oldplayer532

yes to facial recognition! Super fast!

First thing when you board go to the place and book what you need. Works every time for us!

Google knows everything! Not the real thing on NCL, butI am glad I had it on X Solstice.

I hope there is still The Baked Alaska in MDR!

Do they provide bath robs for lowly balcony cabins or its suits and heavens?

Thank you for your response . Also , you didn't mention how you and your family spend time in Juneau and Skagway. We are a party of 8 and about to board Encore in less then 3 weeks. It wasn't my pick on NCL, we did Celebrity on Alaska before and many Royal Carribean.

Did you have a coffee maker in your room? Also how long is The Choir of Men show? And thank you for your informative review!

Thank you very much! I always read your super informative reviews. BTW how long is The Choir of men show? I want to know how to plan that day.

Encore is also on the " ill fated" RRA dock and someone mentioned they used bus shuttles.

the smaller ships get docks without tender. Thank you for your picture.

how common is sharing a taxi at midnight from airport to downtown hotel?

RRA dock as of now. According to previous sailing on Bliss, looks like we will be taking a shuttle. Our 8:30am combo( bus first) excursion is with Chilkoot .

we booked with Chilkoot as well, but w/o lake Bennet. Our tour is bus to Fraser and train back, around 4 hours. With Bennett it is around 6-7 hours.

We've booked an independent white pass combo bus/train excursion for 8:30 am. Will see soon enough!

This is a first week with 4 ships in port according to port schedule. Any comments or live experiences? just wondering how it works with timing of train and excursions (ships or independent)? We are about to board Encore next month and would like to know what to expect.

And entertainment was excellent on Solstise Alaska, including almost daily naturalist, violinist, and illusionist Jason Bishop(who is famous now and traveling with his shows).

Just my short observation on Alaska from cruising both- Celebrity food and ports duration much better. What NCL did with Victoria and Ketchikan ports for Bliss and Encore is barely acceptable!

Great information about timing! We should have about one hour to spend in Fraser. Any suggestion?

We are planning to do the same this summer, booked with Chilkoot charters combo (3,75 hours total). How much time do we have in Frazer before our train ride back to Skagway? what's not to miss?(food, gift shop).

FLL will open tomorrow at 5am. From Orlando airport you can rent a car and drive to Miami (about 4 hours).

How about the rest of the Encore officers and crew for Alaska sailing? And thank you for your very informative review!

Thank you! In 2014 for Alaska cruise with Celebrity I paid $25 for this service, wasn't free back then). My carry on with AA this time is free, but I just will pay baggage fee on board of the ship $30(AA fee).

"Guests enjoying this service are still responsible for airline baggage fees. The fee is collected byBags Inc. on board the ship during the check in process, and then remitted to the airlines byBags Inc. At this time, the proposed service will only serve domestic flights, which compriseabout 90% of Seattle’s cruise passengers. To participate in this service, guests must fly out thesame day they complete their cruise and have flight times later than 11:00 a.m.The luggage service would be promoted to passengers by the cruise lines and the Port. Seattlewould be the first homeport to offer a luggage valet service as a courtesy to benefit localtourism and small business. This action request would provide the service at no cost to theguest" Is this still accurate? I have a carry on , but after cruise want to use Port Valet service.

We are thinking about combo excursion from Skagway. Any suggestions on train/bus or bus/train first?

I am a solo traveler woman arriving almost at midnight before taking a cruise from pier 66. Just wondering how safe is a walk to Hilton Conference center at the airport. I know its pricy, but looking for a shuttle to a cheaper hotel at midnight? Rest of my party arriving a few days earlier and I don't know what safer take a taxi/uber to them or stay at the airport .