Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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.   

Food service, vibe and the NYC Broadway class shows were the best parts.  Would have liked to have more trivia options.  Too old for the slides but there are other options like mini golf, bocce etc.  would definitely return if the itinerary is changed.  Have been to Nassau and st Thomas so many times.

relaxing week                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I had a very good time, the crew and the other guest were just the best. The veterans meetings were a plus, much better than the past cruises on Norwegian. The on board activities were fun and I enjoyed the crew performance. They did a very good job. The deal or no deal is a winner. 

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

Norwegian Escape

This ship is just plain huge. The height shows off all the staterooms (many, many people), as well as the pool and sports decks. But until you’re next to it you can’t really tell how big it really is. Walking around inside, it doesn’t feel quite so large.

Stateroom

We were placed in an accessible room (it was the only one left in our guaranteed category) so it was likely larger than most. The room was nicely appointed with plenty of closet space and a couple of drawers on the desk. The beds were not super comfortable. We had an interior room so I don’t know if the beds get nicer the more expensive the room or not. My bed was hard and I woke a couple of nights in pain. The berth/pull-down bed was fine. However there was a large gap at the head of the bed and my daughter’s pillow landed on my head in the middle of the night. The bathroom was nice and spacious. We always had plenty of towels and supplies.

Pool

The pools are very small for the number of people on the cruise. During sea days the pools were both crowded with adults sitting nearly shoulder to shoulder with their feet in the pool. One pool is adults only until 5, which is about when the waterpark closes (usually at 6). The waterslides were a lot of fun. I think the yellow slide is more for children because I saw many adults get stuck (there’s just not enough water pressure to push an adult along). The blue tube slide was awesome but always had a long line. The staircases are not situated well for long lines and it often got frustrating and confusing. The two drop slides, the Aqua Loops, looked fun but you can’t have any jewelry on and I didn’t want to take my engagement rings off. The one time I did, and left them with my fiancé, they were closed for lunch! It must also depend on who is working because my fiancé didn’t have to take his ring off. The last couple of days the children's pool was closed, which made for upset kids and crowded adult pool after 5!

Pool Deck

Good luck finding a chair! If you do not stake a claim on chairs by 8 AM you will be lucky to find one later in the day. If you want to be in the sun you MUST get a chair by 8. Chairs were “held” by towels all day long and most of the time you’d never see anyone even use the chair. I wish there was a better way to work the deck chairs. People setting their stuff (or normally just a towel) on a chair and then leaving to enjoy their day wherever on the ship got really, really annoying. If you are lucky to find a chair later in the day, you won’t find two together.  There was a sun deck one level up and it seemed to be full all day too. However, I needed to be near the pool for my child. Pool towels you were also responsible for. If you checked out three towels you had to return three. The system was very bad and often when I went to return they didn’t have the sheet I’d signed them out on! Thankfully we didn’t get charged for any. I’m sure people steal them but if they’re going to make you responsible for them they need a better system.

Splash Academy

My daughter found the Splash Academy to be boring. She said there was nothing to do. She did enjoy the couple of late nights that we brought her. The events must’ve been more to her liking.

Drinks

Getting drinks and service around the pool was difficult. There was one bar that was always packed and you needed to go to the bar even for soda. Pool deck service was hit or miss but mostly miss. There were 2-3 servers that you might see occasionally but it was rare. I found I had to go to the bar to get drinks throughout the day (the Garden Café was close too if you wanted to go inside to get drinks). We got the ultimate drinks package and it seemed that nearly everyone had it. That was our “free” item that we chose when we booked the cruise. There was a good variety of drink specialties and drinks of the day.

Shows

The shows were really good. We saw the Variety show on our first night that gave us a little sampler of the onboard entertainment. It was good and quite enjoyable- a good overview and a nice way to start the cruise. The show I was most excited for was the Brat Pack. However the ship was moving/swaying so much on our show day that we only got a “concert” version of the show so I don’t know what it was really like. After Midnight was good and high energy too. The last night there was a crew talent show that was really good. It was especially nice to see crew members doing performances that were based on their cultures’ traditional dances and songs.

Games & Activities

We played Bingo and Deal or No Deal. Both were fun but cost extra. We played Bingo on kids play free day but adult Bingo packets started at $39 and went up from there. Deal or No Deal was $20 per card. We played twice, two cards each time, so it added up quickly. They were fun and took up a good amount of time. It was just pricey. One free thing they offered was glow t-shirt painting. You had to paint with a straw / wrapper, so that was difficult and by the time we got it figured out it was over. The downside was that it was a short event and I felt we needed another half hour or so to really do the event justice.

Atrium

We took part in a few of the atrium events like trivia (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Big, Bang Theory), towel animal folding and cupcake demonstrating. There always seemed to be something going on there. Most of it was all-ages but some were more geared toward adults. There was a café in the atrium that sold coffees, teas and cupcakes. Prices were decent (better than Starbucks and GiGIs Cupcakes) but it was an extra cost.

Spa

The spa had an open house on the first day but before you could book anything we needed to take a tour of the whole facility. This was ridiculous for us because we couldn’t afford the thermal suite with all its special amenities available only to thermal suite customers. It would probably be nice if you were with a travel party of singles, a couple or all adults. However, with a child we wouldn’t have had enough time in it to justify the cost. I want to say it was $50 on the day you had a treatment or $200 for the week, but I could be wrong. I really just wanted a massage. On the first day they had a raffle and at the end they offered a Manager’s Special for $139. I got that because it was a good deal. The downside was you had to book for that day or the next. I’d wanted to wait a little into the cruise but couldn’t pass up the deal. Prices are extremely expensive especially after they add the 18% gratuity to it. They also try to sell you a bunch of products but after I said I wasn’t interested she wrapped up quickly. They also offered a 10/20/30% discount if you booked three signature treatments. My fiancé did that and got two shaves and a massage.

Dining

We stuck to the free dining options. Taste and Savor were both really good. The atmosphere is fancier (candlelight and table cloths) and I felt odd going in in pants or jean shorts and a t-shirt. But there was only so many times you can eat at the buffet! The food and dessert options were good and the meals were plentiful and always tasted good. The Garden Café (buffet) always offered decent food, a multitude of choices and the most widespread hours. There were two full buffets most of the time and they were really long, going on quite a ways. The first day we thought they stopped at the beverage station, which was really only halfway down the buffet. Due to the layout, the lines themselves were disorganized and crowded. If you had the time and patience to wait through every line you’d find a plethora of food options.

Bars

There are plenty of bars throughout the ship. We didn’t visit many but Sugarcane, the Mojito Bar, was exceptional. Not only were the drinks great the bartender was amazing. I’d recommend it!

Laundry

There was a fill-a-bag day on Tuesday (day 4 of our trip) and I had my clothes back the next day (even though it is advertised as 2 day service). It was $25. Had I known that there would be a fill a bag day I wouldn’t have brought so many clothes! J

We loved this boat. It was new and had so many activities. My son loved the waterslides and the rope course (actually we did too). Food at the specialty restaurants was delicious the dining room so so. But we had a wonderful time. Get a package that includes eating at the specialty restaurants and you will never be disappointed. It was a wonderful trip and we will return