Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Great cruise!  Top notch entertainment - After Midnight and Brat Pack both superb as were both comedians.  Water slides were great.  Pool area crowded.  Food good - Cagney's Great.  Bar service OK

Crowded,service was not good,2 hours for a meal. There were things wrong with our room. When I told them about it nothing was done. Very disappointed 

the service was poor through out the ship. the food was cafeteria quality, long lines every ware, entertainment was not as   good as our last two Norwegian  cruises. very small pool. ship was to large too many people .select a smaller ship or stay home and save the money. our ship was the Norwegian escape .

My favorite part of the cruise was the variety of eating/drinking places and the daily paper notices of events.  I do have 3 complaints.  First, maybe there could be more "smoking areas".  Second, when dining in the finer restaurants it would be better if we were presented with salt and pepper shakers instead of packets or small open containers with these items. Third, maybe a few more choices on the television.  These things are not inline with tablecloths and napkins. Other than these complaints the trip was wonderful and I would definitely recommend it to my friends.

Boarding time was pushed to 1so they could disinfect the whole ship from the previous week's cruise. There was an outbreak of Norovirus because of all the drunks getting sick everywhere. Everyone showed up at the same time. Port check in was fast .  An hour waiting in line to board the ship so passengers didn't stand in broiling sun on gang plank. Cabins weren't ready until 4. Only two sets of elevators, forward and after, for 4,000 people. Long wait for them all the time.

I had a non connecting balcony cabin to myself. There was no sound issue from neighboring cabins, only from the drunk woman yelling she was going to her cabin at 12:30am.  It would be tight for anyone not a couple. Balcony is standard small, 2 chairs and small table. I found the hairdryer powerful enough. There were plenty of outlets and a USB next to the bed.  Space between bed and closet is ridiculously tight. Bathroom and shower are spacious. I loved getting back to the sanctuary of my room. Truthfully, by arrival at our first port after 2 days at sea I was ready to pay whatever was needed to fly home. I had already packed! 

There were always lines and waiting for free food venues. They need ropes to direct people and prevent them from jumping the line at the buffet . Utter chaos in the Garden Cafe. More plate/utensil stations to prevent bottleneck would be good. Food in specialty restaurants was wonderful. Food in O'Sheehan's was good, always a line. Surcharge for room service is petty.

Far too many drunks on the unlimited drink package. Nobody cut them off. Smoking places were minimal. Indoor humidor's space is small and the ventilation system had a hard time keeping up, many complained.

The crew, for the most part, were great. They had to deal with adults who had no filters or boundaries. 

Keep an eye on your room charges. We were double billed for three people at Cagney's and it took 45 minutes and someone from the restaurant coming down to finally get a refund. Do not move until you get that credit slip!

In summary, this is a huge ship that caters to partyers and  drinkers. You will wait in lines for everything. People will disregard all basic manners. Lower your expectations and you will have the time of your life. 

check in was easy, ship was clean, staff was just ok. didn't go above and beyond, food was good, drinks were good, shopping was limited and amount of places to eat was limited, lots of extra charges to eat or do anything, was just an ok cruise.

Our overall experience on the Escape was poor. The food in the no fee dining was way below expectations. Our 4th time on Norwegian and hopefully the last, only went because of a lot of friends were going. The one thing we absolutely loved was  no formal night and you could wear almost anything you wanted anytime. We had a mini-suite ( mini is right ) the bathroom was very nice though, big nice shower and a double sink. Always having to make reservations for shows. If you want early shows you really need to book before you board the ship, so it gets to be a kind of a regenmented schedule. Please you are on vacation! If you don't show up for a show you booked, you can't book another. Very restrictive! We like the idea of just showing up, we arrive early if we want good seats, otherwise we take our chance.

We had no cold water for an entire day in our room so taking a scolding hot shower was out of the question for an entire day. That was day 3, Day 5 brought up a whole new problem. The toilet overflowed and had about an inch of water on the entire floor, bad valve was to blame on a 4 month old ship. Ran out of soap in the shower and it took them 6 hours to drop off 2 bars of soap. The food was good, drinks and bartenders were great. Last 3 days of the cruise we had a Norovirus outbreak so that put a damper on things as well. They also never delivered the flowers I had preordered weeks before getting on the ship, they finally just gave me a refund after day 3, which I doubt they would have, had I not complained. Made the best of a bad situation but the customer service was severely lacking this cruise from the guest service desk to the phone operators not answering any calls

I can't say enough how much I enjoyed this cruise. The ship was incredible, there was so much to do and so many choices to offer. It was clean and laid out very nicely. The food on the boat was simply amazing. Whether is was at the main dining room or in a specialty restuarant, the quality and quantitiy of the food was outstanding. One thing absolutely not to miss is Food Republic. Even though it is al la carte pricing, the prices are extremely reasonable and the food was outstanding. We had two sushi rolls and the salt and pepper calamari. The calamari was so incredibly tender and the spice mixture was out of this word. The sushi was also fresh and such high quality. This was definitely my favorite meal on the ship which was saying something because the food was all so good. Even the buffet had quality food that would satisfy anyone. The staff was friendly and courteous. I had such a great time and would go back in a heart beat.

This was an excellent cruise. Had a great time. Lots to do and many places to eat and drink. Lots of people but everything went very smoothly. If you like lots of quiet space this might not be the cruise for you. It is very busy and the pool area is very active all the time. I would of liked just a little more personal space per person. but that was the only thing that I would of changed. The crew were very friendly and welcoming. The passengers represented just about every country you can think of. They were also very friendly and didn't seem to mind the lack of personal space. All in all it was a wonderful time.

I have nothing but complaints about this ship and this cruiseline. I would not recommend this cruise to anyone!! It began with the ncl rep fighting with the shuttlebus driver in ft lauderdale (in torrential rain, lightening, and thunder), who wanted us to load our own luggage, and then tried to drive off with it on the sidewalk. The rooms, and the ship overall, is very poorly designed. The bed was about 1 ft. from the closet doors (which moved constantly so the hangers banged against them all night long). So when you tried to get something from the closet, you fell over on the bed. Sprained my wrist the first day before leaving port, trying to open the balcony door that wasn't on the runner correctly, so it jammed. Then an employee turned on a waterhose on the deck above me, and when I jumped I sprained my toe on the aluminum base of the lawnchair. You can never get a seat in the buffet or anywhere else, because it is wall to wall people all the time. 1 pool for 4200 people, no seat to be found. Hot tubs monopolized all day long. Even in the "free" restaurants, half of the menu you have to pay extra. The noise is deafening everywhere, not a quiet place to be found, unless you pay for a spot on the top deck. To top it off, a virus broke out with over 85 people sick, so if you had any symptoms at all, you were confined to your room for 48 hrs. I wasn't allowed to get off ship for 2 days and missed Nassau, which was the only day we had any sun all week. All I had was a migraine headache, and 1 bout of nausea. Totally undisciplined kids running everywhere, which staff did nothing about. Room service is a "joke", with maybe 30 minutes on hold and then get disconnected, and the food is not worth eating when it comes 2 hrs later. Guest Service Desk the same, long hold only to get disconnected. These kind of problems would not be allowed on most other cruiselines, and you would have received compensation. NCL thinks sending a bottle of wine, to someone who doesn't drink, is enough. Don't waste your money on this one.!!!!!

Would recommend this ship to everyone ! Although there were 4300 guest you

didn't feel crowded. For couples with small children an absolute winner between

the incredible water park & arcades , never a dull moment. Kept thinking how much

my grandson would have loved it ! We're gamblers & were knocked out by the size

& variety of the games. Never have we experienced this on any ship & we're been

on some larger than the ' Escape '. You have a total winner ! Improvement can be

made in the food quality & selection in the main dining rooms ! Example : Shrimp

cocktail was never offered as an appetizer other ships had daily.

i FIND THE WHOLE ncl freestyle EXPERIENCE GREAT.....yOU DONT HAVE TO THINK JUST  DO YOUR THING....THE SHOWS ARE REALLY PROFESSSIONALLY DONE.....THE CREW IS SUPER FRIENDLY.....SHIP  VERY CLEAN

I booked my cruise with JetBlue but 2 weeks before sail off the price of the cruise dropped by 50% and JetBlue nor Norwegian didn't do anything about probably wouldn't use again.

For the first three days, we really enjoyed it. The entertainment was outstanding, the food was good, and the dining room staff were very good.

Then I got the nororvirus. From there on, things went downhill. Naturally, and as I expected, I stayed in the room in isolation. Unnaturally though, they also had my wife (who didn't have the norovirus) stay in the room too.

I was told that I could use room service for meals. However, it was almost impossible to get room service - the phone would ring for five minutes and then go dead; or, someone would answer after several minutes, then put me on hold, and then go dead five minutes later. Trying to get through guest services was almost as bad. On one day, I started to call around 12:00 noon, and by the time I finally got the food delivered, it was almost 3:00pm - 3 hours later, just to get a hot dog and a drink. That's unacceptable, but it's typical of what happened for the entire remainder of the cruise.

For another example, when I called guest services to question a charge on my account, I was told I'd have to go to guest service myself about it. When I told them that I was in isolation, they said they'd call me back. But, they didn't. That seemed to be their normal operating procedure - whenever a guest calls and has a problem that they don't want to deal with, they resolve the problem but telling the guest that someone will call them back, but of course, no one ever calls. Sheesh!

The final kicker was at the end of the trip. All of the "norovirus cabins" people (my guess would be about 100 cabins, 200+ people) were ushered off the ship as a separate group at 6:45am, so no breakfast, nothing. Just get off! Also, any excursions that we had scheduled were cancelled.

Note that I had the norovirus about 7-8 years ago on a Royal Caribbean cruise, so I kind of knew what to expect. On the Royal Caribbean cruise, I was only isolated for one day, whereas Norwegian staff isolated everyone for the entire remainder of the cruise. The Royal Caribbean staff were outstanding; they stopped by the room several times during the isolation period, they brought the meals so I didn't have to call for them, and they did not isolate the spouses or children. So essentially, Royal Caribbean did everything the right way for the guest, whereas Norwegian didn't seem to care for the guests at all.

Needless to say, Norwegian will never have to worry about us having the norovirus on a cruise again - we'll never be back.

The following is an excerpt from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) web site:

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Norovirus and food

Norovirus is the leading cause of illness and outbreaks from contaminated food in the United States. Most of these outbreaks occur in the food service settings like restaurants. Infected food workers are frequently the source of the outbreaks, often by touching ready-to-eat foods, such as raw fruits and vegetables, with their bare hands before serving them. However, any food served raw or handled after being cooked can get contaminated with norovirus.

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We enjoyed the cruise. Nice itinerary. Unfortunately, there was a Noro virus outbreak during the cruise. I don't believe that was the cruise lines fault. I feel they could have done a better job of informing us about what was going on. We saw signs that something was wrong on Wednesday. The first official word didn't come until Thursday morning. We avoided the buffet area and used gobs of hand sanitizer.

The food at the specialty restaurants was superb. I actually enjoyed the tap dancing and period type music of the Cotton Club show but it wasn't enjoyable for the 30 somethings in our group. Most of the other entertainment was liked by all. The ropes course, miniature golf, water slides were lots of fun for all of our group - kids, parents and grandparents. The ship was easy to get around with lots of elevators. My only complaint is the live music at the pool area was entirely too loud. I highly recommend this cruise

This cruise was an excellent cruise. The threat of hurricane Matthew made it a little unsure if the ship would be able to come to Miami in time to leave but it did and everything went without an issue.  We sailed with the beverage package and the speciality dining package and were very impressed by both packages. The bar tenders would serve you what ever you wanted as long as it was one at a time. A quick slip of a dollar or two would get an extra drink if traveling alone or grab your travel partners ship card and two drinks would be coming your way. The speciality dining was excellent.  The servers knew exactly what to do with the package and informed us of what was very good for the particular restaurants. I would recommend this ship for anyone looking for activities. The ropes course, the speed slide and the tube slide were excellent. The crew did a great job moving people through each activity and there was not to much of a wait even though the lines looked long when getting into the activity. Great time and would love to go on this ship again. 

The Escape is a beautiful ship. Loved our balcony which had twice the space of a balcony i had on the Breakaway.

The food in the main dining room way good although it was pretty much the same menu each time we dined there. The better meals in the main dining rooms were for purchase which i did not like. The meals in the specialty restaurants were very good.

The lounges by the pools were almost always full, although there may not have been people using them. Most had towels and/or books on them with no one around. People put towels on them early in the morning to "reserve" the lounges even though Norwegian does not allow that.

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The service and entertainment on the Escape were outstanding.  The food in main dining could have been a bit more exciting.  The ship was clean, comfortable, and, other than by pool, never seemed crowded.