Norwegian Escape Review

4.0 / 5.0
3,046 reviews

Escape from the Escape

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Escape
User Avatar
kristye
10+ Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Jul 2016
Cabin: Balcony Stateroom
Traveled with children

I've been on 15-20 cruises over the years, but this was my first with Norwegian since 1992. I will never cruise with Norwegian again.

Pros- The Norwegian Escape was new, so it was clean and pretty. The ropes course was really cool (but only 2 of our 6 were ever able to get on it.) The crew was generally respectful and courteous, Virgin Gorda was an amazing port accessed by ferry easily by cruising into Tortola or (a much longer ferry) by cruising into St. Thomas. The food was better than adequate but fantastic in the specialty restaurants like Le Bistro and Moderno which had some of the best food I have ever eaten.

Cons- This list is very long. I may have to do several paragraphs. First, the ship is overcrowded. I found myself standing in lines continuously. There were always lines for the elevators, the restaurants, excursions, to embark or disembark at ports, and to do any activity on the ship. The "atrium" was not grand at all. It was basically 2 floors with no glass elevator- very "blah." Since the ship has 20 floors, it's a short ship with only two sets of elevators instead of the normal three, which created nonstop lines and people scurrying to get on ahead of you. The buffet ran almost nonstop at Garden Café, but if you entered, it was wall-to-wall people waiting in lines at each station, and you could rarely find a seat. Several times, we had to go outside to eat where the humidity was so bad that we had to go back to the cabin for showers. Also, the free activities on the ship were EXTREMELY limited. Basically, you could do trivia, dance, (with a lot of drunk people) or watch movies on deck. Everything else was too crowded or cost extra. The ropes course was often closed, (due to the wind) so the lines were crazy when it finally opened. (The two people in our party who withstood the lines loved the ropes course which included two zip lines (but one was not working) and two planks over the side of the ship (but one was not working.) Of course, you had to stand in line in the middle of the ropes course to get to either of those two features. Everything on board the sports deck had lines from Dodgeball and Mini Golf to Ping Pong and even Shuffleboard. The whirlpools were always in use, and the pool situation was awful. Unless you paid extra for spa services, you could choose to use the AquaPark which was packed with kids or the main pool which was impossible to get into. We tried to go watch a couple of activities on the pool deck, but there were never any chairs available and the pool was literally 3-4 rows thick of people sitting around the edge of it, just trying to get their feet in. Because of Norwegian's special drink package, half of the people on the pool deck just stayed there all day in chairs they had claimed at the crack of dawn that they did not want to lose and literally tried to see how much they could drink in one day to "get their money's worth" on the "free" drink package that had cost them hundreds of dollars. Consequently, there were a lot of loud, drunk people on board.

Cabin Review

Balcony Stateroom

Cabin BD

The balcony cabins were small and typical of most ships. We also had a disabled cabin that had a lot more space. There were some expensive suites in the Haven that were huge.

Port Reviews

Nassau

At Nassau, we've done Atlantis before which costs a fortune, even after you pay the park's very high admission price, and we've done Blue Lagoon (which is smaller, but really pretty and more economical), so we took the #10 Jitney bus (for $1.25 pp) from the main street (about a 10 minute walk from Festival Park where you dock) to Breezes All-Inclusive Resort where we bought a day pass for $80 pp. You must be at least 14 years old to go there, so it was nice to get away from the kids, the drunks, and the crowds. (Sandals is another all-inclusive with day passes for $120. It's 18+ and is even nicer, but we had a 16-year old with us.) Breezes was very relaxing. They had several pools, one with a swim-up bar, chairs in shallow pools, water and beach volleyball, a rock climbing wall, trapeze lessons on the beach, snorkeling, (and I believe they had a limited amount of non-motorized sports like kayaking and paddle boats; we never went over to that section of the beach. We had all of the alcohol we wanted. The price also included a buffet (which was average) and the grill which served hamburgers, etc. all day by the pool. It did storm after 2 hours, so we had to leave the water, but we didn't even care. The price had included (rather slow) Wifi. Since we hadn't used our phones in 6 days, we welcomed the chance to "catch up" with our technology. We even completed airport check-in for the next day. Despite the weather, this was a great excursion.

33 Helpful Votes
previous reviewnext review

Find a Norwegian Escape Cruise from $499

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.