Norwegian Escape Review
Stephanied.inch@gmail.com
6-10 Cruises • Age 40s
Rating by category
Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service
Additional details
Sail Date: Mar 2016
Cabin: Balcony Stateroom
Traveled with children
My family and I just embarked on our 7th cruise. This happened to be our first non-Disney cruise. We booked this cruise almost 6 months prior to embarking. As a teacher, I was looking forward to this much-needed break. We thought with Norwegian Escape being a new ship and talking to several people who thought we would benefit from trying another cruise line, we would give it a try. Money has been tight this year as many unexpected medical issues have come up, which was another reason we decided to try another cruise line. The difference in price between the two lines was about $2,000 total. Was it worth the money we saved? Read this review to find out.
We arrived at port Miami the day before we set sail on a 7-night voyage to the Eastern Caribbean. Our ports of call were St. Thomas, Tortola, and Nassau. The port was easy to access, and check-in was efficient. The staff was pleasant and there were no issues with the process. As we embarked, we were led to Garden Cafe' for lunch. We were walking through the main atrium of the ship and were awed with the beauty, but quickly turned off by the stench of stale cigarette smoke from the casino.
Once we were inside Garden Cafe’ we were quite impressed with the amount of choices of food. The buffet line seemed to go on forever. The amount of food choices was a lot more than what Disney offers, however, Escape is much larger than any of Disney’s ship. The quality of the food was adequate. While soda was not readily available (as it is on Disney), there were more drink stations throughout the 16th deck which included a variety of juice and flavored water. Coffee and tea were included in the fare of the cruise. Both my husband and I selected the drink package, which included all you can drink sodas and alcohol, but were never informed on whether my daughter could have soda. This was even after asking multiple people, so she stuck with water and juice. When I wanted a soda, I had to find someone who worked there and ask for it, so tipping became expensive. It would be nice if they had automatic soda machines like they do at Disney resorts if you purchase a special cup or just include soda in the price of the cruise fare.
Cabin Review
Balcony Stateroom
Cabin BX
The cabin was clean. Upon arriving, we wanted to use the refrigerator. The bottom of the fridge had a piece missing and it was laying in the floor under the fridge. The fridge also was stocked with alcohol, water, and soda, so there was no room for anything we wanted to use it for. The bathroom was missing washcloths and tissues and the soap dispensers were almost empty. After bringing it to our stateroom host's attention, the issues were resolved...other than the broken fridge. The closets were much smaller than what we had on Disney. There were no drawers to store clothes in...only tiny shelves that barely fit an outfit. My daughter had drawers under her bed (the couch) but they were full of sheets and extra blankets and pillows. The floor was not large enough to keep anything in our suitcases to where we could access them, so we had to unpack everything, but finding storage was difficult. Thankfully, the bed was high enough to put the suitcases under it, but pulling them in and out was difficult due to the campiness of the cabin. The storage in the bathroom was great. I wished our cabin had a divider curtain for the couch and the bed because with a 10 year old daughter, modesty has become an issue. The bed had a crack down the middle where two twin beds were pushed together and my husband kept hitting his heels on the zipper or some other object under the sheets. The technology in the room was good. I liked how you could request your host, tell them you are in your room, or to not disturb by clicking a switch. What I didn't like was that on multiple occasions we could not access our cabin because our cards were turned off. I also did not like not having TV channels to watch other than the news or a channel with random old movies on it.
Port Reviews
Miami
The check-in process was very efficient and the port was easy to access.
Tortola
My daughter got off the ship to shop a couple hours while we waited to be reunited with my husband who spent the night in a St. Thomas hospital. The people were friendly and there was no harassment from the civilians of Tortola. Overall, I felt safe there and the port was beautiful!
Nassau
We have been to Nassau many times and never really enjoyed it. The people are pushy to buy things from them, it is a dirty city, and we never feel safe there. Most of the time we stay on the ship. The views from the ship are beautiful though!
8 Helpful Votes
Find a Norwegian Escape Cruise from $489
Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.