Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This new ship was awesome. The ship was full but you would never know there are 4200 other passengers onboard. From embarkation to debarkation and seeing the shows to all the dinning rooms there were lines but never unrealistic ones or giant crowds like I have seen on other ships. Our cabin was a balcony on deck 12 forward. It was extremely clean and very quiet. We have cruised 11 other times on NCL and other carriers and no doubt, had the best cabin stewardess we have ever had. Sometimes service in the main restaurants can be a bit slow, but conversely the specialty restaurants were wonderful and offered great service and attitudes. 

We enjoyed our 2 bedroom Haven Suite which was very comfortable and spacious.  Movies were included free of charge and our butler Gonsalvo was awesome.  He went out of his way to pop us popcorn everyday because my daughter loves popcorn.  However, NCL has made many changes in the last 3 years and we are not happy with them. First, they no longer allow passengers to bring bottled water on board but even if you purchase the ultimate drink package, they don't include bottled water.  They charge $6.00 for a liter which adds up to a very hefty non-alcoholic drink bill.  They no longer have a set price for specialty restaurants.  You have to pay a la carte for the menu items which again translates to a larger bill.  The excursion prices seem to have sky rocketed as well.  Nothing is affordable with NCL anymore and the menu for the inclusive dining is just mediocre at best.  Lastly, there is no longer a final jackpot bingo where the "BIG" jackpot must be won.  If you don't have a cover all by the 47th ball, you play to win the consolation prize of $1000 and that is it.  The ultimate bingo package costs $69 and if you add up how many passengers played during the course of the week and the amount of the prizes given away, NCL is pocketing ALOT of the proceeds.  As a platinum latitudes member, and a Diamond Plus Crown & Anchor member of RCCL, I think I will stick with Royal for awhile as the perks on Royal's rewards program  are so much more generous than what I get with NCL.

Loved the cruise. Included in my incentive package was 4 night specialty dining and unlimited beverage package. They were terrific. The complementary and specialty dining was excellent. Drink package was wonderful. Beautiful fancy drinks! The entertainment was great and the service and crew were perfect. Only complaint was they should include the fancy coffee as apart of the beverage package, and NCL also had some charges for silly items like bowling, or pool. That I thought was a bit tacky and I did not use the items. Please express to NCL to include the specialty coffees in the package.Overall an excellent cruise. Booked again to go on the same ship!! Wonderful experience!

The unlimited drink package and the dinner package were the best. The only thing I have to complain about is that the casino is on the center of the ship and the smoking was so bad and you can't avoid it. The atrium is open and the smoke travels to different decks. You have to walk through the smell. Why don't they have an area closed off away from where restaurants are. We also complained to guest services that someone was smoking on their balcony and we were on deck 13 aft and we were told that it was the wind blowing the smoke from one of the smoking areas and basically just ignored us. The pool area is way too crowded and they should come up with a way to stop the chair hogs who put their towels on chairs and then disappear to have breakfast or lunch or dinner. Maybe they should start charging for a pass to reserve a chair and if you disappear for more than an hour or more and you are not in the pool area than you lose your deposit. 8 am and 50+ chairs has towels on them and there are only 10 people in the pool area. Parents also need to keep an eye on their kids. There were 4 to 9 kids that would get together and run the halls. They also got ice cream and threw it at each other and one elevator was a disaster with ice cream on the walls. They also smeared ice cream on the walls of the hall way. We never saw a parent with any of them. We went to a movie and there were kids telling talking loud shining flashlights. They also grabbed as many bags of popcorn that they could carry and then ran back to get more. I know kids will be kids but we chose to go in October because kids should be in school. You don't go on a cruise and turn your kids free to have others have to deal with them. You brought them therefore you should watch them. Other than that we had a Very good time. The ship was beautiful and our stateroom steward Dave was awsome. He took great care of us. We would go again but hopefully we will get to the Bahamas. The captain done a great job of keeping us out of harms way. It would have been nice to go to another port. 

Sorry, I missed the voyage!  We had been looking forward to it for almost a year, when I was struck with bladder cancer and we had to cancel.  I hope all those that made it with the Hurricane Matthew bearing down on Miami, were able to escape the path and enjoyed the trip (Glad we had elected Trip Insurance).

-Tom and Pat Fowler

You cannot bring in a case of water anymore so now you have to purchase it. If you buy the ultimate drink package they don't include water though you are charged 70.00 a day??? Come on now....sushi is not at a buffet or ultimate dining specialty restaurant but charged a la carte??? Overall though service is impeccable and freestyle dining is better than a scheduled dining program, there are a great many amenities and the Haven suites are luxurious. There is a ropes course with a zip line and sliding tubes and free fall tubes to ride on. Adventures await in the Splash Academy for the kids camp and the entertainment was abundant in variety. Karaoke every night, trivia time with family on Star Wars, Harry Potter, and white glow dance party to groove to with a live DJ. 

dining room food good.  garden cafe food very good, ship very clean. crew helpful. entertainment well below my expectations. on and off the ship went very smooth...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

It was an excellent cruise on a brand new beautiful ship. Dining, shore excursion were wonderful. Staff was nice, friendly and attentive. The only wishes were if they could fit one more port in the itinerary-Sun Juan, Puerto Rico, for example, we passed it by anyway, and having just two pools on the ship were a little tight for 4000 passengers.

It started poorly because messed up our room assignments. We booked this last February with my daughter and son in law. We were told our cabins would be near each other. Once we boarded this huge ship, we discovered we were on the complete opposite ends of deck 11. Even worse we were sharing taking care of two small children, one a baby. That made the vacation a lot of hard work. Next we were told we were close to the child center. In truth both rooms were far from there. The cruise was sold out so there was no chance of fixing the problem.

We were supposed to have on board credits that neglected to tell NCL about.  

As as for the cruise it was ok. We lost our port because Nassau was hit so hard by Matthew. Our five year old grandson has the time of his life. I was not as crazy about the new ship Escape as I thought. All they really did was build more rooms. Most of the ship was crowded. They did not build a bigger theatre. Just now you have to have a reservation to attend the shows.

Even in the specialty restaurants dinner was a two hour deal. The workers are great, they are just overwhelmed. 

This is was my fifth cruise. All have been on NCL. It seems to be like with so much success NCL has become arrogant. I think I'll try another line next time.

Better Sports channel on the in room TV's and Pub. The debarkation could have been faster. An adult pool like the Epic has would have been nice, although the Grotto in H2O 3 was refreshing

 The Norwegian Escape had to be one of the most absolute beautiful ships that I've ever had the pleasure of sailing on.  the service was excellent the food more so and the entertainment was unmatched even a little issues like Hurricane Matthew didn't stop this staff and crew from doing amazing things even though we missed going to Nassau..... it wasn't really missed and if you didn't attend this cruise you missed a show-stopping performance at the piano bar by the cast of After Midnight who did a heart-stopping rendition of" Lean On Me "someone else should have got it on video! we did! all and all my husband had a great 50th birthday celebration in special Thanks  to  Norwegian Escape and Norwegian cruise lines

Was very satisfied and in particular the food was one of the best I've experienced in many years.  The specialty restaurants were very good and a nice change of pace from just eating in the dining room, especially La Bistro and La Cucina.  I thought the restaurant O'Sheean was excellent, very convenient and good food, good service.  It was great being able to just go in for a snack or lunch pretty much any time.  I was also impressed how smooth the sailing was, especially considering we went during a major hurricane.  Never felt uneasy and we commented on this how smooth it was.  I thought the layout of the ship was very practical and how much was going on right there in the Atrium area.  Also like how casual everything was including the dress code.  Overall very satisfied and would go again and recommend to others.

The Norwegian Escape was a very fun ship with a lot to do. We had great food, and the drinks were constantly flowing (which was the point). With Hurricane Matthew in the vicinity, the captain did everything possible to make the trip a smooth one, but when going through 15 foot seas (at least), it's darn near impossible. As a first time cruiser, I was a little perturbed, but I know it wasn't anyone's fault. I was hoping for a smoother ride, but with the stops in St Thomas and Tortola to break up the trip, it made it a little easier.

Had a Great Time. I would recommend the Spa for the week. Ship was one of the best.  The entertainment was good but needed a little more.  Enjoyed the specialty places to eat on the ship.  Plus the other places like a couple of them had the football games on.  Felt good to relax and get away.

over all ship is beautiful but but one pool for 4200 people is all full could not get any where near pool way to crowded, .  hard to find seats in buffet room , did not like lay out of casino not enough slots . i think i like the smaller ships much better around 1500 to 2000 people more than enough.have to say food was very good and entertainment was ok.. love shore excursion

very disappointing cruise. This is my third cruise with Norwegian and I can say that I was not impressed.  Even though the ship was new and in excellent condition I found that the need to make money by Norwegian putting too many people on one ship. Waiting in line at the buffet, Waiting in line for shows, having to book  Times to go see shows I found it to be extremely annoying. Ate at all the restaurants ordered food from the menu one where there was a premium pay for a specialty dish, I ordered lobster it was dry and  overcooked. I found the waiter and waitress service is to be extremely poor. Had a big concern for the sanitation while on the ship even though the waiters and waitresses had spray bottle bass sprayed no one's hands to enter the buffet the buffet was a major link to difference  

I loved everything about the ship and the cruise. The food was excellent. Loved the waterfront dining. I bought the thermal spa package and it was well worth it. I would recommend the Escape to anyone!

The Norwegian Escape is a huge beautiful boat with a few quirks that make it unique and in some ways annoying.  The use of the Atrium on the Escape baffles me.  The Atrium on the Escape is used as the centerpiece of the boat for games, classes, and all of the loud activities that are usually isolated to the Spinnaker Lounge on other Norwegian Ships (at least the 3 I have been on).  This makes enjoying a meal or a drink at O' Sheehan's a challenge unless you have a strong desire to listen to someone in the crowd yell "No Deal" over and over while trying to eat some wings and watch a football game.  The other thing on this boat I found annoying was the music in the Manhattan Main Dining Room.  We ate dinner there one night and a five piece amplified band was playing so loud we had to yell our order to our server.  We were graciously reseated further away from the stage when we complained but the music was still overbearing.  Needless to say that was the primary reason we only ate in the Manhattan Room once.  The staff on the Escape was friendly and efficient.  Prior to the cruise I was a little concerned about speed of service on such a large ship.  There was an occasional slow meal  but generally things operated well in the dining areas.  The pool is too small in case you haven't picked up on that from all of the other reviews.  Spice H2O and it's Grotto were an excellent Adults only option for sunbathing and cooling off.  The District and The Cellar were great options for after dinner or afternoon drinks.  I was a little disappointed that the indoor portion of the 5 O'clock Somewhere bar seemed to never be open during the day.  Cagney's was spectacular (we went twice) and made us very glad to have chosen the UDP as one of our freebies.  Moderno was very good and a much classier setup than I have seen for Moderno on other Norwegian ships.  Embarkation went very smoothly but disembarkation was slow and baggage claim was disorganized with no display of where your tag color could be found (This may just be a port of Miami thing but was definitely frustrating. Overall a good cruise with a nice itinerary.

All I can say about this cruise is that it was the most amazing time I have ever had on a cruise! The food was phenomenal, the crew was amazing, the entertainment was superb, and the ship, wow the ship....there are no words to describe how beautiful the ship is. It's everything one could imagine that it could be and then some! I will definitely be taking another one real soon....like I am about to book another one now!!!!!! Take this cruise, you will NOT be disappointed! BTW that's me in the middle 

My favorite was the food and the variety to those from, and the cleanliness of the ship.Everyone was so nice and friendly. The ship is beautiful ! The only thing it needed was a little more partying for your younger crowd there was no line dancing at all. But over all  my husband and I really enjoyed it. I gained weight because the food was so great. I usually sail carnival not anymore.