Sherrica

We stayed in a deck 8 room on the Bliss (very similar to the Encore) next to food republic (opposite side from the district). The location was excellent, but yes, we did have noise. Most of it was coming from the game shows held in the atrium (this was November 2021, so the ship was half full). The sound seemed to come straight up the stairs. We could also hear some rehearsals in the theater.

It was offered on our Sun cruise last week HOWEVER you must go to the cruise next desk between 1 and 8pm (latitudes card said by 9pm, but they closed at 8 and when we went by after dinner they had posted the latitudes party time but nothing about the tasting.) We missed it. It was at 11am on the first sea day (we got to the desk about 12:15 expecting the tasting to be held in the afternoon.) I was very disappointed. They did call our room twice to make sure we knew about the latitudes party. It would have been nice to have more information about the tasting or something resembling an invitation. The letter in our room stated the tour was canceled, but did not mention anything about the tasting. Not much of a perk.

They did not charge us extra for filet mignon last week on the Sun when using the latitudes reward voucher.

We were on the whale watching tour offered by the Discovery Princess last month when our port stop changed from Skagway (due to the slide) to ISP. It was excellent. The boats were clean and comfortable, guides were good and we saw a lot of whales. We really enjoyed it a lot. We also walked into the port and took the free gondola ride. There's a gift shop up there, but most of the shopping is available in the old cannery. If you like to walk and hike it's a good port for that (I don't get around so great, so I wasn't up for a lot of hiking). We did walk down to the cannery shops and the museum and walked around there for a while. There are some restaurants, but only one was open while we were there. We were very glad that we decided to do the whale watch. If you like zip lines, the folks who were doing that looked like they had a blast. Have a great trip!

As others have mentioned, food is very subjective (and can vary restaurant to restaurant, ship to ship). I've enjoyed 13 cruises on NCL so far (twice on the Epic) and only recall two MDR meals that were sub par. Not awful, just not great. Part of that was me trying something "new". There have been far more MDR dinners that were fantastic. It's a great opportunity to find out what you might like! Before our first cruise on the Pride of America we read a lot of reviews and there were so many complaints about the food (with comparisons to Applebees, etc.). We were also worried. After the cruise, I remember thinking "I wonder what the heck that guy has been ordering at Applebees that can even compare to this!" We loved it all! That said, have there been changes? As far as I can tell from Youtube and CC, YES -- there have been changes on every line! There have been complaints about fewer options being offered in the MDR, but that is the exact same thing we experienced on the Discovery Princess last month. Folks get very nostalgic about certain things, but that's true of everything. A few years back I decided to reduce my sugar intake and that has limited my options for dessert. Some of the sugar free desserts are better than others (but hey, maybe my scale won't protest so much when I get home). There aren't any sugar free dessert options advertised in the specialty dining restaurants, so I do usually splurge there. I love NCL and can't wait for my next cruise in 3.5 weeks! Have a fantastic time!

Last week on Discovery in the main dining rooms four or five different things were offered each night and noted on the menu with a "Local Eats Alaska Flavors" symbol. The final night included Alaska-Style Fish Soup, Grilled Kingklip Palermitana, Alaskan Crab Risotto and Wild Alaska Seared Sockeye Salmon. I had the Risotto and it was good but not spectacular. Sorry I'm not able to post pictures today. I think the salmon was offered every night, but prepared different ways.

Binoculars!

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and the patters! We will be on the June 26th sailing. Do you know what the "Good spirits at sea" event was about? Also, I don't see bingo advertised. Was it offered at random times? Also thank you for the screenshot tips!