20240224 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Sailing from Port Canaveral

 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 1 - sailing again

Today, we ventured out again. This time, we're sailing with friends and neighbors. Twelve of us are taking a one-week Caribbean cruise on the NCL Escape. The Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) Escape is large - 4,266 passengers at full double capacity. This is significantly larger than the 900-1200 passenger ships we've been on recently. Compared to many who cruise Viking, Oceania, and other premium cruise lines, we do not turn our nose up at other, seemingly lesser, and larger cruise lines. Everyone has something different to offer and we find something good in all of them.

The day started at 9:30 AM when Steve, our driver, arrived in front of our house. 

The twelve of us had a bus to ourselves for the ride to Port Canaveral. All in all, it was pretty luxurious.

Our driver, Steve, was terrific. Traffic was crazy-stupid. A sinkhole on the Interstate has been snarling traffic for a week. We got stuck in it but diverted, bobbed, and weaved, and got through it all. We made a brief "comfort stop) at the Turkey Lake rest area before making the final run to Port Canaveral.

This sign was posted at the port. You have to wonder what prompted it.

The check-in and boarding process was surprisingly smooth, given the size of the ship. Lots of open stations for check-in and tons of workers made it smooth and easy. We boarded the ship just before 1:00 PM only to find that the rooms wouldn't be ready until 3:00 PM. To the buffet! As we munched lunch, the announcements came around 1:50 PM that the rooms were ready, so the wait wasn't bad.

We checked out the room. It is pretty unremarkable. I'll get photos tomorrow, on our first of two sea days. We wandered a bit and then checked back and our luggage arrived. We started unpacking before meeting folks on deck for a launch from Cape Canaveral. As luck would have it, there was a SpaceX launch planned for around 5:00 PM - 30 minutes before we sailed. We were docked right across from the launch pad, so the view was terrific. But...the launch got delayed until later so we'd be farther out at sea. Ultimately, the delay was pushed back unit tomorrow, so no launch viewing for us.

We headed back to the room to finish unpacking. Some of the group wanted to catch the Nashville Tenor show at 7 PM and then get dinner. We opted to grab dinner first and hit the comedy club for the 7 PM show. Warren B. Hall was the comedian and his family-friendly show was entertaining. 

We met up with the crew after and joined then as they ate dinner. We had drinks and dessert.

Initial thoughts on NCL:

1. Bring your nickels and dimes as they nickel and dime you for everything. Seriously. The base internet is only for 150 minutes. So if you want to use the internet, you have to connect, look up what you want, and then disconnect again or you use your minutes. This is so 1990s I can't believe it. We upgraded to the unlimited package only to find that it does not support texting or WiFi calling. We had to upgrade to the premium package for that. Lots of bars have fun bar games - they all cost money. Nearly everywhere you go, NCL is trying to charge you for it. It sucks.
2. The room - a club balcony room - is small and old. There is one USB port on each side of the bed and three 110V plugs on the desk. Ok, and the desk - it doesn't have a chair. It does have an ottoman with a hard wooden topper.  The bathroom is surprisingly decent, though. Again, photos will come tomorrow.
3. This is a large ship. We've been on large ships - Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class ships - the largest sailing. Those don't feel crowded. This ship does. There are people literally everywhere. Lines, slow service at bars - it feels overcrowded and under-staffed.
4. Their app doesn't allow communication between passengers unless every single person in your group ponies up $9.95 for the privilege. More NCL nickel and diming.
5. There is no turn-down service at night. It is a little thing, but it was one of the very nice things about cruising. NCL has wiped that out.

So, let's just say that our second experience on NCL is not really any better than our first, and that one sucked. OK, this doesn't suck, but day #1 has not offered us any reason to look at the third NCL cruise. We'll see how day #2 goes. Tomorrow is a sea day before the ports of Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, a sea day, and Great Stirrup Cay in The Bahamas.