On rewind... Solo on Encore for Thanksgiving

[OceanBlueWaters]

33 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

I am loving this review, 5*'s thank you! Its great to see another review of the Encore that's not all about dirty feet in the OBS Lounge and getting trashed.

 

I agree the virtual window makes a huge improvement to the studios, I've had them on Bliss twice now and having both the TV on to the Bridge channel and the window open is quite nice. I was also able to change the settings on the virtual window for brightness/timeout so that it looked better and didn't dim.

 

You're also right about kids on holiday sailings. I feel exactly the same way - I don't mind them, but I did Christmas on the Bliss and yes, they were bit much crowding the clubs and the dance floor. Security had to often clear them out.

I like seeing "real-time pics" of actual "real-time issues".  Not infomercials where everything is squeaky clean and there are no pax anywhere while documenting.

 

JMO 

[CazV]

Sorry for the delay on continuing with this... family Christmas celebrations kinda took over lol 

 

So back to Tortola... We ate some lunch in Pussers at Cane Garden Beach and then relaxed on the sand for a couple of hours before boarding one of the taxi buses back to the ship. Our driver for our return journey was Kittie… she was awesome!

 

As had become my habit, I went up to Vibe for Shot O’Clock when back on board the ship.

 

 

[CazV]

Today was also Thanksgiving and three of our little solo group had decided we would meet to go to the Manhattan Room for Thanksgiving Dinner, which was very good.

 

Then it was time for the Glow Party. I need to be honest and say that my best Glow Party experience so far has been on the Escape… something was just a little bit lacking on Encore imo... possibly the only time on this cruise that I missed there being no Spice H2O on this ship... but we still had fun for a while anyway. 

 

I’m sure I probably went somewhere else for more drinks, but have no photographic evidence and can’t remember! 😂

 

 

[CazV]

My friend Jose who is one of the Entertainment Team… be sure to say hello to him if you’re on the ship while he’s still there. He has so much energy and always has a big smile on his face. 

 

 

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Thanks for your fun, honest review. I love the new studios. It seems like a really fair trade to have a smaller bed but more floor space. I also love the virtual window. I'm assuming the mood lighting is gone? With the mood lighting, double beds and see-through showers from the original studios on Epic, I feel like NCL was going for more of a hook-up vibe that probably seemed more appealing in theory than it was in practice.

[CazV]

57 minutes ago, Cruiser Bruiser said:

Thanks for your fun, honest review. I love the new studios. It seems like a really fair trade to have a smaller bed but more floor space. I also love the virtual window. I'm assuming the mood lighting is gone? With the mood lighting, double beds and see-through showers from the original studios on Epic, I feel like NCL was going for more of a hook-up vibe that probably seemed more appealing in theory than it was in practice.

 

Yes the mood lighting is gone 🙂 I personally think the new design is much better all around. 

 

Interestingly I just saw a comment elsewhere that someone thought the Epic solo cabins were like a brothel lol I hadn't really thought of it that way, but do think the Encore cabin felt like it was finished to a higher quality. I really can't say it often enough about how much I love the addition of the virtual window. 🙂 

[CazV]

Cruise Day 6 - Sea Day

 

I had a slow start to the day. I had a lovely view of the sea on my virtual window. Went to the Studio Lounge for my usual fix of coffee and water. Using a clean coffee cup to fill my thermal mug and a clean glass to fill my water bottle with iced water. For me this is one of the main benefits of the lounge. 

 

I think I went to the Garden Cafe for some breakfast… I have no photographic evidence and my memory is a little hazy lol. Then it was up to Vibe for some morning relaxation. 

 

 

 

[CazV]

Four of us had booked a Wine Tasting event at Cellars bar in the afternoon, and one of my friends also had the Go Carts booked… thinking we had time to do both, I went up to watch and take pics. 

 

The Go Carts bookings were a mess! I hope things have improved by now! My friend arrived early after being warned by someone from our roll call group that it was a disaster up there… she didn’t get on the go carts until well over half an hour after her time slot… ie we were up there for over an hour! 

 

We had missed the Wine Tasting so headed to Sugarcane and sat outside on the Waterfront for a bit, before heading back up to Vibe… you guessed it! Shot O’Clock! Also a gorgeous sunset. 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2019 by CazV

[CazV]

At some point in the day this arrived in my cabin... 😞

 

(I haven't bothered to post the Freestyle Dailies btw, as I know they've been posted in another review.)

[CazV]

Our evening started in the A List bar with Champagne, then we had dinner in Cagneys. My food was very good… but nothing special imo and the service was not the best we’d experienced this week. From the speciality restaurants I’ve been to on any ship this was my least favourite to date. I know that will be an unpopular opinion lol 

 

We then went to see Kinky Boots. A fab show but a little too long imo. Photography isn’t allowed during this show so I've none to share.  

 

[Tee & Chilli]

Excellent review 

[CazV]

Cruise Day 7 - Sea Day (and last day 😞 )

 

I forgot to mention that it had got a bit choppy by the evening of Day 6 and it got worse overnight. I struggled to sleep. Didn’t feel sick… just disturbed by the motion and noises. I opened my blind to check if it was daylight and realised the sun was just coming up. I hadn’t seen a sunrise at sea yet, so I got up and went to the Waterfront to take some photos. 

 

 

[CazV]

After taking my photos I went back to bed for a while. I then spent most of the day in Vibe, hanging out with all the new friends I’d made. As much as I’ve frequently mentioned the few close solo friends I made on the ship, I also met lots of other fab people on board. I was going to be sad to say goodbye to everyone. 

 

I had been wanting to treat myself to something from Coco’s all week, and I saved it for my last day. I wouldn’t spoil my appetite for dinner, as I had decided to eat in the Garden Cafe tonight in order to make the most of the time available to go around and say goodbye to all my fave bartenders and go along to the farewell party in The Social (in the photo below is Ida at the Observation Lounge bar... awesome fun guy!) and to just hang out and enjoy the ship. (Also had planned on doing some packing… but that ended up getting done at about 2am lol) 

 

 

[CazV]

Of course, in among all of this there was also a mammoth Shot O’Clock in Vibe and I also caught another beautiful sunset 🙂 

[CazV]

The only photo I have from the last evening is this one of the Encore model outside the Observation Lounge. I think I already shared a photo of this excellent model, but here it is again anyway!  

 

I was up quite late doing my own personal bar crawl and saying my goodbyes lol And then as mentioned earlier, I went back to my cabin around 2am to pack! I’m not sure I would recommend packing when under the influence of lots of alcohol lol but as I was going to be spending an additional night in a hotel in Miami before flying home, I knew I had time to sort my stuff out properly. 

 

 

[rwf1]

Excellent trip report! Thank you!

 

[rmandmm]

Great review of Encore and the solo experience as well! Thank you!

[CazV]

Apologies for the delay in finishing this off... busy New Year Celebrations took over! So let's get this done lol 

 

Disembarkation Day

 

The saddest day of the cruise… time to leave and allow the next group of excited cruisers to board. It was made a little easier knowing I still had a night in Miami to look forward to, and as two of my new friends were also going to be staying, we had made some plans to have some fun. 

 

I did self assist disembarkation (you may have guessed this already from the fact I was packing at 2am lol) but I didn’t get up early to leave first... I waited to be among the last to disembark. I showered and finished my packing and went for some breakfast at the Garden Cafe and a final stroll around the pool deck. 

 

Getting off the ship was easier and quicker than I expected. I didn’t need to wait long for an elevator and the line to disembark moved pretty quickly. Once outside I looked for where I would go in order to attempt to get an Uber to pick me up… but it was a little chaotic and there was a very organised (and fairly short) line for cabs just across the road, so I opted to just get a cab. It probably cost me about an extra $10. 

 

[CazV]

I stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites for my one night after the cruise. I had booked with a deal on their website that allows for an early check-in and late check-out and also included 4 free drinks. I wouldn’t bother to pay extra for this package again… while I had no problem getting my early check-in, they tried to charge me for late check-out and I had to argue my case. Also the bar wasn’t open in the daytime to get the free drinks and when I eventually did get a chance to have one, I discovered that the options were wine or beer… and the wine was almost undrinkable. I would stay here again though, if it was only for one night and the price was right (for longer than one night, I think I prefer South Beach).

 

 

 

 

[CazV]

After a quick walk around the local area, I spent the afternoon and evening with my friends… 

 

We went to R House in Wynwood for their Drag Brunch (we pre-booked this) and it was a blast! We then had a wander around Wynwood Walls before heading to East Hotel, where one of my friends was staying… we enjoyed sunset with cocktails at Sugar, the rooftop bar there.

 

Two of us then went to the Luminosa Festival at Jungle Island, then had dinner back in Brickell (can’t remember the name of the restaurant… it wasn’t an impressive meal).

 

 

[CazV]

On my final day in Miami I took a walk around Brickell City Centre, then went to Bayside Marketplace for some souvenir shopping. I walked back to my hotel from there, packed my stuff up and checked out. They were happy to look after my suitcase for a couple of hours, so I could go for some dinner. I ate at North Italia which was very good. It didn’t occur to me that going for dinner before heading to the airport would mean I was Ubering to the airport during rush hour, but my driver was awesome and took some shortcuts to get me there in plenty of time... I'll remember to be aware of this in future. 

 

 

[CazV]

And then it was time to say adios Miami... until next time! 

 

And I'm actually returning way sooner than I thought I would be! lol I've been enjoying reminiscing so much about this cruise that I've decided to do it all again! I'll be back on Encore on 8th March. 🙂 

 

 

[CazV]

Thanks for reading and for the complementary comments. I hope the information and photos I've added is useful to some. 🙂 

 

If I can answer any questions anyone has, I'm happy to do so.

[SenatorsFan]

Thanks for an excellent read. I'm happy to hear you'll be back on Encore again so soon!

Heather

[go fish 44]

wow, loved your review and all the wonderful pictures.

  We will be in Miami in Jan (in 2 weeks). and looking to visit some of the places you mentioned.

  Our cruise is a Royal Caribbean cruise.