Great Escape — Attraction in Waitematā

We spent nearly $200 when we booked the Titanic escape room on August 25th at noon. You don’t need any prior knowledge of the Titanic to successfully complete this room, which was a relief!

From the moment we arrived, the staff member who greeted us seemed completely disinterested. His apathetic demeanour gave the impression that he was there against his will and that we were more of a burden than paying customers.

Do not consider this place for a special occasion; his attitude was entirely out of place for any kind of celebration.

Half of our group speaks English as a second language, so I asked if we could use a phone for Google Translate if needed during the experience. He agreed, which we appreciated!

However, when it came time to give us instructions, he spoke so quickly that it was hard to follow. I asked him to slow down, and while he agreed, he continued at the same rapid pace without any effort to enunciate clearly, making it especially difficult for those who rely on lip-reading if someone is speaking too fast. As we walked to the escape room, I found myself hurriedly re-explaining what he had just told us.

Do not go here if you’re hard of hearing or have English as a second language, unless you have a native-speaking friend who can help.

Despite this, I really enjoyed the room itself. It was engaging, and the puzzles were genuinely challenging. Thankfully, we didn’t need to pull out a translator. However, when we asked for hints inside the room, the staff member repeatedly gave us clues and solutions to puzzles we had already solved, maybe around six times this occurred. It felt as though he wasn’t paying attention to our progress at all.

At one point, we encountered a stiff hinge that wouldn’t open normally, after plateauing and receiving hints we already knew, it was forced open. This gives the impression that other elements in the room might need to be forced as well. Please address this issue, as it creates unnecessary confusion. I also agree with another reviewer’s suggestion that walkie-talkies should be provided so players can communicate their progress more effectively to staff. We could’ve solved the room faster if we had been told to shove the door harder.

When we finished the room, we were all buzzing with happiness, but our interaction with the sullen staff member afterward left us with an awkward and somewhat deflated feeling. His attitude was so off-putting that it became a topic of conversation on way home (I wasn’t present for that discussion), clearly leaving a lasting negative impression on the others in my group.

We’re planning to visit another escape room in two weeks, and one of the group members specifically mentioned wanting to go elsewhere because, "I never want to see his face again." In kiwi culture, perhaps issues like this could be overlooked but in other cultures, it’s offensive.

I’m so apologetic to leave a negative review, but I felt the above needed to be conveyed. If you'd like to inquire further about our experience or which hinge needs to be lubricated, please feel free to contact any one of us as most of us live together.

I’m sure the staff member is a nice person, but this may not be the right role for him at this point in time. Please consider speaking with him to see if there’s anything that could help him perform his job better, or perhaps assign him to a different task that doesn’t involve direct customer...

We felt very welcomed and well looked after at the Great Escape. The game master was simply awesome - he supervised several games at once but never neglected anyone! Impressive! A small lounge area is available but unfortunately no toilets, so make sure you use the loo before you get there.

Titanic 🔑 Solved (? Min. - I lost the note with the escape times, but we did quite well on all rooms and escaped in time): Our favourite room with many innovative and fun riddles and a great atmosphere. You really do feel like you're on board of the titanic. We had a good flow when solving the riddles and were surprised how many great facets the escape room had in store for us.

Behind Enemy Lines 🔑 Solved (? Min.) Very important: the year is 1942!!! And you're in Germany, so quite logically, there are swastikas everywhere. (So don't play this if something like that offends you.) Great room, great (mostly linear) riddles. We quite enjoyed being confronted with our nations history in such manner.

Psych Ward 🔑 Solved (? Min.) Fun room with quite a traditional theme but not so traditional but linear riddles. We very much enjoyed our time in the psych ward. One thing that's noteworthy tho: better play this room after dark, as the absence of too much daylight might help with the riddle solving.

Prison Break 🔑 Solved (? Min.) Typical escape theme... you're stuck in a prison. And getting out of this one was a lot of fun. The riddles are quite diverse (and mostly linear) and we had a nice flow to solving them. But we were afraid to push the right button at the time, which did cost us some time.

Dreams of Alice 🔑 Solved (? Min.) All riddles matched the theme quite nicely and we truely felt like we were part of some bizarre dream. Some riddles were quite unique and not like other riddles we had seen before. We had a nice flow in solving all of them and managed to get...

Reply to the owner on your comment: Yes we came later, but we didn’t have any extra time, we just used remaining hour so your next booking couldn’t be possibly delayed, well not because of us, for sure as again we just were giving an hour and still paid a full price (for an hour and a half). The person could simply at list say :How was your game, Great u made it, Hope to see u guys next time or at least Good bye, there was no even simple smile and eye contact, perhaps watch the camera. Based on other reviews - we are not only ones who felt this way, so probably you should take this fact in to consideration. I advice everyone to read the reviews before you book. IAgain, the game itself was great and we did enjoy it.

Experience in the room itself is great. But the mood was ruined from the beginning of our session, we waited 5 minutes at the other entrance and waited for the guy that works at the reception, but apparently he was all of this time on the phone and couldn’t be bothered at least to let us know that he is just next door. Always on his phone not caring about what’s going on around him and just giving off a rude energy which we didn’t like and wasn’t accepted by me. We didn’t feel welcomed, and also when we pressed the button for hints it took a while which took out time from our timer. It was also my daughters birthday and it was ruined from that ONE person throughout our whole day, he needs a proper customer service training or either get a new person with positive...