We had an RCL cruise booked for this week however back in May we took a last minute cruise on the Norwegian Sky. We were so very impressed with the entertainment, the food, the service and the outstanding cruise director, that we decided right then and there to cancel the RCL cruise and book a 7 day on the Norwegian Escape. As great as the Sky was, that's how disappointing the Escape was. We didn't see the cruise director until the third day, he was almost invisible. The Escape had so-called "Broadway style" entertainment where you had to make reservations in advance and the shows were lackluster at best. There were no nightly shows with the cruise staff until, I believe, the last night and that was scheduled at 8pm, during the heart of the dinner hour. With regard to the smaller entertainment venues, we found the quality of the entertainment to be very amateurish.

The food was fair. Breakfast was typical, but the first lunch offering was only fair. The afternoon buffet was a bit better. Dinner in the dining room was as you would expect and not very interesting. We had a package for 3 specialty restaurant dinners and there was nothing "specialty' about two of them (Le Bistro and La Cucina). I was also disappointed that the wine offerings by the glass were the same in both restaurants. We decided to go off the plan and try Cagney's Steak House which was a disaster. The service was horrible, the food was below dining room standards and the staff truly needs extensive training. The one exception was Bayamo by Jose Garces. From the minute we sat down, we knew this restaurant was special. From the proprietary wine list, to the service, to the food itself and the management team, you could tell immediately that there was extra care given to the training of the staff. When I questioned the manager, she confirmed that while she is a Norwegian employee, she did, in fact, have additional training by the Garces Group. This was quite evident and we enjoyed ourselves so much that we booked another visit for the last night of the cruise.

We very much liked the layout of the cabin which made it feel roomier, and there was ample closet space. The service for the cabin was good, no issues there. My problem was that I found the walls to be paper thin and on two occasions I had to literally pound on the wall to get the family next door to stop screaming after midnight. Read more