NCL Escape - Day 1 (Embarkation & Sail Away)

NCL Escape - Day 1

(Embarkation & Sail Away)

PLEASE NOTE: This review has nothing to do with Maraloha Travel.  This cruise was for the purpose of the Reunion Cruise Group that I do every year in dedication and heavy advocacy for Travel Agents.  It is also for purposes of giving insight to cruising and my personal experiences.  Call your travel agent for more information about experiencing your first or future cruise.

Early birds rising, we head out in our Uber car and arrive at the pier. Every time I see the ship it give me goosebumps! It was very smooth getting thru check in and getting on board. No waiting at all. We also happened to run into the photographer that took our engagement pictures last year before boarding the ship! He remembered us right away.

As we were boarding I remember that there are usually some NCL staff to greet you with music and dancing. Not this time, which was disappointing.  I always love that kind of welcome when boarding the ship and seeing the staff again. 

Onward to our Reunion group event, the luncheon at Taste. We met with Natasha from NCL who was nice enough to give a great presentation about the up and coming events with NCL, their ships, and sales to promote.  This was a great start for the Travel Agents to get more insight into selling NCL and mingling with other Travel Agents.  It was nice to see such a great group together and enjoying themselves.  I ran through the schedule quickly so that everyone could enjoy the lunch and after lunch, headed to our cabin to get settled in.  

     

When we arrived in our cabin, a beautiful arrangement of decorations, tasty treats, a bottle of champagne, and Haven signature bathrobes and slippers were waiting for us! What a great surprise and a nice little thank you from Sean for our anniversary. We were staying on Deck 15 right near the elevators in the back of the ship.  Great cabin, very quite, and conveniently located near everything.  If you want a great cabin, this is the one 15852.  Since the ship was not leaving the pier until 7PM, we decided to rest up and meet everyone at the pool deck for our sail away party.  

Sail away party was great and some agents were able to come. As we joined in the festivities, I thought I have videotaped the party, but seems that I missed it and took some pictures instead. That was quite disappointing.  But that is ok.  The bartender was busy mixing drinks, people were dancing and cheering, and since the ultimate beverage package was with our cruise, JC and I ordered up and off to sea we go!  

Here is a sample of the fun on NCL Escape sail away party:

    

    

Later that evening, we got together with Linda and Diane at La Cucina for some Italian cuisine.  La Cucina was not too busy and some of the food was very salty.  Its not really to my or JC's liking as we changed over to a almost gluten free diet and trying to reduce the amount of salt we use in our food.  Unfortunately, most of the items on the menu were either fattening, salty, or creamy.  But that is ok as the best part of the dinner was the great company we were in.  

    

After dinner, we wanted to go try some mojitos. The best place for that is the Sugarcane Bar. Oh yummy!! We tried the pineapple coconut and raspberry guava mojitos and you just could not have one. It was so delicious and of course, with the ultimate beverage package, you could try them all!

    

Off to try our luck at the casino with our favorite game, Wonder Woman. We won a little here and there but no too much. Actually we kept breaking even which to me is better than losing all your money.  

So with a great start to our cruise, tomorrow is our first official day at sea.  Lets see what the day will bring!

Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from you.  

Tune in for day two of the 5th Annual NCL Reunion cruise on Norwegian Escape!

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