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Pool is WAY too small

Saint-Tropez

Just off the Escape and a wonderful cruise. The ship was spotless. It became a game to try to see something dirty, torn, or in disrepair. Nothing. Lovely, friendly staff. We had an aft cabin and would choose that again.  Deck was very large: two loungers, two straight chairs, and a small table. Deck 12. Beautiful to look out on the the propeller wash as we sailed. Best of all you had view of three sides instead of just one on a side. Leaned one lesson, there maybe soot on the railing, so check for that before leaning on it in your white sweater. Not everyday, but a quick wipe was necessary a couple of times. 

    Lots of storage in the room. Here’s a hint, there is an often missed large drawer under the couch. Others suggested a large magnetic clip which I used to hold our tour tickets. The walls are magnetic. We put magnets on our cabin door. Not necessary but fun.  The other valuable hint someone had suggested was an LED puck light for the bathroom. I do not like to turn on the big overhead light in the middle of the night. There is no receptacle in the bathroom so you will need a battery operated light. I also brought and used a clock. Other suggestions not used: no surge power strip: USB on each side of the bed and 3 place receptacle on the desk were more than adequate for us.  Highlighter for daily newsletter: daily is available on the ship app so just looked it up on my phone. 

    We enjoyed the food. Bayamo was our favorite. Taste and Savor were nice dining and included. O’Sheehans was easy, good food that we chose when time required for a quick lunch. Tapas was so bad it became a joke to us through the week.  This is a premium restaurant so paid a la cart. Fancy themselves as a gourmet restaurant. One example: prawns: two full bodied prawns as the entree. Disassembled there was at most two bites of meat.  We only went to buffet for a couple of breakfast or a late snack. We did use room service for breakfast. Love to have coffee on our deck as we sail into port. No charge unless you choose a full breakfast like an omelette. Here’s a hint: there isn’t a spot on the room service order card, but we wrote in “bacon please” and were accommodated. 

    We enjoyed the entertainment on the ship.  Power house singers and band in the group performing at the Pour House. Worth standing in line for. The Power of Men was top notch.  

    We chose to use the ship’s excursions given the fact that many of the attractions were a distance from the port. They will hold the ship if an excursion is late returning but if you are out on your own and stuck in traffic it would be at your own peril. There is a large amount of people to move upon arrival so put on your patience panties. Santorini was beautiful on a patio overlooking the ocean for sunset. Corfu was surprisingly mountainous and green.  Had a blast on switchbacks and narrow laned villages. Oh and Baklava. Malta is the most beautiful port, try to watch the sail into the port. This had plenty to see right off the ship. 

Sicily was the same for us, no excursions but plenty to do just off the ship. Naples we chose to go to Capri. One of our favorite days, Capri is stunning. Report from other cruisers is that Naples is nasty dirty. In Florence we chose to go to Chinque Terre. Again stunning, quintessential Italy and unforgettable. If you are prone to motion sickness, drug up before the bus ride.  

   If you are anticipating your trip you are in for a wonderful time and lifetime memories. Thanks NCL for taking such good care.

Wonderful cruise

I've travelled a lot on the Norwegian Epic before and decided to try out this newer ship, which should have several improvements for the wellknown flaws the Epic has. And yes, this is in all means a better and nicer ship. I had a great vacation on the Escape and sometimes I ask myself if people who are extremely negative in reviews were on the same ship? Is it perfect? Of course not, but it's a great ship with wonderful crew. Here are some impressions:

Stateroom: I was in a solo cabin, perfect for solo travellers. It's small and has no balcony but for me it's perfect and has everything one needs. Also great cabin steward.

Public areas: nothing to complain, nice pool area and public entertainment venues. The waterfront is nice for having a drink or dinner outside, great improvement over the Epic. Atrium maybe a little small, but plenty of nice bars and venues to hang out at night.

Spa: this is one area where I prefer the Epic, the spa on the Escape is so big that it doesn't feel cosy anymore. It's still a nice spa, but I prefer the Epic one. The locker rooms don't have a sauna/steam room anymore which is a shame and the locker rooms were cold. But great pool and sauna's.

Dining: as always great dining and buffet. I did several speciality dining and the french remains the top notch restaurant on board. Would not do the Italian again, good food but should be complimentary as it has nothing really that special.

Bars: great bars and plenty of staff to get you drinks, but overpriced Champagne. I mean $31 for a glass?

Shore excursions: did not book, I find most of them overpriced.

Entertainment: great, but very 'American'. Cruise Directer Jack putting on a show. Great DJ parties!

One thing I'm noticing is that NCL is increasing the prices for the little extra's. Access to the Vibe beach club is now $250+, it used to be $99 4 years ago, spa same: thermal suite passes are a getting a lot more expensive. As someone who likes the extra's, it's becoming a big budget to cruise on NCL so might have to be more selective in my pics.

Would take a cruise on this ship anytime again! Don't believe the haters.

Great ship, wonderful vacation

This was the worst cruise i have ever been on it started when our luggage appeared at cabin smashed.My hubby got food poisoning 3 seperate times spending first full day in room with sickness and upset bowels.Partially due to the fact that most food in garden cafe is cold or undercooked,milk left on side overnight to curdleor cheese left under heat lamp.The pool made his silver wedding ring turn black from the amount of chlorine in it. When asked to be allowed to bring milshake on board to help his stomach we was told you are not allowed by port rules to bring food or drink on board but saw numerous staff doing just that.The toilet in cabin spent more time not flushing than it did flushing.Three days into a ten day cruise we wanted to leave but couldn't afford flights home. In total we barely ate food on ship when told to cooked meat very well done it still came out with blood in it.Due to upset stomach hardly had any drinks waste of nearly £4000 will never sale with this company again when complaints were made and hubby was upset he was given warning and told if he did anymore he would be kicked off boat.

Worst holiday EVER

We had a great time on the ship overall, but there were a few problems.  The staff in general were very pleasant and helpful, apart from a few.  

Shore excursions- We only did one, because the price of the excursions was too high in my opinion.  I did Pompeii on your own and we did have a great day there.  I tried to get on another one that was sold out.  I was firtst on the waiting list and was told I would probably get on the excursion.  On the day of the excursion, I had not heard anything, so I went down to where the Shore excursion personell were and was told very curtly, that they had no idea if I was going to be on the excursion or not.  I just wanted a yes or no so I could make other plans. 

Customer Service Desk-No one at this desk was helpful at all.  I had a wifi problem, my wife could not get online.  The wifi manager had to tell the customer serice desk twice to reset my wifes account so she coulkd get online. this took them 3 days to figure out.

I was also supposed to have a credit on my account that they flat out refused to give me.  The rudest people on the ship by far!.  

Bar serivice- An excellent group of bartenders, especially Imade at the MIXX bar.   Best bartender on the ship by far.

The pool area-  Every afternoon  the pool looked like the only mudhole for 500 miles on the savannah in Africa with 5,000 animals looking for a spot.  Literally shoulder to shoulder in the pool and on top of each other in the hot tubs.

There are 2 huge spaces that go to waste.  There is a strange cave area in Spice H20 that I never saw anyone in.  Could have put another pool there.  Also, the American Diner never had any diners.  They could put a pool and hot tubs in that space.  

The activities- We had fun, I really enjoyed the ropes course and my daughter enjoyed the variey of slides.  The running track is unusable, unless you use it first thing in the morning, by 10 AM there are too many peole looking for chairs and walking around to use the track.  The gym is also too small for the ship, always too crowded to get a good workout.

Entertainment-  I have no comment on the entertainment, except that nothing looked interesting enough for me to see.

Entourage teenage kids club- Completely useless.  My daughter tried to go to several events that were listed on the program.  They never were doing what was advertised.  This was a huge disappointment to my daughter.

This was our first NCL cruise and it was booked quite late.   There weren't many cabins available and we seemed to get a decent price for a Haven Front Facing Penthouse Suite.  

My only complaint was the NCL App and website.   It was awful!!     We had to make numerous phone calls to check things e.g.   we completed check in but the system said we were only 65% complete!  I spent hours trying to work out what I'd missed!!    The app was also trying to charge $229 for the free onboard shows!!   Very odd.

Our cabin was on deck 14 right underneath the bridge.    The parts of the bridge that 'stick out' created a roof on our balcony!!    In the end it didnt really matter as we don't really use the balcony.   We only use it for a quick coffee in the morning to see what the port looks like!!     Room was amazing.    Nice big bedroom and a separate living room for our daughter.   

As part of the Haven we got to use the Haven Bar and restauarant.   Both were fantastci.   Staff amazing.   There is also an indoor Haven pool and Haven Adults only sun deck with hot tub.

As part of our package we got the Free at Sea upgrade.    Free drinks package, 2 free speciality restaurants, 2 free internet (the basic 150 min package) and $50 off per shore excursion (not each person!).    These are all for the first 2 passengers, we were charegd for the 3rd.   We couldn't book anything for the third paasenger on the App.   We had to do it on the ship where the costs are higher!! 

Food was excellent.   The buffet was manic (but aren't they all??).    We ate at the Steakhouse, Fish restauarant and the Brazilian.   All were fantastic.     Bars were great and the waiters don't let your glasses get empty!

Entertainment was excellent and there was always something going on.   There is no main 'broadway' type show but what they do have is excellent.   Choir of Man and Malevo are well worth it.    Our favorite show was the Attraction light show (for any Brits they won Britains Got Talent a few years ago - they did the shadow show).

Sailings were smooth and we loved all of the ports.    The only one to warn about is Santorini.    Its is a tender port and the only way into town is a 600 step donkey path or a cable car.   The cable car only take 36 people at a time so you can imagine the queues when 4000 people decide to get off.     Other ports were Athens, Sicily, Malta, Cannes, Naples and Pisa.    Fantastic.   Lots to do.

One final thing.   Our daughter is 11 and loved the kids club.   We've been on  few crusies (RCL and Carnival) and she said this was the best.   Lots to do in the clubs and they were busy..

Amazing Greek and Italian cruise in the Haven

We chose the ship because of the destinations and facilities for all.  This ship does not disappoint. Our teenager was entertained all day on the slides and in the pool and all evening in the teen zone and then in H20 partying until 1am. We had the best time during the day on ship around the pool, eating fine food and off the ship visiting beautiful countries. In the evening we relaxed by taking advantage of the drinks package, speciality dining and the waterfront bar with Willfred and Gian who are a credit to NCL.  Our other cabin which was my son who was with his partner and both in their 20's were delighted by the whole experience day and night especially the dining. All of the crew are happy and friendly and professional and work so hard to make your holiday the best it can be. Two things were frustrating and by no means spoilt our holiday as we really did have the best time but being woken up at 7am endlessly by the cruise director giving endless announcements about what we already knew.......Where we were, what time it was, what time we could disembark etc etc all of which is in the freestyle daily leaflet.  Very annoying and not necessary. The other weird thing is the client services desk being in the noisiest part of the ship that day and night has either a band playing or a film on full volume so trying to have a conversation was very difficult shouting above the noise. Embarkation and disembarkation was quick and efficient and we really did have a fantastic time.

Fantastic ship, crew and holiday

Just finished a 10 cruise with friends and family, chose the Escape as a couple of members of the party had travelled Norwegian before. 

We had a Club Balcony Suite, sharing between 3 adults and a 16yo. It was spacious, with all beds being a good size (son is 6ft 3 and slept on the pull down bed with ease), great shower and bathroom. Room was scrupulously clean and we even had a couple of treats on a few days - cookies etc.

The service at bars and in the restaurants was excellent. All the staff were super friendly and very helpful. 

However. There was a big downside. My daughter is a coeliac (she cannot eat gluten), which we advised at the time of booking. To accommodate this, we were asked to order her food 24 hours in advance of eating (if we ate in any of the main restaurants). This would be fine if not, on at least 3 occasions, the food order was lost so she had her food later than others. Much of the food, including soups, contained gluten, so her choice was extremely limited. This was compounded by the additional limitations of vegetarian options. If we were lucky there might be 1 option on the entrée selection. 

The Garden Cafe is a buffet but NONE of the dishes state any allergens, something that is law in the UK, but clearly not in the US. It made for a very frustrating time trying to figure what she could eat. 

I did ask to speak to the officer in charge of catering as I didn't want to complain but wanted to provide feedback so that future cruises might take these issues on board. However, I was passed to an assistant maître d' who's job was seemingly to do everything they could to make me happy - point missed. 

I realise NCL is an American cruise line and having spoken to a fellow passenger who was a coeliac and also American, she stated that the provision for those with diet restrictions and allergies is infinitely better in Europe than the US in terms of provision of gluten free menus and other options. It really needs to get better.

Service excellent, those with dietary or allergy issues, beware

Embarkation: Very fast. There was a long line (out the terminal door) at 10am when we arrived for our 9:30am check-in, but it moved very fast and we were on the ship within 40 minutes. There is no muster drill anymore, which is great. 

Bars: Extremely slow service, especially by the pools, unless you are willing to be rude and push yourself into the bartenders attention (which I am not). I ended up only ordering drinks in Vibe and in restaurants.

Service: All staff on ship we’re ready with a smile and a hello in the hallways, restaurants, and buffet. Cabin steward was exceptionally friendly and accommodating. 

Dining:

   Buffet: Hit or miss. We ate breakfast here everyday and lunch here most days (whenever we were not at port or didn’t eat at O’Sheehan’s), since we were with our kids and they have no interest in a 2 hour long sit down service lunch.

Sometimes the eggs were sour (?!) sometimes they were good. Sometimes the selection was wonderful, sometimes you ate a side salad as your meal. ALL of the desserts were terrible. The waffles were wonderful! The omelet station was terrific! One time the salad bar had SALSA inside the Italian dressing container - when I informed them (so no other patrons had to suffer as we had just done) the man actually argued with me? And refused to remove it? Ok…

   Main Dining Room: We ate dinner here twice, they play live music while you dine, so it’s a nice ambience. Once the food was pretty good. Once it was literally inedible. I couldn’t even cut the meat with my knife - NOT a joke. 

   Savor: We had dinner here once. It was very good. 

   Cagneys: We had dinner here once, it was excellent.

   La Cuchina: We had dinner here once, it was excellent.

   Teppanyaki: We had dinner here once, it was terrible. The ambience is excellent - it was the other diners there that completely ruined our meal. We were seated with people who had many food allergies and required a large amount of accommodations, but they also required everyone else to follow their accommodations? As a result I was literally served a plate of shrimp as my meal - after THEY had all finished eating,  since one of them ALSO had a shellfish allergy and couldn’t SMELL shellfish, so I was required to wait to have my food cooked until she was done?! (Literally, reservations were for 9:30 and I wasn’t served my food until 11:45). The cook never even gave me any vegetables because another person in their party was allergic to onions, so he said he would cook them later and then he just forgot about it because THEY had all already eaten! Worst meal ever. 

   O’Sheehans: We had dinner here once and lunch here several times. It was great! The carrot cake is huge!

Shows/Entertainment: Three of the shows (Choir of Man, Malevo, and Lights and Shadows) are shown on two nights each during this 10-night cruise, and they require reservations (they other shows do not require reservations). You are required to arrive 10 minutes early for the show, or they give away your reservations to other people - and they actually do! We overslept and arrived 2 minutes before show time for Lights and Shadow and our seats had been given away and it was standing room only for the show. During the second showing on the cruise my husband and kids showed up 20 minutes before showtime, got in line, and then were able to get seats from the released seats from other people who missed the showtime. They liked it!

We skipped Choir or Man, that’s not our thing.

Malevo was unique. It’s a cross between Argentinian Tango and Irish River-dancing, with drums and whips. It’s extremely loud, so do NOT bring your children if they have sensory issues. 

There was NO comedy shows on board, which was a big disappointment for us, as we always love those.

We never went to any of the pool parties to reduce covid risk (which didn’t matter anyways - since I came home with Covid!!!)

Guest Services: Disaster. My husband’s key card didn’t work for 4 straight days. Every single day we had to wait in line at guest services - LONG lines. They could never figure it out. They would print him a new one and then it wouldn't work again! It could open our cabin door, but pretty much that’s it. He could sometimes order drinks, sometimes not. Sometimes they would say we had no credit card assigned to our account, etc. it was annoying. Who wants to go to guest services over and over?! They never even said sorry. 

Internet: We upgrades both rooms to premium with streaming prior to the cruise since we were traveling with our teenagers. No issues other than the price. $300/cabin for one login? Only one person could be online at a time, if someone else wanted to use the internet to check their email, the kid watching TikTok gets kicked offline. 

Vibe Beach Club: Great! Bartender (Charlie!) remembers your name and drink by second day! $269/person is a STEEP price but since it was IMPOSSIBLE to get a lounger by the pool or a drink at the bar on this ship, it was worth is to us!!! There is a “hot tub” but it’s not actually hot and the jets don’t work. But it was quite hot on this itinerary, so the water felt refreshing! We will definitely book Vibe again, as long as the price doesn’t go up any higher!

Kids Clubs:

We did not use, our kids are teenagers 

Arcade:

We purchased the arcade pass, currently $175 for unlimited uses of the green swipe games (green swipe games are all the games that do NOT provide tickets for prizes or give out actually prizes). We had one child registered in each cabin (we had connecting balcony cabins), so we bought one arcade pass and had them share it - but you are “supposed” to have each child in the cabin have their own arcade pass. For $175 we got our moneys worth, if we had to pay $350? No way. They spent a couple hours in the arcade together on a few occasions during the cruise. Without the arcade pass, the arcade is not a place you can let your cold play in unsupervised the games are outrageously priced. There is a rollercoaster simulator game that is $6/turn with each turn taking ~2 minutes. Each game is $1.51-2.81/play 

Slides:

Very fun! My son and I enjoyed them a lot! We waited until a port day (Santorini) and used them while everyone was tendering to avoid the long lines, then we got to go down the slides over and over without lines! Then we went onto Santorini in the afternoon once everyone else was done tendering.

Fitness: 

My son and I used the fitness gym on several occasions. It is quite large, with modern equipment. There is no space for laying out a yoga mat, but there are a LOT of ellipticals, treadmills, bikes, etc, and a huge variety of weight lifting machines! 

Spa:

We did not use, as the prices are not reasonable. They only run “specials” during port days ($179 for 50 minute massage hardly classifies as a deal, though!), and we choose to visit all the ports. 

Ports of Call:

   Santorini: Unless you book an excursion, this is a wasted port. You have to make a reservation for a tender spot - there are 20 tenders! They were calling tenders for hours. We hung out at the water slides while everyone else waited for tenders and then went onto shore afterwards. The line for cable cars is outrageous. And your choices are to: ride the cable car; commit animal abuse and ride a donkey up a huge hill in dangerous heat; or walk up that huge hill yourself in the dangerous heat (while stepping in the donkeys feces and urine!). When you get to the top of that hill you are in Fira, which is nothing but overpriced shops and restaurants with a nice view of the ship in the bay. You have to travel across the island to get to Oia - which is where the Instagram photos you are thinking of are. So you would have had to book an excursion to get there, which we did not.

   Athens: We booked a 1/2 day semi-private tour of Athens through PKTours with members of our CruiseCritics Roll Call. They picked us up right outside the terminal, and took up in a van straight to the Acropolis, Parthenon, etc. We skipped a LOT of the crowds, but it was still fairly busy. By the time we were done it was insanely crowded! Then we drove to the Olympic stadium, and many other sites, and we also saw a changing of the guard ceremony at the palace. They also gave us free time at the Plaka for souvenir shopping and we ate gelato (I wanted a gyro, but it was too early for lunch!). Afterwards they drove us back to the ship. This was a fraction of the cost of the very similar NCL excursion, with a fraction of the participants!

   Corfu: this port was cancelled by NCL without explanation prior to our cruise, without refund of our port fees/taxes. It was replaced by a sea day and they extended our time in Malta. 

   Mykonos: this port was also cancelled - the morning of, due to dangerously high winds, again without refund of our port fees/taxes. It was replaced by another sea day. Apparently this happens frequently? Perhaps it should be removed from all itineraries then. Many people complained to guest services, apparently, because the next day we had a letter in our cabins that we would receive $50/person non-refundable OBC as compensation for this inconvenience. We had rented ATVs and jet skis privately for this port, so $50 OBC was not exactly helpful, but better than nothing!

   Malta: This was one of the highlights of our trip! We chartered a boat with members from our CruiseCritic roll call (we used Malta Speedboat Charter) $700 for up to 10 people for 7 hours. They picked us up right outside the pier, and took us all over for several spots of snorkeling and caves, we had a delicious lunch (not included in price) and they returned us right to the pier. It was wonderful! 

   Messina (Sicily): We toured Castelmola and then Taormina through Tour Messina. They met us right outside the ship with a sign with our names on it, and took us and a small group in a van. What charming cities! Our tour included a delicious lunch, which we enjoyed privately in outdoor seating at a cafe (pre set menu). We had short walking tours in each city and then free time to ourselves in each place. It was wonderful. Highly recommend. And again - a fraction of the price of NCLs similar excursion, with a fraction of the participants!

   Naples: We booked a SightseeingItaly transfer to Pompeii. This was less than half the price of NCLs transfer to Pompeii. It did require us to take the free shuttle bus from the port, which brings you to another port, closer to downtown, and then walk 0.5km to the meeting place. The bus to Pompeii also enforced the Italy requirement of a FFP2 mask (KN95 for Americans), so make sure you bring those. Even though we bought our entrance tickets online we still had to stand in line to exchange our online tickets for paper tickets, which seemed like a waste of time. It was VERY hot walking around Pompeii! Make sure to bring plenty of water. There is a few working fountains inside Pompeii, but the water coming out did not taste very fresh or cold (we drank ALL the water we brought and then drank from the fountains too!). Make SURE to get a map at the beginning! I had brought along a Rick Steves guide book from our last trip to Pompeii in 2012 - they now make you enter from the theater!!! This used to be the exit! It’s VERY hard to follow a guided walk backwards hahaha We wished we had gotten a map!

   Livorno (Florence): Livorno would not allow anyone to walk from the port. They made everyone pay 5€/person for their shuttle (which used to be free) or pay 25€ for a taxi for city center. This shuttle bus then drove around in circles for almost 30 minutes to get to city center (which is at most a 10 minute drive!) and we almost missed our excursion! We used TuscanyBus to book independent transfer to Florence. This cost 23€/person compared to $99/person NCL was charging! Luckily everyone had been stuck in the same shuttle scam that we were, and the bus waited for us! They drove us into Florence, gave us 5 hours free time, and then drove us back. We were supposed to go back to City Center and take the shuttle again to the port, but they guarantee arrival to the ship on time and we waited for a couple who never showed back up to the bus, so they drove us right back to the ship, to be safe!

Disembarkation: Super fast and efficient! They let us pick out colored luggage tags for when we wanted to get off the ship. The paperwork said no announcements would be made prior to 7am, and they started making announcements at 6:20am, so everything was 30-40minutes ahead of schedule, but otherwise it was smooth. 

Flights: We used NCL air, we didn’t get our flight info until 27 days prior to our trip. As soon as we received the flight information, we signed in to check and the flight was listed as cancelled. We contacted NCL and they said they would reassign us flight “within a week”. 2 days later we received new flights - nonstop this time! We had no delays going there or returning, and no lost luggage!!!

NCL Escape August 3-13, 2022 Greek Isles cruise

Although just 2 adult travellers, work commitments meant we had to travel in the school holidays, there are a lot of families aboard as expected but we have generally found adult only areas and it has not been an issue.

Our cabin (14826) club balcony suite midship but a distance from either front or back stairs (no midship stairs on here), but is spacious, spotlessly clean, enormous bathroom and we LOVE the large shower with the movable jets.   Our cabin steward is a delight, friendly, hardworking and nothing too much trouble.       The only slight down about the cabin is if you have the balcony door open you can sometimes hear music and activities happening at the pool, but really would not stop me having this cabin again (in the unlikely event I chose NCL/this ship again).

The food has been plentiful (it's a cruise ship) and good (a little bland sometimes), we have eaten in the buffet, all 3 main dining rooms, Tepanyaki (twice), Cagney's and La Cucina.    No nasty surprises outside of dining package (a couple of options in Cagneys are a supplement but that is made very clear on menu).   Service in the speciality restaurants generally far better than the others but not exceptional.    Tepanyaki is our favourite food, the food itself is wonderful but the chef's are now so focused on the "show" and the songs it feels so fake and you get none of their personality and nothing individual (and in fact 2nd time with a 9pm reservation staff were clearly in a rush to finish.....checks were given to us for signing before main courses were half way eaten, they demanded to know at the same point whether desert was required and if you dared say yes it was given to you the second you finished your meat/rice).

In other restaurants and bars service is slow and at best mediocre.  Is it just not enough staff (certainly in the bars)?    All the bars have peanuts, but if you want some (generally we did pre dinner) you always had to ask 2 or 3 times before they were grudgingly given, never offered, it felt as though they were rationed.    Bar staff appear untrained in anything not on the menu (I asked in 2 bars at different times for a French Martini....a classic drink....not on the menu but classic not a fancy to be told we don't serve /make that.....you do....I can see the vodka, the raspberry liquor and pineapple juice ..but what is the point of arguing ....take something from the menu). One night we went to dinner at 9.45 (you can be seated up to 10pm), the waitress was clearly finishing at 10pm, took our order and then stood feet away from us loudly moaning to her colleagues that we had been seated at that table (plenty of people came in after us).... She was let off and told us that Alfonso would be taking over....fine but it would have been helpful if she had told Alfonso what we had actually ordered (I had asked for 2 appetisers that night instead of an entree to be served with the entree)...we really felt as though we should not be in the restaurant that time.      

A big issue for us, is the bars do not restock.     My husband does not drink Pepsi and is diabetic so can only have sugar free /diet soda.     The Garden Cafe bar ran out of cans of Diet 7 Up on day 6, and still has not restocked.....it is available in the other bars and they tell us to go elsewhere.     The bar in H20 did go and get more for him to be fair, but they ran out of cider (Angry Orchard) and have not restocked that.

was disappointed in the size of the swimming pools, just the 2, for a ship this size.   Pools are very much in the family area and very loud.  We found H20 and spent our days there with the 2 hot tubs and fabulous water grotto to cool down in.     Sea days it got crowded but only to be expected.     This area is strictly 18+ until 7pm daily........why is there nobody there to stop families coming in so their children can try the grotto with them....teens unaccompanied and babes in strollers, really bad on the part of NCL.        why are the only towel exchange stations in the middle of this area....why not also have them by the H20?

Port disembarking and embarking good and our tender port was well managed (although did cruise director have to give the same reminders for every single of 20 tenders/announcements).   We did our own trips ashore (having visited most places previously) and stayed aboard in Athens so was able (without the families and lines) to try the waterslides (great fun...although this 60 year old just did the yellow one and blue donut not the blue/green kamikaze).     Also didn't have any spa treatments this trip, mainly because costs are so high and was happy to just laze on a sun lounger in the heat this trip.

Entertainment was disappointing.... repetitive (same shows several nights) with little variety.    We were looking forward to some comedy in Headliners and have not had 1 single comedian in the 10 nights. 

 Have however had duelling pianos.....quite good if you are from the US and know their music/artists but was APPALLED that basically this is not a free show.....if you have a request (which is what they encourage) then you need to send it up with folding money!    What has happened to NCL's signature animal towels (none at all) and other little touches?    No captains cocktail party for latitude members, small things missing everywhere which is why the experience is now only 3*

Would I sail NCL again..... Yes if the price reflected the drop in standards (we had a choice between Royal Carribbean or this voyage for our dates at almost the same price....we opted for this because we preferred the itinerary) or I was travelling with a family or I hear that service and standards have improved and they are aiming for pre pandemic levels.

We have had a great vacation but ship is 3* at best

This was our first time on any NCL ship and we were travelling as a group of four (2 adults and 2 children aged 11 and 8).  Our previous cruises have been with Celebrity, Seaborn and Royal Caribbean.

We chose this particular cruise late in the day after not having travelled anything much over the last couple of years due the pandemic.  The port of embarkation, we knew, and the destinations seemed interesting enough although we have visited practically all of them before.  NCL seemed a family friendly product to take a family vacation on.

Destinations

Originally there was only one day at sea on the schedule but when we got the edocs we found out that Corfu (which we had been looking forward to) had been dropped, with no explanation, and replaced with another day at sea.

Santorini is must for any cruise doing the Greek Isles and once again did not disappoint.  We liked that the arrival time was after lunch and departure was just after sunset.  This meant that the hoards of tourists from the other boats in port had already been ferried up on the cable car. TOP TIP, as soon as you board the ship, head to the box office or any of the other locations and book your tender.  We were lucky and were on the first boat off meaning that we were spared the long queue in the Greek sun to catch our cable car ride!  

Athens was next but with 37C heat forecast we stayed on board to enjoy an empty ship.  What bliss compared to the packed out first day at sea.

Mykonos is another great stop over destination with a full day available to enjoy this great town.  Please don’t do a shore excursion to get to the old port, there are cheap water buses just outside the ship that take you every 15mins to the old port for €2!

Next was another day at sea with packed pools and a lot of heat on deck.  TOP TIP #2… don’t walk barefoot on the pool deck, unless you want blisters on your feet!

Valetta in Malta was an interesting stop as this was not a port we had previously visited and was surprisingly charming.  Again, if you plan on walking to old town, it is really just 15 mins walk from the ships and getting the Barracka lift from the port to the old town is a unique journey in itself.

Messina is a mandatory stop in Sicily but no one stays there, as there is little to see. The were many shore excursions offering to take you to Taormina (picturesque Italian village) about 30 mins away for about $200 a person.  The flat taxi rate for a private hire for a family of four was $150 for all of us, so shop around.  Taormina was worth the trip as it offers very spectacular views of Mount Etna and a great shopping experience.

One shore excursion that we made the mistake of taking was at Naples to see Pompeii as our previous experience with taxi drivers at Naples was not a good one.  We paid $40 each for a 30 minute bus ride for a tour called “Pompeii on your own”.  And on your own you were as the tour did not even include the entrance tickets.  We were let loose for 2 hours and that included waiting for 30 mins to buy the tickets!  We found Pompeii, without a guide to be very hot with few amenities to get away from the oppressive heat, or water fountains and shade.  We should have done what we normally do here and take the ferry to Capri which is just next to the ship.

Livorno is a great stopping off location for Florence or Pisa.  But again, do not take a shore excursion.  The train fare was only a few $ for Pisa and slightly more for Florence (return!).  You can even do both.  We had enough time for a lovely lunch in Pisa and still had plenty of time to make it back to the ship for a cool down at the pool.    

Our last stop was back to Civitavecchia where we also took a shore excursion to fill up the day before being dropped off at the airport.  The buss arrived late to pick us up and when we did the buss was not in great condition and the bus driver had a permanent cigarette attached to his lips.  Not a great start for a chaotic “Scenic tour of Rome” which was more about being stuck in traffic than actually seeing anything.  Two hours to run to Plaza Navona, Pantheon and Trevi Fountain, find a Trattoria and rush back to catch the bus.  Not with the £141 per adult. 

Ship

Norwegian Escape is one of the newer NCL ships which also drove us to choose this one.  One of the largest ships in the industry we were expecting to be wowed by some feature or another yet we were disappointed by the functionality of the whole ship.  There was no outstanding feature that sets this class of ship apart from others in the industry.

The ship is noisy in every respect.  For some reason (maybe since it run aground a few months ago) there is a permanent shudder felt throughout the ship at certain speeds.  This is felt in the public areas including the restaurants.  When the ship docks the bow and aft thrusters kick in creating a mighty rattle in your stateroom which guarantees that you’ll be woken up at least an hour before hitting port without the need to set an alarm.

Then there is the constant party.  The Atrium area which is where Guest Services lies is continuously being used for one event or another with mics and speakers belting out one trivia quiz after another, some game show or musician.  Trying to have a quiet breakfast at O’Sheeghans is impossible, no matter what time of day you go at.

The pool is also constantly populated by a band or DJ. No rest here either.

Which brings me to my main bug bear of NCL Escape.. Adult only areas!   There are 4,000 passengers on the ship.  Many with families yet there is a small kiddies water park (for ages 5 and under) and only one family pool.  The main pool is clearly marked “Adults only” as is the rear of the ship H2O Spice, leaving very little space for children to enjoy.

Then there are the water slides, a key attraction for choosing the ship.  Well it turns out that there is one small children’s slide in the kiddies water park, a slightly larger “yellow” slide and a longer slide (blue) which you ride on an inflatable.  This last one is good fun as the transparent section is over the side of the boat!  But the main attraction are the two drop slides.  Except that not only do you have to be a certain height, but also a certain weight effectively ruling out non teenage children!  This was a severe disappointment for my children who had been looking forward to these.  We do not recall reading about this before embarkation.

The mini-golf has been ripped out and again there is no notice of this until you see it in person.

Great was the ropes course!  TOP TIP #3 Make sure you pack a t-shirt with sleeves and shorts to the knee or leggings/yoga pants as well as trainers/sneakers or you will not be allowed to get on.  Part of the course were closed, e.g. the much promoted “walk the plank” as was one of the zip lines.   The zip line on the outside of the ship was functional and the kids really enjoyed doing the course a couple of times during the course.  Again, best to do this when the ship is at port to avoid queues.

Practically every bar has some form of live music at some point during the day.

What I most missed on this ship was a quiet area overlooking the boat where one could sit, take in the views with a book and coffee just to unwind.  I love these spaces on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity boats.

Stateroom

We were a bit sceptical about booking the four of us into a single stateroom. We chose one on deck 9 which had a slightly larger balcony than the standard room.  The sofa turns into a single bed whilst from the ceiling down pops the bunk bed for our second child.  Despite the 10 day duration of the cruise this did not become claustrophobic and we were happy to spend time in the cabin when needed.

The stateroom attendant service was impeccable and kept the room in an amazing condition throughout.

TV was absolutely rubbish.  A couple of news channels and then two channels which played the same movies on a continuous loop but for which we were not able to ascertain what the schedules were, even after enquiring with Guest Services.  The interactive TV is a museum piece and not useful at all.  Bring your own movies on your own devices if 
you need to catch up! 

Staff

I was particularly struck by how tiered and fed up everyone was.  

There is some underlying current going on between waiter staff (made up of Philippinos) and the floor managers which are mainly West Indians.  In fact, most of the crew are Phillipino, including the cruise director on this cruise.  Language can sometimes be a barrier.  

Normally I have felt that cruise staff go out of their way to make the passengers feel special yet at no time in the cruise did anyone make us feel welcome or special.  Not that I was looking for special treatment but just that at least you get a smile, an acknowledgement of your existence.  Instead everyone was just going through their motions, not in a rude way, just functional.

Cruise industry was struck particularly hard during the pandemic and maybe this was just the end result of trying to get back on track with less staff than was normally around and working longer shifts/tours.  Don’t know the cause but there is a morale issue here.

Food

Food standards were Ok but not great.  Not to Celebrity standards but slightly above Royal Caribbean. Portions are on the smaller side.

Food on Taste, Savour and Manhattan (the main dining options) were all the same, with the same menu really.  Service can be hit and miss, especially at breakfast at Savour where things turn up in some random order (e.g. the toast arrives miles later than the breakfast it was to accompany).  Trying to ask for things differently to how it was set in the menu can sometimes be challenging too (e.g. no hash browns always ended up with hash brown on the plate!).  Water not arriving or coffee not being refilled a common gripe.

The Irish pub is literally that so do not expect gourmet offerings here.

We tried four of the speciality dinning options.  Cagney’s, La Cucina, Bayiamo, and Teppanyaki.  Here service is much improved with La Cucina being the best of the four we tried.  The steak here was much better prepared than at Cagney’s.  Oh, if you want a laugh order the “Petite Fillet Mignon” at Cagney’s… bring a magnifying glass with you as they take Petite very literally!   

The food at the Japanese restaurant was entertaining (and noisy) and probably best value for money (it’s a fixed price).  The fish restaurant did not have an exciting menu for what is supposed to be a specialised fish restaurant and the snobbiest of the four in which we got a message to ensure that men were wearing long pants for this restaurant!

Two of the above we did with the “free” dinning package and paid for our children’s main meal.  The other two were paid for by way of a room charge.  Considering that the cruise already has all your food included, the speciality dining should reflect the “add-on” cost of the meal.  Yet, were felt that we were paying full price on all the items and felt a bit ripped off.  For example, I could have ordered a Fillet Mignon as part of the dinning package but to add a lobster tail to this to make it a Surf and Turf and paid an additional fee of $35 for a lobster tail that was smaller than my thumb.

The Kids menu is a joke really and only suitable for under fives at the speciality restaurants instead of having reduced portion sizes for children.

Entertainment

There were three main shows on offer during the cruise which required pre-booking. 

Malevo is an Argentinian Gaucho dance production featuring a troupe of bare chested men in tight leather twirling strings and beating drums. After 30 mins we were dying to get out.

Choir or Men is a musical, also featuring a troupe of men, in an English pub having a sing along and reciting some poetry.  Some bits were funny but hardly soul raising songs with little of the much touted audience participation.

The Shadows and Light Show was probably the most entertaining of the three with some clever performances.  Our kids thought this was the best.

Not to be outdone was Peter Waddle who is probably a better comedian than magician but who put on a very clever and funny show.

We manged to get glimpses of some of the singers/bands at some of the other locations and most were one short of a karaoke show (of which there also was).

Every night there is also a party at H2O Spice on the back of the boat but by this time we were too tiered to do these. 

Shore excursions

Don’t, just don’t.  I know this is one of the most profitable parts of the cruise for the cruise line but there are so many DIY options that are better and only cost a fraction of what the boat is offering.  Do your homework before you get there and if not see what is on offer when you get of the boat.  Public transport or taxis are readily available. Certainly, the experience with the two that we booked reinforced our view not to do these ever again.

Would I do NCL again?

Based on this cruise, probably not.  Nothing exceptional or noteworthy.  Yes, good value for money and good destinations but it was all too functional and more orientated to the young adult crowd so I was probably in the wrong demographic group for NCL cruises.

Nothing exceptional 

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