personable to our dozen or so guests, they just have to deal with touristopolis and worn out attractions.  They said the Southern tip of the island was much better but no time for and excursion to get there and back. 

Our last day at sea and another wrestling match for on-ship attractions (except for the fitness center which had 1 other person at 7am).  The ropes course was pretty cool, especially in a 30 knot wind!  Getting 4,244 (we lost a few along the way) off the ship, and in 4 hours another 4,248 back on, had our line stretching from the front elevators to just shy of the aft elevators then back to the front elevators again before getting to the outside deck to merge with another line that stretched from the aft elevators, around the outside of the ship into our line, then the 2 lines go another 50 yards before the gangway.  Customs was easy-peasy but note you can get weapons and dope through but they have dogs to sniff out any fruit.  Parking was an absurd $20 / day and getting through the taxi & van congestion was like escaping downtown Atlanta on a Friday afternoon, but not as bad as a holiday weekend. :-)  

We would consider a mega ship again but if the Western Caribbean cheesy ports are any comparison then Eastern Caribbean is out of the picture.  Maybe Southern Caribbean but not Eastern.  Again, Norwegian ship and crew was first rate. 

Loved the ship and everything on it. I wish they had bigger Jacuzzi's though..possibly a kid or family one since adults get very irritated if a child gets in..even if they don't splash (mine weren't I made sure of it) and also think for all money you pay the pool should be open 24 hrs. They close it in the evening.

The ship was outstanding. Crew was friendly and helpful. Spa was also outstanding. One thing I would suggest is to have a better air exchange or filtration in the casino. Witness many guest holding their noses or avoiding that section of deck 7 altogether. 

We had an absolute ball aboard the Escape, wasn't too impressed with our Port of calls. Maybe it was the weather or there just wasn't much to offer unless you booked excursions. Would love to sail on the Escape again just a different route next time.