Just got off the Norwegian Escape after our 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise. What follows is a summary of the highs, lows, must-dos and mild warnings about the experience. Of course, please keep in mind the following context and know your lens might be different: Hubby and I are in our mid-40s with no kids and have done lots of cruising. In fact, after 21 of these suckers (from small Ships like Carnival Paradise - to the Oasis class ships on Royal Caribbean) I feel we’ve graduated to the term CruisERS. We’re not big partiers, but we also don’t want to spend lots of time in our cabins. We’re not huge eaters or drinkers, but we’re somewhat picky about both. And, despite how I realize this description has made us sound, we’re pretty likable and try to go with the flow. Before this trip we sprung for the somewhat inaccurately named “Free at Sea” package, which included all beverages up to $15, three specialty restaurants, 250 minutes of internet and $50 discounts on shore excursions. We weren’t sure if it was worth it, but more-than-a-little frugal Hubby hit “buy it now!” anyway. Skip to the end of this review to see the final word on this.

The Ship/Cabin

We’d heard that the layout of this ship was great and it absolutely was. There were tons of different areas to hang out in. Even (and most especially important) the buffet was so well spread out that you didn’t have to wait in a line too long for anything. Perhaps because the cruise we took previous to this one was especially poorly laid out, with one looooong line for all things on the buffet, we felt like we were able to hop through various lily pad food stations and get back to our table with relative ease. We’d also heard that the back half of the buffet area was a little less busy, and this proved to be true. No matter where you sit though, know that there are a few stations that only appear once (e.g. a noodle bar, Asian and Greek dishes, etc), so it’s worth it to do a quick lap before finalizing your menu choices if that happens to matter to you. Read more