First cruise for my wife and I, also took our 20 & 23 year old sons. Our balcony cabin was great, no complaints – nice bed, desk, sofa, ample storage, etc. Nice touch with USB charger outlets on lamp beside each bed. Nice German fixtures – great water temperature and flow adjustments in shower. Shower was more than big enough. Note: Room key must be inserted for lighting and power to work – nice energy saving feature. The ship was absolutely beautiful, only a few months old. As a naval architect/shipbuilder, I had the opportunity to see the Escape under construction at Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany in June 2015. Lots of nice touches – LED lighting everywhere, even the main engine exhaust was treated – so it was not the black diesel smoke of the other ships when starting their engines. At each port we visited, St. Thomas, Tortola, Nassau, the Escape was clearly the standout ship both in size and with all the on-deck activities such as the ropes course, water park, and so forth.

Lots of people in Garden Café, the buffet, and the upper decks, but we always were able to get some deck chairs – there is a lot in other reviews about that – people saving chairs and such, but we had no issues on our cruise. With all the people and congestion on the upper decks 16-20, especially when entering and leaving port, it was still very easy to get to a much quieter place in literally seconds. Deck 8 is the best kept secret – a nice boardwalk stroll, never crowed, with plenty of shaded comfy chairs to rest, read a book, or sip a drink in peace. We enjoyed alternating between the busier spots, and the quiet spots.

We had the unlimited drink package, and 4 specialty restaurant package. The only irritating thing about the drink package ($15/drink limit) was the coffee drinks. For example, in Le Bistro I could order a cognac after dinner, but my wife could not get the $2.25 cappuccino with her crème Brule. At times, it felt like some of the bars were understaffed – one bartender working very hard with lots of people waiting. The bars are beautifully done, usually just outside, or between, two restaurants – very easy to grab a cocktail before dinner. The main complementary restaurants Taste, Savor, and The Manhattan room were very nice, we ate in all of them. Although we did do a couple of meals and snacks at the Garden Café, the benefits of Taste and Savor -ordering from a menu for three meals a day without the business of the buffet was more to our liking. As others have commented, Taste and Savor are arranged in a sort of “H” shape with partitions – so you feel like you are in a smaller, more interment restaurant. It was easy to request a window seat during breakfast. Note: On days in port Taste and Savor are not open for lunch, leaving one the O’Sheehans or The Garden Café. The specialty restaurants were definitely a notch above the complementary restaurants in food quality and service. We ate in La Cucina, The Bistro, and Cagney Steakhouse – all of them were excellent. I think NCL has a great thing with this Freestyle dining concept. We made reservation on line for each restaurant in advance except for The Manhattan Room. Read more