We chose the Escape because of all the activities on board, the amenities, as well as the pdestinations. We would have preferred to sail earlier in the year but gladly waited to get the Western Caribbean itinerary.

The embarkation process was fairly smooth considering we arrived later than we hoped and the fact that they needed to get over 4000 people on board. The one thing that we didn't realize was how crazy Day 1 is. Everything is busy, especially the bars. We started off with lunch at Savor (be sure to skip the buffet on Day 1). The waiter must have been brand new. He really struggled with serving four two-tops. At one point I saw him scoop onions off of someone's sandwich with a fork and then serve it to them. Nothing really came out right and everything took forever. The food was good but nothing to rave about.

Moving right along. Having the Ultimate Beverage Package (UBP) with Norwegian is great. Just remember though - everyone else on board has the UBP and you are not special just because you have it too. I waited over 15 minutes in line at the Atrium Bar on the first day just to get a couple of drinks - and I was tipping. I don’t want to start a debate about tipping here but in my opinion it was usually a good thing to do when you had really good service OR when you wanted service at all when it was really busy. My rule of thumb was to tip about $1 per drink on average. It’s completely up to you though. Read more