This was actually our fourth NCL cruise. We have found that certain aspects of NCL have declined over the last few years. Most notably the food. We found the food on this cruise to be mediocre at best with the exception of Cagney's and Teppanyaki. The Bistro was okay but La Cucina very average. The buffet was very disappointing with poor selection and okay food.

One big sore point for me was the Cigar Lounge. I occasionally enjoy a good cigar and had recently cruised on the Joy and found the Cigar Lounge a very enjoyable experience. Unfortunately not the case on the Escape. One of the first things I did after boarding was go check out the Cigar Lounge and to my dismay found it full of people smoking cigarettes. It actually looked like a fog in the room. A woman saw me looking in the door and her look almost dared me to come in. I approached the bar staff adjacent to the lounge and asked why there were cigarettes in the lounge. At first I was told they weren't supposed to be in there and then that they were allowed to be there. I later spoke with a ship's officer to complain and was told that since they no longer allowed smoking on the outside areas of deck 8 they had decided to let cigarette smokers use the lounge. When I asked why it is not allowed on other NCL ships with Cigar Lounges, I was told that each ship made their decisions. I am sorry, but I refuse to try and light up and enjoy a $20 cigar in a room full of cigarettes. I know to some this may sound petty but I had actually gone out and purchased some high quality cigars to enjoy.

This now makes our second NCL cruise where we have no interaction with our Steward. Our cruise in July we never saw our Steward until the last morning when he wanted to know if we were leaving so he could be begin cleaning the room for the next cruise. On this cruise we searched out our steward on the first day to make contact. We introduced ourselves and then that was the last time we spoke with him the entire cruise. We have found on other cruise lines that our cabin stewards greet us by name and continually check to see if we need anything. No so with NCL. Read more