Hi Gang! Well the Wandering Italian needed another cruise fix as well as needing some more family time so this trip was a 7 day cruise on the Norwegian Escape out of New York City. This time both Kathy and my oldest daughter and her family couldn’t come so me and my two other kids went and we had a great time.
This was my first time on Norwegian in like 20 years so I couldn’t remember much about the last one. Overall, I liked them. They call their cruising “Freestyle” and it really is a more laid back sort of “laissez faire” kind of vibe. No real dress code so you could wear shorts to the dining room every night (and we did!). Not a lot of announcements. Not a lot of selling stuff like Bingo Cards, Spa Treatments, etc. that some other cruise lines do. Again, overall I really enjoyed it.
And I have to say they had one of the best shows I have ever seen on a cruise ship! It was called “The Choir of Man” and if you ever go on a Norwegian cruise that has that show, book it early since you may not get a seat. We liked it so much we went to see it 3 times! Lol. The cast thought we were stalking them! It’s about a British Pub called The Jungle and the all male cast of mostly British and Irish guys sing a medley of really great songs. The overarching message is how important it is to come together with friends at any public venue and share your hopes and dreams and to help each other thru life’s tough times. That show is also playing in Tampa, FL right now and they are hoping in 2024 to tour various US cities. If it comes to a city near you, go! You won’t regret it!
There was also a great Elton John tribute band called “This One’s For You” that had three guys playing all the big Elton John hits. We went and saw them twice we liked them so much. And also got a picture with them! The entertainment on the ship was really good!
We had a great itinerary and the weather was perfect! Other than fog in one town, we had sunny and 70’s every day. We didn’t get to see many fall colors but each port was really cool. We went to Newport, RI and saw the mansions of the Gilded Age (think Vanderbilts, Rockefeller’s, JP Morgan’s, etc.). We went to Portland, Maine and saw cool lighthouses. We went to one of my favorite places on the East Coast, Bar Harbour, Maine and spent time in beautiful Acadia National Park and also got a lobster roll (yummy!). We also spent time in Canada at both Halifax, Nova Scotia and St John’s, New Brunswick.
We got lucky and dodged a bullet by just missing Tropical Storm Phillipe. It hit Halifax the day after we left. We had some rain and a little choppy water on our sea day back to NYC. But we were inside the ship all day enjoying the various sea day events.
We also got lucky and got standby seats to make the trip more affordable. All in all it was a great trip and I am a blessed man who has kids who still like hanging with their dad!
Of course the Wandering Italian will be wandering again soon! In a week, Kathy and I leave on a 12 night Mediterranean cruise on the Oceania Nautica. We’ve never been on Oceania and they claim to have “The Finest Cuisine at Sea” but we’ll put them to the test and see if that’s true! We leave from Rome and end in Venice and hit some places we’ve never been to like Malta and Sicily so we can’t wait!
Hope everyone is well!
PS: My kids are Millennials so a lot of the pictures are selfies… go figure! Lol
The Wandering Italian 