We chose the Escape because of our planned activities beforehand; however, I would prefer an additional port of call rather than a day at sea. Embarkation was quick and smooth. We got on the ship at noon for a 7:30 sailing allowing for plenty of time to explore and familiarize the four of ourselves with the ship. It is a big ship but generally easy to get around. Don't like that I have to walk through the casino and a wall of smoke.

Food in Taste and Savor is generally good but we had temperature issues and had to send back our meals. Senior staff were all over it asking for room numbers and names but we never heard about that again - huh? The Manhattan Room is nice for dinner with an orchestra and we found the service to be better. We made sure that our food was hot. Dinner in O'Sheehan's one night and encountered cold food again. So busy and not worth fighting for heat! Best meal overall was at Moderno Churrascaria. Cost is flat $25 and the meat was outstanding. Not interested in an a la carte evening where we could spend over $100 pp on top of daily fare. Too many of these on board. NCL needs to penalize passengers who reserve and then do not show for these dinners. Tried for over a day to get a reservation for Moderno but was told nothing available. Walked in at 7:30 (prime time) and were seated right away. A party of 19 just decided not to show as did several others. Do I presume that this same party of 19 booked dinners and shows all week when others couldn't and then didn't show?

Found many areas of congestion where it could have been avoided. One such place is Mixx Bar in the hallway between Taste and Savor. Bar is only open at dinner time and it is very hard to get around the area while people are congregating for dinner and awaiting seating. Read more