Norwegian Escape Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The staff was outstanding, the ports were great - although not enough time in Tortola.   The ship is beautiful, however - BIG problem - over 4,000 guests and one small pool that has a maximum of 54 people.    Lots of guests were complaining as it was very hot on the sea days and there was absolutely nowhere to cool off.   Chairs are on top of one another - the rope course is a big flop - if it is a windy day - it is closed and that to me is wasted space.   The H20 - private adult area would be great if it had a pool - many people complained the cave was a waste of space and that section of the ship is the hottest - overall will not sail on a large ship ever again - even the hot tubs were filled with small children on the hottest of days!   

Entire staff ready to serve and make your stay memorable. Location of customer service is at many times very noise when events are occuring. Other than that loved loved everything, water fall feature in adult area was fantastic. Entertaiment outstanding.  I look forward to our next cruise with NCL.  

The Norwegian escape is a fantastic ship with a great staff and amenities.  The splash academy for the kids is the best in the cruise business.  They provide great entertainment and fun for all ages.  My son wanted to go everyday of our vacation!  The food was fantastic in the specialty restaurants and the buffet.  Not as impressive in the dining rooms.  The fitness center was top notch with plenty of treadmills and machines to use at any time of the day.  Entertainment was fantastic.  Really one of our favorite cruises so far!

We 3 ladies, who call ourselves,"The Gems", Pearl, Diamond, and Sapphire, are cruise-aholics.  We have been on many cruises on ships from several other companies.  We love NCL ships because of their friendly crew, cleanliness of their ships, delicious meals, and a variety of places to eat, drink and be merry!  The entertainment on NCL ships is top notch, including the live performers right down to trivia games!  Cruising on NCL is a care-free, easy vacation.  We will be booking another cruise soon.

We had a magical vacation on the Norwegian Escape. We enjoyed our balcony stateroom which was large enough for the two of us. The food was excellent and we particularly enjoyed the "my time" dining so we could have intimate meals for two and not be forced to socialize with strangers. There was always something exciting happening on the ship - literally never a dull moment. I would like to see the wifi offered at a reasonable rate or even free for passengers. We are already paying a tremendous amount for everything else. I have a sick mother at home and being out of touch was a constant source of worry for me. It also would've been nice to have lounge chairs on the balcony for sunbathing instead of the chairs, but the balcony was a bit too small for that. 

We had a great time, got to get away from the house to spend some time as just us. The crue was great the hit of the cruise was the washy washy guys going into the Garden Cafe!!!! Ship was very nice but we did almost figure out what was where on the last day. Would recommend this to anyone. 

I have been on several cruises. I was hesitant having never been on NCL before this trip. I was trying to think of a complaint, but I really had none. It is a large ship, so that may be an issue for some, but it did not bother me at all. I actually put down additional deposits while on the cruse for 4 additional cruises in the future on NCL  

The ship is fantastic! Stuff to do for ALL age groups.

The service (or lack of I should say) was like nothing I have ever experience in my life!

1. one bartender rolled his eyes at us when we asked for a drink

2. another bartender reprimanded my husband for asking for a menu

3. Most crew members were not knowledgeable in the ship and activities, rather would pass us along to someone else for info.

like everything there was a handful of people who were pleasant, courteous, and kind. Unfortunately the majority were rude and nasty!

We will NEVER cruise with NCL again. I rather pay a little more for the fare and have a REAL vacation experience rather than feel like I am walking on egg shells around the staff.

We loved  the ship and the ship staff! Everything was wonderful. For our first cruise, I don't think we could have asked for a better first experience. The only complaint I have is for the one shore excursion  we took  to Atlantis located in the Bahamas. I paid  quite a lot of money for the tickets and we only got to spend about 3 hours there. If I would have known further in advance, I would have cancelled my reservation and hopefully got my money back. But overall I will  definitely use Norwegian cruise lines again and look forward to our next cruise.

This was our 4th cruise. 2nd on Norwegian. It was good. It wasn't great. As always the Norwegian staff was fabulous. They really do an excellent job of making sure your every need is met. I did not like the ports, St. Thomas, Tortola, and Nassau. For a 7 day cruise i would have liked another stop. We were late getting into Nassau so there was no point in going to Atlantis, not enough time to make it worth the money. When we went to the Buffet to eat we would have to wait forever and then run to get a table...not fun. The ship is not very well laid out, the spaces are not big enough for the amount of people that the ship carries. All the shows were sold out, and everywhere we were always jam packed. I won't do that one again. 

Definitely hit up the Twice is nice Catamaran excursion on St. Thomas.  The ship itself is beautiful.  Never felt too crowded at all, especially with the Vibe private lounge pass on the top deck.  Service and food was exceptional.  Will be back again!

Ship was a blast and the food was amazing! Would recommend and will go on again! NCL has improved there game and the drink package includes high end liquor. 

Our first Norwegian Cruise Line voyage on the Norwegian Escape, May 14 -21, 2016.  Our previous cruise adventures were mostly on Royal Caribbean and it is interesting to notice the differences pretty quickly.  The Norwegian Escape is a very nice new ship (11/15) but it is missing the Wow factor that we experienced on the Oasis of the Seas in 2011.  I believe this is Norwegian's largest ship with 4200+/- passengers vs Oasis with more than 5,000.  First impression turned out to be true, the ship seemed small for 4200 passengers. One pool for 4200 guests!  The Oasis has four.  I will say, the food was very good, especially the specialty restaurants. My favorite is Cagney's.  The Brazilian restaurant was very good, the Japanese was excellent as well.  The entertainment was top notch from the big shows to the comedy, Howl at the Moon, Hypnotist, great!  Only complaint is that in the Brew Pub, the piano player felt the need to have the volume cranked up so it was unbearable to sit and listen. He must be deaf!  Also, mornings by the pool were nice, good quiet music but afternoons, the DJ would crank up the volume and play Latin Beat very loud so that we old folks had to leave and find a quieter location.  The Grotto was nice but again crowded and there is a smoking bar which case you'd get quite the whiff.   Another feature we didn't care for was the casino being center ship and the smell of smoke permeated the air on multiple levels.  The ports of call, St Thomas, Tortola and Nassau we have been to before.  Not enough time in port to really enjoy what the islands have to offer, in fact we stayed on the ship in Nassau and had the nicest time at the pool which was not crowded.  We ate breakfast or lunch at the buffet in which case the food was fine.  The outlay is a little crazy with people all trying to grab and run and it becomes hectic during peak hours.  Embarkation and Deembarkation went smooth and uneventful. If you have never cruised another cruise line you would probably not know the difference, for me, I'm waiting for the Harmony of the Seas to make it's US debut!     

We celebrated our 50th Anniversary on NCL's "The Escape", 7 months new Ship, Simply Sensational and everything about it!!!!  Excellent Cuisine, complimentary dining is exceptional!  Wonderful Entertainment, Shows were outstanding!  Great Itinerary - Eastern - St. Thomas, Tortola & Nassau - Great Excursions!  So relaxing on the outdoor wicker furniture on "To The Water" Deck.  Or Party all night at The Comedy Club, in One of the Atriums, the Casino or 17th Deck for a Movie or Fun Party!  Everywhere.  29 choices of Food and Dining!  Loved O'Sheehan's Pub (complimentary) or The Manhattan Dining Room with Live Music by the window for Two or with a Group, and dancing, with delicious cuisine!  Watching the Sunset and the Moon was also out, even in the Blue Sky at times!  We didn't have time to do it all! For there's so much to do and that they offer, you can do as much as you would like or as little as you like, something for everyone!  We loved and enjoyed every moment on this Ship, such a Romantic Getaway on The Escape and so Enjoyable!  Wonderful people that we met and being pampered!  We're so Thankful to everyone that helped make this Cruise So Special; from Kimberly at to the phenomenal porter upon Disembarkation.  With Much Appreciation, Hugs, and Bon Voyage Blessings!  XOX  Irene of Joe and Irene

The ship was awesome!!! Big, cool slides for adults and kids, cool ropes course for over 7 and ropes course for under 7. (New). Food was great overall. Would add Chinese restaurant and Mexican Resturant because of redundancy especially between the 2 complementary restaurants Taste and Savor. LOVED Cagney's Steakhouse!!!!!! ( bone in ribeye and veal with mushroom sauce is Wonderful!!  There is some areas that need refining, but it is new ship ( texts through Norwegian app went in/out and could get when boarding the ship) and reservations that my husband did for entertainment and specialty dining prior to voyage was nowhere to be found when we boarded).  I had so much fun with the freestyle cruise. The activity director was awesome and I liked all the dance classes the best ( especially the dance 2015. We hee had the best bartender Marcel. Would use Norwegian cruise line again. 

the best ship in the fleet!!! The dining was above expectation and if you drink, the bar staff was great and very heavy handed!!!!  Not many activities and no real club.  If you smoke the room is maybe 20x14 and even the smokers complained.  The ship has plenty of chairs and places to lounge and it never feels like a big ship.

There are definitely pros and cons of this large a ship. There are more dining and bar venues. But the wait at the elevators can be annoying. The first day you should make reservations at the speciality restaurants because the seating before 9:00 will fill up by the end of the first day.  Also the shows will all be booked by the second day.

The crew is very attentive and helpful. Everything was new and clean.

One thing annoyed the hell out of me. The website says you can bring wine aboard and pay a $15 fee per bottle. However if you do they treat you like a criminal.They rifle through you luggage to get the wine then leave a letter that says they have confiscated the illegal products. The instructions on how to get your wine are mostly inaccurate. We ended up getting the wine back the last night.

I just returned back from a 7 day vacation Eastern vacation on the Norwegian Escape. This cruise will count as #7 for my family and I. We have vacationed on Norwegian ships prior to this vacation. First let me start off by saying this is a wonderful ship in appearance, but it lacks the meaning of family fun. This ship is the same as the Breakaway, but now holds almost double the capacity as the Breakaway. The pools are over crowed everyday from morning to evening. There are several signs near the pools thru out the day that read adult only until 5:30 pm, which make it hard for any children to have time in the pool. There are no kid friendly areas around or near the pools or hot tubs. The pools are standing room only with adult drinking, drunk, cursing, and not to mention touching all over each other in front of these children. The kid programs are a joke. They group children from the age 3-12 and 3-17. Unfortunately for my daughter because she was 12, and refused to use the kids club with toddlers. The garden cafe area for food would sometimes be standing room only, forcing some vacationers to stand up eating, due to the over crowded space. Forget about being able to catch the elevators, always jammed packed due to the amount of vacationers on this ship. The food was mediocre, in the garden cafe, alot of fries and burgers thru  out the day. The menu in the 3 restaurants that were included, served the same meals almost each day that we were there. The daily activities were not kid friendly at all. Nothing to do for children though out the day besides using the water slides. Think twice about boarding this ship if you are bringing your children along. The deck music sucked so bad that people would just leave. They seriously need to adopt a different system for this ship. If your not up at 6-6:30 am, forget about getting a chair on the deck. Norwegian really dropped the ball on this one

We had a wonderful time on this cruise. We enjoyed the unlimited drink package as well as the dining package. The food was superb, staff was incredibly cordial, and the entertainment was so fun! We saw the same show twice, we loved it so much. Would highly recommend!

I hate cruising out of Miami, we only took this one because of the special offers (4-nites specialty restaurants, unlimited beverages).  I hated it even more when I paid the $140 parking fee.  Legalized robbery

Speaking of which, NCL pulled a real bait-and switch when I made my reservation.  Their add made it look like ANY suite would get the 4-option incentives.  I found out later that only FULL suites and Haven suites got this, so I cancelled.  Then, the same day, NCL implemented the -2-option incentive, and I made another reservation.  That increased our fare by almost $600.  My wife was really looking forward to our first suite, so I just let it stand

We had a minisuite (12200).  More of just a standard balcony cabin with a MUCH bigger bathroom, and a shower you can actually turn around in

Speciality restaurants were excellent.  We did 20nights in Cagneys', and a night each in Moderno Braziian Steak House, and teppanyaki Japaneese steak house.

Food in the main dining room was OK, but, in the Manhatten dining room, they have a loud 7-piece band, which, if you are within 50-feet, makes conversation impossible.

Pool areas and hot tubs were unsheltered, so if you are sensitive to sunlight, they are probably not a good idea.  On the pool deck, the chair hogs were in abundance, with many chairs occupied by a towel for may hours

Ports of call were ordinary.  I have been to St Thomas many times.  Tortola was a new port for us, we took a island tour, much less than expensive that the ship's tours.  We didn't bother getting off in Nassau

Kids were everywhere.  I heard that there were 1300 kids on this cruise, which we picked specifically  to try and  avoid kids as much as possible.  Unfortunately, the adjacent cabin had a couple of screamers, and one deck above, there were several little godzillas seeing how hard they could stamp their feet

For soft drinks NCL offers only Pepsi products.  My wife considers this one step above swill, and I am no really fond of them either

The  shows we saw ("Oh, what  night" and "For the Record") were some of the best I have seen on any ship.  Unfortunately, their reservation system is a total joke, we ended up in the standby line for every show

Speaking of which, they had way too may activities going on in the atrium, where there is just not enough seating.

Disembarcation was good from the point of view that we got to pick our time, but our luggage zone was impossible to find, and a friendly porter was able to help us.

To sum up, we took the cruise to take advantage of the special offers, so in those terms, mission accomplished.  However, there were enough downsides for me to take my business elsewhere in the future