A group of 6 of us left for a cruise on the Island Escape around the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Morocco on 18 February, 2011. All of us, except for one, had cruised before, with Norwegian and Royal Caribbean.
I had read reviews of the Island Escape beforehand and my expectations were LOW - I was expecting a hostel on water, at best. We got a great deal, so we decided to give it a shot.
Our first impression of the ship was about as expected. It LOOKS like a ferry from the outside. The inside was clean, but definitely aged and in need of a refresher. My cabin was clean and in good working order. The beds were comfortable enough, the shower was ok (little pressure and on 3 days of the cruise we were without hot water, but that was fixed immediately when I called reception). The tv in the room was ANCIENT and all the furnishings were tired. The other two rooms our party members had had very poor beds (springs poking into their backs all night) and the bathrooms were falling apart (holes in the floor, black tile in the shower...).