At Sea - New Orleans and NCL Escape - December 1, 2025

I slept so well last night and it was closer to 6:30 a.m. when I naturally woke up this morning.  The Freestyle Daily mentioned a sunrise around 7:00 a.m so I dressed quickly and went up on deck only to find the sun was well above the horizon.  I wasn't surprised as I often find the cruise ship doesn't estimate well sunrises on days we are at sea.  I suppose it depends where we are and what the actual time zone is.

Since I hadn't been able to pre-order today's meals the night before, I decided to have breakfast in the main dining room so I could take care of that.  Breakfast in the main dining room started at 7:30 a.m. so I had a little time to sit on the Waterfront and just take in the ocean view.

Breakfast was very good but there was a bit of a snafu finding the lunch and dinner menus so it took a while for me to get my pre-order in.  From there I headed straight to the thermal suite where I spent the next 3 hours.

When I purchased the thermal suite pass I had no clue what to expect.  It has been a new experience for me.  But I am really loving the space.  The steam room specifically keeps calling me back and I try to alternate hot and cold as it is supposed to be good for the body so I step into the snow room pretty frequently.  I also love all the jets in the thalassotherapy pool and can get quite comfortable on the heated ceramic loungers that face the front of the ship.

I had lunch in Taste, one of the main dining rooms and then spent some more time relaxing and reading on the Waterfront.

I don't remember exactly how I spent the rest of my afternoon but I dressed fairly early for dinner so I could catch the sunrise from the Waterfront and spend some time at the Sail and Sustain Bar which was one of my favorite bars.  That evening, I met a woman from Wisconsin and enjoyed chatting with her.  

I love my new sparkly outfit so I might have taken just a few selfies around the ship plus had the ship's photographers take some photos of me.

I had dinner in the main dining room.  The main dish was a pretty good chicken and shrimp curry.  And then I ended the meal with a glass of tawny port.