Our cruise was great! Only downer was we went during spring break and there happened to be a senior trip on board too. Which is fine but, there were a lot of drunk 18 year olds that were not fun to dance near during the theme nights. I wish there were more activities that target 30 year olds. There were a lot of activities but we never seemed to find anyone around our age range. Also, we went on the Dunn river falls with bamboo beach club excursion. It was a lot of fun except it just felt PACKED at the falls and very very rushed. We kept getting told to keep moving so we didn’t get an opportunity to really take any nice photos in front of the falls together. The service was outstanding and ship was always super clean and easy to navigate. At one point my Apple Watch fell out of my beach bag on the ship. It took the security team only a day and a half to track it down. They made me super happy and I was impressed how on top of it they were. I was happy to end the trip on a happy note! The shows were ALL super amazing. Our favorite being Brat Pack and Company Men. The pool was nice to have the ledge to sit on. Drinks were pricey- only regret was not getting the drink package. The library was one of our favorite spots! I had a allergic reaction to my sunscreen and couldn’t go in the sun so it was fun to be able to play card and board games and meet others. The books in there all looked brand new too! Everywhere we ate the food was exceptional! Our favorite was garden cafe of course and Food Republic. Ronin (washy washy guy) always made us smile and laugh as well as our room steward Chotbal was amazing! Working in the hospitality industry too I was quite impressed with all the environmentally friendly features they had onboard too. Like the electricity turns off in the room when you leave, the rooms don’t have trash bags, the stewards use paper bags to dispose trash, you need a key card to turn on the lights and outlets in the room, you have the option to reuse towels, and they don’t use plastic travel size bottles for shower things. They actually have soap dispensers in the shower which was really cool. Overall the cruise was fantastic. We hope to go again soon! Read Less

The Escape is a fairly new ship and is very nice and has a luxurious feel. This is nicest part of the cruise. There is no dought that this ship is way over crowded. There is major lack of deck and pool space on this ship. When building these ships they have taken away pool and deck space to add special features like water slides and rope courses. Those added features are nice but in the process used up to much space that should have been used for another pool. The ropes course is billed as the largest on the sea. It also takes up a large amount of deck space. This is suppose to be an added feature for the boat. However the days at sea when you would like to use these features it was closed because its to windy on deck. So on days when the decks are the most crowded you can’t use it. 4200+ passengers onboard and one adult pool and one kids pool. The food was what I would consider average at best considering our previous cruising experience. The free style dinning is a nice concept, but almost impossible to make reservations for a party of four weeks in advance of the cruise. If you wait until you are on the cruise to make your reservations you will be eating after 9 pm every night. The specialty restaurants on board had better food than the main dinning room however it was not as good as the main dinning room of other cruise lines like Royal and Disney. There maintenance staff needs help. During the third day on board our toilets in our stateroom stopped working for more than 36 hours. What ever was wrong affected 50 staterooms. Not a fun when you have to run up three decks every time you need to go to the bathroom. This is where there customer service completely missed the mark. There was no help from them at all. No sorry for the inconvenience or compensation of any type. After it was over all we received was a note reminding us not to flush anything but toilet paper. This but a major damper on our cruise. Overall customer service was lacking. NCL adopted service fees instead of tipping. I understand the reason behind this but it seems the staff is not interested in doing anything to please you or help you. In our previous cruises our room attendant would introduce themselves the first day and check with us everyday if we needed anything. We went this cruise and never even met our room attendant. Bar service was very slow and the drinks were not made constantly. The way a drink was made from one bartender tasted completely different when made by a different bartender. Many of the wait staff in general seemed to strugle with the English language. I have done 7 other cruises and never had so much trouble ordering food or drinks. With a ship this big the problems even extended to the shore exersions. To many people packed into one group. We did a sail and snorkel on a cateraman that normal held 75 people. They put 92 of us onboard. Then when we were ready to snorkel they did not have enough mask and fins for everyone. After complaining to NCL again they did nothing. We tried NCL hearing it was very nice and a step above many of the other cruise lines. We found this not to be the case. It is several steps below other cruise lines. My family will not cruise with them again. Read Less

We were nervous at first going on a large passenger boat. Friends had selected it but were pleasantly surprised. We never except getting on the boat the large amount of people on it. That being said we did not choose NCL excursions so can not comment on them. Our room was 15756 Spa balcony. The spa was wonderful. We loved the walk in jaccuzi. And with the exception of the last sea day, was never crowded. We didn't see our room steward much and only one day did he not bring us ice in the afternoon. The room was nice no drawers, though. The hints of bringing magnet hooks is a good one. We did not. The pool can be very crowded but we only laid out one time (Not a sun worshiper) that would be a big drawback for anyone looking for pools. Overall it was a great experience with great old and new friends. Read Less

I will preface my review by stating that if a person leaves this ship disappointed, it is because they purposefully tried NOT to have an amazing time. The service on this ship was incredible and I have no complaints for the week. Embarking in Miami was a bit of a hassle as we got there early due to an early flight and the doors to the building to start the embarkation process has not opened yet. Mayhem. There's just not enough organization there for both activites (embark/disembark) to be happening at the same time. Once we were through the doors and security, it was a much smoother process. As you enter the ship, you are soon greeted with the smiling faces of the crew and the beautiful 678 Ocean Place. It really was a welcoming view. We immediately began exploring and found a neat whisky bar - Tobacco Road - and Pregdrag (one of our favorite bartenders) prepared us the best Old Fashioned I've had in my life. Due to the fact that rooms were not ready (because we were there very early) we then explored the Waterfront and other areas of the ship. We like to play cards, so we went and checked out what tables were available and then headed to deck 16 to check out the water features and visit the buffet. I will say that the buffet was quite impressive. It is expansive and runs along both sides of the ship. While the stations repeat themselves on both sides, there was always a great variety of foods and something for everyone. The food was served in smaller batches, so it was displayed nicely and always had the appropriate temperature. I like to think we sampled about 80 percent of the items served for breakfast and lunch and we did not find one thing we weren't a fan of. We did tour the spa directly after lunch and ended up signing up for the thermal suite package--SO WORTH IT! We are not a couple who enjoys lying around the pool deck roasting like hotdogs for hours a day, so this was a beautiful retreat for us. The views were stunning from the front of the trip and we thoroughly enjoyed the saunas, steam room, snow room, salt room, thermal pool, and the heated loungers. We spent hours a day relaxing and reading and yes, sometimes napping. The passes were $249 each for the week and I will do it again. My husband also splurged on a facial for me in the spa. I had never had one before, but he was adamant that I would like it. And I did! It was a great, relaxing hour. Hammad gave me great pointers and explained a routine he would recommend I start implementing. I will say that I did NOT like the fact that he was pushy trying to sell me $100-200 creams for 20 minutes after I said no. I felt a little patronized when I refused, so it put a mild damper on the experience. Also, beware that they already add their 18% gratuity when they bring you the final bill. We were so excited when the announcement came on that our rooms were ready! We were excited to get to the cabin and check it out and were impressed when we opened the door. The room was spotless and roomier than I thought it would be. There was ample closet space for my husband and I and abundant storage in the bathroom! I was actually really impressed with the layout of the bathroom and how much storage they were able to get into that space and still make it feel large. The seating area was lovely and sat across from the vanity-area, which was great for me. The balcony is larger in this cabin due to the fact that it is on a slanting section of the deck. So not only did we have two deck chairs, but we also had a lounger. Due to the slant, however, if you are by the railing, you can be seen by the cabins to your left if they are by the railing too--so no naked yoga or anything outlandish. the bed was comfortable and the sheets and blankets were warm. My husband is hot natured, so he used the sheets only and was very comfortable. A note about this area of the ship: There is a laundry facility or SOMETHING right above you and you will hear a lot of noise between 12am and 2am. I pair of ear plugs fixed it for us. The room steward, Jerome, was a sweetheart, we weren't needy but left notes for an extra pillow, extra coffee packets, coffee creamer and they were instantly fulfilled. He kept the room clean for us throughout the day and hit the mark with his towel animals--no matter how old you are, you never get tired of those... The first night we dined in the Manhattan room. We were served by Jocelyn and went back a time or two to request her. She was always full and we can imagine why--she was so friendly and prompt and waited on us graciously throughout our meal. It was the epitome of service and kicked of a great week of dining for us. Our dinners went as quickly or as slowly as we wanted them to throughout the cruise. There were times when we were in and out in 45 minutes without feeling rushed one bit (we were just anxious to get to the casino), and there were also evenings when we took our time, ordered another appetizer, stayed for coffee after dessert, and the service never stopped. We also ate in Taste and Savor which served the same menus as the Manhattan room and again had great service. These were also the main dining rooms that offered breakfast and lunch daily, so we found ourselves in there a few times. I actually really enjoyed their menus and our favorite there was Angela (who also works in Teppanyaki with Rowan--the washy washy guy!) We did order the Unlimited Beverage Package and Ultimate Dining Package for this cruise so we also experienced Bayamo, La Cucina, and Teppanyaki. Bayamo was AMAZING! Great seafood—my mouth is actually watering just typing about it. It’s a small upcharge from the UDP, but it was well worth it. We ordered the crab legs and crab cakes for appetizers (Crab cakes would rank in the top 3 I’ve ever had), lobster and scallops for main courses (both out of this world), and petit fours and chocolate cake for dessert. This meal was a highlight of the trip—the chocolate cake was so delectable, I wanted to go back to that restaurant just to order that to-go! La Cucina was a great Italian meal. My husband ordered the veal and I ordered the filet. Both were amazing and cooked perfectly. The asparagus risotto was also very impressive. Teppanyaki is a hibachi style restaurant that lended a great atmosphere. We had fun watching the chefs and they were all very entertaining. The fried rice was actually very, very good, and I was impressed at how well the food was cooked—the shrimp, scallops, and chicken were all at the perfect temperatures. It is a lot of food and you definitely get your dollars’ worth here at this restaurant. Included in your fare: O’Sheehan’s. Think of this as your favorite pub comfort food. We ate here for lunch and late night a time or two and were never disappointed with the food. Don’t expect delicacies here—this is casual, comfort food, but it’s good. Entertainment—YOU NEED TO RESERVE YOUR ENTERTAINMENT BEFORE YOU BOARD THE SHIP! We were not able to make any of the shows due to my lack of foresight in making reservations. You have to understand that there are over 4,000 other people on the ship and reservations are a must. Even so, the free entertainment they had aboard the ship every night was top notch. There were always performers in the Manhattan room each night and also in the Atrium and Skyline lounge. This was great for us because we spent a lot of time in the casino and could hear the bands and singers. We had an amazing time in the casino (played every night but the first). The dealers were great—Tara, Rishori, V, and so many more. We especially loved the pit boss – Lynn – who actually was one of the nicest, funniest people we met on the ship. My husband is a handful and she handled him perfectly—knew exactly how to take his humor and ensure we had the best time. I hope we get to see her on another cruise with Norwegian because that would make my day. Smoking: There are both smoking and non-smoking areas of the casino and we played in both. We typically do not like smoke at all, but the ventilation was pretty good in the area. For Blackjack: there are $10, $15, $25, $50 minimums, as well as a high-roller section. Note: the $10 tables only pay 6 to 5. We stuck to the $15 tables and met some really awesome people that we ended up playing with all week—so much fun! As I mentioned, the service on this ship was outstanding. Everyone was polite and seemed eager to help make our trip the greatest. We even got pointers on where we should cruise to next from a few of the crew (we’ve already put down our CruiseNext deposits). Actually, to show how awesome the crew was, I will swear to you that I did not write down one name while I was on the ship and now, almost 2 weeks after embarkation, their names are still fresh on my mind. Very, Very impressive! While we didn’t do any cruise-sponsored excursions, we did visit some of our ports: Jamaica’s cruise port is actually very nice and you get a great view from the dock. The second you step out of the port, you are fearing for your safety. We took a van out of the port with 10 other people and a driver to Montego Bay. We made the mistake of sitting in the back row and almost suffocated and had heat stroke simultaneously, but once we made it to the beach, it was all worth it. The ride down there was $20 each round trip, but we paid an extra $60 for a different cab driver to take us back to port when we had our fill at the beach. We weren’t going to experience the awful ride we had up there again. The beach was stunning, $6 admission each, $12 each from chairs and $30 for a bucket of beer. It was a little more expensive than I would have thought, but it was a gorgeous day in the water and I will not complain about that at all. Bottom line—if you don’t book an excursion with the cruise at this port, I wouldn’t even bother getting off the ship. The beach was beautiful, but leaving the port was kind of scary and not worth the risk to do it on your own. We stopped in Grand Cayman but we did not get off the ship in this port. You have to tender there and back and it was a lengthy process we just really didn’t want to do. We enjoyed the spa and an emptier ship on this day. We were supposed to go to Great Stirrup Cay – NCL’s private island – but the swells were too high to safely tender to the island. This whole tendering thing kinds sucks. I was really looking forward to spending the day on the beach and snorkeling. Nassau was our final port and it was a beautiful place. The local people were friendly when we got off the ship and very helpful. We got a cab for $2 each to Paradise Island and walked to a public beach. We ended up paying $100 for two chairs, an umbrella, and 4 coconut drinks and got to lounge on the beach for several hours. IMPORTANT: IF YOU ARE TAKING CHILDREN TO THIS SIDE OF THE ISLAND, YOU MUST WATCH THEM IN THE WATER! Even if you are an adult, if you are not a swimmer, stay out of the water. There are some serious undertows on this beach. My husband was a swim instructor in the Marine Corp and ended up saving a man and a child in the water. The ocean is something to take seriously. We woke up the last morning not wanting to leave the ship. We went up and had breakfast at the buffet and grudgingly debarked. We packed carry ons only so we decided to just take our bags and walk off at our leisure. We waited until after 9am and walked down to the debarking line. It took maybe 10 minutes to get off the ship and another 10 to get through security and we were hailing a cab for the airport. It was a breeze but we were very reluctant to leave… We will be back, NCL!!! Read Less

We just got back from our 7-day Carribean cruise on the Escape. We brought a large group (21 in all) of family - myself, my wife, two kids, her brother, parents and two aunts, and some cousins. Our son is moderately autistic - calm and sweet, but has trouble paying attention or following group instruction. One of the first things we did when we got on board was check into the kids club, where we had a short talk with the directors there about our son and what they could expect. He's self-sufficient and will absorb himself in an individual activity when one is available, and we were told that was fine. That lasted exactly one trip to the club, after which we were told that his disinterest in group activities made it a problem for him to be in the club and that "they can't provide one-on-one care." Since we weren't asking for that and he doesn't need it, this was a bit of a shock. What they had really told us was that they couldn't keep an eye on the whole of their club, since for our son's safety that's all they'd need to do. The issue wasn't one of age groups leaving the club to do ship-walks - we avoid those anyway (he does elope sometimes and needs to be in an enclosed space, which the club is.) This was an issue of the club being understaffed to the point that there were areas that would go unsupervised for stretches of time. While the cruise was Spring Break and there were as a result a LOT of kids on board (we were told between 1700 and 2500 total) this does not fly as an excuse. Spring Break cruises are substantially more expensive - if more staff is needed to properly handle the kids' club that week, more money has been collected. It should be staffed. And the kids' club is the same size, and maxes out at 190 kids, no matter how many are on board. We were extremely disappointed to be told that because there were so many kids, they couldn't give a sideward glance to ours, and singled him out for his special needs, which in an entertainment-packed, enclosed space, drop to zero in any case. This is a shame, because other aspects of the ship are fantastic. There's so much to do on Lido and above that, in spite of the truckload of minors, wait lines for everything were astonishingly short. We never waited more than 5 minutes to ride a slide, get on the mini golf course or use the ropes course. My (not special needs) daughter, I'm sure, would give the cruise all 5 stars. The food is exceptional at all the specialty restaurants we tried, and their one minor mistake (bringing me a well-done steak when I ordered medium rare) was corrected in less than 2 minutes. I'd highly recommend the drink package, if it's included or reasonably priced - not having to sign for every cocktail is an underappreciated joy, and most of them are included. The cabin we had was on the small side, but if you do a little pre-cruise research like my wife did, you can jam all your travel gear into it for 2 adults and 2 kids and not have any in the walkways. Good service abounds pretty much everywhere you go, whether it's getting on or off the ship, dining, or at the bars and lounges, where we were approached several times and asked by cruise directors how everything was going. (I didn't raise my concerns about the kids' club to them at the time, and kind of regret missing that opportunity). The only shore excursion we were able to do through the ship was the Jamaican bobsled and Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios, and it was seamless and an eyeful. Norwegian is doing passengers a disservice by docking in Falmouth - Ocho Rios is maybe the most beautiful port I've seen anywhere in the Caribbean, and you can see it from the top of the mountain where the bobsled runs. (To be fair, our itinerary was changed due to damage from Irma and Maria last year, and Falmouth may have been a fallback from Ocho Rios due to port space). We were also supposed to tender at Great Stirrup Cay, but seas were too rough to run the tenders, and based on conversations we've had, it's a common enough occurrence that this should only be considered half a port; there's a very good chance you won't go at all. We steamed to Nassau early instead. Overall I really want to give a high rating to this ship, and if you're traveling alone or with neurotypical kids you'll probably love it. If one of your tykes is on the spectrum or needs anything resembling personal attention from the kids' club staff, though, expect to have them with you for pretty much the whole cruise. We didn't (and shouldn't have), and it put a pretty sizable dent in what was otherwise an excellent sailing. Read Less

This was our family's 5th cruise but the first one in about 5 years. We have been on Disney 3 times and Carnival once. This was our first time on NCL. My wife and I were traveling with our daughter (17) and our son (14). We opted to get 2 connecting balcony state rooms, which we found surprisingly affordable when we factored in that we got both NCL and Costco Travel promotions on both cabins -- which included Costco Credit ($190 per state room), on-board credit ($150/state room), 250 minutes of internet per stateroom and a 3-dinner specialty meal package for all 4 of us (2 per stateroom). Overall, a very good value-- which is why we cruised with NCL. In summary: Pros: Great entertainment aboard, varied and fun activities, a pretty ship that was clean and well-kept, some good meals in the specialty restaurants, decent friendly service and lack of hard sells (despite a LOT of upcharge services/foods); Embarkation and Disembark easily, Deck 8 promenade. Cons: Food was overall lackluster and lacked variety, itinerary suffers when have to skip port (see below), upcharges for most things, lack of special touches we found on other cruise lines. The Entertainment on-board, which is very important to us was first rate. The 2 "production" shows (After Midnight & For the Records; The Brat Pack") were both very high energy and delightful. We all loved them both. We saw a few of the night-club act type performances ( a singer and a comedy juggler) that were both also very entertaining. We also loved the "Escape the Big Top" -- which was a group escape the room type experience they staged in one of the theaters. My daughter (and I )were also completely charmed and blown away by the "Howl at the Moon" show -- a dueling piano/ all-request show that performed 4 of the 7 nights we were on the cruise (before 11 pm- family friendly). We spent at least an hour there on 3 of those nights. We also were very entertained by the group activities -- we loved the trivia sessions (although they were sometimes diabolically hard) and some of the game shows in the main atrium. We wished they showed more movies on board -- why not up on the main deck in the evenings? But appreciated the popcorn when they did. The activities at the teen club did not really entice our kids, who preferred to hang with each other and us. They enjoyed skeetball, shuffleboard, ping pong, bocce, miniature golf, duck pin bowling and the water slides. My daughter decided to try the ropes course the last day, but the line was too long so never made it up there. We loved "The Waterfront" on Deck 8- a promenade on the outside along the side of many of the ship's bars and restaurants with lots of very nice places to sit outside and read or have a drink. Great feature of this ship. One con on the cruise experience was that we only ended up stopping at 3 of the 4 ports on the itinerary. The ship was supposed to stop at NCL's private island in the Bahamas. However, they need to tender there and the seas were judged to be too rough for safe passage ashore. Truthfully, the water did not seem very rough at all that day -- i trust that it was a safety issue (as they said) and they did take us on to Nassau earlier so we had an overnight stay in the port there (which was meaningless to us but I am sure others enjoyed). We were just sorry to miss that port as some of our best cruise memories were from our beach days at Castaway Cay on the Disney cruises we have done. What made it slightly more troubling is that we learned that the ship had not been able to unload there for each of the 3 previous cruise weeks -- which begs the question why it was ever part of the itinerary to begin with? Another place where we thought (overall) NCL did not quite meet expectations was the food. The food was all fine, but with few exceptions really just fine. Very little stood out as exceptional or memorable. The food in the regular restaurants seemed very average and unremarkable- with a lack of variety (particularly as the cruise went on) and no effort at all on presentation. We ended up eating in the buffet a lot. The food there varied -- overall again it was fine. The Asian station always had some interesting and tasty dishes, but again there was a lack of variety over the course of the cruise. Seafood night featured limp shrimp and a passable seafood paella, among other seafood casseroles that did not look appetizing. We did not see a crab leg or a lobster (other than lobster ravioli) all cruise!! Whatever happened to lobster nights? When i researched the cruise they mentioned upcharges for lobster in the main restaurant and some lobster dishes in the speciality restaurants - -no and no. I did not see one real lobster dish on-board-- not even in the steakhouse! Also, a real lack of good fresh fruit-- there was some, but none of it was particularly good. The only berry I saw all trip was a single rasberry served with a dessert one night. My wife does not eat red meat or pork and could almost never find fresh carved turkey or properly prepared chicken dishes (other than in casseroles or rice/pasta dishes). One positive is that they did keep the buffet area clean -- with constant bussing of tables (almost too much) and again, some of the food was tasty. We ate in 3 specialty restaurants and these were a bit better. Teppanyaki, the Japanese steak house, was the best of them. The steak and shrimp that my kids and I had was delicious. My wife really enjoyed the seafood combo with shrimp, scallops and calamari. Service there was also excellent and we really enjoyed our evening there. Cagney's Steakhouse was pretty good-- but frankly I expected better. My kids were blown away by the size of the prime rib cut and it was well prepared and a real hit. My porterhouse steak on the other hand came in "fine" again, but nothing to write home about. I am not sure it was seasoned before it hit the grill at all. The port wine sauce was frankly inedible. Our shrimp appetizers were very good but not quite steakhouse quality or quantity. The fish choices available to my wife were pretty uninteresting and she was not too enamored by what she did order. We were too stuffed for dessert but brought them back to our state room -- unfortunately, as good as they looked, when we dug in later, we were disappointed. Our final specialty restaurant was the Italian restaurant, La Cucina -- the pastas here were all tasty. I really enjoyed my dinner there and the kids were happy too. The veal marsala was also pretty good if not a terribly interesting marsala sauce. Again, my wife's seafood dishes lacked taste or real good presentation. Overall, I really enjoyed our dinner at La Cucina-- my wife (who is not a pasta person) was less enthralled. I will say service there was very good. One thing on service -- overall the service on the ship was pretty good. It was rarely hard to get the attention of a bar tender, and I never got any angina from anyone about the fact that I usually only wanted a Diet Pepsi. The servers at the bars and the pools were easy to flag down and get a drink-- but also were not too forward trying to upsell us into buying drinks we did not want. If you caught their eye, great -- if not, they left you alone. Overall, perfect. The state room service was passable. Our steward (who never introduced himself) seemed to ignore evening turndown service if we were in the room for 10 minutes and he came by then-- happened 3 times without him coming back! This left us a few times with a dearth of towels. Every other cruise, we were always blown away by the state room service- -here it felt like a fairly average hotel maid service. On the plus side, the stateroom was usually relatively clean. In conclusion, we very much enjoyed the cruise. As noted, entertainment was a high point and the ship had some nice touches. My wife and I now lament the fact that we probably have become cruise/travel snobs but in comparing this to the other cruises we have been on, it just felt a little "less"-- a lack of those special touches, the little things that make a vacation special. We noticed the lack of chocolates on the pillows in the evening, the lack of "special" meal choices (like lobster, etc.), the lack of real effort in food presentation overall, the lack of movies and tv options in the state room. I think we hoped for a little more- -and just probably has us trying another cruise line (or going back to one of the others) next time. But maybe were just snobs! Read Less

We are a a family of 4 with a 10 year old and 13 year boys. My 10 year old enjoyed the "dolphin" club and my 13 year old loved the teen club. The top deck activities were perfect for "hanging out" while my husband and I enjoyed all of the show, stores and games inside the ship. The game show activities were especially hilarious and very entertaining. The staff was amazing, fun, and very helpful. The only few "complaints" I have are that the AC was on blast all the time and the whole ship felt like a refrigerator. The other was the food. While the food did taste good the variety was nothing to write home about. They served the same foods everyday and the restaurants that were included in the "free package" didn't have very many options. I also thought the two "twin" beds in our room were very uncomfortable. I think next time we may try another cruise line. Read Less

We chose the cruise at the suggestion of our travel agent for Norwegian's reputation as a family friendly cruise line. The food was quite good, the staff was friendly and service oriented, and the ship offered an array of amenities. The one experience that negatively colored the trip was a bad haircut at the spa and guest service's unwillingness to do anything to correct it. When the spa itself refused to refund the haircut, guest services looked at me blankly and indicated that they couldn't do anything about it because the spa was run separately. This lack of ownership for the overall experience was aggravating. This was my only experience with guest services. Nonetheless, this experience was set against a good context for family bonding, good excursions (particularly in Jamaica - the blue water hole), and good entertainment (i.e., The Company Men, Escape Room, Bingo, etc.). Room and restaurant staff were highly accommodating and friendly. Read Less

we chose this cruise to experience the Norwegian escape and to depart from a southern port. With a group of 8, we had a great time. Food was exceptional, especially at our fav the Tepinyaki. Entertainment is high quality. We loved the dueling piano's as we visited twice on this cruise and the escape the big top was a lot of fun. We had balcony staterooms which were great and our steward was top notch. dining staff were topnotch, so polite and outgoing that we hardly had to ask for things. One thing I did not like on the ship was the ropes / walk the plank area. due to high winds, it was only open for about 4 hours the entire cruise, I would rather see the space used for another swimming pool and seating area. also, the main pool was not heated and hardly anyone went in it for the whole cruise. Otherwise, I would recommend this ship. Read Less

Chose this cruise for the timing (spring break), cost seemed reasonable, looked like there were plenty of kids' activities, NCL has a good reputation for its food quality. Also, $15 corkage allowed me to bring many good bottles of wine on the ship. The food was great. Really tasty from the buffet to the specialty restaurants. My wife and I don't drink a lot of alcohol, so it was important to us to be able to bring good wine on board, which we were able to do for just $15/bottle. That's a good deal for drinking $100 bottles. Of course with any gathering of 5000 people, there are trashy other guests. The Cruise ship staff was absolutely awesome...but those other guests are rude, inconsiderate, selfish...leaving many of their kids unsupervised acting like animals all over the ship. It was also difficult at times to get good chairs by the pool. The layout of the Escape leaves a "good side" and a "bad side" depending on the direction of the sail/sun location. It's not a super wide-open floor plan so you really need to know the direction you are sailing that day, then get up early to get a seat...but the one thing I liked is that they enforced the "no saving seats" policy...they'd tag your seat and take your belongings if somebody else arrived and wanted your chairs if you have not been there for an hour. I love that! More places need to do that. Read Less