Overall this was a very enjoyable cruise. We will definitely be taking a future cruise on this class of ship again, because we loved the ropes course and waterslides. We plan to cruise again on either the Breakaway, Getaway, or Escape because of the ropes course feature. We found the food comparable to Royal Caribbean, but prefer the faster service in the dining room for breakfast and lunch on RCCL. The ballroom dancing at dinner in the Tropicana was a very nice feature for us.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Our embarkation was fairly quick and smooth. We arrived via city bus about noon and only had to take our bags about 30 yards total to drop off. We were aboard and seated in the dining room for a nice lunch by 1:00.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We did not eat in any of the extra-cost specialty restaurants. For the most part we ate in the Tropicana, which featured a dance floor, music, and on four evenings a wonderful performance by the ballroom dance team, "Burn the Floor". The food was generally quite good. We enjoyed dancing between courses on occasion The biggest downside was that the service was often very slow. Since the dining was "Freestyle" there was a "system" for making reservations in the dining room, and electronic screens around the ship which indicated which dining rooms were busy. On the evenings when "Burn the Floor" performed in the Tropicana the reservations seemed to be useless. Everyone was directed to wait in the same line for seating. Since we had made pre-cruise reservations for dining early in the Tropicana every night, this was somewhat frustrating.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
The ropes course was the highlight of our cruise. It was thrilling and challenging. There were shortcuts for the less adventurous and challenges that made it interesting even at the end of a 14 night cruise with 10 sea days. The rope climb was another favorite. The water slides were exciting, and on this cruise the lines were non-existent -- partly because there were not many youngsters on-board and the weather was not really hot. There was a trampoline with bungee cords for the smaller children. We will definitely try to arrange another cruise on this ship and bring our grandchildren next time because of all the onboard activities.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We loved the "Burn the Floor" performance, and the Barricade Boys were great. The comedy acts we saw varied from good to "meh". The Million-Dollar Quartet was somewhat underwhelming. The Jerry Lee Lewis impersonator was fantastic on the piano and the instrumentalists (drums and guitars) were excellent. The show overall was not really my cup of tea, but many others on board loved it.
Children's Programs
We did not have any children on board so I cannot really evaluate the program. As is usually the case with transatlantic sailings there were not a lot of children aboard.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Overall our experience with the staff was very positive. We wrote a couple of notes to compliment a few members of the staff who stood o with their excellent service. The overall rating was only four stars mainly because the dining room service was slow. Almost certainly this is a problem with understaffing.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship layout worked well for us. It is the largest ship we have cruised on and I was surprised that there were only two banks of elevators/stairs.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We are used to an inside cabin but we bid for and received an upgrade to a balcony. The extra room was nice and we did enjoy an occasional cup of coffee on the balcony. The room steward was great. We will probably continue to book inside cabins in the future, but if the upgrade price difference is low enough we would consider a balcony again on a Mediterranean cruise (with more scenery).
Ship tip
Next time I will leave my tux at home when I sail Norwegian and bring a white suit for the Glow party.
Bermuda was a late substitution port due to hurricane damage at the originally scheduled ports. We strolled around the port on the first day. The second morning we got off early and took a city bus to Horseshoe Bay Beach. We arrived about 8:30 am and had the beach practically to ourselves for about an hour. It was a wonderful experience.
We were leaving from two different airports and our disembarkation was delayed by bad weather at the port so we basically spent our day driving to FLL airport and then back to MIA airport. We did get to spend a few minutes at Dania Beach (about 3 miles from FLL airport which was nice.
Due to the storm closing the port for a while overnight our disembarkation schedule was delayed. We had late afternoon flights and did the self-assist disembarkation so we relaxed at the buffet until about 11:00 am. Then we got in line of about 200 people at the aft gangway. Someone on the staff suggested that there was no line at the forward gangway so we could proceed there. About 50 of us headed that way but we got about halfway there and were met by staff who indicated that the forward gangway was closed and that we needed to go back. This was especially frustrating for those who had been further ahead in line. Since we had been at the very back of the line it was not a big deal for us. Immigration/customs was about a 25-30 minute wait. Considering the delay due to port closure (which was clearly beyond NCL's control) this was OK. For cruisers with a tight transfer schedule there may have been more issues.
Been on the Escape twice and have already booked a third. Just love everything about it. Have done the Breakaway also and loved it too. You can't go wrong on any of them!
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