We chose this cruise because of three things, price, Origination port(Miami), and ports to be visited(We love the Virgin Islands). We had not traveled on NCL for sometime, we had been traveling on Royal Caribbean, We were impressed, and let down. First, the service was impeccable, and our favorite experience, the Thermal Spa was to die for. Last year we had taken a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Oasis Of The Seas(identical to Allure and Harmony), and we adored the common areas and enjoyed the spa. This time, on NCL's flagship, Escape, we found the ship's common areas mediocre, BUT found the Thermal Spa to be magnificent, much better than Royal Caribbean. It boasts a jacuzzi pool, and apart from very spacious Spa and Steam rooms, it had Salt, and Snow rooms. There were about a dozen heated lounges. Every room had magnificent ocean views.

Apart from this, the food was hit and miss, yet we found they had perfected the freestyle dining(dine when you want). Each time we arrived for dinner, we were seated immediately. The music was geared to the College age guests, a major letdown. As a popular music lover, I look forward to nightly music themes, 50s and 60s, 70s, 80s, Latin, Country, Island, BUT on NCL's Escape, we found, except for one night that they crammed 70s and 80s, constant pulse, rap, heavy metal. A major exception was a show that we saw in the theater, which was based on the music that was featured in Harlem in the 30s and 40s, I thought we were watching this on Broadway, phenomenal, or in today's parlance, AWESOME.

We were also letdown regarding Embarkation. For sometime we have chosen a suite, and one of the reasons is the fact that you get Priority check-in, not on NCL, we were bunched in with everybody else, and were only given priority when we complained. Read more