NCL Encore inaugural transatlantic

[RMS Olympic]

I booked the crossing today, hope it will be a very social affair...an affair to remember. 11 days of cocktails, champagne, chocolate ,dining on steaks in Cagneys, French cuisine in Le Bistro, seafood in Ocean Blue, Bar B Que in Q, and all the other dining venues....I’m gonna explode! Hope there will be lots of family onboard....

Tom

[scoobypop]

There was so much family onboard the Bliss TA maiden voyage, I have no doubt the Encore will be the same. They had to move Friends of Dorothy from Maltings to the observation lounge on night 3, because the other venue was too small for the large number of people. It was an incredible ship and a great time. Encore should be just as amazing!

[RMS Olympic]

Thanks scoobypop......this sounds great. The roll call is already picking up momentum. On on the Bliss first Alaska cruise on June 2..... The reviews make her sound even better than the Escape. The bartenders are gonna have their hands full!!! Thanks for the response.

[Single Cruiser]

I’ve just booked after having done the Bliss TA.

 

 

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[RMS Olympic]

Hi Single Cruiser!

I have a few question for you I hope you can answer.

1. Was there anything about the Bliss crossing that was unexpected, either good or bad?

 

 

My intention is to do a precruise one night stay in Southampton, probably stay at the Holiday Inn.

 

 

2. Do you recommend taking the train from Gatwick or hire a private car. If the train, will two pieces of luggage present a problem in lieu of the seating layout on the train (first class seat if available ) ? If a private car, what is the norm for tipping a driver 10, 15 or 20% of the fare? I know tipping is a personal thing, but tipping standards differ by country, so I thought I would ask.

3. Any thoughts on the maritime museum in Southampton? As a ship enthusiast, pictures, models and the history of the port itself is like candy to me. Is it worth a visit?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

Respectfully,

Tom aka Bertha

[Single Cruiser]

Hi Single Cruiser!

I have a few question for you I hope you can answer.

1. Was there anything about the Bliss crossing that was unexpected, either good or bad?

 

 

My intention is to do a precruise one night stay in Southampton, probably stay at the Holiday Inn.

 

 

2. Do you recommend taking the train from Gatwick or hire a private car. If the train, will two pieces of luggage present a problem in lieu of the seating layout on the train (first class seat if available ) ? If a private car, what is the norm for tipping a driver 10, 15 or 20% of the fare? I know tipping is a personal thing, but tipping standards differ by country, so I thought I would ask.

3. Any thoughts on the maritime museum in Southampton? As a ship enthusiast, pictures, models and the history of the port itself is like candy to me. Is it worth a visit?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

Respectfully,

Tom aka Bertha

 

 

 

Hi Tom,

 

1) Nothing unexpected. I’d done TA’s before including onboard Escape which is a very similar ship so knew what to expect.

 

2) there are direct trains from Gatwick to Southampton Central and if you can manage your cases it’s step free at either end. The trains on the Gatwick - Southampton line tend to be more like underground trains as they stop locally rather than a inter city express.

 

If you go for a private hire there is no standard tip in the UK. Lots will give none, some will round up, so if £35 give £40. Others (mainly American tourists [emoji3] give a percentage ) . It’s not like USA where the driver will get offended or expect ..

 

3) most visitors to Southampton visit the museum and the titanic memorial etc.

 

Holiday Inn is ideal if we sail from City cruise terminal (won’t know for sure until start of next year).

 

Hope that helps.

 

Craig.

 

 

 

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[RMS Olympic]

Thanks Craig for answering my questions I look forward to saying thank you in person.

Tom

[DavyB]

As Scoobypop has mentioned, there were a lot of family on the Bliss TA. I believe a lot of them will be doing the Encore TA, including us.

 

David and Phil

[RMS Olympic]

Well having now sailed on the Bliss, I’m even more excited about the Encore. Loved the Bliss and was so pleased with my cabin, I called my NCL cruise consultant while in Juneau and switched cabins to get the same one on the TA. If I could make a change on the Encore, it would be to move Le Bistro back to deck 6, and replace Q with some sort of dinner show. While dinning in Q, there was no entertainment, and food was in no way up to the standard in the rest of the ship. But that’s just my opinion.

How to reserve specialty dinning in advance not knowing how social the fellow passengers are could be a guessin* game. Perhaps schedule 6 nights in advance and wing it the other evenings.

In general, very excited to do this crossing......not to mention sailing out of historic Southampton. Planning on at least one night in Southampton, hit the maritime museum and neighborhood pubs. Toad in the hole, bangers and mash, ******s and peas. Gee if I get a serving of ******s and peas I can say I truly am what I eat.

Tom aka Bertha.

[FrizzbeeCruiser]

We just booked this for my babe's 60TH BIRTHDAY! I'm sooooo damn excited!

 

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[RMS Olympic]

Hi Frizzbee!

Great to hear you are joining the crowd. Will your babes birthday take place during the cruise? Regardless, maybe a birthday celebration dinner will be on the agenda

[FrizzbeeCruiser]

Hi Frizzbee!

Great to hear you are joining the crowd. Will your babes birthday take place during the cruise? Regardless, maybe a birthday celebration dinner will be on the agenda

YES! It's why I picked this one to take him on. We'll be in Portugal on his birthday [emoji512]. We are so excited. First TA, first time to London and the Azores..

Second NCL[emoji3]

 

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[ASell]

I am looking forward to this trip. I am seriously impatient; if I could figure out how to swing a 'fix' cruise in Q1 of 2019, I would. I am still looking.Nov 2019 seems to far off <chuckle>

Waiting to see what the specialty restaurants are before I decide how many more specialty

to book and plan on.

[sjbdtz]

We did the Escape TA, but then on Bliss did the post-TA Panama Canal.  Looking forward to another TA on Encore.    Yes, many of the now large group will be on-board.    Should be a real party.

 

We're doing side-trip to Minsk, Warsaw, and Krakow before going to Southampton, so may be exhausted by the time the trip begins.   :/

 

For now, we have an Atlantis cruise (our very first one) on Celebrity Edge, next week.

 

 

Stephen (and Daniel)

 

[Whiskey Tango Foxtrot]

 

Reading through this role call is convincing me to book.  Going on this ship next February and now seeing if I can make it on the Trans A.  Sounds like a nice group of folks here.  How long of a train ride from Gatwick to S. Hampton?  I hope we can make it.

 

[Single Cruiser]

On 4/1/2019 at 8:52 PM, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot said:

 

Reading through this role call is convincing me to book.  Going on this ship next February and now seeing if I can make it on the Trans A.  Sounds like a nice group of folks here.  How long of a train ride from Gatwick to S. Hampton?  I hope we can make it.

 

 

Gatwick airport to Southampton is about 1.5hrs direct train.  Hope you can join us.

 

[QCruiser82]

Hi, just booked on this sailing and super excited for a long ocean voyage. I've done TAs in past, but never been solo on one before; hopefully there'll be plenty of great guys on board ready to party!

[metuken]

Looking forward to this TA.  As to the family onboard, yes, it will be well attended.  A great group will be sailing with us.