Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is our 3rd Thanksgiving on an NCL cruise and just as awesome as the first. Our family of 19.. ages 5 to 88 had an amazing trip. Tons to do for the kids, great spa for the adults. Food was always on point whether in the specialty restaurants or the regular dining rooms (Don't miss the teppenaki...best meal on the cruise!) Food Republic and Brew Company a must visit as well. Favorite night time activity is definitely Dueling Pianos ... those guys were awesome!

Great time had by all... 3 days back and my 12 year old is still suffering from PCD...post cruise depression! : )

The cruise was a wonderful experience all around.  We had excellent food, entertainment, and the staff were professional, fun, and helpful.  The ship is amazing, filled with a variety of activities, places to relax and unwind.  I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone considering a trip to the Eastern Caribean. You will not be disappointed!

My favorite part of the cruise was seeing NCL improving accommodations throughout the ship (Escape). Although very large and crowded, this newer vessel offers greater variety of restaurants and venues, and the rooms are modern and a little more spacious. This cruise is great for families with young adults. There are many fun amenities (i.e., water slides, sports complex with zip lining, mini-golf, etc.). The only thing I would recommend NCL to modify is the number of stops. The cruise stopped in St. Thomas (USVI), Tortola (BVI), and Nassau (Bahamas). The sea days (4) is one too many. I would suggest a stop in St. Croix (USVI) and/or San Juan (PR). And, if you are a Latitudes member you get embarking and disembarking preference, which proved to be very advantageous (the ship was sold out, 4,000+ and we still managed to get out in less than 35 minutes including customs!).

we have cruised on numerous cruise lines and We will not be cruising on any NCL ship in the future. Although relatively new, this cruise will disappoint for sure.  Public areas such as rest rooms untidy and at times dirty. The food was at best ordinary with the exception of Cagneys... Excellent!  When at the customer service desk it was impossible to speak with the employees as there was always extremely loud music or other activities.  It was so bad that a kid about 12 yrs old left the area and remarked they needed to tone it down as he covered his ears. When approaching the employees when entering a dining room, there was no looking up or greetings as they were busy with the computer. Ncl must need cash as the up charges were crazy.  No one in the buffet came around with coffee at breakfast like other cruise lines do.  This was an ordinary cruise where no one did anything to make the cruise special. Never again for us...RCL from now on

We thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving week on the Escape.  The NCL staff is terrific (except for Stateroom Attendant.)  The fun and entertainment is non stop.  And the ship is terrific with some really nice upgrades over the getaway - notably: Food Republic is a terrific addition with great food.  The District Brewery is a great adults only bar with a fun vibe.  the Aqua Loop is a great slide -- 2 people can go at a time - they allow cameras and selfie sticks and it makes for a great photo op.  the Ropes course is phenomenal.  Highly Recommend this ship as it provides a really nice balance of activities, food venues and entertainment for all ages. My only 'con' if you could call it that,  I would prefer a better itinerary -- I've been to St Thomas and Nassau many times, enjoyed Tortal and Virgin Gorda.

Main dining room was loud and took a long time to sit us.  Food was cold and very disappointing, we returned several dishes.  I've done more than 25 cruises and this one was one of the worst food wise.  Paid for the Bayamo restaurant, ordered lobster and it was tasteless. The ship is very beautiful and has lots of activities for the younger crowd.

We enjoyed our cruise on the Norwegian Escape. It is a HUGE ship!! With the exception of the drill at the beginning of the cruise- we never felt overwhelmed by the masses of people. This ship is definitely geared to a younger adult crowd, but that was not a problem if you didn't want to stay up late. The entertainment was top notch and the specialty restaurants were good. I would suggest trying to score a ultimate beverage package as a perk, as the prices for drinks are on the high side (11.95-15.95). This ship is geared more to self serve than being served. You basically had to go to the bar to get served, but there were plenty of bartenders to serve you. This is different than Holland America where they have a waitstaff that takes your orders and brings them to you. All in all- a great time was had, and wouldn't hesitate to go back on the Escape. 

Was not a fan of this ship at all.  Dining rooms were ugly (Manhattan was nicer), and the menu choices were bad.  They throw one thing in new each night, and then they have supplemental choices for like $24.99.  Looks cheap to me.  Carnival still has lobster night, and you have to pay extra on ncl to get something decent.  We actually liked the food at the buffet better.  O'Sheehans was always good.  Also better food than the dining rooms.  Had Tapas one day and it was good, but cost us almost $80 for the 4 of us.  Everything is extra and it really ruins the experience.  The theater is small.  They brought us the wrong food one night so we ran to our show and were literally 2 minutes late and had to stand in the back.  All three of us couples had several errors on our bill that required another stand in line at guest services.  I could go on.  We had fun, but it was of our own making.  I think we are going to try carnival again next time.  

My favorite part of the cruise was the ship itself.  Having cruised on other NCL ships before, I enjoyed the newness of Escape and found it to be technically modern in a pleasant way.  There were screen monitors everywhere (including the ability to use our room TV) that enabled us to make dinner and show reservations for travelers in our stateroom -- this feature could be improved to allow us to make reservations for family members in another stateroom without having to use the Box Office or making a phone call for dinner reservations. 

The concept of a "dinner show" was a plus.  We watched "Oh What A Night" while having dinner with a pre-set menu.  On other ships, we had to do dinner separately, before the show (too early) or after the show (too late).

I liked the fact that a key card had to be inserted into a slot near the door to turn on the lights.  Remove the card and all the lights turn off, thus saving energy.  I also liked having buttons on the wall near the door to indicate if we wanted the room to be made up or turned down, or "Do Not Disturb." 

As for suggested improvements, I think the room steward should have in his/her checklist a reminder to place breakfast room service order cards in the room.  There were none in our room, but since I knew this service was available I called the front desk and they had our room steward deliver some order cards.  Our friends never saw any order cards in their room.  I'm wondering if this was an effort to discourage the service... not good!

Another suggested improvement:  shows should clearly indicate if the material is not suited for children.  We went to the Brat Pack show that was also attended by families with children.  The show had too much profanity -- we walked out!  That kind of language is not acceptable!

I would recommend this ship and this cruise to others, although I'd have to say I enjoyed the ship more than the ports.

Dinning was great, food and verity for all meals outstanding.

The atrium  was crowded and far to loud for comfort, even had a loud band in the main dinning room making eating unenjoyable.

Cabin was tight but, comfortable.  

This was our first trip on Norwegian, but we have cruised on other lines a lot. The ship was beautiful, but compared to other cruise lines the cabins are smaller.  They advertise a refrigerator in each cabin, but it is locked.  Noise above our cabin from 11:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. or sometimes throughout night kept us awake on and off.  Ship was full so couldn't change cabins. Service in main dining room not as good.  No lobster dinner offered unless you pay $20+ extra.  Also, selection of foods offered does not compare to other cruise lines, nor does selection on buffet.  Entertainment was good but foul language even at 10 o'clock in main auditorium.  Did enjoy live band in main auditorium whereas other cruise lines don't have them any more.  You're allowed to each take a bottle of wine aboard, but they take it away when you board and when you go to get it during cruise, they charge you $15 uncorking fee even if you're taking it back to your cabin.  All in all, drinks cost more.  You feel like you are "dollared" to death the whole trip.

It was our 50th anniversary and we had a good time anyway, but wish some things had been nicer.

All staff and amenities in the Haven were far above what we expected.  From our Butler to the Conceirge to our stewart.  Can't beat French press coffee every morning in the Haven restaurant. We were able to lay out by the Haven pool and listen to soft music without the "too" loud music (some people like this) heard at the public pool area. Our bartender Mark made sure I had the best Lemon drop martini in the world.  Not to take any accolades  away from "Sugarcane" the Mojito Bar on deck 6.  Found the food in "Taste" and "Savor", both main dining rooms to be excellent.  Great entertainment by our chef at the "Tapinyaki" restaurant.  Was not over impressed with the tours we were on, but I am sure that there were plenty which others people were able to enjoy.   Photo department took care of our yearly Christmas cards again with efficiency.  The ship is phenomenal, we never go to see it all.  Can't wait until our next cruise.  Very disappointed with the Casino.  Expensive and smokey.  Stayed there for about 15 minutes and never went back.  Saved a lot of money this time.

The 4 promo items offered were one of the reasons that we chose this cruise.  Disapointed in the WI-Fi, (but did not take time to look into it).

My family vacations together every year and this time we decided to try something new and go on a cruise. While I love the idea of endless drinks and dining, I'm not sure if I'll be cruising again in the near future. I found it irritating to travel with 1,000's of other people and being limited with my time on the islands. I did appreciate the ship and all of it's amenities, however. The food options were good, and the staff was incredible. There was something for everyone to do. I would have liked to see more on-board entertainment pool-side. It was absolutely hilarious. All in all, great experience.

We had a group of 13 ladies for a family reunion and everything went very well. The food was tasty, shows were entertaining, ports were interesting. It's a very big ship, lots of walking to get around, the crew sometimes made you feel like you were bothering them, endless people at the bar or food areas. Very clean in all areas and lots to do. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves!

My favorite part was staff games every night. 

Improve I subject to has Free WiFi. We has a lot of trouble and few money to buy a wifi 

Of course I will recomment the cruise with Norwegian 

Our 2nd Cruise with NCL and was an excellent experience. The ship, the staff, onboard entertainment and shore stops were great making the vacation a memorable one. 

The best part was meeting other people. The ship was .great. The food was out of this world. The crew and staff took care of our every need. The any time dining was perfect for us. I could weare shorts in any restuarant

The cruise itself was awesome. Our only minor complaints were a 3 hour dinner service at Cagney's where the food could have been better and a sub par dining experience at Moderno.  All other restaurants were great with very good food!

Overall the ship was very nice and we enjoyed the amenities as well as the stops. The crew was not as attentive as our last crew and I would have to request them to bring towels to the bathroom and soap. The ship was gorgeous though and there was tons to do and it was very modern.

Overall we had a good experience. The food was great expect in the supper club. I think NCL needs to redo their menus for these types of venues. The shows were good but there didn't seem to be much entrainment. The service in the restaurants were not as good as the last time we cruised with NCL. The ship is clean, the pool areas were nice and big. They do need to work on the drink package though. Seems if you have a solo traveler in your group who doesn't have it, seems to get charged with all your drinks. No one wants to spend their cruise at the service desk everyday. Also not a fan of the upcharges in the complimentary  restaurants now. $$ for a lobster tail and the better cuts of steaks and the menus do not change nightly. There also seemed to be too many activities going all at once. Getting on and off the ship was well organized at each port. The crew is out hanging cold water and fresh towels when you return. Also the men on board were very disappointed that they didn't have one world series game on the whole trip and only two football (American) games. Lots of people on board were complaining about that one the whole trip. I can understand that the ship has European tourists and Canadians on board and there was tennis and Euro football on everywhere  but come on, it was the world series! Carnival and Royal have the football package at least.