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Encore vs Odyssey class ships


Les Picantins
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Now that I am home after a 15 day cruise on the Encore and before my memories fade along with my suntan, I would like to share some thoughts. Some subjective and some objective opinions between what is better on the different vessels.

 

What is better on the Encore:

 

-The dining options and layouts of the restaurants. The Sagrada Familia inspired MDR is beautiful and has much better acoustics.

-The Patio and Colonnade also have better set ups (even if I wished they would have changed the name of the Colonnade to sound less like something one would purchase in a pharmacy for intestinal discomfort).

-As for my final opinion on the Grill, that will have to wait until my next visit as I had one outstanding meal and one mediocre. That said, I do prefer the Grill to Restaurant 2.

-As for the Sushi, well that is a bonus.

 

Animation on the Encore: the additional show time, IMO, is also a plus. We took advantage of the flexibility and were at times at the early show and others the late.

-The added space on deck for all the dance parties is also appreciated.

 

Encore/O class ties

-The pool decks. While that on the Encore is prettier with it's rounded showers and giant parasols, it loses points for it's per guest ratio of space. Perhaps they will quickly figure out that the Retreat is wasted precious space and convert it into some sort of sundeck for all pax (except maybe children). As is, if offered as a Club Member benefit, I still wouldn't use it.

 

-The cabins are also a tie. On the Encore, the cabins are slightly narrower, but all the new gadgets make up for this. There are more outlets, the safe and thermostat are more user friendly and you already know that the tv is much larger.

 

-On both sized ships the service is more or less the same. There are always those we connect better with, those with great attitudes and capabilities, and unfortunately a few who go through the motions but do not appear to enjoy what they are doing.

 

Now for what is better on the O-triplets:

-Hosted tables. Obviously with the increased number of pax on the Encore, the invitations are less frequent. In 15 days we received only one invite that we had to refuse due to other plans. Getting to know fellow passengers is part of the magic on Seabourn and the hosted tables are the perfect way to end up in a conversation with those you would otherwise never meet.

 

-Tender service. This was the only time we really felt the difference in the increase of passengers and it was a huge disappointment. On normal days at anchor the service was fine, but the day we were scheduled to anchor at 10:00 in Amalfi we ended up frustrated and missed the port.

Since those on tour have priority tender service, those visiting shore independantly have to take a number. The wait can be over an hour. My advice to others to avoid this problem in the same circumstances would be to camp out wherever the tickets are distributed well in advance. By 10:10 we were given numbers 168/9 and they just began calling 1-20! Open tender service was later announced at 11:30, too late for our plans.

 

There you have it. I hope this information has been helpful. I will now return to my post cruise blues and begin counting down the many months before the next one.

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There is a simple answer to hosted dinners - either refuse invitation, or, as we do, say to the Square when you board, no invitations please.

Some people love them, and they can I am sure be nice for singles, who will meet couples and other singles at a hosted table.

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Great objective review! Good to know about the tender issue given on our upcoming Encore cruise we have 5 tender locations, 3 of which are new for us but luckily all have scheduled arrival times of 8 a.m. Got a chuckle regarding the Colonnade comment having been there done that :rolleyes:

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