We chose this cruise because we have been wanting to get away for a while and NCL was offering some excellent incentives including their select 2 out of 5 offers free special. Seeing as the Escape was one of NCL's newest ships that attracted us as well.

Overall Ship - The ship is large, as most cruise ships are these days, and is adorned with a large Guy Harvey mural at the front of the ship. Although the ship is large, it seems most of the space is taken up by guest cabins which are mostly balconys. For some reason despite its size, certain areas feel a bit cramped. I'm used to ships having a large central atrium and glass elevators but the layout was a bit different. Typically when on a cruise the higher floors are the most attractive because they are closer to the pool and most of the "fun" stuff. We were on floor 13 which was fairly close to the pool (16) but quite a journey from the restaurants and indoor entertainment (floors 6-8).

Restaurants - NCL sports Freestyle Dining which means you can dine when you want and for the most part, wear what you want. Although I like the Freestyle dining concept, the cruise was definitely encouraging the Specialty Restaurants. For Breakfast the Main dining room was only available from 8-9:30 so the other alternatives were the Garden Cafe (Buffet Style selections) or O'Sheehan's (Irish Pub). You do have Room Service available as well for an additional fee. The most frustrating thing for us was we did not want to wake up early but also did not want to necessarily eat in the Garden Cafe, unfortunately that was really our only option and we ended up eating almost the same thing for Breakfast each day. The same holds true for lunch, Garden Cafe or O'Sheehan's. O'Sheehan's had decent pub type food but the menu was the same every day. Read more