Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I was on the Norwegian Escape 7 night Eastern Caribbean. There was so much stuff to do on the ship that i didn't get to everything, The food and dinning shows on the ship were good. The only thing I didn't like is that they would turn my key card off if didn't have money on it. I had the unlimited drink package and it got old quick. when i would have to leave the bars or dinner to fix or put money on my account. a simple message to my room would have been a better way to do this, I even had a card on file to pull money from and it still would happened. but other than that it was a great time and I can't wait till next year when we are going for a cruise again.

This was mine and my husband's 1st time on Norwegian and had only been on 1 cruise in the past (Royal Carribean). We loved everything about the Escape. It was so immuclate and the crew were very happy and helpful people. The entertainment was amazing and fun.   The rooms had comfortable beds and the shower size was better then the last cruise line we were on. (My husband is 6'7" tall....this was OK for him).

Unfortunately the trip did not go well for us.  I got severe food poisoning from Jimmy Buffets Margaretiville on the ship. On our 2nd day (Monday) I so badly wanted to try their nachos that I had seen people eating whenever we passed by. I ordered them for lunch that day and later had the worst, most severe food poisoning of my life! At first I thought I caught something,  but my husband never got sick even after kissing me and not leaving my side accept to get himself food. He didn't eat one of the nacho chips.  He had a big breakfast that morning and therefore didnt order anything from there. When I had ordered them, I honestly thought they forgot about me because it took forever to get them. When I did finally get them, I said to my husband that the sour cream was warm. Not sure if it was that or the meat.  

I won't get detailed about how sick I was. Just know that i honestly thought i was dying! This ruined our trip!!! I never came out of the room until Thursday. 4 out of 7 days were gone! I never got to see St Thomas or Tortola, 2 places that I badly wanted to go visit. We had shore excursions booked prior to getting on the ship for St Thomas and I couldn't get out of bed. They did however reimburse us for that.

My husband woke to me leaving our cabin 2 days later about 3 or 4 am completely delirious.  He said I said I was going to find a doctor to give me IV. I do remember trying to walk down the hallways but using the wall to hold myself up. I remember a crew member coming up to me asking if i was ok and i said no that i needed a doctor.  He led me to the medical clinic which was closed. Im not sure why he didnt know this.  I was then told to go to guest services which i did. The crew asked my room number and asked if i wanted to wait until the morning to see the doctor. I said no. He then asked if i wanted to speak to a nurse or doctor. I told him i didnt care. He called a male nurse and put me on the phone with him. I was asked my room number again and he asked what I wanted them to do. I said I was very sick and needed help.  He told me it would be $189.00 to wake the doctor. I said I had medical insurance.  I was told I had to pay upfront and I would have to deal with getting reimbursed when I got home.  We didn't have a lot of room on our credit card so I didn't see a doctor as he also said there may be other costs for medications etc.    

I am VERY upset because I've contacted Norwegian to submit a complaint and followed their instructions and I have had absolutely NO response whatsoever.  I submitted this claim on the day after we arrived home on May 1st. It said I would have a response in 15 days. Then I resubmitted it again on May 18th explaining I did this already and I still have had NO response!  And still nothing!!!!  My husband and I worked very hard to save up for this very expensive trip that cost us nearly $6000.00 including our flights etc. and we don't even get so much as an "I'm sorry".

There was a Facebook group page created for the week we were travelling where everyone chatted leading up to the trip.  I checked that page when I got home and there was another group that also got food poisoning but ate at a different restaurant.   There's obviously a cross contamination thing happening that needs to be addressed. I thought I might get some attention if I write something on here and if nothing else,  maybe help other passengers by making them aware.  I will mention too, that my husband mentioned to a chef how sick was when getting himself dinner at the buffet and this very kind chef sent up a plate of fruit to us.  As I said, the crew were amazing.  I hope this helps bring awareness especially to Norwegian and aftercare is just as important as bring on the ship. Below is a picture of the nachos that made me sick.  I always take pictures of food when it's presented well. Looks were deceiving in this case. 

This was mine and my husband's 1st time on Norwegian and had only been on 1 cruise in the past (Royal Carribean). We loved everything about the Escape. It was so immuclate and the crew were very happy and helpful people. The entertainment was amazing and fun.   The rooms had comfortable beds and the shower size was better then the last cruise line we were on. (My husband is 6'7" tall....this was OK for him).

Unfortunately the trip did not go well for us.  I got severe food poisoning from Jimmy Buffets Margaretiville on the ship. On our 2nd day (Monday) I so badly wanted to try their nachos that I had seen people eating whenever we passed by. I ordered them for lunch that day and later had the worst, most severe food poisoning of my life! At first I thought I caught something,  but my husband never got sick even after kissing me and not leaving my side accept to get himself food. He didn't eat one of the nacho chips.  He had a big breakfast that morning and therefore didnt order anything from there. When I had ordered them, I honestly thought they forgot about me because it took forever to get them. When I did finally get them, I said to my husband that the sour cream was warm. Not sure if it was that or the meat.  

I won't get detailed about how sick I was. Just know that i honestly thought i was dying! This ruined our trip!!! I never came out of the room until Thursday. 4 out of 7 days were gone! I never got to see St Thomas or Tortola, 2 places that I badly wanted to go visit. We had shore excursions booked prior to getting on the ship for St Thomas and I couldn't get out of bed. They did however reimburse us for that.

My husband woke to me leaving our cabin 2 days later about 3 or 4 am completely delirious.  He said I said I was going to find a doctor to give me IV. I do remember trying to walk down the hallways but using the wall to hold myself up. I remember a crew member coming up to me asking if i was ok and i said no that i needed a doctor.  He led me to the medical clinic which was closed. Im not sure why he didnt know this.  I was then told to go to guest services which i did. The crew asked my room number and asked if i wanted to wait until the morning to see the doctor. I said no. He then asked if i wanted to speak to a nurse or doctor. I told him i didnt care. He called a male nurse and put me on the phone with him. I was asked my room number again and he asked what I wanted them to do. I said I was very sick and needed help.  He told me it would be $189.00 to wake the doctor. I said I had medical insurance.  I was told I had to pay upfront and I would have to deal with getting reimbursed when I got home.  We didn't have a lot of room on our credit card so I didn't see a doctor as he also said there may be other costs for medications etc.    

I am VERY upset because I've contacted Norwegian to submit a complaint and followed their instructions and I have had absolutely NO response whatsoever.  I submitted this claim on the day after we arrived home on May 1st. It said I would have a response in 15 days. Then I resubmitted it again on May 18th explaining I did this already and I still have had NO response!  And still nothing!!!!  My husband and I worked very hard to save up for this very expensive trip that cost us nearly $6000.00 including our flights etc. and we don't even get so much as an "I'm sorry".

There was a Facebook group page created for the week we were travelling where everyone chatted leading up to the trip.  I checked that page when I got home and there was another group that also got food poisoning but ate at a different restaurant.   There's obviously a cross contamination thing happening that needs to be addressed. I thought I might get some attention if I write something on here and if nothing else,  maybe help other passengers by making them aware.  I will mention too, that my husband mentioned to a chef how sick was when getting himself dinner at the buffet and this very kind chef sent up a plate of fruit to us.  As I said, the crew were amazing.  I hope this helps bring awareness especially to Norwegian and aftercare is just as important as bring on the ship. Below is a picture of the nachos that made me sick.  I always take pictures of food when it's presented well. Looks were deceiving in this case. 

We loved the ship. There were fun adventures to be had and we never even tried the putt putt course or pools. Very crowded elevators at times, and main areas as well. It was often difficult to pass on certain floors. The Supper club dining experience wasn’t worth the extra cost based on the fact that you have no menu choice and were given strange food. Some good, some great, some bad. The entertainment in the club was awesome. I found myself often upset at the cleanliness of the public bathrooms but then discovered a group of kids unattended playing Dare games. These dares even resulted in broken items. Margaritaville service was a bit of a let down, and the manager actually refunded our out of pocket expenses when I noted something a server had done...(former catering worker here). The server brought something to me, set it down, walked away, and then when it was noted it wasn’t my order picked it up and took it back into the service area. The same plate was then taken to the correct diner. Major issue. Manager was very courteous and handled the situation quickly. I enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants we tried. And the brat pack musical was amazing! I even enjoyed the Langston Hughes inspired show. Many people did not, as they were unaware of his material. Our cabin steward was awesome.

Nice ship very big food in the buffet can be very repetitive day after day. Our room stewardess wasn’t that great on this one compared to the other Norwegian ships we have been on but overall fun experience for the kids and beautiful ship and most people were very helpful and nice to talk with.

one of my favorite parts of the cruise was going into the buffet room where the attendants had spray bottles of sanitizer and sang funny little songs to us that we all memorized and sang by the end of the cruise!

Sadly, will have to say that the Getaway is by far the better ship with better experience. The staff at the Escape are very rude and almost none of them smiled. One of the jewelers tried to get my wife's attention and didn't know her name so she said "hey Baby." Staff at the pool side did not care to get passengers drinks or greet anyone, the result were overcrowded and overwhelmed bar staff. Housekeeping could not be reached for anything and left the room with trash or beds undone. The Matre D had no clue how to reference their own food suitable for diabetics. Exceptionally slow service at the restaurants. Most of the waiter staff got our orders wrong on every occasion. One of the waiters wouldn't serve drinks from the bar that was literally just outside the door, she was the only one that wouldn't serve drinks from the bar. Many of their programs finished very early like the sail away party that should have been an hour, instead the cruise director stopped after 30 minutes and looked at his watch like he had something else better to do. Finally, most of the food was blah at best. For those experienced at the Getaway you may not want to try this ship until it gets its staff in order and the food tasting better. No Flamingo Bar just a new Margaritaville at Sea restaurant that is ala cart and it's usually empty for good reason. Also, their is no noodle bar like the Getaway, essentially killing off two great complimentary dining experiences for more paid ala carte options. I will give kudos to the bar tenders as they worked their butt off getting those drinks out and the manager at Savor who tried to make up for the bad service. I will also give a positive review for the comedians and the "washi washi" guy. For diabetics, bring your own sugar free "powder" creamer and sugar substitute as their is no sugar free creamer and you may not like their sugar substitute. If possible grab those sugar free flavored drink mixes in powder or concentrated for more flavorful drinks. Also bring your own sugar free snacks as most of the food and drinks are loaded with sugar.

My two main complaints are the pool deck is ridiculous way to many people for sea days can't find a lounger unless you get up and get them by 8:00 at the latest and the elevators omg I mean you can wait and wait and wait for one and when it finally comes its so packed you can't get in or if there is some room your packed in like sardines I took stairs most of time even from 7th deck to 16 all other things were great the food was awesome the  Manhattan room was the best with live entertainment water slides were cool but you had to pick and choose time because of the amount of people and lines I think I prefer a smaller ship there not that much smaller but about a thousand less people all in all we made the best of it and learned as the week went on I liked the ship more at the end then in the beginning for sure!

This was our first cruise and I absolutely loved every minute. I got a bit sea sick but at least I learned for next time. The customer service of the entire crew was awesome. I was very happy that the cabin was clean, as I am a germophobe. Big shout out to the Bartenders from Waves (Babalu and Chichirito) our homies and Sameer who was a class act, Jackie Tang for awesome entertainment, Kevin with Port Shopping, and Andre the cruise director. They never failed to say hello if they saw us. Wonderful food and entertainment every day. There was always something exciting to do. We lived at the Garden Cafe. Love all the parties especially the 80s party because of the celebrity appearances. The game shows were hilarious. Definitely would recommend and return to NCL!

This was our second cruise with NCL! I must say the ship Escape is extremely impressive! The food and customer service is phenomenal! We enjoyed our balcony stateroom and our little girl loved Splash Academy! The beverage and specialty dining packages were perfect! Cruising during Spring Break had me worried about crowds on such a large ship; but we managed very well.

This was my third trip on a Norwegian Ship,  Bigger is not better.  The ship was beautiful, except for the Philippian crew members I found the rest to be disinterested.  Food was good, ate in one of the restaurants each night with nice dinner music, then one night a group of about 8 screamed and shouted songs so loud it was all I could do to sit and listen.  if not for others in our group I would have left my dinner and gone elsewhere.  One show with a comic juggler was fantastic, another called the Brat Pack was terrible,  extremely loud.  I'm no prude, but why do we have to listen to the "F" bomb with our entertainment.

   Norwegian use to be a grate trip with seniors in mind, I now feel they want to attract the younger drinking  crowd.  Free entertainment consisted of Trivia games, cupcake decorating, towel folding, fruit carving,  Others had to be paid for, Bingo etc.  I felt the cruise line was doing all they could to dig into my pockets.

   If you wanted to use the pool you had better be up there before 9 in the morning, otherwise the drinking crowd lines the edges of the pool with drink in hand.  and of course the music level is at it's height.  My old employer would not have let me into an area like that with out ear protection, let alone sit all day.  when did they decide that louder was better?

   More than likely my last cruise.    

The ship was very good and had friendly staff. The staterooms were good and the food was excellent. I enjoyed eating at Cagney’s steakhouse. The activities were good too. The waterslides were my favorite.

This is a great ship with tons of activities (the ropes course is very cool). If your looking for a very quiet laid back cruise, this probably isn't for you. It was always hard to find a chair on the pool deck, but that happens on almost all cruises. The food was good but not great and the service was slow but it's vacation so we were never in a rush. The one thing that bugged me was that there was no place for teens. I mean, there was a teen club but who wants to sit inside when its 80 degrees outside? What I mean is that the pool, hot tubs, and spice h2o were all adults only until 5. The only place teens can swim until then (without breaking the rules) is the kiddie pool. And no teen is going to swim there, so we all had to bake in the sun until the evening. But, when I was allowed in he pool it was clean and well kept. The cool it so it is always a good temperature. The pool side entertainment was good but it kind of reminded me of elevator music. Also, the Brat Pack show was very good. if you like the breakfast club and movies like that it's perfect for you. After Midnight was awful though. There was no plot and the music was only ok. You might like it is you listen to a lot of jazz music but for most people.... it was bad. Overall it was a great cruise with a few annoying faults.

Ship was very clean and food was the best on the seas. Did find the smoke to be very bad in and any areas around the casino but overall very great experience for our first time on NCL. Staff was also top notch! Will definitely cruise with NCL again.

The ships size was impressive, lot to do.  Pool was to deep and people just sat on edge around pool with feet in it.  Did not like the pool at all. No stairs, just ladders.

Hmmmm, what to share! Their boarding process worked well for us. Once we were checked in, which might have taken 20 minutes in line to get to the counter (we arrived at the time NCL had given us) we waited maybe another 30 minutes before our # was called to board. We boarded the ship through the casino (no drinks). We didn't get that WOW impression but, we also weren't ran in like cattle! We had an inside cabin on deck 12 which was, as we expected, small. The thing you need to know is there are NO DRAWERS. Also very few shelves and they were only about 6" deep. Bring one of those closet organizers that hang on the closet rod. I like the freestyle dining BUT, I think between freestyle dining and prepaid gratuities the service in the dining room has SEVERELY DECREASED! We ate in both the Manhattan and Taste dinning rooms and felt neither gave the quality of care we had experienced in the past. No getting to know your waiters!! Maybe I don't like Freestyle as much as I thought!! Our cabin steward was fine, room cleaned and beds made. Nothing over and above. Again, we wondered if the prepaid gratuities had anything to do with this. We did give our steward an extra tip which I wonder if we should have since he didn't do anything extra. How do we motivate them to earn the extra and not expect the extra? The buffet was good. The quality and flavor of the food was good. Honestly the food on the buffet was every bit as good as in the dining room. If you don't mind serving yourself, eat in the Garden Cafe. Can't help but wonder if NCL isn't trying to push us into paying extra for the specialty dining options if we want quality service and food?? The Waterfront looks like it would be amazing if dining in the specialty dining restaurants. What is up with desserts??? Their desserts were BAD!! Both in the dining rooms and on buffet. If they hadn't had ice cream, guess we would have gone without!! I ate one dessert, Coconut Cream Cake, that was good!!! We ate several times in O'Sheehan's. The service was AWFUL every time!!! The food was good. Their wings were great!! They had one dessert that was OK at best! Prepaid gratuities isn't working well for the passengers, I do understand why they are having to do it this way. For ourselves, we pay less in gratuities this way but the service we are receiving is far less than we had received in the past!!!! The Beverage package is nice but, once again, the service has really decreased! In our 7 day cruise I don't think a waiter asked us more than 3 times if we needed a drink (unless we were sitting at the bar). Before we almost got to know the waiters!! The Escape has such a large passenger capacity and only has 2 pools, one adults only until after 5:00pm (oh, and a private one for the Haven passengers, I think) and the other VERY SMALL!! Again, the Escape has such a large passenger capacity, the deck loungers are too few! If you aren't on deck by 8:00 am, you are not going to get a lounger!! Part of that is because people get their lounger, put their towels on them and then leave. They may not be back for hours and know one controls this. Need less cabins (smaller passenger capacity) and more exterior deck space!!! We thought their entertainment was maybe a 3 on a scale of 0-10. SINGING, SINGING, SINGING!!! We did the self assist when getting off the ship. This worked, for us, GREAT! We were off the ship within 30 minutes once we started. So much easier. No hunting for your luggage!! Will I go on Escape again ??? Maybe next time I'll go back to the smaller ships???

This was our first NCL cruise and let me say I was highly impressed. There were some downfalls, but only to our room and I'll tell you about that later on. We usually sail on carnival, but decided to do NCL because of the free drink package. It was 100% worth it! My family and I also decided to get the 3 time dining which is also 100% worth every penny! We ate at moderno, cagneys, and the Japanese restaurant. All three were outstanding. We even paid to eat at cagneys a second time! The ship has so much to do! But definitely go to the comedy shows! They were hilarious. We found ourself a laughing till we cried! Of course the pools and decks were crowded but we didn't let that get us down. It was still a great trip regardless. The ports were absolutely breathtaking. The only downfall was we booked and interior room (which was fine for 2 people) but there was some sort of air conditioner thing above us that rattled and shook our whole room. We did call guest services several times and for all the trouble we got free chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine. It never got fixed but we still had an amazing time!

Best cruise experience ever!! The After Midnight show was amazing-definatley a must see!! There is so much to do on this ship, never once felt over crowded. The staff was amazing and very helpful. Our room steward Rhene was awsome, made sure our room was clean, and had extras of everything (we had a total of 5 kids between 2 rooms) greeted us by name everytime he saw us. Food was hot and good in all of the dinning rooms we ate at (Taste, Manhattan). The food in the buffet was always hot and a variety of everything. My kids absolutely loved the ropes course and the plank. The slides were awsome, never a long wait, however there is a weight limit on the aqua racers-so the little ones weren't able to go on those. The ship itself was beautiful, kept very clean. Emerald beach in St. Thomas was absolutely amazing!! We had a wonderful vacation!!!

This was my first and almost certainly my last Norwegian Cruise. Due to a medical problem on board we were forced to move from a balcony room to a tiny inside room. We were not compensated for the move. Before reaching our first port were very rudely told we had to leave the ship. We were put in a room with a computer and told to figure out how to return home. Horrible treatment.

I have probably taken over well over 100 cruises including at least 25 transatlantic crossings on Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, the SS United States etc.  I have cruised virtually all of the lines from Carnival to Yachts of Seabourne but I have to say the cruise on the NCL escape was the least enjoyable.  This ship has packed in more people per square foot than anything I have ever seen.  To make it worse, there is NOWHERE that you can go to get peace and quiet.  The noise level is beyond Chuck E Cheese everywhere.  I was fortunate to get one of the 25 passes to the vibe.  Otherwise I would not have been able to take it.  The thing I continue to fail to understand is that people were literally running over me to get the vibe passes so that they could have a quiet place to go.  People got into physical exchanges over the last few passes.  If this is what everyone is willing to get crushed for, why not get rid of the EXTREMELY LOUD venues with the BLARING MUSIC and replace 3/4 of them with quiet venues?   Noone wants to hear the crew constantlly yelling. "IS EVERYBODY HAVING A GREAT TIME????I I CAN'T HEAR YOU?   STILL CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!  What is wrong with these cruise ships?  Dont they get it????  

I was also very upset about the drink package.  I drink Chardonnay.  I was told there were numerous chardonnays on the drink package.   Nope.  There is ONE.  Thats right, ONE, and it was a horrible $7 a BOTTLE wine.  There also was only ONE pinot grigio - thats right, on the whole drink package and it was terrible.  Given the price of the drink package they could have at least given us a choice of at 2 Chardonnays or how about one that is a good enough quality that costs the cruise line more than $2 a glass.   The food was just ok.  Biggest problem was that it had WAY WAY WAY too much salt.  I saw other cruisers complaining about this online so I dont know why NCL hasn't corrected it.  

Ropes course and Water Slides were fun. Loved the layout of the ship. Shows were great. Food was amazing. The activities were fun. I especially loved bingo. Overall loved the ship and would go on it again!