abugarcia1

Butternut Squash soup with NCL is excellent

Prime rib sandwich with NCL is a life changer. Off the ship a Beef in Chicago, Bahn Mi from Portland or Cuban in Miami

I think this is subjective to general buffet vs specialty restaurants or even suites. We just stayed in the Haven on NCL which has a designated restaurant. We loved all the meals. We did venture out to some of the other eateries which were certainly not as good as in the Haven

This could be a side dish or a meal for the less hungry. The mushroom flatbread with NCL is outstanding!

I love breakfast and can never really do this at home so I'm saying steak and eggs with hashbrowns

Carrot cake in the Haven restaurant with NCL

Thanks for sharing the great pictures

On 9/5/2021 at 4:49 PM, graphicguy said:

OK....now I feel like a total newbie.  Out of all my cruises, I've never sailed to Alaska.  October weather looks like 50º-60º?  Is that a fair assumption?  Is it rainy?  What to pack?  Assuming jeans and hoodies would be fine?  Maybe a rain jacket?

 

Appreciate the help and any insight provided.

Definitely recommend a rain coat. We just returned and temps were similar however it did rain a few times which made it feel even more majestic. Enjoy your cruise!

On 9/3/2021 at 6:14 AM, Crazy planning mom said:

I hear Choir of Man is an awesome show.  Hope you have and gf have a great time and come back and report.

Yes this show was excellent. Funny with great music. Oh, and if you're luck, free beer.

We just got off the Encore last month. We stayed in the Haven which was an outstanding experience. The Encore is a huge ship with lots of options for food and entertainment not to mention the amazing lounge with lots of windows. We highly recommend seeing Choir of Man which is the current show on the Encore. Have a great cruise!

On 6/15/2022 at 7:35 PM, chloe173 said:

Hi all. It's been a hot minute since I last sailed Norwegian (2019), and hoping people can refresh my memory on a few things. Additionally, this will be our first time sailing in the Haven, and first time visiting Harvest Caye, so have a few questions about that as well. We'll be on Bliss in February:

 

• As a Haven guest, I see I can book restaurants 130 days out. When can I book shows/laser tag/go-karts?
• Do I need reservations for the Haven restaurant, or do I just show up?
• We've upgraded to the Premium Plus beverage package...
  • Does the beverage package also work on Harvest Caye?
  • Can I have my butler bring me coldbrew from Starbucks, or is that going to be an extra charge even with the package?
• Where do you eat on Harvest Caye, and do you need reservations for it? Is it included or upcharge?
• Do all Haven Suites get free access to Thermal Spa, or is that only for Spa Suites?
• Are towels provided at Harvest Caye?
• Is Muster still a pain, or have they switched to the way other lines are doing it where you just watch a video in your cabin now?
• Do they still offer sushi in the buffet in the afternoons?
• I see they've changed so that instead of each specialty restaurant costing a certain amount, they're all a la carte now. Is there consensus on whether it's better to buy a dining package or just go truly a la carte? It seems like maybe it only makes sense for Cagney's and Ocean Blue, and the others not so much?
  • If that's the case, can you specify which meals you want to go against the package and which you want to be a la carte?
• Which specialty restaurants are available for lunch on Sea Days?

 

I think that's all for now, lol.

We can share a few answers from our Haven experience last month.

-Shows can either be booked in your room on your TV or with your Concierge

-The muster drill is now a video that is watched prior to boarding then just a check-in at the location on board

-We didn't drink and coffee or visit any other restaurants. I understand that Haven guests may request food from a specialty restaurant through their butler. We ate at the Haven restaurant for every meal.

Have a great cruise!

We just got off the Encore last month. If you are not in a hurry, you may consider leaving your bags with the terminal. We did that and walked over to Pike Place market to eat and shop before walking back and picking up our bags to travel home. Have a great cruise, we really enjoyed our experience.

We just got off the Encore to Alaska last month. There was a Q&A session with some of the staff where someone had asked how full our ship was. We were told just over 2,000.

We just got off the Encore to Alaska. We heard that they ships navigator was looking and they would let us know. We never heard. We also found an App that will alert based on location and time for Northern Lights. Only downside is getting consistent service on board.

12 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Sometimes you need to set a longer exposure on your camera in order to see them. We sailed on the Encore last September (last week of August, first week of September) and were able to see them by luck from our aft balcony. With the naked eye I was just taking a pretty photo of the moon, when I looked at my phone I saw the lights (it was in 'night' mode to try and capture stars). Pleasant surprise indeed. The next morning a lot of folks were talking about it as they became visible with the naked eye much later on (2am) - we saw them around midnight before heading to bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the naked eye or no extended exposure:

 

great pictures. thanks for sharing

On 5/22/2022 at 10:42 AM, dpmlm said:

Thank you for great info!

Your welcome 🙂

1 hour ago, jimsig said:

I know things have changed in Seattle since but when we sailed on the Pearl in 2016 the Haven and Suites had a table set up to the right of the main entrance to check your bags.  Luckily I knew from reading on CC what to look for to check bags, if I hadn't we would have joined the regular line.  After that they had someone escort you to the front of security and then escort you up stairs to the Haven/Suites check in room.  From the table to the check in room was maybe 5 min.

 

Good to know! We missed that part of the check-in. Thanks for sharing.

On 5/17/2022 at 4:04 PM, IrishKathy said:

Did you, by any chance, go to the casino?  If so, what were the minimum bets at Blackjack and Craps?  Thanks.

While I do enjoy Blackjack, we did not visit the casino

Those raincoats were also a great deal at $25.00

1 hour ago, bookbabe said:

Ward Cove - derelict paper/pulp mill turned cruise terminal

Great pictures of Ward Cove

1 hour ago, drumming cruisers said:

We are staying at Marriott Seattle Waterfront. What restaurant is in the hotel? Do they serve meals?

I can only find Hook and Plow which is breakfast only. and website says they have snacks etc. Nothing about a restaurant, that I can find. 

That's a great location as the pier is across the street. Not sure about what restaurant is in the Marriott however there are several restaurants within a couple blocks of that area including a dozen or so at Pike Place Market.

4 hours ago, drumming cruisers said:

Your review was great, and we could read it fine. 

Going on encore in August. 

Do ou have pictures of the new Ward Cove area? and Whales?

 

Thank you. Sorry no pictures from Ward Cove but a couple of pictures from our excursion on the water. Enjoy your cruise!

3 hours ago, bookbabe said:

LOL…we were on the same cruise, and it’s funny how experiences can differ.  I guess not having anything to compare it to makes a huge difference, I know my mom (new to Haven and hasn’t cruised in 25+ years) felt much the same as the OP.

 

The Seattle Haven lounge is really dumpy if you’ve been to the swanky new one in Miami.  Atmosphere, food, furniture were all an order of magnitude nicer in Miami.  The Seattle lounge was a bit of a letdown in comparison.  Adrian, however, is best concierge we’ve had thus far.
 

Service in the Haven restaurant was not nearly as good as we’ve had in the past.  Much slower than on previous cruises, and the wait staff was fairly chaotic and unorganized compared to previous experiences.  The food was okay, but it was better at Xmas…we wondered if the chef had just switched out?  On the Victoria night, the slip printer in the kitchen went down, and no one noticed, leaving meals unmade for about 45 minutes before the issue was fixed and they could try to catch up.  Luckily, we didn't have an excursion booked so the delay wasn't an issue for us like it was for one family we saw, who had to skip dinner since they had to leave before it arrived.

 

Ward Cove wasn't nearly as bad as some of the naysayers pre-cruise warned about.  Was it as good as walking off the ship into downtown?  No, but NCL seems to book the cheap seats at most ports, so that’s par for the course as it were.

 

Freestyle Dailies for the week were posted in the roll call, and in the roll call group on the Book of Face.

 

Glacier Bay was great, and had the best weather of the trip.  Watching the glaciers go by from the comfort of your balcony, while wearing shorts and a t-shirt was just awesome.

 

Thanks for your point of view, makes us want to visit the new Miami location to check it out for our next cruise

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Thanks.  I tried that and it seems fairly simple.  That said, as with airline boarding passes, I'll still have backup paper copies with me.  Belt and suspenders.

Ha. Always a good plan!

39 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

me, too. the single best food item on the ship, in my opinion. (and i'm including the lobster tail and filet in my calculations.)

 

great recap of the trip... enjoyed reading this, thanks for taking the time.

Thanks, we agree. Not sure we will be able to find that at any restaurant now that we're off the ship, but we did enjoy that!