We're from NYC so the departure location for this cruise was very convenient for us. Unfortunately though, embarking was kind of a mess. We arrived about 30 minutes before our designated embarking time, but do to disorganization, we didn't end up getting called until the same time as the latest time slot, which we were supposed to be well-before. It wasn't that big of a deal though, and we were just excited to finally get on the ship.

The Escape, overall, was a nice ship. We enjoyed the common areas and the views from the Garden Cafe. The dining in general was good. We really enjoyed the specialty dining, and definitely recommend Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and La Cucina. O'sheehan's was good for late-night dining.

The entertainment was pretty good. The Brat Pack and the comedy acts were great. We also really enjoyed the ping pong tables on the ship. Beyond that though, the activities we wanted to do were pretty all pretty poor. The pool is very small, and the small size is made even worse by the relatively short hours it's open. We like to go late-night swimming/in the hot tubs. That wasn't an option because they all close at 10pm. So unless you want to go swimming in a pool packed to the brim during afternoon/morning hours, you're out of luck. We asked them when the pool/hot tubs opened. They told us around 5:30am. We thought, OK, cool, we'll go to the pool/hot tub for sunrise. We get there, and the pool ends up opening around 7. And it's already crowded by then. Why not have good hours so people who want to go at off times can? Seems very silly. Read more