20240302 NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise - Day 8 - Unpacked and laundry in the washer by 11:30am!

NCL Escape Neighbors Cruise Day 8 - We loved having you - get out!

The end of a cruise is an interesting dichotomy of messages. They emphatically state how happy they were to have you as a guest and sincerely want to see you again. Then, the next message is to get out of your room and get off the ship - now!

Don't get me wrong, I get it. They have to unload more than 4,000 passengers, turn and configure more than 2,100 guest rooms, and be ready for the next batch of 4,000+ passengers in a little over five hours. while all this is going on, they have to take on fuel, remove waste, and load provisions for the next voyage. It is a huge logistics dance.

We met up in the Skyline Bar, right around the corner from the gangway exit on deck 7. We secured the purple luggage tags, giving us the first position to disembark after the folks who carried their own bags or who had NCL airport transfers. We got called at 8:15 and got in line to exit the ship.

The process was a little slow and cumbersome with a lot of walking back and forth to get to the luggage hall. We all retrieved our luggage and headed to Customs. Customs is so much easier these days, it's great. We went through facial recognition, got the green light, and were done.

Steve, our bus driver, arrived about five minutes after we got outside. We loaded the bus and were on our way.

The landmarks flew by

The bus had WiFi so everyone spent time catching up on their phones as we cruised home.

Seeing the Turnpike sign means we're getting into the home freeway stretch.

Of course, a comfort stop at Turkey Lake rest stop was in the cards.

The last 20 miles or so

We arrived home, were unpacked, and had laundry in the washer before noon. It is good to live near the port.

Tackling the pile of mail

We're home so it is time to wrap up this trip with final thoughts.

NCL

If you've been reading the entries for this trip, it should be obvious - we're not fans. We do not plan to take another NCL cruise unless we have to because we want to go on a specific trip. Specific items:

• Embarkation - smooth - really smooth - no complaints as it was great
• Room - Good - the Club balcony was reasonably spacious with good storage and a great bathroom but a hard bed but that got mostly fixed
• Service - meh. Some great crew, but generally, just OK - our cabin steward was all but invisible
• Food - meh. Nothing terrible, but routinely not hot, nothing spectacular. The specialty restaurants that are supposed to be amazing, weren't.
• The ship - it was fine - lots of venues, lots of eateries - more paid than included. Decore was fine. One complaint was that the smoking areas were positioned so you could smell smoke in many places. The outdoor smoking area was on a low floor so we could smell smoke on our balcony all the time. The biggest complaint about the ship is that every place we went felt crowded all the time. Bars, eateries, performance venues, pools - everything was mobbed.
• Excursion procedures - Nuts - crowded, poorly organized - the excursion was fine, but the process around it was not.
• Internet - slow, slow, slow - plus, WiFi calling and SMS text messaging required upgrading to their most expensive package.
• NCL app - hit and miss - good schedule, no menus, and if you want to use the in-app messaging with other cruisers, you all have to pony up $9.95.
• Accounting - again, nuts. Requiring passengers to wait in line to get a credit balance refunded in cash rather than just returning it to their credit card was silly.
• Entertainment - Choir of Man - terrific. Comedians - good, but...they repeated the same shows all week. Carnival changes comedians mid-week so you get all new shows. Some nights had zero main entertainment except a movie. Wow.
• Main restaurants - while the food was good, not great, even with being crowded, we were able to secure tables for 12 with reservations each night. If we just walked up, I don't know how that would have gone.
• Shopping - there was plenty of shopping on the ship with typical cruise fare like jewelry, clothing, perfume, liquor, cigarettes, and such. 
• Great Stirrup Cay - we don't know because the weather prevented us from tendering in. If the island had a dock, we would have been fine.

Does this mean we had a bad week - absolutely not! We were with friends and spent a good deal of time laughing, drinking, eating, playing games, and just being friends. That made this entire week a great way to spend time. We may consider doing it again, but will likely consider a different cruise company for the trip.

Speaking of other cruises - we booked one while on this trip. In just over a month, we will sail on Sapphire Princess from Los Angeles (San Pedro) to Hawaii and then the South Pacific for a 32-day roundtrip sailing. Watch this space for the next adventure!

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.

Day 8 - all good things must come to an end

Alas, the cruise has come to an end.  We awoke already docked at Port Canaveral.  We headed up for a quick breakfast but were greeted with the second Ba-cation sign in a row.  We pivoted and headed to Shaq's Big Chicken for a breakfast chicken sandwich.

Back in the room, we awaited clearance and a call for luggage tag zone 5.  That came quickly and we headed off the ship.  If you haven't been through Customs lately, it is so much better than it used to be.  You smile for the camera, it recognizes you, and you're done.  It's great!

A quick ride to Park Port Canaveral on the shuttle and we were on our way home.  Getting home and being fully unpacked before 11:30 AM is a great thing.

Since our cruise is over, let me first say that it was a terrific week.  Did everything go perfectly?  No, but that didn't diminish the fun.  We enjoyed a great week with terrific friends and that makes for great memories.

Here are my thoughts on the Mardi Gras, Carnival's new direction for cruise ship design.

• Running on liquified natural gas (LNG) is a great thing.  No smoke, no soot.
• The expanded variety of eateries and watering holes is great.  Lots of variety.
• The division of the ship into neighborhoods is nice.  Each area has its own distinct feel and character.
• The rooms - while well-decorated and visually appealing, are small.  Narrow walkways, narrow doors, tiny, and I mean tiny, bathrooms all make for a cramped feel.  The larger shower was a nice touch, but I'd take a smaller shower and a larger, wider room.
• The elevators suck, and I mean really suck.  They are small and there simply aren't enough for a ship this size.  With 19 decks, you're going to use the elevator and when you do, you'll be waiting.  And waiting.  And, if it is a busy time, like port mornings, you'll wait even more.  Carnival really blew it on this one.
• Getting a table for my time dining worked through the Hub app, and it works well.  No standing in lines.  That's nice.
• I'm not sure they have enough pool and hot tub space.  There were days when the pools were shoulder to shoulder, and that's at 60% guest capacity.  I can't imagine the pools at 100% capacity, nor the elevators.
•  Using two venues as comedy clubs was great.  Still, most shows were completely full.  Get the message, Carnival, people like live comedy.  You need a bigger venue.
• The port (left) side is not a good side for a balcony if you're not a smoker. The smoking area is on deck 8 port side, and even on deck 14, we could smell it frequently.

Even with the complaints, the Mardi Gras is a beautiful ship.  The Grand Central space in the middle of the ship with the center stage was great. I'd be a little leary of cruising at 100%, though, as I think it will feel crowded.

That's a wrap for this trip.  Watch this space for the next adventure!