jenseib
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Now it was time for a little more entertainment. Kinky Boots is the show for this ship and they performed one song from this show.
kelly103 by Jenseib, on Flickr
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Aren’t they beautiful? I will tell you more on this later…..
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Now if you don’t know what Kinky Boots is about, I’ll give a quick explanation. There is a young guy who takes over his father’s boring shoe company. He’s losing money and is thinking of shutting it down. He meets a drag queen and together they come up for an idea for boots for basically drag queens…”kinky boots”. Of course they have their ups and downs and there are some fun songs and dances…So now when we actually go to see this show in full, you have an idea what we are watching!
Of course when Elvis and Froggy came back out, there was a pair of Kinky Boots being worn.
We then were introduced to the most important man on this ship….the Captain!
kelly119 by Jenseib, on Flickr
Now for some fun. They were looking for the champagne bottle. Andy to the rescue! He took off on one of the go-carts and raced around Miami to retrieve the champagne bottle (all on the screen) and then he arrived on stage to deliver it!
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They invited the big families up then to the stage.
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And now it was time for the Godmother!!!!
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There were a lot of speakers at this event…after all it was a Christening of a brand new ship. Elvis Duran and Froggy are Godparents to another ship…which if memory serves me right, is the Bliss.
They came out to speak a bit.
Honestly, I have heard of them, but they mean nothing to me. I believe they have a radio show in New York, but as far as I know, the rest of the world doesn’t know who they are.
They seem like very nice gentleman though.
Then Andy Stuart came out! Yay!!!!!!!!!
Andy is a big wig….but is leaving NCL this year. Most everyone LOVES Andy. He seems like the nicest guy.
I could listen to him all day long! Love that accent!
And then Harry Sommer came out. He is taking Andy’s place. I am just having a hard time liking him. He seems really nice but he has really big shoes to fill and I do wish him luck. I think he is going to get a lot of comparisons to Andy though for quite a while.
And then Frank Del Rio came out. He’s the top dog with NCL.
And then we had a blessing of the ship.
The screen in the background would flash to all sorts of things and I thought this Miami one was pretty.
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Elvis and Froggy were like the MC’s of the event, so they came out often to introduce things or talk.
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This The Mayor of Miami, Carlos Gimenez..
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I now tried to look at some of the specialty dining venues. I never made it to all of them and some I walked by the outside but never got pictures.
This is Cellars I believe, which is a wine bar if memory serves me right.
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A lot of places had signs like this each day. With so many special people onboard they had a lot of private functions.
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This is NCL’s new restaurant, Onda. I hear it’s great, but it wasn’t meant to be for us.
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Back to the room! Follow the fishes! One thing I did not like was the narrow halls. The doorways indented in and if someone was walking towards you, one would have to duck into a doorway to let the other pass. Luckily, we didn’t have to put bags in the hall this trip, but I can’t imagine how people can easily get down the hall if bags are all sitting along the walls.
inaug117 by Jenseib, on Flickr
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Our event was going to start soon. We chilled in the room a bit and got dressed into a little bit dressier clothes. Cass said she did read on one of our handouts that they did not want people to wear shorts to this.
We enjoyed our balcony a bit. My pictures came out super overexposed and I tried to fix them as best I could.
We decided to head down and join the crowds.
Lots was going on already
They had little snacks for us too.
I forced Cass to get a picture. Neither of us like our picture taken, but we had to have at least 1 together.
The countdown till show time!
I had hoped to livestream some of the event but the wifi didn’t work well once we went into the building and my data was horrid in there too. I did take a few video snippets here and there and I will post some as we go. I will also include some youtube videos by others if you are interested in seeing how some of the events went.
We got some drinks.
And headed in to find some seats. We found more treats and made a stop for those too.
We decided to sit in the middle that had a large walkway aisle so we wouldn’t be cramped. The chairs were tiny and lined up all next to each other. We took up 3 or 4 between the 2 of us so we would have room. I noticed a lot of people did that too.
The lady with the green poof hair…Very nice lady…but her poof was in all my pictures. Hahahaah
They had a few rows of upstairs seating as well.
I had a glass of champagne.
I headed out to get a bottle of water before it started and took a little video then too. Just an FYI…I am the world’s worst videoer!
It was loud but fun.
The show started with Choir of Man. They gave us a preview of their act. I will tell you now, the actual show is one of the best I have ever seen on a cruise ship. It is so much fun! Cass had seen it on the Escape and she had been raving about it and said we must see it. Even before she had gone, I had watched some videos and knew it was something I would love.
It was a great way to start the event!
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Some servers in there told me Kelly Clarkson was out there and kept pointing. I could not see her.
This was the only view I could get with my camera but I basically saw the back of her head. She was being interviewed and they were primping her too.
She then moved on and went up a ramp and the one lady told me she was coming onboard now.
I left then and looked around some more.
Savor and Taste are 2 of the 3 main dining rooms. We ate at one tonight…I think it was Taste, but I could be wrong. They all serve the same food.
There is a bar between the 2.
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687 is this whole area. These are the decks that all these places are on. I honestly still had a hard time remembering which had what on which floor.
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I believe this light fixture was in the elevator bank. I thought it was pretty cool.
And there is that little seating area again.
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So I was standing near the elevators and stairs and someone said “Kelly is one floor below us right now doing an interview”. Cool. I could hear her talk and was kind of a stalker for a bit just waiting for a glimpse. This is what I got through the mirror. LOL
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A couple of guys said they try going down but were told to go back up.
I waited around the area a bit in hopes of a glimpse and then went to the bathroom while I waited since it was right there. Then it seemed a bit quieter after I came out so I decided to head down and look at the kids clubs on that level and maybe get lucky.
I believe this is the teen one. They kept asking me if I had anyone to sign up, which I thought was odd as it said no kids were allowed on this cruise. We did end up seeing some kids though later. Some were right down the hall from us. I am not sure if the parents were someone special or not but there were definitely kids on this cruise.
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After I checked this club out I headed out towards the other ones and was stopped. They said there were interviews going on around the corner and I would have to wait. OK, I’ll come back and look later…..spoiler…I never made it back. This cruise was too short to do everything I wanted to.
Cass and I had messaged each other a few times and we kept missing each other. I went outside for a bit to have some nice air. Coming from Ohio in Nov, this was wonderful!
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I found Cass and it was close to Muster Drill time now.
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We were in the Local for our station, which was perfect! We figured we would go early and hopefully find a seat.
Now the Local is an area with bars and seats and also food that you can order that is included with the price of your cruise.
On some other ships it is call O’Sheehan’s. On the Escape it is called O’Sheehan’s. Cass would talk about it and she would say “O’she HENS”. I busted up laughing the first time she said it.
Now before you think I am mean…..I say so many names of places wrong. I do it ALL the time. Cass always busts out laughing at my incorrect pronunciations of things. FINALLY….FINALLY…I got to correct her on one. She would say it sometimes and then correct herself and that was just as funny. It really is hard to say something the right way after thinking it was pronounced a different way. I’ll be the first to admit that I still say things wrong that she has told me how to correctly say it. It’s hard to change!
We arrived early and found a spot and gabbed and gabbed. Good thing we got there early as people were crowded all over by the time it started.
We were both pretty thirsty and I know you really aren’t supposed to eat or drink while the drill goes on, but it hadn’t started yet and a server walked by and we asked if we could get some water and he brought us some! I was so happy! I really had been thirsty. It made sitting there for that time much better.
After the drill was over we took our time as we didn’t want to get caught in the rush of people.
Typically sail away happens not long after, but it was actually scheduled for midnight tonight because of the festivities.
This piece of …art??? …Was hanging down from the floor above. I got a picture of it from below and I know I have a picture of it from the floor above somewhere too.
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I think Cass went to look around at something and I took pictures.
This is the photo gallery area.
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The shops were all closed today. There were set up much different than my last NCL cruise, which was on the Jewel. This is a nicer set up but I didn’t think they had a lot to offer.
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I believe Cass headed to do something and I went off on my own a bit.
I found the picture of the smoking room, so I must have taken it then. As you can see it’s pretty narrow and small.
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One guy walked in and said “I am so jealous of this box for smokers. I am going to complain and hope to get a box for non- smokers with fake bars on the windows too”. It was so hilarious the way he said it!
Here are the comfy chairs and couches on deck 8.
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Cass said that on the Escape there were families that would take over areas of these and never leave. They would be totally stretched out and would not allow others to sit. She sat on them later in the cruise and said now she understood why. They were great!
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Another view of the light fixture.
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And the dangling art from the floor above.
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The Social would have the comedy shows. We didn’t have to make reservations, but I have heard for regular sailings some shows do need them.
Inside it had a main room and then some side rooms, which I thought was kind of weird.
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One of the side rooms.
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And here is the other one.
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It definitely was not big enough. The one show we went to was super crowded and our sailing wasn’t even full.
Coco’s is an ice-cream shop with an upcharge. The pictures of the offerings looked great, but when I read descriptions I was disappointed. It had a lot of chocolate and other flavor ice-cream and I am a vanilla girl.
The lights were neat!
A straight up look at the chandelier. I really was trying to find a good angle.
It’s red now!
I think this was some sort of art in the area.
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I believe Cass had gone to waterpick her teeth so I walked around in this area and went up and down checking out the offerings.
This was Teppanyaki.
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I looked out the porthole and took a picture of where the Christening festivities would be tonight.
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After lunch I did a little exploring.
There are many specialty dining options that also have tables outside on deck 8.
None were ever used during out cruise.
They also had some comfy seating areas on this deck and I think I took pictures of those later.
inaug124 by Jenseib, on Flickr
For those who are smokers, deck 8 is where to go. They have a glassed in room on the port side, aft, on deck 8. This room has been talked about in many groups and it really is a joke. I know I took a picture of it at some point and will post it when I come across it.
The room basically has no ventilation and you could see the waft of smoke coming out when the door opened. You don’t even need to smoke when entering…You can just go in and breathe and be good! Hahahah. It’s small and narrow and has stools for seating. It’s just not set up well and I understand why many smokers are upset with it.
The other smoking option is in the casino. There is a special closed off room for smokers in there, but you are supposed to be actively gambling in order to smoke in there.
Back to the room we went. Follow the fishies. They swim towards the front of the ship, so if you are unsure which way you are going, the fish will tell you.
I think we did a little unpacking and then headed out to get Cass an extension cord at Guest Services. As she waited, I walked around and took a few pictures.
It’s a really big area, but what I find odd is the chandelier is not here. It’s a little further back.
They were taking pictures over here and I went and got one while I waited. It was emailed to me. It was one of those little videos that go back and forth and I looked totally stupid!
The atrium area with the chandelier is just down this way.
And here it is in all its splendid glory. ….Cough… cough…..
We had been watching groups post pictures of this thing…which does change colors…and we kept thinking it had to be wrapped in bubble wrap for the transatlantic crossing. Then we thought maybe it was still wrapped from NYC to Miami. Nope! It’s really meant to be that hideous! I will say it looks better in person….but not by much. I have lots of pictures that I will share with you over the course of the review. I was trying to like it…but they made that hard to do!
The stairs however were gorgeous!
These sculpture things were kind of strange. They looked different from above.
The art gallery is that way, aft. I don’t think I ever really stopped to look at it much.
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And I can’t forget about the bathroom.
Now, again, on DCL, they have the split bathroom for most rooms and that is the best thing since sliced bread…..but I was very impressed with this bathroom.
It was very spacious for a cruise room bathroom and I loved the shower. The door makes a world of difference! I hate those shower curtains that want to have an intimate relationship with you! The door gives me my personal space!
They had shampoo and body wash…no conditioner. The shampoo may have been an all in one….but homey don’t play that.
I actually have my cosmetology license and one thing we learned in school was that you cannot wash and condition at the same time. It just isn’t possible….and those shampoos are typically full of crap…..many including wax to tame your hair.
The shower nozzle was a little weird. It would not sit right where you could just stand under to rinse…at least for me. It kind of tilted to the side a bit. I always took it off and just rinsed that way.
Cass said on the Escape, her brother would leave the nozzle in a way that when she turned the water on, she would get a face full of water. I hope I didn’t leave it that way…and sorry if I did!
Now this is the smartest thing EVER!!!! Hand soap at the sink.
I always brink pump soap on all my trips because I can’t stand washing my hands with bar soap. This was ingenious!
And glasses right there too! Again…don’t you hate that when you want to rinse your mouth out after brushing your teeth and you have to go search the room for a glass? Or if you bring one in, every time the stateroom hosts comes in they clean the glass and put it back in the room. Hello! I brought the glass in there for a reason!
2 hooks in the bathroom, but really they need more. There cannot be too many hooks in a room or bathroom. The shower did have a small clothes line too though.
I will say this is one of the best cruise ship bathrooms. It was really done well. Now I will say, like most other cruise lines, there is not a real plug in there. I don’t get why they don’t put one in? Many people need to plug something in in the bathroom. My case in point…Cass uses a water pick. She HAS to use it because she has braces currently. She did get an extension cord from guest services to use when she needed to water pick away. But it stretched all the way from the desk to the bathroom. Not really smart.
We did have 2 bottles of water in our room as well. I am not sure if this is the norm or if this was just because it was a special cruise. When I emptied my water and was too lazy to go get another one, I did fill it in the bathroom sink and the tap water was fine. I am super fussy with tap water and it was perfectly good.
And the Encore is the first ship to use these plant based water bottles. I thought they were fine, but I heard some complain it gave a weird taste. I had no issues.
By the beds, there are light switches for the lamp, but they also have usb ports to charge your phone or whatever you need with an usb.
On the outside of the door, there was a room number and it had lights that lit up. The switches for this was just inside the door.
If you wanted your room made up, you just clicked that and it light up next to your number. If you did not want to be disturbed, then you clicked that button.
My guess is the at home button lights up when you have the light card pushed down and activated, though I never tested this theory.
……And then, just like many new ships, they had the slot that needs a card to activate the lights in your room. I brought a card for this purpose, but it had one in already. I am not sure if they are in all rooms for all cruises, or if it was just in there for this cruise.
Now it was time to get some lunch! We headed off to the buffet to see what we could find.
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I wondered by the dessert case first. They were gorgeous.
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I then headed off and got a plate and a few items.
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The meat was delicious. Some of the best I have ever had on a ship. Disney has a carving station for meat like this, but sadly, it usually doesn’t taste that great. This was awesome!
Since we had a free drink package, I also went to the bar and got my favorite NCL drink….a Mango Meltdown. This is the best drink ever!
After we had our main meal, Cass and I went and got an array of desserts to try. Sadly, most were not too good. More show than flavor.
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I liked this one. Maybe it would be better with some vanilla ice-cream though.
The cheesecake was good and so was the assorted brittle, but the pink thing was pretty nasty.
Now just to remind you…our cruise was a special cruise, so a lot of the food we had offered to us throughout the cruise is not always offered during regular sailings.
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Nov. 21, 2019, Boarding the Encore
Today was the day! It’s always an exciting day when you are going to board a cruise ship! Today was even a little more exciting because not many people had even been on this ship yet and everything was brand new. In the past, the newest ship I have ever been on was the Disney Dream, which I sailed about 2 months after she was christened.
We got up and showered and I ran over to Starbucks and got myself a pastry and juice (I don’t do coffee) and headed back to the hotel. We finished getting ready and made sure we had everything and then headed down to get an Uber. I texted the guy where we were standing on the side of the hotel, thinking that would be the easiest for him to pick us up and then head to the port, but he came from a different way and we ended up having to go across the street to get to him, but it all worked out fine.
There were a lot of ships in port today, but we only had eyes for one.
We got dropped off and then headed to the terminal doors. There was already a line, but it wasn’t too bad yet. Then they announced that everyone who were in odd floor cabins were to be at door B. Hunh? UGH! That was us! So we went with the herd over to the B doors and got back in line.
We went up the ramp that went around the side and several people tried to get others to follow suit instead of dragging bags up the steps, but evidently not all people are very smart!
Finally the doors opened and we made our way through the stampede! Of course people were trying to go up the steps when the people on the ramp had been there longer, and we just shoved our way in. This is War! Hahaha
We made our way through the security lines and scanned our bags. I could have easily fit a full size bag in and I wished I had brought one big one instead of 2 small ones. There were some people that looked like they packed for weeks…but maybe they had? I mean this might not have been their only destination, perhaps they went to some beaches or another cruise (I know some actually did) and added on to this wonderful opportunity.
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We got in line to get checked in and it wasn’t too bad yet.
Once we were checked in they handed us a packet and we headed off to wait for our turn to board.
We just kept going, not really sure where to go. They asked if we wanted a picture as they were free this time around, but neither of us wanted one.
We found a seat in the terminal and waited. Cass said if we could connect to the ships wifi we could probably book things like specialty dining, shows, extras, and excursions. We did so and were able to book just the shows. We got Kinky Boots and Choir of Man. Nothing else would allow us to book, so we decided we would try onboard.
I had been told that some people were already assigned specialty dining, but they had about 35% of the reservations still left to book onboard. I also know from reading in cruise groups that those on the sailing before ours were able to book as soon as they got onboard, so we were bound and determined to do just that!
As we sat there I asked Cass what she was holding.
Where the heck did you get that? She said when we were coming up, there was a guy standing there holding them. She said he just stood there and she asked him if we needed one and he said yes! Thank goodness she was on the ball. I did see some people totally missed it and had to go back and of course now got a later boarding number.
We opened the packet up and looked at our goodies.
I had read that on the previous cruise, only the lead passenger got the lanyard and nice little case as well as the commemorative Encore card. This time around, EVERYONE got one. Cass doesn’t like lanyards and I told her she should sell it on Ebay. People in facebook groups wanted them and she could have probably made a pretty penny! I think she actually took it home for her daughter.
This area was not used but it was probably for concierge…at least that’s my guess.
Now my favorite cruise line is Disney. I have sailed from Port Canaveral several times and their terminal is nice. I have also sailed Disney out of other ports and most are just OK with a warehouse feel. I have also sailed NCL a few times and have seen nice ports and not so nice ports. NCL is building a new one which should be open later this year and it is supposed to be very nice. I didn’t think this terminal was too bad. I like Disney’s better, but this wasn’t bad…..except the way the chairs are lined up. It was like a maze and crowded. They need a better layout.
We started to see people line up and we decided we should probably head that way too. Many people in line were boarding groups 3 and 4. Um…we have 1, so we kind of pushed our way forward till we found others that had a 1 as well.
Once boarding was started, they called groups 1 ….and 2! Wait! No fair!!!!! We went with the herd and it was really hard to move. There was just a blob of people that had to narrow down to get through a little door. It was a mess!
We then filtered in to another area where we would now blend in with the people from the A side of the terminal. UGH!
In the end, Cass and I were towards the very end of the 1 and 2 boarding groups. Not what we planned, but there was nothing we could do about it.
We scanned in and headed up the gangway and boarded the ship.
Now again, since I sail Disney quite a bit, I like to compare how things are done. Disney’s boarding process at Port Canaveral is much better, though you still get people standing in front and in the way, just hoping their number 36 boarding number is going to be called after group 1. Hahaha. But in San Juan is was quite a cluster muffin and people were getting darn right nasty at that terminal.
The boarding process was chaos too.
On NCL, you usually board on the outside deck and then move on down and into the ship. With Disney, at most ports you get on the ship directly into the atrium, so your first look is Wow!
We made our way through quickly and I just followed Cass. She was semi familiar with the layout since she had just been on the Escape about 2 weeks prior. We headed to the touch screens to try and make some show and dining reservations….and they didn’t work. We later found out that on boarding day, the touch screens do not work on the deck you board as they want people to keep moving and not stop at them and block others. We went to another floor and got some to work. No dining options were available at all.
We did get Swimming with pigs (actually I can’t remember if I was able to get that in the terminal or if I got it on the ship) and the go-carts and laser tag for tonight. Score!
In all the fluster, the first picture I took on the ship was this.
It’s just spot with some seating and I did see people chilling out there during the cruise.
Word was spreading that you should go to the dining venue or the box office to get a reservation, so we split up and headed off to try. Cass had no luck. I had to wait a bit and they said no dining reservations for this cruise….just like the previous cruise. Which we knew was wrong. We both had been in groups where others said they got them as soon as they boarded.
It was so frustrating. The lady I talked to even called to double check and was told no. Of course, for all I know, she could have pretended to call someone just to make me happy. Grrr! I even showed her the email I got that said dining would be open to book when we boarded, but that didn’t matter.
Well nothing we could do about it and we would keep looking and trying.
Since the ship had stayed in port the night before, our rooms were ready and I was ready to get rid of these stupid suitcases I had been towing all around the ship. We headed to our room
The room size really wasn’t too bad. Again, I sail Disney more often and their rooms are larger than most cruise lines. This wasn’t too bad, but definitely narrower.
I believe Cass made a note to have the beds separated into twins…..but seriously. Look how much room there is. There was literally about 5-6 inches between the beds when they turned them into twins. Hahaha
Cass claimed the closet and the bed on that side. When you make the beds into twins, that bed is right up against the closet so you lose the bottom half basically.
This is the couch and also a twin bed. That’s the mattress! On DCL they flip it around and a nice comfy mattress comes out. Not here. This was it! And I laid on it just to test and it was HARD! Hopefully after a little use it gets a bit softer.
We took pictures around the room before we messed it up. And once we took a picture of this coffee maker…into the closet it went. We both hate coffee and it’s just taking up precious space for us.
One thing I didn’t like about the TV is that it didn’t pull out. It does swivel, but I like it when they pull out so you can make it look at one side of the room versus the other.
We rarely watched it anyways this trip and when we did it was to see where we were and things like that.
This could be used as a coffee table and I think the basket opened and you could put stuff in there…but I might be wrong on that….. Or use it as the seat to the desk. I did like this. It kind of multi-tasked and saved space.
The hair dryer was just OK. Not strong enough to my liking but I have used worse.
The mini bar was locked.
I don’t even know why that is a thing on a ship. I would like to just use the fridge to put my own stuff in…like if I had bought water onboard, etc.
Overall it’s a very nice room.
It would be nice if they put a curtain up to divide the room in half. If you have kids going to sleep, that would be a nice way to keep it a bit quieter on their side and also keep light out.
Our balcony was small, but it was still nice to have!
We had 2 chairs and a table and currently our view was of Miami!
Now the balconies below us….WOW!
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13 hours ago, Lorey2007 said:
Looking forward to your trip report.
Thanks for joining!
11 hours ago, ncklhaus said:Congratulations on winning the cruise! Looking forward to reading more.
It was pretty exciting!
9 hours ago, smrtypnts said:great trip report so far; thoroughly enjoying it
Thanks!
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19 hours ago, tallnthensome said:
Holy smokes ......................................................................................................................
🔥
14 hours ago, SenatorsFan said:Lucky you to win the cruise. I'm looking forward to more details. 😀
Heather
I was so shocked! And excited!
13 hours ago, Gershep said:What a great experience to win a free cruise. Following your report and hoping you have some Kelly Clarkson pictures.
I took a ton of her!
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1 hour ago, AKR2011 said:
I always look forward to your reviews. Thank you for for posting! Do you have another adventure with Claire and Skip planned?
Thanks!
We don't have a family one planned at this point. We all went to Disneyland last year, but Skip isn't much of a traveler.
I do have a cruise for Claire and I on the Joy this summer. I am hoping to cruise on Disney sometime this year as my oldest daughter wants to take her little ones on one, but that's up in the air right now.
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After the nap I woke up and refreshed a bit, brushing my teeth and fixing my hair a bit.
I still had quite some time till Cass would arrive and I decided to head off for a walk and explore the local area. First on my list was to buy some chapstick. I almost always have a ton a tubes with me when I travel since things tend to be dry, but I changed to a new bag as my personal item for my carry on this trip and I guess I never transferred the chapstick over.
There was a CVS right across the street, so I headed there and looked around and found a tube. I am not a fan of actual chapstick as we have a local lady who makes her own and it is FANTASTIC! But this would due in a pinch.
I then decided to take a walk around the area and take a few pictures here and there….Something to kill time.
I tried to see if I could find a spot to see the ports and the ships better, but there were too many things in the way and I didn’t want to walk any further away.
I walked through the park area and just enjoyed the warm weather.
I could see a peek of the Magic in this pic along with the Encore.
A selfie….that looks horrid! I should have put my sunglasses one to hide my eyes!
I wondered if this is where they were building the new NCL terminal, but I am not for sure. It was hard to tell things from this far away.
I walked along for a while and it was pretty but I guess I put the camera/phone away for a bit and headed back over to the marketplace to find a snack and explore a bit more. I was going to have dinner with Cass once she arrived but I was already a bit hungry now.
I went through some of the shops and found a gelato place and tasted a few samples and then decided on 2 flavors for my small cup.
I know one was peanut butter something or other but I can’t remember the other one.
I sat down and listened to some music that was playing and ate my gelato and just did some people watching….Ok…I was getting bored. I couldn’t wait for Cass to arrive. She had messaged me a few times and in between her 2 flights and she had said her first flight was running late so she had next to no time to get to her next gate….but she would be here soon and that made me happy!
I walked back to the hotel then and passed the Christmas tree they had been working on. A lot more was assembled but it still wasn’t finished yet.
It was starting to turn dusk…which happens early in Nov, so some of the buildings were starting to light up and they looked pretty.
I headed back to the room and scanned the TV channels but I was truly just bored. I can be a loner at times, but I had enough alone time for the day.
I remembered that the hotel had given me a free drink coupon to use. Cass doesn’t drink at all (and I don’t really drink much either), so I thought I would go sit in the neat looking lobby area and get a drink and wait.
The restaurant and bar was being redone, so they had a makeshift bar out in the lobby and I ordered a whisky sour. He started making it and then said he ran out of the sour mix and added more whisky. EEK! He told me to taste it and he could add some seven up to it. After I got done coughing and gagging, I had him add 7 up.
It still wasn’t very good, but it was free so I didn’t complain too much. After I drank it down a bit more, I went back up to him to put more 7 up in it. It was better, but not great and I just sipped it.
I texted with Claire a bit and asked how her day went and she wanted to know about mine as well. Cass then messaged that she had landed and was getting into her Uber.
So I waited and waited (the clock seemed to tick very slowly now) and then when I finished my drink I went out the front to wait for Cass.
She then messaged me she was here. Um ..wait…where? I am out front and you are not here. She got dropped off at the side door and came in that way. AHHHH! So I headed in and greeted her and gave her a hug! It was so wonderful to see her again.
We headed up to the room and got her settled in. I had a small gift for her and she gave me this gorgeous bracelet and charms that she bought on her NCL Escape cruise. (I have worn it at home now several times, including Christmas Eve!).
She was ready to eat (I don’t think she usually eats much on her travel days) so we headed off across the street. We had discussed prior that Chilis or Hard Rock were both options we would like and we decided tonight to go to Hard Rock as that is not a place we can normally visit at home. (Though I am not sure if she has a Chilis where she lives either).
I had scoped it out earlier in the day and she had been there before many years ago, so between the 2 of us we found our way. What was odd was the store is on the first floor but the restaurant was upstairs….but no signs telling you that. I only guessed that it was there because I saw someone coming down the hidden staircase earlier in the day when I had scoped the place out.
We were seated right away and made our drink and food orders. As usual, I ordered way too much food.
I got the Margarita flat bread and onion rings.
Have a little pizza with your tomatoes?
We totally laughed at how many tomatoes were on this.
I think Cass got a burger?…gosh I can’t remember for sure now.
The food was good and hit the spot. Much better than my last visit to a Hard Rock, which was in San Juan, and the food was less than stellar.
We chatted all during our meal and caught up and Cass said that this trip, even after just a few hours into it, was already way better than her whole cruise on the Escape last month. LOL! So glad she was having fun.
Cass told me her friend who had just sailed the Encore said excursions on Great Stirrup Cay were also included. AWESOME. I actually wanted to try for the swimming with the pigs excursion and now that it was free, I wanted it even more!
When the bill came, Cass insisted on paying. I don’t know why she felt the need to do that, but it was super nice…and Thanks Cass!!!!!!!!
We looked at some of the memorabilia as we left.
As a teen I was a huge Michael Jackson fan, so I had to get a picture of this.
And then we headed out and made our way back to the hotel.
Our hotel is really pretty at night all lit up.
We headed back to our room and discussed our plans for the morning. We wanted to arrive early. Cass was thinking earlier than I was. She had a friend on the cruise before and got some intel from her and she said arriving early was a good idea. We went with that plan.
I think we were both tired because I don’t remember talking too late before both of us falling asleep.
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I gave my phone a little charge and changed into shorts and headed out to find some food.
Ahhh Florida Palms.
Bayfront Park was across the Boulevard, so I headed that way. It was close but the way the walk signs were set, you could only make it across one section at a time and the light seemed to take forever to switch.
I finally made it and walked towards the marketplace.
There were a lot of shops and dining options. I walked around a bit to see what they had before I decided what I wanted to eat.
I see some ships!
Look at that blue water!!!!
And the ships again. This was about the best view I was going to get of them from here.
I looked at menus of a few places and decided on eating at Tradewinds. I was in the mood for a burger and ended up getting 3 sliders.
They were really good and I scarfed them down, paid my bill, and headed off again.
They have a lot of Miami boat tours going out here so I stopped and did some people watching for a bit. If I had not been so tired I would have probably looked into doing one, but I just knew I wouldn’t make it today.
The Hard Rock off in the distance. Cass and I had talked about possibly eating here tonight.
I headed back toward the YVE and noticed they were putting up this Christmas tree. They had a ton of boxes out and each box held a section.
I then walked back to the hotel.
The Holiday Inn is down this way.
The lobby of the hotel is kind of funky but I liked it.
I headed back to my room, set my alarm for a few hours later and crashed! The walls must be thin because it sounded like someone was having a party out in the hall. It didn’t get too bad, but if it had lasted much longer I probably would have went to the door and opened it and looked out with one of my death stares.
That being said, I got a good nap and felt refreshed when I woke up a few hours later.
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Nov. 20, 2019 Arriving in Miami
The day was here! Well this day actually started in the middle of the night. Since my flight was so dang early I had to leave super early to get to the airport and park my car then shuttle to the airport. Skip passed on taking me to the airport, so I did have to drive and park myself. I chose the same place we had used when we went to Disneyland last Spring.
I was all packed and ready to go. Because this was a special sailing they were not having porter service and told us to pack in small bags as we would be bringing everything onboard ourselves and running them all through the port security scanners. I tried to pack light, but I could not fit it all in one small bag. I debated just trying for a bigger bag but I worried it wouldn’t fit so I went with 2 small one. Now that I know better….I could have used a larger bag with no issues.
I believe I left the house around 2 AM and made good time and soon was at the parking garage and dropping my car off. The shuttle had just arrived and I hopped on and off we went. I was making good time and arrived at the airport before the desk opened, but I didn’t have to wait too long. I got the one bag checked in and then went through TSA precheck on off to my gate.
My first flight was short and actually a smaller plane. My connection was at Dulles, my first time ever being there. I grabbed some donuts and had a snack and soon it was time to board the next flight.
Score…the middle seat was open!
I had downloaded the first Captain America movie to watch on my ipad and about halfway there I decided to turn it on. I was pretty tired so I had tried to doze the first half of the flight…but it is hard for me to sleep sitting up.
And then the view came…….
We were coming in!
I kept my eyes open for a glimpse of the Encore. She had done a short sailing the 17th to the 20th. It was a sailing like ours…for Travel Agents, Social Media Influencers, Media and NCL people. She got into port this morning and would stay in port all day, hosting some events for locals.
There she is….and do you see that small ship behind her? Let me give you another look.
That’s the Disney Magic! It looks so small behind the Encore. I posted this picture on facebook and people commented on how the Magic looked like a Dingy being pulled behind the Encore! Hahahaha.
As we came in I tried spotting my hotel.
Even now I can’t tell if it is in the picture or not. It probably is in that cluster of taller buildings towards the top of this picture.
And we landed! I gathered my things, headed off the plane, got my luggage and got an Uber to the hotel. I priced both Uber and Lyft as Lyft almost always comes up cheaper for me, but this time Uber was always cheaper. I want to say the ride was around $20 with a tip, give or take.
My driver was super nice and I told him it had been at least 17 years since I was last in Miami and he said a lot of these buildings were not even here then. He was super nice and it was nice chatting with him.
Right as we were getting close to the YVE I saw the Holiday Inn, which is a very popular hotel that cruisers stay at. It was literally about a block away from the YVE.
I went in and let them know I had arrived and asked about getting a room early. I was so tired and wanted to nap. This hotel charges for early check in. I asked what the cost was and she said $50 and I cringed…but she said she would do it for $30. I am going to assume $30 is probably the going rate and they try to charge 50 for any sucker willing to pay. I was Ok with 30. I wanted my room. I was tired and hungry and I just wanted a spot to leave my stuff and then nap eventually.
I handed over the credit card to pay the fee and the resort fee and off to my room I went.
This hotel does not have many windows, but our room did have a very small one that looked out the front.
The room is pretty basic, with 2 double beds, but for one night it was perfectly fine.
The bathroom was pretty tiny, but again, for one night, it would work.
I wish it had more counter space.
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Hello! And welcome to my latest trip report!
I am going to keep the introductions to a minimum this time around. This was a work trip so it was just me and my friend Cass, who also works in the same industry as me.
Before I get into the intro, I do have to put a few disclaimers out as I find sometimes people on Cruise Critic don't get the difference of a trip report, versus a ship review. This is a Trip Report!
It takes me a while to write these up and I use a lot of pictures. If you are wondering why I am writing now when the sailing was 2 months ago...it's because I edit my pictures...and I have a life that comes before that. I actually have it all written in word and started the writing process after I got off the ship, so most is fresh memories, but I can't remember every second of every day.
I talk about my experiences and thoughts, which may not be yours, and that is fine, but this is my experience.
I tell this like a story. Facts are in there, but told in story form.
I cruise Disney a lot, so you will see some references to my thoughts of the differences.
Intro…..The Who
For those that don’t know me, I am Jen. I am a mom to 3 and a grandmother to 3. If you have followed my other reports, you probably know my youngest, Claire, who just turned 15…can you believe that? Claire travels with me usually.
My husband is Skip, a farmer, and he was able to run Claire back and forth from school and her other activities while I was gone, which I was so grateful for.
Cass is a friend of mine and we used to work for the same company and became good friends over the years. She was the perfect person to join me this trip!
The What and When
This report is about the Norwegian Encore Inaugural Christening sailing, which took place Nov. 21-23, 2019.
The Where
This ship sailed out of Miami and just visited 1 port, Great Stirrup Cay.
Disclaimer
I am going to start with a very important disclaimer! I won this cruise. I did not pay 1 red cent for this cruise or the flight to and from Miami.
This was pretty much all inclusive, with me only having to pay for my prestay hotel and meals that were not on the ship. That being said….I am going to give my honest opinion of the ship and our adventures. No one is pressuring me to give a great review or to lie about any experiences.
Let’s Get This Party Started!!!!!
Let’s start by going back to late Sept, 2019. Norwegian announced on one of their webinars that they were going to have something special on one of their facebook pages starting Sept 23. When that date rolled around, I checked the designated page and saw that they were having a contest. Each day they were going to post something and we were to respond with a comment, answer, picture, etc and hashtag it. They would pick several winners the following Monday. These winners would get a spot on the Inaugural Christening sailing. Well that’s not too hard to do. It surely never hurts to try.
Each day I was faithful and posted. I noticed my friend Cass was also posting as well. We chatted about it and I told her the odds of one of us winning was really good as most days the comments were less than 500…and I had expected them to be in the thousands. We kind of joked back and forth that if one of us won, we would take the other.
The only real issue with that idea was that 1. We didn’t know the exact sailing dates for this cruise, but knew it would be in Nov. and 2. Cass’s daughter’s birthday may fall over the sailing. Of course, if Cass won, she would probably want her family to go since it was Kira’s birthday.
I did tell Cass to have positive thoughts and I planned on winning! Hahahaha.
The weekend came and the contest was done with. Now we just had to wait……
Monday rolled around and I was busy working, but thought about the contest and check fairly early in the morning to see if they announced the winners yet. Nope! Back to work I went.
I started chatting with another friend who is in the same industry as I am and we both had some questions about different things and were helping each other. She then said we might as well talk on the phone to make it easier, so I called her.
One of the first things she asked me was when I was traveling next. I told her I planned on winning a cruise, so it should be soon. And then I laughed. She wanted to know how I planned to win a cruise and I told her about the NCL Encore contest as well as 2 or 3 other ones I had entered for other ships/cruise lines. I told her that the only way to win is to enter, so why not.
We then went on talking about our business and answered questions for each other, gossiped a bit, talked more business, talked about webinars…etc. We literally now were talking with each other for at least 45 minutes.
As we were talking I started scrolling through facebook and saw this!
partners by Jenseib, on Flickr
Seven winners! And my name was the 2nd one on the list! Holy Cow!!!!! I interrupted my friend and said…..”I just won a cruise! Like for real!” I think she thought I was joking and I told her where to look and I was just stunned!
We finished talking and hung up and I just sat there with my jaw open. LOL! Now what? I had so many questions and I had to wait for an email before I had any clarifications.
I messaged Cass and said…..so…you want to go? At this point we weren’t sure of the dates, how long it was, or really much of anything. But she said she was going to put feelers out with her family and see if it was doable.
By the end of the afternoon she was already onboard. How wonderful! She decided to keep it kind of a secret and not tell anyone she was going. Many people asked me who I was bringing and I just said….a friend who shall not be named. LOL.
My family…namely my husband…is much harder to convince about anything. I told him and he thought it was fake and probably a scam. I even showed him the post and he still had his doubts.
Later that afternoon I started getting info and the dates, Nov. 21-23. Of course my husband was supposed to have a shoulder replacement on Nov. 18 and he was not happy I would be leaving so soon after. In the end, he called his Dr. and rescheduled it for 2 days after I got back. His Dr said he would be fine without me, but Skip is a worrier and this made him feel better.
Now NCL had said all along that we would win a cabin and airfare. I assumed this meant for 2 as that is how most contests work. I asked my contact if my guest could fly from a different airport and she informed me the air was only for 1 but I was welcomed to bring a guest. I let Cass know so that she could back out if she wanted, but she said she had enough points and would book her own.
The planning process was very slow as I had to wait for NCL to give me info and then vouchers for flights and it wasn’t always clear how everything would work. At first they said I would probably fly in the day of the cruise then later I was told they would give me vouchers for roundtrip air and I could book whatever flight and dates I wanted through United.
We also weren’t sure about what all was included. Would we still need to pay taxes? Would we need to pay gratuities?
I asked all these questions and found out pretty much everything was included….including unlimited wifi, specialty dining and the drink package! This is getting better and better! We also found out that no one under 21 was supposed to be attending this cruise. So even if I had wanted to, I couldn’t bring Claire.
I then received a link with a basic itinerary on the happenings. This was kind of fun to read and listed some of the things included and gave a basic time line for the Christening.
Kelly Clarkson is the God Mother to the Encore, which meant she would be there to christen the ship and it sounded like she would be putting on a small concert as well! How exciting!
I will say that I felt kind of left in the dark at times though. My contact answered my emails in a timely fashion, but the official info and moving forward was so slow. Rooms would not be given till about 2 weeks before the cruise…and of course I was curious what I would get…and luckily we checked our NCL accounts, because we saw them in there about 2 weeks prior, but the official email didn’t arrive till closer to a week before sailing. We scored and got a balcony room!
It took a while for the flight vouchers to come, but finally they did and I had to use United. Of course there were no direct flights on United to Miami and when I looked at all the options, all the flights left at 6 or 6:30 AM. I just ended up choosing the shortest route there and back so I wouldn’t have to spend all day in an airport.
Cass and I looked over hotel options and we decided on the YVE Hotel in Miami. The price with the daily fee was about $150 and that worked for us. It was basic, but close to the port and to shopping and dining.
About a week or 2 after I had won the cruise I got a box in the mail.
weekofthanks1 by Jenseib, on Flickr
How fun! It was a box full of goodies.
weekofthanks2 by Jenseib, on Flickr
I assume all the winners received these boxes.
In the meantime, Cass was sailing the NCL Escape about 3 weeks before this cruise. She went with her brother and it was her first NCL cruise. Sadly, she didn’t have a great experience and I hoped and prayed her time on the Encore would be much better!
Finally we had all our ducks in a row…or at least as many as we could muster…and it was time to go!
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Another fantastic review! Thanks!
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That sounds like you got jipped on the tour but the scenery was beautiful.
I've been on that side of the island too and it is so gorgeous!
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On 12/22/2019 at 10:58 AM, Red-Sol said:
Hi Jeanette,
Which ship is this? The picture of the smoking area that BirdTravels posted of the Encore does look like it at least has some seating.
On our upcoming Bliss cruise it would be good to know if the way the policy now reads that smoking is in fact allowed in the enclosed smoking area in the Casino...regardless of actively playing or not. I guess we will find out soon enough but I am going to keep following this thread and see if anyone knows for sure.
It's the Encore, They added seating since this picture was taken
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The looked like a fun day. I am totally laughing the finger pictures your husband took. My husband can't take a picture to save his life. One time I had him take one of me and Claire and he backed WAAAAAAY up and I thought.....what is he doing. And then we looked like ants in the picture.
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Sakari looks so happy to be there!
I am not a water park person but would love to see this some day.
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I am so glad you got to use your balcony. I love balconies but I am so busy I rarely get time to just sit out and relax. But it is nice to have that option.
I can't believe that family left Sakuri. I would have been so mad.
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Ugh! I can't believe they shut it down while she was on it. So annoying!
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Finally caught up!
Wait an amazing dive and I am so glad you got to do it. You always have the best under water pictures.
I was on the Encore in Nov. and she is very similar in looks to the Escape. (a few different things) My friend that went with me had just been on the Escape a few weeks before and she didn't like the Escape. She said service was really bad and people were smoking everywhere....even in the elevator. She has issues with smoke, but she doesn't care if people smoke in designated areas (I am a smoker too) but she was shocked how they would light up everywhere on the ship and none of the crew would say anything to them.
We commented on the Encore how narrow the halls were. We didn't have luggage service on our sailing, but even just 2 people walking in the hall, one had to duck into the doorway coves to let the other pass. They were not thinking when they made such small hallways.
Can't wait to read more!
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Way behind but joining in and marking my spot!
NCL Encore Christening...Are you Drunk?...No I just ate too much Seafood
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted
She wanted to be referred to as a “fairy” Godmother! LOL!
kelly128 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly129 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly130 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly131 by Jenseib, on Flickr
She was disappointed that she couldn’t actually crack the champagne bottle onto the ship. The down side is with us all being inside we didn’t actually see the bottle crack on the ship. It was on the screens. Bummer!
kelly132 by Jenseib, on Flickr
The ship is now officially Christened! Yay! This was such a cool experience to be part of. I was so happy to be able to attend this event.
It now turned dark and we waited a bit and figured that Kelly would be out soon to sing.
Nope! It was these dancing light guys.
kelly133 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly134 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly135 by Jenseib, on Flickr
Then Elvis and gang came out to talk a bit more and Kelly must have been not ready yet because it was clear they were making up stuff to talk about while we waited. It was kind of funny.
Then she finally came back out for a concert!
kelly1 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly2 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly137 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly138 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly139 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly3 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly4 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly5 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly45 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly6 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly7 by Jenseib, on Flickr
I used to play the trombone, so I always love taking pictures of others who do.
kelly8 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly9 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly10 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly11 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly47 by Jenseib, on Flickr
kelly48 by Jenseib, on Flickr