20240225 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 2 - Sea Day

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 2 - sea day

Let's play a game. What do all these things have in common?

1. Plywood sheets
2. Ceramic tile
3. Hardwood floors
4. Steel panels

Answer: All of them are slightly softer than our stateroom mattress. Wow. I woke up every hour last night with something hurting. Knees, hips, elbows, shoulders, ankles - something hurt no matter how I positioned myself. We did talk with our cabin steward, Noel, this morning and he put a pad on for us. I took a short nap this afternoon - something I very rarely do - and it was a little better. We'll see how tonight goes.

We grabbed breakfast in the Garden Cafe, ultimately meeting up with our crew. Today was a wing-it day, with everyone doing their own thing and exploring things to do on the ship.

We hit trivia and faired rather poorly, scoring 11/20. There were a lot of obscure questions, and amazingly, a single player, playing on her own scored a perfect 20/20.  Our failures:

• If you travel southwest from Sicily, what is the first country you would reach?
• We had the right idea thinking of Africa but had a brain fart writing down Tanzania (that's on the east coast) rather than Tunisia.
• Who wrote the music for the 1971 movie, Shaft?
• We thought Quincy Jones but it was Issac Hayes.
• What is the highest navigable lake in the world?
• We had no idea - it was Lake Titicaca.
• New Britain is part of what country?
• We had the right part of the world with Australia, but it was just north in Papua New Guinea.
• In cricket, how many balls are in an over?
• We guessed nine, it was six.
• In Peter Pan, what happens when a child states that they don't believe in fairies?
• We guess wings fall off, but a fairy dies.
• The bombing of this town in the Spanish Civil War inspired this Picasso painting?
• We guessed Cadiz - it was Guernica.
• What is it called when moving liquid drives a motor?
• We guessed hydraulics - it was a turbine.
• What is the largest city in Brazil?
• We guessed Rio de Janeiro - it was São Paulo.

As promised, here's a look at our room - a balcony room, specifically, 12222.

The door sign also lights up with status when we're in the room, want privacy, or request the room to be made up

You enter in a hallway - the bathroom door is on the left

The bathroom was a pleasant surprise - a roomy toilet area

A nice double sink with ample counter storage

A surprisingly deep, but not wide, shower with a hand spray and body jets

The main part of the cabin - the room obviously had not been cleaned yet

Looking back, you see the large couch, the desk on the left, and the closet

Each side of the bed has a light with a single USB port

The desk has no USP ports but does have three 110V plugs and an uncomfy ottoman that serves as a chair - you can also see the hair dryer mounted on the left side under the desk

There are two sets of shelves behind these doors - the mini-fridge is behind the third door on the right and everything comes with a cost

The small TV is mounted above the left side of the desk

The left side of the closet has shelves and the safe

Here is Arlona reading on the balcony

Overall, the room is fine. It could use updated power and a better TV and chair, and the rock-hard bed notwithstanding is reasonably comfortable and offers decent storage.

Hey! Look! There's Cuba!

I forgot to mention yesterday that we learned that there is another group of Villagers on the ship - 130 of them. They are following an area singer, Danny B, on this cruise. Funny thing - the first day, we met two of them and they live right down the street. Villagers on a cruise. Amazing, right?

We grabbed lunch at American Grill on deck 17. Sandwiches and such - it was decent and we enjoyed lunch. We wandered a bit and caught the shopping talk so Arlona could get set up with freebies. Ultimately, we came back to the room where Arlona did some reading and I grabbed the aforementioned nap.

After a shower, we met up with the group for dinner at Taste - one of the three main restaurants. We enjoyed dinner with the group. 

We helped celebrate Brian's birthday, albeit a few days late, with a cake that his family had delivered to their stateroom.

Symbolically blowing out the electric candle

We ate right at 5 PM as we were all heading to tonight's show, Choir of Man at 7 PM. This was a long show clocking in at nearly 90 minutes. Arlona and I agree that it is arguably one of the best production shows we have seen on a cruise ship. 13 performers - nine singers/instrumentalists plus four band members put on a rousing show around life in a pub. They included music from Billy Joel, Queen, Katy Perry, Adele, Guns & Roses, The Man of La Mancha, and more. It was positive, upbeat, and just a good, solid performance.

Since the show was set in a pub, before the performance, they asked anyone who wanted a beer to come up and get one. Freddie wasn't going to pass on that offer!

Most of us retreated to The District, the brewpub, for a nightcap. The piano player was singing and entertaining the crowd. We enjoyed the time in the pub - a fitting end to the evening after the show.

As I was typing this, we heard the "ding ding ding" of an announcement starting - not usually something you hear after 9 PM. It was the dreaded "Code Alpha, Deck 7" announcement, meaning that there was a medical emergency. This scrambles responders in the crew. About 20 minutes later, we heard, "ding ding ding Code Alpha Deck 6." Wow - two medical emergencies in one evening. Yikes!

This ship, the Norwegian Escape, is big. Its capacity of 4,266 passengers is based on double occupancy. A crew member told us today that there are roughly 4,500 passengers onboard this week, meaning that many of the 3rd and 4th berths in rooms are populated, typically with kids. So, we're more than 5% over double occupancy. That helps explain why the ship feels crowded.

Tomorrow will be interesting, seeing how they handle disembarkation for excursions. We are taking a chocolate and tequila tour in Cozumel. I'm hopeful that will come after a good night's sleep. We shall see.