Our Norwegian Escape cruise proved to be quite an adventure. We originally booked this cruise for our friend’s wedding. They were due to get married on St. Thomas with a reception to follow on the ship. Literally, one week before we were supposed to leave it was determined the bride and groom would not be going. Nothing tragic… they are still together. A medical condition came up and the bride was advised by her physician not to travel. Sooo... off the rest of the entire friends and family went! 18 of us!
Subsequently… this topic of conversation got me kicked out of my first cruise group EVER! It was a group for an upcoming cruise we have and in an effort to start conversation I simply posted what happened, that we were all leaving the next day without the bride and groom and asked if anyone else had any crazy cruise stories to share. After some fun conversation and funny comments, the admin deleted my post. When I inquired as to why, she told me I was encouraging drama, therefore breaking the rules of her page and that I was not funny! ….WELL, I beg to differ, especially on the funny part and when I expressed that to her I got kicked and blocked! What? That chick is crazy!
So I thought… screw this, I will start my own group for this cruise and then stumbled upon one that was already started! It had over 40 members in it. All cruisers she had previously kicked and blocked for no real reason … I was welcomed with open arms!
So, I just had to share. Enough about that and back to our travels….
We headed to DFW airport early and had a nutritious airport breakfast. I was just thankful for the coffee. We had great seats on the plane. The first row behind first class so we had plenty of leg room! I get it.... I am short, but the boys had plenty of leg room too!
Even though we were cruising out of Miami, we flew into Ft Lauderdale and stayed at the Hilton Beach Resort. We have stayed here before and booked the same room. 2 bedroom suite with a wraparound balcony. The room is freaking fantastic and it was the same price as booking 2 regular hotel rooms in Miami. Mark accumulates lots of Hilton points that we cashed in ... so it was a deal we couldn’t turn down! Here is a video I posted to my You Tube channel. If you ever get a chance... this is a great place to stay!
The next day we called a Lyft driver to take us to the port. Since there were 4 of us and 5 bags we had to request a plus size ride. The price was $90, but not bad because we made the 40 minute trip in a super roomy and comfortable Lincoln SUV. Bonus was our driver was crazy knowledgeable about the area and basically gave us a guided tour for free! Most shuttles from the airport will run you around $15 per person. We had trouble finding one that would pick us up at this hotel last time we were there so this was much easier and worth the extra $30 in convenience. I requested the ride and he was parked at the front door before we could even get down the elevators with our bags. Last time we were here we had to sit and wait for the shuttle that was 20 minutes late.
One downside to Norwegian is even though they do not say so on their website… they will confiscate any fan you try to bring on board. After having her fan taken and not returned on our last Norwegian cruise in Louisiana, Mom specifically went and purchased a battery operated fan. It was brand new and still in the box showing it was battery operated. As we went through the security scanners they took it away from her. She had to call a manager and argue before they would give it back, but they eventually let her on with it. That was the only hiccup in the boarding. Even though we are used to the priority lines, with the staggered check in times we really did not have to wait long at all.
The rest of the wedding party all stayed in Miami so they were boarding as we entered the terminal. Originally we were given Zone 13 to board, but when they heard we were with a wedding party (nothing was able to be cancelled on such short notice) and that they had already boarded we were ushered right on the ship. One thing we noticed with Trenton is Norwegian does not offer loyalty rewards to children, so while our cards all changed colors and we were "welcomed back", Trenton was still classified as a first time cruiser. All cruises taken as a minor will be credited to your account when you take your first cruise after the age of 18. He wasn’t too fond of this idea, but proudly clipped his Norwegian card to his Carnival lanyard with all his ship pins on it!
Walking on the ship, honestly… wasn’t impressive. It seems like we were winding through staff corridors only to be deposited out in O’Sheehan’s grill, which is always dark. We are used to Carnival’s grand entrances and this was kind of … well, here you are.
The ship itself was beautiful and certainly did not disappoint. We were starving as it was after Noon and we did not eat breakfast so we did a quick walkthrough of a couple of the main decks, found our friends and headed back to O’Sheehan’s for lunch. This is a restaurant that is complementary to eat at and open 24 hours a day, but you do have to be seated by the hostess. It was the same menu that was on the Dawn, which did not bother me because I already knew my favorites…. Nacho’s and Thai Chili Chicken Wings. I can eat my weight in those chicken wings…. Seriously.
So now for the bummer of the day... I woke up that morning with a faint headache that wouldn’t go away. Things might have been salvageable, but O’Sheehan’s overlooks the Atrium one floor below and they had these lights.. kind of like disco lights that circled around and unfortunately where I was sitting it rotated around right in my eyes. I didn’t realize it at first, but after being there about 20 minutes... the migraine started. Of course everyone was excited and wanted to go exploring the ship, so after lunch we went outside. It was hot… and bright. After 15-20 minutes of walking around outside, up and down the stairs I confessed I was getting really sick. Of course it was only 1pm and our rooms were not ready until 1:30. We went back inside and down to the 14th floor where our cabin was and I parked myself in the hallway with my eyes closed and prayed I would not throw up and ruin the carpet. Thankfully Mark opened the sealed doors, peeked in the hallway, picked me up off the floor and took me to our room. Here is a quick photo of our connecting balcony room.
I immediately laid down and was super lucky I had my little eye cover thingy in my carry on from the plane. My headache medicine was packed in my suitcase so Mark drug up some regular aspirin, I swallowed several and went to bed. I slept for over 2 hours. At one point the poor room steward came in to say he had not fully cleaned our room, but Mark pointed to me, explained the situation and apologized. There is no way in the world I would have made it out in that hallway another 30 minutes. They did have to wake me up for the Muster Drill.... here's the picture my loving husband took of me trying to come back to life.
I spent the muster drill with my sunglasses on (inside) and my head down on the table. So yeah… Day 1 was a BUST.
Stay tuned for the ship review... it gets better... I promise! lol
