Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Boring cruise while at sea.  Had to fight crowded decks to find a lounge chair. Every show seems to be built as a cliché of real entertainment.  Loud music on pool deck all the time was a constant annoyance.  Crowded pools and Jacuzzi's.  Prices for Spa services are double to triple what they are on shore.  A couple of the premier restaurants were decent, but the bars were sterile and boring.  You're then "nickel and dimed" by the staff repeatedly.  Everything is some upcharge even if you bought the premier meal and drink package.  The excursion options were good but expensive compared to booking them yourself.  All told you should skip the cruise and simply put the money to hang out on St Thomas or St John.  Will cost the same or less and you'll have a far better time.

way too many cruisers and not enough help translated  to poor service and customer service. Food was excellent no matter where you dined. Decks, pools and hot tubs were beyond capacity for such a large ship. We had the drink package and once they knew you had the package thy never came back to offer you another one. Wifi was the worst. Rarely worked. Told us because there were too many people on the boat. We asked to be prorated since they were aware that if there were too many people that wifi would be sketchy at best. 

Our room was not made up two of the seven days. 

Like I said great boat and excellent food. 

There were pros and cons....

 Pros- easy, fast embarkation and debarkation!! An excellent bartender at the "5 o'clock somewhere bar" by the name of the chocolate cowboy. He was excellent, knew everyone by name and remember the small items everyone liked in their drinks, very nice!!

Cons- there were over 2200 kids on this ship, un-attended, uncontrolled, no curfew, loud kids running wild all hours on this ship, I am talking about 9 yo and under!!!  The garden café was a nightmare, a freaking busy highway, dodging strollers, screaming kids, kids under 9 serving themselves at the buffet where they can barely reach and after picking their noses!!!  Kids playing with the soft serve ice-cream machine!!! No parental guidance at ALL!!!  I personally witnessed 2 small boys in the atrium throwing the pillows off the couches and having a pillow fight while the mother just sat thee and nearby staff ignored,,, I am sure it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt!!! No control at all!!! Kids in restricted ADULTS Only areas in the hot tubs!!!   No one said a word to their parents.... heck as if people without kids did not matter!!!! We work all year long and would like to relax on vacation not have to put up with someone else's brats!!!!!

The skyline club only played latino music every freaking night!!!!! Spice H20 only played fist pumping, jump around music for the tweens and twenty something crowd.. everyone else they could care less about!!!!

DJ played at the 12 x12 pool area daily with the lounge chairs reserved with shoes, towels, baby dolls and phones early in the am with no one around, they were probably eating breakfast or went back to bed... but hey we got our chairs reserved for whenever we decide to go to the pool area!! please NCL set rules and watch this...ENFORCE THEM for the enjoyment of all of yours PAYING customers instead of a select few!!!!

DJ needs to get out more and know that their all types of music instead of the 2 genres he played during the 7 day cruise!!!!

Never seen the cabin stewart all!!!!

First and last New Year's eve cruise I will ever take... considering cancelling my other 2 NCL cruises that were already booked!!!

My favorite part of the Cruise was two Crew Members Guido and Tajani, the worst part of the experience was all the children on the ship allowed in the 18 and over events like not so newly wed, battle of the Sexes and in the night Conley Shows that were inappropriate for children what they were experiencing.  Never saw the Cruise Director basically just heard him over the PA System.  The Stateroom service was horrible, one minute the bed was made but the bathroom was not and by serversa.  I've been on 6 cruises with Norwegian, the Sky 2x's, the Dawn, the Getaway, the Breakaway and there's No Escape was the worst entertainment, the worst roughness in feeling the ship moving, and the worst Crew Staff

Just way to many people and kids.  First time on a 4200 person ship.  Excursions were great, food was great.  Should be able to get Vibe at time of purchase.  Only local people can get there early enough to get it at boarding.  If you have never been on ship 4200 people it is a new experience.  Way to many people and kids to deal with.  Pools are the same size as smaller ships,  and really crowed.  Cabins are much smaller than usual. 

I would recommend this cruise. The ship NCL Escape is beautiful. I loved the complementary Manhattan Room restaurant. Every evening, they had some musicians playing. Nice and pleasant stay.  

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