Norwegian Escape Review

4.0 / 5.0
3,047 reviews

Not quite as expected

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Escape
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Twonaps
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

Rating by category

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Value for Money
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Dining
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Entertainment
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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2019
Cabin: Mid-ship Mini-Suite with Balcony

We booked this cruise as the price was exceptional and was recommended by a good friend and a Platmun Member who was also booking this cruise. This was our first cruise on Norwegian and I was not impressed. The embarkation was slow and was delayed as the N.Y. terminal was over crowded due to late Disimbarkation of its earlier arrival, eventually we got our mini sweet and was not impressed as it was the same size of any average ship cabins, the oversized shower was a big plus. My wife had done a wonderful job researching the amenities of this ship and pre booked the upgraded 3 diner premium package, bottled water delivered to our room and a WiFi package, our Children have given us a prepaid Norwegian gifts card that my wife used to pre order these upgrades, we printed the Norwegian confirmation. As it turns out we found this was never applied to our reservation and was told that we could use the upgraded diner package, we had also made pre dinner arrangents for the first night at their steak house and was told they were looking into why our pre order was not showing up on our reservation but go ahead and pay the full price and when the issue was resolved our on board billing will be adjusted. Well that never happened, two days later they confirmed that the pre order was not applied but we could use the prepaid gift card now and apply it to my onboard credit, great? No because the prepaid dinner package did not apply to my first night dinner at Cagney's steak house and they would not honor this blunder on their part. At this point we did not rebook the upgrade resturant package and we paid full price for that dinner. Otherwise the free style dinning was mediocre, not great but same menu each day. The average age of onboard passengers was at my estimation at age 65. The entertainment and on board venues did not coincide with this age group. Too much Rap and club music more suitable for a teenage audience. The Choir of Man show was great and the Howl at the moon dueling pianos was great one night but bombed the second time, could have been lack of audience participation. There was a emergency incident on board that the captain announced we had to get close to a port and have a US Coast Guard Cutter come out to the ship for this passenger transfer, the Coast Guard met us at sea but close to Key West, the evacuation itself was amazing as I believe the 4000 guests were all watching the event, the waters were very rough but eventually they did get the pax on board and left the ship. The cruise director eventually announced that the event went well and congratulated a job well done and thanked the crew and infirmary crew but neglected the thank the outstanding job the US Coast Guard did. Three days into the cruise my wife and I and the travel companions came down with cold like symptoms, we were not alone as many passengers were demonstrating the same coughing symptoms within the elevators, resturants and theater shows. Disimbarkation was not pleasurable, long Q lines that backed up into the Manhattan Dining room, it was announced that there was again a backup in the terminal due to incoming and outgoing passengers once off the ship the off ship process went well. I will most likely not choose Norwegian again and as for our platinum member friends, they were somewhat embarrassed as they clearly didn't get any specialty treatment.

Cabin Review

Mid-ship Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MA

Great sevice, strongly suggest changing bedding mattress there were sagging. This room was mid ship, had I realized there were no mid ship elevators i would have selected something much closer to the elevators.

Port Reviews

Harvest Caye

Got off ship and was surprised to see all the amenities available including the beach. There were no details provided or highlighted about the port. There were many excursions available for sale. No mention of taking towels to port to enjoy beach and pool amenities.

Costa Maya

Just got off ship to get free wi fi.

Cozumel

Great port of call, great shopping and free wi fi.

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