I took a seven day Norwegian Cruise on the Escape which started in Manhattan. There were two stops…read morein Canada and three stops in the New England states September 2026.
I used my travel agent, Kim Roberts, to book the trip. My friend and I received $50 towards an excursion, and each of us received a $25 onboard credit. Me and my friends came in the day before and stayed in NYC overnight and had a blast before catching our cruise Saturday.
Pool
I never got in the pool. On the main pool deck there were lots of lounge chairs, a hot tub, bar and live entertainment at certain times. Deck 17, adults only, had a walk-through cave with water falling from the top, a hot tub, lounge chairs and a bar. This deck had the best views for sunset and port pics.
Food
My roommate and I ate breakfast and lunch (when on the ship) and a few late dinners on Deck 16 at the Garden Cafe buffet. They had just about anything you could imagine. The only downside is not everything was piping hot but the food quality was decent. For breakfast there were crepes, hot rolls with icing, biscuits and gravy, omelette and egg station and many other options from cereal to fruit. Dinner was only offered on one side of the restaurant.
We had dinner in the Manhattan Restaurant twice and and another restaurant once that were both included without an upgrade/extra charge. Two of the nights in the restaurants I did upgrade options. One night I ordered filet mignon and the other was a seafood trio. Both meals were worth the up charge. The filet mignon was ordered medium and the first one came out medium well. I asked for a supervisor and he told me to give him five minutes and he brought me back a medium cooked steak. I thought that was pretty good service!
Cabin
My roommate and I were on the 10th deck AFT with a balcony. Everyone knows the rooms are small but it was perfect for what we needed it for, shower and sleep. The bed was comfortable as well as the pillows. It was great when we were leaving port in NYC to be on the balcony as we passed the Statue of Liberty. It was also nice to go out in the morning and take in the new port while waiting to disembark and explore.
Excursion
My roommate and I booked one excursion through NCL for a hop on and off bus in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I'm so glad we did as we learned if you book excursions through NCL this gives you first preference to catch a tender to the port. We had one other tender port on our trip, Newport, RI, and it took hours to catch a tender without an NCL excursion.
Casino
I spent a couple hundred dollars in the casino. I only played the slot machines. I would go for 30 minutes to an hour most evening before heading back to the room and going to bed. It was smoky even in the non-smoking section.
Entertainment
I saw several great shows. Tip, arrive no later than 30 minutes prior to a show if you want a good seat or any seat for the smaller venues.
My favorite was Choir of Men. This show had roughly 10 to 12 men singing, playing instruments, dancing while telling a story of a pub and all life's problems of the people that worked there. Before the show started they offered anyone who wanted a draft beer to come up on stage and get one. For someone that didn't purchase the alcohol package, I jumped in line! They also pulled several members of the audience onto stage and included them in the show.
I also recommend Sydney Norman's Pour House Show. This was mostly 80s music and the entertainers were super energetic and came into the audience a lot. The same entertainers also did a Fleetwood Mac show which was good but I attended the 9:00 PM show and that didn't work well with so many slower songs lol!
Disembarkment was a smooth process. Service from everyone on the ship was great! Our cabin steward Jeremy worked hard to make sure when we came back to our room after a long day the room was fresh with beds made, trash emptied, dirty towels gone and new towels in their place.
