Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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.

from the time of check in until off the boat best experience ever..we had the ultimate drink package and ultimate dining package ,wow never waited more than 1 or 2 minutes at any bar or restaurants for drinks or service,,dining was excellent at all restaurants especially the steak house..will never go on any other cruise line thanks..

It was clean a big but needs more pools and Jacuzzi and less restrictions. 

I loved that alcoholics drinks was not allow on the kids pool. Pools were too crowded. Food was great 

I loved every bit of the cruise....except the head future cruise director.

She was condescending and I found, not very helpful.  She was not patient and just wanted to get done with me to move on to the next person.  We wanted to

book a balcony suite for 4 for next February and initially walked away with

February 2018 instead.  When we figured out we had the wrong February,

she was not very interested in satisfying what we wanted.  We booked with

Holland America....totally because of her.

Also....why did I pay so much, when these prices look less than half of what I paid?

I would give a 4 stars but had to deduct 2 stars due to 2 things that happened to me:

1. NCL handlers broke my 4 wheels suitcase. Had to made several trip to the help desk to have them fix and re-fix without success. They give me a 2 wheeler as a cheap replacement . Now I have to spend $$ to buy a new 4 wheeler one.

2. Bed bugs attacked my wife's legs 2 nights in a row, They lied about having already replaced my mattress at my demand until I point out the mark on the mattress which was not replaced.

We have cruised on Norwegian two other times and on both Princess and Royal Caribbean, as well.  Both my husband and I were very disappointed in this particular cruise.  I will break it down into categories.

1.  Our cabin - we had a mini-suite, something we've had before on both Norwegian and Princess.  With Escape being only one year old, we were anticipating extra-nice accommodations.  However, the acoustics were bad.  We heard the man in the suite next to our snoring every night - loud enough he could have been in bed with us.  Also, there were children in the suite on the other side and it sounded like loud stomping constantly.  Their door slammed so loudly it made our wall shake.  My husband stood outside our cabin to see if the people were deliberately slamming their door and they were not.  There's just no insulation to keep out noise.  On previous cruises, I used the balcony a great deal.  However, I was never able to use this balcony because of the noise.  Even with my Ipod and headset, I could not drown out the noise from our neighbors. 

2.  The food - the food was just ok.  On our last Norwegian cruise, we enjoyed the specialty restaurants every night.  On this cruise, however, instead of a $25 or $30 surcharge per person, everything was ala carte.  The dinner we paid $25 for last year was now $50 and we really don't believe the food was as good.  On previous cruises, my husband would go to the buffet and bring back delicious cantaloupe and pineapple for me.  He tried to on this cruise, but the cantaloupe was never very good and on more than one occasion showed evidence of having been frozen.  He tried to bring back some dessert, just for fun, and we never found one that we liked - one bite was one too many.  They looked pretty, but they had no flavor or were just nasty. 

The service - we really noticed a difference in the level of service.  On two occasions in separate dining rooms, we left our table before receiving our meal because the service was so SLOW.  It wasn't that the wait staff was lazy or just standing around.  They were very busy and it appeared the dining rooms were understaffed.  Once, upon leaving, the maître' d asked how our meal was and my husband honestly answered, "Not very good.  I never got my breakfast because first they brought me the wrong food and then never brought me my corrected order."  The maître d apologized and said they wanted to make it up to us, but guess what - they never did anything.  Even our cabin steward was not up to Norwegian's previous service.  I used the lotion the first evening and it was never replaced.  On more than one occasion, our trash was not emptied.  On only one night, did we receive the last service where they turn down our bed linens and place "towel animals" on the bed.  We received evening mints on only one night.  We always tip in addition to the mandatory gratuities.  On more than one occasion we left no additional tip because the service was not satisfactory.

Overall, the cruise was disappointing and makes us question if this is how all Norwegian cruises will be in the future.  We have always been very happy with Norwegian and I look to them first when planning a cruise vacation.  We actually have reserved a mini-suite for a 10-day Norwegian cruise in January of 2018, but are questioning that decision. 

it was a good time the Escape very nice ship 

The only thing I didn't like was it seemed very crowed. 

The thermal spa is very nice, But to many people where hogging the heated benches by putting their towels etc on them and doing other things leaving the benches unused