Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The embarkation and debarkation was great,

The boat was beautiful, clean and always busy.

There were bars in places I would not of thought they would be.

The worst room steward ever in 52 cruises.

They have an up charge for everything. Room was very nice.

Enjoy this ship. First Norwegian Cruise. Like the freestyle concept.

Vacation is what you make it. It's a big ship and a lot of people yes but it's a blast. We always do the vibe club and it's money well spent. If you're expecting staff to wait on you hand and foot...stay home because you will wait for elevators and food but one again...vacation is what you make it.

Great cruise from start to finish. Will definitely be sailing on NCL Escape in the future.

I went with my two kids aged 12 and 15 and we had a pretty good time. Contrary to many of the reviews here, I thought the food (other than the buffet) was good. My kids and I really enjoyed both the steak house (cagneys) and the Brazilian Restaurant Modernero (I know it got poor reviews from others but it's puzzling to me). The Italian, the Habatchi and Food Republic places were ok but nothing to write home about in my opinion.  We sat outside on the boardwalk at the Italian restaurant and the steak house and that was really nice and unique. I did make most of my reservations months in advance, but on board, after we had the Habatchi place and wasn't impressed with the taste of the food, we switched from a second night there to the Brazilian place without a problem and very glad we did. 

There is an issue with finding a lounge chair during sea days. If you dont get them early they are difficult to find as there just is not enough space on the deck, although they have plenty of chairs stacked up. Seems the pay area for lounging was empty so I wonder why NCL doesn't just open that up to everyone as otherwise everyone else are like sardines. The slides were fun and so was the rope walk, which includes some zip lines. I had a massage which was pretty good but to my surprise it did not include access to the spa area. We enjoyed the ports of call - went on our own on St. Thomas to Coco beach and rented jet skis which was a blast, although the beach itself was a little too packed with people. The Blue Lagoon dolphin swim on Nassau was a blast for the kids and the beach is nice there even though we did not have a lot of time. The prettiest port and excursion was Virgin Gorda the baths - the guides were not the best as they basically brought you to the path and you were then on your own. Got down to a beach ares with a lot of boulders and pools of water which was really nice but didnt realize that a 5 minute walk further was fantastic beach - which we found after but did not have a lot of time left to enjoy it.  As for nightlife - I saw the Million Dollar Quartet which I enjoyed and the casino was very nice and large. Not your typical cruise casino - there were real players on this boat and they had tables as high as $100 minimum which I have never seen on a cruise before.

Overall frankly the service was good (contrary to what others wrote) - I had no problem getting drinks and the steward cleaned our room every day and night without issue. There was always activities going on and we kept busy. Embarkation and Disembarkation at all ports were smooth/fast and without issue.

To get the best cruise experience, we upgraded to the more expensive AFT Balcony Cabin on the 15th Deck . To our surprize, the noise from the Cafe directly above was significant. The cause is a design flaw itself.  Most of the Cafe has carpet, but directly above this room there was no carpet so every movement of the heavy Chairs would carry directly below.  To the credit of NCL, once we brought this to their attention, they corrected it within 2 days by moving us to a lower like-cabin--I applaud NCL for their effort, but it does not replace the 2 days we ensured. 

We will sail with her again on January 27. This is a great ship. Very easy to get around. Love the outside eateries. I only wish that Norwegian would change some of their port stops as I have been to many of their current ports too often.

First time on NCL - The Escape is a beautiful ship offering great amenities and friendly crew - our cabin steward ALFIE was AWESOME!! He was attentive, engaging and professional throughout the entire cruise. This is impressive especially considering he and other crew members typically work up to 80 hours per week over the course of a 6 or 7 month contract with 2 months off in between contracts! Entertainment... Fortunately, we booked shows months in advance otherwise we would not have seen any shows - Million Dollar Quartet was simply phenomenal! We are both in our mid-late 40s and thoroughly enjoyed this show. Same applies to After Midnight, which delivered a Broadway level performance. Unfortunately the Brat Pack performance was cancelled due to injury - Being true Northeasterners, we were surprised at the number of passengers who had no understanding of theater etiquette - which is no fault of NCL itself. All of the performers delivered great performances only to be disrespected by a NUMBER of passengers walking out and talking during performances. DINING.... The escape offers and number of dining options - Highly recommend the dining option. First the positives... The hibachi (considered Specialty) the chefs were highly skilled and entertaining, the scallops were the best that either of us have had prior to our trip- La Cucina (Italian) Considered specialty dining, was five stars!! Tim had New York Strip and could not stop raving about the juicy texture and seasoning (for someone that eats steak regularly and did so thruout the cruise he found the NY Strip offered by this restaurant to be the best anywhere) I elected for the veal and found it to be very good as well. Casey's Strakhouse (considered Specialty) offered ENORMOUS portions - Tim had the queen size prime rib cut and it was the size of the plate - he could not eat all of it which is VERY rare for him although he did manage to find room to eat the hot chocolate lava cake for dessert! Regular dining rooms like the Manahttan Room, Taste & Savor were essentially the same restaurant (common menu found at all three restaurants) though decor was refined and inviting- wait times were manageable however we did tend to dine somewhat late- Wine Lovers must visit The Cellars - partake in the flight and enjoy the ambiance relaxing in the very comfortable seating located on the ships Boardwalk- NEGATIVES... The following offer room for improvement- The Garden Cafe (ships all day buffet) - does offer a variety of choices HOWEVER the food itself is definelty mall food court quality and sometimes falls short in achieving that status- the scrambled eggs (or so they said) were powdered eggs and absolutely abhorrent- bacon was good, hand dipped ice cream was great and desserts were plentiful (albeit looked better than they tasted) - Salad bar could definelty be improved and lacked spinach, croutons, protein (other than ham) and cheese. SEATING was insufficient during all three peak meal times and unable to accommodate the large number of passengers opting for the included buffet much like the Sundeck - which seemingly was unable to accommodate the large number of passengers looking to soak up the Rays and enjoy pool time. Definetely need to rethink Sundeck layout

First of all, a little history on me as a cruiser. This was my 5th cruise with NCL in 14 years. I've been on 4 of their ships. I tend to travel with a large group, ages ranging from infant through 85. Before our cruise, we read the reviews and were very nervous about what we may be in store for. However, while there were some disappointments, overall I can tell you that the majority of these reviews are wildly over-reactive. Either that, or a hell-of-a-lot changed between their trip and ours. We sailed on 1.23.16.

Entertainment:This ship, like every other, had good entertainment. We missed After Midnight because it had been a hectic day with our 8 month old and we decided not to go. We found out later that night they had technical difficulties and rescheduled for another night. We still didn't go for various reasons. But we saw Million Dollar Quartet and I can't say enough good things. These guys were AMAZING. This isn't even my era of music, mind you. They were fantastic. Do not miss this show. They had the normal Bingo, port talks, dance classes, trivia, and poolside events just like every other ship. We didn't see a lot of the smaller shows, again because we had a little one, but others in our party enjoyed everything they experienced in the way of entertainment.

Food: The food was great. The quality is not as amazing as it was 14 years ago, but the cruise lines all sound like they're doing what they can to keep costs down without affecting the overall cruise experience too much. For example, breakfast buffet scrambled eggs were definitely powdered eggs. But if you ordered an omelet, they were the real thing. The buffet didn't change too much day to day but there was some variation when they had specialty nights (like seafood night). It's clear that the convenience grab-n-go foods are not as high of quality. The meals in Taste and Manhattan, however, were very good. We never had to wait for a table, we were never rushed, and we only had to reserve a table for prime dinner times if our entire group wanted to dine together. We also tried Margaritaville. We were disappointed that this was changed to Ala Carte before our trip, but it still didn't disappoint. We ordered two plates of nachos for 5 people and didn't even finish them; they were HUGE. And delicious. We also ate at Moderno, which was just as good as Moderno on the Sun and Epic.

Rooms: Our room was a family ocean-view and it was plenty big for my husband, son and me. We had space to put his pack-n-play (provided by NCL and waiting in our room upon arrival) and still walk around with ease. The only narrow spot was between the end of the bed and the wall; you had to walk sideways to get through and we had to lift the stroller up over the bed to get to the other side. But it really wasn't a big deal. There was also a nice curtain between the couch and window area and the bed. We were able to close it when our son was napping and still have the window open for light on our side during the day so we could read while he slept. The bathrooms were very nice; nice size, good water pressure, huge sink (which was nice because I was constantly washing and storing baby bottles there). And contrary to a review I saw prior to our trip, the pack-n-play was in perfect condition. They supplied a pillow and a sheet (just a regular sheet tucked around it, but it worked fine and our son moves around a lot in his sleep). Our steward was fantastic. As always with NCL, he knew our names the first day, always went out of his way to say "hello" or "have a good evening," and even spoke to our 8 month old each time, calling him "Mr. Zachary." And to be clear, we weren't easy; we had to kick him out more than once right when he was starting to clean for nap time. We felt terrible, but he always insisted we come in and that he would come back, pleasantly and with a smile on his face. He even started asking us later in the trip if we were going in for a nap when he saw us. And despite what several people have complained about, we had towel animals every night.

Public Spaces: In general, the ship was very nice. Very clean, lots to do, and contrary to what I've read in other reviews, plenty of available bathrooms and elevators in convenient locations. I didn't go on the ropes course, but the majority in my party did. They all really enjoyed it; my dad and husband went on twice. It was only crowded once and during that time there were several nervous kids on it that were sort of causing a backup. Some of the attendants on the course were a little less "friendly" but it was assumed that it's due to the nature of what they're doing; they're trying to keep everyone moving and everyone safe. The Guppies nursery was cute but we didn't use it. It seemed that they had lots of fun activities, but unfortunately, the kids could only participate if you dropped them off. That was disappointing. However, just down the hall was a room where twice a day (on sea days, once on port days) you could participate in an activity with your child. The rest of the time it was open to use at your leisure. There were toys, bean bag chairs, a radio, and the floor was covered in a soft play mat. The thing that I was most disappointed in was the lack of water play for babies. On the Epic, there was a special shaded spot with little kiddie pools and slides. I assumed that the first ship in the fleet with an itinerary special for smaller children (under 3) would have this as well. It didn't. Not only that, but the kids area that IS there, has a sign clearly stating that no children in swim diapers are allowed. Needless to say, no one followed that rule. And the security didn't try to enforce it as long as you weren't causing trouble. We only went in once though because it was set up for big kids to run around, not little guys to sit and splash. Another disappointment was how crowded this ship seemed. The Epic is almost as large and has almost as many people and we never felt crowded, so it's not just because it's a bigger ship. On the Escape, I felt like there were people everywhere. I think this is because in the ship's design, they essentially eliminated all open space. The bars outside are right next to the pool. There is no space for a cookout like on most ships. The jogging track runs around and through Margaritaville and a main walking area. The bocce is against the mini golf which is all under the ropes course. There are ceilings almost everywhere.There just didn't seem to be that open feel in as many places. The bathrooms were very cramped in the public areas. Fewer stalls than on their other ships and narrower space. There was no space for lines to form; you had to stand in front of stalls while you waited and squeeze past people to get to the sink. The lounge chairs were NOT as big of an issue as people are making them. There were plenty of times, sea and port days, where there were open chairs. Same thing in the buffet. If you were there right at lunch time, sure it was crowded and sometimes difficult to find a seat. But I never ate standing up, we always found a seat. And I generally ate with a group of at least 7. The Ultimate Beverage Package is also a GREAT deal. It covered every drink we got (and my husband got A LOT). We paid for tax on 2 or 3 drinks while in Port. Quite honestly, they didn't even charge that every time. And we never had to wait more than a moment or two for our drinks. There was never a long line at any of the bars, no matter how crowded the area was.

Staff: Every member of the cruise staff was the same as they have always been on every ship; friendly, fun, engaging and welcoming. They sang at the buffet every morning about washing your hands. They all interacted warmly with my son. My dad even made friends with the security guard that was with his group on the ship tour; he asked him how his day was, if he got good pictures, etc. every time we came back from a port.

Final thoughts: My final thoughts are this: a vacation is what you make of it and people are going to treat you how you treat them. I saw so little of what everyone has been complaining about both before and after my trip that I cannot help but wonder if they were A)looking for problems or B)inflicting some of this "pain" on themselves. 

Were staff members waiting on me hand and foot non-stop? No. Did I expect them to or was I insulted by the fact that they weren't? Absolutely not; that's not their job no matter how much I paid. I'm fairly certain after seeing how some guests treat the staff, and reading the tone of these negative reviews, that many of these people are their own worst enemy.

That being said, here is my suggestion: if you like a big open ship, with a slightly relaxed pace, this isn't the ship for you. If you like the idea of doing activities with your infant, this ship has more than the others, but nothing water related, and don't expect a ton of options. If you like fast paced with lots of activities and things to keep you busy, this ship is great. Rest assured you will leave your cruise needing a day or two to relax with the pace of this one. I didn't participate in much and I felt like I rushed every day. Some of that can be attributed to travelling with a little guy, but not all. We all felt that way.

Whatever you decide, be nice to the staff, be understanding of situations that come up, and enjoy the 7 days of no cooking, cleaning or work. 

Nice ship and large, but that is part of the problem. Been a cruiser for over a decade, 15-20 cruises. It was a challenge at times to find a few of the smaller venues.

The shows were fine. But you will need to make reservations 1st thing or they will file up quickly. The same goes for the restaurants. The specialty restaurants are fine, but the main dining rooms provide meals very close in taste.

Crew was fine overall did have a couple of less than satisfying experiences though.

I want to do the ncl escape again for thanksgiving. I what the spa balcony with the unlimited beverage package I had not one problem with ncl I love the lay out of the ship my favorite show was after midnight all black cast and the best vocals at at sea hands down

One very good holiday spent on ship and around Miami.. Florida... And the keys.. 3 weeks of heaven...

This was our third cruise, second on NCL, with our family of 4.  We had booked right away after having a great trip in 2015 on the Getaway.  This trip was disappointing between the lack of direction when getting on the ship of where to go, to the poor customer service throughout..  

Agree with other reviewers that getting a chair by the pool was ridiculous - my husband went up at 5:45 am on a couple of days and most were already "reserved".  

We had the ultimate drink package and had to chase down wait staff to get a drink at the bars, poolside, and in the restaurants.  The service in the restaurants was fair at best - no refills on drinks, my son asked for milk 4 times before getting it on one one occasion, there was eye rolling when ordering, one night I tried to order a coffee drink featured on the menu, but was told "no coffee tonight".  It was long waits to get in to restaurants and then I felt as though they were pushing us out.  

Our mini-suite was lovely but the room steward was not as attentive as we have had previously.  One night I walked out on my balcony barefoot (no lights on the balconies) and stepped on a layer of broken glass - turns out a balcony railing had broken above us and the shards of glass were all over.  The rest of the ending evening consisted of picking shards of glass out of my bloody foot!  It was 10:00 the next morning before our room steward came to vacuum it up which needless to say, did not capture it all, so there was no lounging on our balcony for the remainder of the trip since the glass was on the chairs as well.  

The shore excursions were short for the price and not as good as previous cruises.  The shows were pretty good - the Brat Pack show was excellent aside from the person in front of us posting pictures of her drinks and food to social media throughout, which was very distracting - would have liked to see a "no cell phone" rule for the shows. Even my 11 and 13 olds were appalled!

There were a number of activities for the kids, however the ropes course was a bit scary.  My husband went with one of my kids and when he came down, the crew member looked at his harness and asked if everything was OK on the course, brought the harness to someone else who looked at it with him adnd they proceeded to throw it away!  

We were quite ready to get off the ship and while waiting to disembark met others who were equally disappointed with their vacation as well.

i went because my grandparents took me and i am somewhat social but i made so many friends but i am really bad with names so i couldnt keep in touch and they probably didn't know how to find me but other than that every single detail was great but  i forgot flipflops somehow i swear i checked 5 times at least and started packing a month and a half and knew exactly how much time i had and it was the greatest thing i have ever done would recommend! ps here's a tip... if you are getting something get it on the last day everything is way discounted so they will be able to fill up again! the only complaint i had was that origionally jimmy buggets was part of our package but there wer so many people they had to take it off but once i got on the ship and saw all of the resturants it was amazing and i icompletely forgot and if you go humgry its you fault they have anything you could ever want!

Overall, it was a great time.  This is my third cruise on Norwegian staying in the Studio cabins.  The itinerary was good, ship was clean, staff friendly, and food decent.

Because it was a holiday cruise, it was a bit crowded, but not NCL's fault.

An ill designed ship, GROSSLY OVERCROUDED. The space is so scarce for the stupid amount of people on board, that I personally witnessed several fights - yes actual fist fights - because there is no room to move about. One of the WORST EXPERIENCES ON BOARD ANY SHIP I HAVE EVER HAD. People were constantly edgy because you have to push and shove to get food, drinks. The music at the pool is soooooo loud, that I bet it is OUT OF the LEGAL LIMIT DECIBEL REGULATION. RELAX??? FORGET IT. The service in the LIBRARY is ridiculous. First, the library is a small room….uncomfortable, and you can only check out books from 9 to 11 AM!! The rules are absurd. The lines to complain at the front desk were 1 hour long! Imagine the dissatisfaction of how many people! Truly despicable. TRAVEL AGENCIES BEWARE! Not only will I NEVER USE NCL, I will never deal with the stupid travel agent that "recommended" this line and this ship to us. I cannot give you enough excuses to avoid this cruise line. The "ESCAPE" was perhaps the company's most recent attempt to pack people like animals into a squeezing cage. To top it all off, NCL MUST BE IN REALLY DEAR FINANCIAL TROUBLE WHERE YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY CHARGED FOR SERVICE FOR EVERYTHING. That is, since THEY KNOW FULL WELL that their service is DESPICABLE, they charge you weather or not you want to tip the waiters/waitresses, because there are SOOOO many people and so few crew. A HORRIBLE SERVICE EXPERIENCE. HORRIBLE!!!! 

Overall, a very good trip. Embarkation and disembarkation were easy and fast  but we got there early at around 11am to board.  With disembarkation, we opted to bring our own bags out so we checked out around 8am after breakfast and lines weren't that bad.Since the ship was new in Oct. 2015 and we sailed on Dec. 19, the ship was practically new and I can see staff always cleaning the decks and hand railings. I can tell cleaniness was a top priority.  There were folks always there to spray your hands with sanitary spray before you enter the Garden cafe like most ships.  The bathrooms were cleaned with hands free tap and soap dispensers.

I particularly liked the message reminding people to use towels to open doors.

I didn't  like the fact they don't have seats covers.

The main atrium was a little understated for a ship this size but it was ok.

I liked their show theater and their H2O outdoor theater venues.

Overall, I don't know if the ship was full but we saw many people relaxing on the deck chairs but it didn't feel crowded during our normal day moving around the ship. Of course, you need to wait a little bit sometimes to be seated for dinner but we made reservations. We mostly were able to find seats at the Garden Cafe.

Room - we stayed at the family mini-suites. The balcony and bathroom were roomy and I felt the room was a little small for a family of 4, not smaller than usual but I have always thought cabin was small on any cruiseship so not a major minus.  One person had to sleep on a sofa bed but the main bed was roomy and comfy for 3 adults.  The bathroom was esp.l roomy, the best I have seen.

Staff/service - Service was excellent and 99% of the staff were friendly and always initiated greetings with us regardless of what they were doing such as cooking, cleaning the rails, cleaning the rooms, waiting on tables in the main dining rooms, or just walking around.   When we returned from our shore excursions, our ship was the only ship

who had lots of fanfare welcoming you:  there were tents to provide us with drinks, exchange towels, and a welcoming committee of staff, music, to make us feel special. I felt that was cool and great but I think this probably may go away after the ship is no longer considered a new ship.

Food - overall good to excellent. There were some hits and  misses but the hits were excellent. The only major complain was that they didn't offer

a midnight chocolate buffet. We asked and they said their seafood buffet replaced the chocolate buffet.

Hits - prime ribs at the O'Sheehan, baby short ribs, filet mignon, crepe, omelette, asparagus, shrimp cocktails, mussels, fish and chicken nuggets, grilled chicken, hamburger, and veg. at the Garden Cafe,

and appetizers like duck salad, Ceasars with shrimp, and desserts like

their Coconut souffle, Tiramisu, and the warm Choco lava cake at the Manhattan/Taste/Savory dining rooms.

There were no lack of food for sure from breakfast, snacks, and dinner at the cafe plus many specialty restaurants and bars from beer to wine, you want it, they have it. We were not into drinks but I can if you are, you should be very happy.  There were always a great variety of good quality fruits and desserts at the Garden Cafe.

Shore excursions -  it seems they offer the typical excursions like any other ships.  They were ok. We went on hikes, beach, city tour. We didn't do snorkeling as some of my party can't swim but there were plenty of those tours.

Activities - lots of activities every day plus their onboard main attractions:

one and only giant rope course (a must do of this well-designed exciting course), giant water slides, and mini golf.

I give these an A+.

Entertainment - bingo was fun, they have a hugh casino but I don't gamble. They had some various raffles from the gift shops, ping pong tournaments, lip sync contest, dancing contests, etc. 

Shows - the two complimentary shows were very good and we also saw a 3rd

excellent song/dance show called Winter Wonderland for the Christmas cruise

This was my first cruise and my fiances second.  We brought my 16 yr. old son along.  We had a balcony room on the 15th floor. It was nice getting up in the morning and sitting on the balcony. You can't beat the view.  I'm an early bird and my guys sleep late. We had the dining package which I highly recommend.  We already knew to make reservations prior to the trip so there was no issue getting a table. The website allows you to make your reservations 90 days before the cruise.  Do this and save yourself the headache later.   I have nothing bad to say about the food in the specialty restaurants.  I loved all the food a little too much I think.  For breakfast we ate at Savor or Taste.  I avoided the cafe because it was like Golden Corral at sea for me.  Too many people and too many small children.  If you prefer a quieter sit down type breakfast then go to Savor or Taste.  The only time I ever used the cafe was if I just wanted to grab something quick and take it back to my room. When we initially boarded we got our reservations for the comedy show because we weren't able to do it online.  Later I learned that there are large computer monitors stationed all over the ship where you can make reservations.  I didn't even notice them until half way through the trip.  You can also reserve shore excursions on them as well so check often because availability changes constantly as people cancel. Just because something isn't available one day doesn't mean it won't be available the next. The staff was great. Everyone was so friendly and so polite. . I think you should treat others the way you would like to be treated because I saw a couple guests speaking to the staff in a very derogatory tone. I felt bad for the staff. Our room steward was wonderful.  He greeted us each day and evening.  I began to wonder when did he ever get the chance to sleep.  Each morning you get a newsletter letting you know everything thats going on that day so check the newsletter if you want to find something to do. The first day my son went to the teen lounge he didn't really care for it so we went back later that evening so see what activities they had for the older kids.  At the time there was a scavenger hunt going on so he decided to stay.  By day two he had a group of kids he was hanging out with.  He loved meeting teenagers from all around the world and as the week went on we only saw him at breakfast because he was out with his new friends. When the cruise was over he told me that he had the best time he ever had in his life. That was great to hear coming from a teenager. The second night my son and I went to see the Brat Pack.  Its a mix up of some of my favorite 80's movies.  My son who is obsessed with the 80's loved it because he had seen all the movies and knew the songs.  The cast was so talented and did an amazing job.  The music was live and the sax player was awesome.  He received the biggest applause at the end.  It is a more adult show because they do say the lines from the movies and not the watered down edited versions we see on tv.  They serve a meal at the show as well.  This was one of the shows you had to pay for so reserve the show online prior to the trip because the price goes up if you book once you're on the ship.  I hate that I missed After Midnight because I heard it was good but I was just too tired that day to make it to the show and there were no other openings. My fiance and I went to the more adult version of the comedy show which is late in the evening.  It was hilarious.  We avoided the pools because it was just too many people packed into one space.  I tried the water slide but that was it.  I saved water play for the beach when we went into the ports. We did a shore excursion in St. Thomas which was an island tour and a couple hours at Magens beach.  We booked it through the cruiseline for $186.00 plus another $12.00 for the cab ride back to the ship.  The water was so clear. I grew up in Virginia Beach so to see crystal clear water like that was amazing. We did a similar excursion in Tortola but didn't do it through the cruise line and only paid $60 and the guide brought us back to the ship. There was a bar at the beach as well. Drinks were $5.00 so I got a little tipsy.  So if you just want a tour of the island and a day at the beach you may be better off doing this yourself instead of through the cruiseline.  Tour buses were always waiting at the ports.  Towards the end of the cruise you will find all kinds of sales going on.  Bring something white to wear to the all white party towards the end of the week. There was an 80's party one night too. It was so much fun.  A few crew members did the dance to "Single Ladies" on the stage.  We had a great time at the white party then danced some more at Sky Line til nearly 2 am. Initially I was worried that this cruise was going to be a disappointment based on other reviews I had seen but I really enjoyed it.  We are planning on going again next year on the same cruise but I'm taking my mother and aunt this time. They really need a vacation.

The boat has the same interior decor as 3 of their other ships so that was an immediate let down. The layout was terrible to navigate between floors and activities so it feels like massive traffic jams or funnels of people everywhere. As speed bumps and turns slow car traffic, as do this ships' winding, maze like walkways and random staircases. The walls also needed padding since the boat stabilizers are worthless. This ship rocks, creaks, and pops to every wave and wind gust; the closet hangers were best placed on the floor due to the nonstop banging noise.

The running track loops directly with both main walkways and a dining area. The pool area was completely overcrowded it feels like you get hotter from close people rather than the weather. 

Since this is their largest it lacked in accommodating the guest increase so finding service was difficult, made more challenging by the lack of knowledge and English within the staff. I could tell in 2 minutes if directions or assistance was even worth asking the person, instead it was easier to get lost on your own or just return to the same area you found the most peace. Places were not well marked unless they could fit more than 30 people. Such as finding the cigar room, or demonstration area would be in a restaurant not open yet that day but then called something else.

Entertainment was so limited to Broadway style in shockingly small theaters. Shows are booked full even before boarding. Using the touch screen kiosk to book and attend non complimentary shows was aggravating when saying a spot was open, try to reserve, then the entire slot would disappear, search again and it was somehow available but booking was the same fail procedure.

Bars closed at midnight or you need to find the only one open, somewhere. Late night food eats were cheese cubes and meat slices. The other complimentary dining hours are busy and restricted, as well as lengthy food waits. Food quality just wasn't up to fine dining level: chewy meat, bland sauces, the same feel from buffet food without getting it yourself. Desserts are great though!

The trick to survival is room service food, it's delicious! Call your food an hour ahead of being hungry. Become friends with a couple staff people that service multiple areas to get the better spots and treatment, as well as the most help. This made our trip much better than wishing to be back home, spending our vacation babysitting a pet rock.

This entire review would still have been the same opinion even if I didn't fracture my right ankle on day 2. I received no employee attention for 30 minutes while laying on the floor in tears of pain. Getting a wheelchair and then off/on the boat was just short of planning some air strike and dive team invasion attack on a watermelon. It took 2 hours arranging the correct wheelchair to brought up just to visit an island. A shower chair delivery would have arrived faster if the staff wasn't watching paint dry. 

The client services desk has zero manners or customer priorities, staring at their counter screen while "listening to you." But never mind the fact I'm NCL Gold status, I suppose their post to Facebook is more important. 

All in all, this was the best experience of AWFUL CRUISING imaginable.

#NCLEscapeSurvivor

I have not been on a cruise in many years and was pleasantly surprised.  The ship was beautiful the cabin was nice and loved having a balcony. I was a little disappointed I booked my trip back in May of 2015 and chose to pay extra for the specialty dining.  After we ate in one of the restaurants we were informed there would be a 30.00 charge because they changed a few things.  In my opinion we should have been informed of this before we sat down. After eating at the specialty restaurants I really can only say Cagney's was worth the extra cost. The food in the dining rooms that are included where just as good.. The staff if very friendly and I believe one of the maitre-d  Sandra was excellent. We met her the first day and after that she knew our names.  I was not crazy about the ports.  St Thomas was great but Tortola is run down and there really is not much to do.  Bahama's was the last stop and unless you want to spend an arm and leg to go to Atlantis what else is there to do.  Actually there might be plenty but unless you pay for the excursions they will not give you ANY INFORMATION...that is something that should be addressed.  Other than that we had a great time.  Not sure if cruising is for me I prefer not to have to rush back to the ship by a certain time but if you are a cruiser I am sure you will love this ship.