Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I really enjoyed our cruise we took at Christmas. The staff was unbelievable everywhere we went on the boat. Jeff our person that took care of our cabin was exceptional. I enjoyed the specialty dining and the open dining. On other cruise lines you have to pick a time to eat. I also want to thank Cheap Cruises for making the booking easy and always keeping us posted on what we needed to do to get ready for the cruise. Thank you!! Krystal

I've only been on 9 cruises and this is my second time cruising with NCL. From moment I stepped on board I was amazed at the quality of the ship. By far the most detailed and up to date boat I've sailed on. The food was excellent, entertainment was great, the quality of drink you get with the package was way above what was expected. We had a balcony room that was extremely spacious and overall it was the best cruise (cruise line) we been on.

Favorite part - enjoyed brewhouse and art auctions...fun, but be ware the auctions are mostly prints not original works..but still fun. brew house fun because we paid extra for the unlimited beverage package.  Dinning package is un-nessesary. Regular dinning in Manhattan room was fun and good food, one of the best steaks ever (paid extra for that) Cagneys good for steak Moderno - okay, the lamb chop was the best there, and Teppanyaki's was the most fun/best of the fancy/pay extra places we went to. 

We paid $4500 for a family of four. parents and 3 and 8 year old. not including air taxis etc. oh yea. and that was an inside room at the back of the boat.

They did have a great kids program, our kids enjoyed that.

Sea days the pool area was a mess.  "pool police" were there to make sure you didn't try to add a chair etc. impossible to find a chair - rough with kiddos.  Never once in the whole week did one bar person ask us on deck by pools if we needed a drink, but i did get a cold towel one day - that was nice.

Slides were fun, some days crowded some not.  Food everywhere buffet was good, I thought, one day they do a shrimp burger.. AWESOME.  I thought I gained 10 pounds..lol

Nassau is a dump, not sure what people do there besides Atlantis but I already paid so much I wasn't going to fork another 500$ for our family do to that.  We walked to queens staircase (pretty neat) and junkanoo beach. eh.

Tortilla was good, we took a taxi to Cane Garden Beach for $8 a head.  apparently kids are only $4, but no getting money back after the fact.. over all good little trip and family friendly beach there..liked that. lots of food/drinks fun beach.

St. Thomas we went to Trunk Bay.. little $ with taxies and ferry. but it was a nice beach.

Over all, too small pools/not enough pool area for families kids on the ship.  Feel like your nickled and dimed for everything- finally figured it all out over half way, to feel less stressful.  Didn't like the inside room darkness day/night, but that is our own doing. next time.  Just being on a boat i guess.. so many benefits to an all inclusive resort.. I guess we are resort people :)

Wasn't all bad, good food, okay drinks.. i miss the cruises that put my frufru drinks in fancy cups. everything here was a plastic cup unless at the brewhouse they did have a fancy cup.  

Room was always clean great room stewart.. service in dinning and deck not so great/happy.

The last NCL cruise.. maybe the last cruise for us.. just not great for the $ spent.

The NCL specially restaurants are superior to most other cruise lines.   The NCL entertainment again is far superior to what is offered on other cruise lines.  We did not appreciate how there are  more opportunities and activities on newer cruise ships like the NCL Escape.   Highly recommend this ship.

My cruise was great but some staff at the art auctions were very rude and unprofessional.   Dealing with Marcel from Spain during my art purchase was truly enjoyable.  He is a true gentlemen and a class act.  Other staff in the art department was awful. Also, very few food options open late night.  This was my first cruise and I was pleasantly surprised.  The ship was amazing.

Thank you for your time

Scott A. Means

 The weather.  The service is lousy and the food is also lousy.  If you want Goodfood you must pay extra for the specialty restaurants any of the good food they charge $25 for at least .  The other thing I must warn you they penny you to death $220 for each Internet and doesn't stop everywhere you turn the charge you extra. When you're at the bar you feel you have to beg someone for a drink .  Best part of the trip was the excursions when we got off the ship. And all five of my family members felt the same way . The cruise director talks a big game but they really doesn't  produce that. he's busy thanking  his crew and telling you how wonderful they are.  The majority are very subpar. 

The Norwegian Escape is a beautiful ship with much to offer just about anyone who boards. The food is amazing and overall I enjoyed being out and about in the sun during the week before Christmas. What I hadn't anticipated were the crowds - I understand this is a big ship but there were simply too many people everywhere. I also felt this put a strain on the staff that worked their butts off catering to the hoards gorging themselves at the buffet while their children ran wild. I cruised on the Norwegian Epic last year and felt that while the ships are fairly equal in size, the overall service, staff attentiveness, and general demeanor of the guests was far better on the Epic. I will definitely cruisebwith Norwegian again but on a smaller ship next time.

THe balcony rooms are amazing the biggest rooms we have ever sailed in!! Still do no like freestyle dining and was disappointed in the food selection overall.  Even on cheaper cruise lines when get a lobster tail without paying for it! WE did make sure and find a waiter we liked and requested him at each dining which made dining much better.  My biggest diappointement was in the photography!!!!  Back drops not good and using the digital back drops made shadows.  Poor areas for photos and the photographers did not make sure no shadows or people in back ground for prof pics!  Also pricey for poor photos. Very upsetting.  ONe of the shows was great the other just so so.  Great amount of bars to chose from and we did find our favorite at Tobacco Road  they were AMAZING..HENRY RUTH AND STAFF ABSOLUTELY GREAT!! WIth norweigan the booze package is the way to go.... no limits!! WE had not been on this large of ship on a very long time and it was beautiful.  STill need more staff / passenger ratios!!  Getting on and off ship was a breeze!! Cruising is the best!!!

I would recommend this cruise to friends and family . Staff were excellent and very nice. Ship was in excellent condition and was always kept neat and clean 

It was very overcrowded at the pool. I feel like the cruise line should at least show movies with sound in spice H20 since there is no pool. Saving the warming chairs in the spa should be prohibited. 

Overall good experience. Good food, drinks, and service. Room was nice. Pools were good. Excellent Shows and entertainment.  The guys working the Slides and sky ropes can be a bit ruff/rude.  also the line for line the for rope course builds up bad.  If not their at least 30min prior the the wait in the line will take at least a hour. needs improvement 

What did make everybody on the ship upset was the fact we missed Nassau due to ship error.  The only thing we got was $50 per cabin. this was very upsetting. NCL needs to do better job with this. this is newest ship and we have ship error? pretty strange. now staff did a good job and making the seaday good etc.. again overall good trip with islands.  

This was our first cruise with Norwegian.  I had read many reviews (all very mixed, as usual) and was pleasantly surprised by almost all aspects of our cruise.  The ship is very well-maintained (the Escape being their newest ship, as well) and was by far the cleanest ship we have ever sailed on overall!  The food in every restaurant (even including the buffet) was nothing short of AMAZING.  (I'm guessing those who rated the food poorly are among those type of people who are never happy until they've experienced perfection...which they never will!)  =)   The staff was friendly and always helpful.  The entertainment and cruise director was top-notch and nicely varies to please every member of our group of 9 ranging in age from tweens, teens, and 40-somethings. 

My only "complaint" would be that we noticed the side-to-side sway of this ship much more than previous ships, probably because of it's height.  However, this was only a minor issue and would not sway us from cruising on the Escape again!

We are food snobs, my wife is a gourmet cook, so very critical.   The food on this cruise was 5 star from start to finish, selection, quantity, quality was absolutely superb.  HOWEVER, from the minute you arrive until you leave they are nickel and dining you to death and it just takes the fun out of.   Worst excess in that regard in the past eight cruises, will not ever cruise with Nor. again.  Lesson learned.  The need for reservations for all of the entertainment is irritating, were cruising its supposed to be laid back, not structured, get it together guys.

Finally the Frankie Valley review was another five star show, truly professional with outstanding talent............tried six nights to get a reservation, glad we persevered  because it was worth it.   Do believe with better organization they could eliminate the need for reservations, but its just easier to manage, well nice for them, not so nice for us.   Only able to see one show in a week.   Great cabin steward, the entertainment people tried very hard but way too much yelling, grates on your after a while.

We were supposed to stop at three ports, they only stopped at two and gave us 50.00 back, 5 days cruising is a little much and 50.00 doesnt cut it.

Overall cruise was good but the way NCL handled their decision not to visit Nassau  was very very disappointing.  They announced we would not stop at Nassau and they would credit $50 per cabin.

The reason they gave not going into port was docking system but why couldn't they use tug boats.  $50 per cabin is so small a credit that it mad everyone very mad

We only stopped at 2 of the 3 ports. They told us that one of the ship's engines was not working properly. We skipped the Nassau stop because that's the only way we could get to Miami on time so the next group of passengers could board. The reason we took this cruise is because of Nassau and that is my wife's favorite port. Also it was her birthday and we had a big day planned.

I believe Norwegian cut back on their amenities as top shelf liquor that was on the drinking package 4 months ago when we were on the Getaway, were no longer on the package.

the food in the dining rooms was well below par as well as the service at times.

We've traveled with Norwegian many many times as well as with other cruise lines and this was the worst cruise ever.

The food was AMAZING!  So was the service.  My only complaint is the

reason we picked this cruise...My roomate, Lydia, has a prostetic leg and

we LOVED the handicapped room!  Her beloved husband died a few years

ago and she really wanted to go to Nassau because they had been there together as their last vacation before he was critically ill.  The ship cancelled

the stop because of a mechanical reason and she was heart-broken.  We

did not feel the $50 room credit was enough.

The entertainment, food (choices and restaraunts) were excellent.  We definitely felt pampered by everyone on the crew. 

The only issue was a mechanical failure to prevented us from making a stop at Nassau.  That was fine for me because I wanted to be at sea but others in our party and most of the passengers were very disappointed.

I really can’t think of areas for improvement because it exceeded my expectations from departure to return.

I would and already have recommended Norwegian and especially this specific cruise on the Escape to several people.

The escape is a beautiful ship but is very crowded which is why we chose to stay in heavens section of boat at an upgraded cost. The staff in heavens are extremely hard working friendly folks but understaffed. Service in restaurant and bar is slow but drink and food was very good. My frustration with that section of the ship was too many kids with no adult only section. We love children but not on vacation. The pool area of heavens is very small and with kids running around was very loud and is not a peaceful quiet area. Parents did not supervise their children so there were always kids in the small pool wearing diapers and kids bouncing around in hot tub so you could never use those areas to relax. We always had to go spa area if we wanted to peace and quiet. The spa area on the ship is wonderful with many amenities but not part of heavens.

The French restaurant was not as elegant as you would expect and food was fair another screaming kid made the dinner unpleasant with parent totally ingnoring  the behavior of the child.

We wanted to see new ship with NCL but the suite section is not worth the extra price you pay. None of the dress codes that are published for the dining areas on ship are enforced so why have them.

if you are an older demographic and do not mind paying a little extra for a cruise go with Celebrity Cruises very nice atmosphere, great service.

Pretty ship. Great service, good food BUT

   TOO MANY WATERSLIDES

   TOO MANY KIDS

    ONLY 1 Adult pool & it was too near the kids pool & water slides splash zones. 

  I don't prefer freestyle dining & almost no "sharing" tables avail. Ship info on tv was not kept current. SMALLEST cabin I have ever had in 52 cruises

They only shuffled cards in front of you and ONLY used a Las Vegas style clear plastic card shoot for the $50 per had table, all others ($6 & $15 tables) tables had a black covered electronic clear shoot, were the dealers seem to always win.  I am sure they that wasn't on the up-and-up!

did not easily inform me of the pre-paid drink card and did purchase it...that really cost me.

They canceled the Nassau, Bahamas port call and gave the guests a lousy $50 credit!

No Steak & Lobster night.

Food in the Dining restaurants was terrible and the service was absolutely the worst ever.

I went on the Norway a couple of times, 15 years ago, and it was the best cruises I ever took.  I will NEVER take another Norwegian cruise...Ever!!!