Cruising The Caribbean - Norwegian Escape

Several of our stops for the three weeks that we would be cruising were rearranged because of Irma but for the most part our ports were still a go. What I didn't expect was the weather to keep us out. Our seven days on the Norwegian Escape started with a day at sea to be followed by a stop in Falmouth, Jamaica.

Our second morning we arose to see Jamaica before us but, just like a plane waiting to land, our ship seemed to be in a holding pattern. Sure enough, the captain came on the PA and announced that we would not be going into port. The windy conditions and the direction of the winds would not allow large ships to safely enter. He was followed by the cruise director cheerfully assuring everyone of another relaxing day at sea.

The difficult part of having a relaxing sea day we discovered was trying to find a quiet place to relax other than in our room. The ship is laid out almost specifically to keep people in the areas of activity and of course spending. Unlike many other ships where people finally begin to disperse and the crowding of the first day lessens because people tend to find niches and different areas of interest.

It took a while but we discovered the Waterfront area of the ship. Probably its greatest asset at least where we were concerned. The promenade deck is laced with most of the specialty restaurants and they have seating areas outside for when the weather allows. Between the restaurants and bars there are lounge chairs--comfy couches and chairs with lots of padding. And for the most part, it was quiet.

At Grand Cayman we chose not to go ashore. It was an opportunity to take advantage of the pool area and the slides without all the kids around. Bob enjoyed the slide that drops you straight down and then around. He ran out of time to go on the rope course though.

Throughout the week, we found more things to like about the Escape. Our room service did not improve though. It was never serviced until late in the afternoon. The food however even though restaurant service in the main dining was slow was always hot and delicious. The specialty restaurants were excellent. We enjoyed one night dining out with the Brazilian style steakhouse where the grilled meats come to your table on a huge rod and is sliced onto your plate. Another great meal at the French restaurant and a pretty good meal at the Italian as well.

A sunny day at the private beach was a welcome getaway from ship noise. When it got crowded, we ate and went back to the ship.

Evening entertainment was a bit of a hassle to reserve but as the week went on, we discovered that standby usually got you in anyway. Probably the night we enjoyed the most was the dinner theater with a singing quartet. Food was good, music and personalities were fun and enjoyable. Stage productions were great as well in the main theater especially "After Midnight" which was a jazz revue that paid homage to the Cotton Club.

While our stateroom may not have been serviced at convenient times, there was always a towel animal each night. And while I enjoyed the animals, we ended up with a zoo by the time the cruise was over. They never went away. Of course if you read my posts often, you know I love zoos.

Cruising the Caribbean - Norwegian Escape

When you open the door to your stateroom the first day of your cruise you expect everything to be orderly and sparkling clean. There was only one time I ever remember opening a door and not finding a clean stateroom and that was on a Chinese riverboat on the Yangtze when they gave us the key to a storage room full of cleaning supplies instead of our stateroom. Correction made quickly and we laughed about the whole thing.

Now I'm not a terribly clean freak or germ phobe but I do expect that the room I'm going to stay in, the bed I'm going to sleep in and the bathroom I'm going to use are as clean as possible from those just using it a few hours before our arrival. From what I understand, each cruise line has a crew from shore that comes aboard and helps with the turnaround so that it is done quickly and efficiently. 'Nuf said. Here's what happened.

I set down my back pack and began to look around. There were a few suspicious dents in the bed near the pillows that were a bit disarranged. Someone had obviously sat there after the bed was made. I immediately checked out the bathroom which seemed to be okay thank goodness.

On the sofa there were two beach towels just tossed there and the pillows again looked like they'd recently been sat against. Certainly not the neat fluff and position you would expect to make a good first impression. When I sat down and looked across at the mirror I saw two big smudges. Not the kind caused by the swipe of a cleaning cloth.

Just as I was deciding what we should do. A knock on the door came and when Bob opened it a small woman with black hair and steward uniform rushed in mumbling something and apologizing. She had a cleaning rag in her hand and hurriedly began to wipe surfaces.

Okay, so maybe not all the rooms were clean. We set our backpacks on the top shelf of the closet and said we'd let her do her work and we'd be back. I guess she expected to clean that whole room with just that one rag because there was nothing in the hallway to indicate she was going to use other equipment.

When we returned, the room did look better but over the next couple of days we still found pieces of trash here and there that had been left untouched. I know. We should have complained. If I had it to do over again I would. Now, with time to think about it, it truly was unacceptable. After all the horror stories about Noro virus you would think the standard would be raised for the turnaround days to keep things as clean as possible. So--maybe I am a little bit of a germaphobe.

Mini Cruise - Great Stirrup Cay

As usual we were up and ready to go ashore before most of the rest of the Norwegian Sky’s passengers. If I had been on spring break I wouldn’t have wanted to get out of bed too early either. The private beach at Great Stirrup Cay was reached by tender and since they expected the heaviest traffic to start around 10 in the morning there was no problem getting on the large tender that had met the ship from shore. Within a few minutes we were on our way through a choppy sea. We were curious to see what this beach would be like. Would it compare to our favorite, Holland America’s Half Moon Cay.

There was a nice entry walk to the major part of the beach. The musicians were already tuning up ready for a blast of music to get the party going. We stopped for a moment at an information booth, asked for a non-existent map and were pointed in the direction of an area called the Blue Lagoon. The captain in his morning greeting and commentary on the port we were in had said that the Blue Lagoon area was further away from the noisy part of the beach.

We passed the food area and walked along the sand and stone shore. There is a rocky shoreline here mostly covered by sand. I don’t think we made it quite to the Lagoon but felt we were far enough away from the music that had already started blasting and asked the attendant to set up a clam shell (a sun protector for two) for us. There were only a few people on the beach with us for most of the morning and we enjoyed watching some of the younger families trying out the paddle boarding and floating mats.

Closer to noon, more young people began moving into our area of the beach. We headed up to the food area and enjoyed great hamburgers and salads. Another half hour on the beach and another dip in the water and we were ready to return to the ship.

All in all we enjoyed the beach as much as we do any beach but we both felt that Half Moon Cay was still a bit prettier than this one.

After a relaxing rest of the afternoon, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at another specialty restaurant called Le Bistro. A French restaurant meant escargot and duck. The escargot was some of the best we’ve ever had and the duck was delicious with a different kind of sauce than la orange. Of course when you ended it with a chocolate fondue, it couldn’t have been more perfect—well, a sunset view might have been more perfect but we were on the wrong side of the ship.

Another wonderful production show featured some golden oldies albeit with a little different beat which was very enjoyable.

Our disembarkation was easy enough since we carried our bags off and then found our ride to the parking garage quickly after getting off the ship. It was only four days but it was a lovely four days and even though we had to share our cruise with so many college students, we found that the ship’s crew handled everything quite well. They had to be exhausted though trying to keep up with everything and keep everyone happy. It was nice enough that we’d like to try another NCL cruise—something a little longer.

Mini Cruise - Nassau, Bahama

Nassau is always looked at as a premium destination and in some ways it is. Of course the biggest attraction is Atlantis which is a great place to spend the day if you want to spend the bucks. They charge for you to use their beach and stroll around their lagoons that contain sharks, rays, turtles and a variety of other marine animals. There is also a large aquarium that you can see for a fee. It is amazing. We've been through it before.

We'd never taken the ferry over to Paradise Island where the Atlantis and several other nice hotels, restaurants and shops are so we set off to try something new. Of course we forgot we were in the Caribbean. Nothing moves quickly in the Caribbean. The signs all said that the ferry began its runs at 9:30 AM but when we inquired at the ticket booth we were told to wander around a bit because they weren't ready. We weren't about to wander around the area. It didn't look terribly savory as we looked down the road. But we walked along the water's edge a bit and came back. It turned out they were waiting for a group from a ship (there were four in port) and if there was room, we could hop aboard. They weren't sure when they were leaving though. Finally one of the guys hailed a taxi for us and it turned out that the taxi wasn't any more expensive than the ferry. Our driver gave us a pleasant ride over to Atlantis.

 We wandered around the shops and the casino and peeked into the lagoons that we could see. Atlantis hotel is not cheap. There is a room that is in the arch between the two towers of the hotel that goes for a couple of thousand a night. I've always heard that Oprah Winfrey reserves it when she's there. Other rooms go for $400 to $700 so it surprised me to see college students there with luggage. Perhaps there was a special for them at the resort.

Back on the ship in time for lunch, I enjoyed a quiet afternoon on a lounge chair with a book while Bob had fun at the fitness center. Dinner in the evening was in one of the specialty restaurants, Il Adagio. It is Italian and the sauce and pasta was really good but the meatballs were mostly breading. Disappointing. The comedian for the evening show though was a highlight of the evening. He had recovered from the disastrous first night and was very funny, engaging the audience whenever he could and even involving the stage hand.

A quick walk through the pool area just to sense a little of the energy of youth emanating from all the college spring breakers and we were off to bed with the expectation of a great beach day to follow.

Mini Cruise - Freeport, Grand Bahama

There was a time long ago, pre-retirement, when we would take a quick getaway and fly to Freeport and stay at the hotel that is now called the Grand Lucayan. It was always in November and sometimes the weather was a bit chilly for getting in the pool but at least the sun was usually shining and the time there was very relaxing. So it was with fond memories and that we looked forward to taking a walk down memory lane.

We were off the ship early and found our way to a taxi stand where we and ten other people were squeezed into a van and we were off--well so to speak. The van got a mile or so out and started to chug. Then the engine started to smell funny and the driver pulled off the road and made a phone call. He apologized and said that another taxi was picking us up. With that he turned the van around and met the other one a ways down the road. So much for a good start to the day. Ah, but it's all about the story, isn't it?

The taxi dropped all the other passengers off at a beach and then took us to Port Lucaya where the hotel, the casino and the market is. We were dropped off at the marketplace and managed to find our favorite spot for breakfast there, Zorbas. They must be doing well without us as it appeared they were expanding. The whole market place looked a lot spiffier than we remembered.

The casino that had taken so long for them to build and then before it even opened was damaged by a hurricane, was up and running but the hotel grounds where we had stayed so many times were off limits unless you were a guest. So much for that part of memory lane.

We explored the marketplace a bit more before calling it a morning and heading back to the ship. The ride back was uneventful and by the time we started for the ship we realized the port area had come alive--well more than when we'd left it.

There were all sorts of shops and food stands open and several DJs competing for attention. One was line dancing continuously to a loop of dance music he had playing. Several people were joining in. It wasn't until later in the afternoon while I was wandering the promenade deck that I noticed the young people had found Senor Frogs in the port. The place was jumping.

That night we ate at the Palace Restaurant, another complimentary meal that was quite good and then we enjoyed the production show put on by the entertainers on board. It was amazing. The theater was not full and I wondered where all the college kids were. This was there kind of high energy music and show.

This was actually during a lull in the action.
The pool was usually as full as that hot tub.

A stroll on the top deck looking down at the pool and hot tubs told the story. The ship had set up a BBQ at 3 PM and it kept feeding them until late night. I don't know if that was usual fare for NCL or if it was their way of coping with the young crowd that only wanted to mix and mingle. It worked.

Again, we were in bed earlier than the crowd and except for a little noise in the hallway once, we were not disturbed and the ship was headed to Nassau, our next stop.

A Mini Cruise on NCL

We were up for a new adventure and since our kids were going to use our condo for a few days, we decided to go on a mini cruise. Originally we were going to go home and let them close up the condo but we wanted to put things back the way we found them--or better, and didn't want them to spend their vacation time doing that. We've never been on a Norwegian Cruise ship and there was one available for four days at a really good price. Of course it was an inside room but, hey, it was only for four days. We hadn't had an inside cabin since we first started cruising. It would be an adventure.

The adventure it turned out was not in that we were in a very, very small stateroom but that we didn't count on their being so many college students. Sure, we knew it was spring break and we'd taken a cruise once before where it was tough to find space in the hot tub but this--this was something else.

The fish on the hall carpet swim to the front of the ship.

Apparently there was a great package deal offered through a travel agency or two because there were a few private get-to-know-you parties for the kids. As Bob put it, the dress code was bikini, cover up optional and to save time, most of the kids were already in their swimwear as we checked in.

We were probably the oldest on the cruise ship or at least close to it. We did see a few other gray heads in the crowd. Undaunted we boarded with our carry-ons (only four days worth of casual clothes since NCL is not a dress up affair unless you want to) and checked the bags while we roamed the ship, grabbed lunch and waited for our rooms to be available.

The Norwegian Sky is an older ship and probably in need of some refurbishing but it was clean and presentable and ready to be well used by hundreds of college kids celebrating spring. The only thing that loomed large in my head was the fact that part of the special package NCL was offering included beverages--except for water that was $3.25/small bottle and $4.25 for a large. All the alcohol and soda was included in your cruise fee. Hmmm. I wondered how well this was going to go. 

Bob had made reservations for all of the restaurants even though it probably wasn't necessary. Our first night was in the Crossings which was one of the complimentary restaurants. We were given a table in the back of the restaurant that was by a rear window with a view of the Miami skyline as we left port and the sun was setting. Not only did we get a wonderful meal but the view was spectacular. 

The show was a bit disappointing. They had to move it from the theater to the center nightclub area because of a problem with the stage and the comedian had an awful time being heard over all the kids who were standing at the bar and talking and drinking. He made the best of it though and we did laugh through it.

The good news was that we were in bed before anything wild was going on and we were up so "early" the next morning that the ship was quite quiet and we didn't have any crowds as we exited to enjoy our first port of call, Freeport, Grand Bahama.