PAPENBURG, Germany — The Norwegian Escape can be likened to the younger cousin of the twin ships that served as its starting point, the Norwegian Breakaway and Getaway.
Although it is based on the same platform as those two, the Escape will be notably different in its details and carry more passengers.
Nearing completion at the Meyer Werft shipyard here, the Escape, designated the Breakaway Plus in early concept discussions, will have one more deck of cabins, giving it a capacity of 4,270 at double occupancy, up from 3,969 for its predecessors.
The extra deck also allowed for a two-story design of the deluxe Haven area, which now has an elegant, glass-enclosed curving staircase connecting the two levels. The Haven also has an indoor-outdoor restaurant, a feature from the Norwegian Epic that was skipped on the Breakaway and Getaway.
During a tour at the shipyard here last week, Norwegian Cruise Line executives showed off the Escape, the brand's 14th ship, which is about six weeks away from its debut in Miami.
Once in service, the Escape will join the Getaway in offering Caribbean cruises from Miami.
Deck by deck, the Escape is both similar to and different from the Getaway, starting with a bigger, more challenging ropes course on Deck 18, descending to a first-of its kind nursery on Deck 5 where adults can leave infants as young as six months while they take a break from parenting.
"These ships come out with ever-more innovative features with every ship we build," said Norwegian President Andy Stuart.
The ropes course is a good example of how Norwegian has taken an amenity from the Breakaway/Getaway platform and enhanced it. The Escape's version of the rope course, highly visible just behind the ship's funnel, has three levels and 99 elements, compared with two levels and 50 elements on the ships in the Breakaway series.
There are five zip-line tracks within the course, including one that bows out over the side of the ship. Fans of the Plank, a beam for walking out over the ship's edge while strapped in a harness, will have two to choose from.
More water elements have been added to the top decks, including a large and elaborate rock grotto in the Spice H2O party spot, and two edge-hugging hot tubs.
A second-story bar has been added to the original bar adjacent to the main pool. And there is a much bigger, more expansive children's water park, even though it will be missing the decorative characters from the line's previous Nickelodeon partnership, which expired.
Norwegian has also upgraded many restaurant concepts from the initial Breakaway vessels. Margaritaville, the Jimmy Buffett concept that seems tailor-made for Caribbean cruising, takes the place of the Flamingo Bar & Grill, near Spice H20.
Buffett's 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar takes over the Fat Cats jazz and blues bar space.
The novel Ice Bar is gone on the Escape, replaced with the Cellars, a wine bar designed in partnership with the Michael Mondavi family.
The Bliss Ultra-Lounge, really an enclosed disco, has yielded to the more lounge-like Skyline Bar with table-top poker and LED wall hangings of global skylines.
Some areas are merely tweaked; the Deck 6 Tastes main dining room gets a private annex on Deck 5 accessed via spiral stairs.
Other areas are new, such as the Food Republic, where guests will order on iPads, paired with the District Brewhouse, which will have 28 beers on tap.
Both have greenhouse-style glassed areas that continue the popular Waterfront indoor/outdoor area, while being wholly protected from the elements.
For fitness buffs, the gym has been enlarged and opened up, and the ceramic lounger section in the Mandara Spa is also much bigger than on previous ships.
The Escape gained five feet in width, which provides stability for the extra deck of cabins but also allows for more space in many areas, including balconies on cabins, which are 40 centimeters deeper.
The area on Deck 7 where the wine bar sits also gains new restaurants by Jose Garces and new-to-Norwegian boutiques by Lacoste and Carolina Herrera.
On the Escape, Maltings bar becomes a re-creation of Tobacco Road, an iconic Miami bar that recently closed. The dinner theater will feature a new production based on the 1980s teen coming-of-age movies of director John Hughes.
Stuart said the water features, the outdoor dining area in the Haven and the ropes course are among his favorites.
"The ropes course is going to blow people away," he predicted.